Chapter three

I saw a flash of light, a red flash that reduces the time needed to cross the vast distance between us to nothing, All of EMIYA's magical power, concentrated into the single enchanted sword, his arrow, glides through the air, carrying sure death to it's target.

A mere instant, not even a fraction of a second. The instant that his fingers released the bowstring and fired, I had already responded to the threat.

Swinging my sword ahead of time in a wide arc I made contact with the arrow, sparks flying from the collusion. The aftershock causing the air to be torn asunder with my bones creaking from the impact, my muscles slowly tearing into pieces, the ground cracking underneath the pressure.

"..." My reinforced body was screaming from the strain. It told me that I couldn't last much longer, the A ranked broken noble phantasm was pushing me back but it was enough I had completed my goal, with a grunt I deflected the arrow from it's path.

He must have surely seen it, that I made a fatal mistake to deflect an arrow that cannot possibly be stopped by a mere redirection, for as long as he has his sights on me the arrow would come back with full force, and this time it cannot be stopped for I have overextended.

That's if it could come back, pushing forward with all my might I broke past the speeds of sound heading straight towards the building he was perched upon. Reaching deep within my clothes with my left hand I felt the touch of cold steel, this was one of my hidden cards, a mystic code passed down from from father to son as well as master and disciple.

Pulling out the Thompson contender I took careful aim, I had only one shot, I needed to make it count.

"..." For a split second Emiya continued to aim towards me, but quickly dropped his bow before projecting his two signature swords Kanshou and Bakuya in a flash. He manoeuvred them just in time to block an incoming bullet from my direction.

"..." A smirk appeared on my face as I succeeded in my plan, but I couldn't be complacent after all he was still a servant, a being beyond humanity.

"Trace on" I projected Emiya's bow once more, this time instead of projecting an arrow I nocked Erebus onto the bow, while it wasn't an arrow and can't be altered to become one. It would still serve the purpose of one as long as I activated it's special ability.

"..." It was time for him taste what he threw at me earlier. I started to charge up Erebus with as much magical energy I could pour into it within the limited time span. The bow creaking underneath the strain I put it through, it wasn't designed to be used to shoot a proper sword or one as powerful as this one. I could tell the projection would be destroyed the moment I released the shot, but one was all I needed.

"Soar through the darkened skies EREBUS."

I released a black flash of light, my hands trembling from the exertion as the bow finally snapped disappearing back into the illusion from whence it came.

The black flash of light soared through the skies with speeds beyond sound, reducing the time needed to cross the vast distance between us to nothing. I had pumped the majority of my prana within this sword to activate it's special abilities for without it, this final shot would have surely failed. As Erebus was never an arrow or projectile to begin with, it was a long sword, and swords cannot be fired from a bow normally that is.

"..." Emiya discarded his favoured twin swords for a more static defence in response to my 'Hrunting'. Pushing his right hand outwards with his left gripping his right forearm he started to cast the spell. One that could be considered his one and only true noble phantasm when completed, but for now he only needs a fraction of the power known as unlimited blade works.

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"I am the bone of my sword."

"RHO AIAS." Emiya attempted to project his greatest defence Rho Aias: The seven rings that cover the fiery heavens, a shield that has never failed him before in the past, a shield said to be an absolute defence against any thrown weapon. A shield with seven layers each having the defensive power of a fortress, a shield that will easily block my makeshift 'Hrunting'.

However that was only if it could be projected fast enough to block my 'Hrunting'. In an heartbeat Rho Aias was projected but it was a second too late, with nothing to protect himself, Emiya's spiritual core was pierced through with one blow by Erebus, causing him to cough up blood before reverting back into the archer card.

In his last moments, I witnessed his expression changing for the first time in this battle. From the stoic look that mirrored mine to one of disbelief, as if he couldn't fathom how he had lost in his field of expertise especially with the initiative and at range, but more importantly at the fact that his own powers failed him. Why didn't Hrunting continue hunting me down? Why wasn't Rho Aias projected instantly? What was Erebus?

"..." Still in my trance, I ran towards Erebus and the archer card with my reinforced body, going through the ruined remains of buildings caused by our battle.

I stopped temporarily as I stumbled across a series of corpses scattered around, only now did it occur to me why I sensed an anomaly within the area and why nothing was interfering with our battle not even a scream for help. Emiya must have been killing them all but for what purpose? No matter it just made my job much easier, for I didn't have to track down the bystanders and commit genocide as mage's law dictates.

Continuing past the soulless bodies, I yanked Erebus up from the ground as it was deeply lodged into the reinforced concrete foundations. For a time I stared at the long sword with mixed feelings. Erebus was dreadfully powerful, not only was it a match for the weakened sword of 'Truth' it had the potential to reach the same level and maybe even beyond. For it was the bane of swords or any weapons in fact, as it had the power to devour all weapons that I could comprehend with my 'tracing' at the cost of me losing the ability to project them ever again.

It was with this power and his bad luck that stopped Emiya from killing me with Hrunting, for the moment it came into contact with the arrow of death it had just finished devouring my version of Hrunting, allowing it to instantly consume the concept behind Emiya's Hrunting. Essentially turning a A ranked broken noble phantasm to a normal sharp sword arrow without any mystery.

Otherwise I would only be able to partially devour his Hrunting which would have bought me an extra second at most, most likely causing a draw. As both of us would have released their version of 'Hrunting' effectively killing us both since we forgo our defences for offensive.

"..." And yet despite it's power I could feel the sword itself was incomplete ... no sealed away, as if it was waiting for something but what?

"..." No matter I should leave soon before the house of Gremory arrived as this was their territory after all.

A scowl appeared on my face as I thought of the devils that occupied the town. They were a dangerous liability to Miyu, but I couldn't transfer now not when Miyu finally achieved her small share of happiness. At least they had to do all the grunt work to keep this situation under wraps, the reconstruction of the buildings and roads we destroyed, manipulation of the news to assure the populace that it was a grave accident which killed the group of people within the neighbourhood and so on.

"I guess I will call it a vigilante fee" I chuckled to myself softly as I broke my battle trance by returning Erebus to my reality marble. It was finally time to return to Miyu and Angelica but first... I bent over to pick up my spoils, the archer card.

I had mixed feelings about this card, I knew this card well, and what it represented. This card was my other ray of light that helped me save my star, he was the only one willing to help a hopeless fool despite the fact I was the complete opposite of his ideal.

I Looked wistfully at the card as multiple emotions assaulted me. I stood still for a moment before deciding to take off the checkered scarf I was wearing and wrapped it around the archer card.

This card represented my past and all the things that I have lost, but no longer would I ever need it's power again. It was time for me to move on, to find and walk my own path, a path that we as a family would walk together as we protect this small share of happiness.

"... Emiya you had always wanted to save everyone in front of you, but in the end you lost everything, you were consumed by your own contradictions that to save someone means to not save someone else, causing you to end up alone on the hill of swords. You were unable to save anyone but was that really true?" As I continued speaking I noticed that my face was slowly widening.

" Perhaps if you didn't insist on carrying the burden alone or had you looked behind just once on your journey, you would have discovered that there were people saved by you."

"After all you managed to save me!" A wide grin was plastered on my face as I said this out loud, this was my first true expression, one that came from deep within my soul.