Archer, I don't believe it. You—
You once asked me this, Saber:
"Have you no pride as a hero?"
Of course I haven't.
All I have left is foolish regrets.
The thing is, Saber...
I should never have become a hero.
I suggest you stand aside, King of Knights.
If you exert yourself with no Master, you will quickly disappear.
Emiya Shirou is no longer qualified to be a Master.
Aiding him will not help your wish come true.
I swore that I would protect him, that I would be his sword.
Even without our pact, that pledge remains unchanged.
I see.
In that case...
#18 The Beginning of the Circle
Disappear here, you and your false master.
I expected you to cower a bit longer.
Shut up!
You're fighting the wrong person!
A near enough imitation is, effectively, the real thing.
But can your body handle that level of magical exertion?
Using magic beyond your ability will destroy you.
Or did you honestly think you would succeed?
That if you stubbornly kept trying, your ideal self would be within your grasp?
Archer...
Emiya Shirou has reached his limit.
A fitting end for a fool who constantly tried to do the impossible.
Heed my words.
My will creates your body, and your sword creates my destiny.
If you heed the Grail's call and obey my will and reason...
Then answer me!
Do so and I will entrust my destiny to your sword!
On my honor as a Saber, I accept your oath.
I accept you as my Master, Rin.
What will it be, Saber?
Now that you've made a pact with Rin,
it means you truly have no further ties to Emiya Shirou.
Weren't you listening, Archer?
My pledge to Shirou stands.
And what will you do?
As I am now, surely you do not think you can defeat me.
How confident you've become, simply because your mana is restored.
It's over, Archer.
Earlier, you voiced concern for my condition,
but now I could say the same to you.
You have nothing to anchor you to this world.
You have nothing to supply you with mana, so what can you do?
Servants of the Archer class have the ability to act independently.
Without a Master, I think I can last two days or so.
More than enough time to put down that boy.
I can't believe it. You're still talking about that?
Or are you saying your wish was never the Holy Grail,
but killing Shirou?
Archer, your wish is mistaken.
Mistaken, is it?
You took the words out of my mouth, Saber.
How long will you embrace your own mistaken wish?
You didn't fail to leave a legacy.
Can't you think of it as an end to everything you could do?
I am an Archer.
I was never meant to fight using swords.
Admittedly...
My bow is just as much a borrowed forgery.
I'm saying that I will show you my true nature.
That is the greatest recompense that I can offer you.
I am the bone of my sword.
Stop, Archer!
I do not wish to...
Unknown to Death,
Nor known to Life.
Saber, one day, someone will appear who will free you.
But the sole objective of my current self is to kill Emiya Shirou.
If you try to prevent that, this world will not show mercy, even to you.
Unlimited...
Blade Works.
A Reality Marble?
A forbidden spell that manifests the caster's inner world and encroaches on reality.
Which means that you aren't a swordsman or a bowman.
Correct.
When I was alive, I was a mage before I became a Heroic Spirit.
Then what is your Noble Phantasm, Archer?
I owned neither a holy sword nor a demonic one.
All I have is this world.
If a Noble Phantasm is a Heroic Spirit's symbol,
then this Reality Marble is my Noble Phantasm.
It reproduces and stores any weapon whose original I've seen.
That is my ability as a Heroic Spirit.
Then this...
You're saying this wasteland is where you ended up in life, Archer?
You don't mince words.
Care to test it, Saber?
I'll faithfully replicate that holy sword of yours.
My holy sword?
Yes, it's a projection that's certain to end in my destruction,
but I can produce a convincing replica.
It should last long enough to take you with me.
However, when two holy swords clash,
will any humans in the vicinity survive?
That son of a...
Feel free to dodge them.
But if you do, you doom the man behind you.
Shirou?!
If the rules and principles of all the copying I've done so far are right...
Trace...
on!
Faster.
Better.
Stronger.
I can see how this place works.
I'm sick of your crap!
Archer, what do you think you're...
Tohsaka!
Where are you going, Archer?
Well, I'm back to square one.
That gambit depleted my mana.
Now that you're at 100%, I'm no match for you.
This is my insurance policy.
If you value your Master's life, I suggest you stay out of this, Saber.
My objective is that boy's—
The forest outside of town.
What?
There's a castle that's empty now.
Shirou?
You want to give me a piece of your mind?
Fine, let's hear it.
There are things I want to say to you, too.
True, we won't be interrupted at that castle.
I like your resolve, Emiya Shirou.
Go to hell.
I dare you to hurt Tohsaka.
I'll kill you!
I guarantee her safety for one day.
Be quick, though.
Without a Master, I won't last for two days.
If I haven't managed to kill you by that time,
I might just dismember my hostage out of spite.
Shirou!
You're being reckless.
Not even you can perform the same projections as Archer so quickly.
Sorry, Saber.
I let Tohsaka get captured.
Right now, you are in more danger than she is.
Let me worry about Rin.
You should return home and rest.
Looks like you took care of business, kid.
It's not like that, Saber.
He helped us.
Are you saying that Lancer assisted you, Shirou?
Yeah, he did.
So for now, try not to fight him, okay?
Why, Lancer?
Do you have some ulterior motive in helping Shirou and Rin?
Of course I have an ulterior motive.
Like I'd help them if I didn't expect something out of it.
I understand.
Meaning that you've gotten what you wanted.
Then begone.
I won't fight you now, either.
Hey, it appears things didn't go entirely according to plan.
What happened in there, kid?
Tohsaka's been abducted by Archer.
This hill is his world.
It was his reward for always helping people,
the end of the line.
It seemed like he'd embraced this landscape,
dying with a smile, saying he was satisfied.
Seriously? How stupid is that?
Anyway, that made me really angry.
He worked and worked,
striving for greatness, even though he was ordinary,
finally achieving his miracle as he bled.
So he has to be happy, or all of that will be a lie.
If he made lots of people happy,
he should become at least as happy as those people combined.
However, that wasn't the reward he received.
Instead, all he got
was being exploited as a Guardian, even after his death.
Why did I never put it together?
Servants are summoned from every age.
Heroic Spirits can be summoned from the past, present, or even the distant future.
Nothing says a Servant couldn't be summoned
into the time when he lived, to the city in which he once lived.
That thought frustrates me so much.
Because neither one will be saved.
Not the one looking at his past self,
or the one looking at his future self.
All I can do is mourn what's become of him.
I already know how it will end for that big fool
who tries to live for others.
He voluntarily sacrificed his afterlife.
If he could keep saving people, even after death,
he could ask no more.
Because of his powerlessness, he failed to save people in life.
So, believing that he could avert any tragedy as a Heroic Spirit,
he sold the peace he would have found in death.
He believed with all his heart that he could save tens of thousands more lives.
But even that hope was betrayed.
Only one thing can be said about him.
That he has been constantly betrayed by everything around him.
And at the very, very end,
he was betrayed even by the one ideal in which he believed.
What are you trying to pull, Archer?
Even if I weren't here, Shirou would have come on his own.
You should know that better than anyone.
I suppose you're right.
But it would be inconvenient to leave you there.
I see.
Then you intend to kill Shirou, no matter what, don't you?
Yes, that naïve boy should be put down before it's too late.
I don't need you to tell me that Shirou is naïve.
Even so, I think his naïveté is sweet.
He ought to stay that way.
It's good to have a person like that around.
But what about you?
After all you've done,
have you decided that waving self-centered idealism in people's faces is wrong?
Time and time again, you fought for others,
and time and time again, you were betrayed.
Time and time again, you were forced to clean up other people's messes.
Is that...
Are you saying that's why you got fed up with humanity,
Archer?
"My body is made of swords."
After you became a Heroic Spirit, that's the incantation you were given, right?
That's twisted.
That's too much, even as a curse.
I can't agree with one single thing about your life.
Not your messed-up way of living,
or the people around you who didn't set you straight.
I don't even know what to do.
I can't agree with it...
What a surprise, Tohsaka!
I was skeptical, but here you are, exactly as advertised.
Shinji?
Visitors?
I came here because I thought we wouldn't be disturbed.
Hey, now...
No funny business, Archer.
I'm not interested in you.
I should warn you, you're no match for me.
You're scared, aren't you, Archer?
That guy's a Servant who dispatched Berserker without breaking a sweat.
I don't blame you for being scared of—
You want Rin, Matou Shinji?
Of course I do.
Then wait until my business is done.
Once I've finished Emiya Shirou, she's all yours.
If you won't agree, I'll eliminate both you and your Servant.
Hold on, Gilgamesh.
It's fine. He says he'll give her to us, so let's go along.
We'll keep Tohsaka safe until he's dealt with Emiya, okay?
Which means...
She's already as good as mine, right?
So I can do anything I want to her, right?
My agreement with Emiya Shirou was that she'd remain unharmed.
But that expires at dawn.
Once the deadline has passed, do as you will.
Did you hear that, Tohsaka?
Your Servant sold out his Master!
Faker.
You're awake?
Shirou?
Yeah, the fatigue's gone, and so is my headache.
My mana is still pretty depleted,
but it seems my Magic Circuits weren't burned out.
Shirou...
Rin is my Master.
Rescuing her is my duty.
I will stop Archer, so you—
That's backwards, Saber.
I'll handle the fight with Archer.
You cannot, Shirou.
Archer is your...
I know.
I've probably known who he is since the moment I met him.
All the more reason why I can't let him get away with it.
I have to be the one to settle things with him.
Please... I'll fight Archer.
When we fight, I want you to stay out of it, no matter what happens.
If that is your wish, I shall abide by it.
I swore that my body would be your shield.
Until it is over, I shall simply observe.
Thanks, Saber.
I'm surprised you don't have better things to do.
I've changed my mind.
The little lady's in trouble, right?
So let me tag along a bit longer.
It would keep me up at night.
What manner of spell did you and Rin use to bring him over to your side?
Ryuudou Temple, Miyama. Fifty-three unconscious.
All male.
Low blood pressure, labored breathing.
Same symptoms as those other coma cases.
Send thirty-one to New Fuyuki's general hospital, fifteen to the central hospital,
and the rest to the community hospital.
Wasn't it my Master's credo to never reveal herself?
There can't be two of those pendants.
Why do your own ideals reject you?
I'm leaving this fight before you.
Next Time Idealism's End (The Answer)
In any event, you have no future.