Awesome / From Fake Dreams

• Chapter 11: Kirei vs Louvre's Daughter: The two are almost evenly matched, and Kirei uses clever trickery to get out of her range.
• Chapter 12: Shirou and Rin vs Louvre's Daughter, Part One:
  • The Dead Apostle tries to ambush Rin, only for Shirou to block in time, getting his ribs bruised in the process.
  • Shirou immediately figures out what their enemy's Mystic Code does, and warns Rin about Mountain Lion's ability to manipulate mass for unblockable, undeflectable attacks.
  • How the two young magi force the vampiress to back off: First, Shirou uses Time Accel on 30 swords, something that even the whip-user has trouble keeping with. Then, Rin blasts the Daughter with one of her signature jewels, blowing up the alleyway. But, even though the blast destroys the whip, the vampiress is furious and tries to decapitate Rin. So, Shirou follows up with an Ether element sword-arrow that sends the villain flying three blocks down.
• Chapter 13, Shirou and Rin vs Louvre's Daughter, Part Two:
  • The Daughter states that her only orders are to capture Shirou without killing him. But when the vampiress tries to kill Rin, Shirou immediately jumps in to protect his ally, regardless.
  • Shirou creates a water element blade-arrow that creates 50 copies of itself, and then the arrows follow untraceable paths to home in on their target.
  • The Daughter blocks Shirou's arrows with a very familiar conceptual weapon: Rho Aias!
  • Not to be outdone, Shirou deduces the characteristics of Rho Aias and BREAKS TWO PETALS with a triple-accelerated arrow-blade!
  • How the fight ends: Overwhelmed by Shirou's fighting style, the Daughter gets a lucky hit on Rin. Then, Louvre's Son shows up with Sakura as a hostage along with a zombified Shinji. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Shirou figures out an alternative to saving one of the sisters. Since he's the reason the two vampires are here, they can't afford to let him kill himself. And when the Daughter tries to drink Shirou's blood, he accidentally reveals his Reality Marble, horrifying her.
  • And finally, The heroes get help from a newcomer: "...Fragarach."
• Chapter 14:
  • Bazett kills Louvre's Daughter offscreen.
  • The aftermath of Waver's assault on Louvre's castle. Waver set out with 100 magi in order to channel Iskandar's take-charge mentality, and returned with 12. And now, Louvre has the Mace of Odo, a golden Noble Phantasm that can effectively nullify standard thaumaturgy.
• Chapter 16:
• In the initial confrontation with Louvre, Shirou is at a disadvantage when Louvre tampers with the Dead Apostle blood within Shirou's veins. Then, Sirius jumps in to help Shirou with his own Mystic Code: The Lebor na nUidre. Basically, the blacksmith found a way to turn his own ''skin'' into a Mystic Code!
  • Rin's Blasting It Out of Their Hands on Louvre with a Pre-Asskicking One-Liner:
    "Get off my property."
  • Shirou's screwing Louvre's circuits with Kiritsugu and then the Storm of Blades using Louvre's own arsenal against him until the point of nearly ending him, a Dead Apostle Ancestor. Plus, his Badass Creed is... well, badass.
    My body is made of blades... fire is my blood... and Glass is my heart... through countless battles I forever wait, alone on the hill of blades... for Hell's hands to bear... for Heaven's hands to temper...
• Chapter 17:
  • Shirou was so badass in the last chapter that he gets offered the 10th DAA seat and a scholarship to the Association.
    • Made even more Awesome if you consider who made these offers, namely Merem Solomon (20th Dead Apostle Ancestor) and Lorelei Barthomeloi (the Queen of the Clock Tower).
• Chapter 22:
  • Shirou manages to survive an encounter with Berserker all on his own.
    • Also, Shirou uses a barrier of swords that have no concept of time and thus can't change or break, yet Berserker manages to shatter the swords that are impossible to break by hitting them with his axe-sword! Berserker can change reality by hitting it!
  • Waver manages to get Gilgamesh to spare him, in spite of obvious death threats. Yep, and he stared at his face and lived to tell the tale. It takes balls.
    • Considering the fact that this is not the first time he did this. Adamantium Balls.
• Chapter 24: Rider holds her own against two Casters, reminding all that yes she's kickass despite being lackluster in two out of three routes in canon.
• Chapter 25:
  • Sakura holds her own against Marjatta.
  • The continuation of the above fight, with Saber joining in and turning it half into a race while on her Suzuki Hayabusa. Hell, the description of the Hayabusa is awesome enough!
• Chapter 26: Merem and Berserker remind everyone why the "Servant vs Dead Apostle Ancestor" debate exists. Berserker loses five lives in the fight and injures Merem's right leg.
• Chapter 27: Bazett and Lancer attack Ryudo temple, and are utterly humiliated by Assassin. Witch!Medea's description shows how magnificent he had been:
  Lancer, who had by himself managed to put up a good fight against both versions of Medea of Colchis at the same time and had only retreated due to being overwhelmed by her counterpart's Bulls of Aeaea, had been defeated in five seconds.
  Five.
  Bloody.
  Seconds.
  Before she had even realized what was going on, having been preoccupied with her research inside the mountain, her Servant had dealt exceptional damage to both Master and Servant without even revealing himself, forcing them to retreat.
• Chapter 28: Assassin pretty much screws up Archer and Rider with ease.
• Chapter 31:
  • Assassin demolishes Zouken's workshop and nearly kills him, driving him to desperation with embarrassing ease.
  • Sakura actually fights back against the Shadow after realizing what's going on.
• Chapter 32:
  • Kirei and Shirou working together to completely ''destroy'' Zouken; mind, body and soul.
  • In the meantime, Zouken manages to manipulate Illya into attacking Witch!Medea and Assassin by just talking with her once. And that's with Illya realizing exactly what's happening...
  • Kuzuki's brief encounter with Assassin, made all the more Awesome by the fact that it's completely peaceful and non-violent.
• Chapter 33:
  • The whole battle itself.
  • Assassin's Identity.
• The big assault on Caster's Temple, on every side. But especially on Shirou's, who is goddamn brilliant even when everything's gone to hell.
  • Shirou gets Luvia and Princess!Medea to charge the approach; she possesses a herd of her bulls and rushes... but not to attack Assassin or Caster. No, she spreads the herd out to burn down the goddamn forest that Assassin had been using to hide his traps. Even with targeting him being a lower priority than destroying his territory, they still nearly kill him.
  • Lancer shows up to engage Assassin again—and despite Assassin getting no small number of attacks in, isn't stopped at all. Not until...
  • Caster shows her own nastiness when it comes to planning ahead and uses Bazett's severed legs to take control of her body and turn Lancer to her will, putting two Servants in her hands. She's just about to win...
  • When Rin and Archer show up. Archer activates his Unlimited Blade Works (horrifying Rin). Princess!Medea - someone from the Age of Gods—says that Hephaestus himself would be humbled by it as she stares in awe. He shoots off enough Noble Phantasms to kill every single Master and Servant there...
  • Only for Bazett's "children" that are her new legs to let out a Fae scream that blows away all of them. When Caster tries to experiment on them or Bazett, their screams keep even her from approaching.
  • Assassin (unwillingly) forces Rin to use a Command Seal to cancel Unlimited Blade Works by attempting to shoot it with an Origin Bullet, which would obliterate Archer entirely.
  • Although Shirou didn't expect more than Luvia and Princess!Medea's contributions, he takes advantage anyways—the attack began shortly after Assassin's Tools of the Trade replenished and, with the territory destroyed, Shirou's later attack is perfectly timed for possibly the most dangerous Servant to be at his worst.
  • Shirou makes a clever attack on the Temple; he and Saber go up the stairs and attract attention while Rider slinks in from the shadows. Caster makes the best response; easily handle Rider herself, and have her two Servants focus on Saber (which lets her keep an eye on the ever-treacherous Assassin, as well). Exactly like Shirou wanted them to.
  • Speaking through Saber as a medium, there is a brief attempt to parlay. Shirou's offer is to let her live if she becomes his Servant. She refuses—but what makes this awesome is that Caster, insanely pumped up with magic from the Age of Gods, with incredible territory and two Servants in her control, admits that she truly believes she cannot win the war if Shirou, a human, is at all alive.
  • Caster produces a spell strong enough to rip past even Saber's A-ranked magic resistance, a real monster of magic...
  • And it's only because she shifted at the last moment that Shirou didn't instantly kill her (Shirou, let it be noted, was using his Pure Eyes to Structural Grasp the air to target an enemy he couldn't see by shooting where the air wasn't. He still would have pierced her through the heart).
  • Yet, the entire battle was primarily a distraction to get Sakura into Caster's workshop to free Marjatta (which proved to be impossible). Shirou was thinking that many steps ahead.
  • Caster and Assassin take Sakura hostage to control Shirou. Shirou's response is to create a dozen Gae Deargs and a dozen Kiritsugus to attack them. Of course, Assassin would have just hidden behind Sakura, whom Shirou wouldn't hurt... except that Shirou aims a lance to stab straight through Sakura to force Assassin to let go of her, letting her be quickly healed by Avalon. Enraged, Caster appears behind Shirou to stab him with Rule Breaker...
  • Only for Shirou to nearly kill her again with a near-instant backwards-fired lance. He, Sakura, and Saber successfully retreat down the mountain.
  • Assassin makes good on the author's nickname for him as "the Servant that fucks up everyone's plans" and brutally blows Berserker into chunks of meat in front of Illya.
  • After getting shot in the chest with the Contender - having his heart blown to smithereens - Shirou gets back up. "My body is made of blades" takes its most literal iteration as he grows a heart made of blades, vomits blood with blades in it, and them transforms his throat, teeth, and tongue into swords upon swords. The imagery is so horrific that every single Servant present can do nothing more than stare. The reason he got up? What else—to save Illya.
  • With Berserker hardly reviving and faced with Assassin, Lancer, and Rider together, Shirou is pretty screwed—until he tells Saber to whip out Excalibur. He then forces Caster to let him go free, threatening to use a Command Seal to make Saber use Excalibur even if Fragarach kills her, which completely terrifies Caster. But, he doesn't ask for the freedom of a single person under her control. Caster asks why...
  • And here is the crown of the battle: Shirou knows he can't trust Caster to truly release them—but, as he very clearly states to ensure that EVERYONE around hears it, Caster has been forced to use up all but one Command Seal. Now she has Assassin, Lancer, Bazett, and Rider under her control... and any of the four of them will kill her the second she provides them an opportunity. Despite not achieving even one of the goals he came to the Temple for, Shirou's statement turns the entire debacle into one giant Oh, Crap! moment for Caster.
    Lancer: Oh, I'm really starting to like this kid. Even when he's losing, he wins.
  • It was stated earlier on that Caster's Command Seals, empowered by her absurd magical power, make even vague, broad commands something a Servant cannot resist. Yet, all of the Servants under her control manage to fight it, even if only in small ways, in brief hesitations, that are all acts of tremendous willpower.
    • Assassin especially so. Every very lethal action he takes has a way out, and he manages to spite Caster at every turn. He shoots Shirou in the chest, but knows the latter has Avalon and doesn't use an Origin Bullet, despite using his Contender. He kills Berserker, but uses no more explosives than needed to splatter him, rather than taking out his other lives.
• The mere fact that out of everyone participating in the Grail War, it is Shirou who has come the closest to killing a Servant. Appropriately for the second Magus Killer, this has been Caster.
• What's initially a certain death for Shirou turns into something that helps keep him alive through pretty much anything (i.e., his encroaching semi-vampirism).
• Chapter 39: A very begrudging one, but when Archer thinks this about this timeline's Shirou, this has to qualify in some way.

  This time his younger self played the damn game almost like he was Kotomine from the get go.

• To get an advantage, Witch!Caster basically rats Shirou's plans out to Kirei using Rider's knowledge, forcing Shirou to scramble as he knows that since Kirei suspects the second Magus Killer of trying to derail the War, he may end having to fight Gilgamesh much earlier than expected.
• Chapter 40: When Shirou and Lorelei have a conversation about his progress in the Grail War and her dissatisfaction with it, Shirou calmly provides a response to all of her complaints, and even phrases it in a way that a Magus like her could appreciate. And when that almost fails he threatens to kill her mortal nemesis before she does. And she actually takes that threat seriously. He then caps it all off by mentioning that if she lets him play things out his way, there could very well be multiple Servants running around the planet in future years, making ties with the Clocktower and amiable to using their power to hunting Apostles. That thought makes Lorelei smile.
• Chapter 41: Several.
  • We finally get to see Princess!Caster's hidden ace, Argon Coin. She summons an actual Dragon, to counter Rider's Pegasus. Cool Versus Awesome at its finest.
  • Subtle, but Archer showing his experience on the battlefield, seeing through Assassin's concealing tactics, and altering his posture to cancel them. Also counts for Luvia since she actually CAN keep up with him.
    • Archer notes that Assassin has a very scary set of tools in his arsenal. The Thompson Contender uses two types of ammunition, regular bullets and Origin Rounds. Due to being summoned in Fuyuki, the regular bullets can only be blocked by the enemy's strongest defense, which would be Rho Aias in Archer's case. But if Archer tries to use Rho Aias to block an Origin Round, he would be permanently crippled, meaning that Archer's only option is to dodge them, putting him on the defensive and leaving him vulnerable to Assassin's machine gun. And considering that there is no way for Archer tell what type of ammunition is being used until after it is fired, Archer has to resort to petty taunting while attempting to shoot an arrow through a wall.
  • The whole Shirou, Saber, Berserker vs Gilgamesh fight. They actually force Gilgamesh into increasing the throughput of Gate of Babylon and to take the fight seriously, which has never happened in any of Kiritsugu's visions.
  • The battle with Gilgamesh doesn't go that well at first. Even with Shirou, Saber and Berserker working together, Gilgamesh pushes them to the brink without using Ea. Berserker gets punched through multiple walls, Shirou gets his arm blown off, and Gilgamesh entangles Saber with Enkidu. The King of Heroes begins to gloat, but Saber refuses to give up, and Shirou bluntly tells Gilgamesh to shut up, using the swords of the Knights of the Round Table to free Saber.
  • Shirou further one-ups that, having suffered quite critical wounds, yet using his severed arm as a club to deflect the strikes directed towards him, and then as a medium to open a portal to Unlimited Blade Works, unleashing a Badass Boast on Gilgamesh, on par with the canon one in Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works] as he further completes his aria:
  "It's simply… just as you are the King of this world… I am the God of mine. And I'm invading."
• Chapter 42: Holy crap. Where to start.
  • We finally get to know how Kiritsugu proceeds with Loophole Abuse on Witch!Caster's restrictions: he can say anything as long as he words it as an open interrogation, and twists his mindframe so that it could be interpreted as genuine amazement or incomprehension, as opposed to "interaction". He finally gets to use it in Princess!Caster's temple while the Witch is busy looking for Kirei, and to get Rin and Luvia's side to understand his predicament and provide him with a much needed update.
  • The whole battle between Rin, Luvia and Bazett. Overlaps with Funny Moments when Rin basically strips down Bazett to disable all of her enhanced equipment.
  • And even with the lost of most of her equipment, Bazett merely shrugs and continues to press the assault, punching Gandr shots with her gauntlets and even forcing Luvia to dodge to avoid getting crushed when Bazett throws a large boulder that is slightly larger than a human torso.
  • Rin having found an effective counter to the Origin Bullets. Not through dumb luck like Kirei using Command Seals as a power source, but through actual experimentation worthy of the prodigy she claims to be.
    • This bears a bit of elaboration. In Fate/Zero, Kiritsugu noted that due to Kirei's use of Command Seals, the magic of the Origin Bullets couldn't affect Kirei's magic circuits. In contrast, after pressing Shirou for information, Rin realized that if she solely used her gems as a power source, she could protect herself from the Origin Rounds while simultaneously defending against regular bullets from the Contender as well, negating Assassin's ability to trap his opponents in a Catch-22.
  • Shirou being totally awesome in analyzing Gilgamesh's M.O. and successfully summing its flaws down to three facts and three levels of Did Not See That Coming:
    • Gilgamesh needs physical space to further deploy Gate of Babylon, which means in a closed space like Einzbern Castle, even with an incomplete Unlimited Blade Works, Shirou can keep Gilgamesh down to manageable levels. Gilgamesh would never consider retreating or changing the field because of his Pride as it would mean considering Shirou as an actual threat.
    • Gilgamesh is in a way the Precursor, and in the Nasuverse where you get Stronger with Age especially for the stuff of legends, this means he is the apex of mankind and Ye Goode Olde Days incarnate. As he says himself, mankind kept on degrading generation by generation, which is why according to him children cannot ever surpass their parents, however this means in turn for him that he never had to evolve, alter or modify any of his treasures, which again would be an insult against his Pride, showing inadequacy in his treasury hoarding the prototype designs to everything awesome in this world. Pointing this out, Shirou basically counters it by making a very heartwarming summation of why Humans Are Special and have Hidden Depths (passing down their knowledge and wishes down to the next generation, so their children might do things differently; which is also, by the way, quite the Magus mindset), spawning fakes upon fakes with a very well applied Gradation Air to his projections as they break.
    • Gilgamesh is subject to I Work Alone / Loners Are Freaks / Ineffectual Loner. After equaling Gate of Babylon with the first fact, and surpassing it with the second, and Gilgamesh starting to undergo Sanity Slippage over the fact he suffered the first invasion in his life, as Gilgamesh is ranting about how he now understands what Iskander felt during his conquests, and is about to pull Ea (which would certainly fry Shirou's brain to death in this continuity), Shirou deals the finishing blow with the last one, channeling True Companions Team Spirit, accelerating Saber by a whole 16 times, turning her into a divine flash of light unleashing Excalibur on him as a finishing blow. That's right, where in the UBW route, Shirou had a It's Personal mindset, here, Shirou never intended to kill Gilgamesh himself.
    • Even better, the narration notes why no other magus would even THINK of using this sort of tactic. Most magi tend to think in a straightforward manner, and it usually cost them their victory and even their own lives in the face of less conventional tactics. Even Kiritsugu himself wasn't immune to this, as even though he could have combined Avalon, Saber and Time Accel to wipe out the competition in the Fourth Holy Grail War except for Assassin, he didn't consider that option due to his own paranoia. Thus, Shirou managed to accomplish the impossible just by being himself.
  • Even the conclusion of said fight is epic, and worthy of the best canon had to offer in the Fate route and in the UBW route. Saber and Gilgamesh finally realize the real meaning behind this version of Unlimited Blade Works: it is not the result of Kiritsugu's dreams or regrets, neither the symbol of Shirou's affection for his loved ones, not a hoard of fakes, nor a graveyard, it is a memorial for heroes and their pride. Gilgamesh surprised himself during the battle, thinking it might not be such a bad thing to die in that land. He finally gets his wish, giving Saber an appeased speech reminiscent of his dying words in the Fate route, with acknowledging Shirou as a Worthy Opponent, leaving him Enkidu as a parting gift, and Word of God stating he would have called him "Caretaker" of the dreams of heroes he bore witness to. Doubles as a Heartwarming Moment because he gives Shirou the moniker "Dream of Heroes", acknowledging Shirou enough to trust him with the memento of his ONLY friend, so that he may be remembered as is fitting.
  • Also, while he did not utter it aloud, he felt "dirty" for hoarding many meaningless treasures only for the purpose of showing affluence. That's right, this Shirou is so dedicated in honoring the pride of fallen warriors, that even Gilgamesh of all people felt DIRTY for possessing purposeless and worthless trinkets.
  • One mention should be made about this Shirou going beyond his canon self limitations: his eyes now enable him to analyze divine constructs. However, his brain is still only mortal, and so the strain of having incomprehensible information forced on his mind could very much kill him, even if a copy could be materialized in Unlimited Blade Works.
  • Even in dying, Gilgamesh irradiates enough dignity to commend Saber for being beautiful because he can't have her, and chide Shirou for keeping his eyes closed like a virgin girl even though he is the victor, and for defeating him with an incomplete world, which would blemish his reputation. A true Dying Moment of Awesome befitting of Gilgamesh.
  • Special mention for the author for this awesome battle.
• The Gambit Pileup in Chapter 43:
  • First, Kirei ambushes Sakura, Illya, Sella and Leysritt using a stealth-based Noble Phantasm from Gilgamesh. The priest seriously wounds Leysritt and throws her in Sella's direction, knocking them both away.
  • Sakura traps Kirei using her special brand of Magecraft while re-affirming her faith in Shirou. Illya assists with her bird-like constructs.
  • Outnumbered, Kirei tries to sow discord by telling Illya about what he did to Irisviel von Einzbern with the assistance of Kariya Matou. In response, Sakura dismisses the bastard's words and tightens his bonds.
  • As the situation with Shirou and Gilgamesh escalates, Sakura casually decides that there is no reason to keep Kirei alive. The only think stopping her is falling debris, and Kirei gets up first.
  • While Sakura is trapped by the debris, Illya barely fends Kirei off with her constructs, and the odds are somewhat even because Kirei is somewhat out of practice. The Einzbern conjures up a wall, but Kirei blows her backwards with a martial arts shockwave. He gets the upper hand and break's Illya wrist. Then, he uses Illya as a hostage and elaborates on Irisviel's fate.
  • Sella and Leysritt force Kirei to back off. Kirei attempts to power himself up with a Command Seal, only to be pierced in the torso by a laser from Witch!Caster. She cuts his arm off with Rule Breaker to get the spare Command Seals.
  • Illya and Sakura try to flee, only to be surrounded by Witch!Caster's skeleton familiars. The shockwave from Saber's Excali-blast gives them a few seconds of running time and Sakura destroys the familiars, but Witch!Caster freezes them in place.
  • Berserker leaps into the scene, but Sakura begins to succumb to Avenger's influence because Gilgamesh just bit the dust (and is worth about three ordinary Heroic Spirits in terms of Grail capacity). Even worse, Sella and Leysritt are overwhelmed by the rest of the skeleton familiars. Saber arrives as well, but is busy looking after a heavily-wounded Shirou.
  • But when all seems lost, Merem shows up to help. Even Witch!Caster is wary of facing a Divine Beast by herself. With the death of Kirei, Merem declares himself to be the new Overseer of the Fuyuki Grail War. Witch!Caster is forced to retreat with the Command Seals. Finally, the Dead Apostle Ancestor uses his talents to manage Sakura's condition.
  • It's revealed that Shirou had a backup plan for dealing with Witch!Caster. If he were in better condition, he could have potentially ended the war in one fell swoop!
  • The King of Rats calmly manipulates the representatives of the Church and the Association into letting Shirou handle the rest of the Holy Grail War.
• Chapter 46: Archer actually having to acknowledge his younger self could kill him if he let down his guard, and finally putting it in words that he is a legitimate threat to Servants on his own.
• Chapter 48:
  • Shirou activating Avalon's true ability to survive Bellerophon, when it was thought only Saber could ever do it.
  • Shirou actually surviving a few minutes by managing a stalemate in close quarters against an admittedly very weakened Rider.
  • Saber activating Avalon's true ability to survive Gae Bolg... and provoking a time paradox that takes Lancer out of the battle.
  • Shirou and Archer going through Teeth-Clenched Teamwork to snipe Caster with Gae Darg, and later to enact Crane Wing Three Realm. Kiritsugu was just right when he said Archer could be his worst enemy or his best ally.
  • Princess!Caster utterly owning her counterpart.
  • Assassin's Professional Double tap on Witch!Caster.
  • In a moment of Fridge Logic, you realize the Grail War is now officially over (sans cleaning up), and Shirou has NOT completed Unlimited Blade Works over the course of the conflict. When comparing this to Canon, this means he did far better than any of the Canon routes, and still did not truly go all out, or rather that he has STILL much room for improvement.
• Chapter 49: Shirou finally completes UBW in a calm moment after the end of the battle, right before collapsing from exhaustion.
• Chapter 51: The reveal that Taiga of all people was the unknown factor that Kiritsugu arranged for that no one knew about throws all of said person's actions in a new light. The implications of how many people has Taiga killed in Shirou's defense and just how much they know is world shaking.
  • Honestly, when all has been said and done, you have to hand it down to Kiritsugu for being The Chessmaster, given how solid all of his preparations were. My Death Is Just the Beginning just doesn't begin to describe it, and he clearly has a healthy serving of Xanatos Speed Chess given he managed to use his own summoning as a Servant to fix things.
    • Also, he and Shirou managed to accomplish all their established goals, this time around. That HAS to count.
• Chapters 52 and 53:
  • Shirou managing to stretch the truth, without lying, and weather a full blown legal assault in a Kangaroo Court out for blood, literally turning it on its head thanks to Refuge in Audacity (even though he was aided by the Archibalds being borderline Too Dumb to Live). Even Archer is impressed.
  • Luvia showing her businesswoman chops by striking a deal with the Einzbern at the best time and making things better for everyone.
  • In-Universe, the Thompson Contender getting on the Throne of Heroes as a bona fide Noble Phantasm.
• Chapter 54:
  • Special mention for breaching the million words threshold.
  • Shirou pulling Awesomeness by Analysis by figuring out a bunch of thugs are actually part of Fina's familiars/Parade, thanks to figuring out something was off with... their knives. He then proceeds to rip them a new one, literally and figuratively.
  • Shirou realizes why he has been called to mediate between Merem and Fina, and makes it clear he won't take kindly to conflict on his turf. He brings out the black sword Kiritsugu as a way to show them what will happen if they don't behave. This is enough to get Fina to take the point and relent.
• Chapter 58:
  • When showing he has captured Kuzuki and Taiga, Fina mentions that both were able to hold their own against his men and almost managed to escape. An impressive feat for Badass Normals.
  • A bit low-key after all the crap Shirou has been through with the War, but he gets to show why he is not to be fucked with, especially when Fina loses his shit over the reveal of WHO is the Ashes of Miracles.
    • Crazy-Prepared and Properly Paranoid planning, again with explosives involved, and Saber fitted with a camouflage enabling Noble Phantasm.
    • Shirou taking a silver werewolf claw to the face with no wounds for his trouble, showcasing his inhumane aspects and part of his collection, getting a grudging approval that he MIGHT eventually "get there".
  • Saber making her ultimatum against Fina, threatening a point-blank Excalibur blast on his ship.
  • A very dark one, but Fina shows why he was not to be trifled with, as he reveals his final hostage when everything was said and done, pulling a cruel Exact Words Loophole Abuse gambit just to spite Shirou once the deal is over.
• Chapter 59: Shirou is able to figure out how Fina's immortality works, something that has stumped the Church and the Association for ages.
• Chapter 60: Shirou is able to survive a powerful cursed flame by turning his hand into a Noble Phantasm that bestows immunity to fire.
• Chapter 68:
  • Shirou demonstrates how good he is with preparing for battle even with limited time.
    • First, he makes sure that he has Geas Scrolls prepared to use in getting Waver back and keep Altrouge from revealing his identity as the Tenth Ancestor.
    • He then defends himself with Time Altered swords that draw power from his workshop so that he doesn't have to pay the cost for making them.
    • After creating and firing his Balmung Arrow, Shirou reveals that he made two more of them beforehand.
  • Fina shows off what his battle ship really is: the Fourteenth Ancestor's Fifth Demonic Castle Fortress, Matri.
  • Shirou proves that he's not all talk when he damages Matri by firing off two Balmung Arrows one after the other.
• Chapter 70: It's revealed that Shirou is able to use Kiritsugu's Tools of the Trade when he blows up Fina's first mate with his father's magic grenades.

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