An Archer's Promise

It was complete chaos.

"Where is the bastar–argh!"

Pandemonium spread widely in the Castle of Discordia. The sea of flames burned all those who had died, releasing a foul stench in the air.

"Robin's been hit! Where is the boss!?" A man in armor shouted as he hid behind a large great shield, protecting himself from the invisible threat.

There was no warning, there was no sign, it just happened all of sudden, out of the blue. The great Kuroinu army thought themselves victorious in their battle through the dark lands, unbeatable by any of the enemy forces from the Dark Queen–were now standing on their last leg.

"He's in the castle with Commander Kin trying to set up the shields! Shit, look out! More arrows are incoming!"

Far in the ever-present dark sky of the Dark Queen's domain, a hail of arrows, that numbered in the hundreds, flew down from the clouds and onto the battlefield, killing any unprepared members of the Kuroinu mercenary group. Though some survived the onslaught of arrows, these people soon got cut down into pieces by red figuring, as they moved at speed beyond their skills.

"He's here!" The man wielding a great axe shouted, as he immediately went for the offensive, trying to hit the red figure that was running at him. As the figure approached him, he was able to notice that the man had white ashen hair that was cut short and dark skin like the dark elves. "You fucker!" The Kuroinu mercenary swung his great axe with all his strength, aiming to decapitate the head of his enemy.

Clang!

At the last second, his strike was effortlessly stopped by a single black falchion sword. Even when he used his entire weight behind the attack, the man in red barely seemed to be bothered by it, like pushing away a child's strike.

The mercenary trembled in fear and despair. They had been the ones feared by all until now… All of Eostia knew of the Kuroinu, they feared them, they worshipped them as one of the land's main forces against the Dark Queen, Olga Discordia, army. With their leader, Vault, they fought through a treacherous amount of the Dark Queen's forces–to finally reach her castle.

They were this close to achieving their dream of creating a land of men, where the women would become nothing more than their plaything, their slaves, where anyone could use them to their heart's content and be taken care of on hand and foot… a true paradise.

After they heard that Olga and her servant were captured and were soon to be sent to Vault, so that he could break her and finally take the castle for themselves–everyone celebrated. They danced and frolicked around with glee, all of their hard work would soon be paid off.

But then arrows began raining out of nowhere, killing half of them in a single barrage.

"Help!"

One by one…

"My shield is broken! I-I don't want to die!"

…each and every one of the once prestigious Kuroinu army members…

"Aaargh!!"

…were butchered in a matter of minutes.

This wasn't a fight… It was an absolute slaughter.

What amounted to thousands before now got reduced to a few dozens of men still standing from the attack. On the ground, the bodies of their friends and comrades laid waste with silver pointed arrows sticking out of the many dead bodies like pincushions, littered the field like graveyards. Their faces, frozen in fear in their last moments.

What was even more terrifying was that they found not a single trace of a foreign enemy army anywhere in the distance. He found it absurd how such a large amount of arrows could be shot without hundreds of archers firing at once. But then, one of his scouts reported seeing a single man standing far away in the distance on top of a tree holding an impossibly large black bow.

Before he could describe their enemy in more detail, a single arrow pierced him through the skull, splattering his comrades in his blood.

'How was he hitting us from so far away!?'

This man–No! This thing was a calamity that hit them at the worst possible time. "Who… Who the fuck are you!? What are you!? Answer me!" Even with his hands shaking from fear, the mercenary couldn't help but shout defiantly as he tried to apply more force behind his great axe. Only to have little to no reaction for his opponent.

He saw the white-haired man turning his head at him, eyes a silver grey–similar to cold steel–looking at him one last time before they vanished and reappeared a few inches away from him. The sharp and cold feeling of a blade sinking in his flesh registered in the mercenary's brain.

"A Faker."

The white-haired man said as he used his second hand to plunge a white-colored Dao sword in his opponent's face–swiftly ending another life.

…

"Are the shields not up yet!?"

Deep in the castle where the throne room was, where the occupants were in a panic. Vault, and his right-hand man Kin, were doing their best to set up the defenses while reorganizing the men before it was too late. They came here expecting victory and glory which would lead to the drawing of a new empire but ended up dealing with an unknown threat that decimated his army in less than a day.

"I don't know what's happening! Something is negating the spell the moment it activates!" The once calm and composed Kin was an absolute mess right now, shifting through his book, looking for a spell that'll help them. Sweat pouring down his forehead, the famed mage of Eostia was at a loss on what to do in this situation, chucking the book away from him in anger and fear. "I-I… I can't do much in this situation!"

"Useless!" The leader of the Kuroinu mercenary group, Vault, ground his teeth in seething anger. His entire plan was ruined by a single unknown individual! Not even the thousands of men in his army outside could kill that fucker off, and were instead cut down themselves. "Is this one of your ploys, Bitch!?"

Chained to the ground while being surrounded by a bunch of orcs, Olga thanked whatever gods or spirits that saved her from the humiliation she was about to go through, but did not show it on the outside, still holding a mask of calm. Were it not for the timely intervention of this unknown force, then the orcs would have had their way with her body, before being passed around to Vault's army. Using her as a toy to satiate their lust for the rest of her days.

A smug smirk surfaced on her face as she mocked the man who planned to use her as a sex doll, having a strong feeling that this was the end for Vault and his army. "This is divine punishment from the spirits, human, as the one causing this chaos will destroy you, your army and your dream of that disgusting empire and there's nothing you can do to stop it. I pray that your death will be just as horrific as your damnation in the afterlife" Olga said, her tone bitter and filled with vitriol, before she let out a laugh that caused many of the occupants to feel their spirits plummet even further, realizing that their time was coming.

Truthfully, even Olga didn't know the identity of the attacker, but she welcomed its presence, she didn't even know who it might have been who sent them. Olga didn't care who or what it was, as long as they killed Vaults…

"Shut Up!" In his anger he delivered a hard kick to her face, making the dark elf queen fall to the floor and silencing her laugh. Blood and saliva on her lips as her face started to swell from the hit but she continued to smile in confidence as Vault's demise was getting closer with every second.

"Olga-sama!" Chloe, who was soon brought to the room after the attack had begun, was struggling to free herself from the orcs' restraints. Hate in her eyes as she cursed Vault and everyone involved with him. "I'll kill you human! I swear I will gut everyone and hang your intestines! You'll pay for laying your hands on Olga—purgh!" She was silenced by one of the orcs who followed Vault's example and shut her up with a hard strike to the gut, knocking the wind from her.

Kin decided to put a silencing spell on her before her screaming pushed his leader too far and the latter ended up killing her.

Vault's rage reached a peak when he heard the sounds of his men dying getting closer, asking him to come save them. Sooner or later, the army he painstakingly created will be gone and his dream for Eostia and the world will be burned to ashes.

'Where have I gone wrong in my plans? Neither Celestine nor her shields had an inkling of my plans. It can't be Maia, she would rather betray her own than believe that I was a traitor. Not to mention none of the shields have the power or skills to take out an entire army on their own. So who is it!?' Or maybe it was Celestine in the end who sent them off to their deaths after learning about his plans from one of her premonitions. 'Fuck! Fuck! FUCK! This can't be happening!'

He was interrupted by his head mage, "The shouting stopped…" Kin nodded, the man trembling in fear, looking ready to bolt. Each of his spells had failed and were rendered useless by means beyond his understanding. Some of the feedback he got from the soldiers who were guarding the his formations; was that the enemy used a jagged dagger to destroy everything! 'How is that even possible!?' Kin had read all of the ancient tomes on forbidden and legendary artifacts. He read those books to come up with a counter effect to the caste, so that it would weaken the Dark Queen. Even after going through the library of this place, never had such a weapon ever been mentioned!

"Damn it!" Taking hold of his bastard sword, Vault took a fighting stance, ready to face whoever it was beyond the heavy doors and quickly end them for ruining his plans. "Kin, get ready… the bastard is near."

The mage readied his staff, channeling his mana to a single point–a fiery red magic circle formed on his hands.

.

.

.

Shhhhhh

Crack!

The iron doors suddenly bulged forwards, a red hue slowly spreading all over. The heat of the metal made the space around it bend from the sheer heat. The room's temperature rose rapidly with the carpet near the entrance catching fire.

"What?"

BOOOOMM!!!

The doors gave in, blasting forward followed by a fiery explosion of crimson fire on the other end. And a warped, twisted-looking arrow at the forefront of the destruction.

Vault, before being skewered by the arrow, caught a glimpse of a man in a red cloth hiding part of his feature, carrying an unconscious Olga and her servant Chloe before disappearing in a flash–somehow teleporting away.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO—!!"

The leader of the Kuroinu as well as the Castle of Discordia, both got consumed by an inferno of red fire exploding outwards with the force of a nuclear blast. His last thoughts being the unrelenting rage and indignation of dying like this. His glorious empire would die before it even had the chance to start.

All of them were killed without even knowing the identity of their killer.

.

.

.

{Break}

-???-

Emiya was no stranger to solitude.

Solitude can be used well by very few people, he had learned to use it. Those who do, must have a knowledge of the world to see the foolishness of it, and enough virtue to despise all the vanity. Yet the Hero of Wrought Iron came to a completely different conclusion.

He discovered the foolishness of his own choices.

The vanity came to be nonexistent in his being as he neither despised it nor loved it.

All alone sitting on a rock on top of a hill surrounded by swords that gave off the image of an infinite amount of graves littering his reality marble–Archer had nothing but time to reflect on his past, his mistakes.

The gear in the sky symbolized his feelings of becoming nothing more than a machine who cleaned up the world's mistakes, for his everlasting service to the Counter Force chaining him down like a slave for all eternity… there was nothing more than death that Emiya desired.

But now, he was no longer certain of what he wanted anymore.

The conversation he had with Rin in his last summon bounced around in his mind. Echoing in a never-ending loop.

'Look after me Rin, I'm sure that you already know that I'm hopeless. But please, be the shoulder for me to lean on.' He remembered saying that as his body kept dissolving into numerous motes of light, the grail had long been destroyed.

'Archer…' He remembered the pain in her voice, she wanted him to stay by her side, she wanted him to experience the freedom he so desired. But it was a lost cause–no, HE was way beyond the point of saving… he did not deserve it after everything he'd done as a fake heroic spirit and a Counter Guardian. 'I know. I'll do my best! I'll make sure he doesn't turn into some twisted jerk like you. I'll make sure he learns to appreciate himself. And I hope you do too!' She said to him fiercely.

Those words granted him peace of mind which he hadn't experienced for a long, long time. Shirou Emiya could still be saved, he wasn't so far gone beyond the point of no return–he couldn't say the same thing for himself.

He had chuckled back then, coming face to face with his reality once again… Rin didn't have to know that. 'Don't worry about me. I have my answer already.' Even when met against an impossible situation, the old Shirou Emiya in him bloomed for a brief moment, and he made her a promise. 'I'll try my best from now on too.'

A foolish promise he made on the spot, but one he was willing to adhere to for once.

He didn't know how he would proceed from now on, his mission would remain the same. Archer wouldn't seek to end himself anymore but that thought would soon resurface with enough time passed.

"In the end, it all depended on the whims of a single entity… or two to be honest as Gaia and Alaya both make up the Counter Force."

As he was musing to himself, a ripple soon formed in his reality marble, signaling the faker of the arrival of his 'owner'.

[World class danger detected in sector K-7498N7… Counter Force activation has begun deployment.]

'Speak of the devil and it shall appear.' Thought Archer with a bitter chuckle. "My brief outing was memorable, but I need to return to my job sooner or later."

He wondered what it'll be this time. A nuclear war? Another Apostle hunt? Maybe assassinating a corrupt world leader? The possibility was endless, just like the number of missions he'd been deployed to before–it never ended.

[Error detected… unable to reach area K-7498N7… Error… Error… Searching for a suitable solution.]

"What?" Now, this was new, never had Emiya seen Alaya react in such a way. Every time the collective unconsciousness of mankind came to him for a mission, it always just stated the coordinates of the world and point in time before sending him away after giving him his instructions.

[Unable to establish a pathway to K-7498N7… Third-party help is requested… Waiting for confirmation… Request for help accepted.]

"I do not like the sound of that." There were very few people the Counter Force would ask for help outside the guardians. Of these handfuls of people, none are pleasant to deal with and can be extremely unpredictable. "I hope I don't get sent to the wrong timeline, last time I had to wait half a century for my target to even start thinking about his experiments."

[Counter Guardian: EMIYA chosen for threat extermination]

"You speak as if I had a choice in the matter," Emiya said.

[Is Counter Guardian EMIYA opposed to the deployment?] To his surprise, Alaya, the one who barely cared about his opinions, actually asked a question.

"Opposed? Not really… I got used to it. Not that it would change anything if I didn't want to go."

[Mission cannot be denied.] It stated curtly, not leaving any place for negotiation.

When one accepts the contract to serve under the Counter Force, they lose the freedom of choice. They were no better than a weapon that gets stored only to be used whenever the need arises. You don't ask a weapon if it wanted to be used or not, that is what he was to Alaya.

"Then why do you want to know if I want to go or not? It's not like you to ask unnecessary questions. Don't tell me you've recently had a change of heart or something–I didn't think you even had one." Look at him, having a conversation with Alaya which spans more than a handful of sentences.

[Correct, the need for a biological organ for blood flow is not required as I do not possess a living flesh.] Yeah, Emiya should have known that even sarcasm or hidden jabs would go over the computer-like entity. But it wasn't done in its briefing, [Question about the individual opinion is being taken due to recent multiple attempts from Counter Guardian EMIYA of self-termination. Protocol 8-923-697 does not allow for such actions to be left unchecked. Request for a solution is asked.]

'So that's the reason why it's being so chatty today, huh?' Not wanting to delve much longer into this pointless conversation, Emiya just gave his usual snarky replies. "Then give me a vacation. Let me rest a bit so that I may finally find the peace I'm searching for. Better yet, release me of my status as a Counter Guardian and just let me go." He said knowing full well that there was no chance for Alaya to change anything.

[Request to liberate Counter Guardian EMIYA from the contract has been denied.]

'I knew it.'

[But an alternative suggestion has been created.]

To the surprise of Emiya, Alaya actually took his words into consideration. He feared what she had to offer but it's not like he'd get another opportunity such as this… Alaya was indeed acting very weird. He was scared to ask what it was for he feared it might crush his budding hope. Gathering every bit of courage inside him, he brought forth the strength to ask, "What is it?"

[Counter Guardian EMIYA will be sent to K-7498N7, also designated as Eostia by local inhabitants. The mission objective is to hunt down Vault and exterminate the target before it is too late. Secondary Objective is to hunt down targets that could lead humanity to ruin. There will be no time limit and retrieval of spirit will be decided by Counter Guardian EMIYA.]

So that's what she meant, he gets to finish his mission but can choose to remain for however long he wants? But what was the point? In the end, his main soul will remain and only a fragment will be sent to the other side, he will fuse back with all that was still chained by the Counter Force. This was just a delusion to merely the illusion of freedom.

Though that didn't mean he wasn't interested in finally getting a vacation.

Sigh

Not that he had much to do anyways… and he had the promise he made to Rin to uphold. He sighed once more, taking one last look at the barren decrepit land of his reality marble. The black smog, rust-filled swords, and gear challenged his resolve. 'I promise I'll do my best, Rin…'

"Fine, I accept…"

Up until now he only heard the voice of Alaya inside his reality marble, very rarely he would get to see her physical manifestation. He has proved once again that something was off with the collective unconsciousness of mankind as the latter–what seemed to be after a long time–took form in front of him once again.

The ethereal floating blue orb with multiple rings of light around it appeared in front of him once more. Emiya closed his eyes waiting to be sent in the next few seconds.

[Beginning Counter Force retaliation of unwanted threat to humanity… Guardian chosen: EMIYA…

Final destination: K-7498N7, sent by third party. Executing process in 3… 2… 1…—ERROR!

Soul not sufficiently strong enough to survive long-distance teleportation…

Calculating…

The solution was chosen: The original soul will be sent instead… Restarting process.

3…

2…

1…

Good luck, EMIYA.]

With a bright flash, Emiya along with his ever-present reality marble both vanished leaving behind a dark void in its place. His existence completely broke off from Alaya, leaving behind a single thread connected to the departed soul.

.

.

.

[Have your demands been met?] Alaya said to another being hidden in the amalgamation of space and time.

A crack appeared in the void where a bearded old man walked out of holding a walking stick. His eyes were blood red, glowing with power, and a large grin on his face. "Why thank you, Alaya-chan! I was getting very bored these last few hours and needed some entertainment to help in getting rid of it."

[This is the last time such demands will be approved. Debts of the past have been resolved, your services are no longer required.] Even with Alaya being an emotionless being, a slight tone of frustration could be heard in its mechanical voice.

This proved to only amuse the Dead Apostle, as he burst into a fit of laughter, "Bwhahahahahaha!! Ah, you're so funny Alaya-chan~! You know… this won't be the last time you'll need my help." His laughter died down as he gazed at the little blue thread. "Besides… things are bound to get interesting now."

In the end, Zelretch always gets what he wants, and not even the Counter Force could stop him.

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The next 2 chapters are already available on my p@treon at /NimtheWriter