FSN Fate Day 15 (EN)
Scene 00
When I wake up, the sun is already way up.
The sunlight coming in from outside is faint, and the room is dim.
I feel like it's still last night and shake my head violently.
"...It's cloudy outside. No wonder I didn't wake up."
It seems my sleep-deprived body caught up on sleep, taking advantage of the darkness of the room.
It seems it's already past 1 o'clock.
Oversleeping this much can't just be called "sleeping in".
"Saber, are you awake...?"
"――――――――"
There's no answer.
Saber is sleeping next to me, slightly curled.
I wake up when I'm not sleepy any more, but Saber has to recover her magical energy. Considering how long she's slept before, she probably won't wake up until dinner.
I leave the room, trying not to wake Saber up.
There's no need to wake her up right now.
The contest begins at night.
I don't think Lancer or Gilgamesh will appear during the day.
"......"
So I have to come up with a plan.
Putting Lancer aside, Gilgamesh will certainly come again tonight.
I don't even need to think about it considering his personality and the murderous intent he showed last night.
...But what should I do?
He has an infinite supply of Noble Phantasms, and one of them even exceeds Saber's Excalibur.
Berserker was a difficult enemy to defeat, but we still could fight him even though we were inferior.
We could look for a chance for a comeback even when he was pushing us.
But he's different.
It won't even be a fight right now.
If he uses that Noble Phantasm called Ea, we will all die.
"――I have to find a way. There isn't long before sunset."
There's no solution if I think on my own.
If Saber, Tohsaka, and I can't think of a plan, then――
"...The church. As supervisor, he might know."
He might know a way to overcome this situation.
King of heroes, Gilgamesh.
Kotomine Kirei said that he would find some measure against that survivor of the last Holy Grail War.
We can't find a counter-measure, but that priest might have already come up with a plan.
...I go up the hill.
The sky is filled with gray clouds.
"―――――"
The church is the only thing at the top of the hill.
There's no one in sight, not even the sound of birds.
Is it because of the dark sky?
It looks more ominous than holy.
Metaphorically, it feels like a gallows.
Going up the long hill, through the large courtyard, prosecuted before God, and falling to hell.
"What am I talking about? That's not just a metaphor."
From the beginning, a church is a place where people die.
A hospital is a place where they try to prolong life, but at the same time, it is also a place where people face death.
A church is the same.
In those terms, no place has more deaths than here.
"―――――"
The wind is cold.
Fastening my collar, I go up the stairs to the church.
"Kotomine, I came to talk."
I enter the chapel.
There is no one in here either.
"――Kotomine?"
Is he in the back again?
Walking between the chairs, I walk to the altar.
Pat, pat, pat, pat.
A dry sound echoes through the chapel.
It must be designed for echoes as one person's footsteps fill the room.
"...Kotomine? Are you not here?"
I call out in a soft voice.
...It's certainly strange.
I should be calling out in a loud voice if I'm calling for someone.
I know he's somewhere in the back, so I should be calling out in a loud voice.
But I advance keeping my voice quiet, my footsteps quiet, and suppressing my presence.
...Is it because the chapel is so magnificent?
I feel like as soon as I reveal my presence, something will surround me and cut my head off for disgracing God or something――
I pass through the chapel and get out into the courtyard.
"...I think Kotomine's room is――"
I advance with quiet footsteps.
The church is complicated and I don't know where Kotomine's room is.
My memory is vague, so I know I won't be able to get there.
"―――――"
Something...
I control my breathing.
My throat is dry and it's hard to breathe.
Why...
Even though the hallway is cool, sweat forms on my brow.
I stop calling out and examine the surroundings with all my senses.
...Do I have such...
...I don't know why.
Why I'm walking silently, why my heart's beating so fast, why――
...An ominous feeling in this place?
"―――――"
The same words repeat in my head.
Go back. Go back. Go back. Go back.
Kotomine isn't here. So you don't have anything to do here. Go home since you're by yourself. Your decision is a mistake. Your actions are a mistake. Your chill is a mistake. Go back. Go back.
Go back. This isn't bad. There's nothing bad here. There is nothing here, so go home――!
"――! Haa――!"
I feel sick.
I feel nauseous.
At times like this, my chill is correct.
My sense for danger is good enough for an amateur magus.
That's why I can't stop.
Suppressing my pounding heart, I look for Kotomine's room.
And in that way, I run into the darkness.
"――Underground...?"
I see stairs in the darkness.
In a small indent between the walls one would normally miss because of the shadows is a narrow staircase.
"―――――"
I shouldn't go down there.
I'd bet money on it.
Kotomine won't be down there.
No one will be down there.
There can't be down there.
There can't be co down there.
There can't be ses down there.
There can't be rp down there.
I shouldn't go in there――!
"――!"
My neck stiffens.
I――
Scene 01
"Haa... Ah――!"
I look away from the darkness leading underground.
I run, suppressing my raging heart.
I can't stay here another second.
I want to get out of this building as fast as I can.
This place is bad.
It's been bad for a long time.
This church is a terrible place for Emiya Shirou.
I should never have entered this building nor met that priest.
I reach the chapel.
This empty house of God is ominous.
"Ha――Haa, haa, haa――"
I run while looking behind me.
I'm almost at the exit.
There's no one behind me.
There's no one behind me.
There's no one behind me.
I leave the church.
I run without turning back.
What did I fear, and what was I trying not to see?
The unease in my back remains.
"Shirou! Where have you been all by yourself!?"
"――"
As soon as I get home, I'm surprised.
Saber is standing at the entrance.
"Oh. I'm home Saber."
"It is not 'I'm home'! How many times do I have to tell you not to go outside by yourself!?"
"Uh... yeah. That's right, sorry. I'll be more careful next time."
"There will not be a next time! I am really angry this time. Shirou, tell me your reason for going out.
Why are you causing me trouble when your wounds from yesterday are not healed and when Gilgamesh could attack at any second!?"
Saber glares sharply at me.
...But...
"Um, I went to the church. I thought it would be beneficial if we could ask the priest about Gilgamesh's weakness or something."
"Eh... the church...? But why now?"
"I consulted him before. As the supervisor, I thought he might be able to do something about a Servant that's still here after the last war.
But it was useless. I failed.
...I guess it's only natural for you to yell at me. I have you, so we should have gone to the church together."
I lower my head once more in apology.
"Uh... n-no, if you understand, it is fine..."
Saber withdraws her threatening attitude instantly.
...That's right.
Saber was really mad at my stupidity, but she's soft enough to forgive me.
Um, if I'm not conceited, it's like her resentment at being left alone was cancelled just by having me come home.
"T-That is true. If you regret your actions, I will overlook this case. It seems I did not act maturely."
"That's not true. You were waiting for me, right Saber? ...Honestly, that really helped me out. My anxieties finally went away when you yelled at me."
"...? You were helped by my yelling?"
"Yeah. I was really relieved, knowing that I could come back to you."
"Wha-"
...Yes, I'm happy to be back.
I'm able to see Saber again.
If I had gone down those stairs, I feel like I would have never returned.
Thinking about it, I think that choice was a good one.
"Shirou. How about we cooperate with Lancer?"
"Huh? Saber, what did you say?"
It's past two in the afternoon. I look at Saber over the slightly belated lunch table.
"I said we should cooperate with Lancer. Gilgamesh exists outside the rules of the Holy Grail War. Lancer will not be able to overlook him as well, so he should be willing to cooperate with us if the conditions are right."
"...Hmm. You mean our enemy's enemy is our ally?"
"Yes. If some collateral were provided, he should ally with us temporarily."
...An alliance with Lancer, huh?
There certainly might be no other way.
We can't match Gilgamesh by ourselves.
But if Saber and Lancer can cooperate, we should be able to come up with some measures.
"――You're right. I don't know if Lancer will ally with us, but it won't hurt to ask him.
...Then the problem would be――"
"Yes. How to find Lancer.
Lancer has not appeared since that night, and his Master is still unknown. I did not think he would stay quiet when there are only two of us left..."
"Yeah. But he's not coming out, so does that mean he's scared to fight you one on one?"
"Of course not. Lancer is a worthy hero. He would be happy to fight me, and certainly not reluctant.
But he still has not appeared, so perhaps he has some reason not to."
We both cross our arms and ponder.
"You guys are rather well matched this morning."
"T-Tohsaka!?"
"Rin, how long have you been there...!?"
We are both surprised at the same time.
"For some time now.
Shirou is only watching Saber, and Saber is only watching Shirou. I felt stupid, so I just kept quiet.
Wasn't that the right choice? You guys had such a good atmosphere going, I couldn't intrude on you."
"Wha――!? R-Rin, we are Servant and Master, such things are...!"
"Fine, fine. I'll say you're right.
But about what you two were talking about... I agree that we should cooperate with Lancer. If that goldie is Gilgamesh, we would need to do that to even have a chance of beating him."
...Whoa.
I don't know how long she's been listening, but Tohsaka understands the situation.
It seems while we were eating, she's heard that the true identity of Archer is Gilgamesh and that his Noble Phantasm exceeds that of Saber's.
"So, I'll go home for a while. I need to get a weapon, get ready to lure Lancer out, and prepare some medicine for Illya."
"Medicine for Illya...?
Tohsaka, is something wrong with Illya...!?"
"Nothing. Her condition hasn't changed since yesterday. Her breathing is stable, and her fever is down. She just doesn't have any energy right now.
Well, she should wake up and wander in when she gets hungry, so cook her something good when she does."
She puts down her empty bowl.
...Tohsaka was nonchalantly eating lunch too...?
"See ya. I'll be back by dinnertime, so don't do anything until then."
After Tohsaka goes home, Saber and I do nothing and just stare at the clock.
"......"
"......"
...For some reason, the living room is tense.
"Um, Shirou."
"Y-You want some more tea, Saber?"
We raise our heads at the same time and freeze as soon as our eyes meet.
"W-What is it, Saber? If you want to say something, say it."
"N-No... um――yes, some more tea, please."
"A-All right. I'll go and prepare some right away."
An hour passes in this way.
If we're not doing anything else, I should be being taught some sword techniques or be resting.
But neither Saber nor I mention that.
...I know myself that I'm acting strangely.
I know, but I want to be with Saber like this for now.
No matter how awkward and nervous I am, and even though this is the tenth cup of tea, I still want to watch her face.
"...?"
...And then.
When I stand up to go to the kitchen, the doorbell rings.
"A guest...? At a time like this...?"
Not many people come by my house.
Sakura is the only one who might ring the doorbell, but she won't come here until my cooperation with Tohsaka is over.
Fuji-Nee is undergoing medical care at her house as well, and it's not like I associate much with my neighbors.
"Shirou."
"...Yeah. Come with me, Saber If something happens, I'll let you deal with it."
"Yes. I shall protect you no matter what."
"Who is it?"
I call out, still keeping the door closed.
"I am from the church. I have come to inform you of the results of the investigation you requested."
"――"
My breathing stops for a second.
The guy on the other side of the door is the guy I went to see this morning.
"...Shirou? What is wrong? You seem pale."
"――No, I'm fine. Can I open the door, Saber? I'll send him away if you don't want him to come in."
On the first night we met, Saber did not want to enter the church.
I remember that, so I check with her.
"I do not mind. I shall abide by your decision."
I answer her with a nod and open the door.
"You took quite some time. Are you for some reason unwilling to see me, Emiya Shirou?"
"...No. I was just surprised since I didn't think you would come to see me. ...You have something to talk about, right? Come in."
I pull back and try to lead Kotomine into the living room.
But.
"No, we can talk here standing. I have discovered only a bit, so the conversation should be quick."
The priest pulls back and tries to leave the hall.
"Hey, where are you going, Kotomine?"
"I told you we shall speak standing up. ...But I cannot do so with that Servant standing there. If she threatens me like that, I prefer to value my life."
"...?"
I turn back to Saber who is behind me.
"Saber...!?"
Kotomine is right.
Saber is emitting a terrible murderous intent that even makes me pale.
"...What is a Master from the last war doing here? I remember that Kiritsugu shot and killed you."
"Certainly. When I abandoned my rights as a Master and raised my hands, he shot me from the back. If I did not have God's divine protection, I would have died then.
But what of it? It must be like yesterday for you, but it happened ten years ago for me. Are you going to bring up a fight that has already ended?"
"―――――"
Saber's murderous intent doesn't weaken at all.
"Saber, he's right. Forget about the last war for now."
"――Shirou. But this man cannot be taken lightly. Kiritsugu targeted this priest before any other enemy because he was an enemy who had to be defeated before anything else."
"That is an honor. If the ones that survived to the end say that of me, perhaps I am not that bad."
"――! How can you talk so impudently!"
The air tenses.
...Crap.
If things go on like this, I really won't be able to stop Saber.
"Hold on, Saber. I had Kotomine investigate Gilgamesh. ...We already know his true identity, but everything else about him is a mystery, right?
Don't we need to know as much as we can about him now?
"T-That is true, but――"
"I do not mind either way. It might not be that useful.
...And it is not like I have no feelings.
I feel bad getting such rude pressure from the Servant of the man who shot me. As I am inexperienced, I might not be able to act as a priest should."
"That goes the same for me as well. I will not trust an old enemy."
The two glare at each other.
...This isn't good, things won't get anywhere like this.
"Saber, stay back. I'm going to talk to Kotomine."
"Shirou...!? No, this man is dangerous. If you are to talk with him, I will also..."
"Yeah, I know how you feel, but I'm a Master. I won't die that easily even if something happens, and you would come right away if something did, right? Nothing dangerous is going to happen."
"Of course not. A human cannot outwit a Servant.
Emiya Shirou. It seems your Servant is an excessive worrier."
"...Don't provoke her too much.
I'll listen to you. I'll have Saber stay away, so that's enough, right?"
"No, I do not feel like talking here. There is no way to run if Saber attacks me.
...There should be a courtyard. I can at least run for a few seconds there even if Saber goes mad. You could stop her in that time with your Command Spell."
"Fine. But that won't happen.
...Saber, stay by the porch. I'll call for you if something happens."
"...Yes, if you say so, Master."
"Hm. This place is good. This is an open space and I can see the mansion clearly."
"......"
I move about two meters away.
It's hard to hear when he speaks softly, but I can react to anything this way no matter what he does.
"――So. What did you find out, Kotomine?"
"Hn? Oh, I would like to confirm one thing with you before that."
A big smile, full of compassion.
The priest takes one slow step towards me.
"I am sorry I was away this morning. Here, you forgot this."
A thump.
He throws something onto the grass.
"...!! The sound of the boundary field...!?"
The alarm goes off.
The boundary field Father put up, the alarm that reacts to intruders with malicious intent is going off...!?
"Lancer is the cause of the disturbance. He must have entered this place with some reason in mind."
...I can't hear the priest's words too well.
The thing he threw at my feet.
I can't take my mind off of it since it looks like it can only be the corpse of a small child.
"...So Saber went to meet the enemy. He cannot fight with full power inside the building. The enemy would need one more move to kidnap Illyasviel."
...The thing that looked like a child's corpse isn't a corpse.
It's alive.
Its limbs are cut off, there's only the head and the body, the skin is peeled off, the meat is rotting, but the child is alive.
The skin is peeled off and the face just looks like a specimen, so why...
"――Wh... y..."
A sharp, heavy object pierces my heart from behind.
"A human cannot outwit a Servant.
Of course. Only Servants can outwit other Servants."
I don't care about the priest's scornful laughter.
I don't mind that my heart has been pierced and I'm spewing out blood from my mouth like a hose.
"――Why..."
What fills my body is wonder.
Why do I...
...Recognize a corpse that isn't even human anymore――?
Scene 02
I enter the darkness.
It's a room made of stone.
The lights aren't on, but the room itself is glowing blue as if it's a living thing.
"――An underground... temple...?"
It might be used quite often as the temple isn't dirty with dust or mold.
...How deep is this?
I look up the stairs I've descended.
The staircase is built along the wall in an arc.
It must trace out a perfect half-moon, as I can see the start of the stairs about ten meters directly above me――.
"―――――"
Is it because there's no light?
The arcing staircase that connects this underground and the outside world reminds me of a centipede crawling through this temple.
"...Mm?"
And I notice the door.
Under the stairs.
The symbol in front of me. Beyond it, an entrance to darkness is open.
I approach the darkness as if drawn to it.
I go through what appears to be an entrance into the place.
Is it damp?
The floor feels slimy and it's hard to walk on.
It's like the time I cleaned the swimming pool at school.
The feeling that bog moss covers the floor, and the feeling that my leg would rot every time I step in it.
"―――――!"
I stop.
It's because I'm scared by the nasty feeling of the floor, but more than that, because I smell an awful stench.
I plug my nose in reflex.
The smell isn't momentary, but ongoing.
...It's not the smell of meat.
But it's not gunpowder either.
Is this――formalin?
The smell of medicine fills this room――
"――"
My senses were numbed as soon as I came underground.
I don't feel any chills or pressures anymore.
――But still.
My heart beats like it's expanding to twice its size,
And my hands are vermiculating like they're going to crumble into pieces.
And the worst thing is――
My eyes have gotten used to the darkness.
――The darkness fades.
A drop falls somewhere.
Was that a signal?
The things I couldn't see before are engraved into my eyes instantly.
"Ah――――――――"
It is...
A living hell that's somehow familiar.
There are corpses.
There are corpses.
There are corpses.
There are corpses.
There are corpses all around me.
The smell of medicine covers the smell of death.
That's the cause of the dripping sound.
The water is dripping into the corpses' mouths.
The slightly opened mouths take in the water, and it must have been like that for many years as the lips are swollen and rotten, and the jaws are decomposing on some.
"Ah―――――Ah."
I tell myself that this isn't happening.
I don't want to think that such a thing can happen.
But I can't deceive myself.
I can tell in a second.
Even though there are this many corpses...
No one is dead in here.
"―――――They're... alive..."
They're alive.
These things that can only be perceived as corpses, these things that used to have human shape, are still quite alive.
...I remember a news story I heard somewhere.
It was a story about a whale.
About a guy who survived for a month after being swallowed by a whale.
That huge creature has a huge digestive system to maintain its huge body.
The great thing is, the creature has two of them.
The first stomach is where it keeps all the fish it swallows.
The next one is the one that digests all the creatures it stores.
So, the man who was swallowed lived for a month being slowly melted in the lightless, warm, stinking meat, lacking in oxygen.
In the stomach full of dead fish, he lived for a month as his clothes and hair melted. A month, not knowing when he would be sent to the stomach.
And then, some fishermen killed the whale. And when they were cutting it apart, a smooth and slimy human came out of the stomach like an alien.
――Yeah.
It's a tragic story, but this is just as bad.
"――――――――Oh."
Why are they alive?
Every corpse is deformed and they lack too many of the human characteristics.
No limbs.
Those that have had them cut off.
Those that have had the ends decomposed, leaving only the bone.
Those who are ground down in the cracks in the floor.
Those who have become homes to bugs, splattered on the walls.
No matter how they came to be that way, they have no limbs remaining, and all of them are worn-out like rotten trees.
"――――――"
I don't even need to know why.
The corpses are being eaten by the coffin.
I don't know how it works.
It's just that the corpses are stuck to the coffin, and the coffin is sucking nutrition out of the corpses.
――The flow of life.
The coffin is sucking up magical energy... no, something close to the soul.
Slowly.
So not to kill the ones it leeches off, and so as not to allow them to live.
...The sound of the wind that sounds like sobbing.
It seems like screams coming out of the corpses' mouths.
Their throats have already decayed and they cannot let out voices. It has already become just an organ to keep them alive.
But still, the corpses are crying out.
In an almost inaudible voice, they scream with all their might.
――It must be the pain and the fear.
They continue screaming, unable to stand losing their form and being eaten alive.
"▉▉▉▉▉"
I hear a sound.
The coffin in front of me gasps.
Drooling.
An eye drops off as it turns its neck towards me.
But still――it stares directly at me.
"――――――――"
The swollen lips move a little.
It speaks in a voice that's not even a voice,
Where am I?
And asks me that question.
"――――――――"
I'm right on the verge of screaming.
No, I can't even scream now.
Where am I?
It doesn't say it hurts nor does it ask for help, but it just says it doesn't understand why it's here.
Is that the reason?
He was like that before he realized it?
He lived normally, went to sleep naturally, and was gasping here when he woke up?
His limbs are already gone, sucked by that coffin, rotting away from the ends, unable to move――and he can only believe this is just a bad dream.
"――――――――"
I might go insane.
From this scene and from this terrible spectacle.
But... why...
...Why do I recognize them?
I have never seen them, but I recognize every one of the corpses.
This is the first time I've seen them.
They are people I shouldn't know.
They are people unrelated to me. But...
Why are they...
(As if knowing me)
...Staring at me――?
"Ah―――――Ah, ah――"
And I have another question.
Is it some coincidence, or do the sacrifices have to meet this condition?
Why are all the corpses here children of the same age――?
――And then.
"Oh――welcome, Emiya Shirou."
Suddenly.
I'm tapped on the shoulder from behind as if being greeted by a friend.
"―――――!"
My body freezes at this sudden event, and I can't even turn around.
But I don't even need to turn around to tell who the person behind me is.
Kotomine Kirei.
The priest of this church, the man who made this hell.
And――a devil I must not meet more than anything else in this place.
"What awful timing. It was foolish of me to prepare food for you thinking that you would come soon.
I was unable to welcome you last time, correct?
I thought I was attending to your needs, but it seems we missed each other."
"―――――"
I can't talk.
The priest's hands are heavy on my shoulders.
"But I cannot approve of trespassing. If you do such things, you will end up seeing things you should not.
Such as a truth that might send a relationship back to a blank page."
The priest's voice is more cheerful than I've ever heard it.
Kotomine Kirei, standing behind me with his hands on my shoulders, is definitely smiling.
"―――――"
That's why...
I'm frightened.
"What is it, Emiya Shirou? You came to talk, so it does no good for you to stay silent. I'm disappointed. Is this spectacle really so outrageous?"
The priest says inhuman things in a cheerful voice.
Does this man not feel anything when faced with this?
"Ug―――――"
I don't even need to tell him this scene is outrageous――!
"Oh, that is cold of you. It is simple compassion to say that it is not even if you might think it unpleasant.
After all, you guys are like brothers and sisters. I do not think they will be saved if you act that way."
"――――Eh?"
Just now.
What did this man say?
"――What did you say?"
"I said that you and these corpses are fellow mates.
By whatever means, you all survived that living hell. Even if you have no blood relations, I believe the connection is close to that of brothers and sisters... am I wrong?"
"―――――"
I see. That's why I thought I recognized them.
This is the continuation of ten years ago,
And this place is the continuation of that hospital room.
――My head spins.
Children who lost their homes and parents.
They were supposed to be sent to an orphanage and stay there until they found someone who would adopt them.
But I was adopted by Emiya Kiritsugu before that, and I did not know what happened to them afterward.
I avoided thinking about it.
The orphanage was the church on top of the hill, and I could have gone there anytime I wanted to.
But still, I hesitated.
I felt it wasn't fair for me to get adopted, and then go see children who didn't get adopted.
So if I was to meet them, it would be in town.
We would meet accidentally, be able to talk normally, and we would be over the fire incident.
I was looking forward to such a meeting thinking that we surely would meet as it's such a small town――so why have I not met even one of them?
"―――――Koto... mine..."
"That is right, Emiya Shirou. If you had not been taken by Emiya Kiritsugu, you would have been one of them.
Do you understand? You alone survived, once again.
Everyone around you dies, but you survive. What do you think? Do you not think it is unfair?"
――My pulse returns.
My frozen body defrosts in an instant.
"Oh no, I am not criticizing you. It is rather delightful. Emiya Shirou's survival abilities are impressive. Honestly, I did not expect you to remain until the end.
"That is why――I have allowed you to be reunited with your brothers and sisters in your final moments."
"――――Y..."
"You really are lucky. I was planning to close this place up after today, so you barely made it.
――Ten years now. I kept them alive to feed the Servant, but it's coming to an end. I cannot hope to extract the same amount of soul as when I started, and there's no more need for food in any case. All that remains now is to kill you and your Servant."
"――YOU...!!!!!!!"
With that word, I break all restraints.
I move my body which had been bound.
I fling the hands off my shoulders, throw myself forward, and turn to face the priest――!
"Kotomine, you――!"
I face him, placing enough distance between us.
In that moment.
I feel a powerful shock from behind me.
"Ah... Guh?"
...That's weird.
I can't breathe.
A sharp horn is growing out of my chest.
The horn looks like the head of a spear.
...That's strange.
How can a spear be growing out of my chest――
"Oh, I have not yet told you.
I shall formally introduce you. This is my Servant."
"――――"
I turn to look back.
There...
A blue spearman is standing, piercing my chest.
The lance is pulled out of my chest.
At the same time.
A sharp pain runs through my head as if to burn my brain.
"Ah――ga, goh...!"
...The floor is painted red.
I'm lying on the slimy floor.
I push on my arms to get up, but my body is too heavy.
...I can't move.
Not because I'm bound, but because I lack the things people need to move.
"Gi――! Tu, ha――!"
The pain in my chest exceeds the blood loss's power to drive me unconscious.
I can't pass out.
I've taken fatal wounds several times before.
They were all so bad that they even numbed my senses.
But this is different.
It's a fatal wound, but the pain is too real.
"Haa――ah, ah, gu――!"
My vision spins.
As soon as I black out from the pain, I'm awoken by the next pain.
I can't feel my limbs.
I can't even tell where I am.
All I feel are pain, nausea, and the temptation that it would feel so good to just disappear.
"You did not kill him, right, Lancer? If you did, there was no point in keeping him alive until now."
I can only hear voices.
I have my eyes open, but I can't see anything.
"――I'll follow your orders. Even if they're disgusting ones."
Lancer's voice shows no emotion.
But I can barely hear it now.
"Fine. Then we shall prepare now. The Servant will know of the Master's danger. It should be about half an hour until Saber gets here."
"Kotomine. This kid won't make it that long. You should at least stop his blood loss if you want him alive until then."
"No need. I do not care if he dies."
...My mind starts to pass out.
Pain finally overcomes my brain and allows me to faint.
"Agh, uh――!"
I stop that by digging into my wound.
――The pain starts again.
My fainting mind returns to the burning world again.
I want to die.
I want to die right now if this pain's going to continue.
I know that.
I know that, but if I faint here, I also know that I'll die.
I can't even remember what I'm doing now.
I feel like I'm floating in this white, burning pain.
"Hah――Sa... ber――"
But I grit my teeth and hold on to my disappearing consciousness.
――I can't let it end here.
I can't retire so easily.
I still have a promise I haven't kept.
If I believe she is more important than anyone...
I can't just disappear here――
Scene 03
――It is something no one could blame her for.
"――Eh?"
She looks with blank amazement at the thing at her feet.
Her fingers are numb, and she cannot tell what she is feeling.
There is only one truth she can recognize.
Her master's life has been ended by his own protector's action.
"――Shirou?"
She only considered it.
She wished for the Holy Grail only for an instant.
That wish disappeared in an instant, and she valued the boy's life.
But there was still enough time for her to be driven by evil.
Thinking about it once was enough.
Her strained mind crumbled with that small weakness.
"No――No, Shirou..."
She reaches out to her small master.
There is nothing sublime in her figure, lifting the neck of the boy.
"――Well done, Saber. That lamentation... it is indeed appropriate to receive the Holy Grail."
A voice echoes through the darkness.
As if answering his call, she accepts the Holy Grail in a daze.
Scene 04
...This is all too famous a dagger.
It's a dagger for rituals more than for battles. A magecraft wand shaped like a sword used to form magecraft circles and to affect physical divine mysteries.
The word "AZOTH" is carved into the jewel on the handle.
The blade must be Tohsaka's preference as it's shorter than usual.
This weapon, favored by a famous occult scholar who pretty much dominated the world, is called the Azoth sword.
It's like the proof of adulthood for a magus, and it's like a gift you get for getting into school――
"Tohsaka. This is...?"
"You should be able to tell. It's my dagger. ...It's weak compared to my jewels, but I put magical energy in it from time to time. You can activate it by yelling 'l[auml][szlig]t' and putting as much magical energy into it as you can."
...The dagger she gives me is heavy.
Not physically, but the weight of memories Tohsaka has in it.
"――Tohsaka. Is it really okay for me to take this?"
"...It's fine. I realized I couldn't beat Kirei, so I hid this from him. I don't want it to go to waste, so go ahead and use it."
"...All right. I'll take it. Honestly, any additional weapons will be helpful."
"Oh, you're pretty smart. Then... is it okay now?
I'm getting really sleepy already."
She laughs awkwardly.
...Before I realize it.
Saber is standing behind me, waiting to treat Tohsaka.
"Yeah, go ahead. I'll wake you up in the morning. Then I'll make you a huge breakfast."
"――I think I'll do that.
...Oh, and this isn't advice, it's an order.
Shirou. If you're going to fight, you have to win. I won't forgive you if you're dead when I wake up."
She must be satisfied after saying all that.
Tohsaka falls asleep right after that.
She looks so healthy that I feel stupid for worrying about her.
...But, well...
That was her way of cheering me on, and she did share some of her courage with me.
"――Yeah. Leave it to me, Tohsaka."
I tell the sleeping Tohsaka.
...The board is all set.
Now, I just have to pass the few hours until my wound heals without regrets.
――The date changes.
We treated Tohsaka, took her to her room, made dinner, and ate it silently.
"...A little longer."
The wound is almost healed.
There's only an hour or two left.
In the remaining time, I'll――
Scene 05
How should I spend the remaining hours?
I thought about it, but this is where I ended up.
"This place does not change. I like the quiet of the living room, but this place suits me better."
"Yeah. You like to sit Japanese-style even though you're a knight, and the shinai looked pretty good on you as well. It might have been fun having a match with armors on."
"Armor? You should have said so. I could have worn my armor, and you could have put pads on.
...We really should have done that.
If you had mentioned it earlier, I could have fought you more seriously."
"Uh..."
Saber is so cute even when she's annoyed.
She's cute, but her words are pretty scary.
"Are you serious about being serious? I wouldn't be able to get up for a week if we did that."
"No, that is not true.
You underestimate yourself. You have really improved these past few days. It might even be possible for you to take a match from me."
"Really?"
Even if that's flattery, I'm really happy.
I really respect Saber when it comes to swords.
Being able to beat her even once is like being accepted by her.
"For real...? So, I could even win a match against you if chance favored me...?"
"Yes. You have vastly improved. You can be proud of that, and I am really happy about it as well."
"―――――"
Saber replies with a full smile.
...That expression makes my determination vanish.
After this.
We won't be able to come back. If we can just run away instead of going into an unwinnable battle――
"Shirou? Why have you stopped?
...Does your wound hurt? If that is the case, please rest in your room and――"
"――No, I'm fine now. Nothing hurts anymore."
――I cut off all hesitations.
I can't run away, and I really don't want our final time together to be like this.
"Hey Saber. Since we're here, do you want to spar lightly? Not a match, but more like playing around."
I hide my emotions and bluff as much as I can.
"All right.
Then I shall fight you using my style. You can fight me in your style as well."
She must have understood my intentions as she gladly accepts my idea.
...Yes. It's more like us to be fighting than talking.
For a short while, we forget about everything and feel each other's shinai.
Scene 06
...This might be my last time.
The fire ten years ago.
If I am the only survivor and if I am to succeed Emiya Kiritsugu who destroyed the Holy Grail, I should at least report to him.
'I'll take on your dreams'
...A kid said that a long time ago.
Back then, I didn't even know of his intentions nor what I wanted to be.
Ten years ago...
The true nature of what I aimed to be.
The reason I survived that disaster is about to take shape.
"...Thanks for everything up until now. I'll be going, Father."
With that, my fear and hesitation go away.
――There's no chance of us winning.
But if I am to call myself Emiya Kiritsugu's son, I have to go settle this with my chest held high.
Scene 07
――Yeah.
There's only one thing to do.
We've always done so.
So I should follow that until the very end.
It's not romantic or elegant, but it would be more like us if we meet and come up with a plan――
"Shirou, coming up with a plan is fine, but is this the right place for it?"
"No, I have to be here. Let's go in. It's not like I don't have any ideas."
"...Okay. If you say so, I will obey."
Saber reluctantly goes into the shed.
――Well.
I have my reasons for bringing Saber to the shed.
We don't have any way to match Gilgamesh right now.
It goes without saying that we need a "plus-alpha" factor.
So――
Scene 08
Let's prepare something we didn't have before... a new weapon.
It would be helpful for Saber if she has a weapon other than Excalibur, and I could use any additional weapons.
"Shirou? What do you have in mind?"
"Yeah, I was thinking about getting more weapons. This place used to be a storage for my father, so we might find something useful if we search around."
"Something useful...?
...You are correct. It would certainly help you if we can find something Kiritsugu used to use. His formal equipment was a gun, so that should be easy for you to use as well."
By formal equipment, she means a weapon that supports magecraft usage that every magus carries.
According to Saber, Father's formal equipment was a gun.
"...Hm. That's a pretty dangerous weapon, but I guess that's all the more reliable."
"Yes. I will search below, so please go search in the attic.
If there is one, its magical energy should be suppressed. If you are to look for it, please do not look for magical energy, but search through everything instead."
"――There's nothing, Saber."
"Indeed. There are no guns nor any memos."
"...Well, I suspected as much. If Father had left me anything, I would've already found it."
I slump my shoulders.
...Well, I didn't expect anything to begin with, so let's do our best with what we have――
Scene 09
I will strengthen Saber here where she was summoned.
I don't know if such a thing is possible, but we should try anything at this point.
"Use the strengthening magecraft on me...?"
"Yeah. I know how hard it is to put magical energy into humans, let alone someone other than myself. But this is the only thing I can come up with right now. All I can do is make you stronger."
...Right.
Even if I make a new weapon using "projection", I can't make anything stronger than Excalibur.
As long as Gilgamesh's Noble Phantasm exceeds that holy sword, it's meaningless to give Saber a new weapon.
So there's no way but to make Saber herself stronger.
"There's a low chance of success and I might make you feel bad, but I want to try this.
...Please forgive me for treating you like an object to be strengthened, just for now."
"Please do not apologize. I have no objections.
If you say so, I will gladly offer you my body."
...Saber takes my hand and agrees to my plan.
"I trust my Master. I will weaken my magecraft resistance temporarily, so please insert your magical energy when I do."
Saber leans against me, still holding my hand.
"――Yeah. Bear with me just for a bit, Saber."
I concentrate and read Saber's body, her blueprint.
...There's less than a ten percent chance of success.
I ignore my fear and activate the strengthening magecraft faster than I ever have.
――I finish.
I used most of the magical energy I have left to "strengthen" the being called Saber, but――
"...Well, Saber? Do you feel anything?
Magical energy flowed in just fine, so you should be stronger..."
"Eh...? You cannot tell the result? You cannot see whether I am stronger or faster...?"
"Um... no, I can't really tell.
I can't tell if things are stronger or not until I test them out. I have to see the results, even if the magecraft is successful."
"I see. A strengthened sword will not say 'I am stronger', so the appearance does not change.
...Um, this is embarrassing, but I cannot feel any change at all. To be honest, I feel the same way."
"――I see. I guess I wasted my time."
I slump my shoulders.
"No, it was not a waste at all.
Your magecraft worked correctly on me. Even though my body has not changed, my heart is warm now.
...I will not fall as long as I have this warmth. You did make me stronger."
Saber has accepted my magecraft.
...She's the one who made me stronger.
Her words make my fear and hesitation go away.
It's not just Saber's heart that's warm.
As long as I have this feeling, I won't back out of this battle――
Scene 10
――Let's return this sheath to its rightful owner.
I don't know if I'll succeed until I try.
But Saber put her hand into my body to check for the sheath's existence.
Then it shouldn't be impossible to take it out.
"Wha――are you serious, Shirou?"
"I'm serious. It's yours to begin with, right? So it's only natural to give it back to you, and you might be able to beat him if you have it."
"...My magical energy will certainly increase if I have my sheath back.
But I still cannot guarantee that I will be able to beat Gilgamesh. And――if you take out the sheath, what will you do?
If you take the sheath out, you――"
I won't heal even if I get hurt.
But that's normal.
I've relied too much on this body of mine without even knowing it.
People die when they're killed.
I can't be protected from such a normal thing now.
"Take the sheath, Saber. We need to do this to win."
"―――――"
Biting her lip painfully, Saber doesn't answer.
...I don't know how long that lasted.
Just as the clouds disappear and moonlight starts to shine in through the window...
"...All right, Master. I shall borrow your heart."
Saber nods at my words.
"...Then, I shall begin. Are you ready, Shirou?"
"――Yeah. Go right ahead."
Saber agrees.
Saber places her hand on my chest and――
"――!"
...Plunges it into my body.
...My job is easy.
Taking out the sheath is similar to the steps in the "projection" magecraft.
The sheath of the holy sword is melted into my body.
I just need to gather it into one place and form it like it was before.
Of course, that's just the image.
I say I'll return it to its original form, but it's only the magical energy that will be shaped like that.
Saber's the one who gives it shape.
The cluster of magical energy will take shape in Saber's, the possessor's, hand.
I'm just helping her.
As if making something from nothing...
I take the scattered pieces of the sheath and carefully reproduce it without flaw――
"―――――!"
...My body's burning.
Projection is way beyond my level.
The magecraft surely kills my body every time I use it.
It destroys my nerves, burns my skin, crushes my brain, and makes me a vegetable...
But it's the only weapon I have, and this is the only way to help Saber.
...I imagine.
Her figure as I saw it in my dreams.
The golden sheath suited to the king who ran through many battles.
I take what protected the king and led her to numerous victories and reproduce it vividly without any mistake.
――So that no matter what happens.
I engrave it into my mind so that I will not forget it, no matter what kind of end awaits us――
"――!"
I hear Saber's voice.
...Something that was binding my body for a long time escapes my body.
"Amazing... this is excellent, Shirou! No one else would be able to reproduce it so perfectly...!"
It must be perfect as Saber seems surprisingly happy.
"――"
My body is burning, and I fall onto my butt.
"Shirou...! You are sweating a lot! I will bring something to wipe it right away...!"
...Saber runs to the house.
Listening to her footsteps, I let out a sigh.
I felt it was perfect too.
It was so perfectly done.
I believe no future projection will be as perfect as that.
"...Bye. Thanks for everything."
I bid farewell to that which was part of me until now.
――The golden sheath that protected her.
I will never forget it.
Even if it leaves my body, its figure has been engraved into my heart.
Scene 11
――The moon is distant.
The clouds have cleared and the darkness has a dim blue glow.
Daybreak is close.
The long night is about to end.
――This is the final moment.
Going through the night, Saber and I have reached our final destination.
"――Shirou, this is..."
Saber sounds tense.
I feel the same way.
As I nod, I can feel sweat dripping down my neck.
...The mountain feels like one big living thing.
The wind coming down from the mountain gate is warm, and the shaking trees seem like breathing lungs.
Chills and pressure assail me every time I take a step.
No――the air really is thick and wet.
"...magical energy is dense here. This is just like ten years ago. I expect..."
...The summoning of the Holy Grail has begun or it's already over.
Either way, that must mean that Lancer has fallen to Gilgamesh.
"――I'm going to make sure, Saber.
After we reach the top, all that's left is to fight. You take care of Gilgamesh, so I'll take care of his Master――Kotomine.
We won't assist each other. ...We just have to beat one of our opponents."
"Yes. I will concentrate on my own fight this time. And Kotomine is an enemy you must defeat."
"...Yeah. Leave him to me. You too Saber. Don't let that guy beat you."
"...Yes. I will swear on my pride that he will not defeat me. Not as a Servant, but as a heroic spirit, I cannot allow him to beat me."
Saber says so strongly without hesitation or distress.
So there's nothing more to say.
We will go to battle and determine the winner as the last remaining Masters.
――Even if in the process...
If one of us dies, the other need only defeat their enemy.
Even if I die, if Saber beats Gilgamesh, Kotomine won't be able to obtain the Holy Grail.
At the same time, even if Saber dies――if I defeat Kotomine, Gilgamesh won't be able to stay in this world.
...So there's no need to help each other.
Our battles have already gone their separate ways.
...We go up the stone stairs.
The air gets denser the closer we get to the mountain gate.
Sweat drips down my neck.
Ominous premonitions prick at my skin.
Our strongest opponents await at the end of these stairs.
――But.
I really don't care about that.
We go up the stairs.
The mountain gate is approaching.
...This is the end.
No matter who wins this battle, Saber will disappear.
The long and short days of battle will end and Saber will vanish from this world.
She's going to return to her proper time.
――I...
I can't say I have no regrets.
Losing Saber...
Losing the one I promised to protect, the one whose happiness I wished for.
I don't know yet how hard it will be.
We are still walking together and I can feel her presence.
I'm not yet ready to lose her.
Even if I knew many days ago.
Even if I knew from the moment we met that there would be a parting at the end.
"―――――"
Thinking back, there were so many memories.
Nights when we walked together, and times we fought together.
I selfishly tried hard in the beginning, thinking that I couldn't let a girl fight. She trained me hard in the dojo.
I slept in the shed because I was unable to sleep with a girl in the next room. We had lunch together.
Saber liked the bath, was satisfied when the food was good, liked the clothes Tohsaka prepared for her, and talked with Fuji-Nee.
She pushed herself, took all the burdens onto her shoulders, and finally collapsed――and we shared our warmth in the ruin.
...I've been crazy since then.
I couldn't think of anything but Saber, and after my reasons for fighting changed, I realized that I loved Saber.
How can I lose someone like this?
"―――――"
Saber doesn't say anything.
I can't say anything either.
When these stairs end...
If we reach the top, there'll be nothing for us to talk about.
Losing Saber and parting with her will happen in the future.
But.
This moment is the only time allotted to us for farewells.
"―――――"
...We go up the stairs.
If I don't want to say goodbye, I can just talk to her about meaningless things.
Like...
Like going to town again after we go home.
Or what she wants for breakfast tomorrow morning.
Such meaningless things.
"―――――"
...But I can't even talk about such things.
If I talk, that'll be our final conversation.
A clear end.
Neither of us can offer a clear farewell.
――And so, we reach the mountain gate.
This is the final choice.
If we go on, it will end.
But if we go back――I might be able to find a way to avoid losing her.
"――Saber."
I stop and turn back to Saber.
Saber is the same always.
A tense stare with a composed expression.
The moment I see it, all kinds of temptation attack me.
Like, let's run away.
Like, if I don't want to lose her, I can go back.
She would accompany me if I wished.
"―――――"
My determination wavers.
That temptation rises in my throat.
But I stop it.
"――Let's go. This will be our last battle."
I declare that as a Master just as I always have.
Saber nods silently.
Her eyes are strong-willed as always.
"―――――"
So, I won't have any regrets.
As she believes in me.
I too will believe that my choice is correct.
We start for the mountain gate.
We head into the battle with no return.
I couldn't say anything and I couldn't tell her what I really wanted to tell her.
But I want to believe that this silence was able to tell her my feelings.
――The long stairs we climbed together.
This is our final memory of our time together.
Red light fills the mountaintop.
The blowing wind is getting stronger and it seems the source of it is that light――coming from the back of the grounds.
The red phosphorescence scatters on the wind, and the grounds is too bright for nighttime.
Stagnant air filled with the presence of death.
―――――This is...
Like the fire back then.
"―――――"
But it isn't like that.
Within all this red light, something is about to emerge.
...From the back of the building.
A black darkness oozing in the bright red.
If this clearing is like a clear lake, that mud is like an oil spill.
Mud that spreads, taints the ground, and does not kill anything it swallows.
It's like a visible curse.
I'm a magus too.
I can sense that the thing only reacts to the human mind and only swallows human bodies.
"――You are finally here. I have been waiting for you, Saber."
He is there, within all the rich colors.
Ignoring the blood red and the death-stained black.
The Servant clad in gold is waiting for us――no, for Saber in the middle of this place.
"And the time is about right. The Holy Grail has finally moved into action and the void has just opened.
This curse is the contents of the Holy Grail, the Third Element which keeps us Servants in this world.
――This is what you splashed me with ten years ago."
Gilgamesh is only looking at Saber.
It goes the same for Saber.
She takes a step forward and points her sword at the knight in front of her.
"Gilgamesh. What do you intend?
What do you wish for with that curse――that thing falsely presented as the Holy Grail?"
"I have told you that I have no wish. I do not care how Kotomine will use the Holy Grail.
For now, my only concern is you."
As if in answer to Saber, the golden knight raises his hand.
――At the same time, the air behind him sways like a haze.
The king's treasure, hundreds of Noble Phantasms, are loaded like bullets.
"...Yes. The time has finally come. I have been looking forward to this all this time, Saber.
How to pin you down and make you swallow that.
The way you will be unable to stop yourself from going crazy, disgracing yourself, and begging at my feet――!"
"――Well said. Then you shall have no objections to yourself meeting that exact fate."
Another step.
Saber steps into range of the many Noble Phantasms.
...This isn't a battle I can do anything about.
The battle between Saber and Gilgamesh is something no human can interfere with.
"――Heh, that is what I expect of you, Saber.
That strong spirit, even though you know you cannot defeat me. It is indeed suitable to end this party, but――"
"I do not want any intrusions. You lowlife, disappear right now if you want to see Kotomine. He is waiting for you at the altar."
"――!"
Kotomine is waiting.
...I glance at Saber.
She nods while looking at Gilgamesh.
Her figure tells me...
That she is wishing me her best.
――I turn around.
The one I need to face isn't here.
Behind me.
As I run, I hear the battle start.
At the back of the building.
Behind the main temple is a large lake.
Untouched by humans, the lake is holy as if a dragon king lives in it.
The clear blue water is pure and the lake isn't even murky.
But that's all in the past.
The lake now has none of these characteristics.
The red light is in front of my eyes.
And the sea of black tar.
――And――
The "void" created in the air and the girl presented as a sacrifice.
"――Koto... mine...!"
My calm mind instantly goes over the limit.
I stop and glare at my enemy.
"Welcome, Emiya Shirou. The last surviving Master."
He smiles sarcastically and opens his arms to welcome me.
...This is the site of our battle.
This is the altar of the summoning in this Holy Grail War.
"――Let Illya down. I'll beat you up after that."
I glare at Kotomine.
...There's about ten meters between us.
The fight will begin if I move another step.
I don't know what kind of magus Kotomine is, but I assume he'll use some kind of projectile weapon like Tohsaka.
In comparison, I can only punch him.
Even though I have the dagger Tohsaka gave me, it's useless unless I get near him.
...Once the fight starts, I'll have to run straight at him and stab his chest.
But first, I have to do something about Illya――
"Hey. Didn't you hear me? I told you to let Illya down. What's so fun about torturing a kid?"
"I understand your feelings, but I cannot do that. The Holy Grail has appeared, but the void is yet unstable.
My wish will not come true unless she bears this until she dies."
Until she dies――then Illya is still alive...!
"...I see. If you have no intention of letting her down, I'll just have to use force.
I'll stop your wish――that black mud, right now."
"...Oh. So this must appear to be my wish to you. ――As expected from the son of Kiritsugu.
I did not expect two generations to make the same mistake."
"Wh――at?"
"This mud is not of my making.
This is the power leaking out of the Holy Grail, the 'colorless power' that should have been omnipotent.
No human power is able to stain it black.
This Holy Grail has been like this from the beginning. Once opened, it will flow out without end and cause a disaster."
"This is the true identity of the Holy Grail.
This thing is filled with every evil, something that curses everything in this world.
No one can control such a thing."
"―――――"
...What is he saying?
If that's true, then he became a Master not for a wish, but just to open this up...!?
"...Kotomine. What's your wish?"
I clench my teeth and glare at the black priest.
The man smiles.
"Well, let's see. If anything, it is for entertainment."
He makes a simple claim as if it's only natural.
"Wh... at...?"
"――Do you not understand? Music, for example. Why do people find music fun, Emiya Shirou?"
"Eh――w-well..."
"How about a book? Why do you think stories attract people?"
Why――I've never thought about it.
"Yes. You do not even need to think about it. Every entertainment exists to pleasure people. It is amusing because it was made by people."
"All creation comes from within people. In short, the most entertaining things in the world are humans themselves. Bare humans are the best entertainment in the world."
"Compared to that, entertainment created by people is just secondary.
...Yes, music, stories, like, dislike, pity, belief, betrayal, morals, corruption, illusion, truth...! It is all just trash to be discarded.
Such things are mere second-rate trashy entertainment.
What I like to enjoy are people themselves. Such pointless things are not my taste."
"For that, we need to discard excess things such as their lives.
You heard of flashbacks, right? It is like that. People have value only at the moment of their deaths. Using their lifetime to gain momentum, they jump high to dazzle. That flicker is my wish."
"That is the answer to your question.
As you feed on peacefulness.
――I live by feeding on this planet's light."
"―――――"
The priest offering a speech with his hands apart is abnormal.
I feel a chill, but not at his speech.
But at the priest himself because he looks like a holy being while he says he wants to enjoy humans.
"So, you――"
"Yes, the fire ten years ago wasn't too bad. It was on a small scale, but it was filled with unusual excitement.
...These are the only things I wish for.
Such a hell contains an explosion of souls, the best flicker a man can give. You must have experienced that as well, Emiya Shirou.
See? People dying in regret must have touched your heart, did it not?"
"Y――!"
Don't... talk shit.
That time...
That hell... can't be contained with just that one sentence.
"Do you understand now? It is in a distorted fashion, but no one loves humans as much as I. Therefore, no one is more appropriate than myself to receive the Holy Grail."
The priest laughs in satisfaction.
As if...
As if he thinks that event where people died in vain is wonderful from the bottom of his heart――!
"――Oh, I see."
I concentrate on my feet.
I put my powers into my legs, about to jump forward.
"――So, I can kill you...!"
I jump forward with all my might.
It's about ten meters to him. I'll go in straight at him and――
"―――――"
I jump sideways.
This is the result of my instincts of not wanting to die...
...Surpassing my desire to kill him.
"――!"
I roll sideways onto the ground.
I stop instantly and look up.
"That's――!"
I look at the place I was running over.
A sound of burning.
The burning sound is coming from the black mud, stretching out from the lake.
...It's like a black carpet.
The mud slashed like a whip, attacking me as I went after Kotomine, and left a mark on the ground.
"I forgot to tell you, but you are already within my range. And to add, this thing is sensitive to living beings.
――I do not mind you moving, but you will die if you move carelessly."
"――!"
I jump to avoid the black mud mercilessly attacking me.
Screw moving carelessly. He's ready to kill me...!
"Damn――you fake priest...!"
I stand up, still keeping watch over the lake.
...The distance to Kotomine hasn't changed.
That means this ten meters is as near as he wants me to get.
...But that tentacle of mud stretches without limit.
It will come after me if he wants it to, and I'm sure there are more than one――
"Oh, so you are ready to fight. That pleases me.
I could not kill you if you were to run away, but there will be no problem if you attack me.
I serve God, so I cannot kill someone who is pleading for their life."
"――Heh, don't lie. You can't say that after attacking someone from behind."
He must have remembered what happened with Lancer.
Kotomine laughs as if in admiration.
"Oh, yes. I hated you for that.
There's no need to put this off any longer.
"...To be honest, I had hopes for you, Emiya Shirou. I felt some sort of fate when Rin came to the church with you. You cannot know how happy I was when I found out that you were Kiritsugu's son and that you were like him on the inside as well.
The wish that did not come true ten years ago... I never expected that I would be able to get my revenge on Emiya Kiritsugu."
...The tentacle whips out.
The quivering mud coming from the lake is like a black snake.
"―――――"
...I bite my lip.
This is the worst situation as I thought.
The number of snakes continues to increase without end.
I don't know how long I can survive, let alone how I can get close to him――
"It is only natural for you to be unable to win.
There is a large difference in the years we have lived. It is a difference you cannot overcome unless you have something major."
The priest raises his hands.
He glares at the heavens as if he is conducting an orchestra.
"――Put your life on the line.
You might be able to reach me if you do so―――!"
He releases the black snakes.
Sparks fly off.
The golden knight retreats from the blows which are full of the utmost spirit.
She must have seen it as an opening.
Saber dodges the swinging sword and moves deeper into the enemy's range――!
"Yaaaaaaaaaa――!"
If the yell is a rip, the sword is like a comet.
It overwhelms the opponent and he hesitates. But she keeps attacking.
The sword keeps moving.
It has destroyed rocks and pierced through walls, but...
"Guh――!"
Every blow is blocked by weapons appearing from behind him.
"You persistent――!"
Escaping danger, the golden knight――Gilgamesh has another sword in his hand.
"――!"
It is easy to repel that weapon.
But she cannot block it straight on.
All of the enemy's weapons have unknown abilities.
It would be suicidal to block it without knowing its ability.
"Haa――Haa――Haa――"
Saber jumps back out of range and catches her breath.
Gilgamesh raises himself unhurriedly.
"You do not give up, woman. Can you not tell it is futile?"
Gilgamesh shows no fatigue.
For him, this battle is just entertainment.
There must be no fatigue or strain when he knows he is [wrap tͥxt="going"]going to win.
"Haa――Haa――Haa――"
But it's different for Saber.
For her, this moment is her only chance of victory.
Before her enemy becomes serious.
She has to defeat Gilgamesh before he takes out Ea or she will be the one defeated.
That is why she has continued to attack without a thought for saving her energy.
She has cornered the enemy like this more than a few times.
But still――she could never get past his wall of Noble Phantasms.
"Are you still going to continue? It is good to be loyal to your master, but there should be a limit. That lowlife would have been killed by Kotomine by now. There should be no reason for you to fight now."
"...My master is still very much alive. Shirou will not be defeated by that Master."
"It can only be a matter of time. You do not know the Holy Grail. Even I have trouble against it. That kid will not last even a minute."
"―――――"
"You cannot beat me and that kid cannot beat Kotomine.
You have mistaken your roles. If you had gone after the Holy Grail, this battle would have been yours."
The golden knight's eyes are not laughing.
He is serious.
――But that is wrong.
For Saber, such a choice would be a mistake.
"――Nonsense. This is the correct decision. I will not lose to you, and Shirou will not lose to a corpse such as that.
You have fallen low to hope for a result that has yet to happen."
"――Oh. It seems you still have energy to talk impudently."
――Space distorts.
The number of Noble Phantasms behind Gilgamesh increases.
―――――It is coming.[l]
She grips her holy sword once again.
...Actually, there is a way.
There is only one, but there is a way to defeat that golden knight.
――――But for that...[l]
It will not succeed unless several conditions are met.
Even if she defeats Ea, he will be able to defend against her attack if he has energy left. And the method to defeat Ea will remain unknown until she takes a direct hit from it once more.
――Take a hit from Ea...? No way. Even with the sheath, I would not be able to get up after being hit.[l]
But there is no other way to win.
It is a matter of how to grasp that slight chance.
Usually, she selects the best choice by instinct and follows that view.
But right now, she cannot even feel it with her instincts.
Probably because the probability of victory is so low and the chance of a comeback is pretty much zero.
"―――――!"
But still, she must fight.
For Shirou who abandoned his protection to give her back her sheath――
She cannot be defeated here by him.
"...I see. It seems you will not be convinced without a complete loss."
More weapons appear.
They move without Gilgamesh touching them and they aim at Saber.
The weapons, whose handles were only visible before, all show blades now and await their master's order.
This is this knight's way of fighting.
From the beginning, Gilgamesh has never been a swordsman.
These Noble Phantasms are produced in the air and become bullets at their master's command.
That is why he is called Archer.
This Servant is an archer with the strongest arrows.
"Do your best to avoid them.
If you do well, you shall only be stabbed in the limbs!"
"――!"
With one command, the godspeed rain of swords begins.
Each one has fatal power.
"...!"
She eludes every one of them like a falling leaf――!
A sword from the front,
a spear from the left,
a polearm from below and above,
a three-edged sword arcing and attacking from behind,
a swing from a hammer bigger than she is――!
She blocks, repels, dodges, and twists her body away from the last attack...!
"Ha――a, ah――!"
Breathing hard, Saber recovers the stance she was driven out of.
――In that instant.
She sees them behind her enemy.
Behind Gilgamesh.
The Noble Phantasms are already produced: 47 of them――!
"Ku――guh...!"
She jumps full force.
Many Noble Phantasms stab into the ground as not to let her escape.
In the rain of Noble Phantasms, she is hit time after time.
Her armor is destroyed, her gauntlets pierced, and even the pieces covering her feet are pierced.
Saber manages to avoid a fatal wound even in this danger, but then sees the worst thing possible.
On the other side of the rain of Noble Phantasms...
As if to finish off a fleeing enemy, Gilgamesh is pulling out his favorite sword――!
Ea――!
She stops her jump.
She lands right away and pours magical energy into her holy sword.
But will it be in time?
Wind roars. The blade of light is revealed and she raises her sword without waiting for the wind to fully unseal.
"EX――"
She does not even bother with the rain of Noble Phantasms and swings her holy sword with all the speed possible.
"Enuma Elish――!"
But it is too late.
Pounding through his own Noble Phantasms, Gilgamesh swings his sword――
"Guh――!"
I kick away the mucus around my ankle.
My clothes are burnt away and my skin is exposed.
"――Guh, uh――!"
I jump back from the striking tentacle.
I can't feel my right ankle and I can't even tell if it's there, but I jump into the open field in front of me.
"Ha――Haa, ha, ah――!"
I check my body as I roll.
Ankle. All right, it's still there. I just can't feel it. If it's there, I should be able to run.
"Ah――haa, haa, ah――!"
I jump in a different direction again to avoid the striking mud.
I hear a splashing sound right next to me.
The smell of the ground burning forces my dizzy head awake and――
"――!!!!!!"
Fire runs up my back.
"Ha, guh, guh――!"
I shake it off and jump to an empty space.
That must have been the end of this attack.
The black mud that was surrounding me has disappeared from view for now――
"Ha――aa...Ah."
...I bite my lip.
I ran so much, but in the end...
I'm pushed back to here again.
"Ha―――― haa, haa, ha――"
I breathe hard and look at him so as not to lose in spirit.
...Kotomine has not moved at all. He has just watched me run around.
"Haa... haa, haa, haa, haa――"
...No matter how hard I breathe, my heart won't calm down.
It's saying it's at its limits and it needs rest. It's about to go out on its own if I don't let it rest.
"Kuh――ha, haa, ha, ah――"
I can't do anything.
I can't get near Kotomine nor get through that black mud.
...I'm not going to hold back on using the 'projection' magecraft.
If I can't move forward, I can reproduce Saber's sword again.
It'll surely be able to slice through that black mud and I can go straight for Kotomine.
"Hm? Is that all? Tell me if you have given up."
The instant he speaks...[r]
"Haa――ah, ha――!?"
Lots of mud comes splashing toward me, telling me I cannot let myself stop.
"Kuh――!"
I raise myself and barely dodge the mud.
...The mud itself isn't too bad.
It's slow compared to Saber's shinai, and it only comes where it's aimed, so it's easy to dodge.
But that's only true when there's only one of them.
I can't deal with tens of mud attacks, the ones that come from behind me the instant I dodge them.
As a result, I can only move around. Even then, mud covers me bit by bit.
"Guh, damn――!"
There's no time to rest.
I can't reproduce a sword like this.
"Projection" magecraft tracing a weapon from the beginning requires at least one minute of concentration.
If I show such an opening, I'll be melted down to my bones.
"Haa――ha, ha, ha, ah――!"
The parts of my body covered with mud have lost sensation.
The only good thing is that I don't feel any pain, but I won't know if I'm dead or not when that mud covers my whole body.
I'm finished when that happens, and most of all――I'll have melted away by then.
"Haa――ha, ha, ha, ah――!"
All I can do is run.
I know it's only a matter of time even if I do, but I have to keep running for now.
I won't have any luck getting near Kotomine while I'm dodging this mud.
I can't get close now. Waiting behind Kotomine is a pool of mud.
If there's any chance of getting near him, it'll be when I do something about this mud――
"Ow――damn, oh――!?"
"―――――!"
I-I can't believe it...! Who on earth would trip at a time like this!?
"―――――"
Kotomine looks down at me like trash.
He points his finger at me, and many snakes show their veins.
"...!"
I get up.
I try to get up, but fall again.
"――Eh?"
I fall.
I fall.
The snakes are coming.
But I still fall.
Why?
Why?
Why?
Black mud comes for my neck.
Why?
Oh, I see why.
My right ankle is unbelievably black――
"――So, that is it.
I hoped I would be able to have a little fun, but you are Kiritsugu's son after all. You people are useless."
"Wha――"
...I raise my head.
...I'm still conscious.
My wrists and neck are held by mud like chains, but I still retain my senses.
"...! Why don't you finish me off?"
"I will soon enough. But just doing that would not be all that fun. You are Kiritsugu's fake, so the debt Kiritsugu owes me from ten years ago shall be returned with your death."
"―――――"
...The skin with mud on it is burning.
It feels like acid is slowly seeping through the pores of my skin.
I grit my teeth, bear it, and check on my right ankle.
...It's totally black.
I can't feel it nor can I move it at all. I'll have to take the mud out of my body, or put magical energy into it to move the clotted blood in there.
...Either way, the moment I move it, all the muscle in my right ankle will be destroyed.
"I see. I don't care about that, but――why do you hate Kiritsugu so much? Was it so annoying to you that Kiritsugu destroyed the Holy Grail?"
"It is just hatred for a similar person. Kiritsugu and I were alike, so everything he did got on my nerves. It is the same as the way you feel hatred toward me."
"Wha――shut up...! Don't you dare say that Kiritsugu is like you...!"
I raise my body up with my arms and glare at him.
I don't know what's so funny, but he makes that evil smile.
"I see. It must be so for you.
After all, he was a good enough person to let me go.
He defeated me, the cause of that disaster, but he did not take my life.
You should know that was a mistake.
If he had killed me, those orphans would have been able to lead a peaceful life."
"――Y...!"
"You should not be able to retort. But it was unpleasant for me as well.
The fact that such a cold-hearted magus left me alive... it was unpleasant."
...That again.
Saber said it too that Kiritsugu was a great magus and that he would do anything to accomplish his goals.
But that's――
"But that was not his mistake.
The mistake he made is that he thought this war had ended with the destruction of the Holy Grail.
That is why he did not tell you anything, optimistically thinking that the Holy Grail War was over, and died stained in this curse."
"He was certainly a fool. He let the one who cursed him go and as a result, died within a few years.
Believing that he had accomplished his goal and that the Holy Grail War had ended."
"―――――!"
Hold on.
Then, what?
Kiritsugu died because of this guy?
And that peaceful face he had on the night of his death was...
"Oh, let me ask you one last question.
What was Kiritsugu's last moment like? Did he give something to you as his son and pass away with satisfaction?
Ha, how foolish can he be.
He accomplished nothing and pushed the responsibility onto you. His passing must have been ridiculous...!"
"――YOU――!!!"
I kick off the ground.
I drove magical energy into my right foot and moved it by force.
"Gi――!"
I ignore my tearing muscles and run to him on all fours like a dog――!
"――Yes.
I would expect at least that much spirit."
Kotomine raises his hand toward the waterfall behind him.
"―――――"
What is he thinking?
That is a 'curse' so strong that it's visible.
You could call it magical energy specialized for destroying people.
There is nothing you can do with it as it cannot be reshaped or anything.
Anybody that touches that mud will be stained with a strong "curse" and will be melted as if digested.
In the process.
The pain and fear before death remain as magical energy and become the next "curse" to seek out living people.
So, you die if you touch it.
Anyone who touches it will die unless they can get the mud out of their body.
...The priest stuck his hand in that waterfall of mud, but he doesn't stop smiling.
"This is your reward. Die in the same manner as Kiritsugu."
In his hand is a black darkness.
I sense that it is something completely different, and――
The world is attacked by a sudden flash of light.
The moment I realize that the light is from Saber's Noble Phantasm...
"――Angra Manyu――"
The priest's words instantly turn the world black.
Scene 12
――The moon is distant.
The clouds have cleared and the darkness has a dim blue glow.
Daybreak is close.
The long night is about to end.
――This is the final moment.
Going through the night, Saber and I have reached our final destination.
"――Shirou, this is..."
Saber sounds tense.
I feel the same way.
As I nod, I can feel sweat dripping down my neck.
...The mountain feels like one big living thing.
The wind coming down from the mountain gate is warm, and the shaking trees seem like breathing lungs.
Chills and pressure assail me every time I take a step.
No――the air really is thick and wet.
"...magical energy is dense here. This is just like ten years ago. I expect..."
...The summoning of the Holy Grail has begun or it's already over.
Either way, that must mean that Lancer has fallen to Gilgamesh.
"――I'm going to make sure, Saber.
After we reach the top, all that's left is to fight. You take care of Gilgamesh, so I'll take care of his Master――Kotomine.
We won't assist each other. ...We just have to beat one of our opponents."
"Yes. I will concentrate on my own fight this time. And Kotomine is an enemy you must defeat."
"...Yeah. Leave him to me. You too Saber. Don't let that guy beat you."
"...Yes. I will swear on my pride that he will not defeat me. Not as a Servant, but as a heroic spirit, I cannot allow him to beat me."
Saber says so strongly without hesitation or distress.
So there's nothing more to say.
We will go to battle and determine the winner as the last remaining Masters.
――Even if in the process...
If one of us dies, the other need only defeat their enemy.
Even if I die, if Saber beats Gilgamesh, Kotomine won't be able to obtain the Holy Grail.
At the same time, even if Saber dies――if I defeat Kotomine, Gilgamesh won't be able to stay in this world.
...So there's no need to help each other.
Our battles have already gone their separate ways.
Red light fills the mountaintop.
The blowing wind is getting stronger and it seems the source of it is that light――coming from the back of the grounds.
The red phosphorescence scatters on the wind, and the grounds is too bright for nighttime.
Stagnant air filled with the presence of death.
―――――This is...
Like the fire back then.
"―――――"
But it isn't like that.
Within all this red light, something is about to emerge.
...From the back of the building.
A black darkness oozing in the bright red.
If this clearing is like a clear lake, that mud is like an oil spill.
"――You are finally here. I have been waiting for you, Saber."
He is there, within all the rich colors.
Ignoring the blood red and the death-stained black.
The Servant clad in gold is waiting for us――no, for Saber in the middle of this place.
"And the time is about right. The Holy Grail has finally moved into action and the void has just opened.
This curse is the contents of the Holy Grail, the Third Element which keeps us Servants in this world.
――This is what you splashed me with ten years ago."
Gilgamesh is only looking at Saber.
It goes the same for Saber.
She takes a step forward and points her sword at the knight in front of her.
"――That is good spirit.
That strong spirit, even though you know you cannot defeat me. It is indeed suitable to end this party, but――"
"I do not want any intrusions. You lowlife, disappear right now if you want to see Kotomine. He is waiting for you at the altar."
"――!"
Kotomine is waiting.
...I glance at Saber.
She nods while looking at Gilgamesh.
Her figure tells me...
That she is wishing me her best.
――I turn around.
The one I need to face isn't here.
Behind me.
As I run, I hear the battle start.
At the back of the building.
Behind the main temple is a large lake.
Untouched by humans, the lake is holy as if a dragon king lives in it.
The clear blue water is pure and the lake isn't even murky.
But that's all in the past.
The lake now has none of these characteristics.
The red light is in front of my eyes.
And the sea of black tar.
――And――
The "void" created in the air and the girl presented as a sacrifice.
"――Koto... mine...!"
My calm mind instantly goes over the limit.
I stop and glare at my enemy.
"Welcome, Emiya Shirou. The last surviving Master."
He smiles sarcastically and opens his arms to welcome me.
...This is the site of our battle.
This is the altar of the summoning in this Holy Grail War.
"――Let Illya down. I'll beat you up after that."
I glare at Kotomine.
...There's about ten meters between us.
The fight will begin if I move another step.
...Once the fight starts, I'll have to run straight at him and stab him in the chest.
But before that, I have to do something about Illya――
"Hey. Didn't you hear me? I told you to let Illya down. What's so fun about torturing a kid?"
"I understand your feelings, but I cannot do that. The Holy Grail has appeared, but the void is yet unstable.
My wish will not come true unless she bears this until she dies."
Until she dies――then Illya is still alive...!
"...I see. If you have no intention of letting her down, I'll just have to use force.
I'll stop your wish――that black mud, right now."
"...Oh. So this must appear to be my wish to you. ――As expected from the son of Kiritsugu.
I did not expect two generations to make the same mistake."
"Wh――at?"
"There is no reason to explain things to someone who does not understand the Holy Grail. You may fulfill your role as the last Master with that misunderstanding."
"――!"
I jump.
There's about ten meters between us. Keeping that distance, I jump sideways.
"―――――"
This is the result of my instincts of not wanting to die...
...Surpassing my desire to kill him.
"――!"
I roll sideways onto the ground.
I stop instantly and look up.
"That's――!"
I look at the place I was running over.
A sound of burning.
The burning sound is coming from the black mud, stretching out from the lake.
...It's like a black carpet.
The mud slashed like a whip, attacking me as I went after Kotomine, and left a mark on the ground.
"I forgot to tell you, but you are already within my range. And to add, this thing is sensitive to living beings.
――I do not mind you moving, but you will die if you move carelessly."
"――!"
I jump to avoid the black mud mercilessly attacking me.
Screw moving carelessly. He's ready to kill me...!
"Damn――you fake priest...!"
I stand up, still keeping watch over the lake.
...The distance to Kotomine hasn't changed.
That means this ten meters is as near as he wants me to get.
...But that tentacle of mud stretches without limit.
It will come after me if he wants it to, and I'm sure there are more than one――
"Oh, so you are ready to fight. That pleases me.
I could not kill you if you were to run away, but there will be no problem if you attack me.
I serve God, so I cannot kill someone who is pleading for their life."
...The tentacle whips out.
The quivering mud coming from the lake is like a black snake.
"―――――"
...I bite my lip.
This is the worst situation as I thought.
The number of snakes continues to increase without end.
I don't know how long I can survive, let alone how I can get close to him――
"It is only natural for you to be unable to win.
There is a large difference in the years we have lived. It is a difference you cannot overcome unless you have something major."
The priest raises his hands.
He glares at the heavens as if he is conducting an orchestra.
"――Put your life on the line.
You might be able to reach me if you do so―――!"
He releases the black snakes.
"Guh――!"
I kick away the mucus around my ankle.
My clothes are burnt away and my skin is exposed.
"――Guh, uh――!"
I jump back from the striking tentacle.
I can't feel my right ankle and I can't even tell if it's there, but I jump into the open field in front of me.
"Ha――Haa, ha, ah――!"
I check my body as I roll.
Ankle. All right, it's still there. I just can't feel it. If it's there, I should be able to run.
"Ah――haa, haa, ah――!"
I jump in a different direction again to avoid the striking mud.
I hear a splashing sound right next to me.
The smell of the ground burning forces my dizzy head awake and――
"――!!!!!!"
Fire runs up my back.
"Ha, guh, guh――!"
I shake it off and jump to an empty space.
That must have been the end of this attack.
The black mud that was surrounding me has disappeared from view for now――
"Ha――aa...Ah."
...I bite my lip.
I ran so much, but in the end...
I'm pushed back to here again.
"Ha―――― haa, haa, ha――"
I breathe hard and look at him so as not to lose in spirit.
...Kotomine has not moved at all. He has just watched me run around.
"Haa... haa, haa, haa, haa――"
...No matter how hard I breathe, my heart won't calm down.
It's saying it's at its limits and it needs rest. It's about to go out on its own if I don't let it rest.
"Kuh――ha, haa, ha, ah――"
I can't do anything.
I can't get near Kotomine nor get through that black mud.
...I'm not going to hold back on using the 'projection' magecraft.
If I can't move forward, I can reproduce Saber's sword again.
It'll surely be able to slice through that black mud and I can go straight for Kotomine.
"Hm? Is that all? Tell me if you have given up."
The instant he speaks...[r]
"Haa――ah, ha――!?"
Lots of mud comes splashing toward me, telling me I cannot let myself stop.
"Kuh――!"
I raise myself and barely dodge the mud.
...The mud itself isn't too bad.
It's slow compared to Saber's shinai, and it only comes where it's aimed, so it's easy to dodge.
But that's only true when there's only one of them.
I can't deal with tens of mud attacks, the ones that come from behind me the instant I dodge them.
As a result, I can only move around. Even then, mud covers me bit by bit.
"Guh, damn――!"
There's no time to rest.
I can't reproduce a sword like this.
"Projection" magecraft tracing a weapon from the beginning requires at least one minute of concentration.
If I show such an opening, I'll be melted down to my bones.
"Haa――ha, ha, ha, ah――!"
The parts of my body covered with mud have lost sensation.
The only good thing is that I don't feel any pain, but I won't know if I'm dead or not when that mud covers my whole body.
I'm finished when that happens, and most of all――I'll have melted away by then.
"Haa――ha, ha, ha, ah――!"
For now, all I can do is run.
If there's any chance of getting near him, it'll be when I do something about this mud――
"Ow――damn, oh――!?"
"―――――!"
I-I can't believe it...! Who on earth would trip at a time like this!?
"―――――"
Kotomine looks down at me like trash.
He points his finger at me, and many snakes show their veins.
"...!"
I get up.
I try to get up, but fall again.
"――Eh?"
I fall.
I fall.
The snakes are coming.
But I still fall.
Why?
Why?
Why?
Black mud comes for my neck.
Why?
Oh, I see why.
My right ankle is unbelievably black――
"――Ah."
Black mud rains down.
It spills onto my body like a rainstorm, melts it, and drowns my despair――
Scene 13
――Her vision blinded by the light is filled with darkness.
If she were conscious, she would have known it was the ultimate black light.
"―――――"
The darkness was only for an instant.
But it is not darkness, but a swarm of grain-sized curses.
The darkness swept her body away and she regained consciousness from the unpleasant sensation.
"Oh――"
She gasps.
The first thing she feels after consciousness returns is pain.
Skin that was protected by armor is burned, her body is pierced and slashed, and she is in a miserable state.
"I... see――I――"
...Lost to Ea.
She was cornered by Gilgamesh's Noble Phantasms, could not block them, and took a hit from Ea as well.
She managed to offset it a bit with Excalibur, but her body is wounded too badly.
The wound is healing without magical energy, but even the protection of the sheath will not return her to normal instantly.
――There...
"This is it, Saber. Do not tell me you refuse to admit your defeat in that state."
Gilgamesh approaches, without a scratch.
"......"
Still on the ground, Saber looks up at her enemy.
She cannot do anything right now.
The man can do whatever he wants with her.
"...Gilgamesh. That light was..."
In spite of that, this is what she worries about.
That flash of light.
That black darkness from the back of the compound that covered the earth for an instant.
...She does not want to think about it, but that darkness might have been aimed at Shirou.
"That light? You should be able to tell. It is a great curse.
Kotomine must have summoned it straight from the Holy Grail. I hear that Holy Grail holds something that could curse everything in this world.
The pollution you've seen up to now is just the remains of what came out of the Holy Grail.
The primary curse has been summoned. Your Master should no longer be alive."
"――No, that cannot be..."
She concentrates all her power.
...She knows her body will not move.
But she cannot abide just lying on the ground.
"No――Shirou is alive. He is still――"
Certainly, she still feels the connection with her Master.
It is weak and ready to go out, but Emiya Shirou is still alive.
So she must go.
If the enemy is something so unforeseeable, Shirou cannot match it――
"Guh――!"
Using the warmth inside her, she tries to get up.
"Ah――kuh..."
But it was useless.
Even the sheath of the holy sword will require a few more minutes to heal her body.
"It is too late. Stay still, Saber.
The Holy Grail will overflow whatever you do. The events of ten years ago will reoccur. But this ritual is for your benefit, not mine."
Looking up at the red burning sky, the golden knight smiles.
"Rejoice, Saber. If you are showered with it, you will become like me. You will have a body in this world and be able to enjoy your second life.
Though, I am not sure you will be able to keep your sanity as I did."
"Wha――"
Saber looks up at her enemy in amazement.
Saber can tell that thing is a great curse.
It is a magnificent cluster of magical energy and any magecraft should be possible with that amount. ...If it were Caster using it, nothing would be impossible.
But it is a double-edged sword.
That thing can only curse people.
If immersed in such a thing, even a heroic spirit would be unable to keep themselves together.
"......"
That makes her realize.
The Servant in front of her.
This knight called the oldest king of heroes... he was swallowed by that pollution ten years ago.
So――
"Gilgamesh, you――"
He has gone insane already――
"――Oh. You think so?"
Laughing, Gilgamesh looks down at Saber.
His face looks crazy――and it suits him.
"Do not take me so lowly. How can I be a hero if I cannot swallow a curse such as this?
All evils of the world? Heh, bring at least three times as much as that if you want to stain me.
See, Saber. A hero is someone who carries with them everything they see.
――I am already carrying everything in this world."
"―――――"
Saber gasps quietly at his words.
...She will never be able to come to terms with this heroic spirit.
His arrogant thinking, his selfishness to consider himself the greatest, and his merciless nature that never thinks of others.
This is different from the path of the king she chose. A set of beliefs that will never overlap with hers.
But this man still is a king.
She can say that with confidence.
Of all the Servants, this man is the only one who would be capable of keeping his sanity after being soaked in that vast curse.
"――Hmm, yes. Making you swallow the mud is good, but it is no fun if you go crazy because of that. Well, let us hold our marriage now."
"――!"
"Gilgamesh, you――!"
"What? Do you dislike being treated roughly?
Then get used to it. I do not hold myself back on women or food. I plunder and eat them at my leisure."
"――!"
Held upside down, Saber glares at Gilgamesh.
"...Hm. So you honor your Master as a Servant, I see. Ridiculous. I cannot believe you gave him your body just because of the binds of the Command Spell."
"――You are wrong. Do not misunderstand, Gilgamesh.
I do not obey anyone. My body has never had such freedom."
"...Oh. Then you will not be mine no matter what?"
His red eyes pierce Saber.
There's no human emotion.
He will kill if she disobeys. He will just kill her no matter how attached he was to her.
These are his true feelings, Gilgamesh's truth.
"―――――"
Saber stares back at Gilgamesh, not averting her gaze.
"――Gilgamesh. I will not become anyone's.
I already belong to my country. My body is a king before I am a woman."
She does not say it to anyone.
She just says so, feeling the small warmth still within her body.
"Ha, so that is your answer!?
Do not make me laugh, Saber. A country is just a possession. If he cannot rule everything, there is no need for a transcendental being like the king.
Geez――King Arthur, that is why your own country destroyed you."
The golden knight sneers at her immaturity.
"―――――"
...That brings back her determination.
"Yes, you are correct. ――But, King of Heroes.
That is why you destroyed your own country――!"
A roared yell full of spirit.
Saber uses her whole body to kick Gilgamesh in the face with her free leg!
"Wha――!?"
Gilgamesh lets go.
Saber stays upside-down and jumps using her arms.
"You would stomp on a man!? You must really want to be disciplined, Saber...!!"
She closes her eyes and looks within herself.
'That is why you were destroyed by your own country.'[r]
...She already knew that.
She has heard those words over and over since she was summoned as Saber.
But that man is different.
He was mad like it was his own affair, but still――he thought that it was something to be proud of.
So there is only one thing that must be done.
Even if there is not the slightest chance of winning, she cannot stop here.
While the warmth is still in her heart.
She must run to her master as fast as possible.
"――!"
"―――――"
About eight meters to Gilgamesh.
She places herself at the best range she found earlier.
...Her body will not move as she wishes.
Her legs do not have even a tenth of their original power and the arms holding her sword are weak.
She will fall without being able to block no matter what kind of a weak attack she receives.
But――there are no openings in Saber's stance nor is there any hesitation.
"...
Let me ask you..."
Gilgamesh has to prepare himself seeing her like that.
The golden knight readies Ea and looks at his opponent.
"Are you sane?"
"―――――"
Saber does not answer.
Her eyes show her determination.
"――All right. I will not hold back in that case."
The air roars.
The sword of separation, Ea. A sword said in ancient Mesopotamia to have divided and created the world.
Gilgamesh's sword of separation roars to exterminate its enemy for sure this time.
The swirl of air and the magical energy within it far exceed Excalibur.
"――Disappear. You are annoying, woman."
Ea is raised.
Saber raises her sword to match it.
"―――――"
"―――――"
Their gazes meet only for an instant.
"Enuma Elish――"
Gilgamesh's sword is swung.
"Kuh――!?"
But Saber's sword falls without power as she is unable to activate the Noble Phantasm.
――The light that cuts everything charges.
Unable to do anything, she is swallowed by the light.
The instant I am swallowed by the darkness...
...Hell is printed into my brain.
The starting penalty is five. Life penalty, body penalty, freedom penalty, fame penalty, fortune penalty. Give the penalty that extends so much punishment, mud, darkness, and malice. "Elimination of human rights by castration, exile, execution" "Torture and sadism upon the body through digestion" "Denial by consensus of the colony that eliminates all honor"
"Scorn from judgment and selfishness that takes away men's fortunes." death penalty penal servitude imprisonment custody fine penalty, crime from a grudge, crime from self-interest, unconscious crime, self-conscious crime, civil war, inducement, false statement, theft, robbery, kidnap, suicide, rape, arson, bombing, violation, negligent homicide, mass violence, death at work, overconfident accident,
misdiagnosis, concealment, violation for benefit, violation for self-protection, violation for love, violation for respect, selfish ▅▅▅▅. Stealing fraudulent fraud concealment murder theft crime crime personal grudge attack attack attack attack dirty dirty dirty you are dirty atone atone atone atone every violence every crime every victim atone for everything "This world is ruled by something not human" Know the conscience to reform crimes.
Know the penalty to reform crimes. People's kindness is here. There is so much it cannot be noticed. Know the violence to hide crimes. Know the power to hide crimes. People's malignance is here. It is so rare that it is noticed. A hundred kindnesses and one malignance. Malignance shines bright to keep the balance and exists as a great "evil" to compete with the masses of kindness. The starting penalty is five
▊▊▊for self ▊▊▊for self ▊▊▊for self ▊▊▊for self ▊▊▊for self ▊▊▊for self ▊▊▊for self ▊▊▊for self ▊▊▊for self ▊▊▊for self ▊▊▊for self ▊▊▊for self ▊▊▊for self ▊▊▊for self ▊▊▊for self inducement, false statement, theft, robbery, kidnap, suicide, rape, arson, infringement, dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty you are dirty atone atone atone atone atone atone every violence every crime every victim atone atone atone with death!!!!!!
"――Ah"
My brain explodes.
The mud eating away at my body remains and steals my warmth mercilessly.
I am crushed by the thing seeping in through all five senses.
Darkness I cannot look at directly.
Ugliness I cannot acknowledge.
Crimes I want to run away from.
Every crime of the people in this world.
That is why I am going to die.
One trapped in this darkness will eat themselves to death from pain and hatred.
――But.
Kotomine said...
That this curse killed Kiritsugu.
That fact knocks away every darkness.
――Warmth returns to my body.
Blood flows through my beaten up body and makes it stand.
It's only natural.
Such a thing.
Emiya Kiritsugu had been burdened with this for many years.
He was pressed by the voices for atonement and died unable to fulfill his wish?
He said he wanted to become a superhero.
He ran around trying to help someone, but could not get anyone's permission for that. Yet, he still did what he could to pursue the ideals he had abandoned.
In the end, he was relieved by something a kid said and nodded to himself that everything was okay.
"Agh――ah, ah――"
So I have to stand up.
I relieved Kiritsugu and promised that I'd become one.
If Emiya Shirou is really that superhero's son, then I can't let the bad guy beat me.
――Tohsaka said...
I should win no matter what.
――Saber said...
He is an enemy that I must defeat.
――Even Kotomine said...
If I'm going to fight, I should put my life on the line.
They're right. What else can I bet if I won't bet my life?
From the beginning, I have nothing else to give.
"AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"
I leap desperately out of the dense black mud.
"――!?"
I can hear his bewilderment.
My throat is burning.
My windpipe tears every time I breathe and it feels like I'm swallowing pieces of glass.
"Higi――gi, gii, ah――"
I don't care.
Tears are welling up from anger.
I'm going to go crazy from anger before I go crazy from the curse.
"――Impossible. You managed to shake that thing off――!?"
"Kotomine Kirei――!"
I push my body and run.
I put one hand behind my back.
I grab the dagger I've hidden until now.
"――I am astonished. I thought you escaped that thing, but you have a simple mind. It seems you have run out of ideas――"
"Shut up! I never had any plans in the first place...!"
I run.
Kotomine sticks his hand into the waterfall behind him and extracts another clump of darkness.
"Then you can follow your Servant. That previous light was Saber being defeated. You have no one to help you now."
"―――――"
All my hesitations disappear.
If I do reach Kotomine, I think his biggest mistake was that line.
Because the Command Spell is on my left hand.
It's the only proof I have.
As long as my Command Spell exists, Saber exists.
If she exists――she must have defeated Gilgamesh by now and she'll be heading over here.
I think Saber will be angry if I don't greet her with open arms.
――So I will defeat you now.
To fulfill the last promise I made with her.
Darkness approaches.
A great curse is released from Kotomine's hand.
...My body melts from my fingertips.
"―――――!"
I won't look away.
If this is my role―――there is still something I can do――!
"Enuma Elish――!"
A dislocation runs through space.
With a flash of light and a roar of wind, the swirl of destruction is set loose from Ea.
"Kuh――!"
With that in front of her, Saber could not even use her Noble Phantasm.
She lowers her sword and moves her body forward as if she's falling.
――The light approaches.
She cannot avoid it with her injured legs, and there is no shield in this world that could block Ea.
A storm of light and wind that will destroy everything in its path.
Nothing can stand against the true name of Ea.
That is a fact that cannot be changed.
――Yes.
Until a few hours ago.
"――!?"
The one surprised is not Saber, but the golden knight bearing Ea.
Ea is still emitting magical energy and bringing forth destruction.
But Saber steps forward into that tumbling storm of light.
"――!"
Her armor screams out.
Cracks run through every wall of magical energy protecting her.
In the period shorter than a second that they endure the attack, Saber steps up to Gilgamesh and...
"EXCALIBUR――!"
She opposes Ea's destruction with the greatest power she is permitted――!
Heat and light rumble wildly.
The crash of the greatest swords push against each other with pure power, creating a boundary in space.
But――is it not useless?
Excalibur cannot beat Ea.
Even if she approaches at the risk of her life, she can only push back just a little.
The balance easily favors Ea and Excalibur's light is repelled back along with Saber.
"――I see, you must have lost your mind...!"
Readying Ea, the golden knight looks at the enemy approaching him again and puts magical energy into Ea.
This will be it.
He will totally annihilate Saber with all his power.
Ea's turns reach their maximum speed and the light surrounding Saber mows down Excalibur.
――But just before that.
Saber's body jumps forward.
A small space created by Excalibur, a place where she can take one more step...
The instant she reaches it...
Her Noble Phantasm appears.
The darkness becomes a raging wind to cover Emiya Shirou.
There is no way to avoid it and the concept of blocking is useless against a curse that paints space itself.
Those swallowed by this darkness will be absorbed by it like the painted space.
"Ag――!"
Body melts from the fingertips.
Legs moving forward step onto empty space, and arms reaching out are already invisible in the black mud.
Emiya Shirou will be eliminated from the outside.
Attacked by a feeling that his body is shrinking, Emiya Shirou still does not accept death.
"Ha――ah, guh――!"
Without looking away, he rejects it with all his might.
The darkness surrounding the body, the pain trying to melt the body, and the curse trying to melt the mind.
"――! ――――!"
But they are futile attempts.
There is no way for a mere human to resist the pollution.
The body is still moving.
The arm raised to grab something is still raised.
But the mind is already destroyed.
The mind is already painted in black, and the body should disappear into darkness as well.
In that moment...
'――You were my...'[l]
Why is that voice remembered?
"―――――"
A light turns on in the darkness.
The instant the eyes realize the light is "that light", everything reverses.
"―――――"
The hammer comes knocking down.
The mind accelerates, crackles with sparks, creates the shape with unbelievable speed.
"――Trace, on."
The spell to begin the projection is murmured.
In an instant.
It is completed, omitting every step of manufacture.
...That is right. There was no need to reproduce it from scratch.
Because this shape was engraved in the body. It is perfect in memory as it was part of Emiya Shirou's body.
'――You were my sheath――'
The arm reaching out still moves.
The weapon created without concentration or spellcasting is grabbed.
The world changes completely as the darkness is destroyed by a golden light and――in Emiya Shirou's hand is the perfectly reproduced sheath of Saber.
――And like that.
With Ea straight ahead of her, her Noble Phantasm is activated.
"Wh――at――!?"
That which is released and scattered before her is the holy sword's sheath.
No one knows what kind of a divine mystery it is made from, but the sheath repels all light emitted by Ea.
No. It goes beyond the level of "defending".
It is complete isolation.
The barrier of fairyland that keeps out all filth from the outside lands. A complete world separate from this one that can never be reached.
As Saber is protected by the sheath of the holy sword, she is blocked off from all matter in this world.
The greatest protection in this world.
The greatest that cannot be infringed by anything not even by the five True Magics.
For that reason, the sheath is named Avalon, All is a Distant Utopia.
The place where King Arthur is said to have gone after his death. The utopia the king dreamed of that will never be reached.
"―――――"
Gilgamesh sees the death running up his spine.
But he won't make it.
The raised Ea will not stop turning, and Gilgamesh cannot manage to jump back.
It is only natural.
Who would even think that an attack with this much magical energy and this much power could be blocked...!?
"Guhhh...!! Damn, such a trick――!"
"―――――"
Blue clothes run in.
There is no armor on Saber.
She has released the armor protecting her, put the magical energy gained into her sword, and――
"EX――"
"SABER――!!!!!"
A scream from the king of heroes.
With that before her...
"CALIBUR――!!"
The sword splits the golden knight in two with an attack using all her might.
All darkness is blown away the instant the sheath is grabbed.
The darkness surrounding Emiya Shirou, the darkness contaminating his body――everything is dispersed.
"Wh――at?"
This is no reason to be surprised.
The sheath of the holy sword protects its possessor.
The embodiment of the utopia she sought cannot lose to this dirty mud――!
He runs.
At the moment he is released from the darkness, his speed is like that of a shooting star.
"Projection――? Just who are you――!?"
The one overestimating their ability, and the one who cannot even spare to think about such things.
The difference is only an instant, but an instant that decides the outcome.
"Kotomine Kirei――!"
Still falling, Emiya Shirou runs on his hands as well.
In one hand is the dagger.
In a crouching position, running to the black priest...
"――!"
The sword of retribution is stabbed into the priest's chest.
"――!"
The priest turns slowly.
Before that...
Stopping himself with his feet, Emiya Shirou jumps back.
Wind comes down.
The priest turns to face the enemy who stabbed him.
At the same time, two impacts pierce Kotomine Kirei.
The spinning body and all the magical energy in his right hand.
He punches the dagger in the priest's chest and――
"L[auml][szlig]t――!"
The magical energy is poured into the Azoth sword along with the word of release.
The golden sword was swung.
She must not even have the energy to raise it back up.
Saber keeps her sword and her face down.
Slashed up, the man beholds the knight that has defeated him.
"―――――"
The sound of wind echoes through the compound.
The waves of light like a flood are no more.
The two knights share no words as they place themselves in a parting called the battle's end.
"―――――"
And the man sighs.
He raises his weak hand and touches the cheek of the knight in front of him as if making sure she exists.
"――You are a hateful woman. You oppose me to the very end."
The golden armor starts to fade away.
The existence of the king of heroes is disappearing.
"But I shall forgive you. Some things are beautiful because they cannot be obtained."
His fingers slip.
His raised arm falls powerlessly to the ground.
"Heh――and if that is the case, then it was inevitable that I would lose to you."
He says it sullenly.
And in his final moments...
"Goodbye, king of knights. ――It was indeed fun."
He smiles ironically and disappears.
Sparks fly onto the priest's uniform.
The sparks are coming from the dagger in his chest.
No chunks of flesh or blood are flying out.
But still――the battle here is over as well.
"―――――"
He doesn't even look at me.
He is just looking down at the dagger in his chest in disbelief.
"―――――"
The wind is blowing.
The wind coming from the "void" above eliminates the sounds around it.
In the rumbling silence...
"――Why do you have this sword?"
Kotomine Kirei murmurs in a clear voice.
"It's not mine. I borrowed it from Tohsaka."
"―――――"
How long was he thinking?
He sighs and the body that he hasn't moved since the beginning of our confrontation finally moves.
"I see. There indeed was a time when I gave it to some girl on a whim. I believe it was ten years ago.
――I see. No wonder I have become weak."
He falls.
The body of the priest falls to the ground.
"―――――"
...I watch it all.
He has talked about himself like he was someone else until the very end.
And the priest sinks into that which he summoned, that which he wished for.
That is the end of the man called Kotomine Kirei.
――And the true end of the long battle.
Scene 14
With Saber helping me walk, I make it back home.
The wound on my chest hasn't healed yet.
According to Saber, I should stay still for at least a few more hours.
"―――――"
I bite my lip.
I hate my body, unable to move when it's clear what needs to be done.
"...Shirou. Were you considering something rash just now?"
"Eh――? N-No, I wasn't thinking about anything."
"I will get angry if you push yourself too hard.
We will go into battle as soon as your wound heals. ――This will be our last battle, so let us face it in our best condition."
"...Right. We have to prepare and not be impatient."
――Where Kotomine went.
How we beat Gilgamesh.
There are many things to think about.
I have to rest for now and prepare myself for later tonight.
At that instant, my mind stops.
"Eh――?"
There's no sign of anyone.
The air is different.
Amidst the smell of burning, I can also smell the strong scent of blood――
"――"
I run.
I ignore my wound and run like I'm running away from the bad feeling I have.
I run through the hall, turn the corner, and enter the familiar room.
――There.
The scene before is me is anything but familiar.
"Toh... saka."
My voice shakes.
I don't know what happened.
All I know is that Tohsaka is looking at me, breathing weakly.
"...Oh. You're home at last... Geez, I was about to go to sleep, you idiot."
――I don't know what she intends.
But she's talking to me normally even though she has a wound that should make even talking difficult.
"Hey――don't talk, you idiot...! Damn, I have to stop the bleeding...! Saber, bring me towels, hot water, and a bowl...!"
I order Saber in a panic.
Saber nods silently and runs to the bathroom.
"――Bandages. Bandages and styptic――no, they won't do. Doctor. I have to get a doctor and do something――!"
I pull out the first aid kit still in a panic.
"...No. I've treated my own wound, so I don't need a doctor.
There's something more important though, right?"
"Wha――"
Tohsaka stares at me, breathing hard.
"―――――Tohsaka?"
...I don't know what she's on about.
But I nod, thinking that I have to listen to her for now.
"...Are you really okay?
This is――"
"It's fine. I can treat my own wounds.
But――I'm sorry. You went off trusting me, but I couldn't protect Illya."
"Eh――?"
That finally calms me down.
...Tohsaka is injured.
...The living room is destroyed.
And...
Illya should be here, but isn't.
"...Kotomine did this?"
"―――――"
She nods.
...I don't even need to ask since he's the only one left.
But only Saber and I knew that Kotomine was our enemy.
This must've been a complete surprise attack for Tohsaka.
Because the seventh Master happened to be her teacher.
"...Don't apologize. Even you wouldn't be able to do anything if you were suddenly attacked. ...In spite of what you said, you trusted Kotomine."
"――Yeah. I guess I was conceited thinking I could do everything myself."
She coughs up blood.
...Crap. I can't let her talk.
"...Let's talk later. Don't move for now. I'll treat your wounds and let you rest."
"――Yeah, please. But I have to tell you something first.
...Look, Shirou. This is my last piece of advice, so listen carefully."
"―――――"
I don't want to hear words like that.
But I nod silently.
She's looking at me seriously with that wound of hers.
I don't know if anyone would be able to stop her.
"...First. Kotomine's objective was Illya. He must've known from the beginning that she was the vessel of the Holy Grail."
"Wha――Illya is the Holy Grail......!?"
"...To be more accurate, her heart is. Magi are people with magecraft-Circuits, but Illya is a human made from a Magic Circuit.
I think she will become the vessel to summon the Holy Grail as soon as there is only one Servant left."
"――Then, Kotomine took Illya...?"
"He took her. But... guh...! As long as Saber is still alive, the path won't open. Kotomine won't try to do anything to her."
"―――――"
I can only hope so.
Lancer isn't an easy Servant to beat either.
He can't match Gilgamesh, but he might be able to at least run away.
...I can only hope so. But I can't tell Tohsaka about that right now.
"All right. I'll go save Illya, so you can depend on me."
"...I see. Then, the second thing.
I think Kotomine's at the Ryuudou Temple.
That's the best place to summon the Holy Grail.
He'll be out of the church already, so he has to be hiding at that temple."
"――Okay. So Kotomine is at Ryuudou Temple, right?"
...It must be hard for her even to move her neck now.
But Tohsaka gives a slight nod.
"Then this is the last thing. ――You won't be able to beat Kirei. Are you still going to fight him?"
The question.
This question is not asked as a friend called Tohsaka Rin, but as a magus who understands the situation.
Scene 15
"―――――"
My answer is already decided.
I have no chance of winning, and the situation is the worst possible.
But still――
"――I'm going to fight. I owe him for a lot.
I can't back off no matter what. Kotomine Kirei is an enemy Emiya Shirou has to defeat."
I have to settle things with him.
As the one who survived ten years ago.
As one of the orphans.
And as the son of Emiya Kiritsugu.
"...I see. Then, I'll give you this. It's just for self-defense, but it should be better than nothing."
Saying so, Tohsaka reaches behind her and takes out a dagger.
Scene 16
"...Do you have a plan, Tohsaka?"
...I will definitely settle things with Kotomine.
Even if I don't have a chance of winning, I can't run away.
And if Tohsaka has a plan, I'll follow it no matter what.
"...Unfortunately, no. But I'll give you a parting gift. It's just for self-defense, but it should be better than nothing."
Saying so, Tohsaka reaches behind her and takes out a dagger.
Scene 17
The enemy is gone and I face the final large task.
The black "void" in the sky.
That mud has stopped, but the strange void is still beating.
――That is the Holy Grail.
The omnipotent grail that would have been given to the winner of this war.
There's a wind blowing.
Kotomine is gone and the power binding Illya must have vanished.
Illya is now free of that "void" and she's sleeping by my side.
I don't know what condition she's in, but it doesn't seem like her life is in danger.
She should wake up fine if I go home and have Tohsaka look at her.
...The war has ended.
Nobody else is going to get hurt, and I won't lose anyone else.
The Masters are gone and the Servants will disappear as their tasks are over.
I already knew this was going to happen.
We climbed those long stairs together.
Our parting is already done.
All that's left is to close the curtains.
"―――――"
I wait with an empty mind, looking up at the "void".
...And she appears.
She walks straight towards me, her figure unchanged since the first time I saw her――
"―――――"
She stops close enough that I could reach out to her.
There are no words to confirm her safety or to congratulate her of the victory.
This was something that was already decided.
So there is only one thing left to do.
"...I will destroy the Holy Grail. That is my role."
So saying, she starts to walk.
The strong winds do not affect her as she approaches it step by step.
"―――――"
She must be in range.
She quietly readies her sword and looks at the black "void".
...I stare at her back.
I clench my fists hard, bite my lip, stifle the words about to come out of my mouth, and engrave her figure into my memory.
And then.
"Master, please give me the order. I cannot destroy it without your order."
With her back to me, she tells me to use my last Command Spell.
Saber will disappear once the Holy Grail is destroyed.
No――as she will destroy the Holy Grail, she will never again become a Servant.
Saber became a Servant because she sought the Holy Grail.
Destroying the Holy Grail out of her own will means destroying her contract as well.
――If she destroys the Holy Grail...
She will end her life as the king.
"――Shirou. I want to hear you say it."
Saber's voice.
Every time I hear it, I want to scream.
――To tell her not to go.
I want to throw away my pride and scream for her to stay here.
"―――――"
But.
That's something I should not do even for the sake of my life.
I love Saber.
I want her to be happier than anyone else and I want to be with her forever.
But if I truly love her, that's wrong.
I loved Saber as she continued to fight even after getting hurt.
She was a girl who discarded everything, was filled with injuries, yet still protected all the way through.
――If I consider that beautiful and want to protect it...
I cannot destroy her life just for my own selfishness.
She was born as a king and lived as a king.
That will not change no matter what. From the time she swore to carry the sword, the girl became a king and nothing else.
That is her pride.
She ran through the battles so that in her final moments, she would be able to believe her path was the right one.
The dreams of the girl Arturia.
The mind that chose to be the king over her own life.
To fight.
Even after she learned it would be unrewarded, she still clasped the sword and defended the oath of the king.
――For many years.
I cannot do anything to dishonor the pride that she has held until the time of her death.
"――Saber. Please fulfill your role."
I say so with a flood of emotions.
――Light emits.
The "void" in the sky is cut in half by the light and disappears without a trace.
There's nothing left.
The destroyed mountain is now a flat field.
Dawn is in the distance.
The horizon is shining in gleaming gold.
"――!"
My left hand hurts.
My last Command Spell disappears.
――That...
Makes me accept that the curtains have been drawn.
"――So, everything is over?"
"...Yeah. This is it. There's nothing left."
"I see. Then our contract is at an end. I became your sword, defeated your enemies, and protected you.
...I am glad to have fulfilled this promise."
"...Yeah. You did well, Saber."
Nothing more needs to be said.
Saber is far away, and I do not run to her.
The morning sun rises.
The halted wind begins again.
A gold that seems to last forever.
In it...
"In the end, there is one thing I must tell you."
She says in a voice filled with determination.
"...What is it?"
I reply like always with my best bluff.
Saber's body wavers.
She is facing me.
She looks straight at me and in a voice without regret...
"Shirou――I love you."
Says those words.
Wind blows.
I close my blinded eyes and open them again.
"―――――"
I don't think there's any surprise.
I kind of saw this coming.
That...
...Our parting would be like this.
An open field fills my eyes.
As the wind blew, the knight disappeared.
Just as she appeared.
Leaving no trace.
"Yeah――it really is just like you."
There are no regrets in my voice.
I squint at the rising sun, keeping everything I lost close to my heart.
I stare at the horizon, wishing never to forget, and for it to never fade away.
――A distant land glowing in sunlight.
Resembling the golden fields she ran through.
Scene 18
When she wakes up, Shirou cannot be found.
She thought he might be preparing a late lunch, so she makes her way to the living room, but she can find neither Shirou nor any lunch.
"...He has gone out alone again? I told him to tell me if he does so. Why does he not listen to me?"
She complains to herself and sits by the porch.
"...Honestly. I know he likes to walk alone, but that takes away the whole meaning of our cooperation."
She swings her legs, not knowing what to do.
She soon loses interest in that and looks up as if pondering.
The whole sky is shaded in gray.
The canopy of clouds is drifting slowly and an opening can be seen in the distant sky.
It should be a clear sky tonight.
Once the stars can be seen, tomorrow can be predicted.
She still remembers how to read the stars, something she learned from her magus.
She only used it to ask if her way was right, but she thinks about predicting a certain person's future, just for tonight.
And if possible, a bright future.
She wants to predict the dangers ahead and guide him in the proper direction.
The one she worries about is so reckless that she cannot sleep unless she does so.
"――Well. The problem is the stars that can be seen from this town..."
Come to think of it, she has never looked up at the sky until this day.
All she cared about was winning the Holy Grail War, and not reading stars for someone else.
She knows it's not like her.
But she still tries to read the stars, and she waits for nightfall to come.
...Honestly, this is a big change in her thinking.
She continues to stare at the sky, thinking it's just like the young girls in love she has read about in stories.
"Oh, Saber. Do you know where Shirou went?"
"――!"
Then.
Suddenly, Tohsaka Rin appears.
"R-Rin...!"
She gets up like a robot.
"W-What is it? I-It is not like I am surrendering to Shirou...!"
She says so with a red face.
"Oh? Was I interrupting you?"
Rin smiles in an evil manner.
She's living under the same roof, but even without that, Emiya Shirou and Saber's reactions are easy to understand.
She's sharp when it comes to others, so she already knows about them.
So of course, she's aware of what happened last night.
No. They were in the same bed when she went to wake them up, so it was pretty obvious.
"――Well, I'll make fun of you later. Seriously, do you know where Shirou is? I was thinking about asking for his help since Illya's fever seems to be rising."
"Illyasviel...? Did she not recover?"
"...No. I didn't tell Shirou, but she's almost at her limit. She won't be back to normal until the ritual of the Holy Grail War ends. Her capacity is extraordinary, but it's still filling up.
There's still a bit of capacity left, so unimportant functions are still working. But once it's full, she will have to discard her least important function, which is her ability to be human. Illyasviel is made to break down more and more as the Holy Grail War progresses."
Rin speaks annoyingly, but Saber does not understand what she is trying to say.
"――Oh, it's fine. I said it in a way you wouldn't understand. Let's put Illya aside for now. It's about Lancer. I found out who his Master is."
"...! Lancer's Master has been identified?"
"Yeah, well... I found out, or more like I knew it....
Lancer's Master was a foreigner dispatched by the magecraft Association. I already knew that and I finally found her secret base earlier, but..."
"Rin. You should avoid such dangerous activities. If you found their base, you should have told me."
"I was going to. But it seemed strange from the outside. I went in thinking it was empty. All I found were traces of blood and a left arm with no Command Spell.
There was nothing else. I think the arm was cut off, but based on how much blood there was, I don't think the Master's alive. ...Lancer's Master is already dead."
"――? Then Lancer does not exist anymore? They were defeated by another Servant after Shirou was attacked ten days ago?"
"...I wish that's the case, but the bloodstains were older than that. Do you know what that means...?"
"――The Servant was not killed, and the Master was killed first.
So a Master took the arm.... the Command Spell, and formed a contract with Lancer?
But――"
"Shirou and I are the only remaining Masters, right? But Lancer still remains.
Then that means a magus who's not a Master became one after stealing the Command Spell... but is that even possible, Saber?"
"No. The transfer of the Command Spell can only be between Masters and Servants. No matter how superior the magus, he cannot become a Master by stealing the Command Spell."
"...I see. Then, one more question. Is a Master still a Master if they have their Command Spell and their Servant, even after the Holy Grail disappears?"
"Eh... i-it is just as you say. As long as the Command Spell and the Servant remain, that magus retains the rights of a Master even after the Holy Grail War――"
Saber realizes the meaning of Rin's question and swallows her words.
"Then you think that... the one who killed Lancer's Master and formed a contract with Lancer is..."
"...Yeah. I can't think of anything else. In that case, Lancer's actions make sense.
He seemed like his role was to inspect other Servants, right? Usually, they expose their true identity when they fight, but he wasn't even hiding his.
So that must mean he was only there to collect information."
"――I feel the same way. He did not fight to the end even when he fought with me. Once they have used a Noble Phantasm, it should be a rule for the Servant to kill their enemy."
"Right. So Lancer's Master has another Servant. He collected information using Lancer and attacks with this other unknown Servant. It's a great strategy.
...Well, I'm sure it was a pain for Lancer. He had to fight six Servants, study their techniques, and return to his Master.
Fighting all six Servants to a draw... he's quite outrageous in a way."
Rin grows quiet and ponders.
Did she follow suit?
"―――――"
Saber feels a chill for no reason.
Lancer's Master has already been killed.
An unknown Master who uses a heroic spirit of that degree just to collect information.
...And as the Master planned, the only Servants remaining are Lancer and Saber.
If the enemy is such a person, is it not dangerous to leave Shirou by himself even during daytime?
There were several enemies before.
But there are no other enemies now.
If they only have to defeat Shirou, the enemy might not follow their previous plan――
"Rin. Do you know where Shirou would be?"
Once she starts thinking like that, it will not stop.
She cannot leave Shirou alone.
Even now, Shirou might be in a danger.
"...Eh? ...Hmm, I don't know. I asked you because I didn't know, but he might be at Kirei's. He went off to talk to him before too."
"To that church――?"
"Hm? What's wrong, Saber? Do you have something against that church?"
"...No. It is not that, but..."
That church is not a holy place.
It is stagnated with death to the same level as the Ryuudou Temple.
The instant she regrets that Shirou might be there by himself...
A vision of some other place pops into her head.
"――――"
――She glares into the distance.
She looks in one direction, towards Kotomine church on top of the hill.
There is no time.
Saber leaps out to the yard and jumps onto the wall.
"H-Hey, Saber! What are you doing...!?"
"――I am going to the church. Please take care of this place, Rin."
Without even turning to Rin, she jumps off.
She runs like a bullet.
"――"
She reaches the place without stopping or slowing down.
If anybody saw her, it would have just looked like a sudden gust of wind.
The wind is clad in silver and blue armor.
Saber is armed as soon as she sees the enemy's territory.
"―――――"
She did not intend to arm herself.
She had decided to arm herself once she entered the church.
But she could not help it.
As soon as she saw the church, her mind burned up and made her arm herself.
――Her chest is burning.
The nausea that has been assaulting her is not hers.
It is the chill coming from her Master, a hopeless scent of death.
She does not know what is going on.
The only sure thing is that Emiya Shirou is on the verge of death.
And there is no time.
His wound could cause him to die at any second.
That pain and the chill going around her body cause a sickening nausea.
It is less than a thousandth of the pain Emiya Shirou is feeling.
But she still cannot stop her nausea.
Her Master is wounded that badly.
...He will not live.
She will not make it even if she rushes with godspeed.
He is dying right now, and she might lose her Master in front of her eyes――
The instant she imagines that, her rationality vanishes.
She just has to rush to her master as fast as possible.
If godspeed is not fast enough, she just has to break through the reason of God.
And fortunately, this is God's house and her enemy is God's messenger.
"――――――――"
Her angry glare stares down the church.
She crashes through the door and enters the chapel.
She does not see the chairs.
She ignores the path, goes through the chapel, through the courtyard, and down the stairs leading underground.
――All that's left are the demolished walls and floor of the church.
Incidentally, she is not that violent.
She tried to open the door softly and did not put that much magical energy into her legs when she kicked off the ground.
She merely could not control them.
She goes down the stairs and reaches the underground temple.
――The sense of death is near.
Actually seeing it, her anger goes over the limit.
Anger toward herself and anger toward the enemy who did such a thing.
"――Yo. I'm sorry, but this is it, Saber."
She cannot even hear the voice of Lancer blocking her way.
She is straining at her limits, and it seems she cannot loosen up no matter what happens.
Her master is down in the darkness.
In the back room.
In the middle of the room full of live corpses, he is on his stomach.
...Blood is pouring out of him, and his gasping can be heard even in this temple.
――He is alive.
All the while she is relieved, she shakes from having left him for so long in that state.
"Shirou――――"
Saber heads to the back room.
But there's a guard in front of it.
Holding his lance behind him, the blue spearman looks at Saber with fearless eyes.
"Yo. I'm sorry, but this is it, Saber."
"―――――"
She does not hear his voice.
So she does not stop.
"...! You! Ignoring me, huh...!?"
It is as one would expect from him to block it while he was talking.
Lancer blocks Saber's surprise attack, but could not defeat its power as he retreats to the wall.
"―――――"
But that makes the hindrance go away.
There is no time to fight Lancer now.
She has to save her master who is on the verge of death.
"Heh, is that kid that important to you?
I don't mind――but in that case, you really can't leave me alone."
Saber stops at the entrance.
"――What do you mean by that, Lancer?"
"Well. I'm the one that stabbed him, but this is actually the second time I did it. He stayed alive the last time I did for some reason, so I 'pierced' him for sure this time."
"You――You used Gae Bolg on Shirou...!?"
"Don't worry. I didn't hit his heart. But the curse is still there.
――Even you should know the curse of this lance. This is the 'lance of cause and effect', that reverses the cause and the effect. The one cursed by this thing cannot change their fate unless they have great luck."
"To put it simply, the wound made by the Gae Bolg cannot be healed.
The one cursed cannot heal and bears the wound until they die. ――As long as this lance exists."
That changes the air.
Saber's eyes finally regain intelligence.
"――Ha. You finally understand? You want to save that kid, right? Then you'll have to settle your match with me first."
Lancer's beast-like killing intent comes at Saber.
It is true that Lancer is serious.
But――
"Are you insane, Lancer? A lancer would fight a swordsman in this small room? I cannot believe such a foolish idea would come from you.
...I shall let you go if you leave now. Leave that lance and disappear.
I do not want to slay you in such an undesirable battle."
"Isn't that a more foolish idea? What kind of heroic spirit would discard their partner?
I didn't pierce him to make some kind of a deal.
――I'm here to fight you, Saber."
There is no dishonesty in his words.
Lancer does not intend to let either of them leave here alive.
For him, this is the first and last battle where he can go full strength.
Lancer's wish is not for the Holy Grail.
He wishes only for battles appropriate to heroic spirits.
Such a simple wish that should have been easily granted to a normal Servant was never granted him until now.
Therefore――he has no intention of losing out on what might be his last chance.
Even if it happens to be an unfavorable situation for him.
"――All right. Then I shall just slash away that lance along with you."
Saber readies her invisible sword and faces the blue knight.
"Well said. To be honest, I'm glad you're the one that's left, Saber...!"
Lancer's lance runs like a flash of light.
Saber confronts it straight on.
The rematch begins with both of them executing powerful blows.
Scene 19
'It hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts'
"Ah――haa, haa, haa, ah――"
All I can hear is my own breathing now.
I might have a fever that could burn someone to ashes, as it feels like my brain is already melting and pouring out of my ears.
'Stop stop stop stop'
"Ha――Haa, ah, haa, ha, ah――"
Something's wrong. I don't have a brain anymore, but my body still keeps telling me about the pain and my head accepts it.
'Help help help help'
"Ah――, haa, ah, haa, ha, ha――"
My head isn't the only thing that's empty.
I don't know where my heart or stomach are either.
The nausea is unbearable. There's nothing left to throw up, but the nausea increases without limit.
I endure the infinite repetition with gritted teeth.
...I can stay conscious. It's my pain, so only I have to endure it. There's no problem there.
'Give it back give it back give it back give it back'
"Ha――ah, ah, haa, ha, ah――"
So, the problem is the voices.
My head is empty and I can only hear my breathing, but these voices still echo in my head.
I don't even need to think whose voices they are.
'It hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts'
"Ha――aah, haa, ah, ah――"
I'm going mad.
Every time I hear their voices, I'm stabbed in the chest.
It's not scary.
I just don't have any way to atone to them.
'Hey hey hey hey'
"Aah――ah, haa, haa, ah――"
No matter how much they beg for help and no matter how much I want to help them, I can't help them.
I won't ask them to stop calling to me.
It's just that no matter how much they call, I can't help them.
――That's why...
I think I'll go crazy if this continues.
'Return it return it return it return it'
"――haa, ah, ah, guh――!"
No matter how much they ask, I cannot assent.
All I can do is to end it for them.
I can only fix the contradiction of the living dead.
I can only make the creator of this hell atone for his sins.
I...
...Can't take back any sad events or miserable deaths.
――That's my limit.
A superhero only exists to straighten out what has already happened.
...Who was it that said that?
Since I denied those words, I am being cornered right now.
To be honest, I want to run away.
I have no way to save them.
I can only listen to them. I have no miracle to grant them.
I don't have enough power to deny his claim that a superhero is only so strong.
...Then, if...
If I had a miracle that could save them, would I use it――?
"――She is here. Wake up, Emiya Shirou. Your Servant has arrived."
...I hear a voice.
It's coming from right behind me.
But I can't hear what it's saying.
...My vision is blurry.
There's nothing in front of me.
All I sense are the voices asking for help and the figures that are already dead.
"...Hm. He is doing well, but he cannot match Saber as I expected. I need one more Servant either way. I do not care whether that happens to be Saber or Lancer――but I shall make a selection before that."
...I can't hear anything.
But this man's voice echoes in my head.
"Well, it is time for your turn. Let us go, Emiya Shirou."
――My head is lifted.
The man grabs my head and pulls me forward.
――That lets me feel the man behind me.
The man has swallowed black corruption.
His heart is black and it seems like he's surrounded by an unknown darkness.
The black corruption reaches in from the outside world, and it's like a chain binding the man.
"―――――"
I don't know what it means.
Only one thing is clear.
This man――Kotomine Kirei was just like me.
His body had some kind of fatal wound, and he is compensating for it with that unknown "something".
As I heal using Saber's powers...
Kotomine Kirei is maintaining his corpse-like body with this black corruption――
"That is it, Saber. Lower your sword if you wish to save your master."
...What is going on?
My vision is still blurry and I cannot even raise my head.
"You too, Lancer. We are partners seeking the Holy Grail after all. We should not kill each other so recklessly. If Saber only came to pick this man up, I will gladly let her do so."
A gloomy laugh.
"――Do you think I would believe those words coming from one who has killed Lancer's Master and is about to kill my Master as well?"
...Who is he talking to?
I can't hear the voice, but the sound rings through my fainting mind like a bell.
"Trust me. I do not wish to fight you. Things have turned out like this, but I will not interrupt you if you wish to seek the Holy Grail.
From the beginning, my role is to determine the possessor of the Holy Grail.
You two are more than qualified. Therefore, if you wish, I could give you the Holy Grail right here."
"――! Are you saying the Holy Grail is here?"
"It is here. The Holy Grail exists everywhere.
It is a shapeless vessel to begin with. Its completion depends on when, where, and what it is summoned in. This church is sufficient just to summon it."
"Of course, the Holy Grail is incomplete if there is more than one Servant remaining, but it should still be able to grant most wishes. If that is not sufficient for you, then you may continue fighting.
I do not want that, but I shall accompany you if you choose so. Is that fine with you, Lancer?"
"...It's not. We don't need to go so far. We could decide the match right now if we wanted to."
"In this situation? You are at a disadvantage in this room and Saber would not be able to fight if she is concerned for her master. I do not think this would be a satisfying battle for you."
A spitting sound.
It seems the man has reluctantly agreed.
"...Fine, then let me ask you one thing. What is the Holy Grail?
Isn't it not meant to appear until there's only one of us left? Did the thing that summoned us trick us from the beginning?"
"No, it is true. The Holy Grail will not appear until there is only one Servant left.
But――the vessel in which the Holy Grail will appear is a different story.
That is prepared with a shape from the start, and power flows into it until the Holy Grail is summoned."
"Since only two Servants remain, it should begin to acquire power as the Holy Grail.
Is that not correct, Saber? You remained to the end in the previous war. You should understand what the 'Holy Grail' summoned in this land is."
"―――――"
"Yes, the Holy Grail is always here and waits to be filled with the blood of the sacrifices.
But do you not think that is sad? You do not need to wait until only one remains. It should be possible to grant your wishes right now.
So there is no meaning in killing each other right here."
"...Yes. Your opinion is certainly correct.
But then, who are you? Is your objective not to obtain the Holy Grail?"
"I told you that I am the selector. If an appropriate person exists, I shall gladly give out the Holy Grail.
For that――I wish to hear from you, Emiya Shirou."
My body moves.
My head is grabbed and my body is lifted.
It... hurts.
The wound in my chest opens up.
The pain makes my vision go white.
"You――!"
"Do not worry. I only wish to hear his answer.
The Holy Grail only answers those who wish for it. It must interest you whether your Master is appropriate for the Holy Grail or not."
"――That is useless. Shirou does not seek the Holy Grail.
My Master is not as lowly as you."
"Yes, he said so at the start.
――But that will not be his true opinion. As every man has his darkness, this man also has a dark side.
For instance, did this boy truly curse nothing on that day ten years ago? Is he not shaking it off by forgetting what lay ahead?"
――.
Hold on.
What's he saying?
The fire ten years ago has nothing to do with this.
This is meaningless.
Nothing should come out of it.
"I will open your wound.
It is time for your confession, Emiya Shirou."
My back arches.
My mind reverses like electricity is running through it.
――In place of my fading mind, a red vision appears.
Stop.
Stop.
Stop.
Stop. Stop. Stop.
Stop, stop, stop, stop, stopstopstopstopstopstopstopstop...!!!!
There's no meaning in this.
No one will be saved if I remember this now――!
Everybody died.
Everyone was dead.
I was the only one wandering through the fire.
The houses had burned down with burned up corpses under them, and sounds of crying came from all around.
―――――
'It hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts'
I walked alone.
I sought help and I wanted someone to save me, so I kept walking, not looking to the side.
――Stop.
All the while.
How could I think that no one was asking for help from me, when I could still move?
――Stop.
'Help help help help'
Yeah, I noticed.
There's no way I couldn't have noticed...!
I walked though it all.
I ignored the voices sobbing in pain.
I ignored the voices going mad trying to escape.
I ignored the screams of those not wanting to die.
I ignored the pleas of mothers wanting me to take their children.
I even ignored the dying eyes that could not ask for help.
I kept walking, only seeking help for myself――!
'Wait wait wait wait'
I was tired of looking at corpses.
I was already tired of seeing people die in pain.
I thought I couldn't save them.
I thought they would die no matter what I did.
That's why I never stopped.
――Stop.
'Give it back give it back give it back give it back'
I thought I had to live even a second longer because I had to go that far.
If there were people who died without being able to do anything,
As long as I could do something, I thought I had to live.
――Stop.
But my heart was almost crushed.
I held back my tears and walked on in search of an escape.
It was hard to live on while ignoring the pleas for help.
I knew...
It would be easier if I apologized, so I never apologized.
I believed...
...That would be my only sincerity, as I could not do anything.
――Stop.
'It hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts'
...And as I wished, I alone was saved.
The only ones at the hospital were children unfortunate enough to be in areas near where the fire occurred.
I didn't want to know about it, but the man in the white coat told me.
In that area.
I was the only survivor.
――Stop already.
I saw people dying in pain.
I saw just as many sad people.
Because there was a funeral for all those who died in a big building.
Every kind of sadness and affection for those that died.
I thought that...
――Just stop.
'Hey hey hey hey'
I had to remember every single bit of it.
It's only natural.
That many people wanted to be helped, and not one of them had their wish granted.
So――since my wish was granted, I thought it was only natural for me to take on their deaths.
No.
I could not hold my head up unless I thought so.
――No more...
'Give it back give it back give it back give it back'
That's why I frantically chased after Kiritsugu.
For those I couldn't save and for the things I couldn't do, I admired a superhero who could save someone.
What was me crumbled away as I ignored the pleas for help.
I kept moving forward with an empty mind.
――No more.
'Please please please please......!'
The people I didn't save taught me that I had to go on.
...What was lost within all that?
I just thought about going forward in place of all the people that died.
I couldn't think of anything else.
I sealed any memories before that so that I would never think about them.
People kinder than anyone else.
Memories of those who were my parents.
So as not to recall them and go back...
...I sealed them tight, thinking I was already dead.
――Don't open it.
It's not painful.
Emiya Shirou was happy, being adopted by Emiya Kiritsugu.
So――
"――So...
"You have never thought it was a mistake?"
I'm telling you, don't open that――!
"――!"
Pain.
The pain in my chest pulls me back to reality.
"Ha――ah, gu――!"
My nausea doesn't stop.
My limbs are numb, and my head is burning.
My breathing is ragged.
'Return it return it return it return it'
Their voices are echoing in my head.
"Ha――guh...!"
...I throw up blood.
Is it because my body is dying or because I cannot endure those voices?
My chest hurts.
My chest hurts.
My chest hurts.
I can't plug it even if I try.
What hurts is the pain inside.
It will keep hurting as long as the memory is there, and it will never heal.
"――"
Is it an illusion?
I see a figure that should not be here.
"――! Guh――!"
So, I have to bear this.
I can't think about wanting to die.
If she is here even in illusion――I have to act like I'm all right――
"――It is a deep wound. It will be painful if it is not healed. You should not end your life bearing that."
I hear the priest's voice.
The voice is totally unlike him, filled with compassion.
"You said you do not need the Holy Grail.
...But is that true? If you can redo what happened ten years ago, will you not seek the Holy Grail?
You can save everything that was lost in that incident.
You can eliminate that disaster, not associate yourself with Emiya Kiritsugu, and be your true self.
Is that not the only way to save yourself?"
Redo the incident ten years ago...?
Redo myself who survived by not saving anyone?
No, more than that, if I could make that incident as if it never happened so that no one would be hurt――
"―――――Why..."
I shake my head.
I reject that vision with my burning head.
I spit at my own weakness.
Because――
'It hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts'
...I hear their voices.
My fingers feel the wet floor.
...Help.
They all want to go back to that day.
"―――――"
...Yeah. I wanted that too, though it can't have been as bad as you guys.
Even after Kiritsugu adopted me.
I went to the burned field often to look at the scenery.
I went to the place where nothing remained, opened the door that didn't exist, walked through the hallway that didn't exist, and smiled at my mother who wasn't there anymore.
...I wanted to return to the days before it happened.
I awaited the day when I would wake from this bad dream.
That didn't happen and I accepted reality.
But if I could obtain a world where it didn't happen and where nobody got hurt, that would certainly be――
"Now, answer. If you wish for it, I shall give you the Holy Grail."
The priest with the Holy Grail says so.
'Return it return it return it return it'
If I wish, these voices will go away.
Orphans like me. If fate had taken a slight turn, I would be there as well.
So I don't even need to think about this.
I don't need... to think about it, so why...?
"――I don't need it. I can't wish for such a thing."
I stare straight at the dead corpses.
And I reject them.
――That is my answer.
It doesn't matter what the Holy Grail is.
I can't wish to regenerate the dead nor to change the past.
"...Right, you... can't redo the past.
The dead won't come back. What's done cannot be redone. I can't wish for such a thing."
My cheeks are hot.
Every time I say such a miracle is impossible, tears pour out from vexation.
I wonder why 'miracles' wishing for such normal happiness are too much for people.
"The Holy Grail makes that possible. Everything will be as you wish."
The priest says so.
But I can't agree.
Even if I could redo the past, I must not take back what has already happened.
Because if I do that, everything would be a lie.
Those tears.
Those pains.
Those memories.
――That cold reality that hurts my heart, all of it.
There were people who died in pain.
There were people who risked their lives to save others.
There were people who mourned for the deaths.
But then, if everything were taken back and it did not happen, where would all of those go?
The dead people would not come back.
Reality cannot be overturned.
To continue on remembering the pain and the weight... isn't that how lost things remain?
...People will eventually die, and death itself is sad.
But pain shouldn't be the only thing that remains.
A death is painful, but it also leaves behind bright memories.
As I am bound by these people's deaths...
As I am protected by my memories of Kiritsugu...
I believe memories become constraints and change the people living now.
...Even if...
They are memories that will eventually be forgotten.
"――This path... I don't believe it's the wrong one."
"――I see. Then you..."
"I don't need the Holy Grail. I can't stray from my path for the people I've left behind."
I declare so within my pain.
I control the pain and my fading consciousness, and manage to stay up on my knees.
Then, I finally realize.
...I can't hear the voices.
The voices aren't echoing anymore.
...I don't know how they took my answer.
But it is sad that they closed their eyes without a single grudge.
Scene 20
――That is...
The answer her Master arrived at.
"―――――"
The anger she bore until just a moment ago has disappeared.
She is at a loss for words, staring at her Master.
'This path...
I don't believe it's the wrong one.'
With his bloody body.
With his ragged breath.
Controlling his tears.
'――I can't stray from my path for the people I've left behind.'
He has apologized to everything he has stepped on, but he still declares that he will not change his path.
"―――――"
Her vision wavers.
She cannot breathe right either.
She knew of his past.
As Emiya Shirou has seen Saber's past, she has also seen his.
That is why she thought he would nod.
No, she thought he had to nod.
She wanted to say that it was not his fault.
If he could hear, she wanted to say that it is not something Emiya Shirou should be burdened with.
But still, he denied it.
No matter how painful the past,
...One cannot redo it.
"―――――"
She almost collapses.
...Those words are too heavy for her.
Making an oath and devoting everything you have to its accomplishment.
She had felt that their ways were similar.
But that was just conceit.
――Only she thought they were similar.
They could not be similar.
His mind is strong.
And she, only able to deny his words, was wrong――
"――So, you choose your wishes over your savior."
The priest lets go of the boy.
He looks down at him in annoyance and walks past him as if he's lost all interest in him.
"――Then, how about you, Saber?
That kid says he does not need the Holy Grail. But you must have a different opinion. Your goal is to use the Holy Grail to save the world. Do not tell me a heroic spirit like you will be as egotistical as that kid."
Her heart is shaken by his question.
The priest says he will give the Holy Grail.
He will give her the Holy Grail if she has a goal and a wish she wants granted.
"Th――That... is..."
There is no reason to refuse.
She fought for that alone.
She became a Servant for that reason alone.
So――what Shirou said does not matter to her.
To obtain the Holy Grail, Saber――
"Then, I shall propose an exchange.
Saber. Kill your Master with your own hands to achieve your goal. I shall give you the Holy Grail if you accomplish that."
――She would do anything.
"Eh―――――?"
It is an unexpected proposal.
She cannot understand it.
It's not that she cannot understand his words, but such a choice has never existed for her.
"What? You should not hesitate. You can kill this kid before he realizes it.
...First of all, he cannot be saved. Would it not be compassionate to kill him right now?"
The priest steps aside.
Before her is the door leading to the underground cemetery and a collapsed figure.
"Ah――Ah."
She walks, as if drawn to it.
She walks past the priest and enters the damp room.
"―――――"
...This room is hell.
He writhed in this place, and he was shown his dark side.
And yet――he declined the priest's offer.
"―――――"
She places her hands on her sword.
At her feet is her Master, breathing painfully.
"―――――"
The end of a long journey.
The Holy Grail she desired at the cost of her life.
It will be granted just by swinging her sword down.
After all, a Master and the Servant cooperate only until they obtain the Holy Grail.
Even if it ends here――
Scene 21
"What is it? Why do you hesitate? It is for the Holy Grail.[vr]
I believe it is quite a bargain."
The priest's words are true.
It is strange to hesitate now.
But still...
'――This path... I don't believe it's the wrong one.'[l]
Those words will not leave her.
"I――I..."
...It is vexing, but she isn't like Shirou.
She wants to redo everything.
On that day. There was someone better suited to become king, someone else to pull out the sword.
And that person must have been able to build a more peaceful country――
That is her heart that holds her country dear.
That is the doubt of the girl Arturia before she became a king.
That mind...
The mind she left behind on the day she drew the sword.
"―――――"
...Why did she not realize it before?
'――I can't stray from my path for the people I've left behind――'
That is her heart that holds her country dear. It is the mind of a girl before she became a king.
But it is not the heart of the king.
The only one the king believed in was herself.
To deny that would be to deny everything she has taken away.
――Things lost will never return...
Her master continued to appeal in his pain.
"―――――"
His figure hurts her so much.
What did she tell him?
That she could not start a new life.
She continued to refuse him, saying that she had a duty as the king.
What duty is that?
To resurrect the destroyed country?
To choose a more appropriate king?
Or――does she only wish to make that destruction never have happened?
"――That is wrong."
Yes, that is wrong.
She was raised and lived as a king.
There was no mistake.
So――if the result was ruin, why could she not accept it?
There are no regrets.
If one can be proud of one's life, one should not wish for another chance.
"――I see now, Shirou."
Shirou's lamentations pierce her heart.
He said that the tears would go away.
That the pain would go away.
That the heaviness in her heart would go away as well...
That is salvation by elimination.
But...
If everything were made to never have happened, what would happen to all the things taken away?
She has taken away many things and killed many.
To bear the pain and regret it is the requiem.
So if she wishes for another chance, it should be from this moment on and not from the past.
If there is something she could not do...
She should not go back to the past to accomplish it. But rather, she must start to establish the wishes that never came true from this moment on.
"―――――"
But she is no longer a king as she has lost her country.
So her wish should be for herself as he says――
――No.
That is not something that should be wished for.
It was her decision to become king.
It was never painful for her.
Even if no one understood or accepted her.
She believes that what she desired was something she can be proud of.
At the least.
The girl pulled the sword out believing so.
――That is the answer.
Just like him, that is the only answer she can be proud of.
"Yes――"
...She remembers the oath that she made a long time ago.
Something she has kept to herself.
...She decided to fight.
Even if it meant losing everything and fighting everything.
"――I was the foolish one."
The oath of the king to fight even in that condition.
The king protected the country.
But the country did not protect the king.
That is all. The result was cruel, but if there was nothing to be ashamed of in the process――
"――There was no need to seek it."
She swore to accomplish her duties as king.
Even if the result was her destruction, she fulfilled that oath until the very end.
So――she does not need anything else.
――Yes.
She did not want everything.
From the beginning, there was only one thing she wanted.
She lost many things to obtain it, but there was something she protected until the very end.
With that in mind.
Let her end the dream that was never granted.
"――I want the Holy Grail. But I cannot kill Shirou."
Pointing her sword at her enemy, she says so from the bottom of her heart.
"Wh――――at?"
"Do you not understand, fool? I said I favor Shirou more than that thing."
...That's why her role is already determined.
To be his sword and shield.
And so――she cannot hesitate any longer.
"――Are you saying you do not want the Holy Grail?"
"I do not wish it if it will dirty me. I already have everything I wanted."
...Yes. Everything was there.
Her pride as a knight and her oath as the king.
Even the dream the girl Arturia wished for.
I certainly heard those words.
The confession of the girl who wished for the Holy Grail.
She confessed that she no longer needs such a thing.
"――Sab... er――"
Controlling my ragged breath, I call her name.
...Even though I can't see her, I can tell she's nearby.
The pain is subsiding.
I don't know if it's because she's near me, but the wound is starting to heal up.
"...Can you stand, Shirou? Please take my hand if you can."
"――Yeah... I can..."
I take her hand.
――!
My vision recovers.
Energy starts to flow into my weak body.
"――Saber... this is...?"
"Yes. Even the curse of the Gae Bolg will not be effective against you now. It shall heal completely if you stay by my side.
But rather..."
Saber turns to look toward the underground temple.
...Beyond the door.
At the exit of this room stands the last Master, Kotomine Kirei, and Lancer.
"I see."
He observes us as if seeing us for the first time.
"You two are boring."
He spits this out in an emotionless voice.
"It seems I will have to keep the Holy Grail after all.
――But that will be rather violent.
The Holy Grail needs to be complete to grant me my wish. I am sorry, but you must die here, Emiya Shirou."
"――!"
I try to stand ready, but my body still won't move.
I can barely stand by taking Saber's hand.
I can't fight like this and more than anything, I'll be a burden on Saber――
"You are worrying needlessly, Shirou. Please stay here. I shall be able to take on both of them."
"Oh, you have a lot of confidence. Do you think it would be wise to run now, Lancer?"
"―――――"
Lancer doesn't respond.
First of all, Kotomine doesn't sound like he's in danger.
He's just saying he's scared of us.
"Kotomine. I shall ask before I defeat you. What are your intentions? What do you wish as the supervisor of the Holy Grail?"
"――Well. To put it simply, I wish for 'entertainment'. But it's not something I need in a hurry.
To be frank, I do not have much interest in the Holy Grail. But that matches my tastes. If there are no appropriate owners, I shall take it for the sake of the world."
"Ridiculous. What are you trying to claim, after killing a Master and becoming a Master yourself? You must have intended to obtain the Holy Grail from the beginning."
"――Nonsense, I came by it by chance. I killed Lancer's Master because outside magi are troublesome. I do not want outsiders to discover the true nature of the Holy Grail, so I had the Master leave at an early stage. But it would not have been smart to eliminate the Servant as well.
I needed a piece to hasten the fighting, so I just borrowed Lancer's Master's rights as a Master."
Wha――then Kotomine became a Master by killing Lancer's Master...!?
"――I see. I shall not ask any more about yourself.
But I will have you fulfill your duty as a supervisor. Where is the vessel? The vessel of the soul of this war?"
"What? Do you mean you were hiding it without realizing it?"
He gasps in surprise.
But only for an instant.
After looking us over with pleasure, he snaps his fingers to bring in the last character.
"Wha――"
The two tense up.
Hard footsteps descend from above.
"――Well, it probably isn't necessary, but let me introduce him anyway. This is the Servant Archer. He is the heroic spirit that was my partner in the last Holy Grail War."
...The golden knight appears.
It is Gilgamesh, the king of heroes.
――The atmosphere changes immediately.
Gilgamesh, appearing suddenly, crosses the temple and stands by Kotomine.
"――So? What are you going to do now, Kotomine? Are we settling the match with these nuisances here?
I don't think this is good directing on your part."
"Do not say that. I was not expecting this either. I shall listen to your complaints later, so forgive me."
"Oh, if you understand, it's fine.
But can you not do something about that vulgar man? I might kill him if he glares too much at me."
"――What the hell is this, Kotomine? That man is your Servant...?"
"Oh, I did not explain it to you yet. He is my Servant from the previous war. We shared the same feelings after the last war ended.
Since he obeyed me and I prepared sufficient food for him to stay here, we ended up cooperating."
"...So that's the reason for that disgusting room. Fine, but why didn't you tell me about it?"
"Do you think there was a need to? Or did you want to cooperate with him on your mission?"
"――No way. I'd rather die than cooperate with that guy."
"―――――"
...Now, there are three.
Lancer is by the stairs, and Gilgamesh is standing in the temple.
"―――――!"
There's no way we can win.
We can't even match Gilgamesh, and we can't even run away if Lancer's there as well.
"Kotomine, you said you didn't know about him..."
"Do not doubt me. I am a priest. I cannot lie."
"...! That's not true! You said you couldn't ignore a Servant from the last war...!"
"Yes, I was surprised as well. I ordered Archer to stay here, but he disobeyed and went to attack you.
It is only natural for you to discover me if you investigate Archer. Therefore, I had to come up with some sort of a plan. See? I did not lie to you at all."
"...!"
I-I'm pissed...!
That guy tricked me and I came straight to the enemy's base...!
"――So, you are Archer's Master?"
"Correct. This is much like a repeat of ten years ago.
Well, I was unable to witness the final moment since Kiritsugu had already defeated me. This will be the second and the last time I shall see you."
"――Answer me. Why does Archer still remain? What caused that fire? Why are you still alive even after being beaten by Kiritsugu...!?"
Saber is angry as there's hatred in her voice.
A question long unanswered.
As if asking about the crime of the disaster ten years ago.
"I do not even need to tell you.
Ten years ago――the Holy Grail was incomplete but full, and it was possible to obtain it.
I merely touched it. You and Kiritsugu were powerful, so I wished for a diversion to separate you two. But I was surprised by the diversion that occurred."
"―――――"
Hold on.
Could that be...?
"――Then you caused that fire with the power of the Holy Grail...!?"
"Who knows? I think the Holy Grail would have done the same thing even if I was someone else. It is a thing of that nature. People call it an omnipotent vessel, but only blood, darkness, and curses fill it.
You saw it as well, right? The darkness that spilled out from it when you destroyed the Holy Grail. It only spilled onto Archer. Archer would not have lost his way if you had not destroyed the Holy Grail."
"...Nonsense. The Holy Grail is a magical vessel that grants the wishes of its possessor. That fire must have been your wish...!"
"Only the result. The process was not what I had in mind. I only wished for people to be gone from that place.
In any case, you lack imagination.
Your wishes will be granted? That is fine, but how will your wish be granted? Did you think the world would change the instant you wish?"
"――"
"I do not know about the original Holy Grail, but this Holy Grail is merely a vortex of power.
It cannot make precise calculations or correct any inconsistencies. It is only pure power.
It is like a great weapon. If the possessor wishes for great riches, it will kill everything around it to bring happiness to its possessor."
"Do you understand? That magical vessel is a defective item that can only grant the wishes of its possessor through a method called 'destruction'."
"Wha――that is not what was promised...!
Is the Holy Grail not something that will grant any wish to its possessor...!?"
"It is. The measures the Holy Grail takes are very reasonable.
Letting one person survive means killing another.
This world is one of equal exchanges. Wishing for some special event means feeding on something to make it possible.
Wishes will not come true if you worry about harmony.
It is merely a fluctuation dependant on the plundering of the weak. It is the most efficient fluctuation."
"―――――"
...I can understand Saber's surprise.
If Kotomine is telling the truth, this Holy Grail is far from the Holy Grail she wished for.
A power that only grants the wish of its possessor.
The usurper that grants the wish of its possessor at the cost of everything else.
This is the true identity of the omnipotent power given to the Master and the Servant.
"Then――the Holy Grail is..."
"A poisoned vessel that eliminates everything but its possessor.
You will know when you see it. It is a true curse."
"――And that delights me.
Touching the Holy Grail is a dream for a man of the church. But this Holy Grail exists to kill everything, and to be able to control that――it is like a dream."
Saying that, the priest laughs.
It's not a polite laugh like before.
A laugh from the bottom of his heart... a holy laugh without any evil.
――That laugh forces me to realize.
This man is not human.
I cannot let him have the Holy Grail over anyone.
"――Then, this is goodbye.
Take care of this trash. Lancer, take the boy. Archer, take Saber."
The priest turns his back and goes up the stairs.
...The only ones left are me, and the two Servants.
And Saber, standing as if to guard me, glaring at her enemies.
――Time passes.
We have to defeat Lancer and Gilgamesh to escape outside.
It's impossible to beat them.
We have to do something and regroup, but――
"――Shirou"
Saber mutters while looking at the enemy.
"I know I am asking for something impossible, but please stay beside me."
She grasps my hand firmly.
――That tells me she's ready.
"――All right. I'll do my best to follow you, so don't worry about me."
I nod to her.
...I can barely walk right now.
Saber and I both know that.
With that in mind――Saber has told me she will break through this.
So what can I do but nod?
"...Yes. I trust you."
She replies in a small voice.
"――Now――!"
Letting go of my hand, Saber runs to the temple.
The two figures react to her movement.
"――!?"
"Wha――!?"
Only Saber and I are surprised.
――What happened?
Lancer's lance that should have attacked me goes for Gilgamesh.
Gilgamesh's longsword repels Lancer's lance as if expecting it――
"Sorry, I missed."
"I see. Your lance must be pretty light."
The two separate without any sign of hostility.
"Your target is that lowlife. You do remember that I'm in charge of Saber, right?"
"Oh, that. Sorry, but I changed my mind. He didn't order me with the Command Spell, so I'm not gonna obey him."
Saying so.
Lancer faces Gilgamesh as if protecting us.
"Wha――Lancer, you are..."
"If it's something stupid, don't say it. I'm not helping you or anything. I'm just following my beliefs."
Lancer points his lance at Gilgamesh.
He really intends to let us go.
"Well, I was at my limit too. I'm not nice enough to listen to his orders when he looks down on me this much. I'm cutting my ties with Kotomine right now."
"Oh――you are breaking your contract with him? So you do not mind being eliminated now, even though the Holy Grail is right in front of you?"
"Don't treat me like you. I've never had any interest in a second life. ...No, no hero is interested in such a thing.
We're not attached to this world. We're just attached to the oaths we couldn't fulfill.
Well, I guess a greedy apparition like you wouldn't understand."
"――I see. A man with a brilliant death has something different to say. So this betrayal is a result of your heroic pride as well, huh?
Geez, following your beliefs sure is hard, Lancer."
...The air behind him distorts.
Weapons appear in empty space――
"――"
"...Lancer. He has all the original Noble Phantasms. He is the king of heroes with the longest history. Even you cannot take him on head to head――"
"...Damn, I see. No wonder he's so conceited. He's the guy who destroyed his own country by just doing whatever he wanted, so of course he's twisted."
"Lancer, this is no time to be bluffing――!"
"Just get lost. Who are you to give me advice? Don't think I'm on your side just because I protected you.
...Geez. This is why I don't like well-mannered knights."
Lancer urges Saber to run.
"―――――"
Saber hangs her head for a second.
"...Good luck. I shall return this favor."
Taking my hand, she runs to the stairs.
"――Damn, I let them go."
Gilgamesh just watches us go, not trying to follow us.
"...Oh? So Saber wasn't your target?"
"Well, to be honest, such a match did not suit my taste. If you had not done this, I would have done the same thing."
We go up the stairs.
...She must be worried about me as we aren't going up that fast.
Ignoring our slow pace, the confrontation underground escalates without limit.
The murderous intent continues to grow.
"What do you mean by that? Did you intend to let Saber go as well?"
"Of course. I had no intention to kill Saber. That thing is mine.
But――I cannot stay idle if [wrap ʹext="I"]I want the Holy Grail.
I need just one more Servant to die for the ritual to be completed."
A thousand swords appear.
The golden knight grins.
That's why he was able to block Lancer's surprise attack.
Lancer wasn't the only one trying to launch a surprise attack on his ally.
"Damn――so this was your plan all along."
"I told you. I would have done the same thing if you had not done so.
You deserve praise, Cu Chulainn. This situation is ideal for me."
The distance between the two decreases.
Before I see them clash, we leave that place.
Scene 22
"――Ugh."
I stop.
My body tells me I'm at my limit.
"Let us rest here, Shirou. You cannot continue in your condition."
"――Ye... ah. I'm just... causing you trouble... like this..."
I move away from Saber and sit down on the grass.
"――!"
The wound on my chest is still there.
It's stopped bleeding, but the hole is still there.
"...I feel sick..."
Even though the pain is gone, I have a hole in my body.
Just looking at it makes me sick and I wonder why I'm alive like this.
"Shirou, let me look at your wound."
Saber crouches and looks into my chest.
...It's a bit embarrassing.
"Uh――no, it's all right..."
"Excuse me――this will hurt a bit, but please bear it."
Saber's finger runs across my chest.
――Then.
I don't know why, but she places her hand over my wound and digs into it――
"Agh――!! ――!!"
My body jumps.
Saber's hand mercilessly digs into me and――
"You, wha――!?"
She's digging into me with her bare hands.
It should hurt.
It should hurt, but――
"Huh――?"
There's no pain.
Rather, pain seems to disappear around the places Saber touches.
"I am done, Shirou. I restored magical energy to the sheath, so your wound should heal in half a day."
Taking her hand off my chest, Saber looks relieved.
"Sheath――?"
I don't understand at all.
"Saber. What do you mean by sheath? I think you mentioned it before, but could it be your sheath?"
Saber's sheath.
The sheath of the sword Excalibur.
The sheath of her sword is not Invisible Air.
In the legend, the sheath of Excalibur was a Noble Phantasm that makes its possessor immortal.
But she shouldn't have that.
King Arthur died in the battle of Camlann because that sheath was lost.
Saber shouldn't have the sheath right now――
"Yes. My sheath is inside your body. It was my fault for not realizing that fact until last night."
"In my body...? What's that supposed to mean? I don't remember anything like that. It's just ridiculous."
"Is that so? It was simple from the beginning. You summoned me, Shirou. It was foolish of me to think it was by chance that I was summoned."
"To summon a heroic spirit, one needs a symbol connected with that spirit. Since you are inexperienced as a magus and uneducated as a Master, you needed a connection that would overcome all those deficiencies.
That was my sheath――the lost sheath of Excalibur."
"Uh――well, that may be true...
But why would it be in my body?"
"...Kiritsugu probably put it in there.
Emiya Kiritsugu used the sheath of Excalibur as the catalyst to summon me in the last war. The sheath is a Noble Phantasm that heals the possessor's wounds. He must have thought that it would be more useful for him to keep it."
"I have healing powers and I do not die easily.
If the Master, who dies easily, has the sheath, they have a better chance of surviving the Holy Grail War."
"...Then, Father survived the war because he was like me...?"
"Probably. And after the battle and after I disappeared.
Kiritsugu wandered through the burned field and found a dying child. He had no healing powers, and even if he did, I assume it was too late.
...So I believe there was only one way for him to save that child."
"――――"
I unconsciously place my hand on my chest.
...On that day ten years ago...
I accepted death, looking up at the sky.
My whole body was burned, and maybe it really was burned to ashes.
When Kiritsugu found a kid barely alive, he had to rely on what he had on hand.
The sheath of the holy sword that protects the life of its possessor.
He must have saved that dying life by implanting the sheath.
"...Then, it really is...?"
"Yes. It has been disassembled and lacks its original form, but your body certainly contains the sheath. It is the cause of your healing powers."
"――B-But I almost died once. I was pierced by Lancer at school and――"
...That's right.
Someone saved me at that time.
When I came to, there was no one there and all I found was a rock.
I took the rock home because I thought it was something important, but is it still at my house right now...?
"That was before we made a contract, correct?
The sheath is my Noble Phantasm. It does not exhibit its power as a Noble Phantasm until magical energy is channeled into it. You cannot obtain your immortality unless you make a contract with me."
"...Well, I am sure it will protect the possessor's life if any magical energy is in it, but it will be weak. I am sure fusing with the sheath was the only way to save a dying person."
"...I see. Um... I'm sorry Saber. Your sheath was used for something like this...."
"Please do not say such a thing. You are my Master, so it is only natural for you to use what is mine.
And――I was happy when I learned about it. Even though I could not save anybody, I had saved your life."
"―――――!"
Her smile is so brilliant that I have to look away.
"――Shirou? Does your wound hurt?"
"No, that's not it! Just don't worry about it. There's nothing wrong with you!"
I hide my blushing face and shut my mouth.
There's no pain if I don't speak, but this is really awkward.
...I wonder how long we've been like this?
Just as I start to calm down.
Saber quietly says,
"Kiritsugu was correct. He did not betray me."
She says so as if regretting her past.
"...Saber?"
"That Holy Grail was not what I sought. ...No, I did not need the Holy Grail to begin with. Kiritsugu must have known that."
...Her murmur sounds more like a confession.
Saber apologizes to a person she cannot apologize to anymore.
And she looks at me to part with the wish she held for so long.
She doesn't say anything.
My heart understands just by being beside her.
...Arturia sought the Holy Grail.
A lonely king who needed to believe that ruin was avoidable with the Holy Grail.
――If.
A girl who wished for what would happen if she could redo the selection.
"Saber, that's..."
"...I knew it. I knew I could not redo things.
I knew it, but I still continued to deceive myself."
...But this is the end.
Her long battle will finally end――
"Thank you, Shirou. I finally understand the path I need to take.
...Yes. The Holy Grail and I are just dreams that must not exist."
She murmurs that she would still like to be forgiven.
It was a mistaken wish, days that were not to be wished for, but...
The weakness was just a passing dream a girl saw.
"――――"
What should I feel, listening to her?
Saber's answer is beautiful.
A decision full of dignity and purity just like her.
She is proud of her past and has accepted the end that awaits her.
――And now.
Saber has decided to follow her oath until the very end.
"―――――"
She doesn't even need to tell me what that means.
She will not hesitate any longer.
And I find that beautiful.
A dark night. From the moment I was captivated by her figure in the moonlight――I have loved her.
So.
Regardless of what awaits ahead, there is only one thing to be done.
"――Saber. Let's destroy the Holy Grail."
I say so, throwing aside my attachment and my selfishness.
"――Yes. I believed that you would come to that conclusion, Master."
Saber nods in response.
...I can't smile back at her.
It takes all I have to suppress my heart, telling me I don't want this.
But still――there will surely come a day when I can be proud of being trusted like this.
"―――――"
I get up.
Now that I've decided, there's no time to rest.
It's clear what must be done, and the enemy is clear as well.
There's no time to stop.
Today. We will end this long battle before tomorrow comes――
Scene 23
Hi, are you all doing well?
I'm sure everybody hates scary places, so you decided to wait and see, but it turns out you're trapped in hell.
It's time for the Tiger Dojo, the Q&A corner to comfort those of you who suffered surprise attacks!
Um, right now, Saber-chan and Lancer are duking it out in the mansion.
My senior student was captured, and Shirou is dead in the yard. What is with the morals in this place!?
Kids these days are so rude that it makes me sad.
Well now, for you who died right before the climax!
"Men of virtue avoid danger" is a good phrase, but you cannot reach the goal if you keep avoiding things.
Go back to the choice and challenge the darkness of the church, ready to die!
The story really is almost at the climax.
The long night is about to end.
Will Saber-chan's wish come true?
What is the distortion hidden in Shirou's mind?
And is there a way to defeat the king of heroes...!?
Next episode, "utopia".
You've come this far, so I want you to go straight to the ending without stopping!
Scene 24
Osu! This is a place to demand reflection by the lost child on matters incomprehensible to outsiders, the Tiger Dojo!
Well, this is the 13th dojo already.
You should start to notice that this corner is...
Meaningless.
I'm sure a lot of you know that!
What do you think!?
Osu! Then I will frankly state my opinion!
It is meaningless! Everything is a sudden death, and you just need to go back to the previous choice――
Honesty is too detestable!
Such lies are misleading!
Heh, this dojo isn't as simple as that!
Look! As proof, this time...
Guh. Could this be the big point of dating games, the bad path unrelated to choices that makes people start the game over because they need one more point...?
Right! The heart-pounding system everybody hates, bad end from affection score check!
All right! We can finally give proper advice, Taiga!
Haha! Then let us start practicing!
What is the cause of this bad end!?
Osu! Since Saber's affection score did not reach a certain level, she abandoned Shirou!
Yes! Our advice comes down to the following three points!
First, no choice after day 12 will add any affection points for Saber!
If you are to redo things, do it from before then!
...Gosh... what's with that? They should've made it a bad end on day 12. Is this a fundamental problem?
Second! I think it's obvious, but always put Saber first in your choices! Balancing her with Tohsaka-san will lead you directly to this end!
Oh, so Rin really was an obstructive character.
Well, I guess it just means you have to clear Saber route first if you want to get close with Rin.
Third! The affection score should've been met if you've been playing normally!
If you are going to restart, it is best to restart from around day 7!
You will pass the requirements by day 8 at the earliest!
Hmmm, but you get to meet me if you go outside on day 8. If you stay in the house, one Saber affection point will be added, but I guess you won't need it if you're playing properly.
That is all!
――Oh, this feels so good!
I finally fulfilled my reason to exist!
Yes, I can finally be proud of myself...!
...Oh.
But Taiga. Most people passed the Saber affection score check, right?
Yeah. Shirou isn't the type to ignore Saber-chan.
You normally wouldn't end up like this.
...Taiga. Um, it's really hard to say this. But if it's that rare, wouldn't that mean not many people would come to this dojo...?
Oh.
I-It's probably all right.
The skip function and the Tiger Stamps are intended just for this.
Everyone will probably desperately play in strange ways to get to this dojo.
...Yeah. By that point, everyone will hate this bad end with its weird conditions.
So in other words, your dojo that tries to make everyone happy is actually something that troubles players trying to fully complete the game.
I-Identity crisis!
...!? Man, explosion endings are the worst...!
Scene 25
Not having a weapon when it's needed.
This is the place to help such people, the Tiger Dojo.
Well. It is the prevailing view that the outcome of battle is decided before it even starts.
What does it mean, student!?
Um, I guess you shouldn't start a fight until you have a weapon or a plan?
Yes! The enemy is the unfair Servant that prepared the strongest force with his money. So you should at least prepare one weapon that lets you turn things around.
Then Taiga, are you saying you should restart from the night before the fight and prepare a new weapon?
What can you do in such a short time?
You can do this!
Saber-chan originally had three Noble Phantasms. You should be able to do something if you prepare the last one.
I see. You just have to give it back to her, right?
Yup. Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's.
It's something too valuable to lose, but you have to give back what you found.
Oh, you said something good, by your standards.
I guess you're a school teacher even if you're a bad one at that.
Ahahahaha! Praise me, praise me!
Yeah, yeah. Then while Taiga is in a good mood, we will make a major announcement.
This corner has continued modestly as a side to the main story, but this is the final episode!
We will use a different outlook and start "Tiger Dojo Part II: Taiga One Hundred Million Yen Debt"!!
We're going to move the setting to my castle and update our standing pics, music, and even hardware!
Production budgets will double and it will be so rich that you won't even think this is a bonus corner!
Gahahaha, so many wonderful things!
I don't quite understand, but is it like getting a totally new graphic designer!?
That's right, master! We will be freed from this rough art! Osu!
Marvelous! In that case, let us get away from this dojo right away!
Listen, everyone. The key to the second route is on the third day!
Once you see an ending, there should be a choice that wasn't there before on the third night.
Then hit, hit, hit!
Use whatever you can including your Command Spell to stop the raging lion!
That's right.
Then everyone, I'll be waiting for you in the renewed Tiger Dojo!