Archer's Bread & Butter

Rin Tohsaka struggled to gain a foothold on the grass-laden, uphill path she'd chosen for herself. Her shoes only appeared clean because they were the same colour as the mud that had found it's way inside them and the slight squishy feeling of wet earth between her toes annoyed her to no end.

Heaving a sigh, she moved aside a strand of her dark hair, "Ugh, it just HAD to rain." Rin complained to nobody, groaning in annoyance at the light shower accompanying a particularly dark night that hindered her vision far more than it should have.

In all honesty, she could probably just have made her way up to the temple like a normal person but where would the tact be in that? She could have also just used magecraft to make her wholly unnecessary trek easier but Rin was headed into a conflict between individuals of supernatural prowess.

In light of this information, even a singular unit of magical energy could possibly save her hide granted that she hoped the situation wouldn't be so dire but hope was something a magus couldn't place her cards in.

Gritting her teeth and bearing through the mud and rain, Rin continued her journey upwards only to be stopped by a rather sharp piercing noise ripping her attention away from her decided path, "Wh..What is that?"

It sounded like something tearing through the air, like one of those aeroplane thingies she occasionally saw in the sky but somehow different, carrying a slightly electric touch. Doing what anyone would do, Rin looked upwards, cautious and curious as to what could make such a noise.

What she saw was something she would have been happier without.

"WHAT NOW?!" She shouted indignantly, where the hell were all these insanely powerful servants coming from?!

A veritable meteor, complete with searing flames that lit up the land underneath was coming down at insane speeds, leaving a trail of lightning that was a little too familiar for the Tohsaka. It lit up the darkness-covered forest surrounding Mount Ryuudou and drowned out the distant battle her servant was engaging in as a distraction.

"I'm dreaming.." She laughed to reassure herself, beads of cold sweat trickling down her back, "Definitely dreaming!"

She was in fact, not dreaming.

A realisation that hit her a little too hard when the meteor crashed into an invisible field with a massive boom, trying to overpower the protective bounded field that made it so servants could only get in through the main entrance.

"OH come on!" Voicing her frustrations, Rin flicked on her magic circuits and casting reinforcement over her legs, she shot up the hill in an attempt to avoid being in the crash zones.

Bounded Fields were essentially regions of space with different properties assigned to them by the one who cast them as Rin understood and if a bounded field was coming from a damned Caster from the Age of the Gods, it was an entirely different region of space as compared to it's surroundings.

But if this Grail War had taught her one thing, it was that from time to time, certain bullshit assholes came along that did not give TWO shits about logic and just fucking blasted through it!

Her suspicions proved correct when a distinct crack reverberated through the area and she felt the bounded field fall apart. This was followed by a boom loud enough to render her temporarily deaf, "Agh." And shockwaves that lifted her off her feet and smashed her into the rough but insanely tough bark of the tree right next to her, knocking the wind out of her lungs.

"W..Wha?" Rin struggled to form words, gasping for air and coughing at the same time while curling up into a foetal position, her hands over her hurting stomach as tears formed in her eyes from the pain.

Why were her days filled with so much suffering?! Had she wronged someone?! She only wanted to win this damned war for her family's honour!

As if her complaints were heard, the powers that be set fate in motion as a final fuck you, and a branch from the tree she'd been thrown into broke and fell on her head, nearly knocking her out cold.

*

Archer wasn't a man who wanted very much in this life of his but the world was out to get him, as usual, today too. It told him this by sending down a Knight of the Round Table renowned for being a mad slaughterer for him.

Or rather, his foot was sent down right onto Archer's face.

"Oya, and here I was, almost certain that my suspicions of your nature were wrong."

At least the Assassin seemed to be enjoying his suffering, "How honourable for a knight." Archer smirked, his tone perfectly conveying his sarcasm, "To interfere in a one-on-one duel."

Aston's next words sent him into deep thought, "Can it, dimwit." The Lancer raised his armoured foot and smashed it down on his face again, burying him even deeper into the now destroyed concrete than he already was, "We're at war, I question your intelligence if you think this is unfair."

Pain was something Archer was used to, so it didn't hinder his speech even slightly, "Oh my, is the mighty knight scared of a mere archer?" He noticed that the Lancer appeared more... How to put it? More jumpy? Aston didn't seem as calm and gentle as he usually did. The knight was even more confrontational than before.

"What is the matter, my temporary ally? Is this personal? If so, I pity you, my opponent." Sasaki asked in slight concern, deciding to not interfere. Archer was skilled but not skilled enough to give him a good bout.

"What? Did your brain finally start working?" Archer smirked wider, capitalising on his opponent's somewhat flustered state, "You finally recognised me?" He'd been sent after the man before, and even if he'd failed, he'd made Aston suffer pain the likes of which realistically he never would, even in his age. Honestly, it was surprising it took it this long to bite him in the ass.

It was already done and decided that he wouldn't get what he wanted out of this war, Medea stood too great a chance at winning and if Lancer could be neutralised, Archer didn't mind giving it his all here, "Rin, command seals. Rin! Command seals!" He half shouted and half whispered to his Master through their mental connection.

Besides, with how incorrigibly stupid Emiya Shirou was as a teenager, there was no way in hell he would NOT find his way here. Either by dumb luck or his stupid complex.

"I see."

Archer found his thoughts cut short by those two words, "Is that it? And you call yourself a man?" Normally people were supposed to hate and loathe their tormentor. Agitating the knight would result in flawed judgement, flawed judgement was his best chance at winning here. Well that and his noble phantasm.

He was answered by the incredibly painful sensation of having his face dragged across cracked cement and up broken stairs by a speedster moving at supersonic speeds before being thrown at a wooden temple that caved in all around him.

Oh yeah, did he mention the lightning that was trying to burn off the half of his face that wasn't buried underground as he was dragged up?

"....."

"....."

Both Caster and Berserker momentarily stopped their own conflict, staring at Archer's state in confusion. Of course Aston being the Knight of Atrocity decided that hadn't been enough and appeared right above Archer, driving his jagged spear into the man's shoulder before lifting him up and throwing him into the air.

"RIN! COMMAND SEALS!"

Pain and suffering was Archer's bread and butter at this point (Being a hitman for humanity's will wasn't that enjoyable, who could have imagined) but he had something to do and getting ragdolled by a stronger being definitely wasn't it.

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Feedback? Some feedback for this procrastinated soul? Power stones would also do nicely.

Did anyone check out Absolution?

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You can find up to 7 chapters ahead at patre0n.com/Bleap (replace the number 0 with the letter o)