"How could this be..."
Tokiomi Tohsaka stood atop the Throne of the Heaven-soaring King, Vimana, his face deathly pale as he stared at the apocalyptic scene in the distance.
Infernal fire rained from the sky, lighting up the city's entire nightscape. Like divine punishment descending upon the world, it wiped out the terrifying otherworldly Sea Demon so completely that not even ash remained.
How is this possible...
The only thing that should be capable of something like this, of destruction on this scale, is the King of Heroes' Sword Of Rupture, isn't it!?
So that was the last one... the seventh Servant, the one even the "Spiritron Disk" could not detect.
Faker.
"Tokiomi, surely you are not entertaining some very disrespectful thought?"
Archer's displeased voice came from beside him.
"Do you intend to place this King of Heroes on the same level as that sort of petty creature?"
Tokiomi Tohsaka hurriedly lowered his head toward the golden throne in reverence.
"M-My Lord, that Faker is far too dangerous. He may pose an even greater threat to you than Saber or Rider.
Please forgive my bluntness, but I ask that you take him ser..."
Tokiomi Tohsaka cut himself off halfway through, his shoulders starting to tremble.
In his panic and agitation, he had lost his composure and said something he absolutely should not have said.
Given this King of Kings' arrogant temperament, he should already be furious by now...
"Tokiomi, you fool! Are you trying to tell me what to do?
To prattle so brazenly before the King. Such insolence deserves death!!"
Tokiomi Tohsaka held his breath, fully prepared to face Gilgamesh's blazing wrath.
But not only did Archer show no anger, a faint smile even curled at the corner of his lips.
Gilgamesh's attention was wholly drawn to the apocalyptic sight beyond the night sky. He was so absorbed by it that he magnanimously overlooked the Magus's offense.
"As you said, that mongrel is an especially peculiar anomaly even among mongrels. Your concern is not misplaced."
The King of Heroes narrowed his crimson eyes and spoke in a proud, amused tone.
"Very well. I shall heed your advice for once.
As for that Faker, I have decided to deal with him personally."
"...Huh?"
For a moment, Tokiomi Tohsaka thought he must have heard wrong.
Archer was actually willing to listen to his advice? That had never happened before.
"For a mere imitation to presume to call itself a king is laughable enough.
And yet, for that same imitation to shine with a brilliance not the least bit inferior to that of a true king, that is an even uglier and more pitiful sight.
Ordinarily, if some insect flies into the King's garden, it should not be the King's place to drive it out himself, but...
Very well. Since it has come to this, the King shall render judgment.
That Faker will be tested by me, to prove whether he is truly fit to claim the title of king."
Gilgamesh's lips curved upward, and he seemed to be in an exceptionally good mood.
In fact, this was the first time Tokiomi Tohsaka had ever seen the King of Heroes so talkative.
Ever since manifesting in this world, he had always stood above all else and judged everything with scorn, constantly declaring things like "Prosperity in numbers alone is meaningless," "What an ugly age this is," and "Mere mongrels dare call themselves heroes." He had been nothing less than an aggressive critic of everything around him.
Only this time did Tokiomi Tohsaka truly feel that this king had acknowledged something, even if his words remained as merciless as ever.
"Hmph. There is no need to worry, Tokiomi. Before long, I shall turn him into rust within my treasury...
We're going back."
Having seen something that amused him, Gilgamesh, thoroughly satisfied, directed the heavenly throne onto its return course.
...
It was not only the King of Heroes, Gilgamesh. Every other Servant and Magus still taking part in the Holy Grail War that night also witnessed the destruction of the otherworldly Sea Demon.
Assassin, so shocked by the power Shirou had displayed that she could not speak.
Kirei Kotomine, whose heart remained utterly unmoved, filled only with confusion and pain.
Rider, whose blood surged with excitement after seeing the Sea Demon's destruction up close.
Waver Velvet, whose legs had gone weak from fright, already wondering whether he should secretly buy a plane ticket back to London.
And then there were Saber and Lancer, still fighting several kilometers away.
"That brat..."
The Lancer Servant knocked aside Saber's Invisible Sword with a sweep of his spear and narrowed his eyes as he looked into the distance.
I didn't think he'd actually destroy that monster.
When he appeared in front of me earlier, he clearly hadn't shown anything close to that kind of power.
What exactly happened over there?
And where did he draw that power from?
"Do you really think I'm an opponent you can afford to lose focus against, Lancer?!"
Saber shouted as she brought her sword down at him. Lancer hastily raised his spear to block, yet she still drove him back several meters in one fierce push.
"Guh, this woman...!"
The Lancer Servant suddenly felt as though he were fighting a demonic boar the size of a city.
She was completely different.
To Lancer, who had fought Saber before, the woman before him now was like an entirely different person from the Saber he had faced on Warehouse Street.
It was not that Saber had become stronger, nor that her swordsmanship had grown more polished. Rather, the very air around her had changed.
The faint trace of hesitation that had once lingered in the girl was now gone. In Saber's eyes, there was only a single conviction left. Defeat the enemy before her.
What could have happened to bring about such a drastic change in Saber overnight?
A thought suddenly flashed through the Lancer Servant's mind.
Was it because of that brat?!
Unlike the distracted Lancer, Saber seemed utterly unconcerned by the fact that Shirou had destroyed the Sea Demon, and continued pressing her all-out assault.
No, more accurately, she had believed in the promise she and Shirou had made from the very beginning—that if it were that boy, he would surely be able to defeat the Sea Demon.
And Shirou actually did it. He fulfilled his promise to her.
That filled Saber with a surge of confidence and determination: I can't lose to Shirou either!
Yet just as she was preparing to press her attack, the Mana radiating from Lancer abruptly began to fade.
"Lancer, you aren't planning to run away with your tail between your legs, are you?"
A look of disdain crossed Saber's composed face.
Lancer sneered. "That's right. My Master ordered me to retreat; the situation has started turning against us.
And you noticed that? I suppose a boar's nose really is sensitive, isn't it?"
Saber shot back without hesitation. "If I'm being frank, you're the one who looks more like a wild boar right now."
As she spoke, it was clear that the cursed beast hide covering Lancer had gradually fused with him during the battle.
The "Beautiful Young Warrior" had long vanished. Now he looked like nothing but a monster covered in sharp bristles, a creature with the upper body of a Demon Boar and the lower body of a human.
"You're as sharp-tongued as ever, Saber," Lancer said with a grin. "Next time we meet, I'll make sure you can't maintain that composure."
With that, he immediately retreated. Saber wanted to pursue, but she couldn't.
The demon-possessed Lancer emitted Mana on a level equal to hers.
But unlike Saber, who used her Mana to enhance her normal strength, Lancer's Mana Burst manifested in speed and explosive power.
If he chose to flee at full strength, Saber had no choice but to watch him vanish into the darkness of the forest.
"Phew…"
Artoria exhaled deeply.
Even with the support of the finest Master, Irisviel, the battle with Lancer had been exhausting, a severe drain on her strength.
Moreover, she believed Lancer hadn't even used his full power.
What he had shown was simply the original Lancer Servant with an additional Mana Burst skill.
Under those conditions, they could have fought on equal footing.
He was actually testing my strength. The next time we meet, I will crush him…!
Saber made a silent vow.
The girl didn't even realize it—tonight, under someone's influence, she had become unusually aggressive.
"Oh, right, Irisviel!"
Saber suddenly remembered her Master was still on the battlefield, moments ago being targeted by the enemy.
She turned, only to find the silver-haired Homunculus gazing dreamily into the distance.
"Shirou… He's so amazing… huff, huff, huff…"
Saber gave her a look of exasperation: Could it be that while I was fighting Lancer, she was staring at Shirou like that the whole time?
You've only met him once, so why are you so concerned about that boy?
What exactly is your relationship? What happened? I'll make you tell me everything later.
Better brace yourself, Irisviel.
"…Ah!"
Irisviel snapped out of her daze, only to find her adorable knight glaring at her with disdain.
"Saber! Why are you staring at me like that? By the way… where's Lancer?"
"He's already gone. I'm sorry I couldn't defeat him."
Irisviel froze for a moment. "…The battle's over?"
Saber nodded with a look of displeasure. "Yes."
"Ahahaha, I see… Hmm, really, I can't sense Lancer or his Master anymore."
As the mistress of the Einzbern Forest Barrier, Irisviel could sense everything happening nearby.
The intruders had withdrawn. Now, only she and Saber remained.
Hearing this, Artoria released the Mana armor woven around her and approached her Master.
"So, what do we do next, Master?"
Over the year she had spent with Irisviel, Saber had always addressed her by name. She only used "Master" when she was serious or sarcastic.
"I wonder if Shirou is okay… I'm so worried…"
Catching the King of Knights' disdainful glare, Irisviel quickly corrected herself. "R-right! We need to repair the damaged Barrier nodes immediately! Let's go, Saber!"
She grabbed Saber's hand and headed deeper into the forest.
Then—
"!!"
As if sensing something, Saber suddenly stopped and spun to face the direction where the monster had disappeared.
...
"Master…"
"Master… Master…"
A voice reached him from afar.
Shirou opened his eyes, jolted by an intense sensation of weightlessness.
Then he realized this wasn't the familiar feeling of falling in a nightmare, he was actually plummeting.
Above him stretched the unreachable expanse of space, around him the endless clouds, and below, a city ablaze with lights.
It seemed he had been blown tens of thousands of meters into the air by the aftershock of the spatial rift created when the "Blades of Chaos" sliced through the Sea Demon.
"Master!"
The woman's anxious voice rang in his ears again.
"Stop shouting, I'm awake."
Shirou frowned in irritation. "How's the city? Miyama Town shouldn't have been hit, right?"
Lady Avalon let out a small sigh. "Is now really the time to worry about that?
You handled everything perfectly, Master. Not a single tentacle escaped your grasp."
"That's good."
Shirou exhaled deeply. His plan had gone smoothly.
If his only goal had been to destroy the Sea Demon, he could have used a far less taxing approach.
He could have sliced it into a thousand pieces with the "Blades of Chaos" and incinerated them all with the infernal flames from Hell.
But that would have endangered nearby homes and buildings, and even though this was a remote area, there still could have been casualties.
So he had gone all out, obliterating the Sea Demon's body in a single strike, leaving no trace behind, not even enough to cause an explosion.
It was also why Shirou had exhausted all his Mana and been blown away by the shockwave.
"Lady Avalon, give me a brief update on the situation."
"I regret to inform you, the 'Dead Count Shapeshifter' has been dispelled."
"I could see that for myself."
Shirou noticed his body had reverted to its eight-year-old form and asked, puzzled,
"That 'World Correction' you mentioned, I don't seem to have felt it. Wasn't there supposed to be a terrible backlash when it ended?
Apart from my whole body aching so much I can't move and my Mana circuits being unresponsive, I haven't felt any particularly strong side effects."
"..."
Lady Avalon fell silent for a second.
"N-now is not the time to be worrying about that!
How can you stay so calm? Do you even realize the situation?
At this rate, Master, you're going to plummet to your death from ten thousand meters up!"
Shirou nodded thoughtfully. "You're right. Things aren't looking great… Why didn't the Wind's Protection activate?"
"It was destroyed when you sliced the Sea Demon apart."
"My apologies. I'll be more careful with it next time."
"Anyway… I'm heading to you now."
Lady Avalon said through telepathy.
Shirou could hear her heavy breathing—she must have been rushing the entire time.
"Master, try to activate your Mana circuits again—even just a little… You have to hold on until I reach you, no matter what!"
"No, that won't be necessary. I just thought of an idea."
"…?"
Lady Avalon suddenly had a bad feeling.
Shirou glanced down.
He was still about four thousand meters above the ground, plenty of time for what he had in mind.
"You've worked hard tonight too. Take this chance to rest.
If anything happens, I'll contact you… Don't worry, I'm not planning on killing myself yet."
"Wait, Master, don't—"
Shirou cut off the mental link.
Calming down from the heat of battle, he recalled the sensation of approaching the Sea Demon.
Even a Servant's Noble Phantasm could summon such a terrifying monster. What would happen if the Holy Grail itself were used for evil?
Images of the Amamiya residence's living room, Fuji-nee, and Sakura's smiles flashed through his mind.
I'm not interested in the Holy Grail, but I can't let someone with malicious intent claim it, he resolved.
But before obtaining the Grail, he had to stay alive.
The red-haired boy took a deep breath, steadying himself.
"—If you can sense it."
Shirou closed his eyes and whispered softly.
"Catch me, Saber...!!"
…
…
"What's wrong, Saber?"
Irisviel looked at the blonde girl who had stopped in her tracks, puzzled.
She knew the truth behind Saber's reaction—her "Instinct" skill had activated.
"..."
Artoria's eyes glimmered as she gazed at the distant sky where the monster had vanished. Her expression was resolute as she spoke.
"Master, please use a Command Spell on me."