A Grand Order of Swords by Unchartered

Words: 11k+

Link: https://m.fanfiction.net/s/14296302/1/

(At the end of the 5th Holy Grail War, Shirou fails to completely destroy the corrupted grail. He soon wakes in a new world where everything he knew had been changed. Shirou eventually stumbles into an organization known as Chaldea and the rest is history.)

Chapter 1: Prologue - A Sword's Arrival

Shirou was dying; there was no other way to put it. The risks he had taken over the past two weeks had finally caught up to him, leaving his body a broken and bloodied mess. In front of him was the disappearing form of the Avenger-Class Servant, Angra Mainyu, his astral body disappearing in motes of golden light after being trapped within the grail and corrupting it from the inside.

If Shirou were being honest, he didn't hate the person who had been forced to shoulder all the world's evils. Unlike his previous battles with that golden bastard Gilgamesh, that fake priest Kirei, that pile of worms Zouken, and to a lesser extent in his duel with Archer, Shirou never showed him such hatred and animosity compared to the former. He understood that Angra Mainyu was a victim, a scapegoat for his people to keep sinning while he alone bore the brunt of humanity's evils. That was why in their fight, there was no need for a battle of ideologies, nor a battle between good and evil, none of that entered Shirou's mind at that moment. The only thoughts in his mind were to save those standing behind him and save the one standing in front of him.

Even while Avenger was within the grail, all the evils that they attributed as his doing, were all done by instinct, with Angra Mainyu himself not consciously aware of it. The only thing within his mind back then was the whispers in darkness telling him to unleash unto the world what the world forced him to bear.

And so as his tether to this world severed, Angra Mainyu died once more, but unlike back then, he died with a smile, knowing that in the end he was saved.

It was at this moment, once the servant's body had disappeared, that Shirou found himself standing alone in the cavern beneath Mt. Enzo, as the winner of the Fifth Holy Grail War.

After Shirou confirmed the servant's passing, he paid his respects and continued onward towards the Greater Grail. His wounds bled out, both Avalon and his inner world working in tandem to prevent his passing, yet it was all for naught as the swords prevented Avalon from healing him properly, as well as the curses that he had been subject to deteriorating his body at an alarming rate.

Shirou did not react to the fact that he was dying. He already knew from Archer that he would be fated to die on a battlefield, though he certainly didn't expect it to happen so soon. The cavern rumbled, sending slabs of rock down on Shirou, threatening to crush him; miraculously, none of them managed to hit him.

The manifestation atop Ryudou temple was still spilling out cursed mud, yet he knew that Saber and Rider, depleted as they were, would be able to contain it, with the help of Rin, Sakura and Illya.

Before reaching his destination, however, his body collapsed, unable to support his weight with the injuries he had taken as well as his lack of energy. Swords burst from his back and torso, worsening his injuries and the pain that he felt. Despite all that, Shirou willed himself forward, he had a job to do, destroy the greater grail. He would even crawl if he had not even after ten meters, his body no longer had the strength to move, forcing Shirou to lay on his torso. The collapsing cavern and the form of the Greater Grail in front of him are the only things registering in his mind.

'Sorry everyone, I failed.'

The Tohsaka family magic crest on his left shoulder, as well as the Einzbern magic crest on his right, dimmed, signaling that the magical energy he had been using to reinforce himself had finally run out.

At that moment, the cavern finally collapsed, ending the life of Shirou Emiya before he had accomplished his dream.

In a certain facility on the Antarctic Continent, an energetic young girl could be seen excitedly running through its halls all the while apologizing to anyone she may have disturbed. Her fiery red hair was tied into a side ponytail to her left, and with bronze-coloured eyes that conveyed her restlessness. The girl's name was Ritsuka Fujimaru, the 48th Master Candidate for the Chaldea Security Organization. An organization whose goals are unknown to her. The red-haired girl had finally arrived at wherever this facility was after being blindfolded and thrown into several vehicles (one of which was a helicopter), before finally reaching her destination.

She would be lying if she said that she wasn't nervous. This was her chance for a new life away from her friends and family. She'll be damned if she doesn't make it count. It was for this very reason that for the past few days, Ritsuka had been practicing her smile in front of the mirror in her room. She made sure that it was perfect, that it didn't give anyone any wrong ideas about her. All day and all night, she would stand in front of the mirror and smile, making sure that it was perfect and wouldn't show whatever was hidden underneath.

'Gotta leave a good first impression.' Ritsuka continuously repeated to herself. She never wants that to happen ever again. She never wants to experience that hell again.

Lost in her own thoughts as she was, Ritsuka wasn't paying attention to her surroundings when she suddenly bumped into a wall.

"I'm sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going!" The wall(?) worriedly exclaimed.

Wait, what?

It was at this moment that Ritsuka finally took a step back to observe her surroundings. She didn't bump into a wall per se (though it certainly felt like she did), she had instead bumped into a boy who looked to be the same age as her.

He had the same shade of red hair as her own as well as the same eye color as hers. He was wearing the uniform that Chaldea had given to all the new recruits that were coming in. Ritsuka could tell that he was someone with a toned body, judging from the way he felt like a wall when she hit him. She could also notice his calloused hands, something she only noticed due to her own experience at the hands of... well... those hands.

"No, no. It's my fault. I was too lost in my own head." Ritsuka tried to take the blame, but the other teen was persistent.

"No, really. It's my fault."

It was at this moment that both teens realized that the other was too stubborn to back down. It made sense, they were both the goody two-shoes type.

Unsurprisingly, it was Ritsuka who moved to save this from becoming even more awkward than it already was. Lightly coughing, she attempted to salvage the situation, "How about let's just admit that we were both at fault and leave it at that?" Ritsuka offered.

"Yeah let's go do that..." He trailed off for a few moments before finding the right words to say, "Oh, umm... I'm Master candidate number 47, Shirou Emiya. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." The boy, Shirou, introduced himself. Though, it was a bit too formal for her liking.

Not wanting to waste this opportunity, Ritsuka mirrored his action, "You don't have to be that formal with me you know? I'm Master candidate number 48, Ritsuka Fujimaru, at your service!" She enthusiastically introduced herself with a mock salute.

Shirou lightly chuckled, amused by her enthusiasm, "Sorry, but a friend of mine used to scold me about not giving certain types of people the 'respect they deserve', so I'm trying not to commit that mistake."

Ritsuka could notice the way his voice turned somber at the end. Did something happen to his friend? She wasn't going to ask such a personal question when they've barely known each other. She opted to file that question away for later.

Shirou, noticing the way his words had affected her, albeit not knowing the reason why, attempted to escape the situation, "Well, I was just heading to the Central Command Room. I'll see you later Fujimaru-san."

However, he had no way of knowing how persistent the red-haired girl could be, so he carelessly thought that that would be the end of their conversation.

He was wrong.

"Oh really? I was just heading there myself!" A lie. A very bad one at that. She was going in the opposite direction of where the Central Command Room was. She hoped that Shirou was like most people and wouldn't notice that little detail.

However, Shirou was not like most people and immediately noticed the disparity between Ritsuka's words and her prior actions. He elected to ignore it though due to the fact that it was not done out of malice.

"In that case, want to head there together? It will be more fun than going there alone." Shirou offered with a light smile.

Ritsuka flushed a bit at the unexpected attack(in her mind at least). She didn't expect that Shirou would be the one to ask that question since she was already prepared to ask that question herself.

Is Shirou a playboy? It was a very logical(to her) conclusion. She had no way of knowing that she was closer to the truth than she initially intended. Ritsuka vigorously shook her head to dispel those thoughts(with Shirou looking at her strangely for the action) before replying to his offer.

"Sure, I'd love to!" She clapped her hands before wrapping Shirou's arm around her own. Expectedly, Shirou flushed at her bold actions but didn't shy away from the contact. Ritsuka didn't know what prompted her to do it. If one were to ask her, she would reply that it 'felt right'.

Yeah, that's what it was. It just felt right to do so at that moment. She wanted to get closer to the person known as Shirou Emiya. She could tell that he was hiding things, a lot of things, but unlike those times before, he didn't hide them with malicious intent. While she herself couldn't tell, Ritsuka was already enraptured by Shirou. She didn't know why, she didn't know how. All she knew was that she wanted to get closer to him.

And perhaps, after all this time, she'll finally have a friend.

As the two of them walked towards the Command room, with Ritsuka talking animatedly and Shirou giving short but plentiful responses, they both ran into someone familiar. Ritsuka widened her eyes, before leaving Shirou's side and dashing towards the person in question.

"Mash!" Ritsuka cooed while hugging the girl.

That's right. The two had once again encountered Mash Kyrielight, a girl that both have encountered not too long ago to the other's ignorance. She had lilac-colored hair styled in a bob cut, fair skin and wore square-framed glasses, a grey hoodie over a white shirt, a red tie, a black skirt and brown shoes.

"Senpai...please...can't breathe." Mash pleaded to the girl hugging her like a constrictor snake. Said snake let go of her after realising that she had gone too far while laughing nervously.

Mash began to pout at the girl who she called her senpai, before noticing the other person standing near Ritsuka.

"Emiya-senpai! It's been a while!" Mash greeted while wearing a dazzling smile.

"No need to overreact Mash. We just saw each other not even an hour ago." Shirou replied, smiling lightly.

Mash took a step back to calm down and demurely looked down at the floor, "Well, we never did get to talk each other earlier since I was busy going after Fou." The white woodland creature took this moment as its cue to pop its head up from atop Mash's head and stared at Shirou before proceeding to jump down into his arms.

"Fou!"

He caught the small white creature in his hands and looked at Mash with gentle eyes. Shirou was reminded of the way her mood dampened earlier when it looked as if they couldn't continue their conversation due to Fou running away. He assumed that this was because lonely she must have been surrounded by pompous magi who wouldn't give her the time of day.

"If that's the case, why don't you head with Ritsuka and me to the Command Room? You were heading there yourself, weren't you?"

Mash brightened, "Yes... I am a member of Team A after all. I'd love to accompany you!"

Shirou smiled in response, not needing to say a word in order for the lonely girl to feel happy about the invitation.

Ritsuka, meanwhile, looked back and forth between the two as they were conversing, her face marred with confusion.

"Wait... Do you two know each other?" She asked.

Both teens looked at Ritsuka and she flushed a little at the sudden attention. She realized that the two probably wanted to continue their conversation and she was interrupting them from doing so.

Stupid!

Shirou was the one who answered, "Yeah, we do. Though, we could only be called acquaintances at best. I met her when I first arrived at Chaldea. Mash here was chasing Fou around before bumping into me."

Ritsuka noticed Mash deflate at his mention of the two only being acquaintances. Has he even noticed that they wanted to be his friend? No one's that dense, right?

She then took note of the fact that Shirou was now looking at her, expecting her answer to the question. It was pretty obvious that she knew Mash just from her reaction earlier.

Surprisingly, Mash was the one who responded in her stead, while giggling no less, "I met senpai here while she was sleeping on the floor."

The blush returned full force as Shirou chuckled. Quickly, she moved to rectify her street cred.

Waving her hands frantically, she replied in a stutter, "Th-that's not true! I mean it is... But I have a perfectly reasonable explanation."

Shirou stopped chuckling and looked at her with an amused smile, "Then share with us your 'perfectly reasonable explanation'."

Ritsuka blanched. She didn't think that Shirou was the type of person to snark. Yet, she had a distinct feeling that it suited him. Her explanation was perfectly reasonable, depending on who you asked that is. I mean, isn't being too tired from all the non-stop travel a reasonable explanation for...sleeping on the floor, when there were benches in the hallway? Yeah, she had nothing. The only thing she could do was swallow up her embarrassment and answer them honestly. They weren't the type to laugh out loud right? Right...?

"W-well...you see... I was a bit tired from all that travelling, so I..." She trailed off.

The two didn't laugh as hard as she expected. No, all they did was chuckle at her explanation. While it certainly went better than she thought, Ritsuka still felt embarrassed.

"H-hey! The ride here was way too bumpy for me to sleep, okay!" She spluttered.

Mash wiped a tear from her eye, "Sorry for laughing senpai. But you have to admit, it was pretty funny. Right, Emiya-senpai?" She turned to the only boy in the trio.

"Heh. Yeah, it sure was." Shirou had an amused smirk on his face. This guy...! He was enjoying this way too much!

"I think we should get going or we'll miss the briefing." Shirou reminded the two after

getting the amusement out of his system.

Ritsuka looked down at her phone, "Crap, you're right! Let's get going! We don't want the director to get mad." Mash and Shirou nodded before the three started making their way to the Command room. Of course, Ritsuka took this moment to get to know the two a bit better, even if they were in a hurry.

What? You have to make friends somehow.

The three soon arrived at the room where the briefing would take place. The room was large, able to fit the 48 master candidates and then some. The trio decided to sit in the third row—by Mash's request—seeing as it gave the perfect view of the stage platform near Sheba, a telescope used to observe the pseudo planet Chaldeas. Sheba also served as the facility's surveillance system and as a near-future observation device.

Shirou took the time to let his gaze wander among the master candidates while Mash and Ritsuka talked animatedly behind him. From what he knew, most of the candidates were hand-picked for their affinity to Spiritron Drive. Spiritron Driving was the process of turning the body into spiritron particles, the same particles that constituted a Servant's body, then Rayshifting into abnormalities in the timeline. Only a handful of the candidates were publicly drawn, meaning that there were a few in the room who did not know or had very little knowledge of magecraft.

On the stage platform near Sheba, a woman no older than Shirou stood waiting with a straight back, crossed arms and an indifferent face. She wore a black sweater over a white collared dress, red stockings and bowtie and black high-heeled shoes. She had long white hair tied into a small braid on her left side while the rest of her hair fell past her shoulders. Her eyes were a similar color to Shirou's own and they seemed to be glaring at anyone who dared make light of her.

Shirou however saw it differently. He'd been around Rin long enough to recognize the telltale signs of someone putting on airs, and the woman was clearly putting it up to hide her nervousness.

Her name was Olga Marie Animusphere, the director of Chaldea. After realizing that all 48 candidates had arrived, she moved to start the briefing.

Shirou opted to tune her out, in favor of reminiscing on his time here so far. After falling unconscious mere meters away from the holy grail, he had woken up in the cavern with all of his injuries healed. This would have been all well and good if he hadn't woken up in the year 2016. That was a whole twelve years after the grail war! Shirou opted to lay low, forging documents using his projection(it may be illegal, but he had no choice) as well as using the mystic codes and noble phantasms with hypnotic abilities in his reality marble to create several identities for himself.

After sniffing around and asking the right questions to the right people, Shirou found out that a holy grail war did occur here in Fuyuki in 2004. What stumped him was the fact that it was the only grail war that occurred. It was simply known as the Fuyuki Holy Grail War and a winner had emerged. It made sense, due to having occurred only once and receiving more than 200 years of preparation, it would have been even weirder if it didn't succeed.

And it did.

A mage named Marisbury Animusphere together with his unknown caster class servant, managed to win the grail and have their wish granted. Yet, a path to the root was not opened. After a bit more digging, Shirou found that not all seven servants had perished on the final day, the Saber servant was still standing. There was also no record of the identity of Marisbury's servant nor any information on whether or not the servant had disappeared after the war ended.

What stumped him even more was the names of the other masters in the war. Rin Tohsaka for Archer, Bazzet Fraga McRemitz for Lancer, Sakura Matou for Rider, an unnamed Einzbern homunculus for Berserker and Shirou Emiya for Saber. There was barely any information on the master of Assassin as they had perished the night the war began.

He couldn't make sense of it. This war was different than the one he participated in. He didn't even know if the motivations of the masters here matched the ones that he knew of. Shirou had a hard time processing it until he remembered a little piece of information from one of Rin's lectures.

The 2nd True Magic, Kaleidoscope, is the operation of parallel worlds. Shirou knew from the blueprints of the Jewel Sword that bits of the 2nd magic were used in the construction of the Holy Grail. It would explain why he seemed to be in some sort of parallel world, one that was set 12 years in the future but he doesn't want to talk about that.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, if you ask most people, this world's Shirou's participation in the grail war was only known by a select few people. Why was this relevant? Because Shirou died at the very end of the grail war against Animusphere and Caster. The master and servant pair had the genius idea of essentially bombing any and all mage workshops in Fuyuki the moment they stepped foot in the city. The only reason this Shirou survived was because he didn't have a workshop and the bounded field around the Emiya household was so faint that Caster nearly missed it. Though, by the time they noticed, it was too late. This Shirou summoned the same Saber, Arturia Pendragon, as his servant.

Animusphere's plan didn't play out so well since 4 of the 6 other masters survived his attack. And after that, the Fuyuki Grail War began and ended 10 days after the last servant was summoned. With Marisbury Animusphere and Caster as the only ones

standing at the end, everyone else having perished by that time.

When Shirou first heard of it, his heart wrenched at the thought of his inability to protect his loved ones. He wallowed in his own self-pity, taking freelance jobs as a mercenary like a machine. It took him two months to get out of his funk only because he remembered his own grail war, his own experiences, his own loved ones, his own growth. Shirou was a different person at the beginning and end of the Grail War and it was this that allowed him to barely take a step and move forward for their sake.

Yet, negative thoughts still managed to leak from the deepest recesses of his mind, haunting him about his weakness and vulnerability. Shirou chooses to ignore them but it's clear that they still affect him. He buries them deep down, within his heart of glass.

It's worth noting that because of his work ethic during this, the Clock Tower had dubbed him with the moniker of 'Second Magus Killer'. Shirou only accepted jobs that helped other people and usually involved taking down rogue magi and the occasional Dead Apostle. It didn't help that he chose to be very efficient during these missions, in a similar way that his adopted father had done them, the only difference being that Shirou didn't believe in scaling the lives of other people to choose who he'd save.

He will try to save everyone, even if it kills him.

After news of the Second Magus Killer spread through most of the Clock Tower, some enforcers and magi who had seen him in action theorized that he could be the son of Kiritsugu Emiya. While some were obviously skeptical due to their difference in hair color, his actions during his mental breakdown cemented the two's similarity and the theory spread like wildfire. It also didn't help that these were mostly propagated by teenagers.

Magus or not, teenagers sure do love their gossip.

After that, people just started referring to him as Emiya, despite his recurring denials of their connection. The Clock Tower was more or less convinced of his identity and no amount. It didn't help that the Wizard Marshall dropped by during the uproar and casually confirmed their theory before immediately leaving. With him being a Magician and being the user of the 2nd Magic, everyone immediately believed his words, the idea of him lying never crossed their mind.

Shirou had half the mind to punch Zelretch in the face for making his life worse. He also suspected that he was at fault for Shirou's presence in this world but he didn't have any proof of his hypothesis.

Shirou soon learned about Chaldea, its mission something he will absolutely help with, as well as the fact that it was founded by Marisbury Animusphere. He immediately set out to recruit which led him to the present.

He exited his thoughts, just as Olga finished their debriefing and moved to enter his pod. Ritsuka was not with them, apparently having gone to the bathroom in the middle of it all. Mash could only send a wry smile his way. Shirou was a little worried that Ritsuka would be late to the first Rayshift but had faith in the girl.

As he was about to step into his pod, his instincts from countless life-and-death experiences flared, warning him of danger. Something was off. For the life of him, he couldn't put a reason as to why until it was staring him right in the face. The Rayshift pods, a coffin-like device, had been planted with numerous magical bombs that he could only sense as he drew closer to his own. The scent of such potent magical energy was hard to ignore. He grew cautious and didn't enter his pod which perhaps changed the future of even one person.

"Hey, you! What are you waiting for?" Olga called out to him, pausing from entering her own pod to lecture him. "You're wasting time. Everyone else is already in their pods and Lev left to start the activation sequence. We don't have time to waste. What if we get left behind?!"

Shirou ignored Olga's point. To him, the pods were a death sentence waiting to happen and it was sooner than he could have ever expected. He didn't have time to yell out to everyone. The magical energy within the bombs had already built up to the point of getting so volatile that an explosion was guaranteed to happen.

He had to act now.

He tackled Olga to the ground, the two falling with Shirou on top. Olga bristle and glared at his abrupt action but any complaints she had were shut down the moment as everything quickly turned to hell. Her eyes widened as several explosions erupted fire and heat everywhere and all she could see was him shieling her body with his own with the use of magecraft.

She could clearly see burn marks appearing on his back, yet he stood firm, not allowing any of the debris and heat to get to her. He was uncaring of his own well-being. It was a sight that quickly engraved itself upon her very soul.

Olga Marie Animusphere will never forget what happened here.

She passed out soon after and Shirou placed her unmoving body in an area where the flames couldn't reach. Incidentally, Ritsuka entered at that moment, a dreadful expression on her face as she partook in the sight of the burning room. She shook her head to regain her composure and saw Shirou gently putting down the director off to the side with no flames.

"Shirou!" She calls out to him. "Are you all right?" She asked worriedly. Ritsuka noticed the burn marks on his back. They looked pretty bad, yet he didn't even pay it any mind.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He didn't lie. These burns weren't even close to some of the most grievous injuries he had. Never mind the fact that Avalon would heal him in no time.

"Well... if you say so..." Ritsuka wasn't convinced. It was at this moment that she noticed that Mash wasn't anywhere near them.

"Hey... Where's Mash?" She asked.

Shirou didn't immediately respond, instead choosing to sweep his eyes across the room to look for a spot of lilac hair.

"She's over there!" Shirou sprinted to where he last saw it without giving Ritsuka time to react. A few seconds later, he and a panting Ritsuka arrived at the place where he spotted Mash.

Mash Kyrielight, she didn't look so good. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that she was dead already. She was buried under rubble, one look was enough to tell that her entire lower body had been crushed under the weight to the point that there was blood everywhere. She could hardly speak, and by the time he arrived, she could only signal to him with her eyes to get Ritsuka out of the room before they all died.

She was asking him to leave without even even trying to help.

Not a chance.

Laplace's shifting protection established.

Singularity's additional factor slots secured. Please start final judgements.

Announcements were ringing out from all around him but he paid them no mind, not necessarily listening to them. There were people in front of him who needed to be saved and that was his top priority.

"W-we have to dig her out if we want to tend to her wounds." Ritsuka, though feeling nervous, put Mash's well-being first and proposed a plan of action.

"I'm on it."

Shirou didn't care about the fire and directly put his hands on the searing metal pieces of rubble. The flames burned at his skin yet he paid them no mind. Fire was nothing new to him and this heat was nothing compared to the ones from that night.

No longer able to verify the existence of humanity a hundred years in the future.

Across from the two of them, the latest announcement had Chaldeas turn completely red in the middle of the room. This time, Shirou heard what the announcement had said and stiffened in shock.

"Hurry!" Ritsuka called out. "We have to stop the bleeding."

R-right. Maybe he'd just misheard. Shirou put all of his focus into saving the one life in front of him. The rubble was now off. All they had to do was keep her alive somehow.

The announcements continued unhindered.

Rayshift requirements not met.

Searching for qualifying masters... Found.

"Help me lift her. We can't just leave her like this." Shirou said while carefully lifting Mash by her arms to not aggravate her injuries.

Ritsuka wordlessly nodded and moved to her lower body without complaint. Shirou found it a bit odd how the girl wasn't reacting the way he was expecting. Most people would surely freeze at the sight of such a catastrophe and while he did see her stiffen when she entered, there wasn't any reaction after that.

Candidates No. 1, 47, and 48, Olga Marie Animusphere, Shirou Emiya, and Ritsuka Fujimaru reset as masters.

Unsummon program start.

Spiritron conversion, start.

Rayshift starting in 3...2...1...

Unaware of what was happening around them, the two froze, Shirou even more so. This sensation on his being, the sight of a sea of sand-like golden light surrounding the area, it was all too familiar.

All procedures clear. First Order commencing operation.

It was at this moment, that everything changed. One key difference is all it takes to completely derail the destined course of events. But even still...some moments are fated to happen.

This is where it all began.

Grand Order.

Author's Notes:

There! Finally done. While playing FGO, I always had the thought of 'what if Shirou was the MC?'. So I wrote the idea down. I thought it would be a good way to get back into writing again so sorry if its a bit clunky.

There aren't a lot of Shirou in Chaldea fics that are still ongoing, the only still doing so being Sword Order, but updates take way too long, except for this month, and are way too short. I've re read it multiple times so if some parts seem familiar, that's why

I'll just put it out there, this is an alternate Shirou from an alternate 5th grail war in an alternate Grand Order. Meaning, that even if Shirou wasn't there, the events would still be wildly different. I'll leave bits and pieces of the war here and there to satiate yalls curiousity.

Also this will be harem, cuz it's Shirou.

Next Chapter: The Burning City - Fuyuki