Fanfic / God Slaying Blade Works

It's the ending of the Heaven's Feel Route. Shirou hesitates in slaying Angra Mainyu long enough for him, Illya and Angra to be brought to the Campione-verse. Shirou slays him there.

Since he IS All The Evils of the World, Angra counts as a god. And what happens to people who kill gods in Campione?

Thus, now with powers beyond his wildest dreams, Shirou begins his quest to go back home.

God Slaying Blade Works is a Fate/stay night/Campione! crossover written by Marcus Galen Sands.

This story contains examples of:

• A-Cup Angst:
  • Illya is a odd subversion in that she's glad to have grown A-cups, as it indicates that not only has her growth stagnation ceased due to Shirou's Rescue Romance power healing that part, but she also remembers her mother and knows she has the potential to grow more.
  • Guinevere, on the other hand, plays it hilariously straight compared to the more voluptuous Tiamat.
• Adaptational Badass/Took a Level in Badass: Shirou. Yes, he was already quite the badass in Heaven's Feel, however it came at an extreme cost. After becoming a Campione, that ceased to be a problem, with more abilities to boot.
• Adaptational Wimp: Shirou's copy of Rhongomyniad is far weaker than its canon counterpart, on account of this story being written long before the release of Fate/Grand Order and Lord El-Melloi II Case Files, which respectively revealed Rhongomyniad's ridiculous Story-Breaker Power parameters and ability to function as a Morph Weapon. Thus, Rhongomyniad has been toned down from being an Infinity +1 Sword to more of an Infinity -1 Sword.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Venus' last thoughts were why wasn't she able to have Shirou's full love. Whether such thoughts are genuine, or else surprise at her power's inability to control him, are up for debate.
• All Myths Are True: Shirou claims they are, just not in the same story, in order to explain the existence of Rhongomyniad, the spear of King Arthur to Guinevere, who had made it up as a part of Arthur's (Artus') legend, and was baffled to see it.
• Animal Motifs: The majority of the Authorities are often associated with certain animals by Campione.
• Armor-Piercing Attack: Rhongomyniad's power is that it ignores invulnerability, meaning it can pierce any flesh.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: A positive deconstructed version with Luo Hao. She certainly is arrogant, but she never insults other people on purpose, she takes care of her subordinates, and only thinks very highly of herself because she believes she's earned her prestige. Equally, she believes other people can earn her respect and become just as great as her and she wants them to try. In short, she's very arrogant, but has every right to be.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: All Campione are this by default, but Luo Hao takes it a step further and bases her entire philosophy of Kingship around this concept: Her opinion on the matter is, "Since Luo Hao is the greatest warrior in China, then shouldn't Luo Hao be entitled to rule it?"
• Aura Vision: Manaka can see "Aura Signs" above the heads of others, which take the forms of symbols representing the personality traits of the ones they belong to.
• Badass Boast: "I'm not Steel...I am Sword, I'm the Steel that has been refined and forged, hammered and tempered. Given form, given purpose. I'm the Strongest Steel."
  • Blasphemous Boast: Borderline when one understands the meanings of Steel and Strongest Steel in Campione. Steel is the domain solely of Hero Gods, while the Strongest Steel is Artus, the most powerful God of Steel. In this, Shirou has unknowingly declared himself superior to the King of the End.
• Badass Creed: Shirou eventually achieves Unlimited Blade Works, so this was a given.
  Shirou: I am the bone of my sword.
  Steel is my body and fire is my blood.
  I have been reforged as if a thousand blades.
  Refined and forged, hammered and tempered.
  Given form, given purpose, I continue to my arrival.
  I have no regrets; this is the path I choose.
  My strongest steel lies in... Unlimited Blade Works.
• Beach Episode: Enforced by Illya to make Shirou stop working.
• Berserk Button: When Shirou makes a copy of the sword Ame no Murakumo, Godou's version goes berserk at the souless copy and aims to destroy it.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Kaida may be one of the nicest person in the story, but it is still a bad idea to anger someone with an ability called "Dragon's Roar".
• Beyond the Impossible:
  • Strictly speaking, it should be flat out impossible for a human from the Nasuverse to kill a god due to one of the fundamental rules of the setting. Since the Campione! universe works differently, these means that the Campione do the impossible relative to Magi fairly often.
  • Unlimited Blade Works (and to some degree, the Noble Phantasms within) is a magic of mortal origin, but is on the level of an Authority itself, if not even more powerful. Luo Hao gets briefly thrown off guard by this when fighting the Venus-controlled Shirou, but gets past it when she remembers that all Campione do that whenever they kill a god, so it's not that surprising that Shirou can do something like this.
  • Odysseus gazing into the unstable Kaleidoscope portal turns him into a Mad God, something Circe hadn't believed was even possible.
  • When Shirou finally kills Odysseus, Pandora attempts to give Shirou Odysseus' Authorities. She is completely shocked when Shirou's body rejects them and instead absorbs the Kaleidoscope energy Odysseus had gathered, turning into a brand new Authority that will finally allow Shirou and Illya to return home.
• The Black Death: Yuri tells Godou that Ahriman was responsible for the Black Death, although no one knows for sure to what extent, whether he created it outright or simply modified it in some fashion. What is known is that because of it, Ahriman was responsible for tens of millions of deaths, something which Godou rightly finds terrifying.
• Big Brother Instinct: Shirou, BIG TIME. Considering that he literally has godlike powers, woe betide ANYONE who hurts Illya. Godou himself says that there is a zero percent chance that Illya would ever be in his nonexistent (to him) harem because of this.
• Big "NO!": Mordred's reaction to Shirou's Badass Boast.
• Blessed with Suck: Kaida's ability to "cleanse" people's souls makes her unable to touch others for extended periods of time, as it specifically rids the souls of those she touches of all impurities, not just those that are actually "evil", and the damage inflicted upon them does not heal on its own. Cleansing Kaida's mother completely is the reason why she fell into a coma and could neither heal on her own nor be healed by anyone.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: Apollo. See Anticlimax Boss in the YMMV tab, Evil Gloating, Harmless Villain, and Nice Job Fixing It, Villain.
• Break the Haughty:
  • In chapter 12, this happens to Mordred who, after challenging Shirou to kill him, has every single one of his stratagems foiled and goes through every single form he ever had, only to be defeated by Excalibur, the weapon he thinks belongs to the one he sought to awaken and challenge.
  • In chapter 20, it is the turn of Apollo who, sent to kill Godou by other gods, plays with him instead of treating him seriously, and only woke up in the first place when the only thing awaiting him was returning to his legend, resulting in his battle being a thorough humiliation for him, despite the fact that he had more than enough tools to overwhelm Godou and win easily.
  • Chapter 36 has a massive one for Alexander Gascoigne, who goes from nearly killing Guinevere to being pummeled massively and suffering constant threat of drowning, forcing him to swear to never even try going against Guinevere ever again or else Shirou will hunt him down and never stop until he's dead. Afterwards, he's developed an almost phobic fear of Shirou and can barely take a shower without having a Freak Out.
• Breather Episode: Expect them to come normally hand-in-hand as the start of the next arc.
• Bring My Brown Pants: An understandable reaction when faced with Puppet Berserker.
• Brown Note:
  • In chapter 13, Shirou nearly throws up when he attempts to Trace Mordred's swords and perceives every atrocity they have committed, and notes that if he hadn't stopped trying to Trace them, he would have gone insane.
  • In chapter 20, Apollo attempts this as a finishing move. He's defeated before it can take hold.
• Brutal Honesty: This is a defining trait of Lancelot. For example, Guinevere and Tiamat tend to tiptoe around the issue that they are both in love with Shirou but he only loves Sakura. Lancelot bluntly states that she's not in love with him and respects his relationship, but he's strong and handsome, so she might as well try to get a one-night stand with him.
• Bullying a Dragon:
  • Shirou genuinely wanted to avoid a fight against Perseus, up until the Heretic God gloated he was going to make Illya his new bride after killing him. Cue über-protective big brother going MEDIEVAL on Perseus' ass.
  • Alex steals the Gem Sword and uses it to attack Guinevere. As many in- and out-of-universe anticipated, it ends very badly for him.
• Came Back Strong:
  • After killing Angra Mainyu upon arriving in the Campione world, Shirou briefly dies of his injuries before Pandora revives him as a Campione. As a Campione, he becomes much stronger and tougher and has greater reserves of Mana, and since he now has Divinity, he can Trace and Project Divine weapons like Excalibur and Arondight. He also gains access to the memories of Archer, granting him much more experience and many of Gilgamesh's weapons.
  • Mordred may have been brought back as a woman, however she's now a God of Steel instead of merely a God of Earth.
• Can't Catch Up: Illya is one of the most powerful non-Campione mages in the story, and even she is helpless to stop Venus from controlling Shirou or defending herself against Odysseus and Ahriman.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Mordred apparently has the ability to induce this in people he's "allied" with. Even after he's dead.
• Clipped-Wing Angel: When Mordred turns into a dragon, although his strength is greatly increased, his contradictory nature makes this form warped and misshapen, plus it renders him extra vulnerable to Shirou's Dragon Slaying Hero Authority.
• Clueless Chick-Magnet: Godou, like in the original series. Shirou finds it ridiculous. Hilariously, by chapter 24, Shirou himself has fallen into a Love Triangle that he's unaware of, between Guinevere and Tiamat, thanks to his Rescue Romance power. Yes, look it up, and you'll see it IS a power. Chapter 36 adds Lancelot to the party, and she loves every minute of it.
• Composite Character:
  • Shirou is an odd variation. Archer had already synchronized with the Shirous of Fate and Unlimited Blade Works, their memories being stored within his soul. When Shirou became a Campione, the memories of both Shirous and Archer were integrated into Shirou's mind.
  • Mordred, the Knight of Betrayal, is revealed to be the amalgamation of several war gods such as Laran, Ares, and Mars. Which is pretty much a standard in the Campione!Verse, although it is noted that if he were to return to his myth, the modern distinction between them would cause him to separate into the component gods. Ironically, when Mordred revives, she returns as a God of Steel, instead of the God of Earth that he was before.
  • Venus is an amalgamation of several love goddesses, such as Ishtar and Inanna as well as the Greek version.
  • Tiamat is an amalgamation of the Babylonian deity Tiamat, the Greek princess Andromeda, the sea monster Cetus who nearly ate Andromeda, and Keto/Ceto the Mother of All Sea Monsters.
  • Brynhildr is also Jord and Fafnir.
  • Ahriman is not only Angra Mainyu, but it turns out he's also many of the original villains that the old gods fought against in their earliest existences and, once he became named, the adversary of every religion with a malevolent, destructive spirit. His first origin is from the early days of Africa when Humanity was too primitive to understand that evil was their own fault and was their own choice to commit, or that evil could be without reason; instead, they blamed their various sufferings on what would become the first nameless god of evil. This is the origin of Ahriman, who became an outsider to the other gods for being born of Humanity's evils while they were born of the world. So feared and reviled was he by the gods that he was automatically given the role of villain, to be the thing, reason, adversary, and monster that the gods themselves existed to fight.
• Continuity Nod: The entire Feast of Kings was based on Shirou having memories of the banquet Iskandar held.
• Crazy-Prepared: Shirou has prepared defenses for every single part of his house, and even has special measures for Illya if he ever gets brainwashed.
• Creepy Child: Everyone's thoughts on Illya. She continues to prove them right every time.
• Combat Pragmatist: Fitting for his role in mythology, Odysseus is this. When he wants to kill Shirou, he fires arrows at him while he's too far away to see and without announcing his presence. The arrows explode and release poison.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Well, supporting character, but Luo Hao is this to Gilgamesh - both have enormous egos and hold dominion over an area (China for Luo Hao, the entire world for Gil), but whereas Gilgamesh is extremely arrogant and condescending to others and is willing to wipe out most of mankind so that he can rule over the survivors, Luo Hao is respectful of others and seems content with ruling China. Additioanlly, while both Luo Hao and Gilgamesh never fight at their full potential, Luo Hao avoids underestimating her opponents. Her only loss so far is against Shirou, who literally has powers she has no foreknowledge of and had their one true weakness removed when Shirou became a Campione.
• Cool and Unusual Punishment: Yusuke's reaction to buying all sorts of legendary wines, not for his wine collection, but for the other Campione to drink.
• The Corruption: Ahriman is able to twist and corrupt Rule Breaker and turn it against Shirou.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • Poor spawn of Niddhogg (a type of dragon) didn't know what it was getting into when it tried to fight Shiro with Dragon Slaying Hero active and wielding Arondight.
  • Played for Laughs with the curb-stomp NEGOTIATION that happened to Koizumi Watanabe. With the entire "discussion" being full of Watanabe reaching Entertainingly Wrong and yet perfectly logical conclusions, Watanabe THINKS Shiro is curb-stomp negotiating him. Meanwhile Shiro has no idea how intimidating he's being, and mistakes Watanabe's distress for illness.
• Curse That Cures: Shirou uses Curses Without End to "de-purify" Kaida's mother, putting her on the road to recovery.
• Dark Is Not Evil: It's pointed out in one chapter that the darker parts of a human soul are naturally supposed to be there, and that removing them wholesale is not a good idea. Kaida's mother was rendered comatose when the darker parts of her soul were removed even though she was not an evil person.
• Demonic Possession: Ahriman can possess people, giving him access to their skills and memories. This process kills the victim unless he chooses not to, such as when he possesses Illya.
• Determinator: Shirou will get back to Sakura, no matter how long it takes and how much shit he has to put up with. Rather fittingly, he ultimately gains an authority to do just that via killing Odysseus, who is famous for doing that exact thing.
• Don't Think, Feel: Godou admits that formal fight training doesn't really work for him. He does his best when he fights on instinct.
• Doorstopper: As of chapter 21 (Jan 2014), the story is closing in on 500k words. Narrative Filigree is a large factor in this. Chapters 20 and 21 together are the length of a short novel and cover just one extended fight scene. By the time Shirou finally found a method to get back home, the word count is about 1.3 million.
• Doppelgänger Replacement Love Interest: Discussed. Rin mentions Zelretch warned his students about the dangers of meeting alternate versions of your loved ones. When Sakura says she wants to learn the Second Magic to be able to travel to other worlds, Rin warns her that alternate versions of Shirou are not him, just people who share his face. Sakura then corrects her and explains that she's figured out their Shirou is in another world.
• Double Standard: Rape, Divine on Mortal: Averted oh so much when Venus mindfucks Shirou to make him into her compliant boytoy. Even fellow goddess Tiamat was disgusted, and it's outright called rape with Shirou being very much affected by the ordeal.
• Double Standard: Rape, Sci-Fi: Averted with the deconstruction of how a Earth Goddess devolves into an obedient and devoted bride after being vanquished. Athena shudders when she remembers just how near Godou unknowingly came to basically making a Sex Slave of her, and any Divine Ancestors typically don't like thinking too much about their past husbands.
• The Dragonslayer: Perseus specialized in slaying dragons. One of the Authorities Shirou gained from him was Dragon Slaying Hero. It boosts his physical attributes in battle and grants him additional strength when fighting anything related to dragons.
• Dying Curse: When Shirou slew Hades, Hades declared his hatred of him and said Shirou and all other Campione will die in the end. Alex, while being drowned, monologues about how every single Campione had never died a peaceful death, always dying in violent battles, be it against gods or other Campiones.
  Hades: Do you think I would concede to ever owe my life to one of your kind? I will not accept that, take my power bastard of Epimetheus, choke on it. And hear my last words, all your kind share the same fate, no matter how glutted on your stolen powers you become. You all die, either by the hands of one of my peers or at the hands of one of your own, in the end you all die.
• Empathic Weapon: Shirou's Noble Phantasms in general are like this due to how he makes near-perfect copies of them.
  • Shirou's Heroic Second Wind against Mordred happened, because Arondight had Lancelot's love for Guinevere as an integral part of its nature. It may not have been the same Guinevere, but it was Guinevere nonetheless. And that made all the difference.
• Entertainingly Wrong:
  • The History Compilation Committee theorizes that Shirou and Illya are the apprentices of a hermetical mage among other things. Meanwhile, Shirou believes the HCC to be similar to the Mage Association and prepares accordingly.
  • The entirety of Watanabe's negotiation with Shirou.
  • While under Venus' control, Shirou uses Excalibur Morgan. Guinevere assumes it is his regular Excalibur somehow corrupted by Venus' control, unaware he got it from watching and fighting Saber Alter.
  • Guinevere correctly deduces that Shirou has been separated from Sakura because one of them was sent to an Alternate Universe and his goal is to reunite with her. However, she incorrectly assumes that Sakura was the one sent to another world, not Shirou.
  • Alex thinks that UBW is a divine magic that Shirou is masquerading as a mortal one.
  • Since Shirou has the Authority Curses Without End, Ahriman thinks that Shirou has somehow stolen some of his power and wants revenge. Ahriman is unaware Shirou got it from killing his Nasuverse counterpart Angra Mainyu. Later, when Ahriman possesses Illya and reads her memories, he finds out the truth, but decides that it doesn't matter and he will kill Shirou anyway.
• Epic Fail: Godou somehow partially dematerializes a Noble Phantasm. They're not supposed to be able to do that. Doubles as a Funny Moment.
• Erotic Dream: Due to Shirou gaining the memories of the Shirous from the other two routes, he starts dreaming of the times those Shirous had sex with Saber and Rin. This makes him feel really guilty as he's in love with Sakura.
• Evil Counterpart: Mordred is one for Shirou. Both are considered fakers who can fight against the originals and possibly win. Both invoke themselves into Steel. Also, Mordred's line against Guinevere about how it's possible for an imitation to surpass the original resembles that of Shirou's when he faces Gilgamesh in the UBW route.
• Evil Laugh: Of the Mad Scientist variety. Rin has learned of Rule of the Underworld. Be afraid, Shirou. Be very afraid.
• Everyone Has Standards: Even when she's engulfed in the rush of her returned powers, Tiamat doesn't feel right crushing the wounded Campione and his companions after the battle with Venus, and decides to spare them so they can have a fair fight in the future. Too bad Jord thought otherwise...
• Evil Feels Good: Godou, with the help of Circe, reveals that Ahriman's origin as the nameless god of evil created by primitive Humanity that was hated and pursed by the gods isn't a tragic tale of a misunderstood creature forced into the role of a monster. No, Ahriman is exactly what he's called: a god of evil; one who enjoys being evil, creating evil, spreading evil and all that comes from him.
• Evil Gloating:
  • Chapter 14 gives us Mordred. Justified due to it being a side-effect of one of his Authorities; to be more specific, it is equipping his first armor that does it, by making him adopt his proud knight persona.
  • Chapter 20 gives us Apollo, who did this every time Godou falls during their fight. He gets defeated in one chapter.
• Fantastic Nuke: The Gem Sword is constantly compared to one, because of the sheer amount of prana stored within, which is several times over what a Campione possesses. When Alex steals it, the whole world just wants him to stop tampering with it and return the damn thing to Shirou.
• Feed It with Fire:
  • Godou attempts to use his Stallion Authority, The Power of the Sun, on Apollo. Both combatants then comment on just how stupid that was. It is more successful the second time, after Apollo's divinity is negated by the Warrior Authority.
  • Shirou tries to use Curses Without End on Ahriman, which fails spectacularly as Ahriman can effortlessly take control of the Curses. Ahriman can also corrupt and take control of anything that touches his Battle Aura, including Noble Phantasms, so Shirou trying to attack him with them just adds to his arsenal.
• Fiction 500: For the Emiya household, at this point, money is more of a concept than a physical thing. While Illya takes it in her stride, for Shirou it take a while (and a mansion and yacht) to actually wrap his head around the fact.
• Field of Blades: It's Shirou. It takes a while for him to get to Unlimited Blade Works, since the chant has changed due to the changes in his distorted worldview, but you knew it was ultimately coming.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: Lancelot is significantly out of touch with modern customs.
• Follow the Leader: This is the first Fate/Stay Night and Campione! crossover on Fanfiction.net. Now everyone has decided to get in on the fun bringing in the Shirous of the other routes.
• Fog of Doom: When describing Shirou's "Armour of the Black Knight" Authority, the author said that it have a really good compatibility with "Curses Without End". When it is finally shown in action, it completely destroys Lancelot's army, leaving her with only the incomplete Excalibur as a last-resort attack.
• Fluffy the Terrible: Behold Charlotte/Charlie, beheaded spawn of Nidhogg.
• Forgot About His Powers: When Alexander Gascoigne's reckless tampering turns the Gem Sword into a bomb, Shirou agonizes over what to do, until he realizes he can just Trace a copy of the Gem Sword and harmlessly drain the first one's power into it. Afterwards, Shirou berates himself for not thinking of that sooner.
• Gender Bender: Mordred eventually gets resurrected as a girl. She finds this merely an annoyance and is still obsessed with usurping King Arthur.
• Give Me a Sword: Shirou throws Lancelot the sword Arondight. This restores and amplifies Lancelot's strength, allowing the knight to defeat Jord.
• God Guise: Because Illya is so powerful and talented with magic, a few characters speculate that she has divine ancestry.
• Go Out with a Smile: Perseus is quite happy to lose to a Worthy Opponent like Shirou, and dies giving Shirou his blessing and many of his Authorities.
• Grew Beyond Their Programming: Snow, the Pegasus Shirou gets from Perseus, becomes more alive after Shirou names him, becoming more than just a part of Shirou's power. He even defends his master against Mordred without being ordered to.
• Harmless Villain: Apollo again. After spending multiple chapters just to summon him, he gets defeated by Godou just one chapter after his appearance. This is after Athena thinks of him of dangerous, because he seems to not care about pride and just going for the kill. He doesn't, he spends most of his time gloating at Godou when he should have just killed him.
• Hate Sink: Whether intentional or not, Alex seems to be even more hated that in the original work. The author even made an omake solely to kill him in every possible way that the fans wanted Shirou to kill him.
• Healing Hands:
  • Shirou's The Hero's Bride Authority heals any girl he rescues. It is enough to heal the damage to Illya's body from her being a short-lived homunculus, meaning she can have a normal lifespan.
  • Several of the characters like Guinevere can heal others.
• Heel–Face Turn: Circe has one when she personally believed that Odysseus went too far in going after Shirou and allowed Ahriman to kidnap and possess his sister Illya so she went to Godou for help.
• Hero Killer: Mordred is noted to have killed many Campione in his lifetime, several of whom were centuries old and very powerful and experienced. He is in utter disbelief that Shirou, who had only been a Campione for a few months, is able to fight on par with him and then defeat him.
• Honor Before Reason:
  • For Luo Hao, Honor IS Reason. For example, if she is imprisoned, she can escape by simply turning into mist, but she says it is not right to escape that way. She says she must prove herself by physically busting out. Unless a situation is desperate, she refuses to let allies help her if them joining would make them outnumber her opponents. She also refuses to use sneak attacks and becomes displeased if her allies use them, even to save her life.
  • Shirou doesn't use Caliburn or Excalibur until the later parts of his fight with Mordred, because something in him tells him to do it later. He's right.
• How Is That Even Possible?: Several characters do this when they see Shirou or Illya's magecraft, as they can perform spells without calling upon gods or other magical beings for aid. Guinevere and Lancelot are baffled when Shirou uses Excalibur, Caliburn, Rhongomyniad, and Arondight. In the Campioneverse, Excalibur belongs to Artus, The King of the End, and no other. Caliburn, Rhongomyniad, and Arondight are mere stories and do not even exist in the Campioneverse, yet their senses tell them they are real. Everybody gets really baffled when he uses Unlimited Blade Works.
• I Can't Sense Their Presence:
  • Illya comes up with a Mystic Code that can detect the presence of Heretic Gods. Upon learning this, Athena and her partners quickly come up with wards to remain undetected.
  • Mordred's armor prevents anyone, even other Heretic Gods, from detecting his presence or reading his movements. It even prevents Shirou from Tracing his weapons. Shirou gains this Authority after killing him.
  • The Gem Sword is kept in a special box that shields it from detection. As soon as it is opened, everyone with the ability to sense magic is utterly shocked by how much power it has.
• Idiot Ball:
  • The mage who had the wise idea to invade the Banquet of Kings. Just the fact that the guests alone can curb stomp the invading assassins, yeah.
  • Actually part of a supposed Gambit, since the creatures managed to steal something from the Campiones, something that can supposedly defeat them.
  • At the same time however the banquet ended with positive relations for the Campiones, if there is more upcoming information about this situation it can possibly culminate into a fight between all four Campiones and the mastermind.
• I Just Want to Be Free: Odysseus is obsessed with finding a way to travel to another world, because he's utterly bored with the Campione universe and feels like it is a prison, and believes only by being able to explore any world he wishes can he be truly free.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Half the reason Mordred died. The other half was getting Excaliblasted in the face right afterward.
• Inertial Impalement:
  • When Shirou defeats Hades but spares his life, Hades angrily jumps into Shirou's sword before giving his Dying Curse.
  • At the end of their fight, Mordred angrily lunges at Shirou just as he summons Excalibur, causing him to be impaled.
  • When Ahriman, who is possessing Illya, is losing against Godou, he decides to throw himself onto Godou's sword Ame no Murakumo out of spite, saying that by killing Illya, he'll at least hurt Shirou. Fortunately, at the last second, Godou has Ame no Murakumo absorb the properties of the Warrior Authority, turning into a sword that cuts the soul and not flesh. So when they get impaled, Ahriman was the only one who was hurt.
• Insistent Terminology: The author would like to remind you that Lancelot is a guy.
• I Should Write a Book About This: Illya starts writing and drawing a manga about the Fifth Holy Grail War. Of course, she changed the names and several details.
• I Will Find You:
  • After learning that her beloved Senpai is alive but stuck in another world, Sakura immediately goes to England, asks Zelretch to take her as his apprentice, and throws herself into studying the Kaleidoscope, all to find Shirou and bring him back to her.
  • Shirou has this toward Sakura as well. Fittingly, he gains an Authority that allows him to do just that from Odysseus, who literally has an entire story about how he would get back to his wife who was an extreme example of this trope.
• Karmic Death: After using curses to kill people and make them suffer for eons, Ahriman is Killed Off for Real when Godou turns his curses against him and they tear him apart.
• Knee-capping: In their final battle, Odysseus shoots Shirou in the knee with an arrow. This forces Shirou to limp until he is able to heal the injury.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Back in the Fate/Stay Night universe, several members of the Mage Association want to kill Rin as a scapegoat for the events of the Fifth Holy Grail War and capture Sakura as a research specimen due to her unique powers. They back off because Rin is protected by Zelretch and Sakura by Rider, where trying to fight either of those two is suicide, even with an army of mages. However, they then start plotting ways to circumvent that protection.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: A lot of plot points of the Campione novel are revealed much earlier than in the original. A good example is Guinevere not even trying to hide that Lancelot is a girl.
• Lemony Narrator: Occasionally, such as when it lampshades Godou's Clueless Chick-Magnet status.
• Let's You and Him Fight: Shortly after Shirou killed Angra Mainyu, Perseus attacks him because he sensed Angra's energy coming from Shirou and mistakenly thought him to be the evil being itself. When Shirou defeats him, he realizes his mistake.
• Locked Out of the Loop: None of Shirou and Illya's allies in the Campione world are aware that the two are from another world.
• Logic Bomb: Two so far.
  • Kaida upon hearing that Shirou, a godlike Campione with the rights of a King, cannot meet her because he went to school, she has a destructive cycle of circular logic about expecting the unexpected. She was told to expect it, but that was unexpected, but she did expect it...
  • After mistakenly calling out Shirou, Luo Hao is lost. Since she was wrong, she must protect her honor through violence. On the other hand, because she swore an oath of peace, she must uphold her honor through non-violence. But she has to because of her honor, but she can't because of her honor...
• Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places: Circe is always looking for a new lover because the men she picks are always either already attached or else don't have her best interests at heart.
• Mad God: Odysseus becomes this after staring into a dimensional tunnel for far too long... and, according to Circe, that isn't supposed to be possible!
• Made of Indestructium: Somehow, Shirou's cellphone survives all the punishment of his battle with Mordred. It also survives his battles against Godou and Luo Hao, Aphrodite, Tiamat and Jord, Alex and Lancelot. The only thing that managed to make it non-operational was a dead ("flat", to be precise) battery, and even then, Shirou managed to turn the phone on and use it to record Alex Gascoine swearing to leave Guinevere alone without charging it. So either there is more to the phone, or Shirou caries spare batteries that are made out of the same material. Turns out that the battery WAS dying and that just made the phone unresponsive. Even so, he later changes out the battery and it still works fine.
• Magi Babble: Pops up from time to time, such as when Illya tries to explain what a Reality Marble is to the others. The others can barely understand it, while Godou is completely lost.
• Magically-Binding Contract: The Circle of the Chosen have an altar capable of forcing whomever makes a Blood Oath upon it to obey their promise. It even works on gods and Campione, despite their natural Anti-Magic. After the Circle is defeated, Illya and Shirou take possession of it.
• Man of Kryptonite:
  • Although the two never fight, Athena comments that Godou would have had a hard time fighting Mordred. Since Mordred can't be sensed, the Warrior Authority is all but useless against him.
  • Ahriman is one to Shirou. His Battle Aura instantly corrupts and usurps anything it touches, including Noble Phantasms, so Shirou can't really hurt him and any weapon he tries to use just gets added to Ahriman's arsenal.
  • Godou turns out to be suited to fighting Ahriman, since his Ame no Murakumo and Warrior Authority both cannot be corrupted and the Warrior Authority can cut his soul. The Camel Authority helps Godou survive when Ahriman turns the area into a desert and Ame no Murakumo can make it rain to cancel the desert out.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!":
  • The entire mage community has this after learning about Shirou inviting three Campione to his mansion. And a Divine Ancestor too.
  • After a while, the head of the History Compilation Committee stops wanting to hear anything about Shirou, because of the massive headaches and nervous breakdowns it gives her every time he does something.
• Meido: Kaida and Manaka start working as this in the Emiya mansion. Shirou wanted to tell them he was just joking.
• Mistaken Identity: Perseus senses Angra Mainyu's Authority within Shirou and thinks he's the evil God himself, only realizing the truth too late.
• Monty Haul: The entire mage community sees the Feast of Kings as an amazing event. After an incredible battle of four Campione versus four Heretic Gods, Shirou invites the three Campione and a Divine Ancestor to a banquet with amazing food and drink, a contest of kings, and the most mind-boggling part, legendary weapons for all those attending.
• More than Mind Control:
  • Shirou's Hero's Bride Authority makes him more attractive to women he saves (Illya is magically aware enough to notice this, and her magic resistance is high enough to counter it), but besides that and bolstering their health and the like, they're mentally unaffected.
  • Venus' plan was to do this to Shirou, replacing his love for other things with love for herself, but it doesn't quite work out as she planned. This leads to her death when she threatens to kill Sakura Matou and breaks the very control she had with Shirou.
• Mundane Object Amazement: After experiencing modern wonders like TV, air conditioning, and central heating, Illya quickly concludes that the mages in her home world were fools to shun technology.
• Mundane Utility:
  • Shirou uses four Noble Phantasms as a light source, a fountain, an air purifier, and air circulator. He lampshades this.
  • During the Beach Episode, Shirou wanted to use Broken Phantasms to go dynamite fishing, but relented because he couldn't make the explosions small enough to be manageable. He has Manaka use her exploding charms for this purpose instead.
  • Illya uses magic on herself to enhance her muscle control and make it easier to draw a manga.
  • Illya sees History Compilation Committee members using magic to repair property damage from battles. Illya comments that back home, the Mage Association would never have done such a thing, seeing using magic that way as beneath them.
• My Death Is Just the Beginning: Mordred now really fits this trope. Between the betrayal that Mordred set in the pact between Venus, Tiamat, and Brynhildr via the Valkyrie, and the fact that in the wake of the battle with Alexander Gascoigne, she now is in the position of Artus' handmaiden, formerly held by Guinevere.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • Shirou has this reaction when he realizes he had just invited three of the other Campione to a feast. And then again, when he ended up inviting Guinevere as well. It is Played for Laughs.
  • Guinevere has one of her own when she accepts said invitation. Also Played for Laughs, and becomes something of a Running Gag.
• Mythology Gag:
  • When Shirou's watchers from the History Compilation Committee appear in their maid uniforms, Illya's newly discovered maid switch is triggered. Later, she wants to get a tan.
  • At one point, Shirou's outfit gets covered in blood and ash until is resembles Archer's outfit.
• Narrative Filigree: One of the larger flaws in the story is this.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
  • Apollo again. For all this time, Godou has only had [Persian Warlord] as his Authority, a common complaint among many fans. Then he gets defeated and thus, got his power taken by Godou because of it.
  • Venus manages a form of this, as in the end it was her threatening to kill Sakura that finally allows Shirou to break free of her Heart Thief Authority.
  • Ahriman's threat results in Circe granting Godou magical knowledge.
  • Odysseus' attempt to kill Shirou in order to unlock the ability to travel to other worlds ends up providing Shirou with an authority that finally allows him to return home.
• Nice to the Waiter: Referenced several times as the central reason behind Shirou's subordinates' Undying Loyalty to him.
• Ninja Maid: Well, more of a magic fighter maid, in Manaka's case.
• Nothing Personal: Odysseus has nothing against Shirou, it's just that he believes that killing him is the key to unlocking the ability to travel to other worlds.
• Only Sane Man: Shirou's first undead Servant, Yusuke, believes that Japan has a monopoly on sane Campione after meeting Luo Hao.
• Only the Chosen May Wield: As in canon, any Noble Phantasm Shirou creates belongs to him so he can use them. He loans Illya Beautiful Head Taker, the naginata of Tomoe Gozen, because of a story where Gozen loaned it to one of her female servants, which allows any woman to wield it. The Halberd of Lu Bu Fengxian, Gae Dearg, and Trap of Argalia's powers are always active, allowing anyone to use them. Guinevere and Lancelot can use Rhongomyniad and Excalibur because they are part of King Arthur's legend. He is able to give Arondight to Lancelot because Lancelot is the alternate universe counterpart of its original owner.
• Out-of-Character Alert: Shirou notes that the controlled Illya just throwing people around and moving on without a word is uncharacteristic, given how she likes "big and flashy" like her Puppet Berserker.
• Otaku:
  • Illya, having been overexposed to modern entertainment, now uses her new skills as a Meta Girl to get personal entertainment from Godou and his harem. It's also affected her taste in naming as well...
  • Those three perverts from the Campione show are also this.
• Pet the Dog: In spite of the fact she was basically brainwashed to become his adoring spouse, Tiamat does admit that Perseus always treated her well and was a faithful husband – mind you, the Ancient Greeks had no qualms about cheating or openly taking a mistress, so Perseus was in fact very nice by wanting only Andromeda.
• The Power of Love:
  • Shirou was only able to draw Lancelot's sword, because his love of Guinevere was so deeply imprinted on the blade that it actually helped Shirou bring itself into existence, so that it could defend her.
  • After two monster-sized chapters of fighting, it wasn't Luo Hao's martial prowess, Kusanagi's dogged determinism, or even Rule Breaker that overcomes Venus' hold over Shirou, but his all-consuming love of Sakura that won the day.
• Power Misidentification: Almost all the characters mistake Shirou's Noble Phantasms and Unlimited Blade Works for Authorities. Illya sets the record straight, but Alexander Gascoigne thinks this is a lie to make Shirou seem more impressive by pretending an Authority is mere mortal magic.
• Precocious Crush: You would think that being hundreds of years old would prevent Guinevere from having one of these on Shirou. You would be wrong. Averted somewhat in Chapter 36, after she ages up into a teenager.
• Red Baron: Guinevere eventually names Shirou "King of Steel" (she wanted to call him "King of Swords", however Salvatore Doni already has that title). Some also call him "King Shrouded in Mystery" because of his unknown past, "All Wealthy" for his Rule of the Underworld making him very rich, "Host of the Divine" for taking in Guinevere, Tiamat, and Lancelot, and "Impossible Mage" for his amazing abilities. His critics call him "Heartless King" for killing Venus the Goddess of Love, and "Sir Shirou the Weak" and "Traitor King" for his refusal to kill Tiamat and Lancelot and instead offering them shelter.
• Removed Achilles' Heel: Shirou becoming a Campione effectively removed all of the weaknesses he had for Unlimited Blade Works - Archer's arm is now considered Shirou's arm, so it is no longer being rejected by his body (and thus makes the arm useful again), his body now has enough regenerative ability to heal off any wounds it would cause even if it was still rejected, and he now has enough mana to use it pretty much indefinitely. Needless to say, he complete dominates the other Campione once he pulls it out when brainwashed by Venus.
• Rescue Romance: Shirou has this as an actual power. The Hero's Bride, an Authority he got from Perseus, heals any girl he saves and makes him appear far more attractive to them, subtly nudging their minds to fall in love with him.
• Retail Therapy: Much to his terror, Shirou discovers that after leaving Illya in London, she made really good use of her credit card.
  Airport Employee (about Illya's luggage): I think you might want to have someone bring a truck rather than a van.
• Rouge Angles of Satin: Noticeably so, however thankfully it doesn't detract from the story at all.
• Screw Destiny: The spear Gae Bolg reverses causality to always pierce the target's heart, meaning it is destiny to be killed by it when its power is invoked. When it is used on Luo Hao, she is able to partially dodge it (it hits her in the shoulder instead of the heart). She points out Campione screw destiny all the time, starting with being a mortal that killed a God.
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Ahriman was created by primitive peoples who blamed him for their misdeeds, and eventually he started trying to make them do the things that they said he did...
• Seen It All:
  • After what he went through, Shirou is not surprised at all that Lancelot is a girl.
  • In Odysseus' opinion, he's already seen everything his world has to offer, which is why he wants to find other worlds to sate his boredom.
• Serious Business: Shirou has cooking as usual. Now extends to his new maid Asuka, who surpasses his godly cooking.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: When Alex tries to convince Shirou with "reasonable" words, Shirou almost immediately stops him, tells him exactly how much of an hypocrite he is, and gives him two options: either he goes away and never goes after Guinevere again, or else he gets his ass kicked. Guess which one he chooses.
• Smug Snake:
  • Poor leader of the Circle. You decided to mess with Illya.
  • Alex Gascoigne becomes this in later chapters, taunting Shirou and everyone against in every way, safe in his supposedly superior intellect and planning. Chapter 36 has it all fall down on him.
• So Proud of You: Shirou sees Archer's memories and learns that the reason why Archer gave him his arm to save his life was because Archer became proud that Shirou did not make the same mistakes he did.
• Spanner in the Works: This is how John Pluto Smith (and most of the world) sees Shirou, as he always seems to take the most unlikely option whenever someone tries to manipulate or predict what he will do.
• Spit Take: Shirou's reaction to hearing about Illya's first day of Tea Ceremony lessons. Hilariously, Illya was in fact trying to see if he would do this.
  "Kusanagi-san has added another girl to his harem."
• Split Personality: Shirou adopts a fake persona he calls The Fake King when conversing with Campione, the Committee, and other important magical figures. Recent chapters, however, have him slipping into it subconciously.
• Storm of Blades:
  • It's Shirou. This is a given.
  • Mordred/Mars/Laran can do this as well and in chapter 14 tries to use it against Shirou. Except he's only got a thousand swords. Shirou quickly shows him the real deal.
  • Godou's Warrior Authority, like in the original. It loses against Unlimited Blade Works.
• Supreme Chef: Shirou, to his bittersweet delight, has actually been surpassed by his new housemaid Asuka. Even the gods are impressed by her cooking.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial:
  • Guinevere is most definitely not in love with Shirou and just wants to be on his good side in order to make use of him. Yes, it is definitely not because she like his eyes or wants him to praise her or wants him to hold her in his arms. Really.
  • Tiamat wants nothing of it either.
  • Athena does not consider to Godou to be "her man". She is not jealous that another goddess kissed him and blessed him with divine knowledge and magic. Godou is her prey and nothing more, and all her jealousy is definitely because an unworthy goddess is butting in on her destined fight with him, and not because another goddess kissed the man that she's interested in!
• Tempting Fate: Shirou wonders how hard it could be to invite three Campione to his house without an apocalypse taking place. He lampshades that not saying it out loud shouldn't count.
• Third-Person Person:
  • Luo Hao and Guinevere share this trait.
  • In an odd variation of First Person POV, the entire thought process of Shirou's pegasus Snow is told in first-person... except that he's a Third-Person Person.
• This Cannot Be!:
  • Guinevere's reaction to Shirou presenting her Rhongomyniad, which in this verse is nothing more than a story that she herself invented.
  • Ahriman has this reaction to Godou managing to learn of their origins, not knowing that he had Circe's help.
• This Is Gonna Suck: The head of the Seishuuin family's reaction upon learning that Shirou had invited three other Campiones to a feast.
• This Is Unforgivable!:
  • Odysseus convinces the Campione version of Ahriman, aka Angra Mainyu to help him take on Shirou by revealing Shirou has the Authority Curses Without End, which infuriates the god as that is his Authority.
  • Marquis Voban owns a a tiny wine-making town and an estate there, which he uses as a vacation home. The townsfolk don't know that he's a Campione, they just think that he's their wealthy landowner and are always glad to see him and always try and make his stay pleasant, and he funds the town and protects it from the supernatural. When he comes back and finds it ravaged and everyone murdered, he's so unbelievably angry that he vows to hunt down the responsible party to the ends of the earth and bring all of his Authorities to bear against them.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: In a three-part series of omakes, Kariya Matou and the Lancer of the Fourth Holy Grail War get happier endings compared to canon.
• The War Sequence: Shirou's undead army versus Mordred's magic knights. First Shirou is losing... And then he traces copies of Gae Dearg for half his army, at which point it quickly becomes a Curb-Stomp Battle in his favor.
• Too Dumb to Live:
  • Yeah, some may say that kidnapping the beloved little sister of the new Campione was not the most inteligent decision, Circle of the Chosen.
  • Even for all that Alex sees himself as the intellectually superior individual, for some reason he always dismisses the absolutely sound advice of other people telling him to just return the Gem Sword to Shirou, not even when John Pluto Smith tells him that's a really bad idea. See Break the Haughty above for the aftermath.
• Too Much Information: Circe says this when Odysseus mentions how back in ancient times, ships didn't have bathrooms, which caused... problems during long voyages.
• The Tooth Hurts: When Mordred is revived as a woman and a God of Steel, she learns she can power up by eating metal. When she does the first time, she breaks her teeth and bleeds everywhere, but she keeps on eating it and her teeth regenerate.
• Undead Tax Exemption: Shirou and Illya have no legal identity in the Campione verse, until their accountant Yusuke is able to create fake ID's for them and enroll them in school. Only a few people spot the flaws, namely that there are no Emiya or von Einzbern families in this world.
• Underestimating Badassery:
  • Luo Hao has a bad habit of not taking non-divine magic and weapons seriously, as she believes a Campione's natural Anti-Magic will prevent them from harming her. Unfortunately for her, certain things like Shirou's Traced weapons can harm her despite being non-divine.
  • Shirou experiences this in the beginning as the most recent Campione. Even after his getting used to his abilities as a Campione, he is still looked down upon, often with dreadful results. Just ask Perseus, Hades, Mordred, Venus, and Alexander Gascoigne. With exception of Alex, all the others are dead (though Mordred was revived afterwards), and this may also be the case for Odysseus and Ahriman. Circe is getting second thoughts about messing with Shirou.
• Undying Loyalty:
  • Pretty much all of Shirou's subordinates. Which is even better, because they're already dead.
  • Guinevere and Lancelot towards Artus, although that gets changed over to Shirou in chapter 32, Manaka towards Kaida, and all of Godou's harem towards him, especially Erica.
• Unskilled, but Strong:
  • Shirou comments that Hades is far stronger than him and could crush him like a bug if he could get his hands on him. However, similar to Gilgamesh, Hades is a ruler, not a trained warrior, so Shirou is able to defeat him in a sword fight.
  • The narration points this out about Tiamat. She was one of the most powerful goddesses, and even in her weakened form she is no pushover. However, she lacks combat experience, allowing opponents to outmaneuver and trick her.
• Villainous Breakdown:
  • Mordred doesn't take Shirou's Badass Boast well.
  • Odysseus suffers a real bad one after looking into a rip caused by an uncontrolled and unstable attempt at accessing the Kaleidoscope. In fact his breakdown is so bad that he becomes a Mad God, which according to Circe, is supposed to be impossible!
  • In their final battle, Odysseus completely snaps and attacks Shirou with his bare hands, screaming Why Won't You Die? over and over again.
• Walking Wasteland: Heretic Gods tend to be this, but Ahriman takes the cake. Anything he or his Battle Aura touches becomes corrupted and starts to decay. He can also cause droughts and actively suck up all moisture in an area.
• Weirdness Magnet: Godou lampshades after the whole mess with Alex that for once, a big supernatural mess didn't end up involving him at some point.
• We Will Meet Again: When Perseus is killed, he smiles and tells Shirou that Gods eventually come back when killed, and he's looking forward to a friendly rematch.
• What If?: Some of the omakes deal with one question: What if a Campione was summoned as a servant in the 4th Holy Grail War? Not a whole lot changes by the end, but a pretty damn fun read nonetheless.
• Wham Episode:
  • Chapter 32 - The Worth of Steel. After it is revealed the King of the End does not want to be revived, Guinevere and Lancelot transfer their loyalty to Shirou completely. Shirou suddenly realizes that Excalibur, Arondight, and Avalon have somehow disappeared from Unlimited Blade Works, meaning he can no longer use them. Mordred is resurrected as a woman, but more powerful than ever and hellbent on revenge.
  • Chapter 36 - Shadows at a Festival. Ahriman, Odysseus, and Circe capture Illya, then Ahriman uses her as a host body, confident that since Shirou would never harm her, their victory is assured.
  • Chapter 42 - The Long Night Ends. Shirou kills Odysseus and gains an Authority that allows the user to return home, crossing dimensions if necessary, meaning Shirou and Illya can finally return to the Nasuverse.
• Wham Line: Chapter 26 - Interlude Two: To Endure and Persevere, once these words were read...
  As her (Sakura Matou's) eyes drifted shut some detached corner of her mind noted that the back of her right hand was itching in a strangely familiar way.
• What Could Have Been: In-Universe. Alexander Gascoigne has a case of this when he learned what a Monty Haul the Feast of Kings was, regretting that he didn't take the chance to introduce himself and acquire an invitation when he could have made it an event with five Campione in attendance.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Shirou tries to justify why he isn't using Excalibur against Mordred. He does it at the end of the fight, which leads to him meeting Guinevere.
• World's Most Beautiful Woman: In Shirou's opinion, Rider is this for his original world and Tiamat is this for the Campione world. Later, Godou comments to himself that Tiamat is even more beautiful than Venus, because while Venus is a girl, Tiamat is a woman.
• Wrong Context Magic: Shirou and Illya's magical abilities baffle the other characters. In Campione, all magic is performed by invoking the power of magical beings like gods, angels, or fairies, but the two still run on Nasuverse rules and only need to use the prana in their bodies to perform magic. Unlimited Blade Works and the Noble Phantasms within also count. They can match and even exceed the power of Authorities, something mortal magic is supposed to be incapable of.
• Wrong Genre Savvy:
  • Perseus dueled Shirou on the assumption he actually was his old foe Ahriman (since gods are often composites of older deities in the Campioneverse), which meant Perseus himself was The Hero and Illya the Damsel in Distress who would become the Standard Hero Reward. After being thoroughly defeated, he realizes he had actually assaulted an innocent youth and concedes it was a rather dick move.
  • After becoming a Campione, Shirou immediately goes on the defensive since he thinks the Campioneverse's magic-users are from the same mould as the Nasuverse ones. He's really nonplussed when he learns the mages actually wouldn't dare to defy an order from him and are borderline worshipful towards him.
• Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: Most of Mordred's lines.
• Yin-Yang Bomb: Effectively how Godou defeats Ahriman, combining the knowledge granted by Circe and Athena – a sun goddess and a goddess of darkness, respectively – to invent a spell that first drains Ahriman of his power, then forces that power back into him again in a manner that he cannot control.
• You Remind Me of X: Shirou muses that Liliana Kranjcar somewhat resembles Saber in both looks and personality.
• You Watch Too Much X:
  • Shirou worries Ilya may be watching too much anime whenever she starts making parallels between their life and common anime tropes. Even Ilya thinks this when she catches herself debating whether Godou or Shirou is the protagonist during a pitched battle.
  • The Omake sections show what happens when the siblings think this is happening to each other. Shirou starts having nightmares of Illya fighting evil emperor Gilgatron with her own transforming Bersercar, while Illya is horrified of Shirou acting like a Kamen Rider. Shirou then wonders if it would be better if Illya watched Yu-Gi-Oh!, while Illya hopes nothing could possibly go wrong if Shirou watched Batman.
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Godou, as usual. He weeps when his apparently insatiable lust is entirely expected of him.

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