The Artist and the Faker
by Agitated Animator is a Fate/stay night fanfic where the Einzberns summon Arturia Pendragon as Lancer for the 5th Holy Grail War, Shirou winds up summoning Saber-Nero from Fate/EXTRA. As a result things take a turn as Shirou finds himself in a Holy Grail war where the King of Knights is an enemy.
This fic has not been updated since 2014.
This fic provides examples of the following tropes, in addition to those already present in the source material:
- A-Cup Angst: Rin, if her comment about Red Saber's "balloons" are anything to go by.
- Adaptation Name Change: Of a sort. Due to Nero being summoned as Saber, Arturia Pendragon becomes Lancer and Cú Chulainn becomes Berserker.
- Alternate Universe: Naturally. When Archer realizes that the Saber Shirou got isn't Arturia Pendragon, he realizes that the timeline he's in is completely different form his own. His first clue was that the first Servant he fights is Assassin, who is able to leave Ryudou Temple, instead of Lancer.
- An Arm and a Leg: Assassin cuts off Shinji's hand. After Rider takes him to safety, Zouken uses his worms to reattach it.
- Bare-Handed Blade Block: Berserker catches Nero's Flaming Sword and doesn't flinch even though it cuts and burns his hand.
- Body Horror: Berserker!Cú Chulainn's Noble Phantasm, Warp Spasm.
- By the Hair: Nero ends her fight with Assassin by grabbing his ponytail and literally hurling him to the horizon.
- Cool Sword: Excalibur and Aestus Estus.
- Facepalm: Lancer slaps her forehead when Illya casually reveals to Shirou, Rin, and their Servants that her real name is Arturia Pendragon.
- For Want Of A Nail: The Einzbern summon Arturia for a second time using her legendary spear Rhongowennan, so when Shirou is summoning and has Avalon as a catalyst, it brings him a similar hero... sort of.
- Gratuitous Latin: Red Saber speaks this way a lot.
- Hero Antagonist: Bazett effectively becomes this since she's still alive but opposed to Shirou and Rin's alliance.
- I Hate Past Me: Archer's dislike of Shirou is the same as it was in the original series.
- Improbable Age: Bazett openly wonders if she's the only adult competing in the Grail War.
- Instant Expert: Red Saber can copy one of her opponent's skills, including Assassin's Presence Concealment and Lancer's Prana Burst.
- Large Ham: Shirou's thoughts regarding Red Saber's acting imply as much.
- Leotard of Power: Red Saber again...with a perpetual Panty Shot.
- Mythology Gag: Just like in the visual novel, Shirou has an awkward encounter in the bathroom with Saber. This time though, he's the one in the tub.
- Playing with Fire: Nero's Aestus Estus lets her light her sword on fire and release it as a blast.
- The Power of Acting: Red Saber, as a patron of the arts, has excellent acting skills.
- She convinces Taiga to let her stay in Shirou's house by pretending to be a traveler who lost all her money.
- She pretends Lancer's attack killed her, then takes Illya hostage and threatens to kill her unless Lancer backs down. After they leave, Saber remarks she's glad they fell for it because she really didn't want to kill a kid.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Saber and Lancer
- Shower of Awkward: In chapter 10, Shirou is getting into the bath when Saber shows up, completely naked, to do the same. She's disappointed to learn that not only is Japanese group bathing gender-segregated, but that Shirou does not seem to be a fan.
- Shown Their Work: The author has clearly done a lot of research on Arthurian Mythology, integrating things that even Nasu left out.
- Telephone Polearm: Nero uses a lamppost as a weapon against Berserker.
- Villain Team-Up: Due to Berserker!Cú Chulainn attacking Kotomine before he can sneak attack Bazett, he instead kills Caster's Master, becoming her Master and the defacto master of Assassin as well.
- You Have Failed Me: Zouken threatens Shinji with this in chapter 10, claiming that the next time Shinji fails, Zouken will use him as his next body host.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Archer's reaction to Red Saber effortlessly using a lamppost as a weapon, when she is less than 5 feet tall and has no muscle mass.
