Chapter Text
“Speech”
“Thoughts”
“Alright. Just what kind of mess did I get myself into this time?”
That was the first thought that came to the man who called himself Archer as he surveyed his current situation. Of course, he wasn’t exactly surprised by the setting of his current situation. The screams of the dying, the burning buildings, the smoke obscuring the stars of the night sky, and the roar of fierce combat; it was quite the familiar hell. He was, after all, a man who made the foolish decision of making a contract with Alaya to become a Counter Guardian. Being summoned in an alleyway in the middle of a warzone was not something strange for his line of work.
No, he was instead stumped about himself. For one, he was not a Counter Guardian for some reason, nor was he summoned as a Servant to fight in a Holy Grail War. If he were, he wouldn’t have the actual flesh and blood body of a true human. That alone was concerning, but then there were his clothes. The same kind of clothes he wore when he fought during the 5th Holy Grail War: a blue and white long-sleeve baseball jersey T-shirt, a pair of blue slim straight jeans, and a black hooded jacket. And then there was his body. His skin was still tanned, but judging from the size of his clothes, it meant that he had regressed to being a 17-year-old.
“No, wait. These aren’t the kind of thoughts I should be having right now. I’m somehow incarnated into having a physical body in the middle of a warzone. I’m not even sure I can project my swords here,” he thought to himself. The situation was so shocking that he momentarily forgot that he was vulnerable and potentially defenseless. Another explosion shook the air as if to confirm his self-berations.
He slunk deeper into the alleyway out of sight and focused with outstretched hands. The image of the hammer of a gun being fired appeared in his mind. “Trace On.”
In an instant, two swords materialized in his hands. Kanshou and Bakuya, the twin “married” swords. Swords of Yin and Yang that are always attracted to each other. They were his favored blades, however…
“Nnngh?!”
A wave of exhaustion flooded him, hitting him like a sack of bricks. But more than that, he felt as if his brain itself was burning up, overloading itself from the effort. It was unusual for him to be this affected, even for being in the body of his younger self. He stared at the swords in his hand in shock. They were hollow within, inferior in quality to even his usual imitations of them. Even these horribly degraded versions were still much better than the average sword, yet the mere fact that this was all he could reproduce was…worrying.
“Is this some kind of side effect of incarnating into this world? And something feels different. It’s the way I projected them as well. What is-?” he frantically thought. However, another explosion rang out, this time shaking the building right next to him and loosening dust and pebble-sized rubble all over his head. “Analysis can come later. Right now, I need to focus on getting out of here. This place won’t hold for much longer from the sounds of it.”
Unfortunately, he was a little too late. Despite his efforts to stay hidden, his act of projecting his swords must have been spotted, because a hooded man with black robes and wild eyes charged towards Archer with a short sword in hand. “Die, ignorant sinner! Die, Orario!” he howled with fanatical madness.
The speed at which he sprinted towards Archer was somewhat superhuman, but Archer wasn't too alarmed. Even if he was now as weak as a baseline human, he still had access to magecraft and, most importantly, a wealth of experience in fighting foes that were much more powerful than himself. Stronger the man may be compared to normal humans, the terrorist was still pathetically weak compared to a Servant and thus not outside of his ability to fight back against. Still, there was something about him that Archer could detect, a familiar element…
There was no time to dwell on it, however. He instead reinforced his arms, knocking the madman’s sword aside with Bakuya. Before the robed man could react any further, Archer reinforced his legs and lunged with Kanshou. Degraded or not, the two swords were still masterwork blades, albeit barely at the moment; that he also reinforced them also helped them keep their structural integrity. The black blade slammed through the hooded man’s heart, and he died instantly. Unfortunately, this left Archer near the opening of the alleyway, which meant he was directly face-to-face with the battle before him. More of those hooded figures were fighting with armed people; from what he briefly skimmed from the history of the short sword he analyzed, he knew that the former were part of a terrorist organization called Evilus.
However, the sight of the city’s defenders bravely fighting off the terrorists did not move him. If circumstances were different, if he at least had his strength as a Servant, perhaps he would have considered it. But he was now more vulnerable, not as capable as he could be. He couldn’t even properly project Noble Phantasms at the moment, and he didn’t know how else his projections would be affected. The chance of dying from unknown variables was too high. Additionally, he was under no obligation to help the defenders; this was not his world and he has long since learned the folly of just blindly helping others.
"You guys are on your own," he thought. He may have won against one hostile, but he wasn't sure if he could tackle an entire mob of them, even with possible reinforcements by his side.
However, fate had different plans. Before Archer could retreat, a family of three trying to flee grabbed his attention. Their path was blocked by a terrorist, who had killed the mother of the trio and knocked the father onto the ground. “Drown in despair!” the hooded figure screamed, raising an axe above the sobbing daughter. The girl’s face was frozen in terror, her tears cutting lines through the dust on her cheeks. Her eyes caught Archer’s, filled with an unspoken but desperate plea: “Save me.”
The Evilus warrior was about to bring the axe down when a spinning black sword sliced through his arm and decapitated his head in a single motion, splattering the ground with blood. Kanshou spun through the air like a buzzsaw before it boomeranged back into Archer’s hand. He bit back a curse as he sprinted for the little girl. “Even now, I still fall for the same mistake…” he bitterly thought as he reached the girl and her father.
“Hey, get up!” he yelled at the man, grabbing him and hauling him up.
“M-My wife, she…!”
“If you want your daughter alive, then move!” Archer yelled over the din of battle. “Your wife didn’t die for the two of you to follow her!”
The man had a look of anguish on his face, but he did as Archer ordered him to. He scooped up his daughter and fled, ignoring the girl’s wails for her mother. Archer had no time to see if they would be okay, however. He swiftly turned around and saw that there were still several Evilus remaining. And thanks to his little stunt, they noticed him with bloodshot eyes. He could just retreat, but he was too committed now; clearly, being in his younger body was doing something to him. “Just my luck,” he muttered, then he joined the fray.
He fought alongside defenders he had no time to identify beyond the fact that they were called adventurers. He wielded Kanshou and Bakuya; despite their degraded quality, they were still a match for the weapons wielded by the enemy. It helped that he was reinforcing the swords’ structural integrity as well.
Alongside his ability to reinforce his body and his own wealth of experience, he managed to at least barely defend himself and counterattack. He parried a sword and stabbed its owner in the gut; he threw Bakuya to slash open an Evilus member’s back and then slashed open her throat with Kanshou. He defended and supported much more than he killed, but he at least remained alive.
He did not go without injury, however. It was clear that despite reinforcing his body, his body was not durable enough to fully protect him from the attacks. He got a nasty cut across his stomach, got a throwing knife stuck in his bicep, and failed to block a sword from jabbing into his thigh. That was not counting the slew of minor injuries that he received. Worse, slight cracks were starting to form on the two swords; masterpieces or not, they were still significantly inferior copies that were hollowed out inside. He grimaced in pain, but repaired the damage on his swords and kept fighting. He might feel like an experienced soldier fighting in the body of their child self, but that was no excuse to stop out of pain. Still, it was hopeless. The number of defenders was dwindling, and the enemy was relentless.
And then came a loud cry from their right. “It’s Astraea Familia! Astraea Familia is here!”
All combatants turned towards, and while the Evilus panicked, the adventurers cheered. Archer, on the other hand, decided to take a breather and watch. It was a squadron of girls, most of whom were in their young teens. They looked human, but one or two had strange features, like what he swore were wolf ears and tail on one, and pointed ears like those of an elf on one or two. In fact, now that he could take a brief break thanks to the momentary lull, there were even such features among the adventurers.
He brought his attention back to the newly arrived reinforcements, where a scarlet-haired one was giving out orders to the group with an upbeat smile on her face. Her sword, Crimson Order, gave Archer her name: Alise Lovell, the Scarlet Harnel. “Quickly, girls! We must give support! Kaguya, Leon, at the front! Maryuu, heal the wounded and then rejoin! Everyone else, flank the enemy!”
The armed girls attacked the Evilus, though one of them stayed behind and started to chant, ending with “Rea Vindemia.” Light washed over the wounded, including Archer himself. Like the others who were injured, he felt his injuries heal and his stamina replenish. The adventurers, having regained their morale, howled and charged in to help. Archer, on the other hand, took a more hands-off approach with the appearance of reinforcements. He stuck to the sidelines, slashing and stabbing any enemy any chance he got, as well as occasionally preventing an adventurer from being killed. Like an assassin, he did his best not to draw attention to himself, using the chaos itself as camouflage.
Soon enough, the battle began to dwindle. “Good,” he thought, relieved that the battle was over. “I already acted too out in the open. Now I just need to leave without anyone noticing.”
Since his condition was good now, he prepared to slink off before he could attract attention. Perhaps he can get some directions to an administrative building or a library to get some information. But yet again, fate had different plans for him.
An Evilus member who wasn’t quite dead gritted his teeth as he reached into his blood-soaked robes. He pulled out a dagger-sized magic sword, one made to fire small lightning bolts. He staggered onto his feet and aimed at Alise, who was oblivious to the danger as she shared a laugh with her comrades.
He was about to swing down when the white blade of Bakuya slammed into his shoulder blade, while the black blade of Kanshou rammed into his heart. The Evilus member died before he could even utter another sound. The lightning magic sword, on the other hand, clanged onto the pavement and discharged. The lightning bolt crackled as it blasted forth, striking some rubble near Alise, but no one got hurt. In the commotion, however, Archer disappeared, retreating into the city. Kanshou and Bakuya also disappeared, vanishing away into motes of light just as quickly as he got away.
••+===+===+••
“Captain! Are you alright?!”
Alise coughed as she waved away the dust and smoke before answering. “Yeah, it didn’t hit me! I honestly could’ve tanked that, but it would’ve really hurt!”
Kaguya, the one who called out to her, scowled as she stared down at the corpse. “Bastard,” she cursed, before frowning. “Huh, that’s strange.”
“What is?” asked Lyra as she joined in, accompanied by Ryuu, who looked worried about Alise.
“Look at this. Two blades were thrown at this guy. One into the shoulder blade of the arm holding the magic sword, the other into the heart through the black,” she said before gesturing around. “So where are the weapons?”
Lyra frowned. “You’re right. I don’t recall the guy’s appearance exactly beyond having white hair, but I could have sworn that he had a pair of short swords, one black and the other white,” she agreed, before sporting a thoughtful look. “That lightning bolt drew everyone’s attention. Maybe the guy who threw the swords retrieved them when all of us were distracted.”
“But why would he run?” Ryuu questioned. The air grew contemplative around them before Alise clapped her hands. “Girls, there is no point in questioning why this helper left without telling. He must have his own circumstances. What’s important is that I am unharmed and there was a helping hand to thank for that. Hehe, I am quite fortunate! Definitely need to find him later and thank him personally!”
“Even so, the fact that he ran is suspicious!”
“Leon,” Alise said, her voice now more serious. “Everyone has their own reasons for not wanting attention to themselves. That is their right. Besides, if our helpful bystander really wanted to hurt us, then he would have just let the magic sword hit me. And if he wanted our trust, he definitely wouldn’t have left us with questions.”
“Our little youngest here doesn’t think as per usual, eh?” Kaguya quipped. “Then again, you are still a child.”
“Kaaaguuyaaa! Don’t call me a child!”
As the pair started their usual bonding exercise (aka their daily quarrel) and Lyra and Alise sighed and chuckled respectively, a pair of dark red eyes gazed at the Evilus corpse. Unlike everyone else, she had seen the young man who stepped in to help in the battle, even when he slipped away after helping the Astraea Familia captain. But most importantly, she saw the swords of white and black quietly disappear.
“How interesting,” muttered the goddess Rhamnousia. She then left the area, intent on finding the mysterious boy. After all, her divine senses were telling her fiercely that the boy was a very special child indeed.