Chapter 76: Priorities
I do not own Fate/Stay Night and stuffs.
o. o. o.
The yard was ominously quiet as the Magi and Servants there processed what the hell had just taken place.
"... It appears your penchant for taking risks has finally backfired, Emiya." Unsurprisingly, the cold woman who literally possessed Blue Blood spoke first.
Shirou remained panting on the ground and did not reply to his superior at all. His right arm was bent at a painful angle, and his left was straining to push himself up onto his knees.
Not that anyone else there was having an easy time standing for that matter. Sakura's ribbon-like appendages had not only anchored them all in place, but drained them of their mana almost instantly. There was little power in the property left for any of them to conjure any spellwork anytime soon.
"Answer me, dog. How will you take responsibility for this disaster?"
"Now there's a magus that I'm familiar with." Lancer scoffed. "A disaster's fallen on our heads and you're more interested in a round of laying the blame on someone."
"Lancer. Not now," Bazett hissed.
"No. He's right. We have limited time to prepare. Best make use of it somehow." Waver stepped in, drawing an irate glare from Barthomelloi before turning to Rin and Luvia, "Pretender said that it would take time to move enough Mana to Marjatta to activate the Grail. How far along was the girl's treatment? Can she still be used as a Lesser Grail to begin with?"
Luvia opened and closed her mouth several times, clearly trying to switch gears mentally to answer properly. "I… yes. She can. She had too much mana in her to address what the Witch did to her safely. We were draining her slowly of energy before moving to the next stage. Caster said that my sister was a few days from that step, so she must have been fairly depleted compared to before."
"Shirou was using copies of Balmung in the chamber to siphon and route the Mana accumulated by the Greater Grail as a whole," Rin continued, not looking at anyone, "Your sister's condition isn't stable either. If Pretender really does want to use her as a vessel, it'll take time to do it properly. But, if she lied and did intend to use Sakura…"
"We'd more than likely be out of luck already." Merem stepped in, his remaining hand over the other shoulder, and for once looking rather irritated. "Sakura absorbed Gilgamesh, whose spirit was stated to be worth roughly three Servants. Marjatta took in the Witch and a substantial amount of mana from the city itself. By themselves it wouldn't suffice, but throw in the fact that Pretender took in a great deal of Fina's reserves, and they absconded with my Right arm of all things, and they have more than enough to at least activate the Grail once accumulated. The Makiri child is far more suited for taking in mana than the majority of monsters I've encountered over the centuries. If she was to be used, we would be witnessing the Grail being used by now, if not enacted."
"A pity they couldn't just consume all of you and spit out the rubbish without consequence." Lorelei sneered at the Ancestor.
"My arm isn't fully consumed." Merem ignored the jab, addressing the others.
"You are insinuating it's a problem." Assassin frowned. "Like what happened to Saber and Berserker."
"I can't state for certain. I know it's still operational, but no longer under my influence. What little there was to begin with for that matter."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Luvia's thin patience was tearing up slowly.
"His Right Arm's like Archer. Like a Servant. It acts on its own whims if left alone. Corrupted or not." Before Merem could speak, a golden light caught everyone's attention.
All heads turned to Shirou, who was in the process of incorporating a projection of Avalon into his chest with Saber holding him steady.
"Shirou, what are you doing?!" Rin balked at yet another display of his recklessness. "Your bounded field collapsed while you were using it! Your circuits can't handle projecting anything right now, let alone Avalon of all things!"
"I can. Avalon's an exception, remember?" Even if the original was still being used to help with Illya's procedure, Shirou's decade of exposure and connection to Saber made projecting the Noble Phantasm literally effortless.
Actually using it was another matter entirely, but projecting a copy was as easy as breathing… so long as his broken ribs weren't taken into account.
"Good, so you won't be useless baggage dealing with this disaster after all," Lorelei scoffed, regarding her "dog" once more. "As for Solomon's arm, I take it you don't mean it has a penchant for betraying its owner."
"It's hard to control. Acts too independently. Merem rarely uses it. Never seen it myself." Shirou rasped as the scabbard vanished and he slowly pushed himself up and looked at the Twentieth in the eyes. "Did you ever get to updating it like you were always saying you were?"
Merem allowed himself to smile dryly. "Fortunately, no. You kept on giving me too many ideas."
Crack.
Shirou's arm snapped loudly back into place as the scabbard's healing finally started taking effect.
"Good."
Without a moment's hesitation, Shirou slammed his left hand on the freshly healed crook of his elbow, much to everyone's shock, and forcing a loud grunt of pain from the culprit in question.
It didn't stop any of them from noticing the blood soaked hilt of a familiar blade jut out of his forearm the instant he did so.
Shirou panted and grunted, but didn't show a single sign of hesitation as he ripped the fresh copy of Balmung out of his body, gem filled with True Ether glowing for all of them to see as he slammed the tip into the ground, using it to push himself upright.
"... Shirou, I know you're mad, but I don't think blowing up the mountain is going to address the issue." Bazett advised slowly.
"If I wanted to do that, I'd save myself the effort and use Saber."
"He has a point," Lancer said what everyone was thinking.
"Four Servants to activate the Grail's basic functions. Five for a substantial miracle. Six to change the world. Seven to reach the Root." Shirou listed with a grimace as he straightened himself out. "Given the asshole wants information, but it's to get out of the Root, he'll likely need five to six to make it happen. Luvia, can you talk to Caster? Is she safe?"
The blonde girl frowned, but nodded. "Iri… Pretender blocked us off when she was here, but I can talk to Caster again. She more or less understands the situation. Fortunately, she was telling the truth about not wanting to interrupt Illya's procedure. Despite what happened here, Touko's bounded fields remain untouched."
"Good. Caster and Berserker will be useful for our counter attack," Lorelei stated firmly.
"Not happening." Shirou flatly denied his boss without any hesitation.
"I do not believe I granted you charge of this disaster."
"I also believe it would be a poor decision." Waver stepped in before the woman could put her foot down. "Pretender only let us go because she is still harboring Irisviel Von Einzbern's ego and emotions. We don't know how she would react if we risked or harmed her daughter at this stage. Much less if we unleashed the two Servants that are blatantly the most capable of getting in her way outside of Saber. She might throw caution to the wind and rush matters. Best to let her believe she has some control to buy us time."
"Luvia, ask Caster how long she thinks it would take for Marjatta to safely take in the necessary power to make a wish to find multiple ways out of the Throne of Heroes." Shirou rightened himself up with a grimace, Saber stepping in to support him before he turned to his shed.
"And what are you doing?" The Vice Director demanded in a way that was very reminiscent of Gilgamesh.
"You'll find out soon enough."
Lorelei frowned and took a step forward, her hand reaching for the crop on her hip.
Click.
That was as far as she got before the sound of a gun to the side of her head was heard.
"Stop wasting time," Kiritsugu stated bluntly.
"I would suggest you point that tool at more appropriate targets, but we've already seen how useful it is in that endeavor." Lorelei did not take her eyes off of Shirou as the latter entered his workshop.
"Are we seriously doing this?" Rin balked at the standoff.
"Tch. And people say I have a hardon for pointless fights." Lancer walked forward and lazily swung his spear between the two. "Put it away, both of you. It's embarrassing. Save the fun for later. You saw the look in the kid's eyes. You know what it means."
Kiritsugu frowned slightly before putting away his gun under his coat.
"Humph. If a mere look from the boy is all it takes to cow you, then my estimations of Heroic Spirits needs remeasuring." Lorelei on the other hand didn't appear too impressed, though she didn't bother following Shirou anymore.
Lancer lifted an eyebrow. "Really? You've had that one under your thumb for half a decade from what I can tell, and you don't recognize when he's about to turn the world red around the monster that ticked him off? What sort of boss are you?"
"Mine." Bazett took that moment to step in and shove her Servant aggressively to shut him up.
For once he wasn't having it. "Don't give me that, Master. Everyone in the war's seen the kid's button pressed enough times and the aftermath to know what's gonna happen when he gets that look. Servants included. The fact that her majesty here can't recognize it and what it means makes me wonder if she's all everyone's hyped her up to be."
"Are you insinuating that a mere barely human teen actually intimidates the mighty Light of Ireland?"
Lancer scoffed unimpressed, "Humph. First of all, anyone that doesn't have their head in the clouds knows that age doesn't matter when the world truly decides to wring things sideways. Second, even top grade Servants would pay some attention to someone that literally impaled and blew up that pirate idiot's main body earlier like he did. The idiots that pretend otherwise are bigger fools than me, and my record speaks for itself."
When Lancer made a decision, it wasn't because it was the "most just" or "smartest" one that came to mind, but because it was what he wanted to do, and he would shamelessly admit to it if asked. Just because he didn't care as much about being moral or doing things perfectly didn't mean he failed to recognize when someone far better at the game came into play though.
And it certainly didn't mean he failed to recognize when the wrong person tried to take control of a critical job.
"You truly believe the boy can salvage this disaster somehow?" Lorelei didn't even bother to hide her genuine skepticism at what Lancer was stating.
"Without blowing up the world? Probably. But odds are every plan he's coming up with right now ends with Archer killed one way or another. Wouldn't be surprised if Pretender's got a higher survival rate for tonight than he does. Kid has had it out for the hawk eyed prick since day one if what I heard is true."
Those that fought in the war grimaced and gave one another knowing looks that all but admitted Lancer was more likely right on that part.
"While we are on the topic of Archer." Waver stepped in again, holding eye contact with Lorelei in a desperate attempt to prevent her from agitating the situation further. "It would be prudent to at least find out why he acted the way he did."
"What's there to understand?" Luvia scowled, glaring at Rin. "He wants to cancel his contract with the world and no longer be a Counter Guardian."
"His reaction says otherwise," Waver corrected. "Something about what Pretender said got to him. Am I correct, Miss Tohsaka?"
Rin grimaced and looked away. "Pretender's ribbons interfered with my connection to him so I couldn't get anything exact when he acted, but… Like I said earlier, something was bothering Archer for the past few weeks. After Saber talked to him earlier he was starting to calm down, but what Pretender said to him… I don't know. It's like she had unintentionally verified a suspicion of his, or made him realize something. I could tell he had come to some sort of conclusion and…"
"And?" He pressed.
"It horrified him. Right down to his core," Rin admitted uncomfortably. "It, legitimately terrified him to the point that he felt like he had to act now or else he wouldn't have another chance. I've never seen or felt him genuinely panic like that before."
"Chance to do what?" Surprisingly, it was Assassin that asked the obvious question.
Rin shook her head. "I don't know. It happened within seconds at best and our connection was muted. His thoughts and emotions went almost everywhere at once right at the moment he made up his mind. I don't think Archer's actions had to do with the Grail so much as it did knowing whatever it was he had pieced together."
"And it made him desperate enough to act out right then and there. Whydunnit." Waver frowned as he replayed the events that happened not even ten minutes earlier. "... Rule Breaker."
"Caster's Noble Phantasm? What about it?" Lancer lifted an eyebrow.
"Archer didn't simply use it. He broke it. And stabbed it right in his heart to break free." Luvia spoke slowly, realizing what had confused Waver and voicing her thoughts. "Even if it was a projected copy, breaking it was never necessary to sever the Master-Servant connection. Nor did we need to wield it so dangerously. We used it ourselves during the War and a small jab in the shoulder or stomach was enough to serve its purpose. Archer nearly did kill himself just then, didn't he?"
"... It was something else. He wasn't aiming for his connection with Miss Tohsaka." Waver's scowl deepened as more pieces fell into place. "Something we apparently don't know about. Given his reaction, it must be something intrinsic to his being a Servant that may very well be present in every summoning. A subliminal connection to Alaya he was unaware of prior perhaps?"
"Could be." Lancer glanced at Assassin with an unreadable expression. "Not sure if it's common knowledge, but Servants do get called for events other than the Grail Wars. Usually when there's some unnatural concentration of Mana around or when there's a nasty threat to the world that needs addressing. Counter Guardians are the usual go to's for the smaller ones because they're cheap for the world to whip out and easy to order around. Anything on the bigger side usually warrants multiple legitimate Servants being called, but we still need a Master or some sort of anchor to keep us attached and powered to do our job right. Depending on how we're summoned and what called us, it's not uncommon for a Servant to get twisted in the process. I don't personally remember any myself, but I'm certain I've been thrown in some nasty problems that make what we have now look tame. Same goes for the rest of us."
"If that was what he was worried about, wouldn't he be done the moment he used Rule Breaker then? We can convince him to stop this nonsense and give back my sister," Luvia suggested.
"No." This time it was Merem to answer the question with certainty, demanding all of their attention.
"You sound confident." Lorelei all but demanded a further explanation.
"My reason is the same as the issue at hand. Archer is a Counter Guardian," the vampire stated with a cold factual tone that brokered no exception. "He remembers countless summonings across time and worlds. It would not be inaccurate to state that he's technically one of the oldest beings on the planet at the moment. Comparable if not vastly surpassing my kind at the bare minimum. The weight of an existence that long is exhausting even for me to digest. The weight and consequence of one under perpetual undesired servitude though, I have personally witnessed many times before."
"You're likening Counter Guardians to the thralls of your kind?" Rin balked at the comparison. She wasn't the only one that found it in distaste.
"You must have heard of the stories as well. Of Apostles revolting against their lieges for power. For freedom. For revenge. Utilizing means and methods unheard of to do so. This is little different." Merem emotionlessly held his ground. "The only twist here is that the order of how lopsided the path was to reach this point."
"Lopsided?" Waver echoed the word before realizing what the vampire was alluding to. "Ah. I assume you are referring to Archer's recent supposed revelation."
"I suppose you could consider it his second revelation, given his circumstances." Merem nodded. "The first would be his realization that being a Counter Guardian isn't what he expected, leading to his current goal and actions of trying to renege on his arrangement. On the ideals that drove him in the first place. This second one though, I know not what it is. However I have witnessed this sort of reaction before. Many times in fact."
"Of what? Betrayal? Frustration? What else could make Archer freak out the way he did?!" Rin was losing her patience.
"Of being constantly misled and toyed with without knowing the entire time." The simple answer sent chills down their spines. "It's a common game you see among the elite. Both human and inhuman. Dangling imaginary bait in front of the lessers, vermin, and fallen in the form of vague hope and hypothetical progress. Blinding, if not outright blocking them to the route and means that they should take the entire time until it's long past too late. And when the victims do realize what has taken place…"
"The fools rage and the world burns." Lorelei clicked her tongue in annoyance.
"Wait. But there's no rush! If Archer had just helped take down Irisviel-" Rin started.
"There's probably more to it that we don't know just yet." Waver sighed. "The most likely and unfortunate truth is that Archer does genuinely perceive what he's doing is probably his only chance to make any real progress to his goals for the first time in who knows how long. Genuine progress, instead of spinning his wheels trying to negate himself from causality like he has been doing so far. More importantly, he's clearly desperate enough to take it despite the risks. That unknown factor is why he's decided to act now instead of taking out Pretender and explaining his situation so we can address it later."
There had already been an agreement to preserve and cleanse the Greater Grail for potential future use. There was no necessity to rush matters if everything went as agreed and he explained why he needed a wish to be made, and what he desired did not require the system's full capacity to reach the Root. It would take a while to refill the Grail and cleanse it, but if everything went to plan it certainly wouldn't take seventy years with the Animusphere's and Caster's support.
Unless…
Before Waver could even begin to let his mind wander into the haphazard hypothesis he had contemplated, the door to Shirou's workshop opened once more.
Their host limped, albeit slightly more surefooted than earlier and still supported by Saber, towards their direction, while his Servant carried a large military bag on her free shoulder. Given that he had already stopped bleeding, his breathing was steady, and his arm looked semi-functional again, it appeared that the copy of Avalon from before was doing its job.
What was most eye catching was the cold stare in his silver eyes as he approached. It was as if he was simultaneously taking in the world in front of him while clinically looking at something else entirely.
Wordlessly, he projected a cheap yet sturdy table in the middle of the group before his assistant placed the bag on top of it. His circuits were still tender, but they had recovered enough for something cheap like this.
Its contents primarily consisted of three things: maps, explosives, and gems.
"... Shirou, when were you going to tell me you had a detailed map of the caves of Mt. Enzo?" Rin asked slowly.
"When the crew to move the Grail came." His reply was tired, but otherwise completely flat and emotionless.
"And, to be clear, those marks on said map, we aren't going to find any of your bombs there, are we?"
"There were. I'm putting them back."
"Of course you are."
"You have a plan then," the Queen of the Clocktower stated, only the fact that she spoke at all betrayed her curiosity at what was before her.
"The beginning of one." He turned to look at the far distance, where the night seemed to be a bit darker than the rest of the city, and slowly deepened as events progressed. "It'll take a while for us to recover enough to move in earnest, so we might as well use it."
Several projected models akin to chess pieces fell onto the map, each symbolizing someone important, ally and enemy alike. They were all placed in their most likely positions before Shirou looked at those around him.
"This is what I have in mind."
o. o. o.
He could feel it. And not just physically.
"I know you like to pointlessly show off how tough you are, Shirou, but we really did cut it close this time." Pretender poked his cheek childishly, having finally taken her attention away from the stab wound in his chest. "I'm starting to wonder if you really are only just adopted by Kiritsugu."
He had overdid it. Stabbing his core with Rule Breaker had been a monumentally stupid and risky thing to do, and it did yield results, but he was no surgeon. Had nothing been done, he would have already faded away by now instead of suffering from Irisviel's constant nagging.
In place of the wound was a peculiar and almost malevolent looking golden patch of substance right over his heart.
It reminded him of something in the back of his head. Something that left a nasty taste in his mouth… well, another, nasty taste in his mouth separate from the one he already had.
Probably another significant experience or encounter that he "conveniently" had no memory of.
He could feel the curses already starting to try to infect him with minor success, like an annoying itch or rash that was slowly spreading. Whether its stagnation was due to his condition as an Anti-Hero, or because Iri really was trying to help him was up in the air, but it didn't matter. This whole disaster, and himself, would be over with long before he was corrupted and influenced to be a problem.
"Considering I'm actually using the Grail, probably not as much as you'd think." He didn't lash out at his current sponsor, but his tone more or less indicated that he wasn't exactly thrilled about his current situation.
He pointedly ignored Rider and the black mass that was Sakura just a short distance away. Still. Rigid. Emotionless. And no doubt focusing all their attention on him.
Honestly, they scared him more than the Grail at the moment.
Under his feet, countless crimson and ebony tendrils stretched nigh endlessly. Caressing nearly every portion of the caverns, every etch and engraving that made up the Greater Grail, extending to Fuyuki itself in some capacity…
… The Einzbern Homunculi examining the Grail didn't even know what was going on before they had been consumed.
He glanced to his side with mild interest to see Marjatta, unconscious and lying in the middle of a black circle rimmed with red, like the core of a burning sore. "I'm surprised. I thought she'd be mutating into some abomination by now."
"The poor girl has some suitability to become a Lesser Grail, but all she can serve as right now is the container for the mana needed for the ritual." Iri stopped poking him, "Normally the Lesser Grails act not only as the modules to take in defeated Heroic Spirits and enact the Greater Grails, but also as a critical component for the ritual to reach the Root. A way for the Einzbern to hold further influence over the Three Families. Our guest is an improperly constructed container made for the purpose of activating the Greater Grail, rather than reaching the Root or enacting any grand mysteries. As such, I'll personally have to undertake the role of the latter task to ensure everything functions properly."
"Awfully convenient position for a potential backstabbing, having access to all that power at once." Archer didn't hold his tongue.
Pretender rolled her eyes, but her irregular smile didn't so much as twitch. "I meant what I said before. I'm incapable of making any wishes myself. All that power would be wasted on me. My purpose is to ensure a wish is made. So long as I consciously act with that in mind, the compulsions remain manageable, even this close to the system."
Way to lay it thick. No doubt it was a catch twenty two with Pretender. It was too late for her now. If she fought against her directives, Angra Mainyu would take over proper and likely make matters worse, which would literally be cataclysmic with Sakura literally feet away and under her influence. If she went through with this, well, it was still potentially devastating, but still far better than unleashing a literal God of Evil onto the world.
For a brief moment, he had the urge to ask what would happen if someone used the wish for something stupid, such as a pair of panties like in that one particularly famous comic involving wishes, but thought better of it. He had already dug his grave. He wasn't going to piss in it before jumping in.
Plus he really didn't want to know or envision how the Grail would turn "I want women's underpants" to "slaughter as many people as possible to deliver said women's underpants".
"And how long will that take?" He looked around the cavern once more. Sakura was serving as an artificial pipeline, connecting and fueling Marjatta with mana from herself, Irisviel, and those copies of Balmung stabbed into the stone flooring on the other side of the expanse. It was a sufficient setup, but the problem was the blonde girl was in no condition to be filled to the brim at a moment's notice. She was a fragile container at best with what she had been through. He almost even pitied the poor shrew.
"It depends. The more ambiguous and complex your wish, the more difficult and time consuming it will be. Exponentially at that. If we actually cared about her possibly surviving the process, the entire procedure would take over a week." Irisviel shrugged carelessly. "If we desired to reach the Root, then I estimate it would take until the next oncoming morning at the earliest, even if we rush the ritual. Inversely, if we simply activate the Greater Grail and enact a minor wish, we could accomplish that come dawn."
"And my wish?"
She gently reached up to cup his face with one hand. "You yearn not for the material, nor a mystery, but information to eventually enact a miracle on par if not surpassing True Magic, in a time or world that is likely not this one. It would not be far off to say that the bulk of the power going into your request would be towards reaching across the realms to verify and validate its authenticity for you, mere information or not. Even the saints and priests of lore should balk at the patience you have and the ordeals you've endured."
"And punch a hole into time and space all the same." The image of the corrupted Grail that haunted him since his rescue by Kiritsugu's hands flashed through his mind.
"That's the way it works. The system prepares to reach Alaya in earnest starting at the Sixth Servant. There's more than a single layer of reality between here and there, so you could say that the hole everyone sees at that point is the initial incision, past the known primary fabrics that the world uses to protect the one we're in now from the monsters and disasters that originate from the outside. The Seventh enables the system and ritual to make the real push through that entrypoint. Doing it in a single go is too risky and would prevent the system from stabilizing a proper path for the Master to utilize. The curses and mana that spill out from the gap made, you could say that all of it is still being utilized, passed through the system even if what we witness is coming from a source not from this world. I… Angra Mainyu is simply just that potent of a conceptual entity."
Archer's gaze dropped down and nodded as he digested Irisviel's explanation. Regardless of who was in control, there was little reason to doubt her at this time. Not on this particular topic at least.
A good number of people were probably going to die from this. One way or another.
Bodies, piled and butchered, flashed through his mind. A never ending collage of pointless slaughter.
With greater clarity than ever before.
His hands tightened into fists.
How many more would he be forced to end regardless of which direction he took? How many more times would he be called forth to mindlessly kill before he wizened up like this again? Ten summonings? A hundred? Thousands? Did it really matter if he wound up ending a larger number of lives than normal if it meant he could finally get a lead on ending it all?
One to save ten. Ten for a hundred. Measuring life on the scale equally…
So how much did his life and soul weigh? Was it even there? Or was it actually of unequivocal value?
What frustrated him wasn't the fact that he didn't know, but that the answer wasn't even up for him to decide or know in the first place even if he wanted to find out.
Her hand dropped and she turned away. For a short few seconds, Irisviel regressed into resembling what she looked like before, a knowing and sympathetic mother that could read her child like a book. "Tomorrow at midnight. We will have to prepare for the others to try and interfere of course, but that's taking it all into consideration. Unless, of course, you're willing to help or have some ideas?"
The way she was trying to poorly pretend to be innocent and coy was too much like Illya on a bad day. Even if he was in the wrong, he did pity the ones that were going to get in his way.
He looked down at her with hawk-like eyes, peering straight through her as though to pick out any and every secret she was still hiding from him. "You have something already in mind."
Irisviel's smile widened into something beyond what the human face could facilitate. "I had to spend my idle time doing something while I was home, so I learned a few tricks I think you'll find useful."
o. o. o.
"You've certainly nurtured quite an irritation."
"To be fair, this is the first time I have personally seen him like this as well. I've heard of him getting frustrated before, but this is clearly a step beyond the norm."
"I think it's safe to say that nobody knew just how bad he could actually get until the War started." Bazett sighed in the safehouse, resting and waiting alongside Waver and Lorelei as they recovered their mana reserves.
The ground floor motel room's carpet flooring was torn up to expose a formalcraft circle etched cleanly into the concrete, pulling power from the veins directly below and flooding the room of power to accelerate their recovery.
It was crude and inelegant. The safehouse was designed for stealth with virtually none of the usual fortress-like protections that most magi put around their workshops, but it was fast and effective for what they were aiming for.
Shirou and Rin were in another safehouse a kilometer away in a similar situation. It was a dangerous thing to do, but it meant that they didn't have to share safehouses, and thus could regain their power faster.
The fact that their respective locations were just outside of Archer's range of attack from the mountain also helped save some time.
"Ignoring his superior's orders. Fraternizing with apostles. Hiding a potential Grand level threat to humanity. Ordering around Lords. All without a shred of hesitation. If this was any other circumstance I would have subdued the fool and taken control of the situation myself, if not executed him on the spot by now."
"It's a good thing he's already compliant with his future punishment then, isn't it?" Waver leaned back in his cheap seat. He would have preferred lighting up a cigar, but it wouldn't do in a cramped and poorly ventilated room like this with company. "It is also convenient that he has these safehouses prepared as well. Even I did not anticipate that all the key bases tapping into Fuyuki's leylines outside of the Grail's would have been rendered inaccessible come the end of the war.
Fuyuki Church was destroyed by the Witch. The Tohsaka's by Rider and Assassin. The Makiri's was by both Casters. And nobody in their right mind would think that recharging in the middle of the park would be a good idea.
Among the other notable magus oriented locations, Einzbern castle was too far out of the way even if it hadn't been obliterated in Shirou's fight against Gilgamesh, Luvia's mansion was also burned away by the Witch, and Shirou's home had been rendered nigh void of mana for the foreseeable future. Any power that could be tapped into through the local surroundings was being used to keep Illya's procedure up and secure.
"I'm not surprised." Bazett shook her head. "He was doing stuff like that when I was teaching and running him through missions too. His father apparently beat the idea of having extra safe houses around into his head as one of the earlier lessons."
"Is that so? Then why has Assassin not provided some?" Lorelei asked dryly.
"He likely did not have the opportunity. The Witch kept him on a tight leash from what I've gathered." Waver shrugged.
"Speaking of foresight. I surmise you have noticed as well, Lord El Melloi II." Lorelei gave Waver an impassive look.
To his credit, Waver didn't so much as flinch as much as he just sighed reluctantly. "Mmm. I can make some educated speculations, but nothing conclusive."
"What? What about foresight?" Bazett tilted her head to the side confused.
"Mmm. Perhaps if you treated him as an opponent instead of a student or ally, you would have noticed, Agent MacRemitz." The Vice-Director crossed her arms and leaned up against the wall of the room. "Or maybe it is because you were not present whenever he planned an assault in earnest."
"It could be a recent development, but… hmm, we may need to review his prior missions before any conclusive assumptions can be made time wise." Waver hummed absently.
"Are… are you claiming that Shirou has some precognitive mystery?" Bazett stumbled on her words. "I mean, we all know by now that his eyes enable him some advanced kinetic vision, maybe predicting the paths of oncoming attacks just as they happen, but this is a bit much isn't it?"
"Is it? Given how seamless the majority of his plans during the war turned out?" Lorelei looked at her with a sharp inquisitive glare. "Save for the Witch and Gilgamesh, all the Servants survived. The Masters survived. Regardless of the circumstances, you should be able to notice how peculiar this outcome is in retrospect."
"Then why didn't he predict this disaster then?"
"Because he wasn't looking for it." Waver hummed, looking at the ceiling. "Selective Determinative Precognition. A clairvoyance that depends on the user's actions to determine the future witnessed… but from what I can gather Shirou's is an altered, if not slightly degraded variant."
Between the two types of Precognitive mystic eyes out there, Predictive and Determinative, the latter was among the rarer of the two. The best way to tell them apart was that Predictive calculated "the future as the world continued as is", while Determinative calculated "the future with the user's influence". A "read" future vs a "built" one. Thus, the latter was widely considered more accurate, and uncommon.
And in hindsight, it really did seem appropriate that someone skilled in Projection and Structural Grasping might have at least some affinity towards a "building" themed magecraft.
"I gathered as much from how the boy repeatedly restarted his estimated assault on the Grail with those maps of his. His supposed gift is limited to what he knows and the hypotheticals he can plan ahead ahead of time. He was testing and glimpsing each future one at a time until he found one that yields satisfactory results. A magecraft more suitable to determine how 'successful' an imagined future can be rather than finding one that actually is 'successful'. Blindly filtering through infinite futures individually manually as time progresses regardless. What a laughably inefficient mystery." Lorelei shook her head dismissively. "There are programs and mystic codes in Atlas and the Association that do the exact same thing far faster and more efficiently than the haphazard approach he uses. Compared to its peers, Mystic eyes of that quality would be graded Count at best."
"Mmm, but how many sets of eyes are capable of that and more?" Waver held his hands in front of his face.
He opened the fingers out in his right hand. "Eyes that can calculate the immediate future around you to grant heightened if not instinctual situational awareness. In that case one could almost say it's not the future you are seeing but a heightened present."
He held his fingers straight at the ceiling, pointing at one of the pointless styrofoam bubbles above. "Eyes that with enough information and focus calculate what can happen in a further future, based off of not only the user's actions but those under their influence as well."
He then held his hands together. "Eyes that can peer into the making and past of any object the user desires, picking apart its history like a researcher would the contents of a book." Retrocognition. A very restricted and technical variant, compared to what Waver had personally witnessed not even a year prior, but still a variant nonetheless.
"You believe the boy has Mystic eyes, not Pure eyes as you touted before."
"I never claimed to be infallible, but it does appear that Shriou possesses a rather versatile form of Clairvoyance, albeit one with just as many limitations. I doubt even he is aware of it just yet. The way he was plotting our moves and repeatedly reset the board indicated that he was acting more on instinct more than anything. Like a chess player running through potential moves and seeing fault with them moments later. Though if anyone would have the final verdict on what he has exactly, it would have to be the faculty on the Rail Zeppelin."
"I would rather not expose myself to any additional Apostle related matters unless it is to execute them."
He had a feeling she'd say something along those lines.
Individually, all three mysteries the eyes possessed could be considered rather low grade given their displayed performance. There were multiple magi that possessed Mystic Eyes that could see further into the future, more frequently, and with higher ease and accuracy than Shirou.
The only exception was with its ability to take in information via Structural Grasping. They had, after all, forced the information of a Divine Construct without any issue into Unlimited Blade Works from what he had been informed.
The fact that they were all present in a single pair of eyes though was a curious phenomenon.
Analyzing the past and present. Calculating the immediate future. Predicting and analyzing the near future as more…
And yet despite all his years of training and experience, before and after death, Shirou's Counter Guardian counterpart never showed this development. As if he didn't possess the key factor that the current Shirou…
"Ah. So that's it."
"I should have known you'd figure it out so quickly." Bazett gave him a smug look. "You know, there's a reason why everyone calls you a pervert when it comes to picking apart everyone's mysteries."
"So long as those crude rumors about me and my students stop, I can live with it."
"I'm confident you do actually need the Grail for that to happen."
"Do your pointless gossiping some other time. What did you deduce, Lord El Melloi II?" Lorelei cut into the banter with a hint more irritation than she probably intended.
Waver allowed himself to chuckle with a hint of pity. "As far as answers go, this one is rather lackluster. It's the product of an accident of convenience, much like his watered down condition as an Apostle. Only instead of a combination of an early treatment and Avalon being the focus of observation…"
"The Emiya Crest. Time magic." Bazett finished the sentence with a realization. "You can't get much closer to working with the foundational mysteries for precognition than that."
"Applied to his eyes mutating due to the Apostle blood, they developed to incorporate his rampant use of Structural Grasping and the Crest's time mysteries into its innate calculations, resulting in an imitated form of Precognition. The boy's absurd Projection methodology likely serves as the basic foundations to organize and efficiently sort the information provided in the first place, with the added Time factor conveniently expanding their capabilities to imitate both forms of Precognition by sheer happenstance. It explains why they are able to process the past, present, and future with the limitations presented. One could claim that what the boy possesses is a fake variant of both forms. The theory does have merit." Lorelei hummed with some thought before frowning. "But not one I would condone or announce."
"Explanation does not equate justification." Waver came to that conclusion when he realized the role the Emiya crest played in the discussion. Experimentation on anything Apostle related was heavily restricted at best and forbidden as a standard. If anyone found out that Shirou had accidentally gotten Mystic Eyes by a freak combination of the right crest and liberal use of analytical spells, a good number of families would start frothing at the mouth trying to hunt Apostles for samples to do their own research. Or worse, combine their family crests with said experiments in some capacity and ruin their legacies in the process.
He had a strong suspicion that some of the younger legacy families would be especially prone to this sort of reckless risk taking.
… If only his suspicions went just far, it would be fine.
The real issue came from how accurate Shirou's determinative precognition could be specifically. It was uncommon magecraft, but useful enough to encounter every now and then.
Meaning there were many known and utilized countermeasures for it. Ones known to and frequently employed by high standing individuals of the world, such as Lords of the Clocktower, and Apostle Ancestors. Or Caster Class Servants.
Centuries of education, experience, and paranoia all but ensured that they all had means to hide themselves from causality enough to at least prevent moderate attempts to read or guide their futures from outside parties. It was too dangerous for them not to. Hell, Waver usually had a mystic code or two for that purpose himself on his person on a normal day outside of his office.
And yet, Shirou somehow managed to work around them all. Repeatedly.
Not perfectly by any means, the extremely close call with Gilgamesh and the current situation obviously underscored how fallible the boy's supposed ability was, but he still searched for and found a path that got him what he wanted when the dice was rolled without getting caught.
The greater the miracle, the greater and more stringent the conceptual rules behind them. While he had not lied about how arduously slow and tedious Shirou's methodology behind planning the attack soon would be…
"He has that look again." Bazett sighed.
"Anything you deem worthy of sharing?"
"Nothing worth your time, I'm afraid. Just nitpicking some minor details and additional limitations." Waver worked fast to cover his and Shirou's asses. "It's likely we won't see a performance like this again anytime after the events here finally resolve. Shirou's been combing over the Grail War and Fuyuki with Kiritsugu's notes for almost a decade. It's improbable he'll have as much information or insight at any other venue to provide as much efficiency in the future. Expecting a performance on the Rank of Count to his Determinative Precognition trait anywhere outside of this city may be overly ambitious. If we consider the other two traits we discussed… hm, his eyes are likely graded Fes overall, but only due to the abnormal versatility they possess."
Bazett wasn't sold, giving the Lord a dry stare that said as much. She might have bought it if it was another member of nobility that said it, but she knew Waver long enough to know better. He didn't go that deep into his introspection and analysis of mysteries unless it was something particularly interesting.
"Humph. How convenient. What a pointless topic of discussion." Lorelei scoffed and shook her head dismissively.
Neither of the other two in the room needed a translation. The final verdict was to continue treating Shirou's eyes as Silver Ranked Pure eyes as far as the public was concerned, if only for posterity's sake.
That said, there was a peculiarity to her declaration. After all, if Shirou's ability to predict the future was as fallible as Waver claimed, then the method of attack that had been agreed upon shouldn't be as secure as they had assumed.
And yet she did not bring it up.
Nor did they have the intention to point it out.
"Enforcer MacRemitz… no. Servant Lancer. Answer me, how does my dog compare to Servant Archer?" Lorelei asked after a few minutes of silence.
"Humph. If that wasn't a loaded question, I don't know what is." Lancer materialized next to his Master on the bed of the room with his arms and legs crossed. "I'm guessing you're asking about something other than the whole vampire thing."
"Don't play games, Hound of Ireland. I'm in little mood for them."
"Sorry for trying to liven things up." Cu Chulaiin shrugged helplessly. "... If I were to summarize how Archer stands out from the kid… it would probably be 'experience'. Or rather 'veteran'."
"We all know he's a Counter Guardian and what that entails," Waver pointed out.
"No. I mean in the way Archer does, pretty much everything." Lancer shook his head dismissively. "That white haired grump is the sort that really has been through everything. Most Servants, when they hit a real wall or a new challenge, they toughen up a bit, but there's still a bit of uncertainty and wariness behind the act. A lingering concern or interest about the ramifications if the job goes south that taints the way they act and go through things until they regain their momentum. Archer doesn't have that. It's like he's mostly dead inside and is just going through the motions. He doesn't put in minimal effort like most lazy morons, but he never feels like putting in everything either. He gets surprised but it's almost never enough to make him even flinch, let alone interrupt his stride. Less confident in 'himself' and more confident in 'how everything will likely turn out one way or another' because he's been through something similar hell knows how many times by now. Even most of the Servants with some sort of mental based skill don't make it look as effortless as he does."
"Now I get it." Bazett gave her Servant a wry smile. "You hate him because the idea of anyone having zero motivation or interest when fighting you for real even when their life is on the line pisses you off. Like going on a date with someone that is just going along with it."
Lancer shot his Master a dry stare. "As if you would know anything about that sort of thing, Master."
"Urk?! W-What's that supposed to mean?! I-I've been on dates before! I have a social life outside of being an Enforcer!"
"Mhm. Sure you do."
"Mommy, what's a date? Is uncle Lancer being mean again?" Her smaller banshee leg asked innocently through their connection.
"Not now girls! When you're older!" Bazett desperately hoped that Lorelei wouldn't catch how she flinched and reacted to the sudden question. The condition of her legs were among the few things that the Vice-Director hadn't managed to learn since arriving in Japan and she intended to keep it that way.
Even though she wasn't participating in the minor argument, nobody missed the Vice-Director giving the embarrassed young woman a look of genuine pity.
"So to summarize, Archer seems to go through everything, even fighting, with minimal interest to the point he treats it all like a chore. Whereas Shirou tends to wear his emotions on his sleeve most of the time and dives headfirst into dealing with anything that gets in his way." Waver dryly laughed to himself while cutting off that particular conversation before it gained momentum. "... Well, his more obvious emotions at least."
"Heh. That's just it. That bastard doesn't put his all into anything he does. Even fighting with his life on the line. A warrior with no pride at all in how he fought." Lancer clicked his tongue. "And what pisses me off is that even though he doesn't have the background and power like most of us in the Knight class, I can tell he can hold his own all the same with just bare fundamentals and technique. The sort you can tell was built from scratch. Nothing fancy about what he does either… you don't see many like that on the battlefield that last long or make it far enough to grow into something interesting. Servant or not. It's a damn waste."
"Waste or not, I think he really might put in the effort this time." Bazett pointed out with a grim tone.
"Don't get my hopes up."
Waver held back a small smile. So Lancer respected Archer after all, in his own way.
"Do you think you can take him?" Lorelei got straight to the point.
"If it was any other Servant with his skillset, easily. The kid said it himself, I'm their worst enemy with my fighting style mixed with Protection from Arrows, Magic Resistance, and Battle Continuation." Lancer shrugged.
"But not against Archer." Waver concluded.
"That guy's fought me, against all of us who knows how many times already. Plus if he's being juiced by the Grail like the kid suspects, then he'll have access to who knows how many rounds of Noble Phantasms and tricks. Including mine." Lancer scratched the back of his head in annoyance. "In a straight fight up close I'm pretty sure I'd run him through eventually, but I doubt he'll go for that sort of setup. Even I don't know what will happen if that bastard turns my spear into an arrow. Pretty sure it would be ridiculous enough to give my teacher a good laugh though. Right before she'd run off to test it out herself."
A heart seeking, causality reversing, near sure hit Arrow that may or may not be mass produced and fired rapidly by a Servant that can easily match the rate of a machine gun with a range of four kilometers.
Yes, that indeed is a terrifying concept to envision going up against. All things considered, it probably would be safer for everyone if Irisviel had just blackened Berserker and set him loose like in Kiritsugu's notes.
It was a good thing that one of the first challenges they had worked around was how to approach the mountain without getting spotted by Archer. A difficult ordeal at the best of times, moreso when Caster was unable to assist.
"Good thing you have Protection From Arrows then." Bazett gave him a wry smirk.
"And shit luck. Degraded imitation or not, I still don't want to risk my torso being a meat shield if I can help it." Lancer clicked his tongue. "Of all the times for Berserker to not be around."
Waver held back a snort. Meatshield or not, Berserker's use would drop drastically once they got in the caves due to how liable he was to cause too much damage in a blind rampage and accidentally collapse the network on their heads.
"Speaking of lost assets, speak honestly. Is the boy a lost cause after this debacle?" And like that any good feelings in the room died instantly.
"If you are asking about his feelings to you and your requests, I estimate that he is about as receptive to them as he always has been." Waver picked his words carefully. "That said, I do advise perhaps giving some extra time to cool his head after this disaster before giving him any extensive orders."
Lorelei's eyes narrowed. "And what of Einzbern and Assassin?"
Waver took much longer conjuring an answer for that question.
o. o. o.
The safehouse that Shirou, Saber, and Rin stayed in was uncomfortably quiet.
Rin had made multiple attempts to try and speak to Shirou, only to falter the moment the words reached her tongue every time.
She wasn't supposed to be here.
Shirou's original plan of attack didn't involve her in any way. Without Archer, without a proper means of fighting at full tilt against Servant tier opponents, she would be a liability.
She pushed her way in anyways.
Using Sakura would be a weak excuse to come, since Luvia cared about her sister just as much, and yet the latter had still agreed to stay behind to maintain her connection to Caster.
If she had the Sword of Zelretch, she'd have a better position to stand on, but unfortunately the last one made had been by Archer a few days ago, which surprise surprise was gone now. And they needed Irisviel or Illyasviel available for Shirou to make a new one.
The best she could do was gather up the last of her jewels she had prepared for the war, which admittedly was a fair haul, and plan her own means of attack, defense, or something particularly exotic if needed.
Hell, she hadn't even had the opportunity to truly show off in the war come to think of it. The most she had actually accomplished during the war other than blowing up Kirei was using that stupid joke spell to blow off Bazett's rune enhanced suit when she was being controlled by Caster.
Normally she'd be considered a viable force with what she had on her, but…
A top tier Enforcer armed with a Noble Phantasm.
The newly christened and recognized Tenth Apostle Ancestor.
The Vice-Director of the Magus Association.
Even among the non-Servant members of the strike force, Rin felt uncomfortably small.
(Elsewhere, a certain Lord El Melloi II felt as though he was being insultingly disregarded.)
None of that seemed to register to their unofficial leader of the assault, who was staring down at a table with a map of the cave system they were about to go through, constantly moving little chess pieces around and then resetting the scenario time and time again whenever he came across something unsatisfying that only he could apparently see.
The fact his eyes were somewhat glowing in the dim lit room didn't help the slightly possessed appearance he had either. She had no idea what sort of nonsense he was pulling off this time, but to be perfectly honest she was too emotionally drained to even bother.
A slight rattle caught everyone's attention. All eyes turned to the chain of gold extending from Shirou's free hand.
"A problem?" Saber asked.
"No. Assassin's done with setting up. He wasn't caught." Shirou breathed out slowly, a sign that something went well for once. "He's sticking to surveillance unless something changes like we agreed. Anything different would have been a sharper pull."
As the only Servant available whose Master wasn't drained by Sakura, Kiritsugu was tasked to do surveillance and take preventative measures ahead of the upcoming battle.
It also saved everyone the awkwardness of talking to Kiritsugu given the circumstances. Nobody other than Shirou had the nerve to directly approach him once everyone calmed down, much less look him in the eyes.
Well, it wasn't like looking Shirou dead in the eyes was any easier at the moment.
They couldn't risk anything extreme like having him go into the cave system proper. Even if his Presence Concealment was elevated due to being Illya's Servant, there was no way he'd be able to last long undetected in an environment like that, much less get out.
That said, if this particular gambit actually worked, even if it was a sloppy Hail Mary as far as magecraft went, it would at least nudge things more in their favor.
It was good news.
Even better in that it prompted Shirou to speak or recognize the existence of someone in the room since they first got inside.
Rin wasn't going to get much of a better opening than that.
So, after giving Saber a look indicating she was taking the plunge, she decided to get the ball rolling.
"Shirou, do you hate me?"
It was an incredibly out of character and outlandish thing to ask, but the fact that she asked it at all was enough to snap Shirou out of his obsessed state, and worked better than if she asked a genuinely smart question.
"What?" Case and point, the young man in question instantly snapped his head up and looked at her as if he was having trouble comprehending what she had just asked. "Do I, what?"
Rin let out a sigh, and as though a switch was flipped, the slightly nervousness underlying her tone vanished instantly. "Nothing. Just a stupid question to get your attention."
"I, hah, really, Rin?"
She gave him a tired look. "You vastly underestimate how absorbed you can get in your plotting you can get. Especially when you're actually hyped up to kill someone for once. I had to go the extra mile to make you focus on me somehow."
"I'm not-"
"You hate Archer." She cut him off sternly before clicking her tongue and backing off in frustration and guilt. "We get it. Everyone gets it. Hell, even Gilgamesh probably knows it and you killed him off before he even saw Archer. Why you hate him so much is beyond me, though if I came across a version of myself that sold myself to the world I'd probably be pissed too. And I… am the one that was supposed to keep an eye on him, if not controlled."
"That's not-"
"I know." She pointed her finger just a few centimeters away from the spot between his eyes. Normally that would be a death sentence for both of them given his skills and her use of the Gandr curse, but there was no ill intent anywhere in that room. "We all know that's not why you despise him. Give us some credit, Shirou. Despite how many secrets you've somehow managed to hide from everyone, you're a borderline perpetually open book. As for me, well, I had an unreasonable job that was harder than any of us suspected."
"Is there a point to this?" He knew Rin was trying to downplay how badly Archer's betrayal had hurt her. They all did. She wouldn't be here in the first place if it didn't.
She wasn't supposed to be on the attack team. It was only because she had put her foot down and made several compelling arguments in front of everyone that only Rin Tohsaka could pull off that she had managed to come this far.
He still didn't like it.
Rin dropped her hand and nodded to the map next to them. "My point is that we will stop Archer. One way or another. You've already clearly mapped out the most likely way to do it, and everyone is on board with your plans, but you're nitpicking and obsessing over every possible outcome that it's obviously going to backfire if you keep going like this. You weren't this bad when you had to fight Fina."
"I didn't have a day to fight Fina." Shirou frowned.
"You also didn't know literally everything Fina could do from the start." As always, her counterargument was hard to dismiss. "Your enemy is literally you, no matter how much you hate admitting it. And Irisviel, who Assassin knows better than anyone. Rider. Angra Mainyu. Sakura. You've already had plans for those three, if not everyone else since the war even began, even if I have to twist your arm to get you admit it. Hell, you even managed to get Merem Solomon, an Apostle Ancestor, to spill enough secrets on his right arm to take it down in front of even the Vice-Director. Most magi out there would be wasting time still trying to circumvent the mysteries of the mountain or perfecting protections against Sakura, but you're what, just perfecting how to kill Archer countless times over in case he has immortality or something?"
"... It's the Grail. Can't be too careful."
"I was joking, swords for brains." Rin deadpanned, more embarrassed for Shirou than herself for the admission. "Besides, we both know the last thing Archer wants is immortality."
Shirou frowned for a moment and opened his mouth.
"Don't give Archer immortality Shirou."
Shirou closed his mouth.
Saber's flat expression was identical to Rin's.
Rin wasn't even surprised or alarmed that that was the first thing that came to his mind. She was right, he really was an open book most of the time.
"Shirou, we both know that the odds of making some perfect plan, let alone pulling it off are next to zero. Even if we had some stupid Servant skills or Noble Phantasm upping the odds. And over planning can just make it all worse. You know this probably better than anyone here. Including the Vice-Director and other Servants."
"Restlessness is the enemy." Saber nodded firmly. "You've done well so far. Better than I had expected any Master in this era given the circumstances you have been forced to address, but you are clearly reaching your limits again. You need to calm down and rest, Master."
Shirou grimaced. Whenever Saber joined in on an argument against him, his odds of winning dropped significantly. Moreso when he innately knew she was right. "You know what's at stake."
"It's the same as it's been for the past three weeks. What's different this time?" Rin held her ground.
An ugly grimace twisted Shirou's lips. "That it's me we're up against?"
Both women blinked and glanced at one another briefly. All things considered, that was a pretty solid argument. The fact that Shirou willingly and openly admitted that Archer was a variant of him for once only made it worse in that regard.
"Okay, I'll give you that much, but if that's true, he should be freaking out as much as you in a sense. I was connected to him when he decided to be a bigger ass than normal. He wasn't prepared for this. His plans would be as slapdash as yours."
"He has the Mind's Eye skill." Countered with a grimace. A skill borne through experience that makes even insane plans with a one percent chance to actually work far more likely to succeed. "And that's not my worst concern."
"Worse than his success?" Saber spoke up. "We have time Shirou. It will take time to prepare the Grail to gain power to grant the wish of finding out multiple ways to get off the throne-"
"That's the problem." He cut her off with grave confidence. The sort that made others afraid of asking why the speaker was so certain.
"That's the, what, that Archer also has time to prepare as well and pull the same sort of insane nonsense on us that you've been doing this entire time?" Rin frowned.
"No. Well, that too, but," Shirou shook his head and sighed heavily, "If he really is anything like me, then there's a good chance we don't have as much time as we assumed."
His words hung heavily in the room.
It was only then that Rin realized that the paths he had been endlessly focusing on the map for the past few hours weren't the safest ones like they had initially plotted back at his home, but the shortest, and most dangerous ones.
"... Damn it Shirou." She meant it. Past, present, and future.
o. o. o.
A/N:
Thanks again Wayfarer for Betaing
Be honest, some of you weren't expecting this chapter coming out alongside the TTRT chapter.
To summarize the first part of Waver's and Lorelei's discussion on Shirou's eyes and its identified future sight powers:
Lorelei: "So what do you rank the dog's ability to see the future at? I'm thinking, C. Along with his C-ish ranked kinetic vision and B ranked structural grasping.
Waver: "E." (under his breath "Plus plus plus plus")
(for anyone that doesn't know how the system works, the plus' double exponentially given certain conditions. A single plus is x2. Two is x4. Three is x8, etc. So he's essentially saying: the eyes work normally at shit level, but depending on circumstances can be ludicrously strong)
Lorelei: "... Let's just stick to telling everyone he has B ranked Pure Eyes. No. A ranked Pure Eyes. That sounds far more impressive and not disappointing."
Waver: "Damn I'm smooth."
As for a dumbed down explanation of how his eye powers actually work and compare to other abilities:
Mind's Eye (rank B): "I can make plans that barely have a 1% shot of working, and then make them work because I'm just that damn good and experienced."
Determinative Precognition Mystic Eyes (guessing rank B): "I can see a future that barely has a 1% chance of coming true and then pull it off with a little bit of effort because magic eye bullshit."
Shirou's Eyes: Determinative Precognition (fake) (Rank E ): "I have to do a metric shit ton of research on literally everything involved in the future I want and events involved leading up to it. Then I manually have to plan detailed ways to do it and my eyes will tell me how bad said plans are ranging from possible to impossible to fuck no! Only the possible ones are likely to come true, then magic eye bullshit happens to make it even more likely to happen… but I would have to go for 25% odds success bare minimum. I'd more than likely die horribly if it was anything less. Results vary significantly depending on how much I do know vs how many factors weren't taken into consideration."
ME and DP: "Wow, that sucks. ME needs some extra info on everything to kick in, but not THAT much."
SE: "Yeah, but if I get enough info and plan right, my futures get around 90% of the usual anti-future mystic bullshit that most other hardcore magic users do.
ME and DP realizing that they're in a hardcore magic bullshit world: "Mother fucker."
To put it another way for Shirou's eyes: imagine playing out a chess scenario, only you start off not knowing what shape the board is in, the pieces on the board, where they are, what they can do, extra rules, or even whose turn it is, but he can input what his "win condition" is. With more information gathered, his eyes can map out what is likely going to happen in general, and if an approach has the slightest hope of reaching that win condition even if he doesn't know or have everything yet. And with enough info, like say from studying for the grail war for almost five years with Kiritsugu's notes, and enough time to practice, plot and plan things out, even if there were a few gaps, the effects of his eyes jump from near useless to damn useful against harder enemies.
Except Gilgamesh. Golden boi's ass backward A ranked defying fate Luck stat kicked in during the fight and turned over Shirou's determined path when the stairs fell underneath Shirou. Even Shirou could only plan ahead 2 or 3 steps ahead of Gil in a real fight before Gil's… everything, kicks in and turns things around. Stacking the deck with Berserker and Saber and himself at the same time kinda backfired in an ironic way.
Witch Caster got kinda lucky too. Her anti-future interfering mystics barely saved her ass when Shirou nearly sniped her point blank through her Bounded Field with Gae Dearg.
Yeah, not gonna lie, overall, his future telling abilities kinda suck something awful. Pretty much every other character in the Type Moon verse with the ability to see into the future can do it significantly better than Shirou the vast majority of the time. It's only when he's going into armageddon prepper mode that it shows any actual worth, and even then it's hard to notice because it just looks like he's real good at strategizing from an outsider's perspective.
That said, if his eyes were extracted and used in some device that Atlas or Chaldea uses to process and calculate data on an absurd scale… certain paths and interesting things would eventually happen without fail (pun somewhat intended) for better or for worse. In that regard, you could say that Shirou's a capable user of his eyes, but they're still kinda wasted on him compared to what a full fledged magus or facility could pull off with them.
But enough about bullshit improvised lore! We're done with the talking part! Nothing but action and explosions from here on out! Nice. Good. Juicy action and explosions!
And I'm still driving myself mad! Bwahahaha! Merry Christmas everyone! Visit my Pa-eon! (Third Fang). Look at my stuff and things! And things and stuff!
SO REVIEW! WORSHIP THE LOG! AFTER A CERTAIN CONVERSATION, FFD SHIROU WILL HAVE UNRESTRICTED TICKETS TO THE RAIL ZEPPLIN! AND REVIEW AGAIN!