Chapter 24: Holy Sword Part 4

Beta read by Shigiya, Paragon of Awesomeness and Maglad.

Plus Omake at the end.

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-Kuoh-

-Kuoh-

He remembered the moment he returned to the abandoned church that Raynare, Kalawarna, and the other fallen angels had been using as a base, with a couple of beers and some instant ramen for the night. 

Being forced into a freaking errand boy for the whims of these people. Yet, after being gone for just an hour at most, he returned to a ruin. 

The old decrypted, shitty church had been reduced to a pile of rubble right before his eyes. Freed had been left stunned. Immediately after that, he went into hiding, fearing that the devils were searching for him. Strangely enough, that wasn't the case, and no one ever came after him. 

"These shitty cocksucking devils didn't even know I existed!" This realization settled in his mind, his teeth grinding against one another in pure fury. He had been hailed as a genius back when he ran with the church; created to be a homunculus copy of the hero Sigurd and further enhanced with countless hours of gruesome training and physical enhancement, he'd been by far, in his humble opinion, the greatest thing that they had every created. Yet, he wasn't even seen as a target by these shitty hellspawns.

This was one of the many reasons that made him agree to further be experimented on by Valper Galilei, that wrinkely old cunt, and his deranged, and painful he might add, experiments which — according to him — could turn even some random Joe-schmoe off the street into artificial holy sword users. 

Promising with enough confidence that even the weakest exorcist — one born with no talent — could wield the legendary Excalibur swords or any other holy weapons without the fear of being rejected when implanted with some of that artificial holy element. And, safe to say, it was a decision he did not regret, having been further enhanced beyond his past weak self to the point where he was confident he could keep up with most shitty devils through his sheer speed and strength alone. This, on top of the little gift he got from the boss: the beauty of a blade which he now held firmly within his grasp while facing this annoying devil cock sucking bitch before him.

"What the fuck did you say to my face, you shitty fuck!?" His foul mouth erupted out loud, Freed's prior jovial mood and smug face having turned into an enraged scowl. "I'll shove this sword right up your faggot ass and have you begging for mercy! Or at least you would if your tongue wasn't skewered too." 

This guy wasn't a devil as far as he could tell, but neither was he a human. He could tell so from the uneasy gut feeling he kept experiencing from the moment they started to speak to one another. 'The boss didn't mention anything about other pantheons getting involved with this shitshow…'

Then again, it would probably explain the reason why the three Satans had been present in town just a couple days ago. He nearly got caught by the crazy bitch in the shitty magical girl outfit, if it weren't for his quick thinking, diving into the gutter and hiding in the filth and shit for the next hour. That crazy bitch just gagged at the thought of going down there and finally left him alone, though not without leaving him with some parting gift consisting of freezing the entire sewer in one move, something he barely made it out of, but almost lost his legs to frostbite.

"Why did you kill that person?" the man asked, pulling the exiled exorcist out of his thoughts.

"What do you mean by 'why'? It's so obvious that even a child can guess what the fuck I did, so I guess that makes you a fucking retard!" he answered with a sneer and deranged laughter. "That shitty hundred-yen whore was sucking the cocks of shitty devil friends of yours, and that's a sin more than worthy of me gutting her open like a fish, simple as that. Of course, her mangled corpse also helped to attract the attention of one of this town's shitty devil cockwarmers, so at least she was good for something. I was hoping I'd get to cut up an actual devil tonight though, not whatever the fuck you're supposed to be."

"I see." 

Freed was quickly coming to the conclusion that he did not like this guy; he could already tell this person was going to be insufferably bore. It was a struggle to get the slightest reading off of this person's blank face. 

Their was noemotion whatsoever, even after he insulted the person he tortured and killed. No anger, no disgust, or even any hatred present in those gray eyes of his. This guy only stared back at him without saying another word, making the general atmosphere a bit awkward, which prompted Freed to continue talking since the other guy wouldn't throw him a fucking bone. 

"Tch, it doesn't matter. You at least work with the filthy fucking devils that run this town, so you're worth taking the time to cut up. Say, which slutty bitch do you bend your ass for to fuck? The redheaded cunt with the saggy tits, or the flat whore that's pretending to look like a girl? I wanna know who to send the boxes too when I finish cutting you up. Oh! Maybe I should hide some cameras in them so I can record their faces when they see how much I fucked up their boytoy, hahaha!"

He brandished his blade, the sword almost glowing under the moonlight, its jagged form and size posing no hindrance to him in the least. Though he still needed two hands to lift the damn thing in the beginning, now with its power coursing through his veins, it now felt as light as a feather and so did his body. "Now come over here so I can cut you into—"

"—This got to be a joke," he was cut off by the white-haired man suddenly sighing and massaging his forehead the moment he gazed at the blade in his hand. "Seeing two of them was already strange in itself, but this one is just as ridiculous as those two. Excalibur Rapidly… even the name… hah…"

Freed was taken aback by his reaction, expecting this devil sympathizer to cower in his spot initially, to tremble at the sight of this holy sword that so many coveted, the ultimate weapon against the race this man worked with. Yet if anything, this felt like he was being mocked. This guy was acting as if by pulling out his holy sword, Freed had just made an attempt at a joke that fell flat on its face. 

This realization brought a growl out of the priest's mouth. "What the fuck are you mumbling, you devil cock-polisher? Let's see if you're still able to talk shit about me after I set a new world record for how many times I can stab a bitch in ten seconds."

The fucker didn't seem to be listing to him, continuing to rub his forehead in exsaperation, shaking his head, and not even reacting to direct threats of gruesome violence. This went on for a few seconds, to the point where Freed felt he was going to lose his cool and just bum-rush this guy before carving up this fucker like a Thanksgiving turkey! 

"You were specifically targeting Yuuto for some reason, a bit convenient that you did so around the same time those other two exorcists appeared in town. I'll take a random guess and assume that you are not associated with them on account of you clearly being deranged, plus the Vatican's letter said only two would be sent. Also, they did even mention three of the Excalibur blades having been stolen from the Protestant, Catholic, and East-Orthodox Church. That must be one of them, then." 

Within his grasp appeared a single black blade; Freed noticed its strange red hexagonal pattern and the yin and yang symbol at the base of the blade. Its curved design made it seem closer to a falchion than any kind of longsword. 

'It's not a demonic sword, Blade Blacksmith? No, that thing ain't even a holy fucking sword even with those Yin and Yang symbols!'

Despite his rising anger with this annoying bastard, Freed didn't loose control and carefully analyzed the situation he found himself in first. "That's a rather nice-looking sword there. Come on, where the hell did you get it?" he asked, hoping to gather some information before debating whether to leave the premises or continue his confrontation with this fucker.

"I don't remember," the guy answered smoothly, earning him a raised eyebrow from Freed before the priest got further incensed at the obvious attempt at mocking him.

"You're an annoying piece of shit, But then again that was pretty obvious the second I saw your face. Hehehehe, you'll at least make for a decent practice dummy for this little baby of mine when I carve you into pieces!" 

Convinced that there was no reason to hesitate and that this man couldn't be too dangerous, since neither the boss nor Valper had mentioned him, Freed charged ahead in a rush.

Excalibur Rapidly glowed a dazzling golden color, encroaching upon his body and dramatically increasing his speed to the point he closed the distance between them in less time than it took to blink. A speed that could be considered superhuman, confident to be faster than most Knights. His grin now stretched from ear to ear, halfway swinging his blade and aiming to cut off this fucker's legs right at the knees. 

'I'm going to make him kneel first, press his head, and slice off a few chunks. Right, also having him apologize to me like a good little shit dog will be pretty funny if I can get him to stop screaming long enough. He doesn't even seem to be a devil in the first place, so I'll just have to make him regret ever looking down on me… huh!?'

"—!"

His mental gloating came to a screeching halt the moment he noticed something very odd and alarming. Having used Excalibur Rapidly to boost his speed more than tenfold, there was little chance for even a high class devil would be able to react in time or even notice his movements before it was too late, with only Knights having any real shot at keeping up with him. 

But even then, with his prior enhancements compounding the speed, he doubted that even the fastest of devils could truly keep up with him, especially while he was wielding the antithesis of their shitty existence. Yet as he stood less than a meter away from his opponent, the cutting edge of his weapon nearing his legs, expecting to cleave through them effortlessly like butter, he saw a pair of silver-gray eyes staring right back at him calmly. 

Once again, there was no sense of panic, surprise, or even shock as Freed's sword drew closer to its target. But this time, it was the homunculus who was left speechless by what happened next. With a casual flick of his wrist, the man holding the black sword effortlessly shifted into a reverse grip and intercepted the strike from Excalibur Rapidly. He didn't bother to adjust his stance to maintain balance, and his other hand remained relaxed at his side.

The sound of metal clashing echoed around them as their swords collided. It felt like Freed was striking a solid, unbreakable wall of titanium. The force of his swing and the momentum behind it traveled up his arms, rattling his bones and almost causing him to lose his grip on the Excalibur fragment. No matter how hard he swung, he couldn't make the stupid fucker budge!

"Mother Fucker! What the fuck!?" Excalibur Rapidly, which was still considered part of the legendary sword that was wielded by the legendary King of Britain, had been used to slay countless powerful creatures and monsters. Even its shattered pieces still held immense power, and were the bane of all devilkind.

And now that same weapon had been stopped dead in its tracks by some eastern shitty hippy weapon he'd never seen before. Then this devil-sympathizing stranger twisted the blade in his hands, and suddenly the rogue priest was the one with the flat of his sword holding back the blade pressing against him.

Freed's eyes widened with a trace amount of panic when he saw sparks begin to fly as the black sword's edge ground against Excalibur Rapidly, and Freed realized that this other sword might actually destroy his weapon if he didn't react in time. 

"Shit!" 

Despite the pain and numbness in his arms, he ignored all of it and forcefully pulled his sword back, breaking the weapon lock and darting back. 

"Rargh!" he jumped away with a furious shout, putting some distance between himself and the stranger, and that weapon which must have been some kind of Sacred Gear, or a subgroup of one. 

"You've got to be freaking kidding me! What kind of sword can beat fucking Excalibur of all weapons?! That's cheating, you are cheating! THIS IS SO FUCKING CHEATING!"

It was official; he was going to use the blade of his sword to fuck this asshole in every orifice on the first chance he got. Unfortunately for Freed, before he could even voice his intent, let alone try to act on it, his opponent's body flickered for an instant before an overwhelming sense of dread enveloped the fake priest's mind. 

He reacted on pure instinct, bringing up his Excalibur just in time to block a second blow that would have surely landed on him. The force was overwhelming, like being hit by a giant club and getting thrown back against the wall with a resounding thud. The impact left a spiderweb pattern on the surface of the wall as he struggled to regain his balance.

Thankfully, he was able to take the brunt of the collision without much issue. The cloth of his robes was lined with kevlar material and reinforced with magic seals, so it could act as a form of armor while remaining light so he could stay quick on his feet, something he never thought he would end up relying on, as he'd always been fast enough to dodge even when facing devil Knights. But now it had saved him from getting several broken bones. 

"You motherfucker…" he wheezed out, struggling to get air back into his lungs, and his head felt very fuzzy from the impact. "What the fuck are you…" Unfortunately for him though, Freed wasn't going to be getting any answers unless he was able to piece them together himself, and in fact, the stranger had some questions of his own.

"You are obviously not alone. There is no way someone like you could have stolen that sword you're holding — let alone three of them — from some of the most secure vaults in the world without any help. If anything, you're just the group's muscle who was given that sword so you could run around and draw attention to yourselves in an attempt to spring your trap, yet you're all alone. By my understanding, Kokabiel should be the one who gave it to you. So while you're still breathing, tell me what are your plans in Kuoh, and where are the other swords located? Might as well meet the Fallen Angel Cadre head-on before those two girls get to him first and end up getting themselves killed."

Of course, this asshole already knew about the boss. Freed cursed his luck for having encountered this person rather than any of this town's devils. He had to retreat, much as he hated it, but that single exchange between them had made it clear that this prick could hit far above his own weight class as long as he had whatever cheating hacks he was using to damage an Excalibur of all weapons. 

He wasn't gonna try to test out the holy blade's durability further than necessary under these kinds of circumstances. Carefully, his hands slowly positioned themselves behind him, looking as if he was trying to support himself against the wall, but he discreetly grabbed one of the many tools he always had in case things went tits up. 

"Eat shit, you motherfucker!" Grabbing a handful of smoke pellets, he threw them on the ground, creating a large cloud that enveloped the room and blinded his opponent, giving Freed a much-needed window of opportunity to run away which he promptly took.

He ran as fast as his legs allowed him to, using the blade's ability to its maximum and pushing himself to cross multiple blocks in a handful of seconds. 

"That fucking geezer, I'll skin him alive for not giving me the correct information and sending me to run around town stirring up shit while the devils have a guy like that on the lookout!" 

Valper had to have known about this cheating son of a bitch, and the same went for Kokabiel. He looked down at his precious sword and cringed. From afar, the blade still looked as pristine as ever, but upon closer inspection, he could see a very distinct nick in the blade with a few cracks surrounding it. 

The biggest contributor to his raging emotions was that the biggest damage happened due to the first move, where that guy only used his weapon to defend himself. "Fucking fuck! When the fuck did the Chinese pantheon get involved!?"

"That's quite a jump in reasoning, don't you think?" A composed voice responded to his frustrated question. Freed felt a chill run down his spine as he heard the voice coming from beside him. He quickly looked over and saw the white-haired man standing nonchalantly only a few feet away.

"You shitface!"

As he was about to use Excalibur Rapidly to make a feint before fleeing again, Freed suddenly felt light. 

"Eh?" 

His body seemed to have suddenly lost a significant amount of weight on its right side, and with that came a loss of his sense of balance that caused Freed to tilt sideways. He attempted to regain his balance by using his right arm, only to find that he could no longer feel it. 

"Ah?" Another heavy impact sounded a short distance away, no different from a large piece of metal falling to the ground, followed by the sound of something wet hitting the ground; a splat, one could say. 

His right arm felt cold as if someone pressed a pack of cold ice against his skin and then proceeded to stab thousands of tiny sharp needles into his flesh. He tried to regain his focus and noticed that the guy's left arm was now above his head with the black sword's edge facing upwards, having not even seen him move despite his many augmentations.

Then his wrist twisted to bring the blade's edge back down.

"W-Wait a se—urgh!" 

The black sword swung down once more, this time slower as he was able to see it descending upon him. But still far too fast for his body to react appropriately, unable to move nor react before it sliced through his flesh and bones, cutting through his shoulders all the way down to his lower waist, slicing through even his heart and most organs in one single motion. He managed to remain conscious as he experienced the disembodying sensation of his new upper half falling to the ground, watching the guy who he didn't even know the name of walk away, using every bit of his remaining strength to turn his head and watch the man pick up his severed arm and casually take the Holy sword without any rejection from the weapon before chucking the limb.

"What… the… fuck… you… cheater…" 

Those were Freed Sellzen's last words as he gasped his last breath, with only a wave of regret and indignation flooding his mind as he died.

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"So this is an Excalibur sword," Archer mumbled out loud the moment he grabbed onto the blade.

He was fairly quick with his execution of the rogue priest. It was very clear that letting such a deranged man run loose was not a good idea in any sense of the word. If he was able to create such a horrid scene with that unfortunate victim of his, then there was nothing stopping him from doing so again with multiple people just to try and bait out either the local devils or the pair of exorcists sent to retrieve the sword he'd been waving around them once more. 

And with a holy sword in his hands, there was a chance that his next victim could easily have been other members of either Rias's or Sona's group and nothing guaranteed that he would be there with them like he was with Yuuto this time. Devils were especially weak against holy elements. He trusted the knight in their group with his skills, but the boy was still prone to letting his emotions take hold of his actions and severely degrade his skills against a competent swordsman. 

Emiya had no doubt that if Yuuto were to fight against a foul-mouthed individual like this Freed, then there was a high likelihood that the latter would start taunting him and succeeding at doing so, leading Yuuto to get caught off guard and end up with a sword sticking through his chest.

"The ability to enhance one's speed, it is useful under the right conditions and for the right user," he commented while holding the blade in question, feeling the effect of the weapon's enhancement course through his body. 

Unfortunately, it did not scale with his already existing speed as a Servant. If he were human, perhaps this would have been somewhat useful, but it did very little to enhance what he already possessed, making the overall sword useless in his eyes. "The material is quite brittle. Even Yuuto was able to damage it without any reinforcement. The design is not ideal, too imbalanced to be swung at high speed. It should have been a rapier instead of a twisted greatsword," he mused. He truly failed to understand why the creator believed that a sword used to enhance one's speed in combat would need to be so bulky and heavy. It made more sense for it to have been something with a slimmer build, like what Irina had on her.

Regardless, there was another addition of the Excalibur blades now present in his reality marble, making it three of them so far. "Just four more of these blades and I'll have the full package," he chuckled, joking with himself at the idea of technically being able to trace an Excalibur for once without it leading him to die. Even though it was an Excalibur from this world, it was still, or used to be, a sword once used by the king of Britain.

"Archer!" he was alerted by another presence, sounds of hasty footsteps rushing towards him and haggard breathing approaching. It was none other than Yuuto, who was stunned at the sight of him holding the sword without any ill effects affecting him. "You… You… you can hold it!?"

There was shock in his voice, coupled with anger and even some disbelief at the sight. He looked towards Yuuto and back at the weapon in his hands a couple of times, going through the understanding that not everyone could use holy weapons from what he learned this morning. 

"Well, would you look at that? I happen to be a natural holy sword user. What a surprise," he said dryly, without being impressed in the slightest bit at the revelation. Mostly because of this weapon in his grasp, he barely considered it as a Noble Phantasm and at best a Mystic Code with holy elements imbued within it. It did not have any history; perhaps Excalibur in its original form could have been considered a Noble Phantasm, but not in this form.

"Give it to me!" Yuuto shouted, using his Sacred Gear to bring out a large black greatsword that exuded a great amount of demonic energy, perhaps fueled by his anger the closer he got to it. "I need to destroy it!"

He approached the servant in strides, a look of pure hatred present in his gaze at the sight of the sword, ready to destroy it into pieces. Yet before he could get any closer, he was stopped in his tracks by Archer extending his arm and firmly holding him down by the shoulder. 

"Calm down boy. It is clear to me that you have an unsavory history with the Excaliburs, obviously. But don't let your hatred blind you from taking the appropriate actions in this scenario."

The church and its representatives were present in Kuoh on a mission to find these blades and keep them away from the wrong hands. If they destroyed it right now, the backlash would reach his Master and the devils as a whole if they don't handle this carefully. 

"Why are you stopping me!?" Yuuto demanded. "Didn't the exorcist say that they were even prepared to destroy the swords and prevent them from getting into the wrong hands? Then we should do the same! Don't start protecting them for no reason!" 

He frowned, now starting to get annoyed at Kiba's rash actions and applying more force in his hold and forcing Kiba to halt as the latter flinched with pain before letting go of the boy. "Idiot,  I have no interest in protecting these swords, and I couldn't care less about them. But you need to think carefully and not let your anger cloud your judgment. If you destroy the swords now, the Exorcists will not take it lightly, despite their words. It's not a simple matter."

It was always a mistake to blindly believe what the other side said and think they would follow their own words. He had seen, he had experienced many times, people going back on their words and turning hostile despite what they previously said. Having a devil destroy an Excalibur was a bad image for the church, regardless of how one portrayed it. At best, they could change the story to make it seem like the Exorcist did it, but at worst, they could blame the entire situation on Rias, for all he knew.

"Let's first go back to Rias with the body and the sword. We can contact the exorcist tomorrow and see where we can go from there," suggested the Servant of the Bow, his voice firm with resolve.

{Break}

"What the hell is this!?" shouted out loud with a horror-stricken face, alongside Akeno, Koneko, Issei, and Kiyome. Now present as the unfortunate victim of Freed's action. "Archer!" She turned around and called her servant, having barely recognized the woman,despite her mostly ruined face as being one of Kiba's regular clientele. The symbols etched across her flesh were that of a cross, making her that much more worried about her knight and her Servant.

"It is as you see, Master. He was called for a request, and upon arrival, he was met with this gruesome sight," said Archer, jumping down in front of them, the blonde boy following right after him, nodding at his words. 

"Yes, I then teleported back when I got your message but preferred to not bring up the matter during the meeting with those exorcists. I feared they were the ones behind this, so I was being careful," he looked towards the servant of the bow. "Initially, I wanted to fight whoever was behind this by myself. Since they targeted her out of everyone, then it was very possible that I would meet the culprits again. Archer noticed some, but I decided to also bring along Archer to help me with this situation," truthfully, he just felt very uneasy at the sight and nauseous. 

Even though he had killed many strays using his own blade to cut them apart in plenty of brutal ways, the level of torture presented before him went beyond anything he had seen or done in the past, and he wasn't fully confident in his own knowledge and expertise to find any clues which could have led them to the killer so quickly.

"Oh dear! Don't tell me you got hurt!? Are you alright? Let me check if your okay. Does it hurt anywhere? Are you okay?" she exclaimed towards him, checking up on her knight like a worried mother searching for any wounds on her baby boy. 

Her panicked state mostly occurred because she feared that her precious knight could have gotten injured or even been in a life-threatening battle while she remained ignorant about the entire thing.

"You don't need to baby him, Master," touched her shoulders, Archer patiently standing right beside her with an unwavering tone. "I'm glad to see that you're worried about him more than anything else, but I assure you he is fine as far as I know, a bit shaken but nothing a quick rest won't solve. But that isn't the reason why we called you here." 

As he mentioned, Rias remembered being occupied with her own work before getting the rather ominous message from Kiba and Archer asking her to come by from their connection. She looked at Archer, the latter walking outside the room for a brief moment, much to their confusion, and returning back with a body, one with its right arm missing through a clean cut where his shoulder was and a large nasty gash across his front diagonally running deep. The blood, just like the woman chained on the wall, had mostly dried up.

"How dare they! They were about to hurt my precious knight! This is unforgivable; it has gone too far!" His Master exclaimed with righteous fury in her voice. Knowing just what kind of person she was, Archer knew that there was no chance now that she was going to let this matter slide and would probably try to find and stop whoever was behind this before the two exorcists did.

"It's probably those two girls from this morning. They dared to threaten little Asia over here, so I wouldn't put it past them to commit such a disgusting thing," Akeno added, her voice equally as cold with a probable amount of anger he could discern from her tone. Koneko nodded as well, but both Kiyome and Issei were the only ones who remained quiet for the most part. The latter was mostly due to confusion and trying not to vomit her dinner from the sight, and the former did not have any expression on her face, merely continuing to observe the corpse.

"I know it may seem counterintuitive, but we shouldn't blame the exorcists from this morning," Archer once again stepped up and defended the two Exorcist. "I know they did not leave the best of impressions upon all of us, and I do admit they did pull a stupid move by asking Asia to kill herself, but I still believe that this is far too obvious for it to be them. There's a chance that whoever was behind this, was aiming to create more discord between both parties by targeting Yuuto. If something would have happened to him, then it would be obvious that we would go after those two and cause a bigger conflict."

"But we can't just let this go, Archer," Rias insisted, to which he nodded.

"Of course we won't. What I'm asking you, Master is to not deal with this matter by yourself and think things carefully. You should get the appropriate party involved in such political aspects by contacting your brother. Don't make any rash decisions because this is not a matter between two people but two different factions, and we have a possible cadre involved, which makes it even more important to do so."

He had half the mind to contact Grayfia herself, the silver-haired maid having secretly left him her contact in case of an emergency, for she knew that Rias would be far too stubborn to turn to her brother for any help.

"We don't need to do that, Archer. As the co-owners of Kuoh, both Sona and I are perfectly capable of handling such matters ourselves. We don't need to bring my brother into this yet." And as expected, that woman was able to predict her sister-in-law's future decision-making to a tee.

"Fine, if that is what you wish Master, then so be it." 

At the end of the day, he was a servant and a sort of advisor. Even if he did not agree with her approach, he could not force her into doing whatever he desired. And part of him knew that if she did not see her own mistake with her own eyes, then she would never learn.

"We will return to Kuoh Academy first and discuss our future plans with Sona. In the meantime, no one is allowed to go after these individuals at any point, and any and all contracts we have with our clients will be put on hold."

"What!?" Kiba reacted rather intensely at that order, "You can't be serious about this, President!"

"I am, and I order you specifically to not go after them. I know how you're feeling, but please understand that I'm doing this for your own good."

"Another matter, what should we do about this?" Finally, Archer brought out the swords in front of everyone's eyes, and they gasped as they saw him calmly holding Excalibur Rapidly without any adverse effects. Seeing them all so speechless, the Servant in question rolled his eyes.

"I would like to remind you that I am still a Heroic Spirit. We can't be sure what the criteria are that allows one to wield a holy sword in this world, but it may also be because I am made of magical energy on top of being a Heroic Spirit. Maybe all of these required elements for me to hold such a thing." He wasn't sure if those two elements were specifically part of the reason, mostly certain that it was due to his Reality Marble and affinity with blades more than anything else.

"Excalibur… You have one of the Excalibur with you…" Rias mumbled in sheer disbelief, feeling very unnerved and uncomfortable standing in front of the exposed blade. It made her skin crawl and her instincts screamed at her to flee the area.

"For some reason, I am not surprised," surprisingly enough, Akeno did not show any shock or surprise, merely chuckling with amusement at the sight. "It does make sense, even when you don't take into account everything he has said. You are literally wearing a holy shroud from a mysterious saint. A shroud that is forever linked to you in the Throne of Heroes. It would have been strange if you weren't able to hold it instead."

"Onii-chan is a saint after all," Koneko joked despite maintaining a straight face, though he suspected she was being serious.

"This can serve as an excellent bargaining tool against the two exorcists. They are here to collect these artifacts in the first place, aren't they? Now we have the upper hand, so let's just save it for now," Archer suggested once more. This time, Rias reluctantly nodded, still in shock at the fact that her servant was holding an Excalibur.

"You shouldn't be surprised, Master. Don't you remember all those black keys I used during our training? They were holy weapons as well."

"Yeah, true. But you yourself mentioned that the magic of your world and its rules differed from ours quite a bit. And you used those blades so recklessly without any care and disposed of them so casually that it makes it hard for me to put them on the same level as a genuine Excalibur."

"You seriously call this genuine?"

"Eh?"

"Nothing," he replied, still unable to shake off his high regard for these genuine mystic codes. If these devils were to witness the Excalibur from his world, even in its sealed form, it would pose a continent-wide danger to practically any devil. The sheer power that weapon held surpassed these remade, reforged replicas by a factor of thousands, if not more. 

A single full-powered swing with either Kanshou or Bakuya, without using reinforcement, could break any one of these weapons without much issue. Even tens of thousands of the same traced weapons with reinforcement wouldn't put a scratch on the strongest holy weapon in his knowledge.

"Since of the effects it has on you devils, I believe it would be best if I kept it with me for now. I rather not want to deal with any issues with having this blade around you all. And I'm not comfortable with adding a seal on it."

"I still think we should destroy it, that thing will just bring us misfortune," Yuuto added, unwilling to let go of his hateful stare whenever he looked at the sword.

"We will talk about this soon, but for now, give it a rest," Archer once again almost scolded the young kid. It wasn't like him; he believed the young boy, despite his moments of rage, always had a level-headed composure. But when confronted with these blades, everything went completely out of the window.

The young boy had much more to say but kept his mouth shut as Archer sent him a stern glare. Soon, most of the devils left, leaving behind the servant, and strangely enough, Kiyome, who requested a few moments to observe the entire thing.

"It is pretty disturbing, I didn't know you devils would deal with such things in the first place." She said a magic circle forming right beside her where emerged a familiar he hadn't seen before. A faceless humanoid slime that would have made Issei salivate with jealousy. "Can you clean this place up?" 

It nodded, the slime extending her appendages and evaporating the blood upon contact and holding multiple cleaning appliances at the same time. 

"I'm impressed," he couldn't help but comment with genuine praise, "your familiar is quite talented. Far more than Issei's familiar." 

"Hehehe, glad to hear that, sensei!" She spoke eloquently as usual. "I feel bad for this woman, it would be preferable to give her a proper burial rather than burning her away." 

He shrugged, "I won't stop you, you can always ask Master to organize one with the woman's family. Also, you can call me Archer, yes that is my title and sensei would be too weird outside school." 

It was strange to speak with his student as Archer rather than in his teacher persona. Even though he acted the same, there was a layer he added between them and made sure to not get too relaxed when working in the supernatural world. 

"I believe we never truly had a chance to speak with one another."

"A lot happened today, so don't think too much about it." 

"Indeed, I got a bit too excited this morning and lost my manners. I apologize for that, but I'm sure you have questions." 

That he did, plenty but it never distracted him at any point. A minor matter in his eyes with everything going on lately, and he had seen Rias talking with Kiyome plenty of times. He should have known it was her when she asked him to take a guess back then. "Guess it's better to start with something obvious! Why?" 

She did mention it involved him, but he needed more details. 

"As you know, I am from a family of beast tamers. By definition, your existence very much falls into our area of interest and I just kept getting more and more curious each day." 

"You were able to guess my nature from just looking?" He asked. It wasn't uncommon for some humans to be particularly sensitive to the presence of Servants, but since there were literal devils as students, he shouldn't have stood out that much. Making him question if beast tamers had a particular sense of existence like him. 

"I admit, it was weird at first. I knew Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri were Devils along with their peerage members. So when you appeared, I thought you were another one who joined their group. And your arrival timing was quite suspicious." 

"How so?" 

"Well, did you know that a few weeks prior I was approached by Sona Sitri? At first, I thought she was going to ask me to join her ranks but instead, she wanted to borrow books and information concerning familiar summoning. But that didn't play a role until later when one of my familiars smelled remnants of holy energy on you. Then I got suspicious, and wanted to learn more."

"Thus why you kept leering at me regularly, great." He massaged his temples, recalling the many times he felt the constant gaze of someone always zoned in on him during class and how she kept acting weirdly. "But this is the first I heard about something smelling traces of holy energy on me." 

"I have plenty of rare creatures under my command." She admitted proudly, puffing her chest as if he said a compliment. 

"Is that why you approached Rias?" 

"Well, I would argue that she approached me first in the past, it just took me a while to provide her with a response. I also saw the mark on the back of her hand, it wasn't there before and holds a few similarities with forgotten marks certain beast-tamer clans used to have."

This girl sure was more observant than he had expected. If only she put that much effort into her studies… "Still does not explain how you learned that I am a familiar-like entity. I could have easily been a contracted mage with my own kind of branding and way of contracting my Master." 

"Easy, I saw the Rating Game." 

He went silent, having nothing to add to that as it made perfect sense. But… "Just how far was that match broadcasted?" 

At that, she chuckled. "The Devils adores flaunting at any given opportunity according to my grandfather, so it is rather easy to get access to spectating such matches outside the underworld. And my clan does have enough connections and means to learn about the details of its participants. Normally I wouldn't have been interested in such things, but my curiosity got the better of me." 

"I see, well nothing I can do about that. So what now? You joined the peerage just to get a better look at me? A rather weak reason to abandon your humanity I must say." 

At that, her smile slightly faltered, "You misunderstand, you are not the only reason why I joined — I had other reasons as well." 

He leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, pondering on her words before pushing them to the side. "Alright, that answers most of my questions. Guess we can go back."

"Oh! Before you do that! Would you mind investing some of your time to help me understand your nature as a familiar or Servant better?" She said energetically, her sophisticated manners vanishing momentarily showing pure excitement and an unending well of curiosity. A notebook and pencil in hand, she giddily sat on the now cleaned couch. 

The slime sure did work fast. 

"I won't give you any critical or personal information if that's what you're hoping for. But if you ask a few basic questions that I've already shared with the others, I don't mind. But I won't do so for free." He took a seat, impressed by the fact that even the stench of blood had disappeared and now replaced it with lavender. 

"Anything you want!" In her eagerness, she snapped the pencil in half. 

"Pay closer attention in class. Your recent performance has taken a visible plunge… so stop getting distracted and focus on your studies." With all the stalking she had been doing lately, no wonder it kept affecting her classwork. 

Kiyome was momentarily taken aback but then showed a big grin. "I will, sensei!" 

"I said you can call me Archer." 

"Ah, I forgot."

{Break}

(Next day)

"So, I believe it's high time for you to give me the details." Early in the morning, given it was a Saturday and there was no work or school to go to, Archer and Yuuto all sat together around a table in a local cafe.

Yuuto had a glass of water and Archer was drinking a hot cup of black coffee. "You can always—"

"It's fine," Yuuto answered while sighing, having managed to cool off since yesterday's incident yet still holding an edge in his voice. "Since you're already in our peerage, then you were bound to find out about this story sooner or later. It isn't even a secret, I just don't like to bring it up as often because of some of its painful memories."

Archer unnoticed by the Knight, secretly browsed the menu given to him earlier on. His face twitched slightly, impressed the moment he took a sip of his coffee before going for another sip.

"I think you know about the backstory of a couple of members in the peerage and how they ended up joining."

"I do. Rias has, on occasion, given me some details, but not anything concrete about you in particular."

"I suppose it's understandable. She probably didn't want to offend me by having the story be widely known. But I don't mind if it's between the peerage," Yuuto admitted, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. "It all started when I was very young. I had brothers and sisters, and all of us lived together under the supervision of the church."

That threw Emiya off a bit, but he didn't say anything and continued to listen.

"We weren't trainees or disciples there to learn about the ways of God and such things. Instead, we were lab rats, captured and locked in what amounted to animal cages for years and experimented on by a man named Valper Galilei, the head of the department who experimented on matters related to holy swords and natural-born holy sword users."

It made sense for there to exist such a department in the church; after all, these were allegedly their strongest weapons against the devils, so researching said weapons and finding ways to improve upon their creation and users were to be expected.

"They used us and experimented on how to create artificially made holy sword users. We were treated no differently than lab rats, tortured, and in the end, disposed of the moment we were deemed useless," the boy's grip clenched, pure anger leaking from his voice as he trembled at the painful memory. "I managed to escape and survive… Not by any miracle, but rather by my own siblings putting their lives on the line and using themselves as shields in order to give me the opportunity to escape. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't be here. It was on that very same day when I set foot outside while those I cared about were getting massacred, that I met Rias. She took me in, and from that moment, I swore to one day get revenge on those who killed them and the holy swords."

He went into more detail, talking about each member of his late family and even some details that made Archer more interested. "Isaiah huh, it's a nice name."

A smile appeared on the blonde boy's face, "My birth name, how Tosca and everyone else called me."

"Why change to Kiba Yuuto then?" 

"It's a name Buchou chose for me, meaning horse rider which I liked."

Truthfully, Archer didn't see any reason why he needed to change his name. Then again, he was one to talk, having thrown away the name Shirou Emiya… but his reasoning was different. 

"They all died because of me and those swords, now you understand why the Excaliburs need to be destroyed." 

Definitely survivors' guilt, honestly it made him draw more parallels between him and another boy to the point that it made him uncomfortable going down that train of thought. "I take it your anger won't go away unless you can accomplish your revenge? But I still don't see how that relates to the Excaliburs. Those weapons don't hold any will of their own to do anything, that fault lies completely on the one called Valper."

"You don't understand!" The boy's fist struck the table hard, the ruckus drawing a couple of reactions from the surrounding onlookers, which Emiya ignored and only focused on the person before him. "We were captured because Excalibur existed! We were led to be tortured because of those swords in the first place! Both those weapons and Valper will die! That I swear…" 

The issue was more complex, he knew Yuuto was nowhere near able to just let go of that hatred by just using words or sound logic. In a way, understanding but also having a hard time understanding the boy. The driving force behind his hatred of the swords, in particular, didn't make sense, if he used a similar logic to Shirou Emiya resenting Gae Bolg rather than Lancer for piercing his heart. Not that the boy even resented the man in the first place. 

"Alright, I have an idea." He said, getting up from his seat and gesturing to Yuuto to follow along. 

Though confused by Archer's action, he still followed the casually dressed Servant. Walking to the edge of town till they reached a secluded beach with no person in sight. A picturesque area with the wind howling from the waves and seagulls flying in the distance. 

"Why are we…"

"You said that the only way for you to let go of this anger is by destroying the Excaliburs, right?" Emiya said to which Yuuto nodded firmly. 

Yet the latter's eyes widened the next second the moment a blade formed in the air and struck the sand near him. Jumping back from the dense sensation of holy energy emanating from it, he'd recognized the weapon. "Excalibur Rapidly!" 

He shouted, the rage in his eyes returning full force. "What's the meaning of this!?"

Rather than provide him with an answer, Archer instead sat on top of one of the boulders, a fishing pole in hand with the line flying into the water with a single throw. The reel moved on its own a couple of times as if it had a mind of its own before its user grabbed it. 

"What do you think? I thought you wanted to destroy the Excaliburs to get over your revenge right? So there you are, go nuts and destroy that blade." He said with a shrug, his answer stunning the Knight into complete silence. 

"W-What about everything you said yesterday about not destroying them!?" 

"You've changed my mind." He continued to eye his line, before looking back at Kiba, , "Unless you don't want to?" 

Yuuto's hand shook, his heart pumping rapidly coupled with his tunnel vision on the blade. All he could focus on afterward was the Excalibur before him, presented so easily that it made him question the situation. But this was a great opportunity he wouldn't get in the future, so he pushed his hesitation away and activated his Sacred Gear. 

A black blade appeared in hand that seemingly devoured the light around it. "Holy Eraser!" 

With a shout and using every bit of his strength, he swung the sword at the Excalibur before him.

Crack!

Yet what shattered was not the holy weapon but his own sword, breaking apart from a single hit and falling onto the ground. "No!" He refused to accept the outcome, creating more weapons, a fire sword that broke after two hits and, his Destruction Sword whose great size required his entire strength to accurately hit the Excalibur again and again. 

Fully engrossed in his actions before he ever realized it, he heard another crack. Yet this one did not come from his own weapons, but rather Excalibur Rapidly. "Aaaarrrrrrgh!" 

He let out a roar of frustration and rage, further continuing his attacks till more parts broke the next second until the sword broke down into blue motes of light.

"Hah… Wha… Hah… what?" He was taken aback by the scene, but before he could ask Archer anything, he heard two more thuds behind him. Turning around to find a gigantic black holy greatsword and a slender katana. All of which released the same kind of feeling compared to Excalibur Rapidly. 

"These are…"

The very same weapon he saw Xenovia hold up to Asia's neck previously. 

His anger resurfaced, blinding him from any reasoning once again. Creating another sword within his grasp and going absolutely berserk against these weapons. The previously serene background is now filled with sounds of metal crashing against one another and enraged roars. 

This went on till the sun reached the middle of the sky, "Already noon huh," Archer mumbled, having not moved from his spot for a while and yanked out another fish to add in his bucket. Once that was done, he turned around to look at the blond. The boy was now in a completely different state, covered in sweat that his clothes became drenched, tired limbs and haggard breath that he needed to use a sword as a crutch to stand. 

Having destroyed dozens of Excaliburs with some parts that hadn't been dematerialized yet still hanging around the sand. 

"So, how was it? Feeling any different? I doubt it." He said with a slight smirk, earning a heavy glare. 

"You… you lied! Those weren't the real Excaliburs!" 

"Didn't seem to matter to you, going crazy on them for so long when you could have stopped at any time. And I would argue these Excaliburs we've seen so far are also fakes but that's beside the point." He crouched, meeting Yuuto's eyesight, not fazed a little at the harsh glare he was recieveing. "And I doubt giving you the real Excalibur Rapidly would have changed anything, revenge never works out in the end. You felt nothing, probably a small period of satisfaction before being reminded of your past and ending back at square one." 

"…"

"All that talk about revenge on the swords, will you use it against the next time you encounter another holy sword that resembles the Excaliburs? All of this makes you no different from a fool." 

"Then what the hell should I do!? I can't let go of this no matter what I try, it's impossible!" Yuuto asked out loud, feeling more lost than ever. 

Archer scratched the back of his head, "From personal experience, I'd advise you to—"

"—YOU DAMN DEVILS! YOU DARE TARNISH THE EXCALIBURS!?" 

{Break}

(A few minutes earlier)

"I'm not letting you ever lay your ignorant and naive hands on our funds, EVER again." Walking down the road, Xenovia mumbled tiredly and with a hint of annoyance at her partner. "This is the reality of the developed country of Japan. That's why I don't like countries that don't have the smell of our beliefs."

A certain blue-haired girl said with dissatisfaction.

"Don't say that, Xenovia. We lost all the money we had. So we have to rely on charity from these heretics or else we can't get food, you know? Aaah, we can't even buy a single loaf of melon bread! Mother Griselda will be so disappointed in us!"

"Us? Where does this 'us' come from!? It all happened because YOU bought that obvious fake-looking painting! That's why I should have listened to her when she gave me that money and not you!"

Xenovia pointed at a painting of a saint held within Irina's grasp with a sneer on her face. Severely disgusted at the mere sight of this fake creation! "Saint Peter… humph…what a joke." 

"What are you saying? This painting has a drawing of someone who looks like a saint! That's what the person in the exhibition said as well!"

"No, he must have looked like this! I'm sure about it! You're just angry at me again, you didn't even give it a good look!"

"Aaah, why did my partner have to be someone like you!? Dear God, is this also a trial? Have I done something to upset you?"

"Hey don't hold your head down. You get depressed when you are down, don't you."

"Shut up! That's why the Protestants are called heretics! You guys have different beliefs than us Catholics! Show more respect to the saints!" Xenovia shouted.

"What! What's wrong? It's Catholicism where they still abide by the old law like a bunch of old fossils!"

"What did you say, heretic!?" Both shouted in unison.

Those two started to argue by banging their heads against each other. Now with no people around them, they didn't bother holding back their voices and kept accusing and cursing one another. Until the sound of hunger swept throughout the area in an instant, making both lament their current situation.

"She'll be disappointed in us at this rate." Thinking of sister Griselda, both exorcists became quiet with their heads held down.

"First of all, let's do something to fill our stomachs. Or else it's not a matter of retrieving the Excaliburs." Irina proposed a statement her partner readily agreed with without hesitation.

But I guess missing common sense was not the main issue.

"I got an idea. Do you want to get money from the heretics by threatening them? I think God will forgive us if we ruff a couple of the heretics for some money—wait a minute, did you hear that?" 

"Uh?" Both focused, indeed hearing the sound of what seemed to be someone hammering a piece of metal against another. Confused and intrigued, they followed the sound till they reached the beach and stopped in their tracks with pure disbelief written on their faces. 

"T-T-Those are… it can't be!" 

A land filled with half-dematerialized broken blades, even when most were in pieces she instantly recognized them as Excalibur Destruction, Excalibur Mimic, and even Excalibur Rapidly amongst the pile. And in the center is the familiar Devil Knight and that infuriating man who chased them away from the meeting. 

"Our… Excaliburs?" 

Seeing so many copies of their precious relics beaten and destroyed so brazenly, not even thinking about how it was even possible for the Devils to acquire copies of their weapons — Xenovia and Irina darted with their blades drawn.

"YOU DAMN DEVILS! YOU DARE TARNISH THE EXCALIBURS!?" 

.

.

.

"I assume your suits are reinforced?" He comments after examining the Exorcists' combat clothes. "I have to say, they look a bit more practical than those of my world's Executors but they're still far from revealing in my opinion."

The sudden intrusion of these two exorcists was not something Archer had planned. Since this place was one of the farthest points from Kuoh, the last people he expected to find were these two. 

Sparks flew everywhere the moment he saw them drawing their weapons, making him trace a nameless Noble Phantasm and blocking both of the attacks at the same time. Choosing to not go for Kanshou or Bakuya with the worry of accidentally damaging those blades far too much. They were comparable to D+ or maybe C- ranked Noble Phantasms where with enough force where even the married blades could cause irreversible damages from just blocking, having gotten nearly nothing of the prestige and Mystery of this world's original Excalibur. 

"Archer!" 

The Knight exclaimed with stupor, trying to get back on his feet but crumbling back down due to an intense wave of exhaustion hitting him once again. His arms were far too sore and weakened from what happened before. 

"There has been a terrible misunderstanding here!" Archer commented with an uneasy expression, realizing what kind of picture a field filled with Excalibur copies painted to those unaware of his abilities. "These are not the actual—"

"—SILENCE HEATHEN!" Xenovia shouted, putting her entire weight on the attack along with Irina doing the same and trying to push him back with some success. The man's body slid backwards with armored boots sinking further into the ground. Emiya clicked his tongue remembering he was standing on sand which wasn't exactly ideal but nothing troublesome. At least he wasn't fighting in a collapsing building again. "You dare steal our relics and make a mockery out of them! This shall not be forgiven!" 

"Tch, I don't need to do that, they are accomplishing that by just existing. Also, those aren't the real Excaliburs! They are fakes!" He couldn't help but comment, his words only serving to fuel their anger, interpreting the second part of his words in the wrong way.

The duo proceeded with more fervor, clear that they weren't willing to listen anytime soon. So left with little ways to change their mind, he was forced to take a more… painful approach. 

"Ouch!" The girls cried out in shock, their bodies getting struck away by another weapon within Archer's grasp. The hit alone elicited a pain so extreme that Xenovia momentarily felt like she was struck by lightning. Her stomach was throbbing painfully even with her combat suit having managed to protect them from most of the damage. 

"Since you won't listen to me when I'm asking you nicely, then don't blame me for using more extreme means." No longer did he wield a nameless sword, for he felt it was unneeded for the purposes he sought after. Now firmly holding onto a single wooden shinai, one of the first weapons that appeared within his Reality Marble a long… long time ago. Having only been reminded of its existence by accident when Rin visited Shirou Emiya's house. 

Sitting at the corner of the dojo as if someone had forgotten it there… one adorned with a strange strap that didn't really fit aesthetically, but it was the safest yet painful choice in his arsenal. 

Yuuto in the background flinched and instinctively shied away at the sight of that weapon, recalling the gruesome training and hellish pain that thing inflicted on everyone, including his King. A weapon that looked so unimpressive at first look but created a bigger impression than most of the weapons Archer showed that day. 

For the briefest of moments, an ever-shrinking part of his heart felt sorry for the two Exorcists.

.

.

.

Omake V - Caught red-handed  (Co-written with Maglad)

Serafall didn't wince, nor did she eep nor cry when Archer's projectile blew her smartphone out of her hand, not at all, and everyone present knew she'd turn them into a frozen treat on the spot if they dared to disagree.

Her normally youthful countenance did, however, briefly resemble that of a dreadful monster when she remembered the cute accessory her So-tan had given her to decorate her phone with, and the rooftop became covered in an icy black miasma as she turned around to look at the already dissipating projectile and whatever remained of her phone.

It was a limited edition Magical Girl Mil-tan phone she waited in line for hours to get! She was already on the verge of crying real tears at the tragedy that befell and wondering if she should claw Archer's face for his sins!

"Ah, at least this survived!" She spotted the little chain accessory, one that resembled a miniature figure of Sona she custom ordered, and got it enchanted by a mage to make it nearly unbreakable by regular means. Completely worth the small fortune she paid for it.

"She's smiling," Sirzechs noted, "Hopefully she won't freeze Kuoh. Though I'm sure you can handle her if she tries, Grayfia." 

"I'd rather not get involved, she's feistier than you protecting your sister's pictures from her younger years."

"We can try to buy her a new one if it's broken."

"What do you mean by 'we'? It was your idea to bring her here, so take responsibility." 

"..." Her stern glare made him shut up instantly.

And thus, peace quickly returned to the room full of understandably concerned Satans.

Shame the same couldn't be said for the phone case, though it was a little bit surprising that most of the phone had apparently survived the Archer's supersonic attack. The screen was still in working condition despite having a small chunk of it missing. Not something a quick screen replacement wouldn't fix.

"Huh, it looks mostly fine. Who knew humans could craft such hardy devices? Perhaps, I should look into its materials, or is it something about its structure?" Commented Ajuka, looking with some interest at the smartphone in Serafall's hands.

"Hey, Ajuka?" Serafall herself didn't look particularly surprised, though, unlocking her phone to make sure her data was safe. After all, it was full of pictures of her adorable little sister that she still needed to upload into her cloud account.

"What is it?"

"Can I get a new case? One with a picture of So-tan?"

"Sure?"

"Can you make it indestructible?"

"That's a tall request, nothing is truly unbreak—"

"I wasn't asking." Her tone turned sharp, forcing goosebumps to spread across his skin. 

"..." Sirzechs in the background hastily shook his head, pleading with Ajuka to just accept her request which made his old friend sigh. "Fine."

"Yay!"

Yes, the world was at peace for another night.

.

.

.

The technician blinked owlishly at the dripping wet smartphone on the counter, then back at the cute magical girl cosplayer that had brought it in.

"So, can you recover the data?" She asked.

"I mean, normally I'd say no, but… it's a Nokia, so probably. Did you drop it into a pool or something?"

"Sure, let's go with that."

{Break}

(Three days later)

"Wait, your Noble Phantasm summons Pegasus?" Sona's shades glinted for a moment, her expression serious and cool.

"Yes, Master."

"That's it?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Oh!" Sona shook her head a little and raised her hands in denial. "I'm not looking down on it at all! What I mean is, your Noble Phantasm summons Pegasus, but doesn't automatically shoot him at the enemy, turn him into a weapon or anything like that, right?" 

A scene from her childhood emerged one where her sister forced the poor child to watch an entire anime with magical girls having the power to summon robot mythical animals capable of shooting lasers. Then forcing her to cosplay as characters from the show so often and showing her outfit to nearly everyone in the castle that Sona still had nightmares from that period. 

"No." 

"Yes… you summon Pegasus, then you still have to ride him, and that's why you are a Rider-class." She comforted herself, so glad it was something normal and just her past trying to get the better of her sanity.

"Yes Master, that is correct." The violet-haired Servant's left eyebrow was beginning to migrate towards her hairline. Wondering her Master kept asking such odd questions.

Suddenly, a particular thought emerged in Sona's mind. "So, you can technically just summon and keep it here?"

"…It would normally be too big a drain on the Magical Energy of a human Master, but considering your reserves and how fast they refill, I believe it may be possible, so probably yes."

"Excellent! I have something I want to test for future combat-related reasons!" Sona was in no way vibrating with excitement. not at all, and she'd drown anyone who dared suggest otherwise.

(A little under an hour later)

"Say, Archer?" Rias blinked and did a double-take as she peeked out the window of the ORC towards a brand-new building at the very edge of the school grounds.

"Yes, Master?"

"Since when do we have a stable on the school grounds? Wait, is that Sona? Why is she carrying a bucket?"

The Servant of the Bow approached his Master's side and peeked out the window, his excellent eyesight allowing him to extract a far greater amount of detail from the same sight.

"It appears to be full of carrots." He replied calmly.

"Eh?"

Soon, the Student Council president vanished into the stable.

.

.

.

"Good morning," Sona's cheerful voice filled the stable as she approached the only occupied stall. "These are Imperator-type carrots, so have a taste and tell me what you think."

Pegasus' snow-white head and neck reached out over the stall's door, and his warm, intelligent eyes focused on the smiling face of the normally serious Sitri heiress, then roamed down to the large carrot-filled bucket in her arms.

"Yes, they're all yours."

Sona approached and lifted the bucket for Pegasus' comfort, an ear-to-ear smile on her fair visage as the legendary stallion began to munch on this welcomed yet entirely unnecessary treat.

Rider is still in the council room helping her manage some of the paperwork she missed.

Yes, she'll freely admit that at the start, she was more than a little shocked to learn she had summoned an anti-hero, but that was fine.

Because her Servant came with a pony!

A flying pony!

"Who's the cutest, most adorable, and best-winged horse in the whole wide world? It's you, yes you! Once you're done, we're brushing your mane, and then we're polishing your hooves, and then-!"

Of the cool and ever-serious Sitri heiress, nothing remained.

Click-!

And suddenly, the adorable maiden was gone and Sona the Student Council President was back, her neck practically creaking as she turned around to see… nothing. 

"Hehehe!" 

"—!" 

Yet a terrible premonition fell upon her, she was certain her ears heard someone taking a picture of hers. And that chuckle… it sounded no different to that of a demon! Rushing outside and hastily looking around, just enough to spot a pink skirt disappearing at the gateway of their school. 

It had to be a nightmare.

"No… nononono!" Her face turned red, wings jutting out of the bag as she flew at full speed. "COME BACK HERE WITH THAT PICTURE!" 

-----------------

The next 5 chapters of Snafu, and my other Fate fics (Fate Coiling Sword with 3 chapters, A Fake Familiar Reborn with 3 chapters, Steel Eyed Faker soon to be 3 chapters, Hound having 3 and To love a sword having 4 chapters) are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter. Also, I post commissioned arts on each story, already posted a few on an Archer's Promise, Broly and Snafu.