Wrought Iron Devil: Gate of Blades

Answers and Training

"Okay, guess this is gonna be normal." You remarked, once again in that same barren but sword filled dreamscape after turning in from your fight in the so called church.

"Only if you or I wish to talk to one another. But if you wish to dream on in ignorance, that can be arranged as well." Archer quipped, standing on top of a hill as was the case last time.

"Well, I'm here now. So let's start by getting some questions answered." You decided to casually sit down. It was going to probably be a while this time.

"Straight to business." Archer folded his arms and bore a rather nostalgic smile. "What is the first one?"

"What is the name of my Sacred Gear?"

"Huh. You had to pick a difficult one." Archer closed his eyes. "For the sake of aligning with the rules of this world, I suppose you can call it EMIYA. But the true name is Unlimited Blade Works."

"And how does it work?" You followed up.

"As you have yourself deduced, you can indeed learn everything about a bladed weapon and make accurate projections of them." Archer answered.

"Any bladed weapon?"

"Yes, though it can be expanded to other items, such as that bow you made, or more accurately, my bow." Archer opened his eyes again.

"Your bow?" You echoed, confused.

"Correct."

"Ok. Just who are you exactly?" You demanded.

Archer looked toward the dreamscape's sun before sighing. "I suppose there's no reason to hide my identity in a world that doesn't know me."

"And that also begs the question of why no one seems to know you." You added.

"The explanation is rather simple in summary, (F/n) (L/n). I am not from this world." Archer replied.

You raised your eyebrows, but were not horribly surprised. You just found out supernatural and biblical stuff was legit. Was different worlds really that much of a stretch?

"Go on."

"One of the defining moments in my life, or rather the earliest thing I can recall, is a fire, and my own being dying in the inferno." Archer closed his eyes and lowered his head. Your mind flashed back to that "dream" you had.

"But you were saved." You said.

"Yes. I imagine you'll have to get used to the memory cycle in spite of differing circumstance. The man you saw saved my life. His name was Kiritsugu Emiya. He adopted me, Shirou as his son. But one of his dreams ended up being taken by myself." Archer kept going.

"What dream?"

"He wanted to be a Hero of Justice. To create a world where no one cries. And I chose to do so in his place, since he could not. Except he understood something I did not. As Shirou Emiya, it was not enough to be a Hero of Justice, but he wanted to save everyone he could see. I do hope I don't have to explain why those ideals cannot exist together." Archer said, clenching his fists.

"No, I get it." You nodded.

"Good. His dream is stupid."

Archer continued. "Ten years after the fire, Shirou Emiya was caught up in what caused it, a ritual known as the Holy Grail War. In short summary, it is a Battle Royale between mages and their summoned familiars, heroic spirits of legends, for an omnipotent wish granting device. With the help of my summoned servant, Saber, I was able to win and prevent the grail from falling into the wrong hands."