Fanfic / Fate: Zero Sanity

Yes, it wanted to change up the system a little. After all, the Throne of Heroes had no shortage of unique heroes to use.

After some searching, especially in the categories marked "Alternate Universes," Angra Mainyu found four new Servants to replace the Lancer, Berserker, Assassin, and Caster classes, but it still felt it could use a little more... interesting characters.

"You know what? Fuck it. Let's bend the rules a little bit more." So, it exerted even more power and found another "candidate" as Avenger.

—Opening chapter, Fate:Zero Sanity

Fate: Zero Sanity is a Fate/Zero fanfic by X The Reaper, inspired by The Infamous Man's Fate:Zero Sense. It is posted on Fanfiction.net and is now complete.

Like other fics inspired by The Infamous Man, Servants from the original Fourth Grail War are replaced by characters from other works of fiction, in this case with the exception of Saber, Rider, and Archer.

In this, Obito Uchiha from Naruto is the servant of the Assassin Class. Whitebeard from One Piece is Lancer. The Berserker class has been filled by Maka Albarn (along with Soul) from Soul Eater. Caster, in this fic, is Natsu Dragneel from Fairy Tail. To cap it all off, we have the Avenger class appearing, filled by Alucard from Hellsing, with a dash of his personality from Hellsing Ultimate Abridged.

Although at first the fic appears to run on the standards of most multi-crossovers, it becomes rather obvious from roughly the halfway point that this isn't the standard, and not just in terms of 'replace Servants and see where the plot goes from there'. There appears to be another group working from behind the scenes observing events, and within the Holy Grail Angra Mainyu is not alone.

Filled with action, surprising Character Development, and well-written scenes of interactions between Masters and Servants, this fic brings something rather new to the table.

A side story, entitled Fate: OSG, was written and completed not long afterwards, essentially taking place during the last five years between the Fourth and Fifth War, chronicling the adventures and some eailer Character Development for Shirou Emiya as well as giving some backstory on the resident mystery group: OSG and their leader, Edgar Silverstein.

A true sequel, officially called Fate: Stay Nightmare, tells the story of the Fifth Holy Grail War and of the machinations of the Grail to be truly reborn. This time, it's more determined than ever to do so, going so far as to summon 15 Servants (the original eight plus the new classes of Beast, Saver, Ruler, Defender, Conqueror, Slayer and Fallen) to the battlefield.

Saber, Lancer and Archer are the same from Fate/stay night canon, Berserker is Asura from Asura's Wrath, Rider is Death the Horseman from Darksiders, Caster is Future Rogue Cheney from Fairy Tail, True Assassin is Homura Akemi from Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Fake Assassin is Ulquiorra from Bleach, Saver is Ragna the Bloodedge and Slayer is Noel Vermillion from BlazBlue, Defender is Lancelot without the Mad enhancement from Fate/Zero, Conqueror is Arthas Menethil from World of Warcraft, Avenger is Mordred from Fate/Apocrypha, Beast is Ingway from Odin Sphere and Fallen is Dark Pit from Kid Icarus. In addition to the 15 active servants, Ruler is Prometheus from Mega Man ZX and Maka and Soul return with their full powers.

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These fanfics provide examples of:

Fate: Zero Sanity

• Alternate Self: Berserker (and her "scythe") is the Soul Eater manga incarnation of Maka Albarn and Soul Eater who both meet their untimely demise from the final blast by Kishin Asura just before he is sealed away by Crona's Mad Blood inside the moon during the final arc.
  • Assassin is a version of Obito Uchiha who died during the climax of the Fourth Shinobi World War when he was trying to end Madara, but Black Zetsu managed to stab him, prior to Kaguya’s revival.
  • Caster is a version of Natsu Dragneel that died from the battle against Acnologia.
• Anti-Villain: Assassin and Kirei fall under this. Kirei performs a Heel–Face Turn at the end when he comes back to life, saves Berserker and Soul, and destroys the Grail fragments. The only thing that keeps him from being a full-out hero is that he still enjoys the suffering of others.
• Armor-Piercing Question: After seeing Lancer's memories, Kayneth asks him why he wanted a family despite being so rich and powerful. Lancer tells him his reasons and asks Kayneth what he truly wants to wish for.
• Asshole Victim:
  • Uryuu Ryuunosuke, the psychopathic serial killer, is immediately put out of commission by one Servant and then killed by another.
  • Surprisingly averted with Kayneth. One can tell the author went through the trouble to make the reader feel something other than "good riddance" for him.
• Arranged Marriage: Due to the fact that the arranged marriage between an Archibald and a Sophia-Ri still stands, Sola-Ui and Waver are wed as a compromise in order to officially induct the later into the family.
  • Happily Married: Despite a bit of a rough start, Waver and Sola Ui's marriage eventually becomes this.
• The Atoner: Lancer, Saber, Caster and even Assassin fall under this.
  • Lancer wants to use his wish to either save Ace from death,which he failed to in life or continue to help his crew.
  • Caster also wants to use the Grail to save his friends.
  • Assassin is perhaps the biggest atonement-seeker of them all. He wants to use the Grail to go back to when he decided to follow Madara and try to bring about the Eye of the Moon plan and convince himself to turn away from that path. Doing so would cause him to cease to exist, but Assassin feels that his world would be better off without the man he became. The irony that in order to get his wish, he must once more ruin the lives of others, is not lost on him.
• Badass Army: Rider's Ionian Hetairoi, as per canon. Avenger has his own: Vampire King: Army of the Dead. And yes, the two do fight each other.
• Bash Brothers: Rider and Caster eventually partner up and continue in this fashion throughout the Grail War until Rider's death. Also, Saber and Berserker almost from the beginning until they're the only two Servants left.
• Beam-O-War: During the battle between Archer vs. Saber and Berserker, the latter two use Excalibur and Kishin Hunter combined against the former's Ea. Although at first the two sides are evenly matched, Ea quickly overwhelms the other two and blasts the two Servants. The blast is weakened enough that they survive, though.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: Shared between Kirei and Assassin, unsurprisingly. However, considering that many of their actions are not overly evil or cruel, and that they have many Pet the Dog moments, it's really only when compared to the others that they come across as villainous.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Both Archer and, to a lesser extent, Zouken are this. They both seem to believe that they're in the original fourth Holy Grail War and act accordingly, but ultimately Archer is Out-Gambitted by Assassin and dies against Saber and Berserker before he can get his revenge and Zouken manages to escape Tokiomi's wrath, but is axed off by members of OSG when they come to claim Sakura.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • Berserker arrives in the nick of time to save Saber from Avenger.
  • Avenger saves Rin from a serial killer pseudo-Servant.
  • Zouken is about to implant remnants of the Grail sludge in Sakura and begin his plan for the fifth Holy Grail War when Starrk and Father Anderson show up to save Sakura and kill Zouken.
• Bittersweet Ending: Once again, the Grail is still destroyed and the Great Fire still happens. However, Berserker, Soul, Sola-Ui, and Maiya all survive; Aoi doesn't become a vegetable; the remains of the Grail are completely destroyed; Zouken dies and Sakura is returned to her family; and Kirei becomes a good guy (sorta).
• Body-Count Competition: Rider and Caster engage in this during the battle against Avenger's army.
• Brick Joke: During the King's Banquet, Avenger has one of the staff members that he hypnotized order a seventy-inch plasma screen TV. The sequel reveals that he sent it to Rin as a gift.
• Came Back Strong: Of the not-quite-dead variety and overlaps with Nice Job Breaking It, Hero. Getting shot with Kiritsugu's Origin Bullet cost Kirei his left arm. Assassin replaces it and a good deal of his left side with the same material that constitutes his own right side. For extra measure, he also replaces Kirei's left eye with a Sharingan.
• The Chess Master: Both Tokiomi and Archer believe themselves to be this but in reality its Assassin who is the true chess master of this story and he ends up outsmarting both of them.
• Combat Clairvoyance: The Sharingan grants Assassin this ability. Kirei can also use it once he masters the Sharingan Assassin gives him.
• Combined Energy Attack: Saber and Berserker use this twice: The first time against Avenger's undead army and the second time against Archer.
• Cool Big Sis: Maka becomes one to Shirou after the War.
• The Corruption: Saber gets infused with a bit of the Grail's tainted power at the end.
• Cute Bruiser: Several Servants bring up the fact that for a Servant of Madness, Berserker is surprisingly small and sane.
• Death Seeker: Avenger's wish is to be killed by a human while using his full power. He has high hopes that one of the Servants will do it. If they fail, he plans to use the Grail to wish for someone capable of killing him.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Lancer helps Kayneth become less bigoted and arrogant, even causing Kayneth to show his softer side to Sola-Ui.
• Determinator: Kariya clings to life through Berserker using her full powers for an extended period of time and through having a heart attack from the stress out of sheer willpower to save Sakura.
• Deus ex Machina:
  • Caster is about to kill Saber when a presence inside the Grail conveniently decides to somehow give the latter an infusion of extra prana, which results in her winning the fight instead.
  • After the war is over, two members of OSG show up and solve the problem of killing Zouken for good and exterminating the worms inside Sakura.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Lancer killing Avenger. Also, Saber, Berserker and Soul killing Archer.
• Did You Just Scam Cthulhu?: Assassin, did you just use a Command Seal on ARCHER?!
• Dimensional Traveler: Ordinis Sancti Gladius. They are able to travel to any dimension, even dimensions that aren't part of Akasha, by what appears to be use of the Second Magic.
• Dungeon Bypass: When asked how he got past all of Kayneth's traps and defenses, Caster casually mentions that he just overloaded them with prana.
• El Cid Ploy: After Tokiomi's death, Kirei has Assassin pose as Tokiomi using a transformation ninjutsu in order to give Aoi and Rin a chance to say goodbye.
• Enemy Mine: When Avenger shows up to a battle between four other Servants, the others all decide to put their fight on hold and take him out together.
• Equippable Ally: Soul is Berserker's Sinister Scythe and main Noble Phantasm, but he still has the ability to manifest in human form and interact with others.
• Evil Counterpart: His Noble Phantasms and abilities make Avenger this to Rider and Lancer.
• Evil Feels Good: Still Kirei's motif. Even when he pulls a Heel–Face Turn, he still finds this to be true about himself. Not that it really bothers him by that point.
• Explaining Your Powers to the Enemy: Gilgamesh goes into detail about how his greatest Noble Phantasms work when he unveils them against Saber and Berserker. It's (weakly) justified by the fact that it's Gilgamesh, who likes to hear himself talk and is so certain he's going to kill Saber and Berserker that he sees no harm in it.
• Extradimensional Shortcut: Assassin's Magical Eye gives him this ability.
• Eyepatch of Power: Kirei wears one after recovering from surgery.
• Face Death with Dignity: All the Servants die content, or at least calmly, when defeated, no matter who their opponent was. Even Saber dies with some measure of peace, thanking Berserker and Soul mentally for their friendship and forgiving them for killing her.
• Faking the Dead: Zouken makes Tokiomi believe that he is dead and killed Sakura in a last act of spite when Tokiomi comes to kill him after learning what really happened and is happening to Sakura under Zouken's "care".
• Fire-Forged Friends: Saber and Berserker ultimately form what is potentially the most positive relationship between Servants in the entire war, beginning with fighting Avenger together in the Einzbern forest.
• For Want Of A Nail: The story's premise, the nail in question being the replacement of the original Lancer, Caster, Berserker, and Assassin with characters from other fiction and the addition of an eighth Servant, also a fictional character. The deviation from canon only really takes off when Kirei is shot with an Origin bullet by Kiritsugu during the attack on the Einzbern manor and barely survives. There are changes before then, but they generally negate each other in terms of changing the original plot.
• Good Feels Good: Although Evil Feels Good to him, Kirei also genuinely feels happy sometimes when he does a good deed without any evil desires attached, such as comforting Rin after Tokiomi's funeral.
• Good Thing You Can Heal: Avenger. He gets whole limbs hacked off, pierced clean through with multiple projectiles, and even hit point-blank with an Excalibur blast, and he shrugs it all off. It takes him using a Noble Phantasm that releases all of his contained souls as an army to leave him in a position to be killed, and even then, he refuses to go down easily.
• Graceful Loser: Surprisingly, every Servant who dies does so without any real malice towards his or her killer. Even Archer (Gilgamesh) is more impressed/amused than angry.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: A vertical example. This is how Berserker finally finishes off Assassin.
• Handicapped Badass: Assassin becomes this by the final battle. He's lost his right eye, preventing him from using his intangibility, and his Six Paths of Pain were lost in his previous battles, but he still holds his own against Caster and Berserker at once, has the former on the ropes before the latter appears, and nearly kills the latter.
• Hidden Villain: The second being within the Grail remains mostly unknown throughout the story, referred to at various points as Reaper or Grey. Only once the epilogue arrives does Angra Mainyu finally reveal his name at his own request: Prometheus.
• Horrifying the Horror: A downplayed version. In Chapter 1, Angra Mainyu admits that even he finds the 4th Grail War's original Caster to be creepy.
• Hyperspace Arsenal: Assassin has access to an Alternate Dimension where he can store things. He also can pull things from the dimension and eject them as high-speed projectiles.
• I Am What I Am: How Kirei ultimately comes to view his tendencies. Funny what dying will do to change a person's perspective.
• Idiot Ball: After Kayneth loses his Servant, he gives his Volumen Hydragyrum to Waver right before entering the church. There's no reason for this: it's his favored mystic code, so it's not like he has no more use for it outside the Holy Grail War, and it's not like Waver would know the first thing about how to use it. However, if Kayneth still had Volumen Hydragyrum available when he went into the church, it wouldn't have been as easy for Assassin to hypnotize him and then kill him, so the plot demanded he be unusually stupid. On the other hand, the mystic code was broken and it's later theorized by Sola-Ui and Waver that Kayneth wanted to see Waver squirm as he struggled to figure out how to use it.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice:
  • How both Archer and Rider meet their ends. Multiple times for the latter, courtesy of Assassin, and combined with a Wave-Motion Gun from Saber for the former.
  • Assassin subjects Berserker to this twice. It fails both times.
  • Berserker uses this on Saber in an effort to stop her from destroying the Grail.
• In Spite of a Nail: Despite the changes in the lineup of Servants, the first battle at the docks is largely identical to canon, and many canon scenes and plot points are paralleled by scenes here, if not in exactly the same order.
• Instant Expert: Kirei masters the body modifications given to him by Assassin within a few days' time.
• Intangibility: This is one of Assassin's abilities.
• The Juggernaut: Lancer is a giant of a man who can take extreme amounts of damage and keep going, and can dish out lots of damage, as well.
• Karma Houdini: Averted with Zouken. When it looks like he avoided getting killed by Tokiomi and is about to get away scot-free at the end, cue two members of OSG knocking on his door sent by a surviving Berserker and Soul...
• Little Miss Badass: Rin goes off on her own to save her friend Kotone from a serial killer, encounters Avenger, doesn't flinch in his presence, and tries to help him fight Grand Fisher by shooting Fisher with Casull, one of Avenger's Noble Phastasms that even adults would find frighteningly large and which ultimately breaks her wrist upon use. By the end of their little adventure, Avenger is quite impressed with the young magus.
• Magical Eye: Assassin has a Sharingan eye, which grants him the abilities of Combat Clairvoyance, casting illusions on targets, taking an Extradimensional Shortcut to teleport, and Intangibility.
• Memento MacGuffin:
  • After he saves her, Avenger gives Rin his Casull in the form of a silver cross because she managed to impress him with her courage.
  • Caster gives Saber his scarf before he dies as a token of respect. Saber still has it in the sequel ten years later.
• Mutual Kill: What ultimately happens to Avenger and Lancer, though the latter survives a little longer.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Tokiomi gets hit with this big time when Kariya tells him about what Sakura's 'training' really amounts to. In fact, it's enough for him to go and attack Zouken and burn down the Matou manor in anger when he thinks she's been killed. Even then, he still feels guilty throughout the remainder of the story until the moment of his death.
• My Greatest Failure: Saber, as per canon, considers her failure to prevent Camelot's fall to be this, though she has another one that might be even bigger: Her role in Mordred's betrayal, refusing to acknowledge her as her successor because of her bitterness against Morgan le Fay. She muses that if she had accepted Mordred, Camelot might not have fallen, at least not in their lifetimes. This admission only comes near the end, when she fights an illusion of Mordred created by a trap set by Assassin.
• Noodle Incident:
  • Lorelei Barthomeloi has hated OSG ever since they stopped her from killing her target during an incident with five Dead Apostle Ancestors, half the Burial Agency, Lorelei's vampire hunting brigade, and OSG's drinking party. Apparently, the non-OSG combatants were attempting to battle it out in OSG's base.
  • About ten or fifteen years before the events of the story, Zouken killed a member of OSG and fought two others, who fled.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: For a while, Assassin puts on a happy-go-lucky goofball persona when around anyone other than his Master (and Gilgamesh, after the latter calls him out on it).
• Oh, Crap!: Berserker is horrified when she senses Angra Mainyu's soul within the manifested Holy Grail.
• The Omniscient Council of Vagueness: Ordinis Sancti Gladius fits this. They only appear at several points through the fic, and only truly become involved at the very end when all is said and done. They're also made up of people from Bleach, Hellsing, Mega Man ZX, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Red vs. Blue, and apparently Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Their apparent ties to Wizard Marshall Zeltrech might have something to do with this...
• Out-Gambitted: Archer believes that he is the Fourth Grail War's resident Magnificent Bastard. He is gravely mistaken and ultimately taken advantage of by Assassin, the War's true Magnificent Bastard, ending in Archer's death via Saber and Berserker.
• Papa Wolf: When he finds out the truth about Sakura's treatment in the Matou household and her "training", Tokiomi heads over to kill Zouken and take back Sakura.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Assassin, even when he's just betrayed Tokiomi, stolen his Command Seals, placed him under an illusion, and is now about to devour his soul for an extra power boost to defeat Rider and Caster, still feels enough pity for him enough to make his final vision in the illusion that of his daughter Sakura forgiving him for actions that he had been beating himself up for earlier in the story.
  • Kirei gets one when he kills Irisviel. Unlike canon where he strangles her to death, he has Assassin deliver a quick and powerful strike to the back of her neck, breaking it and ending her life swiftly. Still cruel, but he doesn't take any pleasure out of it either.
  • Lancer and Kayneth try to make Sola-Ui breakfast, despite being bad at it.
  • Avenger is an evil psycho, but he's nice to Rin when he first meets her and saves her from a serial killer, then endeavors to get information from the kiler to put Rin's mind at ease.
• Poor Communication Kills: Thankfully averted between Tokiomi and Kariya. When they encounter each other this time, Berserker and Soul have convinced Kariya to give Tokiomi a chance to talk, Aoi and Rin are nearby, and they're all in a public hospital. This is crucial because not only does it allow the two men to understand each other, but it's what motivates Tokiomi's My God, What Have I Done? and Roaring Rampage of Revenge against Zouken.
• Red Baron: Besides the known epithets (King of Knights, King of Heroes, King of Conquerors), we have:
  • Fourth Sage of Six Paths: Assassin
  • King of Vampires: Avenger
  • Meister of Death: Berserker
  • Salamander: Caster
  • Emperor of the Seas: Lancer
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Archer, as Nasuverse divine or semi-divine beings like him have these. Avenger has red eyes, also. Averted with Soul, one of the genuinely good guys. Saber shows a brief glimpse of this at the end, according to Berserker.
• Red Herring: In terms of who would be the next villain. After disposing of Archer and establishing himself as the resident Magnificent Bastard of the war, one might be led to believe that Assassin would survive and continue on his path in the Fifth War. Nope! He's killed off by Berserker, who does survive to the next war. However, the story does set up who will be the major antagonist, just not in that obvious of a way.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge:
  • Tokiomi does not take well to learning about what Zouken's training methods amount to at all.
  • Archer intends to go on one to get back at Assassin for manipulating him and ordering him around, but he doesn't get a chance to do so.
  • Caster goes off on Assassin after Assassin kills Rider while Caster watches helplessly. The power of his Dragon Force reaches unprecedented heights and he looks more draconic than ever.
• Running Gag: When someone asks how Avenger can do something, he responds with "Fuck you, that's how."
• Sanity Has Advantages: Berserker, the not-so-Mad Servant. Although she has the class's Mad Enhancement skill (with it even tied to one of her Noble Phantasms), she has a personal skill that negates the "mad" part and leaves the "enhancement".
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When Lancer, Archer, Caster, and Assassin all gang up on Avenger in Tokiomi's home, this is his idea of the logical response.
• Selfless Wish: Maka and Soul plan to use their wish to give Kariya a new body.
• Shout-Out:
  • Rider's and Caster's words to each other during their Body-Count Competition mimic lines from Gimli and Legolas, respectively, in The Lord of the Rings.
  • Before fighting Saber and Berserker, Archer borrows a few lines from Dragon Ball Z Abridged:
  Archer: So, both of you fighting me alone while your Masters escape? How gutless of both of you.
  Soul: Wait, how does fighting you to buy time for our Masters gutless? I thought that was the opposite of gutless.
  Archer: Because, mongrel, suicide is the coward's way out.
  • Upon finding the one conspicuously open door in the whole civic center, Maiya muses that Kirei couldn't have left a more obvious hint if he'd put up a sign reading, "Wannabe Superheroes Go This Way!" with an arrow pointing inside. This is a reference to Fate:Zero Sense, the fic that inspired this one.
• Sneeze Cut: Every so often, a character will say something about another character and the scene will cut to the person spoken about, who will immdeiately sneeze as a result.
• The Starscream: Played with in regards to Assassin. He's perfectly willing to lie and manipulate around Kirei even being directly responsible for his father's death, but his ultimate loyalty is to him alone. After his Command Seals are stolen by Assassin and used to force him to obey, Archer becomes this, but he dies against Saber and Berserker before he can act on it.
• Summon Magic:
  • Masters use this to call forth Heroic Spirits as Servants in the first place, and can summon their respective Servants to their side by using a command seal.
  • Assassin has access to all of the summon creatures available to users of the Rinnegan.
• Survivor Guilt: As per canon, Shirou develops a case of this from being one of the sole survivors of the Fuyuki Fire. OSG plan to help him find an outlet for it by making him a member.
• Sword Beam: Berserker has this at her disposal as a Noble Phantasm and can set it to three different levels of power. She uses the second level for a good deal of her fights, saving the third and strongest level for major finishers and using the first perhaps twice throughout the fic.
• Take That!:
  • Avenger uses hypnosis to make a hotel give him a penthouse suite that was reserved for Chevy Chase, then calls Chase an asshole.
  • Avenger destroys a TV in disgust when it plays a Twilight movie. Hilariously, the next TV plays Adventure Time and he calls it "entertainment worth watching".
  • Examining the wrecked scene of a recent battle, Soul asks how the Holy Grail Wars stay secret. Waver replies that the Church and Magus Association work together to cover things up, and would probably blame the wreckage on terrorists.
  Soul: Maybe. It's a better idea than, say, gas leaks or a movie about giant robots duking it out in Fuyuki.
  Kariya: That is kinda ridiculous. Like something out of a video game^* Fate/stay night is run on a computer like a video game or bad fiction.
• This Is Gonna Suck: Caster, when he's about to get smashed by a giant statue.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Kayneth undergoes this throughout the story, in no small part due to Lancer's actions and memories.
• Tranquil Fury: Archer becomes enraged to this point in his fight against Saber and Berserker.
• Unstoppable Rage: Surprisingly, Berserker doesn't have this going for her. Played straight with Caster, however, after Rider's death. He completely loses it on Assassin, and would have killed him had the latter's Master not used a command seal to get him out of there.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Saber is once again called out by nearly all the other Servants on her wish for the Holy Grail, with the exception of Archer who finds the whole thing hilarious.
  • The lengths each goes to is different however. Rider obviously calls her out on it and stomps on her beliefs. Avenger and Lancer are on his side, but they don't take their words to that extreme. Assassin seems more neutral than anything else. Berserker, Caster and Soul do appreciate the meaning behind it, but they feel that her method just isn't the right way to go about it.
  • In fact, the last two actually come to Saber's side when Rider accuses her of being unworthy of kingship, smashing their fists on the table to interupt him and with Soul calmly telling Rider to stop it.
• The Worf Effect: Played with. The canonical Servants do reasonably well against their opponents, despite them essentially existing outside of the Nasuverse's rules and failing to kill any of them themselves with the exception of Saber vs. Caster (except she had some outside help there. Rider is killed by Assassin in a way not to dissimilar from how he died in canon and not without putting up a fight, and Archer, while Berserker was fighting alongside Saber, was ultimately done in the exact same way he was in the Fate route: Saber's Avalon. Saber dies to Berserker at the final battle, but that was while she was in the process of destroying the Grail and wanted to be stopped. Before that, they were rather evenly matched despite their serious injuries.
• World of Badass: Virtually all of the characters, Master and (especially) Servant, display badassery at one time or another.
• Worthy Opponent:
  • Saber is this to many Servants, notably Berserker and Caster. Archer even says this about Saber and Berserker before dying.
  • Avenger's entire wish is to find one of these. He gets his wish in the form of Lancer.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: When Saber starts to question herself after the events of the banquet and Rider's accusations, Berserker and Soul comfort her with this, stating they wouldn't have anyone else as their partner.
• You Are Not Alone: Berserker and Soul comfort Saber after the Servant banquet and tell her that they will stay by her no matter what. This event is the turning point where Saber starts to truly accept them both as friends.
• You Remind Me of X: Lancer and Assassin compare Caster to Luffy and Naruto, respectively. When fighting Saber, Caster is reminded of Erza.

Fate: OSG

• Adaptational Badass: Due to growing up with Maiya, Maka, and Soul, Shirou's quite a bit more adept at things like fighting than he ever was in canon at that age in the beginning. The fic proceeds to take it from there.
• Berserk Button: Played for Laughs with Shirou. His major one appears to be anytime someone claims not to like his cooking. When pressed, he's scary enough to freak Edgar out.
• Bilingual Dialogue: Implied. The reader is told that in the Emiya household people speak Japanese and English in conjunction, in order to keep Shirou always prepared to use English.
• Body-Count Competition: Implied. We don't actually see it happening, but according to Edgar's journal Harbinger, Enhance, and Anderson compete to see who can kill the most Dead Apostles by the end of the month.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • Raymond (Coyote) Starrk vs. Merem Solomon's Demon of the Right Leg. The dog didn't have a chance in hell after the former used Cero Metralleta.
  • Edgar vs. Zeltrech. Edgar describes it as getting the crap beat out of him, but attempts to justify it by being tired from previous battles and a little emotionally high-strung.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Self-reinforcement, applying reinforcement magecraft to one's own body, is very dangerous. Shirou uses it in a desperate situation despite having little to no practice at it and suffers the consequences to his body afterward.
• Death by Flashback: The last two chapters are spent with Edgar telling Shirou and Lambda about Sayaka Miki, Kiritsugu's former partner in the OSG and whose death ultimately caused him to break from the group.
• Determinator: Shirou is one. When asked to describe his personality in one word, Maka and Soul instantly choose "stubborn," and they explain that once he sets his mind to doing something he just does not stop until he either finishes or physically can't continue. When Shirou mock-battles Lambda, he refuses to surrender despite her superior abilities and keeps going until he has his blade at her neck through sheer willpower. He gets taken down by a sneak attack from behind immediately afterward though.
• Disconnected by Death: Sayaka's last conversation with Edgar took place over the phone, desperately telling him what had happened to her and asking whether or not Kiritsugu got his birthday present. When he tells her he did, she gratefully thanks him before being disconnected. This having been because her Soul Gem was almost fully corrupted, she didn't die... though that might have been preferable to the end result.
• Driven to Suicide: Contemplated by Edgar in the flashbacks, considering he had just lost his best chance of bringing his wife back to life and all his sacrifices for nothing. It was only the promise he made to his dying wife to live on that made him hesitate. Then Zeltrech showed up...
• Exposition: Really, the true reason this story exists is because the author felt the need to clarify some things about OSG and flesh out the characters more. It eventually grew from there.
• First-Person Smartass: In his journal entries, Edgar is quite snarky as he recalls those memories of his first years.
• Friends with Benefits: How Edgar defines his relationship with Chryssie, though he admits that he would be lying if he said they didn't feel something resembling true love for each other.
• Ghost/Genetic Memory: Lambda has both of these, of both her former life and that of Sayaka's due to her echo fusing with her. She doesn't get overwhelmed by them, they just come to her in flashes whenever she registers a trigger for either set.
• Hand Wave: The Reds and Blues apparently stumbled through a dimensonal portal into this universe, breaking several laws of reality. No one knows how they did it, but whatever.
• Healing Hands: Lambda-11 has these, an ability she didn't have in her canon. There's a reason for this.
• How We Got Here / This Is My Story: Each chapter begins with Edgar Silverstein writing down events from the past in his journal chronicling how he and the OSG got started.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: This is Shinji's new personality. Though he's still quite abrasive and smug, Shirou notes that it's more out of genuine confidence in his abilities than general jerkassery, and there are moments when he acts like a genuine Nice Guy, helping Shirou during his exercises in the early days and having a surprisingly honest heart-to-heart talk with Shirou about how he felt about the events that brought him here.
• Living Memory: 'Echoes' appear to be on the surface ghosts, but are actually facsimiles of living beings created by magic and/or intense emotions, that possess fractured memories of the original but are self-aware and capable of interacting with others. However, anyone who sees or interacts with them eventually forgets all about them, essentially making them an Un-person. An echo was created upon Sayaka's corruption into a Witch and subsequent destruction, wandering around the halls of OSG for almost two decades before eventually finding a new body to inhabit—Lambda-11's.
• Noodle Implements: Edgar once fought Zelretch, who used magic the likes of which Edgar had never seen before. He claims in his journal that if he described the battle in detail, anyone reading it would never look at cows the same way again.
• Not Quite Dead: Sayaka, after she became a Witch and was destroyed, actually had her body and Grief Seed preserved under OSG headquarters. Edgar's been trying to find a way to bring her back ever since, but he's noticed that there are occasionally hints that she's not quite as gone from the world as one might think.
• Only a Flesh Wound: In one flashback Anderson gets impaled by a sword and is very casual about it, calling it just a scratch.
• Person of Mass Destruction:
  • In flashbacks, we get to see how deadly the normally apathetic Raymond Starrk can be. Not only did he match Edgar's Shadow Form while fighting at his base power without too much effort, he utterly curb-stomped Merem Solomon's Demon of the Right Leg when he activated his Resurreccion.
  • Edgar describes the results of his first clash with Zeltrech to have destroyed the landscape they were fighting in.
• Refusal of the Call: In the flashbacks, it's made pretty obvious from near the beginning that Edgar had originally no intentions of creating OSG. It took some world traveling and a lot of prodding by Zeltrech before he finally accepted.
• Relationship Upgrade: Maka and Soul have apparently been dating by the time of this fic's events. They eventually become engaged near the end as well.
• Sadist Teacher: Harbinger is considered this by his trainees. One of the exercises he has them go through is called the 'Gut Crawl', which consists of moving through a pipe filled with cow intestines in the dark with all the sounds, sights, and smells you'd expect. He claims its because he wants them to be ready for anything when on the field.
• Sexy Mentor: Shirou's swordsmanship teacher is Jeanne d'Arc. However, she's already married or at least dating someone else in OSG.
• Shout-Out: Lambda-11's cover name, "Noel Valenzuela", is a reference to both the BlazBlue character Noel, who is technically her younger sister, and her English voice actress, Cristina Valenzuela.
• Storm of Blades: One of Lambda-11's and Sayaka Miki's favored tactics in battle, which Lambda-11 displays in her mock-battle with Shirou.
• Supreme Chef: Shirou's cooking skills are already legendary by this point. Lambda-11 almost has a foodgasm when she first tastes his cooking from his own kitchen, and almost everyone at OSG eagerly anticipates when it's Shirou's turn to cook.
• Tragic Keepsake: Shirou's cutlass, which he receives on his first day at OSG headquarters, actually belonged to Kiritsugu before he cut ties with the group, leaving it behind. It turns out it was one to him as well: It was Sayaka's last gift to him for his birthday before she went on a mission. She didn't come back... not the same way, at least.

Fate: Stay Nightmare

• An Ice Person: Conqueror and some of his minions have ice powers.
• Ascended Extra: Mordred was originally just an illusion created by Zero!Assassin for a trap that Saber sprung. Here, she's the new Servant Avenger.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: Saber and Saver team up to fight Berserker as Shirou and Rin are coming back from the Church.
• Badass Army: Seemingly becoming a tradition. Conqueror has Icecrown Citadel, which lets him call up the armies of the Scourge plus his commanders to battle. Unlike Iskandar or Alucard, it avails him little against the power of Ruler and his Servants.
• Battle Aura: Several Servants produce auras when they release their full power.
• Berserk Button:
  • Making sex jokes in conjunction with worms is a justified one for Sakura.
  • Anything having to do with the Round Table or her father is one for Avenger.
  • Insulting Guinivere is one for Defender.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Sakura is usually a very quiet, polite girl, but when a boy once pressed her Berserk Button, she apparently literally stomped his testicles into paste and was stopped from cutting them off.
• Birds of a Feather: Avenger and her Master have very similar situations and feelings regarding their respective fathers.
• Blood Knight: Avenger admits to being a "battle junkie", at least to herself. She finds common ground with Lancer in this.
• Casting a Shadow: Caster's main ability is to manipulate, attack with, and travel in shadows. Edgar's sword also attacks with darkness. Finally, some members of Conqueror's army can fire beams of darkness.
• Chekhov's Gunman: The being who gave Saber the extra infusion of prana to defeat Caster at the climax of Fate Zero Sanity? That was Ruler the entire time.

• Dragon-in-Chief: Ruler Albert Clover/Prometheus serves this role to Angra Mainyu. Fake!Assassin serves this role in turn to him.
• Deadpan Snarker: Fallen just loves pissing off Avenger.
• Darker and Edgier: Compared to the first fic, where most of the Servants don't really hate one another and see it more as a job they'd rather not perform. In this fic, there are multiple Servants literally howling for other Servant's blood.
  • The first Servant death is this in comparison to the original. There, Lancer and Avenger died together but content in their battles, and the former wishes his fellows luck in obtaining the Grail, with everyone being respectful. Here, Conqueror can't even move to defend himself thanks to the Command Seals while Ruler decapitates him with his own sword, all while taunting him about his failures and how he'll be the first offering to Angra Mainyu's rebirth.
• Groin Attack: Avenger knees Lancer in the groin during their fight.
• Horsemen of the Apocalypse:
  • Conqueror has four undead horsemen for generals who fit the archetype.
  • Rider fits this archetype as well.
• Hot-Blooded: Avenger is more... passionate than her "father". She's prone to anger, thirsts for battle, and doesn't mind letting others see her emotions.
• Hyperspace Arsenal: True Assassin has a hammerspace behind her shield that contains an entire armory.
• In Spite of a Nail: Despite the additional presence and interference of Maka/Soul and Lambda, Shirou still gets chased into his shed by Lancer and accidentally summons Saber at the last second to prevent Lancer from killing him a second time.
• Instant Messenger Pigeon: Edgar sends a crow with a message for team Emiya to Shirou's house.
• Intimidation Demonstration: Fake Assassin gives one when his Master wants the other Servants leave the mountain.
• Ironic Echo Cut: Starrk meets a probable Master-Servant pair on the streets, and Bazett and Lancer run into Illya and Berserker on the streets. They have different reactions:
  Yes, he supposed today was off to a rather well one.^note There are writing issues, but he means "going well" or "off to a good start."
  [Cut]
  Today was not going very well.
• Just in Time:
  • Maka and Soul arrive to (temporarily) save Shirou from Lancer's second assault at the Emiya estate.
  • Both Fake!Assassin and Avenger pull this off one after another against Berserker.
  • During the battle at the Ryuudou Temple, Defender arrives just in time to save Archer from being finished off by Avenger and Caster. Later, Fallen stops Defender as he's about to finish off Avenger.
• Mage Killer: Several of the Servants have abnormally high Magic Resistance, with Conqueror having EX-Rank thanks to his armor. Sadly, while this saves him from magical attacks, it doesn't save him from the power of Ruler's Command Seals.
• One-Winged Angel/Super Mode: Most of the Servants have one this time around, some even having several.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Avenger helps Saber and Saver against Berserker because she wants to be the one to kill Saber. Illya helps out the other Masters fighting Caster's shadows because she has the same attitude toward Shirou. Avenger decides that killing Lancer takes priority over fighting her previously claimed opponent when Lancer says he almost killed Saber.
• Parrying Bullets: Saber deflects Slayer's bullets with her sword before and during their fight.
• Playing with Fire: Saber thanks to being summoned with the scarf she got from Caster ten years earlier. Ruler can also do this.
• Precision F-Strike: Albert Clover gives one when Conqueror reveals his reality marble and Badass Army against Albert and his Servants.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Defender's visor starts glowing red when he releases his Battle Aura against Avenger.
• Shout-Out: In the first chapter Prometheus refers to the events of Fate/Zero Sense and Fate:Stay Away as those of an alternate timeline he observed while inside the Grail.
• Sinister Scythe: Maka, Rider, and Ruler all wield scythes as their weapons.
• Supreme Chef: Shirou, as per canon, as well as Saver. Saber even compares the two's cooking to see which is superior.
• Sword Plant: Avenger does this to lean on her sword in exhaustion after using her ultimate attack.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: It's quite obvious that while their Masters are cooperating, Avenger and Caster don't get along well.
• Time Stands Still: True Assassin's basic fallback strategy is to freeze time, unload a magazine's worth of ammunition at her opponent, and then restart time and "watch the fireworks".
• Too Powerful to Live: Conqueror being Arthas freaking Menethil, has the entire scourge on hand, and it took the entire might of a world arrayed against him to barely get through.......and he was Fighting from the Inside the whole time. It takes Ruler's command seals and multiple servants to take him out, and only just.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Mordred is summoned as Avenger and seeks the approval of her father (Saber) even while she wants to kill her. Caren feels similarly about her father: she hates him, but also feels something akin to happiness when he says her name and sounds proud of her.
• Wham Episode: Chapter 12. Albert Clover, Master of Slayer and both the Fake and True Assassins, is literally back-stabbed by Conqueror, but survives and reveals his identity as Servant Ruler Prometheus. He and his Servants proceed to fight Conqueror in his Icecrown Citadel Reality Marble and ultimately defeat and kill him, though not before Ruler takes Frostmourne for himself. All of this while hinting that Albert has plans for "Saber's potential"...
• You Remind Me of X: Saver repeatedly states that Rin reminds him of "Rabbit".

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