001 - What Makes it Hard to Go Home ?

While Rin is explaining to Shirou about the Holy Grail War and everything else, Rei decides to wait outside because he don't want to hear things he already knew.

*Stareeeee....* But the problem is that someone is glaring at him without even blinking for about 20 minutes while holding the legendary sword Excalibur.

"You know you can just ask right? Instead of just staring at me..."

Hearing that, Saber finally asks what has been bothering her. "Why are you here, Foreigner? Why is the Counter Force not doing anything to you...!?"

At first, Saber didn't know what Foreigner means but after recalling what it means thanks to the Grail, she immediately looks at Rei with great caution.

And the weird part is, there is no notice from Alaya or the Counter Force to slay him or anything. Everything is going on as normal, as if a creature with this much power never set foot in this world.

"Probably because they can't do *anything* against me. And I'm also not harming humanity or anything. I'm here for my own reasons."

After hearing that, Saber falls silent again but continues glaring at him without blinking. Rei don't know why she's acting like that—it's not like he's going to kill her or something.

Is it because of her nature as a king? Or because she's afraid he's going to take her favorite Holy Grail so she can't make her weird wish of someone else pulling Calburn instead?

Seeing that she won't asking anything else, Rei finally chooses to walk to the center of where they are.

The yard at the Emiya residence is spacious enough for Rei, so he can try something while waiting for Rin to finish.

He opens a portal where his weapons are stored and begins using his left hand to search for the weapon he wants.

"Hmm, where did I put it...?"

Not long after, Rei seems to find the weapon he wants and pulls his hand out of the portal.

Saber can see that he's pulling out some kind of sword, but when she sees the sword, her Excalibur starts vibrating and seems to move towards it.

"!? What's happening...!?" Saber tries to hold onto her Excalibur to prevent it from slipping out of her hand.

But Rei doesn't notice what's happening with Saber at all because he's focused on examining his version of Excalibur.

"Still pure white as usual," Rei nods while inspecting the Excalibur, then uses his right hand to summon another Excalibur, this time the Fae's creation instead.

[IMAGE]

"Creation: Excalibur, Sword of Promised Victory." Rei's eyes begin to glow, indicating that his power is active.

And then, a golden bright light suddenly appears in his right hand, and slowly, a sword starts to materialize.

"That's impossible..." Saber murmurs as she sees the sword emerging. Although the sword hasn't fully appeared yet, she can easily recognize the aura of that weapon.

Once the sword fully materializes, Rei immediately grips it and begins to examine it.

He can feel the strength of humanity's hopes within this sword. It is vastly different from his own Excalibur, which is merely a sword without the power of others' hopes.

But he also knows this Excalibur is not at full power because it doesn't have its partner, Avalon. He could either pull Avalon out of Shirou and copy it or forcibly break the seal of his copy.

"But that's for later." Rei then uses his hand to place the two Excaliburs side by side.

He smiles and immediately decides to conduct an experiment—to test the durability of both swords.

He raises his left hand that holding the Excalibur from the Sky Realm, and immediately try to strikes it against Saber's Excalibur.

But before he can do that, he suddenly feels someone's hand grabbing his left arm. "What are you doing!?" Saber yells at him.

Rei then turns to Saber while looking confused. "What do you mean? I'm just testing something." he says to Saber, who is glaring at him angrily.

"And you're doing it in a public place? In the middle of town!? If you do that, the explosion is going to destroy everything and wake up a lot of people!"

The moment she says that, Rei remembers that he hasn't set up a barrier in this place. Saber is right—if he does it without preparing a barrier, the entire area will be destroyed.

He got too carried away because he's so eager to test that experiment...

So then, he decides to make both of his swords disappear. "Oh right, I almost got carried away there, Saber. Thank you for reminding me."

But even if he accidentally destroys this place, he could just use his ability to rewind time. Though that would definitely make others, like Aoko who have an affinity for time-related abilities, notice something happened.

"I see. At least I can tell that you actually listen to someone." Saber says as she releases Rei's arm.

In Saber's life as a king, she always knew that those with great power often had big egos and never listened to anyone, just like that goldie from the previous war who kept demanding her to submit herself to him.

Well, at least this time, she's not going to meet that golden arse ever again...

"Rei, we're done here. Now we just need to go to the church to register Emiya... What were you two doing?" Suddenly, they hear Rin's voice.

Hearing that makes Saber realize that she's currently standing right next to the Foreigner, causing her to turn towards him.

"Hmm?" Saber hears Rei mumble something as she looks at his silver-haired face with glowing blue eyes.

"...Sorry about that, we were just talking about something." Saber says as she slowly steps back from him.

"Well, whatever you were talking about. So, Rei, we're going to meet that fake priest and register Emiya." Rin says to Rei as she waits for Shirou to come out of his house.

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Now the four are walking towards the church on the hill at the edge of the town.

Rei and Rin walk side by side, admiring the view of the ocean at night and the fresh breeze blowing around them.

"This scenery is really good. And even though the air isn't as pure as in the Sky Realm, it's still pretty nice." Rei says as he gazes out at the ocean.

"By the way... Is that your Servant, Tohsaka?" Shirou suddenly asks while looking at Rei.

"Who? Him? No, he's not my Servant. I'm not even a Master anymore. And I don't have a Command Spell like you." Rin replies while showing her palm to Shirou.

"You're not his Master? Then how did you manage to get him to listen to you?" Saber looks surprised as she hears Rin's words.

"Well, you could say we actually have some history. Right, Rei?"

"Yeah, something like that. I've known Rin since she was a child, and now we meet again after years of not seeing each other."

"Then you don't have any wish for the Grail?" Saber quickly asks about the thing that make her curious.

Hearing that, Rei gives Saber a look that seems to say, 'Are you stupid?'

"I'm not interested. I don't need anything from that corrupted cup. And even if you could obtain it, your wish wouldn't be granted."

"Wait, what? It's corrupted?" Shirou and Rin ask together while looking at Rei.

"Yeah, it's a long story, but basically, during the previous war, the Einzbern family really wanted to win, so they cheated and summoned an Avenger-class Servant. Then blah blah blah, the Avenger died and ended up corrupting the Grail. It's why Kiritsugu decided to have Saber destroy the Holy Grail."

Rei explains all this casually as he continues walking towards the church.

"Kiritsugu!? You mean my—"

"What do you mean!? Explain it properly to me! You mean the Grail is corrupted and I can't get my wish!?" Saber suddenly shouts with emotion while walking towards Rei.

But before Saber can touch Rei, he easily dodges and appears behind her. "Calm down, Saber. And what I said is true—you will never get your wish."

The moment she hears that, she immediately draws her Excalibur and points it at Rei. "No! You're lying!"

"Hahhh..." Seeing Saber's reaction making Rei remember that Saber really wanted her wish...

"Saber, what's wrong? Why are you suddenly acting like that?" Shirou asks, concerned about Saber's strange behavior.

"Umm, Emiya... We probably should stay away for now." Rin says, pulling Shirou to move a bit farther from the two of them.

Now it's just Saber pointing her Excalibur at Rei, while Rei simply stares at her uninterested.

"Haaah... This is why I love your Alter version instead of the original." Rei murmurs while shaking his head.

"Alright, listen to me Saber. First of all, the Holy Grail doesn't really grant Servants any wishes. Its true purpose is for Magi to reach the Root."

Rei then points towards Shirou. "You see those Command Spells? Their purpose is for the Servant's Master to use them to make their Servant commit suicide so they become fuel for the Grail."

Saber turns to look at Shirou with wide eyes, specifically at his hand where the Command Spells are.

"No! I would never use it like that! I don't even understand any of this!" Shirou quickly says as he notices Saber staring at him.

"I'm not saying every Master will do that. But if they want to reach Akasha, then all Servants must die as fuel. If not, you might be able to split your wish or something, but you definitely can't reach Akasha."

"Then what about my wish?" Saber asks Rei.

"Well, you can't make your wish. And I don't think the Grail can grant it, Saber. You're literally wishing to change your history. Didn't you hear it from Gilgamesh and Alexander during your talk in the previous war? It's stupid."

Saber turns furious upon hearing Rei call her wish stupid, forgetting to ask how he even knows about the previous war and everything he mentioned.

She immediately attacks Rei with her Excalibur.