Fate: How About a New Savior?

"...Steel is my body, and fire is my blood..."

Archer's chant continued uninterrupted.

But Berserker had no intention of giving him the luxury of preparation. In his fully berserk state, he would keep fighting until he ran out of mana—or until every last enemy was dead.

Even with Saber and Morgan drawing his attention, Heracles still targeted Archer.

Breaking free from Morgan's chains, he lunged toward him.

Archer barely dodged the swing of the massive crimson axe, retreating swiftly as he projected his signature black bow.

"Run and rend them! Hound of the Red Plains! Hrunting!"

With a quiet invocation, he fired a thorn-like black arrow.

The weapon once belonged to the Norse hero Beowulf.

Archer had repurposed it into an arrow. As long as he lived, it would relentlessly chase its target no matter how many times it was deflected—a perfect fit to disrupt Berserker.

But Hrunting failed to pierce Berserker's body, instead being knocked away.

Though it didn't land a killing blow, the arrow moved as if alive, turning in the air to strike again. But Berserker's vicious axe swing knocked it aside once more, sending it arcing through the forest.

Archer instinctively turned toward where the arrow landed—only to see it caught by someone.

The young man standing beside Sakura had caught Hrunting like a longsword, gripping it firmly in both hands.

"A fine weapon, but still not enough. If you want to break through Berserker's defense, you have to do this." Shiomi smiled.

Runes flowed from his hands, wrapping around Hrunting until they completely adhered to its surface.

In the next moment, Shiomi closed the distance to Berserker with a burst of blinding speed. It was dangerously close—Berserker only needed to reach out and he could crush him in his palm.

"What speed..." Archer muttered in awe.

Shiomi drove Hrunting straight into Berserker's chest. Then, with a quick pivot, he kicked the hilt, driving the barely-embedded weapon deeper while using the motion to propel himself out of Berserker's range.

"He's completely gone berserk." Shiomi landed beside Archer, sighing with a wry smile.

Even with his heart pierced, Berserker didn't die. Instead, he entered a revival state, as if injected with raw adrenaline, growing even more frenzied.

The blood pouring from his chest evaporated in the surging mana, turning into a mist of blood that wrapped around his body—making the Greek hero look even more menacing.

"SpreadWater!"

Shiomi summoned his magic spear, spun it a few times, then stabbed it into the ground in front of him.

The ground before Einzbern Castle, which had been quite far from the battlefield, suddenly sank—forming a massive pit, too large even for Berserker to stand in comfortably.

And from the surrounding earthen walls, icy water surged in, swallowing Berserker in seconds.

"So that's it—softness overcoming strength." Archer understood immediately.

No matter how strong Berserker was, without footing and surrounded by flowing water, his immense strength became useless, at least for the moment.

"Keep chanting. Between us, the ways we can pierce that defense and kill him are limited. To finish Berserker completely, we'll need your trump card."

Shiomi had already learned of Archer's Magecraft through Morgan's telepathic message.

And Archer had intended this from the start.

"...I have created over a thousand blades,

Unknown to Death, nor known to Life..."

Archer continued his incantation.

Meanwhile, Shiomi slowly stepped forward, watching as Heracles struggled within the whirlpool.

At first, he thrashed against the torrent, trying to break free. But only seconds passed before he realized the change in his surroundings. As the swirling water centered and spiraled inward with surging mana, he abruptly sank into its depths.

"Is that guy really a Berserker?" Shiomi's pupils shrank sharply.

He saw Berserker sink to the bottom, flattening his body against the pool floor.

Just as Shiomi prepared to manipulate the environment and freeze the entire pool into solid ice, a black magic spear extended from the side, pointing toward the water.

In the blink of an eye, the crystal-clear water froze over, encasing the crouching Berserker within it. The frozen surface still mirrored the swirling vortex from just moments before.

"My husband, do not lower your guard. Berserker is no longer a Servant in the ordinary sense."

Morgan spoke while maintaining the freezing spell. She intended to use this as the base to seal Berserker into a "coffin," attempting to kill Heracles one more time.

"...Husband?"

Saber Mordred ran up to assess the situation, only to freeze upon hearing Morgan's words. It wasn't just that her mother had suddenly appeared—it was that she was now calling this young man "husband."

Mordred had seen a photo of Sakura before at Shiomi's house. He knew this was her father.

So then...

"I'm related to my Master by marriage...?"

While Mordred reeled from this sudden ethical crisis, the ice deep in the pit began to tremble. Cracks spidered rapidly across the surface.

Morgan tried to hasten the transformation into the "coffin," but the ice had already shattered entirely—like a bomb had gone off beneath it. Shards of ice shot into the air.

Berserker was among them.

He had brute-forced his way out and now hurled the chunks of ice like boulders, one after another.

"Shattering Jaw!"

Shiomi wrapped one arm around Morgan's waist and swept his spear across the ground. Earth surged upward, forming a defensive wall that blocked the incoming ice projectiles.

At that moment, Archer's incantation reached its climax.

"...So as I pray—Unlimited Blade Works."

With the final line, fire raced across the ground, drawing a blazing boundary that enveloped everyone in the castle courtyard.

Shiomi, Morgan, Saber, Sakura, Rin, and the airborne Berserker were all consumed within the blaze.

Flames filled their vision, and in an instant, the entire plaza transformed into another world.

Before them stretched an endless wasteland of scorched earth, blazing flames, and countless massive gears turning in the sky.

Everywhere they looked, the land was scattered with abandoned weapons—swords, spears, all of them legendary.

Every weapon Archer had ever used was forged from this inner world.

This was the true nature of his Magecraft, which Morgan had seen through from the beginning.

An infinite projection of weapons.

This was Archer's true, personal Noble Phantasm.

Its name—

"Unlimited Blade Works."

Across the sea of blades, Berserker let out a thunderous roar.

"A Reality Marble... Come to think of it, I used this place too during the last Holy Grail War to face my enemy."

Shiomi, unfazed, reached down and drew a longsword from the ground. Standing at the forefront, he leveled the blade toward the raging Greek hero in the distance.

...

(100 Chapters Ahead)

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