"Guinevere, can you really do it?"
"It's just All the World's Evil!"
That night at Einzbern Castle, Guinevere spent the entire time experimenting with various ideas on Irisviel.
She continued to expand Irisviel's physical capacity, preventing her from being crushed by the souls of the four Servants and losing control of her body.
She also added a protective shell to Irisviel's soul, preparing her for contact with All the World's Evil.
Unlike the King of Knights, Irisviel wouldn't get a second chance if she failed.
So, even after all this, Guinevere remained unsatisfied. She might have dismissed it as "just" All the World's Evil, but those were merely words.
"Caster, you really don't need to worry so much about my life or death. From the moment I was born, I was destined to die here."
In the largest bedroom of the castle, Guinevere had become intimately familiar with Irisviel's body. As she had planned, she had already succeeded in perfectly Falsifying a new body for her.
From this perspective, if Irisviel hadn't been determined to replace Angra Mainyu as the Holy Grail's core and fulfill Kiritsugu's wish, she could have already escaped her fate as the Lesser Grail.
After all, the Einzbern family had only modified her physical body; they never anticipated that her soul could be extracted and transferred.
"But Irisviel, if you calculate your age in human terms, you're only nine years old. Don't you want to see more of this world? Can you really bear to leave Illya?
"Speaking of which, you once offered Illya to me as a child, and I promised to save her. When I go to rescue her, I can't very well bring her the news of her mother's death, can I?"
Saving Illya and Irisviel—these were two of the few lingering desires from her past life, and now she truly possessed the power and opportunity to save them both.
She continued to reinforce Irisviel's soul, adding a suggestion: the moment she fell into the Holy Grail's interior, she would use her final Command Spell to invite Guinevere to merge with it alongside her.
Kiritsugu Emiya remained wary of this plan, fearing that Guinevere would replace Irisviel as the Holy Grail's core and then refuse to grant his wish.
"How about this? I could swap your soul with Irisviel's."
"Can you do that?"
"I can try."
In the bedroom, Guinevere's cold glare at Kiritsugu was cut short by Irisviel's interruption. If one of them had to die, Irisviel wished it would be her.
"Kiritsugu, you still have to defeat Kirei Kotomine, don't you?" she said. "If I swapped into your body, I wouldn't have the confidence to defeat him. This is the final battle—we can't afford any additional risks."
After a sleepless night and a brief nap at dawn, they spent the entire day in the castle—eating, chatting, and discussing tactics. They decided that Maiya and the two maids would remain behind to await their victory.
As the seventh night of the Holy Grail War descended, Kiritsugu set out alone. Irisviel, the King of Knights, and Guinevere drove openly toward Mount Enzo.
Because Irisviel was the Lesser Grail, they had the privilege of choosing the battlefield.
Just as Guinevere remembered, once Irisviel had absorbed the souls of four Servants, the Lesser Grail would be preliminarily formed. She could then be used as a sacrifice to begin summoning the Holy Grail at one of Fuyuki's four major spiritual leylines:
The Holy Church, the Tohsaka Residence, Mount Enzo, and the Fuyuki Public Hall.
Among these four locations, the Church was immediately ruled out—it was Kirei's base.
As for the other three, after Guinevere and the King of Knights had scouted them during the previous day...
The Tohsaka Residence was now empty and located in the suburbs, making it an ideal site for the Holy Grail's advent. However, Guinevere wanted to preserve the estate for Rin, ensuring she wouldn't have to worry about family finances in the future.
Of the remaining options, the Fuyuki Public Hall was situated in the bustling city center. If they summoned the Holy Grail there as they had in memory, they risked triggering another catastrophe on the scale of the Fuyuki Fire.
Therefore, the group had no choice but to select Mount Enzo.
As for the monks at the mountaintop temple, after Kiritsugu Emiya called to issue his challenge, Kirei Kotomine proactively contacted the police department. He arranged for the temple's occupants to be "invited" to the station to "assist with an investigation."
In effect, a battlefield had been prepared—a place where the two sides could fight without restraint, free from the risk of harming innocents.
"Lia, is your Mana sufficient? Can the Scabbard be released?"
The souls of four Servants were enough to summon the Holy Grail, but at least five were needed for it to fully materialize and grant wishes.
To pierce the World and open a path to its Reverse Side, six Servant souls had to be sacrificed, their spirits returning to the Throne of Heroes simultaneously.
Only then could the victorious Mage journey to the Reverse Side and attempt to reach the Root. The victorious Heroic Spirit, in turn, could use the boundless Mana of the Reverse Side to realize any wish.
Theoretically, this was how Fuyuki's Holy Grail War System was supposed to function.
"That's enough. But in this battle, are you truly just providing support? Do you really have to wait until I'm truly losing to the King of Heroes before you'll go all out?"
"Yes. I believe that once you retrieve your scabbard and I apply my Falsification, you'll definitely be able to defeat him. I need to prepare for what comes after."
The King of Knights was driving; they wouldn't dare let Irisviel take the wheel. As they drew closer to Mount Enzo, all three of them grew slightly tense.
They spoke with confidence, but they knew the King of Heroes would be equally prepared.
And indeed, just as their luxury sedan left the city limits and entered the Mount Enzo area, the King of Heroes and his Vimana materialized in the sky.
"Mongrels! You've kept this King waiting!"
"Car, fly!"
The moment they sensed each other's presence—one in the sky, the others on the ground—the King of Heroes and Guinevere spoke simultaneously.
At the King of Heroes' command, the Vimana's "missiles" launched toward them.
At Guinevere's command, her Second Noble Phantasm activated, and the luxury sedan they were riding in truly took flight.
A series of thunderous explosions roused the already "sleeping" Fuyuki City. Citizens began turning on their lights, and through their windows, they saw the magnificent flying ship they had witnessed once before.
But this time, they saw something more...
"Mommy, there's a car flying in the sky! I told you anime isn't lying! Miracles and True Magic really do exist!"
A little girl waved her tiny magic wand, begging her mother to pick her up as she cheered for both sides battling in the sky.
"Ex...calibur!!!"
Mana surged atop the sedan as the King of Knights unleashed her Noble Phantasm, her greeting to the King of Heroes.
And how fast is light? Fast enough to startle the King of Heroes, who barely managed to summon a shield in time to block it.
"Lia, you are a dragon! Dragons can fly!"
Guinevere's Second Noble Phantasm continued to activate, awakening the Red Dragon Bloodline dormant within the King of Knights. A pair of wings sprouted from her shoulder blades, and sparks flew from her lips. With this form she had spent the afternoon adapting to, she broke the sound barrier in the sky.
Though her swordsmanship couldn't match Lancelot's, under the continuous enhancement of Guinevere's Falsification, all her base stats had been drastically boosted. The force behind her swings now surpassed even Lancelot's.
Furthermore, the Excalibur in her hand, also known as the Steel-Slaying Sword, could cut through steel like butter. Against Noble Phantasms of far inferior quality, it possessed a legendary blessing that allowed it to shatter them in a single strike.
"Second Noble Phantasm deployed! Deception of Human Order—this land is now Great Britain!"
Deception of Human Order, Falsification of the World—this was the name of Guinevere's Second Noble Phantasm. It could falsify the world and, for a short time, deceive Human Order itself.
For instance, she could make Human Order recognize this place as Great Britain, granting both herself and the King of Knights the immense buffs of fighting on home turf.
Under the effect of Guinevere's Noble Phantasm, a third-rate Servant could become first-rate, and a first-rate Servant could reach the level of a Grand.
Staying in the rear, providing targeted buffs and enemy interference as the situation demanded—this was the proper way for a Caster to fight. Guinevere could engage in close combat even in her Caster Class, and do it well, but it would be a waste of her true potential.