Chapter two

Cold, it was cold. I felt the harsh winds blowing towards my bare skin as I scaled the nearest building I could find.

"I should have brought a jacket along with me." Pushing off from the wall I continued to run upwards as if I was running normally on a flat plane.

Upon reaching the top of the apartment building I continued onward, jumping from building to building heading towards where I last sensed the anomaly.

"This should be close enough." I was standing on the rooftop of a multi storied building, looking down from above, I could just make out the various different buildings of Kuoh town, it's shopping district, the academy, the abandoned church and my current residence a cursed mansion on the outskirts of town.

Extending my senses across the town, I attempted to find the source of this anomaly, sniffing the air a disgusting smell assaulted me, a stench that reeked of blood and ammonia? Ignoring the foul stench, I jumped off the building and headed towards the smell.

"Trace on." I reinforced my legs with a clump of prana just before I landed onto the asphalt concrete footpath causing it to crack underneath the impact.

"..." Ignoring the damaged footpath I moved onwards towards the foul stench at super human speeds.

"...!" Moving on instinct I twisted my body as I kicked off the ground in an instant, dodging a projectile that would have pierced my heart had I not sidestepped at the last possible moment. The projectile crashed into a wall disintegrating it into pieces before I heard a loud thunderclap.

"What was that?" Stopping in my tracks I turned around only to be met with a barrage of arrows. "Trace on." Reinforcing my arms out of reflex, I lifted them in front of me in an attempt to block the barrage, only for me to throw myself at the ground at the last moment, as I analysed the incoming barrage of arrows. The arrows flew past my head penetrating the concrete foundation before exploding into smithereens, along side with the surroundings sending chunks of debris flying throughout the air.

Standing up I took a deep breath, calming myself down before starting to analyse the current situation.

I should have blocked the barrage with one of my arms, it would have allowed me to track down the bowman at little cost and give me time to do a counterattack of my own. The damage I would have received would be negligible despite the arrows being filled to the brim with magical energy, plus that damage would be reduced even further if I deflected it instead of taking it head on.

After all I knew what the projectiles were including their strengths and weaknesses, they weren't arrows in the traditional sense but rather something completely different, something longer and stronger, they were swords. And with that knowledge I knew who I was facing, after all there was only two people who used swords as projectiles, but only one that actually altered them into an arrow and fire them as explosives.

"Trace on." Reinforcing my body to the limits I followed the trajectory of the new barrages of arrows, deflecting them with my arms while tracking down the angle at which the bowmen must have shot it from.

"Found you."

I turned my head upwards to face the hidden figure on top of a building. I was faced with a mirror image of myself wielding a black bow, but instead of black hair and white skin, it was reversed he had white hair and tanned skin, otherwise we was identical.

"So I was right, I don't know how this is possible... but even if it's you, no especially because it's you that I must take you down."

"..." The archer simply raised his bow as he projected sword arrows onto his bow, firing them in a flash with the force to easily destroy entire houses with speeds beyond sound.

"Is that all he could do? wear me down from afar, or was this one of his cunning strategies." Dodging the barrage of arrows, I kicked off the ground and weaved through the constant storm of sword arrows, deflecting the ones that I couldn't avoid.

After dodging another barrage, I had finally noticed that the arrows he fired were weak in comparison to the time when I was Archer, still I couldn't keep on blocking his attacks forever eventually my defences would give in, I needed to even the playing field but first...

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"Trace on" I conjured an image of a gun cocking and firing.

Judging the conception of creation. A bow designed to be able to fire noble phantasms properly without affecting the accuracy and power behind it, as well as withstanding the strain of firing a noble phantasm. A bow that wouldn't break.

Hypothesising the basic structure. A matte black, western style straight bow with a simple design.

Duplicating the composition material. Created using a special material/alloy yet to be discovered by mankind as of the present time.

Imitating the skill of its making. Forged personally by it's user the heroic spirit of phantasms with skills of a master blacksmith and bow maker.

Sympathising with the experience of its growth. Ever since it's creation it had been with its creator for all of eternity, accompanying him during his never ending journey of chasing a flawed ideal, to become a hero of justice.

Reproducing the accumulated years. It had seen much bloodshed and has been destroyed many times throughout its journey, whenever it was through battle, through time and yet it still accompanied it's master. It had seen how it's master and creator has suffered throughout his journey of being a hero of justice, how all he ever wanted was to save everyone in front of him, only for that simple pure wish to be denied over and over again.

Excelling every manufacturing process. It may not be a noble phantasm but it may be considered on the same level as one. As it is a weapon that defines archer for who he is, a support weapon that allows him to use his true abilities when no other bow could suffice. A weapon that would have be a noble phantasm had Archer been a proper heroic spirit.

Grasped within my right hand was Emiya's bow, the same bow that was within my opponent's hands. By projecting it I had added it to my stores of blueprints, but more importantly I could now attack from afar in future battles still it would be of no use in this battle.

I dismissed the bow after projecting it. I don't know why he was weakened compared to the past, but I knew that I wasn't going to win in a battle of archery weakened or not. So instead I opted for something better. Something that even the heroic spirit of phantasms can't copy for just like EA it too is a unique weapon.

"Archer, no EMIYA I don't know why your here or how you incarnated without a master. But I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO INTERFERE WITH OUR SMALL SHARE OF HAPPINESS." Yes I may owe him a debt one that may never be repaid, but his presence could mean the reappearance of another holy grail war and I cannot allow that to happen.

Resolving myself I started to enter into a trance, my face hardening, my eyes losing all traces of light, my body becoming tense. I was once again becoming the villain that had doomed the world. It was time to cast the spell, one that manifests my soul's inner world onto reality, forcibly creating a new world that belonged sorely to me a reality marble. But that would be going too far all I needed was but a fraction of that power.

"I am the darkness that shrouds all." My voice came out in a deep but calm voice that betrayed no emotions. A long sword wreathed in darkness appeared in front of me, hovering within the air the long sword itself was a mystery. No one knew what was hidden underneath its sheath of darkness not even it's creator was allowed to see what lied beneath. Still no one could deny the power it gave off, for all who saw it's power saw a never ending journey in a pitch black dark night, chasing after the ever distant miracle only to be granted true despair. Grasping Erebus with two hands I swung the blade in a wide arc, destroying the incoming sword arrows with ease.

"..." Emiya responded by projecting a single arrow, a pitch black sword arrow with a few small edges coiling around the thin core, spiralling around it and somewhat curving outward. This was Hrunting: Hound of the red plains the sword used by Beowulf to track down Grendel. However this was different, the sword had be altered to suit his needs, when fired it could reach up to speeds of mach 10 and beyond, not only that it will always pursue the target even if it was parried, repulsed or avoided as long as the shooter keeps aiming at them.

"..." A formidable weapon but against my own it was worthless, for the moment I took hold of Erebus I was made aware of it's power. Holding the sword in front of me, I took a basic stance one that I had copied from another, it may be an inferior imitation but it was the only one I knew that had wielded a long sword.

"I am the bone of my sword." A sudden surge of magical energy came from the bowman as he casted the spell to reinforce his arrow. His magical energy being forced into the arrow to increase it's overall power. The bow being drawn back to it's limit to further increase the power of the shot. Unlike the others shots so far, this arrow had the potential to kill me in one blow for it was a A ranked broken phantasm. It had the power to penetrate through entire mountains and with such speed that few could follow let alone block, true to its name it would hunt you down no matter what happened, so the only way to survive such a blow was to kill the wielder or destroy the arrow.

He was too far away from me to kill him at this distance, so it might seem that the only option left was to destroy the arrow but I had another option, one that he wouldn't suspect, one that would increases my odds of victory.

"Trace on." Lifting up Erebus I waited in anticipation for the incoming blow, every single nerve in my body straining from the load of magical energy coursing through them. The shot that would decide our fates would come within the next couple of seconds.

The creaking of the bowstring, his fingers deciding the target. In one more second it would come.

"Soar through the red plains HRUNTING."