YMMV / Heir to the Blacksmith

Spoilers will be unmarked here.

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• Fan Nickname: The meeting table that the Masters of the War meet around has been dubbed "The Square Table." Ascended as of chapter 27, with Illya having given it that name In-Universe
• Funny Moments:
  • Chapter 1: Irisviel catching Kiritsugu from chickening out from teaching Shirou magecraft.
  • Chapter 2: Rin's exasperation seeing Shirou use magecraft in public.
  • Chapter 3: Rin realising that Shirou's family isn't even at home when she comes over and ropes Shirou into being her apprentice. Also Rin getting frustrated over the fact that Shirou doesn't even know what spells are stored in his family crest.
  • Chapter 4: Gilgamesh's appearance is treated very seriously, but as he leaves, the narration caps off with this line:
  And so, Gilgamesh left the Magus Workshop as calm as he had entered. Having heaped a difficult task on an 8 year old child, and then proceeded to stab him. Truly, all was good in the world of the King of Heroes.
  • Chapter 5: Kiritsugu and Irisviel head back to journey to get their daughter back. Illya bringing along her maids, Sella and Leysritt. Illya bonding with Shirou as siblings.
  • Chapter 7: Irisviel is perhaps a bit too delighted to have Shirou back from England, glomping him when they meet up.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • From the very start of the story, Irisviel and Kiritsugu are caring parents to Shirou, who lost his family in the fire.
  • Chapter 1: Irisviel helping Shirou get through his trauma. Also, Irisveil declaring that since Shirou is now her son, anyone who tries to take him will have to get through her. Mind you, she's only known him for about a month at most.
  • Chapter 2: Kiritsugu manages to successfully dissuade Shirou from trying to become a Hero of Justice. This manages to change his entire life.
  • Chapter 4: Shirou meeting Sakura and them bonding over their traumas.
  • Chapter 5: Kiritsugu and Irisviel going back to Germany to get their daughter back, proving to her that they still always have cared about her. Additionally, Kiritsugu allowing Sella and Leysritt to come with them, proving the extent of his (mostly offscreen) character growth.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Chapter 22 brought along the Archer version of Heracles and the Berserker form of Enkidu. Less than a week later, the trailer for Fate/strange Fake's anime adaptation was released. The irony of this was not lost on the author.
  • Fate/Strange Fake just seems to haunt Plasma, as less than a week after chapter 28, the beginning of the Gilgamesh vs Enkidu fight, Fate/Strange Fake: Whispers of Dawn released, bringing with it the actual Gilgamesh vs Enkidu!
• I Knew It!: Many people guessed that Berserker was Enkidu when they were introduced in chapter 23. They were right.
• Moment of Awesome:
  • Chapter 5: Kiritsugu and Irisviel breaking into the Einzbern castle in Germany to get their daughter back. Doubles as Heartwarming.
  • Chapter 6: Shirou staring down and forcing Michalis Gallista to back off from his confrontation with Luvia. He's 11 at the time. Additionally, calling him by his first name after having learnt it only through Structurally Analysing his sword and effortlessly defeating him.
  • The fact that Shirou is able to (at least partially) Structurally Grasp Rhongominyad.
  • Shirou talking with Lorelei Bartholmeloi. This means that she sees him as someone even worth her time to interact with. She even places a commission, and he delivers spectacularly.
  • Chapter 11: Shirou "fights" Primate Murder. Even though he gets his ass kicked, he still manages to injure the Beast, and manages to walk away from the fight still alive!
  • Chapter 16: Enhance has raised an army of Dead Apostles and has the Emiya Estate surrounded. The residents (plus Rin and Sakura) calmly sit there and discuss a battle plan. Then, when the Dead do break into the house, Leysritt, Sakura, Rin, Illya, Sella and Shirou manage to effortlessly take them down, Shirou even figuring out how to create a Storm of Blades like Gilgamesh. Then Enhance joins the fight and immediately has them on the back foot.
  Shirou: Sword Barrel. Open
  • Chapter 17: Shirou finally understanding how to forge his swords, and perfecting his Tracing steps. Then, he forges a blade using magecraft while being attacked by Enhance.
    • The climax of the battle between Shirou, his friends and Enhance. Shirou now has forged a blade specifically intended to kill the Eighteenth Ancestor, but Enhance makes them all work for his death, which ends with him having a hole blasted in his chest with his own stolen gun, before being bisected vertically by Shirou.
    • Even in death, Enhance gets the last laugh, managing to have cursed Illya and giving the Dead Apostle Ancestors a big new problem.
  • Chapters 19 and 20: Kiritsugu and Grey tearing through scores of Ainsworth, Yggdmillennia and Einzbern magi and homunculi.
  • Chapter 21 is just a Crowning Moment of Awesome: a battle between the King of Heroes and the Eclipse Princess of Black Blood.
    • Altrouge starts out by sending out an army of Dead Apostles, which Gil carves up effortlessly, removing at least 21.4% of her forces, killing at least 3000 individuals.
    • Then, Altrouge herself steps out of her castle, intending to set Primate Murder of Gilgamesh. Gil uses the Gate of Babylon to carry it away from the battlefield, and begins to attack Altrouge. The two then engage each other, Gilgamesh using his Treasury, Altrouge utilising the blood of her dead soldiers to combat Gilgamesh. Faced with the strongest of all Heroic Spirits, Altrouge manages to hold her own, even managing to injure Gil.
    • Altrouge summons her Reality Marble: Blood Moon's Advent, and starts beating down Gil, forcing him into a contract by when he accidentally ingests her Reality Marble blood, then dropping a giant mallet made of blood on him and almost knocking him out. Altrouge takes a moment to gloat, giving Gil a chance to pull out Prototype Rule Breaker and dispel the contract, which leads to the climax of the fight...
    • Gilgamesh finally pulls out Ea and charges up Enuma Elish, deliving an epic Badass Boast along with it, while Altrouge belittles him.
    Gilgamesh: “THE GODS OF OLD COULD NOT KILL ME! THE GODS OF OLD COULD NOT CONTROL ME! I ALONE STAND ATOP THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH! THE GREATEST OF HUMANITY! THE FIRST KING AND THE PROGENITOR OF HEROES! YOU ARE NOTHING TO THE LIKES OF I! A FOOTNOTE IN MY STORY AND A PLAGUE UPON MY LANDS AND MY PEOPLE!"
    Altrouge: “YOU HAVE NO PEOPLE!”
    • How does Gil respond to that claim? He says that Shirou, who he's belittled and mocked up to this point, is the first of his people, and that it is his duty as his King to rid Shirou of Altrouge. Jerk with a Heart of Gold indeed.
    Gilgamesh: "I have one. And he has grown to have his own peoples. His own subjects and allies. His own enemies and rivals. He has had his own struggles and will have more to come that will shape his legend. But you will not be one of them! AND IT IS TIME TO FULFILL MY DUTY AS THAT SWORDSMITHS KING AND RID MY LANDS OF YOU!"
    • Altrouge counters Enuma Elish by using her Marble Phantasm to summon Millennium Castle Brunestud, and though it and her reality marble are destroyed by Enuma Elish, she's still alive. Gil doesn't even have the time to finish her off, as Primate Murder arrives back at her side, forcing the King of Heroes to flee. That's right, Altrouge Brunestud managed to fight the King of Heroes to a standstill.
  • Chapter 22: Altrouge head out to Australia to procure an item to supercharge the Grail: a scale from the Rainbow Serpent. Upon finding the Serpent however, they proceed to show her their might, not even being scratched by Primate Murder and using their Everywhen nature to circumvent the clauses of Altrouge's contract. In the end, although Altrouge gets what she wanted, she leaves Australia knowing how powerful the beings that reside there are.
  • Chapter 23: The summoning of the last two Servants of the Fifth Holy Grail War: Assassin: Semiramis, Queen of Assyria, and Saber: Artoria Pendragon, King of Knights.
    Rin: “Fill, Fill, Fill, Fill, Fill, Fill.”
    “Break the six containers and fill the seventh.”
    “Servant of old, of the age of power.”
    “A blade in the night forgotten for wine.”
    “This accursed war that shall grant thine form.”
    “Heed my voice and accept my call.”
    “Trust not the Vessel yet fulfil its wish.”
    “Blackened mud and cursed flames.”
    “A world needs guidance and wisdom past.”
    “Poison All World’s Evil’s wish, and thin its hopes.”
    “Thou seventh heaven clad in the three silent words of power.”
    “Come forth, Agent of the Dark!”

    Shirou: “Throne beyond all boundaries, heed my call.”
    “I do not seek the greatest Heroes to lead me to the Kingdom.”
    “I seek an audience with the King that dreams of Utopia.”
    “I call upon King Artoria Pendragon with my conviction and words.”
    “A calamity of fire and death threatens to consume and destroy.”
    “If you refuse to stand by and watch the world burn then answer me.”
    “To protect those close to me from the destruction of our world.”
    “I call upon you, King of Knights!”
  • And of course, one of the signature lines of the Fate Series is spoken in that chapter.
    Saber: “I am Saber, your Servant. I have come in response to your summons. I ask you…, are you my Master?"
  • Chapter 26: Scáthach decides to test Shirou in a sparring match, pleasantly surprised that even holding back, Shirou can still keep up with her. When Scáthach decides to start taking things a bit more seriously, she moves so fast that she becomes invisible to the human eye, and Shirou still manages to react to her attack, responding with a slash that shatters the ground and cuts the air, forcing Heracles to materialise to stop Illya from flying away. That single attack was so powerful that the sword Shirou Projected explodes before disintegrating. Illya dubs the technique "Sword Breaker" in the next chapter.
  • Chapter 27: Several moments here:
    • The continuation of Scáthach vs Shirou: Shirou has managed to impress Scáthach with his skills, and both decide to fight seriously. Shirou starts using more tricks, bringing out another magical katana and dodging attacks within a window so thin that Scáthach's instincts tell her that she's hit him. Before the scene cuts away, Shirou, after being knocked up into the sky, deflects Scáthach's strike with his smithing hammer, creating an explosion of mana so large that Caster senses it from across the city.
    • Caster notes that the mana feels like the air in Britain during the Age of Gods, and grabs Rin, Sakura and Luvia to investigate.
    • Then, the reveal of what Shirou did: Altering the ground to a level that he superimposed the earth with metals ranging from basic to those found only in the Age of Gods.
    Shirou: "Alloy is my body, and fire is my blood."
    • The chapter ends with Walter confronting Illya, who calls out Heracles. Walter responds by sending Berserker to fight him, who Gil reveals in the next scene to be Enkidu.
  • Chapter 28: Enkidu vs the world
    • Starting off strong, Berserker lets himself be impaled on Archer's fist to land an attack that takes four of his lives at once. For context, a mana-burst powered strike from Artoria in Stay Night is only able to take one life.
    • Artoria and Heracles immediately demonstrate their Genius Bruiser traits, combing attacks to help each other and figuring out Berserker's Anti-Divinity powers.
    • Rider and Lancer show up and almost immediately put Berserker on the defensive, only being forced to switch locations to keep up The Masquerade.
    • Shirou proves why his skills could be considered on the levels of Heroic Spirits, effortlessly dispatching the Einzbern homunculi sent to assassinate him.
    • The chapter ends with the beginning of the battle between Gilgamesh, humbled by his battle with Altrouge, and Enkidu, empowered by the Berserker class container into the True Weapon of the Gods.
  • Chapter 29. Oh boy.
    • Gilgamesh gives a "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight to Enkidu
    • Shirou resonates with the battle between Gilgamesh and Enkidu.
    • Double Gáe Bolg, courtesy of Shirou. Scathach is impressed.
    • Gilgamesh uses Sul-Sagana to melt and solidify Enkidu, who then throws it back, before Heracles catches it and returns it back to Enkidu, tip first. Note, Sul-sagana is a gigantic sword, so huge that Heracles has to hold it by it's pommel to swing it. Impressively, Enkidu survives this.
    • The simple fact that Gilgamesh, Heracles, Scathach and Shirou vs Enkidu is called "World War Servant" by the location bar is an awesome moment in its own right.
    • Gil and Shirou use their abilities to create two synchronised Storms of Blades, after which Walter uses a command seal to force Enkidu to activate Enuma Elish, promptly getting him killed by Scathach.
    • The climax of the fight: Enuma Elish vs Enuma Elish, something that Shirou can barely look upon, and an attack that, if not confined by Scathach's three line Primordial Rune barrier, would've wiped Fuyuki city of the face of the earth.
    • Even all that isn't enough to put down Berserker, who has Gil has to kill at the cost of his own life. (Gil could've saved himself, but he didn't really want to).
    • Gil's final line implies a huge amount of Fridge Awesome. Normally, Servants do not remember previous summonings due to them only being copies of the real Heroic Spirits. However, Gil's line implies that he will remember this summoning, meaning that his actions in this timeline were so great, they got added to his legend, and this incarnation of him is stored in the Throne.
  • Chapter 30:
    • Shirou being able to go for 3 days without food or water just to fufil Gilgamesh's last will. Dedication.
    • Jeanne d'Arc, Servant Ruler, evading the corruptive mud from the Holy Grail just by following signs from God.
  • Chapter 31:
    • Shirou, sleep deprived, dehydrated, and still in a forging-trace, manages to put up a fight against Angelica Ainsworth and her Servant, Saber.
  • Chapter 32:
    • The Yggdmellenia family start setting their dominoes, sending a tea of homunculi out to cripple the Fuyuki Alliance. It doesn't go well for them: M-5, the one specialising in brute force and durability, in his hubristic pride, runs off to fight Bazett alone, which gets him killed.
    • While that happens the others attempt to gang up against Rin and Luvia, trapping them in a Bounded Field. This doesn't last long, as they quickly reverse the scenario, Rin faking being a master of Breathing and Walking to throw off and distract her opponents, and Luvia unleashing the Edelfelt's Kaleidoscope upon the assailants.
  • Chapter 33:
    • The Yggdmillenia begin their main assault on Fuyuki, with Xuansang and Ozymandias firing the opening salvo, strong enough to immediately alert all the masters of the Fuyuki Alliance.
    • Things almost immediately go off the rails for the Yggdmillenia however, as Servant Avenger: Hessian Lobo doesn't go after Bazzet as they intended, instead seeking out the true strongest enemy, Shirou, running right past Morgan le Fay, who ends up buffing them.
    • Shirou manages to hold his own against a buffed Hessian Lobo, before Grey arrives and turns the tide.
    • Hercules ends up in a Mêlée à Trois with Archer of Ygddmillenia: Arjuna and Berserker: Beowulf. Arjuna ends up managing to team up with Beowulf against Hercules with politeness and a complement, of all things.
    • Medusa delivers a Curb-Stomp Battle to Prelati, immobilising her with her Mystic Eyes of Petrification.
    • Percival, Servant of Olga Marie, who had just arrived in Fuyuki with Grey and Waver, gets a Big Damn Heroes moment, blocking the attack of a sphinx meant for Artoria.
    • The climax of the chapter, Ozymandias issues a challenge, branding it a Battle of Kings. But it isn't addressed to any of the Servants, it's addressed to Shirou, who finally reveals the title that Gilgamesh bestowed on him: The King of Blades.
  • Chapter 34:
    • After a quick duel of words, Ozymandias manages to briefly outplay Morgan (a known schemer and master manipulator) and force her to become part of his forces.
    • Shirou manages to broker a deal with Lorelei Barthomeloi, getting her backing to keep the Holy Grail War under wraps and (for a manner of speaking) somewhat under control. He even manages to snark at her and get away with it!
    • Shirou manages to win an ally within the Yggdmillenia, that being Fiore and her Servant, Xuanzang Sanzang AKA Tripitaka, just by being a nice guy and also just by virtue of having learned Buddhist meditation techniques from Issei.
    • The beginning of the Battle of Kings. A complete demonstration of just why Shirou chose offence. At exactly the stroke of midnight, The Fuyuki forces arrive above Ra Island atop the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and bombarding the Ozymandias' Ramesseum Tentyris with laser beams, while Medusa, atop Pegasus, begins her attack run on the Temple Complex. Then, Shirou summons eight copies of Ig-Alima to rain down upon the Temple Complex. All the Yggdmillenia can do to counter this is use the Dendra Electric Bulb to counter the Gardens, along with sending out Sphinxes to suicide-block the beams, pushing Arjuna to his limits just trying to snipe Medusa. This display takes only twenty-four seconds.
  • Chapter 35:
    • Artoria, Scáthach, Percival and Medusa lead the main attacking party in storming the Temple Complex, with Scáthach displaying her skills in Primordial Runes to stave off the poisonous air from killing the party. Even as weakened as she is, Scáthach is still able to fight off Ammit
    • Morgan Le Fay is able to slip past the thaumaturgical defences aboard the Hanging Gardens undetected, and manages to teleport the Masters off the flying palace, before engaging in a magic duel with her good counterpart.
    • Xuanzang pulls a Heel–Face Turn, striking Ozymandias and declaring the area Vihara.
    • Heracles and Arjuna continue their battle, impressing the other with their skills.
    • Darius Ainsworth makes a Wish upon the Holy Grail, before the Grail's keeper, revealed to be Kirei Kotomine, kept alive through the Grail's power, gives him a Torso with a View and tosses him into a pile of Blackening Mud, leaving him screaming as he's slowly consumed.
    • And then, the reveal of the Wish: Restoring the Age of Gods. The Grail answers by tearing open a giant hole in the Texture of the World, but it isn't unopposed, as Gray activates ''[[Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Rhongomyniad Mythos]], and manages to release 11 of the 13 Restraints of the Round Table.
    • Even an 11 Released Restraint Rhongomyniad Mythos still isn't enough to close and repair the hole in the Textures, and entities from the Age of Gods begin to stream through, most notably true dragons and Divine Spirits.
    • This leads to the wham moment of the chapter, where Rin, now possessed by Ishtar, destroys Illya's heart, freeing the Ancestor Curse sealed within her heart, turning her into a feral dead apostle, forcing Gray and Bazett-possesed-by-Manannán to fight her off, while Shirou battles his girlfriends, now possessed by Divine Spirits.
    • The climax of the chapter: Shirou, tricked by Ishtar into thinking the Souls of his girlfriends were destroyed by the Demonic Possession of the Divine Spirits, decides the Godzilla Threshold has been crossed, and deploys his Reality Marble, complete with a brand new Invocation:
    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
  • Chapter 36: Unlimited Blade Works:
    • Bazett-possessed-by-Mannanán and Gray fight off the now-feral Illya, managing to bring back small bits of her sanity and cognitive functions through fighting her, forcing the Dead Apostle Curse to elevate her ranking and return her cognitive function.
    • The reveal of Shirou Emiya-Muramasa's Unlimited Blade Works: a cloudy sky at dawn, above countless hills of metal covered in countless blades. A river flowing from a cliff, spewing black smoke, winding its way through the hills, atop which sits a simple forge, its fires lit and roaring.
    • Ishtar manages to find herself subject to the laws of Gravity, being unable to fly due to the absence of "heavens" within the Reality Marble, allowing Shirou to initially get the upper hand and land the first blow, snapping Ishtar's arm.
    • Ishtar attempts to use her charm to slow down or disable Shirou, only for him to burn through it due to her wearing Rin's face and his own hatred of her.
    • Shirou continues to throw back everything Ishtar has to put against him tenfold, countering her energy blasts with his Storm of Blades and using his own trickery and Ishtar's arrogance against her.
    • Ishtar lands a solid blow on Shirou, kicking him away with enough force to dislodge his jaw. Surprisingly, this is a win for Rin, as Ishtar sees taking on the instincts of her an omen for how Rin could corrupt her Soul, distracting her further.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Gilgamesh's Archer incarnation isn't that well liked amongst fans, due to his entitled and arrogant attitude, especially towards Saber. Here, thanks to a ton of character development and entering Pet the Dog moments, he became quite well liked amongst the reader-base, to the point that his death in chapter 29 was genuinely saddening.
• Tearjerker: Gilgamesh's death definitely qualifies as this. Once was he someone who initially helped out Shirou due to his own amusement, he eventually grew to legitimately care for his well-being and development. His stalemate (or even defeat) at the hands of Altrouge has humbled him, causing his mentality to resemble his Caster version more and becoming the wise king that he would've become. Just when his more redeeming traits begun to express themselves more often, he died in a Mutual Kill against Enkidu, both of them taking each other out. His last dying act was to open up the Gate of Babylon and giving Shirou access to his treasury of weapons, along with giving him instructions to forge a sword from his corpse. It's pretty telling how despite the Fuyuki incarnation of Gilgamesh not exactly earning a lot of popularity for his entitled demeanor, the Character Development he went through and his death caused readers to genuinely feel bad about his passing.

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