By the way, about the Japanese MC trope, "And what will I do?!"
"Mmm, I said you're useless—dunno, don't get in the way and provide moral support? Well, that's basically all I wanted to tell you—I think you've convinced yourselves you can't handle this trio alone. One thing: Gilgamesh might not show while you're killing Kirei and Lancer—Gil sees Kirei as a personal slave, not far from truth. Hm, Shirou who is Archer—you'll have to play couple with Artoria, hold hands—kiss her cheek. Gil has an obsessive mania for possessing Artoria, so that'll provoke his rage and lure him out. That's my advice—done, good luck. You have half the night left; your targets are a couple streets away in the church." And at that moment, I vanished.
Well, pieces are placed. By the way, about pieces—maybe increase my clones around the future battlefield; it'll be a wild ride, and they might hit me. That's what I did, quickly jumping roofs and leaving clones in shadows. Took a couple minutes at most, but now 12 clones sit in a circle at a good distance from the target. I returned just as it started—respectful distance from the church, climbed a lamppost for better view.
For now, the "dream team" stands at the church fence talking to Kirei who came out. It didn't last long, and Rin shot a black blotch at Kirei. Edge of mind noted it's called Grant, and it's the 4th chant Finnish curse. Found the description from Rin, but couldn't cast it. And how does a Finnish spell work in Japan anyway? The spell was deflected by Lancer who appeared near Kirei.
Tension spiked; then several events: Archer-Shirou grabbed Artoria and yelled something, because of which Gilgamesh appeared on the church roof and yelled too. I only caught "worm," then they all vanished.
No, seriously—poof, and they're gone! Just weird haze around the church and part of the road. And here I am on the lamppost, looking at it, feeling weird. I get it's a Noble Phantasm with its own dimension, but I imagined it... dunno, I barely imagined how it'd work in reality.
Hm, wonder what happens if you enter the haze? Driven by curiosity and scientific method, I climbed down and approached the haze—then started throwing stones into it. Hitting the haze, stones just froze in the air.
Wanted to poke it with a finger, but held back—what if I freeze too, or end up on the battlefield. Looked at the haze a bit more, returned to the lamppost, and waited; they shouldn't take long.
*3 minutes later.*
With my stone experiments and round trip, it's been 5 minutes—I thought they'd be faster. Especially bugs me that I can't see what's happening.
Suddenly the haze vanished, and a black orb grew from part of the church, quickly shrank, and exploded. Scanning the area, caught the yard moment—Artoria fighting Lancer, and during the explosion he got distracted, letting her take his head. And nearby stood battered Japanese MC trope with a sword.
Events didn't end; with a "Berserker!" cry, Berserker flew out of the church with his chest torn open, more explosions sounded in the church, and Berserker suddenly puffed red light. Fully healing him and closing the torn chest; then he smashed the air barrier, flew into the church, collapsing part of the wall.
With "Illya!" cry, Japanese MC trope ran into the church, Artoria after him. Fun times in there; pity I have no idea what's happening. No desire to dive into the melee in the collapsing church, but desire to grab Lancer's heart—yes.
Strain circuits and make a Mirage of empty space at his death spot—in case someone peeks. Immediately create a clone and switch to it—full kit of buffs, Invisibility, and Intangibility lets me reach the illusion in jumps and dive in—his body already starting to dissipate a bit.
Rip open the chest, wincing at the cracking ribs sound, yank out the heart, close eyes—and start absorbing it. Oh, fuuu, sensations are something. Grimacing, remember his spear and my desire to take it, which I do right away, grabbing it—chance it stays with me is there, and not small; after all, I took part of his power.
In fact, I'd been eyeing magical weapons for a long time—who the hell would turn that down?! The only thing bothering me was that I still hadn't seen any skills from the Lancer—in the sense that Artoria can yell "Excalibur" and unleash energy attacks like Ichigo from Bleach, if the YouTube videos I'd watched were to be believed. She hasn't used anything like that yet—probably lacks the mana.
And what can this spear do? No, it definitely can do something! But I still hadn't seen any special abilities from the Lancer—and there should be some! So maybe now I have a magical spear—as long as it doesn't disappear. But what it can do, I don't know, though it definitely should be able to do something!
Roughly imagining how magical weapons work for Servants—you shout its name and something happens! But the problem is, I don't even know the Lancer's name to look up his legend and get a hint on what he was supposed to be able to do or what the spear was called! And there's no one to ask, so I have a magical spear! But for now, it's just a spear.
Fine, after the war I'll look up legends about spearmen and try out names—maybe something will happen. In any case, better to have something than nothing! With those thoughts, I ran to the nearest shadow while the clone's body convulsed—spasms, fever, coughing, and chest pains with nausea creating indescribable sensations.
Finally reaching the shadow, I dismiss the clone—switching to the mage clone on the lamppost and happily noting that the spear disappeared along with the clone. So, the theory that you can steal someone else's artifact is confirmed! The moment of joy passed quickly, and my inner skeptic added that once the clone's mutation finishes, I should check again if the spear is still there—but I think it will be!
I looked toward the Church—where the battle was still going on—and pondered. In principle, I could risk one clone—need to scout what's happening there, even if it's risky. But scouting is necessary! And not with this clone—better to sneak there with an empty clone—maybe I can snag another heart! I hesitated a bit and decided to first look through the hole in the Church left by that black sphere.
I switched to the clone nearest the hole and, without getting too close, started searching for a higher vantage point. Didn't find one, so I had to approach and climb the Church fence—all I could see was Rin's back. I chewed my lip a bit and looked—saw that the battle seemed to be over, and Rin now looked tired and barely standing.
So I crept up to the building, listening in. Up to the point when I quickly approached the wall and peeked inside, nothing was happening—apparently a general breather or it was all over. I surveyed the scene—Kirei still alive in just his pants with a red mark across his entire chest, slumped against the cross, which was ironic.
He was surrounded in the front ranks by Berserker, a heavily dented Artoria, and almost unscathed Japanese MC trope with a sword he'd gotten from who-knows-where. In the second wave stood Rin in tattered clothes and Illya with some ghostly bird behind her back.
"Everything he's done, we have to turn him over to the prison!" Japanese MC trope.
"No, he's going to die." Rin had her own opinion.
"Yes, he'll die." And Illya backed her up.
***
Read the story months ahead of the public release — early chapters are available on my Patreon: Granulan