Chapter 1

Fuyuki City, Japan.

(POV Shirou).

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"GAH!' I shouted in pain as I was impaled in the shoulder by the strange skill on the man in front of me.

He was dressed in a bodysuit with a glowing red gem embedded on his chest surrounded by markings that made it look like a depiction of the sun.

His crimson eyes stared at me with mild amusement as I traced copies of Kanshou and Byakuya and flooded them with prana.

'Spirit and Technique, Flawless and Firm'

Just how did I end up in this situation?

'Our strength rips the mountains'

Kanshou and Byakuya are already at their limits as they leave my arms and are immediately deflected by the Lance wielding hero.

'Our swords split the water'

The Lance wielder is now caught off guard as a second pair appear in my arms and I finally land a few meaningful hits on him

'Our names reach the Imperial Villa'

the Heroic Spirit in front of me is now looking at me with a small hint of respect and caution as I wait for the next step of my attack.

'The two of us cannot hold the heavens together'

The spirit is once again caught off guard as the pair that was first deflected return from his back and strike him, giving him a slight injury.

'Triple linked Crane wings'

Taking advantage of his distraction, I finally flood the new pair of swords with enough prana to completely change their form

They are now 'broken phantasms'.

Lancer does not see the strike coming and I land a solid hit on him.

At least, that was supposed to happen.

"I will admit, you are unexpectedly strong for a normal human, even if you are using a Class Card, for that fact alone, I will give you the respect you deserve as a warrior and fight you seriously," Lancer said as he held his lance with a head that was shaped like the sun and shifted into a more offense-oriented stance.

I instantly felt a great pressure on my body as the oppressive feeling that originated from Lancer increase by many magnitudes.

'sight, seriously, how did I end up in this situation?'

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(A Few Day Ago)

It was after school was out.

I was preparing to head to Illya's school to pick her up when I received a call on my phone.

It was from an unknown number.

Against my better judgment, I picked up the call.

"Hello?"

"You are a very hard man to get a hold of -"

I immediately cut off the call.

Seriously, the scammers these days are degrading more and more by the day-

The phone rings again, from the same number.

I immediately cut the call again-

"Now that is a very rude thing to do Emiya"

I definitely did not jump in shock when I heard the same voice from before right behind me.

I immediately turned around and traced Kanshou and Byakuya, ready to fight if I needed to.

and I promptly paled in fear and shock as I saw who was in front of me.

He was dressed in the same suit I remember from the memories of my other self, his crimson eyes shone with the same mischief the other me was used to.

his silver hair pulled back to give him an elderly gentlemen vibe.

However, There was one difference in my memories.

I did not ever remember seeing him this serious.

I immediately started to look around, trying to find a way to escape from my predicament until I truly realized that my surroundings had completely changed.

Instead of my class, I was now in a room decorated in a fashion that was typical of Magi. along with many mystic codes lying around.

I also noticed a man standing by the door, looking exasperatedly at the silver-haired man as he said.

"Did you seriously go and pick him up minutes after I just explained the situation to you? you seriously need to stop making trouble for me Wizard Marshal"

Yup, this was none other than Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, the wielder of the second true magic, Kaleidoscope.

And the future master of Rin Tohsaka if the memories of my counterpart are anything to go by.

"Oh don't be so stiff Waver, I already get enough of that from the other Magi in the tower, besides, I wanted to see just who was unlucky enough to be involved in the debacle of the new anomalies," the old vampire said.

The worst part is that I cannot refute his words, if my counterpart has proven anything then it is that my luck sucks.

Damn my E rank luck.

"Now then, Shirou Emiya, son of the Magus Killer and the former Grail vessel, I am sure you already know why I have brought you here"

Damn, looks like this old vampire is just as cunning and observing as his counterpart.

With a sigh, I slowly reach into my coat and remove the card for him to see.

suddenly, I felt a chill go down my spine as I looked at the old man, the look in his eyes is something I am very familiar with and it sends me into panic made.

His eyes held the same mischief his counterpart had when he thought it was a good idea to send my counterpart and his version of Rin to different worlds to understand the meaning of being 'Human'

Seriously, those were the most horrifying parts of the memories I inherited from EMIYA.

"Well, would you look at that, it seems we finally found out why these new anomalies are more powerful than the other ones," Zelretch said as Waver Velvet had a look on concentration on his face. The old vampire did not give him any time before he started to speak.

"You are quite lucky that you ended up getting a card that held a spirit that was very compatible with you Shirou Emiya, for if you had picked up a different card, you would have already lost your ego to the spirit in the card, it also helps that something that I do not recognize is somehow suppressing the mind of the spirit in this card"

I immediately felt chills as he spoke.

"What do you mean?"

"You see Mr. Emiya, this card is not the only one of its kind in existence, we have confirmed that there are in fact, at the moment, 14 confirmed cards in Fuyuki, each card housing a Heroic Spirit of their class, and in case you don't know, Heroic spirits ar-"

"I know what Heroic Spirits are!" I shouted as Waver gave a slightly surprised look to me.

"I see, it seems that your parents have given you enough education about Magecraft," he said as I did not answer.

How could I when I felt a small sense of betrayal, the fact that my parents hid such a huge thing from me, that they did not deem me worthy enough to know this secret.

But I also know that they did it to protect me and Illya, from EMIYA's memories, I already know about what was supposed to happen to my mother and my sister, what was to become of my father, and I am also truly glad that my parents did not end up in the same horrific state as my counterpart's own timeline.

but the secret still hurt a little.

"Then I guess it would be easier to explain things to you since it seems like you are a Magus yourself, A few weeks ago, we detected seven anomalies that suddenly appeared in Fuyuki city and latched onto the Laylines located in the city, at first we only observed what they were, but soon we learned that the anomalies were damaging the Laylines of the city, the consequences, if they succeed, would be disastrous, so we sent one of our Enforcers to collect the anomalies, we soon found out that the anomalies were actually cards made from Magecraft which housed Heroic Spirits in them, But due to some issues the Enforcer was removed from the case and instead, we sent two of our brightest students to retrieve them, then, a few days ago, we detected another set of 7 cards in Fuyuki, this one, however, was much more powerful than the previous set, the worst part is that we were unable to detect these cards until they activated due to unknown reasons, meaning that these cards might as well have been present in the city for years, laying dormant, that is why the Wizard Marshall chose to bring you here, so that you could answer some of our questions"

"...Okay, what do you want to know?" I asked in a voice strained from the stress of all the information he just gave me.

"First things first, when did you come in contact with the card?"

"I found the card a few months ago while on my way from home, it was just laying in the road, I first thought that it was just some game card someone lost"

"...Laying on the road? a powerful mystic code of great power was lying on the ground in the middle of the road?" Waver asked in a dumbfounded way, a feeling I share with him.

"Anyway, after I retrieved the card and headed home, I forgot about it, until the night of that day"

"What happened?"

"I had hidden the card under my pillow in fear of what my maids might do to it if they found, so when I went to sleep, I must have unconsciously held the card in my arms, long story short, I started having weird dreams"

"What did you dream of?" This time, it was Zelretch that asked the question with a serious face.

"I dreamt of a world of infinite swords"

I said cryptically, a message that I am sure only Zelretch would understand, even though the memories of my counterpart indicated that he was not a bad person, Waver Velvet was still a Magus, and if there is one thing I know without any doubt, it is that never trust a Magus unless they are your immediate family.

Zelretch's eyes widen before a small smirk appears on his face.

"I see, then I have a proposal for you," he said as I raised a brow.

"what is it?"

"I want you to retrieve the second set of the Cards while the students retrieve the first set"

"WHAT?" I screamed.

What the hell old man? do you think it is that easy to defeat people of great legends while I and still a flesh and blood human?

"I refuse-"

"Don't refuse before you hear the payment I am willing to give you"

Payment from Zelretch? this reeks of trouble.

"...Okay, I'll bite, what is it?"

"Once you retrieve the cards, I will allow you to keep the Archer card with you permanently"

"Wha? Marshall-" Waver had a panicked face as he tried to stop the old vampire.

"And the second part of the deal is that I will help your parents make sure that no more Grail Wars take place across the world so that you family is safe from the Magi, I will also restore the Emiya name in the Clock tower as a legitimate Magus Family again, I will also give you a portion of the Emiya family crest to help you with your task, of course, the crest will stay with you until your death after which the association will once against take it back."

"...You are being awfully generous with the payment, what is the catch?"

I asked as I stared at the old man warily, every time he is this generous, it usually meant a lot of pain for my counterpart.

"It is because you are probably the only one capable of retrieving the secondary set of cards efficiently due to their power and you practically becoming a demi-servant"

"You said the same thing before but tell me clearly, why are the second set of cards so powerful than the first one?" I asked as Waver recovered from his shock and answered.

"It is because of the spirits within the card, the first set contains the power and instincts on the Servants in them but the spirits are hollowed out, they don't have their Egos and are hence incapable of using their full potential as servants when they manifest, the cards are also confirmed to be mystic codes made by human magi, the second set, however, is clearly made by something that is not human, the heroic spirits in these cards have their full access to their powers and are completely conscious, although it is also true that there is a chance of them being corrupted due to a dark presence we felt in every location of the cards, thus, the Heroic Spirits that manifest from this new set are on a completely different level when compared to the first set, you, who had somehow managed to merge with the Heroic spirit in the Archer card that you hold is the only one that is remotely strong enough to bring them down and retrieve the cards"

"...Sigh, alright, but I need that crest implanted into me before I have to go and start retrieving the cards" I said as Zelretch nodded with a smile.

I know for a fact that he is going to enjoy putting me through the pain of a spiritual surgery himself to implant the crest.

(Flashback End)

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Ever since that day, I have been searching for the cards according to Zelretch's instructions until I finally stumbled upon the Lancer card which trapped me in a mirror dimension of its location.

This is what led me to the situation I am in right now.

I sighed as I immediately traced Kanshou and Byakuya and got ready for Lancer's assault.

'I seriously hate my E rank luck'