4 To Kuoh Academy with a new assignment.

Archer had been a counter-guardian for a long time. He'd been forced to clean up every single one of the horrors caused by humanity.

The wishes he trampled over to save people, who he'd then cull to save even more. His life is that of a simple murderer.

All of that stemmed from a simple wish. Emiya Shirou became Archer as a result of a single desire.

It all started for him with that smile—pure, unadulterated by worldly desires, and innocent.

It was the same smile that this youngster had; it wasn't the same, yet it was the same. Despite being beaten to a near-death state, the silver-haired boy kept his smile. Words couldn't even begin to describe the concoction of emotions that Archer was feeling right now.

It triggered so many old memories.

While Archer was lost in his own thoughts, Vali's teammates were tending to his wounds while the blonde and brown-haired young man pointed their sword and staff, respectively, toward him.

Archer didn't bother as the Medorach dissipated in blue motes, and began to walk towards the temple after Ophis mentally contacted him and asked for more snacks to eat.

"Do not worry, I won't attack you, and you can come inside after healing him; Ophis is waiting for you; do not let her wait for you," Archer said as he vanished, displaying his immense speed.

"What the hell was he? Dude, that was like fatality shit!" Bikou murmured as he looked at the bruised Vali; he had lost consciousness while Kuroka was healing him, and even in the fight, Archer was completely playing with Vali, that Archer guy wasn't even serious.

"His sword! It was similar to Caliburn but much more powerful." Arthur stated that they were going to surprise the group.

"So it was a holy sword? But how is that possible? Such a powerful holy sword cannot be unknown. Right, brother?" Le Fay asked with a shocked gasp.

"I don't know Le Fay, but it was like Caliburn; I could sense that. However, it also reminded me of Gram; it was so wired." As a swordsman, Arthur was a huge fan of swords; he could recognise most of them just by looking at them, but Archer's sword had a strange effect on him.

~~~~~~

"Ophis-sama, does this man really work for you?" Kuroka asked while receiving a small nod from the cute dragon god, who was sitting on Archer's lap while drinking a chocolate smoothie.

Kuroka was still warily looking at the archer; in fact, the entire team of Vali was a little uncomfortable in his presence.

As for Vali himself, he still hasn't woken up; Archer really did a number on him.

"You are wasting your time if you all are here to stare at me," Archer said snarkily, causing all of them to grumble a little. Bikou was about to retort, but Kuroka, being the wise one, silenced him.

"Ophis-sama, Old Satan's representative Katerea Leviathan has made a request to meet you; they are planning to launch an attack on the three factions during the peace treaty that will be conducted in the Kuoh academy," Kuroka explained the situation.

Ophis prefers to leave alone, so her temple is unknown to all but a few Kahos Brigade higher-ups; Vali's team is one of those who knew Ophi's location, so the Khaos brigade must mostly communicate with Ophis through Vali's team.

While Ophis didn't bother much with Kuroka, she raised her finger, and soon a dark, ominous aura gathered around her finger. The aura slowly morphed into a small purple snake, and the snake bit its tail, forming the sign of infinity.

"Give it to the devil; tell them not to bother me anymore until they find some way to destroy Great Red; otherwise, I'll kill them," Ophis said as she snuggled more into Archer's lap while nudging him for another cup of chocolate smoothie.

To be fair and honest, Ophis had had enough of those fools; she knew they could never hope to overcome Great Red, but she still decided to hold onto the tiny hope that perhaps there could be some chance that they might somehow come up with an idea.

But all these became useless, as now that she has Shirou Emiya. In her eyes, Shirou's worth far surpasses the world itself; he has everything she needs, so the entire point of forming this little rebellious group became pointless to her.

Though she is still willing to play some cards, probably out of some interest in how exactly they will turn out and what plans they are making against her. Ophis is no fool, even though she could never understand these lowly beings and their emotions, she could feel their desire for power. Their desire for her power.

And honestly, it amuses her...

And there are very few of them that amuse her.

She will continue leading this group regardless of how pointless it is at this point, but it is not like she has something better to do, and she still plans to defeat Great Red; that lousy red dragon has to die; his existence is the greatest insult to her.

But now she has to finish her chocolate smoothie, then she will ask Shirou for some pastries, or maybe a doughnut.

Tough choices, aren't they?

~~~~~~

Archer was bored; he was bored beyond belief.

Ophis had given him an assignment.

Though it was quite a pity he was assigned to eliminate a woman named Katerea Leviathan, according to the intel, this woman has overstepped her boundaries and ignored the warnings given by Ophis herself. Under normal circumstances, Ophis wouldn't have even bothered with such an entity, but this time she has decided to take some drastic measures and eliminate the deserter.

That's where he was, scouting the location of Kuoh Academy, the place where the peace treaty is supposed to happen.

To Archer, it was nothing but just another day; however, in Kuoh Academy, it was an open house day, so Archer saw lots of people entering the academy. It was quite an interesting experience for Archer, the concept of an Open house was quite unknown to him, as he has never heard of something like this.

Nonetheless, it was a nice way to merge into the crowd and gain easy access to the academy's district, he was looking around the place until something peculiar caught his attention, it was a familiar magical presence.

'So that brat is here.'

~~~~~~

Issei Hyoudou, the man that was known as one of the most perverted men in the world. Well at least in the Kuoh Academy. An enemy of women. And lastly, he was known to a very selective as the Sekiryuutei.

At this very moment was feeling extremely nervous. The reason was simple. Standing in front of him was his counterpart, the Hakuryuukou, also known as Vali.

From the very moment, the two met this silver-haired male had put Issei on alert. He wasn't sure if it was because it felt that power seem to flow from every part of him. Or maybe it was because he had witnessed his counterpart's power with his own eyes.

Or maybe because a moment ago he showed that it would take very little effort on his part to defeat him as if he was nothing but an insect. Everything in Issei's body told him to run, even as he took a step forward. Jumping back into a battle stance, he readies himself for a fight.

Just as Vali took a step forward, two blades pressed themselves on his neck.

Stopping him from advancing. Looking to the side, Issei, saw that his friends Kiba and Xenovia had come to his aid. It didn't take long for him to hear footsteps behind him. And within moments the rest of his friends had arrived.

Rias Gremory, her Queen Akeno Himejima, the Rook Koneko Toujou, and finally the Bishop Asia Argento all formed a circle around him.

Asia quickly scanned Issei, trying to see if he had any injuries. Koneko and Akeno took a step forward ready to attack if Vali moved a muscle. And Rias stood in front using herself to shield him from his rival.

"Don't you think this joke has gone far enough?" Kiba asked Vali, keeping a strong grip on his sword.

"It wouldn't be smart of us to allow you to start a fight with the Sekiryuutei here now would it." And like Kiba, Xenovia, kept her blade pressed to the neck of Vali. She was ready to strike this man down at any given chance.

Tearing himself away from the group, Issei, advances towards Vali leaving Rias in the back of the group. He wanted to know why Vali was here. Why did he want to fight so badly? Even though he knew the danger but he still advanced.

"Why don't you all lower your weapons before someone gets hurt." Nearly everyone's eyes widen at the new voice. Issei looked up and was shocked to find someone behind him. More shocked that after only taking a single step someone had sneaked up on them.

The person that had started talking was a white-haired male with tan skin, he was wearing a black shirt and black pants. The man looked extremely handsome and elegant, and he appeared to be in his late twenties.

He quickly snap out of his thoughts when he saw a small drop of sweat roll down Vali's cheek and his eyes widen in fear.

"Archer...What are you doing here?!" Vali growled, seeing the tanned man in front of him. The now identify Archer gave Vali a friendly wave of the hand. Archer didn't care that everyone was glaring daggers at him. He just wanted everyone to stop this pointless showdown.

The two swordsmen drop their swords from Vali and pointed them at Archer. The man in question had a smile on his face. It didn't faze Archer that so much hatred was directed at him.

"You won't believe me, but, I am only here to see you brat. Don't worry I mean no harm to you guys." Looking around, he saw that everyone was tense, so Archer raised both of his hands implying that he is harmless.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" Rias demanded from Archer.

"I'm Archer." He pointed to himself while giving a casual shrug, Rias was slightly warded off by such a casual statement, but she remained civil nonetheless.

"Now, would you tell us what faction do you serve, Archer-san?" Rias cut to the chase.

"I don't serve a faction as such, my loyalty only extends to certain someone, that's it." Archer raised an eyebrow at that question.

"In other words, you are a stray magician who came into our territory without asking for our permission. We have a problem here." Rias spoke with a resolute tone.

Archer smirked. "I am human. Do I have to ask you permission to live in a human city? From my point of view, it should be the other way around. Isn't it? Devil."

Rias frowned at Archer's statement, but the man's statement does have some degree of credibility, but her pride didn't allow her to agree with this. It was her city even Hakuryuukou who appeared to confront them belonged to the Grigori faction, and they have permission to be in the territory as such for now.

While Rias was pondering, the angry blonde knight trusted his holy-demonic sword toward the archer intending to impale him, "Buchou asked you something, you should only answer her! Not question her human. Die."

However just as it was about to make contact the holy demonic sword broke into pieces, while the Archer didn't even appear to move, but there was a black falcon-like blade in his right hand. The blonde-haired knight collapsed on his knees while breathing heavily.

Soon the entire group of devils became more anxious and raised their guards up.

"I already said, I will say it again, I have nothing against you, but do not expect me not to retaliate when you attack me," Archer said.

"Well, that matter is settled. Why doesn't one of you tell me where I can find a good place to eat in Kuoh? Preferably serving traditional food," His question was met with silence. They couldn't tell whether he was serious about his question. He wanted to know where to eat out of everything he could have asked them. Now they needed a moment to process this information.

"Gremory-san, it is your territory, right? Then you should know some good places." Rias raised an eyebrow. She was still trying to think of how to answer the man. She doesn't know a lot of areas in Kuoh that serve good food since she mostly asks her servants to order the food, which is a rare occasion since Akeno can cook very well, so mostly they eat homemade food.

"Um, well, there is..." Rias tried to remember a place. But like before, nothing came to mind.

"In the shopping district, there are many popular shops; you can try eating there; and there is also a shop famous for yakitori! That is a must-try," Issei spoke to Archer with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Thank you!" Archer turned toward Gremory and said to Issei.

"And shame on you, Gremory!" Without warning, he appeared before the redhead and lightly poked her on the forehead. Rias staggers back, surprised that someone has poked her on the brow. She rubs her brow, unsure what to do with the man as he vanishes with blue motes, not before giving Vali a look that the silver-haired boy understood and left the scene while threatening Issei to grow stronger.

"That man is dangerous," Rias spoke with a hint of fear as her body shivered.

Her eyes then turned to her queen. "Akeno, call the brother's servant. We need to inform him about this unknown variable,"

She nodded at her master's order and walked out of the street, a magical circle for communication purposes already on her ear.

~~~END~~~