I'm Not A Master, I'm A Director
Chapter 390: Sisigou: So, One-on-One or a Group Brawl?
Mordred's departure carried enormous significance for this Holy Grail War.
Among the fourteen Servants properly summoned at the start, only Astolfo, Shakespeare, and Semiramis had yet to be reclaimed by the Greater Grail.
Compared to the seven-Servant Holy Grail War of Fuyuki City, this meant that the Grail had already absorbed more than six-sevenths of the total Servants in a single war.
And so, at the very moment Mordred returned to the Throne of Heroes, the spherical Greater Grail let out a grinding sound—like a newborn crying as it entered the world—and extended two arms.
Shakespeare, standing guard over the Greater Grail, understood immediately.
In essence, this Holy Grail War was already over.
Amakusa Shirou Tokisada, the Master of the Red faction, had gained complete control of the Greater Grail.
Which meant that the immense magical energy accumulated over sixty years now belonged to Shirou alone.
"It's done! My dream has been fulfilled—right here!!"
Returning from within the Grail to the real world, Amakusa spread his arms wide and shouted.
At that moment, he looked as happy as a child.
"Everything went smoothly, I presume, my Master?"
To Shakespeare's question, Amakusa replied calmly,
"Yes. Everything I desired has been achieved."
"This is only the warm-up phase. Before long, the Greater Grail will become the true Heaven's Cup. When that happens, I will grant immortality to all of humanity."
As he spoke, Amakusa noticed Jeanne kneeling on the ground, quietly sobbing.
He narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Caster. Have you won?"
Shakespeare stroked his beard smugly. "Naturally. In the end, she was nothing more than a little girl."
It had to be said that true to his British roots, Shakespeare's persistence in mocking the French saint was nothing short of relentless.
"Though she was called a saint, though she tried to act like one, though she held herself to saintly standards, and even wielded the power of a saint—at the end of the day, she was merely an ordinary country girl from rural France."
"How pitiful."
Amakusa's words were not spoken in mockery, nor even pity, but empathy.
No one understood better than Amakusa Shirou Tokisada what it meant to bear the burden of sainthood, what price it demanded, and what suffering it entailed.
That was precisely why he had never truly regarded Jeanne as an enemy—indeed, he had hoped to win over the girl who once saved a nation.
"It's over now, Jeanne."
Without the slightest guard, Amakusa walked up to her and spoke gently.
"Through the Third Magic, my salvation of humanity is about to be realized."
"Salvation… of humanity…"
Jeanne kept her head lowered, repeating his words mechanically, without emotion.
"This isn't some half-baked immortality like Darnic's," Amakusa continued.
"It is true immortality, abandoning flesh that can rot, and achieving a complete, absolute, eternal existence."
"And this gift is not for a select few. It will be shared by all of humanity."
"Good and evil alike, everyone will receive my blessing. Passion and selfish desire will fade. Vanity and shame will lose all meaning."
"And thus, humanity will finally arrive at true peace!"
Like so many final antagonists before him, Amakusa passionately laid out his grand design for Jeanne—and ended with a question.
"Now then, Saint Jeanne. I ask you one last time. Do you believe my actions are… wrong?"
There was no doubt about it.
Amakusa had cornered her completely.
She should have denied him—but no words came out.
She should have condemned him—but she could not find a reason strong enough.
If things truly unfolded as the man before her described—if immortality were bestowed upon all people, without distinction between good and evil, turning humanity into beings that existed purely as souls—then the struggle over resources would lose all meaning.
With desire extinguished, the chains of vengeance between people would also vanish.
The entire world would move toward everlasting peace.
From the standpoint of salvation alone, Amakusa Shirou's plan was, without question, perfect.
"Neither wrong… nor mistaken. It's already so perfect that even you have nothing left to say."
The smile on Amakusa's face didn't resemble that of a villain at all.
Rather, it was like an old farmer sitting by the fields, watching the sun set—peaceful, calm, and gentle.
Jeanne remained kneeling on the ground, yet dark clouds were gathering in her heart.
What Amakusa said sounded wonderful. Humanity would be saved—no suffering, no despair.
But didn't that also mean… no joy, and no hope?
What meaning could such a world possibly have?
If it were the Jeanne of the past, she would have immediately denounced Amakusa's arrogance.
Yet after enduring the "play" Shakespeare had prepared for her, her resolve had begun to waver.
A world without hope might be stagnant and lifeless—but in a world overflowing with hatred and conflict like this one, was there truly a future to be found?
"I…"
"Jeanne, open your eyes. It's me—Gilles de Rais."
Just as Jeanne hesitated, about to speak, Gilles de Rais stepped in front of her.
This time, he was not an illusion born of a stage play, but a Servant manifested in the real world through Shakespeare's Noble Phantasm.
When it came to bad taste, the Kotomine line never disappointed.
For the current Amakusa Shirou, his magical energy was practically infinite.
If it meant completely crushing Jeanne's psychological defenses, he had no qualms about spending a little mana to keep Gilles here.
"Jeanne, you can't possibly fail to understand the correctness of what he's saying, can you?"
"Gilles, you—"
"—You know my other name, don't you? The infamous Bluebeard!"
"I committed nearly every evil imaginable, all to blaspheme the god who allowed his saint to be sold out!"
Gilles pressed his face close to Jeanne's cheek, his eyes locking onto hers.
"Do you want to hear them? The screams of those children! Their cries of despair!"
"No… don't… please, don't…!"
Jeanne recoiled in terror.
She knew all too well that the cause of Gilles' collapse lay entirely in her death.
Those boys' deaths were directly, inseparably connected to her.
"That's right. Their deaths were caused by me—and by you as well!"
"It was my regret over your betrayal, over losing you, that drove me mad! If you hadn't died, I never would have gone insane!"
Gilles' appearance began to change. His cheeks hollowed, his eyes bulged outward—
The deranged murderer from Fate/Zero had returned.
Outside the screen, Shibamatsu froze the moment that iconic Type-Moon "frog face" appeared.
"Damn it, was this really necessary?" he complained.
"Showing kids something this freaky… Shinji's got something seriously wrong in his head."
Fujita chuckled. "What, you're a kid? If you're scared, just say so."
"I'm standing up for the children in the audience!" Shibamatsu snapped stubbornly.
"There's something I don't quite get," Li Ri'ang cut in.
"What exactly is going on with that Baron's eyeball structure?"
"Yeah… that's a mystery," Fujita nodded.
The most distinctive, most iconic feature on the Baron's face was undoubtedly those truly watery, oversized eyes.
To Li Ri'ang, it looked exactly like a wuxia villain who'd gone mad after botching their cultivation.
"Boss Kariya once joked that you shouldn't get too obsessed with magecraft, because the longer you study it, the less human you become… Was that meant literally?"
"..." ×2
Faced with this innocent question from a magecraft newbie, both Shibamatsu and Fujita desperately wanted to deny it, but neither could think of a single counterexample.
"Ha… ha… ha…"
Meanwhile, the film's director, Shinji himself, was panting heavily.
The reason was simple: the moment the Baron revealed his true face, Jeanne had landed a solid hit on him.
"Master, I know Gilles committed unforgivable crimes, and that his sins can't be erased with a few words," Jeanne said calmly.
Facing Shinji's aggrieved expression, she continued matter-of-factly,
"But that still doesn't give you the right to exaggerate his ugliness. Turning him into a monster like that… Master, do you have something against France?"
'No. I swear on the bulb inside the IMAX projector—I really didn't uglify him. Your friend genuinely looks like that now…'
Shinji desperately wanted to argue back, but he knew that the moment he opened his mouth, Jeanne would definitely reply with something like, "Then summon Gilles and let me see for myself."
Letting the Baron himself take up residence in Fuyuki City?
Yeah, no thanks.
Shinji seriously doubted whether his Saint could keep that so-called "French lizardman" under control.
What if the guy snapped, started screaming "This isn't my saint!" while wildly summoning tentacles everywhere?
To prevent Fuyuki City from turning into a Lovecraftian seafood market, Shinji could only silently endure Jeanne's "retaliation."
'Sigh… another day of saving Fuyuki City. Wonder if Alaya noticed.'
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While the real Jeanne was happily bantering with her Master, the Jeanne on the big screen bit down hard on her lip that it broke the skin, yet she didn't seem to care at all.
"I… I am…"
"There's no way to bring those children back to life! The past can't be changed—but the future can still be redeemed!"
"We can still make a choice now, Jeanne!"
Even through the screen, the audience could clearly feel Gilles' madness.
This was the kind of role where, as long as it was acted with enough insanity, it would leave a deep impression—no wonder Shibamatsu had been left with lasting psychological scars.
"No god will ever save humanity! And since that's the case, then let us take God's place and save everyone!"
"Come, Jeanne! Answer me, will you save humanity or not?!"
Jeanne desperately held back her tears. She searched for words to refute him, but her arguments were as pale and powerless as her expression.
For those drowning in suffering, the peaceful world Amakusa described was undeniably more attractive than an uncertain future.
But in such a world, would people still even possess the emotion called happiness?
This was the true reason Jeanne resisted Amakusa.
He wasn't saving humanity.
He was erasing it—emotionally.
Gilles de Rais stood up and extended an invitation to Jeanne.
"Take my hand, Jeanne. You must accept your defeat, and then we'll fight together. No—this isn't battle. It's salvation."
"Let us take the first step on the journey of human salvation."
"Gilles…"
A flicker of hesitation crossed Jeanne's face.
If—just if—the children who had died because of her could be redeemed through this…
If the world truly became peaceful, and no one ever felt sorrow again…
Without even realizing it herself, Jeanne slowly reached out her hand toward Gilles.
Seeing this, Amakusa's lips curved upward.
"I've won. Counter Force, your saint not only failed to stop me, she's become my ally. The moment you chose to send this saint, the outcome was already decided."
Amakusa slowly turned away, lifting his gaze toward the Greater Grail as he prepared to complete the final step of the ritual.
There was no one left who could stop him—
Bang!
A sudden, thunderous gunshot echoed through the room.
Amakusa halted mid-step.
Jeanne froze with her hand still outstretched.
Thud
The body that broke the eerie silence was Shakespeare's as he collapsed to the floor.
A bullet had pierced straight through his heart before he could even react.
"How… is this possible…?"
Shakespeare stared in disbelief at the blood pouring from his chest.
So this was how he would exit the stage.
"Go on. Say one more word, clown."
Standing at the doorway, Sisigou coldly spat his cigarette butt onto the floor.
The smoke rising from his gun barrel made it painfully clear who had fired that shot.
"Haha~ finally, that felt good."
Sisigou threw his head back and laughed loudly.
But the one laughing wasn't the Sisigou on the screen, it was the real Sisigou, sitting comfortably in his seat.
Throughout the entire movie, Sisigou had an extremely strong presence within the protagonist group, yet in practice he was mostly playing a support role.
From a settings perspective, that couldn't really be helped.
Faced with the assorted monsters and freaks running rampant in this Holy Grail War, Sisigou—who was, at the end of the day, just a magus—couldn't exactly be called useless, but there was very little he could truly accomplish.
After all, a Master's natural opponent was always supposed to be another Master.
But in Shinji's version of Fate/Apocrypha, the protagonists didn't have any enemy Masters to deal with—only Servants.
In that kind of environment, it would be a miracle if Sisigou could make a real contribution.
A mere magus trying to go head-to-head with Heroic Spirits?
Wake up first before you start dreaming—what, do you think everyone's surname is Emiya?
"Hey, old man."
Seeing Sisigou grinning so smugly, the real Amakusa, sitting beside him, felt his pride take a hit.
"You landed that shot because your target was Shakespeare, a Caster. If you'd aimed at me, I would've dodged it."
Sisigou kept grinning.
"Well, duh. That's exactly why I shot the Caster. Man, Shinji really gets me—this script fits my combat philosophy perfectly. Hahaha!"
"…Tch."
Amakusa shot him a dark look.
So you're smug just because you won this time, huh?
Just wait. One day, he'd win back on the big screen.
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"Caster?"
Seeing Shakespeare collapse, Amakusa instinctively used healing magecraft—but the wound refused to mend.
The bullet Sisigou fired had been made from fragments of Mordred's helmet, still tainted with Hydra venom.
"So… this is how it ends for me… I suppose life truly isn't a play after all…"
Lying on the ground, Shakespeare spoke with the last of his strength.
"What a pity… not being able to see the finale… Though… if I ever had the chance… I really would've liked to play the protagonist myself…"
At the very end, Shakespeare revealed that honest wish.
Carrying the regret of being nothing more than an observer, he completed his final journey in the Holy Grail War.
"No!!"
With the death of the one who summoned him, Gilles de Rais—standing before Jeanne—reached his own end as well.
In his final moment before disappearing, Gilles grabbed the hem of Jeanne's clothes and called her name.
"Jeanne…"
Facing her old friend, Jeanne—now freed from Shakespeare's Noble Phantasm—spoke in a hoarse voice.
"I'm sorry, Gilles. I cannot agree with the salvation you spoke of."
"The sins you committed by killing those children will not disappear through such 'salvation.' This isn't redemption, it's nothing more than escape."
"So… you're saying I can never receive God's forgiveness?"
Jeanne gently stroked Gilles' head and replied softly,
"God may forgive everything. But the children you killed never will. Your sins are a punishment you must bear forever…"
"But that's alright. When you can no longer endure it, I will guide you from ahead, because I am the Saint who leads others to victory."
"Hah… I see… Jeanne, you truly are a saint…"
There was no anger. No mockery.
Only relief, and acceptance.
Freed from Shakespeare's control, Gilles de Rais finally regained himself.
"Saint… go and do what you believe is right."
For the Saint he followed, Gilles de Rais loosened his grip.
"Jeanne, I—"
I will save you. No matter how many times it takes. No matter the cost.
With those unspoken words left behind, Gilles de Rais returned to the Throne of Heroes.
"Well then," Sisigou said, fixing his remaining eye on Amakusa, who stood atop the stairs, "that just leaves one last little problem."
"Alright, padre."
He rested his handgun on his shoulder, while Astolfo beside him drew his knight's sword.
"So, what'll it be?"
"Are you going to take on the three of us by yourself, or are you going to let the three of us gang up on you?"
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Tn: I updated the story once every 2 days, but if you want to see more chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.
Latest Chapter: Chapter 429: Another Poor Kid Who Gets Sold and Still Says Thanks[1]
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