"What are you wearing?" Asked Cu. Rubbing his eyes just to be sure.
In front of him stood Sukuna but something was off. Gone was the traditional white Kimono, in its stead was a black sweatshirt-swapant combo with an open zipper jacket.
"I had to raid a clothing store after the fight. I was covered in blood and that kimono was fucked anyway." Said Sukuna. Looking everywhere but at Cu.
"Well. It's something that's for sure." Cu gave Sukuna one last lookover before gesturing him in.
Sukuna followed Cu inside, feeling a number of bounded fields wash over him. They moved quietly through the entrance, but they weren't exactly hiding. Ushiwakamaru noticed them immediately. Her eyes flicked toward them for a brief second before she quickly turned toward her master. Mash noticed them too, but she didn't make a scene. She just kept eating alongside Gudako, both of them having small, genuine smiles on their faces.
"Now that you are here we can start planning for stuff if ya know what I mean."
Sukuna hummed in agreement, making his way to the table of supplies. That was when the twins and Olga noticed him. Ritsuka stood up, looking him over with a frown. "Are you fine?" he asked.
Sukuna paused mid-drink, a bear can at his lips. "Are you really concerned about me, brat?" he asked. He gestured vaguely back toward the ruins of the city. "You should have a look at that guy. Or what's left of him, anyway."
Ritsuka laughed, surprising him.
"I had trust in you, I knew you'd win." he Said. Surprising Sukuna.
Trust, huh…
Shaking his head he sat down on a chair, facing the group.
"Shall we get down to business?"
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"So let me get this straight," I said, staring at them. "You're an organization from the year 2016, sponsored by both the Clock Tower and the UN."
"Yes."
"Your job is protecting humanity from anything that might wipe it out."
"Yes."
"And you found an anomaly in the distant past. A Holy Grail War in 2004."
"Yes."
"And right when you're ready to do the smart thing—time travel included—a big explosion wipes out your facility. Leaving behind two non-magi twins, a Demi-Servant who doesn't even know what the hell she can do, and you." I tilted my head slightly. "The Director. Who is very much not supposed to be on the field."
"...Yes."
I exhaled slowly.
"Yeah, no." I raised the can toward my shitty Servant. "You got anything better than this?"
"Heck yeah I do."
He disappeared toward what I assumed was the kitchen and came back with a bottle that looked suspiciously like sake.
"Catch."
I caught it, cracked it open, and downed the whole thing without thinking.
Fuck me…
When I woke up here, I figured it'd be simple. Beat a few Servants. Grab the Grail. Fix whatever mess it caused. Maybe track down Zelretch, punch him once for good measure, and go on an adventure or two. Hell, maybe pick a fight with a True Ancestor if I felt like it.
Instead, I got time travel, sabotage, and mystery-flavored bullshit layered on top of a fucked-up Grail War.
Yeah. Not loving this, chief.
Time travel.
Rob sent me here too, and I quote— "Enjoy. You've been given a second chance."
Enjoy my ass.
I already knew Fate was a shit world to exist in, but this? This was a special kind of nonsense. And the more I ran through it, the clearer it became: Saber wasn't the root of this Singularity. No chance. Whoever pulled this off had to be operating way above that level.
Time travel. Corrupting Saber. Getting to Emiya—someone who is supposed to be resistant to that sort of thing thanks to being a Counter Guardian. Sabotaging the one organization designed to deal with extinction-level events. And doing all of that without Zelretch stepping in.
Yeah. No.
I'm strong, but I'm not that guy. Even if I spent the next hundred years grinding, there's no way I'm reaching that tier. And if someone could do this once, they wouldn't stop at one Singularity.
The annoying part was that I already knew what that meant for me.
I was going to have to help them.
Not because I cared about Chaldea, and not because I suddenly felt heroic. I just didn't feel like getting erased when this world corrected itself after Saber went down. Death didn't scare me much—the Sukuna part of me had already made peace with that.
I tossed the empty bottle aside and stood, snapping everyone out of their thoughts.
"Alright," I said.
I looked at Olga.
"You need my help fixing this, don't you?"
I wasn't about to pass up the chance to fight whatever comes next.
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3rd POV (Olga)
"You need my help fixing this, don't you?"
Olga Marie Animusphere stared at him.
Her mouth opened to deny it. The refusal was right on the tip of her tongue, burning to get out. No. Absolutely not. We are Chaldea. We can do it on our own.
But the words died in her throat. Because she knew the reality of the situation.
Her eyes drifted across the room, taking inventory of their chances.
Ushiwakamaru. A Rider-class Servant. Loyal, skilled, and currently the best of Chaldea's force. But she was one Servant. Just one.
Then there was Mash. A success on paper, yet a failure in practice. While Mash had the physical powers of a Servant, she couldn't use her Noble Phantasm. Against skeletons and maybe even some minor Servants? Perhaps she could manage.
Against King Arthur?
The name alone stilled Olga to her core.
Saber. Perhaps the most famous legend in human history, currently hooked up to a Holy Grail of all things. And she wasn't alone—somewhere out there was an unknown Archer waiting to snipe them the second they stepped into the open.
The whole situation looked downright impossible. There was just no way they were winning this.
Then, her gaze shifted back to the man in black.
He stood right in front of her, hand outstretched like a devil coming to her need. A smirk adorned his face, as though he already knew the outcome.
As infuriating as he was… he was right to assume so.
He had the strength to defeat Heracles. The most famous hero in Greek myth, whose legend was on par with King Arthur herself. And he had defeated him in a one-on-one fight.
He had saved the last Masters of Chaldea not once, but twice.
He had healed her from certain death.
Hell, he even came with a bonus.
The Caster-class Servant, Cu Chulainn. Ireland's Child of Light. A top-tier Servant. Sure, he would have been better in the Lancer class, but the fact remained: having him on their side was a massive boost to their combat power.
The logic was undeniable. The benefits were massive.
But the cost?
Now that was the terrifying part, wasn't it? He could ask for anything, and she would have to give it to him.
As insane as it sounded, the choice was already made for her.
She looked at her team. She looked at Mash, whose violet eyes watched her, waiting for an answer. She looked at the twins, who already looked like they knew she would accept, but were still waiting for her to make the call.
Olga exhaled.
The tension left her shoulders, replaced by a heavy weight of defeat.
She looked the devil right in his eyes.
"Yes," she whispered.
Shuddering, she forced herself to speak up. "Yes. We cannot defeat Saber alone. We do need your help."
Sukuna smiled. It was the smile of a devil who knew he had won her over.
"Good," he muttered.
He tilted his head, four eyes glinting with amusement.
"Now," he smiled softly. "Let's see what exactly you can give me to help you…"
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3rd POV (A Few Minutes Later)
"Pleasure doing business with you, Director of Chaldea," Sukuna said, a grin splitting his face.
Olga scowled, but she accepted the handshake. At least I didn't lose too much, she thought, already tallying the damage in her mental ledger.
With that done, Sukuna turned toward his Servant. "Now then, we should start planning our next move. After all, it could be our final one."
"Hah. Yeah. Guess it's about time," Cu said. "As things stand, Berserker, Assassin, and Lancer are dealt with. I handled Rider before Saber got a chance to get her claws in, so she never manifested."
Sukuna leaned back against his chair, resting his chin in his palm.
"So that leaves Archer and Saber. And considering the fact that Saber is hooked up to the Grail—"
"—she's the final boss of this little adventure," Cu finished, a grim smirk touching his lips. "If we're talking strategy, my plan is simple. With all of us here, we deal with Archer first. Take him out clean, make sure there's no one left to interfere."
Cu motioned around the room. "With our numbers, we should be able to handle him without too much trouble. Once he's down, we regroup and jump Saber together. With everyone hitting her at once, we might have a shot."
"Might," Sukuna echoed, the word dripping with mild amusement.
Cu snorted. "You think you're taking her one-on-one? Don't kid yourself. I know you're strong, but the Heracles you fought doesn't even come close to Saber at full power."
"It's not just the power gap," Cu added, shaking his head. "She's plugged straight into the corrupted Grail. Infinite mana. That holy sword of hers? She can fire it again and again without worrying about the cost. Worse, with that kind of supply, Mana Burst stops being a temporary boost and starts looking like permanent reinforcement."
He looked back at Sukuna, his expression serious. "And her Magic Resistance is through the roof. So yeah—jumping her together is the only plan that makes sense to me."
"Say, hound. You were planning on some way to deal with both Saber and Archer before we arrived, right?"
Cu's grin returned,
"Yeah. I had a last-resort gambit lined up. Low odds, but it could've worked."
"Then I'm guessing you had some trick to sneak up the mountain without getting noticed."
"Of course I did. You do know who I am, right?" Cu replied. But his grin faded just as quickly as it had appeared. "Problem is, I've got no idea how well it'd work against that Archer. The way he fights makes no damn sense. He's like a twisted mix between Saber and Archer, with a bit of Caster's Item Creation thrown in for good measure."
"Wouldn't surprise me if that bastard's got some way to see straight through concealment runes. And now that we're moving as a group? Yeah. That makes stealth useless."
Silence settled heavily over the room.
Gudako hesitated, shifting in her seat, before speaking up. "What if we split up and approach him separately?" she asked. She gulped as heads turned her way. "M-maybe from multiple angles? No matter how good of a sniper he is, he can't stop all of us at once… right?"
Cu sighed. "That'd be a great idea, lass—if he wasn't standing on top of a mountain."
He pointed a finger toward the three humans. "That whole place is flooded with corrupted Grail mud. The only safe approach is the stairs, and Archer will prioritize sniping you lot first. You wouldn't make it to the first step before an arrow takes you out."
"Best I could come up with was all of us charging straight up the mountain. With the mana I've got now, I could probably take him one-on-one."
Cu paused, fingers drumming on the table. "The only problem is Saber. If we all go after her guard dog, there's nothing stopping her from intervening."
"You're forgetting something, hound," Sukuna cut in.
Cu turned toward him, an eyebrow raised.
"I fight best alone. My trump card doesn't care who it cuts. Ally or enemy, it makes no distinction." He let the words settle in the room before continuing. "If we were to finish Archer and jump Saber, I'd be fighting without my full arsenal. And against her, that's a death sentence."
"I'll take Saber. Alone."
Olga stared at him, aghast. "Are you insane?"
"Caster just finished explaining how far Saber outclasses us, and you want to face her by yourself?"
Ritsuka nodded quickly. "Yeah. That doesn't sound like a plan that ends well."
Sukuna scoffed. "Would you rather I fight her without most of my arsenal," he asked, his voice dropping, "or with it?"
No one answered.
"You handle Archer," Sukuna stated, motioning toward the group. "You've got numbers—Caster, Rider, and the Demi-Servant. Finish him fast."
"Once Archer's down, you come help me. If it looks like I need it."
Cu let out a low laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. "You're a madman."
"Yeah," Sukuna said. "But you get it. Don't you?"
Cu exhaled, looking at his Master. "Sure. I do."
Sukuna turned away. "You lot figure out how you want to handle Archer. When you're done, give me a rundown."
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3rd POV (Archer)
Long ago, Shirou Emiya had been a patient man, though most people attributed it to the stubbornness born of his single-minded ideals. If anything, his experiences as a Counter Guardian had only magnified that trait. Without the need for basic biological functions, his patience had reached untold heights. Most of the time, he would awaken weeks before he was required to do his job, leaving him with nothing to do but wait until the exact moment arrived.
All of this was to say that the man could wait out an eternity here, especially since he would not have to return to his usual duties for as long as he was held in this place.
Still, he found himself wondering why his remaining enemies were holed up in that house. He understood why Caster chose the location—considering he had lived there lifetimes ago. The damn dog had been lucky that he had chosen not to destroy the estate, even if he didn't quite know why himself, but he could feel that something wasn't right.
Caster knew him well enough to know he was always watching. The Hound of Ulster had a clear enough image of him from their earlier bouts to know how he ticked. And yet, he couldn't fathom why the man would choose a location where any exit would put them entirely out in the open.
Wait a sec—shit!
He'd forgotten about the emergency exit under the Tohsaka Estate, built way before his own birth. It was one thing to be fooled by a tactical Servant, and quite another to be outsmarted by Cu Chulainn.
His eyesight stretched over the entire city, mapping out every route from the emergency exits to the torii gates of the Ryudoji Temple. It took him less than a minute to path out every single variable. If he was right—
There.
A thin, translucent veil hung in the air—a small distortion that fell apart against his gaze. Hawkeye was a useful skill to have. He took in the forms of the group the moment the veil collapsed. There were six people. The Shielder led the charge, flanked by both the Hound and the newly summoned girl, forming a tight triangle with the three Magus Masters in the middle.
The formation made sense. It put their strongest defense in the front while Caster could take shots from the rear. Whatever the new Servant was, she was built to deflect blows with her sword (Kumokiri—Usumidori—the blade that felled the beast Tsuchigumo, its name altered as it passed down generations).
Wait, where is—
Thanks to his instincts, he barely dodged a punch from an unknown assailant falling from above. Diving onto the stone stairpath that led to the entrance of the temple, he managed to manifest Kanshou and Bakuya into a guard just before the man landed a brutal kick to his sternum. The twin blades held, but the impact sent him flying down the path, cratering heavily at the bottom of the staircase.
Hard, was his first thought.
Fast, was his second.
The man seemed even faster than when he had squared off against Berserker. Stronger, too. Had he been holding back against that behemoth? For what? The fun of the game?
Still, as he stood up from the shattered ground, he couldn't help but question how the man had made his way up the mountain without being noticed.
His black bow materialized in his hand as he prepared to shoot the intruder up the mountain, who had already turned his back on him. Before he could pull the string, he had to dodge again. His instincts screeched at him, and rightfully so, as a spear he was all too familiar with embedded itself right where he had been standing.
Gae Bolg. Hiten. The Accursed Spear. The Cursed Trishula. Wielded by Cu Chulainn. Ryomen Sukuna.
He had to tear his eyes away from the weapon before his mind blew up. What the hell was wrong with that spear? How was it even here? This was Caster, not Lancer.
He dispelled his bow as Kanshou and Bakuya snapped back into his hands just in time to block a strike from the group's new Servant, who had closed the distance. He flipped his swords to parry her blade, raising his leg to strike back, only for his counter to be smoothly blocked.
Fast and skilled. Saber, if I had to guess, he thought. This really wasn't looking like his day.
Still, he had a job to do. With a heavy sigh, he pushed his body to its absolute limits with reinforcement, a bluish-white glow enveloping his form.
He kicked off the ground…
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3rd POV (Sukuna)
Sukuna couldn't quite believe that it had worked.
The core problem had been obvious from the start: the moment the group tried to move up the mountain, Archer would pick off the weakest links first—the humans. It was the simplest tactic imaginable, and one they had no clean answer to.
The initial workaround had been straightforward. Get someone close enough to force Archer off his perch. Rider had volunteered immediately, suggesting that Caster layer concealment runes on her so she could slip past Archer's sightlines.
A solid idea, but a flawed execution. Cu had shut it down almost as soon as it was proposed, pointing out that no amount of concealment would hold once Rider got close. Archer would see through it; he always did.
When he was told of the idea. He had come up with a workaround. He'd do the exact same thing—but better.
Instead of relying solely on Cu's runes, he took to the air using a partial summons of Nue's wings, wrapping himself in a barrier designed specifically to obscure his presence. The barrier alone wouldn't withstand prolonged scrutiny, but layered with concealment runes and paired with the oldest tactic in the book—coming from above—it worked perfectly.
Archer didn't see it coming.
With that taken care of, Sukuna headed toward the site of his real battle. The moment he reached the entrance, he could tell the cave had been artificially carved. The symmetry was too deliberate, the stone too clean.
It felt fitting, he mused, that he'd be walking through a tunnel to face the so-called final boss of this Singularity.
He stepped through the dark passage and into a vast, hollowed cavern.
The space was enormous. At its center stood Saber, the King of Knights. She was clad in black armor, the altered regalia of her corrupted form. Her once-golden hair had darkened and dulled, and her eyes—formerly a vibrant green—now burned with a muted, sickly yellow. In her hands rested Excalibur, no longer silver and blue, but blackened, its edges traced with veins of deep crimson.
Behind her stood a golden cup: the Holy Grail. It rested atop a slab of stone like an altar, deceptively unassuming in shape. But the power radiating from it was overwhelming—vast enough to dwarf anything Sukuna had ever felt before, save, perhaps, the Vessel of the Merger.
The moment Sukuna stepped fully into the cavern, Saber's head snapped up. Her posture shifted, subtle but unmistakable, settling into the stance of a knight on guard.
A small, appreciative smile tugged at Sukuna's lips. His blood was already boiling.
Finally, he thought. A worthy opponent.
"So," Saber spoke, her voice cutting through the cavern, "you have arrived, interloper." She turned to face him fully. "I had expected you to come with the others—the so-called defenders of Humanity. Yet here you stand. Alone."
A hollow laugh escaped her lips. "I expected more from you. But then again, expecting anything from common rabble was my mistake."
"I could say the same," Sukuna replied, earning a raised eyebrow from the King. "I expected more from the final boss of this adventure. Instead, I find myself staring at a disappointment. A little girl wielding a sword too large for her."
His grin widened at the faint twitch of her brow. "But like you said," he continued, "I expected too much."
Silence followed. Sukuna tilted his head. "What? Nothing to say, oh King of Knights?"
Saber's lips curved—not into a smile, but something much colder. "Come," she said simply. "Find out."
Shadows coiled around Sukuna's feet, writhing and thickening as cursed energy surged through his frame. Across the cavern, crimson lightning crackled around Saber, her presence swelling as power flooded her form.
They moved at the exact same time.
The Sword of Extermination met Excalibur in a thunderous clash, shockwaves ripping through the walls as steel screamed against steel.
Thus began the battle between the King of Knights and the King of Curses.
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Author's Note:
Yo—How's it going guys? Good?
So you might be wondering if this story is finally back? And I'd say yes.
Currently, I am running three stories at the same time: Of Aliens, Magic, and Superheroes, Borrowed Lightning, and this one.
If you are wondering about a schedule, my plan is to do one chapter here for every two chapters on Patreon. This means Patreon will always have double what you guys have here.For this week, I will upload the next chapter of Borrowed Lightning by Wednesday. (It is currently in Snippets of Scars, but it will get its own thread with this coming chapter). By Friday, I will put up another chapter for AMS, and as a bonus for you all, I will also drop the Sukuna vs. Saber and Archer vs. Cu + Ushiwakamaru fights.
I know this chapter felt very off in certain parts, and that's true. I wrote this a very long time ago, and when I went to rewrite it, the draft kept coming out even worse. So, here is a version that I would personally rate a 4/10. Don't worry, though—the next chapter will absolutely not suffer from the same problem.
I will be uploading the next chapter of Borrowed Lightning next. Will be up by Tuesday or Wednesday.
More stuff up on My P-treon. Stuff like the next chapter of this story, four chapters of my Borrowed Lightning (Self-Insert as harry Potter); FCO , which is up by 5 chapters and Of Alien's Magic, and Supheroes
As always, thanks a ton for the support. See you in the next one.
Ciao