Fanfic / Heir to the Blacksmith

''I am the bone of my sword... Alloy is my body, and fire is my blood... Again and again, I have created every manner of blade... Never once satisfied... Only Seeking Perfection... Hammering the anvil on this hill of metal, striving for the Ultimate Sword... This is my purpose, my only path, I needed no other reason to live... My whole life shall be, Unlimited Blade Works"

— Shirou Muramasa Emiya

Heir to the Blacksmith is a Fate/stay night Fan Fiction written by Plasma_Assassin. It focuses on a What If? scenario on Shirou Emiya being related to Senji Muramasa, along with Irisviel surviving the Fourth Holy Grail War and both her and Kiritsugu actually teaching Shirou magecraft.

The story focuses on Shirou Muramasa-Emiya as he grows up, learning about his birth family and the world of magi and attempting to materialise his family's goal of creating the ultimate sword.

The fanfiction updates monthly at the end of every month and can be read on Fanfiction.net and Archive of Our Own.

---

This fanfiction provides examples of:

• Accidental Good Outcome: Avalon "malfunctioning" due to its partial activation via Gray's blood in chapter 11. It incorrectly restores Shirou's eye, but instead replaces it with a much stronger Fairy Eye.
• Action Girl: Rin, Sakura, Luvia, Gray, all the female servants... It would be easier to list the women who don't consistently kick ass and take names.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • Since Shirou has more and higher quality circuits, along with actual formal training in Magecraft, he’s far more competent than his canon self. Taken to higher proportions when in chapter 29, Gilgamesh opens the Gate of Babylon and allows access to his treasury, giving the opportunity for Shirou to scan the items flowing out from within before he passes away. That's right, Shirou has Gil's entire arsenal at his beck and call.
  • Due to Heracles being summoned as his Archer incarnation instead of his Berserker self, he’s able to think more cognitively than just be used as a powerful attack dog.
  • Sakura possesses a more confident personality, is confirmed by Word of God to be the Incarnation of Imaginary Numbers, has been purged of Zouken’s Crest Worms, and has been revealed to be developing a Reality Marble.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Shirou and Gilgamesh have nothing but animosity for each other, yet in this fic due to Gilgamesh taking an interest in Shirou’s growth, he’s more tolerant of Shirou and is capable of casually speaking without violence breaking out, albeit it’s often filled with vitriol. It’s gotten to the point when Altrouge claims Gil has no people, the arrogant King of Heroes considers Shirou as one of his own and it’s his job as King to assist his subject, something that the canon version wouldn’t even think about speaking. It’s also pretty telling that by Chapter 29, Shirou calls him “Gil” without any ill consequences, showing just how close they are in comparison to canon.
• Aloof Ally: Gilgamesh is this to Shirou as the former took interest in the latter out of his own amusement, but still nonetheless helps him behind the scenes such using Sha Naqba Imuru to instruct Irisviel & Kiritsugu to get a catalyst that summons Semiramis and Heracles as Rin and Illya’s servants respectively. He does begin to shed this after personally attempting to eliminate Altrouge so that Shirou doesn’t need to fight her in the future. Even failing that, he does begin to openly communicate with Shirou and his group more such as killing Zouken and ridding Sakura of her Worm Crests to prepare them for the fight ahead, not to mention fighting Enkidu personally.
• Alternate Universe: To Fate/stay night, in addition to being a Kaleidoscope anomaly in much the same vein as From Fake Dreams, where the "Affirmation of Humanity" is strong enough to summon Heroic Spirits, but is weak enough for the 27 Dead Apostle Ancestors to exist, and much like FFD, the Fate World is the emphasis.
• Ascended Extra: Caren Hortensia, Altrouge Brunestud, Primate Murder, Enhance... if they're a powerful character in the Nasuverse that hasn't had an on-screen (or page) appearance, they're probably here kicking ass, and even if they aren't, they might appear.
• Balanced Harem: Mainly due to the plot not heavily focusing on the romance, each of Shirou's lovers gets equal press from the story.
• Battle Harem: Rin, Sakura and Luvia, all Shirou's lovers and all capable of kicking serious ass.
• Bequeathed Power: In chapter 29, Gilgamesh gives his entire treasury to Shirou, allowing him to scan every single thing within (with the exception of Ea). This effectively gives Shirou all of Gilgamesh's armaments.
• Big Damn Heroes: Both Irisiviel and Kiritsugu travel to Germany to save Illya from the Eizenbern family in Chapter 5
• Break the Haughty: Gilgamesh has been hit especially hard with this after his battle with Altrouge. Even though Gil held his own against the Dead Apostle Ancestor, he failed to put an end to her. It's through this realization that there's only so much that he can do even with the immense powers at his disposal. Because of his failure to kill Altrouge, Gilgamesh takes on a more active role in putting a stop to her and begins to treat Shirou and his allies with kindness, even calling Shirou by his first name. He begins to act more in line with his more mature Caster self, as much of his arrogance when interacting with Shirou and his allies have diminished, no longer constantly throwing his weight around. Even his interaction with Artoria has changed, as aside from a moment of him flirting (and even then he dropped it at Shirou's request), he doesn't try to act like he's entitled to her.
• Big Bad Ensemble: The Holy Grail War arc appears to have one, with multiple forces opposing the heroes:
  • Morgan Le Fey and Kristiina Edelfelt, the latter of which ends up being the former's pawn.
  • The Einzberns, represented in the war by Walter von Einzbern and his Servant Berserker, Enkidu.
  • Big Bad Altrouge Brunestud and (for now at least) Greater-Scope Villain Angra Mainyu (Avenger)
  • The Dead Apostle Ancestors of the faction opposing Altrouge Brunestud appear to be being set up to join the lineup.
  • Additionally, chapter 26 reveals that the Ainsworths are working in the background, colluding with the Einzberns to activate the Grail's failsafe and start a Great Holy Grail War. As of chapter 30, they have succeeded.
  • The Yggdmellenia have been in the background since chapter 19, but have properly entered the fray in chapter 32, sending out a team of homunculi to cripple the Fuyuki Alliance. In chapter 33, the bulk of their forces attack Fuyuki, bringing with them four Servants.
• Big Damn Heroes: Twice in Chapter 33: Percival shows up to shield Astoria from the attacks of two sphinxes, and Grey shows up to help Shirou deal with Hessian Lobo.
• Brick Joke: In Chapter 6, Luvia mentions that she can't meet up with Shirou at 8 AM. Chapter 34 reveals the reason why: She' normally still asleep by 8 AM. The joke only gets better once you realise that 6 in-universe years have passed and Luvia still hasn't grown out of this habit.
• Canon Discontinuity: The omakes at the end of chapters are non-canonical, and are thus allowed to get rather wacky. On the other hand, side-stories are canonical, and may or may not contain important tidbits.
• Casual Danger Dialogue: In chapter 24, Shirou's been thrown into the air and across the city by Vivian, and in a telepathic conversation with Saber, his first comment is a deadpan realisation that he's about to reach the apex of his flight.
• Character Development: None could've had a bigger case of this than Gilgamesh. He still initially acted like his typical Archer incarnation, but having mentored Shirou has allowed him to loosen up a bit and grew to care for him, albeit their relationship was akin to Vitriolic Best Buds. Having walked away from Altrouge has also greatly humbled him to the point where he acted more like his mature Caster version, dropping his entitled attitude towards Saber and treating his allies with more care, culminating with him opening his Gate of Babylon to allow Shirou to scan the items from within the vault, something he wouldn't even think about doing considering how he's picky with who gets to touch his stuff.
• Chekhov's Gun: Prototype Rule Breaker. Gilgamesh pulls it out of his treasury in chapter 13 but doesn't use it. In chapter 21 he uses it to free himself from Altrouge's contract when he ingests her Reality Marble blood. In chapter 27, Shirou uses it multiple times to dispel the effects of Morgan le Fey's magecraft used on Kristiina.
• Chekhov's Skill: The ability for people who possess Reality Marbles to sense other Reality Marbles. Altrouge uses it to find Shirou, and Shirou uses it to realise that Sakura is developing one.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Irisviel is... eccentric, to say the least. This trait is usually exaggerated in the Omakes.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: How Zouken dies. As Gilgamesh kills the Crest Worms within Sakura that bind his Soul to the mortal realm, his body slowly disintegrates as he feels his life's work fade away.
• Cool Sword: Several, given that the main character is a blacksmith:
  • Starting off, we have a Flaming Sword, one of the first magical swords Shirou makes.
  • A sword that can manipulate wind.
  • Some kind of constantly super-heated blade.
  • Then, there's Kuro-chan, implied to have some sort of Energy Absorption in the form of growing stronger when it kills something.
  • And as of chapter 30, an Absurdly Sharp Blade forged from the corpse of Gilgamesh.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Shirou is often on the giving end of these, trouncing most fellow magi and homunculi assassins. Turns out constantly fighting Heroic Spirits means that you end up really skilled.
• Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Ishtar is caught quite off-guard when she finds herself unable to fly within Unlimited Blade Works.
• Deadpan Snarker: Kiritsugu, naturally. Shirou also displays it.
• Deal with the Devil: Shirou unwittingly gets into one with Altrouge Brunestud. Gilgamesh ends up leveraging it to his benefit.
• Demonic Possession: due to the Wish on the Grail allowing Divine Spirits to once more walk on the surface of the World, Rin, Sakura, Luvia and Bazett all end up possessed by a Divine Spirit, with Rin and Sakura getting two each.
• Death by Adaptation: Shinji is killed off in Chapter 19 without much fanfare. Kirei is also killed by Scathach before the war starts, and is later properly killed by Ciel in chapter 37.
• Doomsday Clock: Downplayed. Chapter 34 counts down the hours until the Battle of Kings between the Allied Fuyuki Forces and the Yggdmillenia. When the battle arrives however, it might as well be described as world ending, and the narration replaces the countdown with a stopwatch timer counting up from the time that the battle began.
• Establishing Character Moment: More like a reestablishing character moment. In Chapter 24, Gilgamesh demonstrates his personality growth after failing to defeat Altrouge Brunestud, being a lot more mellow and less of a creep towards Saber.
• Exact Words: When Altrouge is dealing with the Rainbow Serpent, they wave an arm around that no longer has the contract embedded in it, simply saying that "it has ended." However, this is does not specifically mean broken, as when Altrouge sets Primate Murder on them, Altrouge suffers the wrath of a broken contract.
• Final Speech: Gilgamesh gives one to Shirou at the end of chapter 29, detailing his last wishes and what to do with his body.
• First-Episode Twist: Shirou being a Muramasa, Irisviel surviving the Fourth War.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: When Gilgamesh arrives to fight Altrouge, he parks Vimana floating above the ground. When he retreats after being beaten, Vimana is instead summoned sitting on the floor, showing how Gilgamesh has had his pride thoroughly destroyed.
• Friend-or-Idol Decision: Shirou is subjected to this when his girlfriends become victims of Demonic Possession from a few goddesses, forcing him to chose between either trying to save them or kill them. He chooses to kill them after Ishtar tricks him into thinking their souls have been destroyed.
• Gilligan Cut: The Murphy's Cut version. In chapter 27, Shirou hopes that school will be extra boring so he can skip to the supernatural part of his life. Cue the next scene having him being partnered up with Kristiina Edelfelt, and the resulting interaction being anything but boring.
• Godzilla Threshold: Gilgamesh is someone who prefers to be on the sidelines and any means of his assistance is more indirect. Him personally stepping into the battlefield himself to fight Altrouge and Enkidu shows just how high the stakes have gotten.
  • Shirou crosses it at the end of Chapter 36, deploying Unlimited Blade Works against Ishtar, Kama and Astraea.
• Good Thing You Can Heal:
  • The Dead Apostle Ancestors are prone to being cut open and having limbs removed a lot.
  • Shirou often gets huge gashes and holes opened up across his body, at one point has his eye clawed out, and in chapter 36, [[Ishtar kicks him in the jaw hard enough that it 's almost entirely removed from his face, with the injury being described in visceral detail]].
  • Heracles tanks a lot of damage over the War thanks to his Resurrective Immortality, getting 4 lives shredded by Enkidu, and later loses another one to Arjuna's Pashupata.
  • Once she's fully turned into a Dead Apostle, Illya is subject to a lot more injuries, loosing limbs and breaking bones.
• Grave Robbing: Someone or something has stolen Kirei’s body after he was killed by Scathach. It's eventually revealed to have been Angra Mainyu from within the Grail Possessing a Dead Body and reanimating Kirei's mind, allowing him to just walk it off.
• Home Base: The Team meets up in Shirou's house, much to his chagrin of having his house being turned into a meeting room. Alternatively, the Emiya estate.
• Irony: In chapater 28, Illya curses Berserker for taking four of Archer's lives. In Fate/Stay night proper however, she'd be saying this in reverse.
  • This time, Illya is the one rendered without any ability for higher thought, instead of her Servant.
• It Amused Me: Gilgamesh's main reason for helping Shirou, at least initially.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Gilgamesh is still a colossal asswipe, but has grown to genuinely care for Shirou, as in his battle against Altrouge, Gil claims Shirou as one of his own people and it’s his job to assist him. For someone as selfish and entitled as he is, it’s a big step-up from their previous interactions.
• Last-Name Basis: Most Magi in the Clock Tower refer to Shirou by his family name.
• Let's Split Up, Gang!: After the meeting in chapter 25, the participants agree to split their forces to individually combat the threats of Morgan le Fey and Berserker: Shirou, Saber, Bazett and Lancer will focus on Berserker, while Illya, Archer, Sakura and Rider will focus on Morgan. Caster and Assassin provide reconnaissance support and will join one team when they have a lead.
• Like Brother and Sister: Shirou and Gray eventually develop this relationship.
  • Later, Olga begins to treat Shirou like an older brother.
• Magical Incantation: As this is the Nasuverse, they're necessary to use magecraft and powers. Defied with Idea Bloods however, as Altrouge reveals that they can be activated without any incantation.
  • Shirou's Unlimited Blade Works chant, with a new line being revealed every now and again, with the full chant being revealed in chapter 35.
• Magic Knight: Shirou ends up as this, with an array of magecraft and magic swords at his disposal. Scáthach is this as well, employing rune magecraft in addition to physical attacks.
• Mana Drain: Played straight and Inverted by the sword Shirou forges from Gilgamesh's corpse, which can decrease or increase the amount of mana in an area, either stopping spells outright or causing them to ballon out of control.
• Megaton Punch: Vivian gives a magical one to Shirou from Avalon, on behalf of the Six Great Mothers/Fathers to stop him from scanning and understanding Excalibur.
• Mood Whiplash:
  • The Omake's and Side Stories are inserted at the tail end of most chapters, and their humorous tone can be jarring. This is especially prevalent at the end of Chapter 11, where Shirou has eye scratched out and painfully regrown... and the Side Story has Rin arguing with Magical Ruby.
  • Done intentionally in chapter 24, where Saber has just agreed to try and trust Shirou, and then Illya rockets onto the scene and shouts not to kill Shirou because he hasn't made his sword yet.
  • Illya is a master of this trope, confusing Bazzett in Chapter 33 when her mood does a complete 180 from talking about a career in Clock Tower Enforcement to fantasising about acting like a magical girl in said job.
• Mugging the Monster: While not a criminal, Michalis Gallista tries to take Shirou's sword as recompense for "humilliating" him. It ends with him on the floor of a training room of the Clock Tower, soundly beat.
• Mutual Kill: Gilgamesh and Enkidu in chapter 29, although Gil survives a bit longer to give a Final Speech to Shirou.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Shirou's sword is named Kuro, calling to mind Chloe von Einzbern from Prisma Illya.
  • Much like in Prisma Illya, Kiritsugu and Irisviel are out doing mercenary jobs, removing them from some parts of the story.
  • Additionally, Illya has watched magical girl animes.
  • The timeline is a hybrid of Fate and Tsukuhime, featuring Servants alongside the 27 Dead Apostle Ancestors much like Fate/Strange Fake.
• Never Heard That One Before: Shirou's reaction to Michalis calling him "peasant." Considering he's been hanging around Gilgamesh, it makes sense.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Gilgamesh would’ve had a chance in beating Altrouge if he busted out Ea from the start, or at least used some of the more powerful Noble Phantasms from his vault. However in true Gil fashion, his ego ended up biting him in the ass as by the time he did use his most powerful weapon, Altrouge already had Blood Moon’s Advent active which allowed her to defend against it resulting in his loss (or at least a stalemate since both came out of the fight alive), and forcing Shirou and the others to deal with her in the future.
• Nom de Mom: Shirou considers himself an Emiya, but Magi tend to call him Muramasa in order to honour his blood lineage, and also because the former name has some bad reputation within the Clock Tower.
• Not Quite Dead: Kirei turns out to be this, surviving Scathach impaling him due to his connection with the Grail, allowing it to turn him into its puppet.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The normally arrogant Gilgamesh, despite putting on an arrogant facade, has a moment of lament and inwardly apologizes to Shirou and his friends because they're about to deal with even more struggles in the future and he's done his part in helping them. For someone whose confidence is normally skyrocketing, it's pretty concerning for him to think in such a manner, especially in regards to needs that's not his own.
• Painting the Medium: Thoughts are written in italics, dialogue across telepathic conversation or phone calls are written with underlines. Bold text is used for emphasis, usually when a character is pissed off.
• Pet the Dog: When Gilgamesh summons Ea to kill Altrouge, she derided him by calling him a king with no people, yet Gilgamesh, in spite of the mockery and tongue lashing he gives Shirou, calls him one of his own and claims it’s his job to help his subject. Considering how much of a prick he’s been and how selfish he normally is, it says a lot about how he’s using one of his greatest treasures for the sake of another.
• Point of Divergence: There are several, mostly offscreen during the Fourth Holy Grail War that lead to Irisviel's survival, but the first and most important one is Senji Muramasa forming a Magic Crest, having descendants and passing down said Crest to them.
• Polyamory: Shirou ends up in one with Rin, Sakura and Luvia.
• Power Limiter: The Crest Worms implanted in Sakura. Once they're removed she's overwhelmed at how much mana she can use, and a scene in chapter 27 shows how difficult that much power is to control for her.
• Rasputinian Death: Enhance's death. He's bombarded with spells from Rin, Sakura and Illya, Liz throws him up in the air, he's lacerated by wires from Illya and Sakura, Rin drains his curse and blows out his stomach with his own gun, and after all of that, he's finished off by Shirou bisecting him. He even gets a last thought after that.
• Red Sky, Take Warning: Altrouge's Reality Marble, Blood Moon's Advent, has a blood red sky lit by a gigantic crimson moon. Within it, she's almost entirely unstoppable.
• Related in the Adaptation: In Fate canon, Shirou's relation to Muramasa is left ambiguous. Here, he's explicitly stated to be his descendant.
• Running Gag: Shirou wants to see Bazzet's Noble Phantasm. Bazzet always refuses.
• Secret Test of Character: Semiramis pulls one on Shirou in chapter 25 during the meeting by gauging his reactions to her demands.
• Serial Escalation: The first few chapters just have Shirou learning basic magecraft and making friends within the Clock Tower. Chapter 11 jumps up the threat level by having Shirou "fight" Primate Murder. Chapters 16 and 17 escalates this by having him fight a Dead Apostle Ancestor, Chapter 21 shows us what Gilgamesh can do against a much stronger Dead Apostle Ancestor, Chapters 26 and 27 have Shirou fight a Servant, Chapter 30 escalates further by showing what Gilgamesh can do when he's not holding back against an extremely powerful threat, and Chapters 33 and 34 escalate into a full Great Holy Grail War, complete with fight sequences that the church has to really stretch to cover up.
• Shout-Out:
  • In the side story of Chapter 5, Illya watches Sailor Moon.
  • The tile of Chapter 27 references a memetic line from Breaking Bad. Additionally, the name of the character is Walter.
  • The title of chapter 32 references Jujutsu Kaisen.
  • Chapter 35 also references Jujutsu Kaisen's Shibuya Incident
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: Shriou engages in this with most of the cast, most notably with Gilgamesh and Hortensia.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Irisviel survives the Fourth Holy Grail War, and Kiritsugu lives past the time he dies in canon.
• Story Arc: The story is broken up into arcs about 6-7 chapters long each. Currently, they are:
  • Rebirth of the Blacksmith (chapters 1-7)
  • Apostle Clock Tower (chapters 8-13)
  • Sword Origin (chapters 14-21)
  • Holy Grail War (chapters 22-29)
  • Great Holy Grail War (chapters 30- )
• Talking Is a Free Action: Defied. Altrouge and Enhance are still attacked when reciting their lengthy arias and only get away with it due to their regeneration and general toughness.
• The Team: The 6 Masters and Servants attempting to stop the Holy Grail War, supported by the Emiyas. Unofficially known as The Square Table.
• This Is Gonna Suck: Shirou's reaction to Gilgamesh revealing Hortensia has become the overseer of the Fifth Holy Grail War.
• Throwing Down the Gauntlet: Ozymandias to Shirou in Chapter 33, challenging him to a Battle of Kings.
• Time Skip: Between each of the major arcs. This also allows for Shirou to grow up and get more powerful. He's 7 at the beginning of the story, 12 during the second arc, 15 during the third, and his canon age of 17 during the Holy Grail War.
• Tragic Keepsake: Shirou forges a sword from Gilgamesh's corpse. Even when no longer alive, the King of Heroes still watches over his subject, awaiting when they reunite in the halls of Chaldea.
• Tsundere
  • Unsurprisingly, Rin is the embodiment of this. Her image is used on the trope page, for crying out loud!
  • Gilgamesh is this too, as due to his relationship with Shirou deepening, the King of Heroes that would’ve been Shirou’s enemy in canon became someone who’s interested in facilitating Shirou’s growth to the point where he opted to personally handle Altrouge despite being an Aloof Ally beforehand. It’s much more prominent after walking away from his defeat with her.
• Use Their Own Weapon Against Them: Rin steals the Holy Burial Artillery Scripture (Enhance's shotgun), and uses it to blow a hole in his chest while fighting him.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Seemingly between Shirou and Gilgamesh, much to the latter's denial.
• Villains Act, Heroes React: Justified for the Holy Grail War arc, as the 6 of the 8 masters are actively trying to prevent the war from going anywhere in order to prevent the corruption in the Grail being used toe destroy the world.
• Weapon of X-Slaying: The katana Shirou forges to kill Enhance.
• Weak Boss, Strong Underlings: Played straight for all the Masters except Shirou, whose strength rivals or even surpasses that of Servants.
• Wham Episode:
  • Chapter 29: Gilgamesh dies alongside Enkidu, and the Great Holy Grail War begins.
  • Chapter 35: Darius Ainsworth, after pulling a Grand Theft Me on Julias, makes a Wish on the Holy Grail that forces the World back into the Age of Gods, allowing several Divine Spirits to possess Shirou's harem (and Bazett), most notably Ishtar, who then proceeds to rip out Illya's heart, turning her into a Dead Apostle.
• What the Hell Are You?: Said almost word-for-word by Saber in chapter 27, questioning how Shirou is keeping up with Scathach.
• When the Clock Strikes Twelve: The Battle of Kings begins exactly at midnight.
• You Kill It, You Bought It: Shirou keeps Enhance's Idea Blood after killing him. Word of God confirms that Rin also kept Enhance's shotgun.
• You Remind Me of X: Shirou reminds Gilgamesh of Enkidu, as shown in the chapter 27 side story.
  • Ishtar in chapter 35 also states that Shirou "embodied Enkidu do a disgusting degree."

---