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Fate:Zero Sense is a Fate/Zero Crossover fanfic by The Infamous Man (Who is also the author of Just an Unorthodox Thief and A Different Kind of Truth) that is best classified as a dramedy, giving equal parts action, comedy, and drama.

What makes it different from other Fate/stay night fanfics is the fact that all the servants except for Saber are new fictional characters. Truly throwing a wrench into things is the titular character of Deadpool, summoned by Kotomine as Assassin. Then there's Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann's Kamina, summoned by Waver Velvet as Rider. Caster, in this fic, is Sasuke of the Uchiha clan from Naruto. Archer is Vash, the Humanoid Typhoon from Trigun. The Berserker class has been filled by the Espada character Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez from Bleach. Finally, the character summoned to fulfill the Lancer class is traumatized Shinji Ikari from Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Following Zero Sense is the sequel Fate: Stay Away, set during the events of Fate/stay night. It features Black Cat character Ex-Number Train Heartnet as Archer, Rebuild of Evangelion character Frozen girl, Rei Ayanami, as Lancer, Fairy Tail character Erza Scarlet as Caster, Casshern Sins character the titular Casshern as Berserker, Soul Eater character the arrogant Black*Star as Assassin, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann character Simon the Digger as Rider, and (amazingly) the Fate/stay night character Counter Guardian EMIYA as Avenger.

The author also created another fanfic called Carnival Frenzy, a Carnival Phantasm version of Fate/Zero Sense and Fate/Stay Away together.

Fate:Zero Sense is complete, but the sequel, Fate:Stay Away, is officially a Dead Fic as of April 1st, 2015.


This fanfic provides examples of:

  • Arch-Enemy: Saber absolutely loathes Assassin with a hate that could be considered holy. Assassin promotes this trope both for his own amusement and because the author told him to.
  • Adaptational Badass: Rider. Though unquestionably awesome in his original anime, Kamina didn't have access to a Reality Marble containing all of team Dai-Gurren.
  • Asshole Victim: Uryuu, and Zouken even more so.
  • Batman Gambit: The entire fic turns out to be a massive Batman Gambit created by the author to make sure he would have a proper Big Bad (i.e., Kirei) for the sequel.
  • Big Bad Duumvirate: Kirei and Deadpool form a stable one.
  • Bittersweet Ending: Lots of people die and nobody gets the Grail, like in canon. However, Shinji (Lancer) seems to have finally found some happiness, Waver begins to lead a Team Dai-Gurren at the Clock Tower, Kiritsugu stills gets to save Shirou, Zouken gets killed, and Maiya gets to live.
    • Thanks to Zouken getting killed, Sakura's lived a happier life and thinks that Kariya killed Zouken from beyond the grave, when it was Deadpool that killed Zouken and then left again.
  • Beam-O-War: Saber's Excalibur vs Vash's Angel Arm at the docks.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: Assassin/Deadpool, of course, and Kotomine after getting Deadpool's insanity through osmosis. Most people refer to his comments about "TIM" or "the visual novel," etc. as insane ramblings, and the trope is justified by Irisviel as a Noble Phantasm that lets him hear "God's will" and perfectly predict their every action.
  • Butt-Monkey:
    • Waver has to put up with a lot from Rider.
    • The same can be said for Saber from Deadpool the Assassin, who just trolls her constantly with the politically correct references of Monty Python, among other mocking tactics.
  • Card-Carrying Villain: Kirei and Deadpool, of course. But Kirei puts it best in the great words of Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z Abridged.
    Kirei: I'm fucking evil.
  • Casanova Wannabe: Archer has the habit to hit on every adult female character he meets, including Maiya, Irisviel, and even Saber (though it requires him to be drunk for the latter). He usually gets rejected (though Iri does blush).
  • Cerebus Syndrome: The fic takes a very dark turn with the death of Caster at the hands of Berserker in chapter eleven. Not that Caster and Uryuu don't deserve it, but their deaths do begin the darkening of the plot.
  • Cool vs. Awesome: A regular occurance. In order: Deadpool almost defeating Saber with Monty Python References, Gurren Lagann vs Eva Unit-01, Sasuke's Susano'o vs Grimmjow's Gran Rey Cero, more Monty Python references, Vash's Angel Arm vs Saber's Excalibur (Angel Arm wins), Grimmjow in Resurrecion vs ALL OF TEAM DAI-GURREN, Gurren Lagann vs Eva Unit-01 rematch. Gurren Lagann wins, although Rider dies from his wounds. And finally, MORE MONTY PYTHON REFERENCES. The "Holy Shit!" Quotient is surpassed at the first Monty Python reference. Yeah, it's that kind of fic.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Kamina's nodachi, used as Waver's second catalyst when he joins in the sequel's war. He was hoping to summon Kamina again, but he got the next best thing: Simon the Digger.
  • Crack Fic: Fate:Zero Sense is one, moreso in the beginning.
  • Cutting Off the Branches: The Heaven's Feel route of Fate/stay night is made impossible by the events of the epilogue.
  • Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: In one of the Omake, Tokiomi accidentally summons Panty as Archer. Guess how that turns out.
  • Dying Moment of Awesome: First Archer and then Rider go out on a badass note.
  • Even Evil Has Standards:
    • Caster/Sasuke is utterly disgusted by his master, and complains in his mind about needing to protect and even help him to get more energy instead of killing him just then and there.
    • Berserker/ Grimmjow, an Ax-Crazy murderer, is quite disturbed by what Zouken is doing to Sakura...
    • Deadpool, himself, comments on how cold it was for Kirei to kill Irisviel like he did, which may be the reason that he becomes The Starscream as listed below.
    • Nah, his betrayal was done because the author ordered it as a part of a Batman Gambit.
  • Face Death with Dignity: All Servants that pass on save for Saber, really. Berserker in particular, despite losing epicly to Rider, is at least content he went down fighting instead of being backstabbed. Soon after that Rider gets killed. His final words to Waver parallel his final speech to Simon, including, "Later, buddy."
  • Faking the Dead: Assassin, twice.
  • Fanservice: At one point, Maiya attempts to ambush Archer, only to fail to even get his attention, since he is only concerned with the fact she wrecked his doughnut. Eventually, while leaving, he mentions he could have groped her at least five times during the whole conversation—then immediately proceeds to do so by opening her shirt without her even noticing, then squeezing her breasts exactly five times.
  • Faux Affably Evil: Kotomine after he becomes aware to the Fourth Wall.
    • Considering that he helps provide a fake identity to Sola-Ui and the survived Lancer, and helps provide means to... exterminate Zouken, you could say that he enters Affably Evil territory with Deadpool.
  • Freak Out: Kotomine when he realizes he's a fictional character in a fanfic. Cue Rage Against the Author, which of course fails.
  • Hilarity Ensues: Much of the first half of the story is simply comedy from the Servants interacting with their Masters.
  • Hypno Fool: The Mage's Association hypnotize James Cameron and the authors of ''Gurren Lagann'' and ''Evangelion'' to say they're filming a movie in Fuyuki City in order to handwave the giant mecha fight the Servants have in broad daylight. Said "directors" then decide to actually film the movie.
  • I Let You Win/I Die Free: Vash has defeated Saber, but because Kotomine tries to force him to betray his code he asks her to kill him before he does so and resists having two command seals on this order. After she deals the final blow, Vash dies with peace of mind.
  • I Need a Freaking Drink: After hastily coming up with a plan to cover the battle between Rider and Lancer post being chewed out by the Mage's Association, Resei breaks out his "special occasion" rum.
  • In Spite of a Nail: Invoked, Zigzagged, and played straight. Unfortunately for Kotomine, despite his plans to "destroy canon" many of the same events happen in order to allow for a Sequel set during Fate/stay night.
  • It's All My Fault: Lancer, both in his backstory and when Kayneth dies. Ironically, it isn't true for the latter; Sola-Ui killed Kayneth when he could have been saved.
  • The Juggernaut: Berserker, full stop, to the point where he's considered an In-Universe Game-Breaker. Archer and Saber can't hurt him. He shrugs off Caster's Amaterasu like it's nothing and punches through his Susano'o like it's made of cardboard. The only thing stopping him from slaughtering everyone but Rider is that Kariya is his Master and can't handle the amount of prana/mana that would require. Even then, it takes all of Team Dai-Gurren and a Giga Drill Breaker to take him down.
  • Knight of Cerebus: In the first half of the story, Caster and Uryuu are the main source of drama and nothing about their actions is Played for Laughs; all of their murders are played dead-straight and whenever they show up, the laughs stop. Ironically, their deaths are what start the fic's Cerebus Syndrome.
  • Loophole Abuse: Kirei, unable to handle Deadpool's mouth, uses a Command Seal to make him never open his mouth again. Deadpool gets around this by ripping off his mouth and growing a new one.
  • Medium Awareness: Deadpool, as always, and eventually Kotomine.
  • No Fourth Wall: Deadpool, later Kirei, and finally Taiga and Ilya in the Taiga's Dojo omakes.
  • Oh, Crap!: Assassin's reaction when attacked by Berserker for the first time:
    Assassin: Uh... Mummy?
  • Out of Character: Most characters, Kotomine being the stand-out example.
  • Pet the Dog:
    • Berserker's entire relationship with Kariya is one gigantic Pet the Dog. Berserker begins to actually care for him and goes out of his way to help him. In the end he uses Kariya and Sakura to motivate himself during his final battle with Rider.
    • Kirei and Wade killing Zouken and saving Sakura could also count. Although, the author might have ordered them to do it.
  • Rage Against the Author: Kotomine once he realizes he's a fictional character doomed to a life of misery because he's the villain.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Kamina gives one to Saber, stating that by not making her followers understand her dreams and ambitions so that they could continue without her, she was a failure as a king, and he does not consider her a leader or a hero.
  • Sanity Slippage: Kotomine. Though, to be fair, having Deadpool as a Servant gradually exposing him to the Fourth Wall can do that to a guy.
  • Shout-Out: Tons and tons from Assassin and eventually Kotomine.
  • Sneeze Cut: This happens often.
  • Spared by the Adaptation: Sola-Ui lives, as well as her servant Lancer. Sakura is spared from having the destroyed Grail embedded in her. Maiya lives to help Kiritsugu raise Shirou. Aoi never becomes a vegetable.
  • The Stations of the Canon: Played with. The Infamous Man manages to parallel most of the events of canon—even minor ones—using the new Servants, though with some mixing up of which Servants are involved in each event.
  • Take Up My Sword: Rider leaves Waver his nodachi moments before he dies, encouraging him to continue on as a member of Team Dai-Guren. This proves important in the sequel, as Waver summons Simon as the next Rider.
  • Too Dumb to Live: Although Archer's Thou Shall Not Kill rule is admirable, he's in the Nasuverse now. The power of love and peace tends to fail miserably, even in a Fix Fic.
  • Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: When Assassin falls into Angra Mainyu it immediatley spits him out and makes him look like Ryan Reynolds so he would never bother it again. That's right. Angra Mainyu fears Deadpool.
  • The Starscream: Assassin/Deadpool is temporarily this to Kirei. He sabatoges Kirei's fight with Kiritsugu under the author's orders. They make up later.
  • Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny: Pretty much the entire point of the fic.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Kirei has one when during his duel with Kiritsugu things start going out of control for him and he realizes the author has Out-Gambitted him. It's at this point that he stops acting confident and humoristic, and outright tries to kill Kiritsugu with an insane look on his face.
  • Villainous Friendship: Kirei and Deadpool are a clear-cut Type I. After Kirei breaks the Fourth Wall and he and Deadpool form a Big Bad Duumvirate, they become very good friends. They get along very well and act rather normal when not being evil or following the author's orders. They're practically BFFs. They watch The Golden Girls together, fanboy Bea Arthur, make tons of Shout Outs, mourn Heath Ledger's death, are also fans of Batman, practice their Evil Laughs together, and make fun of the author's rather flimsy excuses to hide the existence of magecraft.
  • invoked What Could Have Been: Gives little omake shorts at the end of a few chapters of characters summoning different servants aside from the ones they were given in the story. They are Asuka Langley Soryu as Lancer, Solf J. Kimblee as Caster, Shiro as Berserker, Sui-Feng as Assassin, Panty as Archer and Naoto Nandaba as Rider.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Kamina, Vash, and even Shinji think that what Saber wants is stupid, because what they want wouldn't cause a massive time paradox and at the same time make their Masters' wishes meaningless.
  • The Worf Effect: Saber constantly gets this treatment. Though it's justified, considering her competition and her lack of versatility compared to the other Servants, it's still rather egregious. She only kills Archer because he threw the fight.
  • Worf Had the Flu:
    • The only reason why Lancer/ Shinji is able to kill Rider/Kamina is because the latter is heavily wounded after fighting Berserker. Even then, Rider manages to destroy Unit-01 before he dies.
    • Archer vs Saber, as well. Archer wins the fight, but then lets Saber kill him to protect his code when Kirei tries to force him to kill her.
  • Yandere: Sola-Ui is a combination of this, Knight Templar Parent, and Well-Intentioned Extremist. All she cares about is giving Lancer true happiness... and she is ready to kill her own fiancé and lie to him for that.
  • You Can't Fight Fate: Kotomine tries to change his future by trying to actually kill Kiritsugu and prevent Shirou from being saved. No such luck.
  • You Need to Get Laid: Invoked by Kotomine when fighting Maiya:
    "If I didn't know you were banging Kiritsugu, I would say you need to get laid."

The sequel, Fate: Stay Away, provides examples of:

  • The Ace: Rider and Waver are just that good.
  • A-Cup Angst: Saber. Then again, the other girls work on anime physics...
  • Assassin Outclassin': The main point of the fight between Assassin (Black*Star) and Archer (Train Heartnet).
  • Asshole Victim: Shinji Matou.
  • Breakout Villain: Though Kirei and Wade were always supposed to form a Big Bad Duumvirate and be the main villains, a mixture of Evil Is Cool, Laughably Evil, and being Magnificent Bastards made them so popular that the author has modified the story so that they appear in almost every chapter. Later they become much more credible threats, committing atrocity after atrocity loaded with Black Comedy.
  • Continuity Nod: Bazette's Servant mentions Neon Genesis Evangelion and Bazette, not having heard of it, asks if he means Neo, a film that was made during the timeskip as a result of efforts to cover-up the fourth Holy Grail War.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Assassin, a.k.a. Black*Star, even moreso than his Canon counterpart. He normally has his pre-Character Development personality, but when a fight gets serious he reveals he has his manga counterpart's competence. He kicks both Saber's and Shinji Ikari's asses in his first fight.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: Assassin's battle against Saber and Shinji is basically a dragged-out execution with Assassin as the executioner. Berserker dishes out one to all Servants except Rider.
  • Curse Cut Short: "Bender" gets silenced before he can finish his catchphrase.
  • Deconstruction: The prequel and this story can be considered a deconstruction of fictional characters being introduced into the Nasuverse and breaking the Fourth Wall. Kirei goes insane with the information he is not real, many people still die despite heroic characters being around, and though some things have improved, horrible events still occur. Plus, even the Servants suffer throughout the course of the stories. Shinji Ikari is a prime example: despite living a happier life he's still riddled with guilt over having caused Third Impact. Angra Mainyu constantly reminding him through Nightmare Fuel-level dreams does not help his sanity.
  • Defictionalization: In-Universe. The flimsy cover story in the fourth Grail War about a movie being made in Fuyuki got a lot of positive reaction, which led to the movie actually being made. It even produced a sequel.
  • Dissonant Serenity: As the fic enters Cerebus Syndrome Kirei and Wade's comedic nature stops being funny, and begins to make them fucking terrifying as they casually commit crime after crime, reaching its apex when Kirei kills Illya.
  • Drama-Preserving Handicap:
    • Rider and Waver always show up late to the fights.
    • Having been struck by lightning at some point in the ten years between wars, Volumen Hydragyrum's automatic defense now only responds to projectiles, giving Waver a much less perfect defense than it did Kayneth.
  • The Dragon: Avenger becomes this to Kirei and Wade.
  • The Dreaded: Lancer eventually become this to everyone but Rider. Although she, herself, is actually a rather sub-par Servant, her ability to transform into Zeruel will cause both Berserker and Avenger, each with game-breaking powers, to retreat without question.
  • Dying Curse: Wow, Caster! Taking a page from Fate/Zero's Lancer, this is in her own words:
    "I-Is there a level any of you will not sink to? Kidnapping, hidden agendas, back-stabbing... DO ANY OF YOU HAVE ANY SHAME!? I won't… I won't forgive any of you for this! All of you are selfish monsters, fighting for your own reasons and not for others! You only reach for the Grail for your own selfish desires, hoping to achieve something to bring peace towards yourself and not for others! You denied me from protecting my Guild… my family…! I-I hope that the Grail is cursed! That your wish will ruin you! YOU WILL REMEMBER FAIRY TAIL WHEN YOUR LIVES FALL TO RUIN!"
  • Dynamic Entry: Assassin appears on the scene of a battle with a whoop and a kick to Avenger's chest. Soon after, Waver and Rider make their entrance into the War by crushing Berserker with a giant drill.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: TIM says that this applies to Shinji.
  • Eviler than Thou: In Chapter 5's Omake short: Abridged!Popo, if he were ever summoned, would call the grail effortlessly and drink Angra Mainyu's soul.
  • Expy: Kirei's ideaology and lifestyle is strangely similar to General Tarquin's from The Order of the Stick.
  • Fallen Hero: Avenger, a.k.a. EMIYA, even more than his Canon counterpart. Although in canon EMIYA was very twisted, he could still be called a hero, albeit a Tragic Hero. This version is perfectly willing to kill Ilya, his counterpart's Morality Pet. Justified reaction because this EMIYA's Morality Pet is not Ilya, but Sakura.
  • False Reassurance/Exact Words: Kirei, in his natural element. He tells Caster/Erza that someone made a replica of one of her swords and used it to kill Shinji Matou, making Shirou and Sakura come after her, that the culprit did so to finally have an excuse to take out a Servant, and that the culprit was Assassin. She assumes he's talking about Sakura's Assassin. He's really talking about Deadpool.
  • Genre Blind: Caster can't seem to figure out that the Nasuverse doesn't follow shonen rules and that the good guys can actually lose here.
  • Genre Savvy: Avenger. He has watched nearly all the Anime the other Servants come from. He's even able to distinguish between alternate versions of a single character. Then again, he's Counter Guardian Emiya. What did you expect?
  • Gut Punch: Chapter 23 "Q Note Part II: Memento Mori", it has to be read to be believed.
  • Heroic BSoD: Saber temporarily enters one upon meeting Rider. Why? Because at seeing him following his Aniki's ideals, Saber realizes that Kamina was right all along.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: Kirei and Wade have this type of relationship, and Waver and Rider are forming one.
  • Idiot Hero: Deconstructed with Caster/Erza. Because she comes from such an idealistic setting, she easily falls for Kirei's rather flimsy con, thinking everything will magically turn out okay like it does in her home universe.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Because it's an easy way to show off his Nigh-Invulnerability, this happens to Wade semi-frequently. Before the Cerebus Syndrome kicks in, it becomes a Running Gag for Kirei to stab him in the forehead to stop him from revealing spoilers. After it kicks in, he gets stabbed sideways through the head by Assassin's sword and later gets pinned to a wall by a sword through his chest.
  • It's All About Me:
    • Erza's Dying Curse reduces her to this.
    • Assassin personally believes that any Heroic Spirit who participates in the Holy Grail War is reduced to this, himself included.
  • The Juggernaut:
    • Following in Grimmjow's footsteps, Casshern proves himself to be pretty much invincible, taking on Saber, Lancer, Archer, Caster, Assassin, and Avenger at the same time and WINNING! He even kills Rei, sort of. It takes Rider to stop him. That's right, Casshern is able to defeat SIX Servants. All. By. Himself.
    • Rei's Zeruel form. Bonus points because she manages to get an "Oh, Crap!" reaction from the Servant who's a Physical God.
  • Knight of Cerebus: Overlaps with Cerebus Syndrome for Kirei and Wade. Their humorous natures just seem to enhance how something is incredibly 'wrong with them as their atrocities pile up.
  • Let's Get Dangerous!: Assassin and Archer spend the majority of their time being jokes and embarrassing their Masters for differing reasons. Then, they fight each other, they stop being funny.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Berserker, also the Juggernaut. All of his stats except luck are A-rank.
  • Mage Killer: As a result of Maiya's survival, Shirou is being taught his adoptive father's combat style and magecraft. He really puts a huge dent in Avenger's plans by using an Origin Bullet on his master Bazett.
  • Moveset Clone: Shinji and Rei have very similar abilities as Servants, but Shinji has better stats and Personal Skills whereas Rei has better Noble Phantasms; mainly, she has three extra lives and the ability to summon Zeruel. Even more so when Rei is from the Rebuild of Evangelion continuity and Shinji is from the original series.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Shinji Ikari, not knowing that Zeruel is actually Rei, goes out to fight her and nearly kills her before she calls out to him, prompting this reaction from him.
  • Mythology Gag / The Stations of the Canon: Like in Fate/stay night, Bazette is screwed by Kirei, and like in Fate/hollow ataraxia, Bazette summons Avenger. Just not necessarily in that order, in this fic.
  • Naked on Revival: Rei can bring herself back to life three times, but she is naked upon revival.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Zeruel, the Angel of Might, and it lives up to its name by causing both Berserker and Avenger to run away from it really fast.
  • "Not So Different" Remark: Angra Mainyu accuses Shinji Ikari of being just like him, all the way down to having to hold "All the Evils in the World". Shinji can't disagree.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Assassin is much sharper than he lets on, knows Sakura's Dark and Troubled Past, and is the smartest member of Team Emiya.
  • Oh, Crap!: Lancer/ Rei when she transforms into the Rebuild version of Zeruel and causes Simon the Digger to utter this.
  • Omniscient Morality License: Though Kirei is most definitely NOT a hero, no one ever suspects him of being evil until the time is right, no matter how weird and blatantly evil he acts or how many times he breaks the fourth wall in front of people. However, this is justified because he works for the author, who uses his powers to protect him. Lampshaded and discussed by Kirei and Wade, the latter of whom calls it by name.
  • One-Steve Limit: Averted with Shinji Ikari and Shinji Matou. Later, double-subverted when Matou is unceremonuosly killed by Kirei and Deadpool in a half-assed attempt to frame Caster.
  • Only Sane Man: Assassin ironically enough becomes this for Team Emiya.
  • One-Winged Angel: Lancer's Zeruel form.
  • Pay Evil unto Evil: How Wade survived without the orphan farm from canon. He stored up prana by killing a bunch of two-bit tyrants, warlords, murderers, etc. Basically, he fed on the scum of humanity.
  • Plot Armor / Death is Cheap: Lancer/Rei Ayanami can revive three times. In case it's not clear, she doesn't die when she's killed.
  • Physical God: Rider/Simon the Digger. How powerful is he? Avenger realizes that he could win the war by himself with ease. Having an Anti-Universe Noble Phantasm tends to even any odds.
  • Precision F-Strike:
    • Avenger delivers one when he learns that the previous Holy Grail War was fought almost entirely with characters from modern fictional series and that from what he's seen, the current one will be the same.
    • All of the Servant-Master teams end up gathered in one location, and Avenger knows who they all are and how powerful they are. Each Servant who shows up is more powerful than the last, finally culminating in Rider's arrival. When he sees Rider, Avenger can't take it anymore and gives a loud, vehement Precision F-Strike.
    • He gives a more restrained, "Shit," when he sees Zeruel and notices which version it is.
    • Kotomine Kirei gives one when he sees that Maiya pulled the pins on her last three grenades and dropped them on the floor of the bell tower before he threw her off, and he has nowhere to go.
  • Punch-Clock Villain: Kirei and Wade manage to be this and Card-Carrying Villains at the same time. Although they are both unrepentantly evil, they also work for the author and follow his orders, and when not being evil or breaking the fourth wall they live rather normal lives.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Maiya delivers one to Kotomine. Kirei, who up until this point has been completely calm and in control, goes ballistic.
    "Hmph." Maiya muttered, grinning slightly as she looked at the man in front of her. "You are pathetic, Kotomine Kirei." Kirei's eyes widened in shock while Maiya continued. "You are not following a 'script'. You're just taking the easy way out of the problem you are in. I don't care if there is a God, or simply just a man on a computer. I came here to face you because I chose to do so. Protecting Shirou and fulfilling my order to Kiritsugu were my decisions, and even if what you said is true, I would never regret a single moment I lived my life. However you, Kotomine Kirei, are nothing more than a man scared of taking control of your life. You are a pathetic, empty, shell of a man."
  • Running Gag: Pre-Cerebus Syndrome, Kirei gets into the habit of stabbing Wade in the forehead to stop him from revealing spoilers.
  • Serial Escalation:
    • In the first fic, Waver summons Kamina as Rider. In the sequel, he summons Simon the Digger.
    • Lancer!Shinji could summon Unit-01. Lancer! Rei can become the Zeruel/Rei fusion.
  • Sanity Slippage: Sakura justifiably undergoes this during her Breaking Lecture to Aoi and Rin as she remembers Zouken's "training".
  • Serious Business: Kirei apparently considers it serious business to find out how many times Kenny has been killed in South Park, though he may be just trolling Rin.
  • Sneeze Cut: As with the first story, it happens a lot.
  • Sore Loser: The Sequel's Caster dies cursing everyone fighting in the war, and levels many accusations at the party; including that they're all so obsessed with having their wishes granted that they'd resort to unfair methods. Then she curses them for not letting her have HER wish granted. All in all, she does not face her death with dignity like the others do...
  • Squishy Wizard: Averted with Caster/ Erza. More than one character ponders that she might have been better as Saber.
  • Stepford Smiler: Assassin is hinted to be one.
  • Take That!: Surprisingly of his own humor and those who use the same premise of Zero Sense. TIM basically admits through Deadpool that his own humor sucks, and calls those who do the same type of fic and say they are 'inspired' by Zero Sense are not doing anything original and are even in some cases blatantly copy-and-pasting parts of the fic and claiming it as their own.
  • This Is Gonna Suck:
    • Avenger's reaction when he recognizes what version of Casshern he is fighting.
    • Soon after, Avenger reacts vehemently this way when he learns that one of his opponents is Simon the Digger. The normally unshakeable Avenger flips!
    • Avenger flips again when he watches out of the window and sees Zeruel. And again when he recognizes which version of Zeruel it is!
  • Took Alevel In Badass: Waver hasn't just been sitting on his butt politicking over the last ten years. He's gone from a wimpy Non-Action Guy to Rin's better in a fight. Kamina would be proud.
  • Trolling Creator: A strange in-universe example with TIM telling Kirei that he's going to win.
  • Tsundere: Rin is most obviously one (and Kirei will never let her forget it). Illya becomes an aborable Tsundere when trying to act like she doesn't care about Berserker/Casshern.
  • Underestimating Badassery: Avenger refuses to believe that Kirei and Wade can break the Fourth Wall and constantly tells himself that they are just nuts. He also reassures himself that Waver couldn't possibly provide enough prana for Rider to summon Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. He's forgetting that Team Dai-Gurren's motto is to go beyond the impossible and kick reason to the curb.
  • Unstoppable Rage: Shinji loses it when he sees Zeruel and immediately summons Unit-01 and almost beats it to death in rage and revenge for what it did to him and his friends in his homeworld. He only stops when he learns that it is really Rei transformed into Zeruel, leading to a My God, What Have I Done? moment.
  • Weak, but Skilled: Archer may not have the utterly broken Noble Phantasms his opposition have, but he's probably as skilled as the canon fake Assassin. It's best shown when he matches Rider blow for blow.
  • Wham Episode:
    • Things start getting serious before Chapter 15, but come that chapter it solidifies hard. How hard? If the first Servant killed in the war declares a Dying Curse on the Grail, it's all downhill from there.
    • Then there's Berserker and Illyasviel's defeat and death by Wade, Avenger, and Kirei.
  • invoked What Could Have Been: Furthers the tradition of small omakes of could-have-been Servants with BOTH Jin and Mugen as Assassin, Abridged!Mr. Popo as Caster, Death the Kid as Archer, Madarame Ikkaku as Lancer, Asura as Berserker, Spike Spiegel as Rider, and The Punisher as Avenger.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Assassin is terrified by Excalibur, as in his series Excalibur is even more egotistical than him and has a short temper. He also declares Saber a hero because she can deal with him.
  • The Worf Effect:
    • Saber continues to be outclassed in the sequel by getting her ass handed to her by Assassin. Once again, this is justified because all of the other Servants can screw the very strict laws of the Nasuverse on a whim. Taken to Butt-Monkey levels in a later Omake: in an alternate summoning of Berserker, Asura doesn't even let Saber finish speaking before she gets Megaton Punched to the curb.
    • Everyone is worfed by Berserker. Repeat: every Servant gets worfed. At the same time. Except Rider.
    • Then Berserker gets brutally worfed by Avenger in Chapter 12. How is that possible? Four words: Nine Lives Blade Works.
    • Taken to heartbreaking levels when Wade and Avenger are able to defeat Berserker by launching a surprise attack and having him focus all his efforts on protecting Illya rather than fight them.
  • World's Strongest Man: Rider is by far the strongest Servant in the War, and maybe the strongest person currently in the Nasuverse. He could easily win the Holy Grail War in a day if he felt motivated.


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