"Then, Illya, say goodbye to your Berserker!"
At this point, it would be disrespectful to the Round Table Knights if Guinevere did not swing this sword. Moreover, in her heart, she did not want Illya to die because of this battle.
To keep Illya alive, the first thing she had to do was to break her will to continue the war, and then place her under protection.
As for the power of the Lesser Grail that Illya regained after Sakura's body was repaired, that was a matter to be discussed later.
Therefore, to achieve this "first step," forcing Berserker to exit was a necessity.
As long as Berserker remained, Illya's confidence would always be unshakeable.
"Ex...calibur!!!"
The mana glow blasted forth by the Holy Sword contained crimson, for that was the color of Guinevere's mana. By the time this strike from the Holy Sword of Salvation had evaporated Berserker's upper body, his fate was already sealed: whatever was left of his life would be completely annihilated by the blow.
In the original Saber route, Saber and Shirou Emiya achieved the feat of seven kills with a single strike. Guinevere, with the Holy Sword's "Holy Sword of the Planet" mode, had now accomplished the same.
"This... this is impossible... Berserker... Berserker is clearly the strongest!"
From the very beginning of their fight, Berserker had been continuously suppressed by Guinevere. Yet, to have the rest of his life completely wiped out in a single strike was still something Illya found hard to believe.
But she could not bring herself to deny Berserker's exit. Ever since Lancer had fallen, she had clearly felt a piece of Berserker's soul appear within her own heart.
This piece of Berserker's soul made her body heavy, her movements becoming somewhat jerky.
Like a puppet tangled in strings, Illya nearly tripped as she took a few steps forward, and then, ignoring the fact that she was no match for Guinevere at all, she tried to attack her directly.
"Illya, you should go to sleep now."
Not even Berserker was a match for Guinevere, and Illya was not an opponent for a single round. Just as her magecraft was about to take shape, Guinevere struck her on the back of the neck, forcibly inducing sleepiness.
Cradling her in a princess carry, Guinevere smiled warmly and handed the Holy Sword back to the dazed Saber-chan.
To obtain seven acknowledgments at a Round Table meeting was something even the current Saber-chan could not achieve.
"You..."
After saying "you," Saber-chan fell silent again, unsure if she should speak the next words, and even more unsure if the sudden flash of inspiration in her mind was real.
But after a moment's thought, waiting for Guinevere to entrust Illya to Caster, and for Caster and Kuzuki to take Illya back to the temple first, Saber-chan steadied her breathing and spoke with utmost seriousness:
"Guinevere, if the wish to return to the past comes true, and I am willing to draw my sword again, would you be willing to become my wife, and turn the recreated past into the one you just described to me?"
Guinevere had no idea how Saber had come to this thought; she only knew that her strength had been fully recognized by Saber.
"Saber, my Lia can only be her."
This was a refusal, and also Guinevere's heartfelt thought, even if she knew that as long as she agreed, she could achieve the result of changing the 'self-destruction' idea of the Saber in front of her.
"But Guinevere, what makes you so sure I am not her? If your story is correct, and my experience is also correct, then I think the disharmony I sensed must also be real, that is, in your story, you know the future."
Under the moonlight, in front of the temple gate, Saber-chan's words instead made Guinevere stunned.
And this stun was entirely because she knew this was not impossible.
As far as she knew, if the timeline were linear, then her traveling through the Fifth Holy Grail War, then to the past, then becoming a Heroic Spirit, and then to the Fourth Holy Grail War and so on would be completely impossible, because this would cause a time paradox, for example, she who is currently in the Fifth Holy Grail War should only have memories of her past life, not memories of what came after.
But the time of the Type-Moon world was indeed not linear, the Throne of Heroes was independent of all timelines, and as for the time paradox, the existence of Archer perfectly refuted this concept.
In other words, her making a promise with the current Saber, then later achieving many accomplishments in the future and returning here with her memories, was completely plausible in the Type-Moon world.
As for why she only had memories of her past life during the Camelot era, this could also be attributed to the uniqueness of the Throne of Heroes.
Ultimately, Guinevere faced only one real question: whether the Saber before her and her Lia were truly the same individual.
"Saber-chan, give me a moment to think."
The timeline was so convoluted that even Guinevere couldn't untangle it all at once, and she truly couldn't completely rule out this possibility.
After all, she had long known that in the Type-Moon worldview, the past, present, and future all existed simultaneously.
"Guinevere, I will await your answer."
The Holy Sword in Saber's hand dimmed. She had been struck by a sudden flash of insight, but as she spoke, she also felt that this was not impossible, even though she knew far less than Guinevere did.
Yet perhaps precisely because she knew so little, her thoughts only had to consider the possibility that she and Guinevere had made a promise, and Guinevere would then return to the past to keep that promise.
And her future self arriving here to make a promise would be considered a closed loop of the world line, which was reasonable.
Of course, the most likely possibility was still that Guinevere came from a parallel world completely unrelated to her; she only thought this way because she was so hopeful.
"But if that's the case, my future self... no, if I go back to the past, did something really happen between me and her? Could I actually fall in love with a girl?"
While lost in thought, Saber had already left the Temple Gate and entered her guest room.
After shaking her head again, Saber discovered her fingers were pressed against her lips, as if there was a different sensation there.
As for Guinevere, she had gone into Caster Medea's room.
Nearly ten minutes had passed since Berserker's exit, and during this time, no Masters had jumped out. This basically confirmed that the others had tacitly accepted their side's capture of Illya, meaning there should be no more trouble tonight.
"Caster, is there any way to deal with Illya's body?"
"Assassin, let me ask you, can a person live without a heart?"
For a moment, Guinevere was stunned by the question. After she recovered her senses and personally examined Illya, she fully understood Caster's line of thinking.
The current Illya was completely different from Irisviel in the Fourth Holy Grail War. After being fashioned by the Einzbern Family for ten years, her bodily functions were completely centered on her role as the Lesser Grail, meaning her heart was the undisputed core of her entire body.
If they wanted to save Illya, this heart was something that had to be removed.
"Caster, what about replacing her heart?"
"The magecraft for heart transplantation isn't difficult. But a heart capable of withstanding the burden of her full-body magic circuits is extremely rare."
"What if the magic circuits were transplanted into someone else first?"
"There would still be risks like organ rejection that could lead to her death from organ failure. Assassin, to put it bluntly, while extracting her magic circuits and transplanting a heart are not complicated, I cannot sustain her life."
Guinevere pondered, thought, and then chuckled grimly. When all was said and done, what was the main thing she wanted to do for Illya? Of course, it was to strip away Illya's Lesser Grail functions and let her survive.
As Caster said, she had the ability to strip away Illya's Lesser Grail functions. As for making the heart-transplanted Illya survive afterward...
In this Holy Grail War, excluding the King of Heroes who already had everything he wanted, weren't there still Noble Phantasms that could achieve such a thing?
"Caster, I will go prepare the Heart Source. Let's do it this way tomorrow."