"Okay time to get to work"

Shirou Emiya said as he entered the tool shed that served as his work shop in order to start the summoning ritual so he can call the servant Saber and compete in the Holy Grail War even though he had no interest in the prize at all. Which was why he was planning to give Tohsaka his wish since all she wants is to reach Akasha the root of all knowledge, as he went deeper into the shed he turned his eyes towards a half faded out ritual circle that had been laying there since when he was still living with Kiritsugu.

      When he had shown it to Rin some time ago she was curious as to what it was doing here, as it was a formal craft array designed to draw mana from the air and nearby leylines for a magus to use for whatever purposes however on further inspection she found that it could be also used as a summoning circle if the caster wanted. After remembering this Shirou was glad that he didn't have to waste time drawing a circle to summon his servant as there was already one here for him touse, with that out the way he picked up a Stoll that was sitting in the corner and placed it on the opposite end of the circle near the wall. He then visualized a dozen of his circuits in the form of thousands of golden strands before grabbing a few of them and begun the preparations to trace the catalyst he needed for the ritual.

"Trace on" he whispered as he visualized his mental trigger which was the barrel of a gun being pulled back and releasing as he pulled the trigger, he then brought up the image of a gold and blue scabbard and willed it into existence. Next thing he knew he was holding a traced copy of the scabbard in his hands.

       The thing in his hands was a replica of Avalon: the ever-distant utopian EX ranked noble phantasm and the scabbard belonging to King Arthur of Camalot which he lost before the battle of Camlann, as well as the catalyst he was going to use to summon the King of knights for the war. Normally the traced weapons he makes suffer a penalty in quality do to him not being able to completely grasp the conceptual make-up of the originals however because the original scabbard had been stuck in his body for 10 years his body had managed to memorize the complete blueprint of the scabbard. Of course that didn't mean that he could use it since it belonged to the king of knights in the first place but regardless of this fact it was still the greatest achievement he was able to make with his magecraft. As he laid the hollowed Scabbard onto the makeshift pedestal he backed off and got out the piece of paper that had the summoning area on it that Rin gave him in order to memorize it one more time.

It seemed that he had made some modifications to the area in order to make it unique for him and maximize the levels of prana he could make with his circuits, with that done he put the piece of paper back in his pocket and took out his phone so he could check the time. It was 10:23 pm at night meaning that itwas still too early to summon Saber as it was not yet the right time when his magic was at his peak so he decided to wait it out until it was time for him to summon. Suddenly he heard the ringing of a bell that was attached to the bounded field his father set up that was designed to detect enemies that had hostile intent while at the same time cursing his luck at the timing of such a predicament. As he ran outside the tool shed into the courtyard he looked around the courtyard for any sign of the intruder, suddenly he felt his instincts go into overdrive as he ungraciously roll on the ground in order to dodge a jiggered nail weapon on a chain that was aimed for his neck. As he quickly got back up he looked towards the source of the attack only to meet a purple haired woman in skimpy clothes while wearing a blindfold standing on his roof and reeling back the nail weapon she had aimed at Shirou.

"I'm surprised you were able to dodge that magus, not many people in this day and age are able to dodge a weapon they didn't know was coming" the female killer said as she jumped of the roof in order to land a few meters away from the red-head.

"And you are?" Shirou said as he had a sneaking suspicion on who this person was since he could smell the abnormal levels of prana emanating from her.

"normally I wouldn't answer that questionbut since I have to kill you I might as well inform you so you may call me Rider"

     At hearing this Shirou clicked his teeth in frustration at having his suspicions confirmed, after all what were the odds that you would come face to face with a heroic spirit turned servant before you even summoned a servant of your own, however that also begs the question as to what she was doing here in the first place when he suddenly had an idea. When he used his magi senses to tell what kind of servant she was he was assaulted with a number of fragrances that smelt suspiciously like snakes, blood, and a hint of perfume. However what was important was that Shirou had encountered these scents before when he was destroying the bounded field sigils at school that could mean one thing.

"Before we start servant I just want to ask you something"

Shirou asked which caused Rider be slightly surprised as the person before her managed to find out that she was a servant before saying.

"Very well what is it that you want to ask" At this Shirou took a deep breath and said,

"That bounded field located at the school, that was your doing wasn't it" which caused Rider to stiffen as he had already guessed that she had something to do with it, seeing no reason to keep her intensions hidden the servant decided to come clean.

"Indeed you are correct magus, I set up the bounded field at the school where you go to because my 'master' cannot provide me with the necessary prana needed to remain materialized, so I was ordered to seek out 'alternative' sources of energy" at this point there was no point in hiding anything since the person in front of her was going to die soon. As much as she hated her current master the Book of false Attendant that was made using her true masters command seals meant that she had to follow Shinji's orders regardless of whether she wanted to do them or not, so even if she wanted to let the boy go she couldn't.

     When Shirou listened to Riders explanation it all made sense to him what he needed to do now, right now there were still a few minutes until his magic was at his peak so if he can hold out long enough to summon Saber then they should be able to push Rider back and make her retreat. Besides if there was any time to test out the results of his training this was it as with the path he had chosen as a hero of justice he would probably face off against strange and powerful adversaries that would make any lesser man pee his pants, and what better opponent to face then a heroic spirit summoned by the Holy Grail. Of course being a servant that she is meant that her abilities were more than thirty times that of a normal man, meaning that if Shirou was to stand a chance against her then he needed to pull out all the stops right from the start, he just hoped that his body would be able to handle the strain. With that settled Shirou went into a stance and traced two IceFire rune blades ready to take Rider on.

"Actually Rider there is something I want to ask you before we begin, if I manage to defeat you will the bounded field around the school disappear as well?"

When she saw Shirou go into a stance like he was planning to fight her Rider was stunned that a human magi like her target would even think of fighting a servant head on, however when he asked that question about her noble phantasm the servant of the mount decided to answer.

" yes, the Blood Fort Andromeda is a noble phantasm linked to my legend meaning that if I go, it goes as well, however that wont happen" before throwing her nail weapon at Shirou's vitals intending to end his life.

At this Shirou only smiled and said.

"we'll see" before parrying her attack with his Icefire blades and proceeded to activate as many golden strands symbolizing his many nerve circuits as possible and flooded his legs with prana, before releasing it in a similar manner to a rocket boot that made Shirou leap at his opponent with his swords aimed to strike her down.

     And so with this conflict the 5th Holy Grail war had officially begun.

(To be continued)

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End of Chapter