Once everything settled down, Rin, carrying the continuously dry heaving Touko, disappeared into the sky with the Servants, Sakura, and Fujino. Although Kiritsugu Emiya, watching from afar, pretended to be calm and collected, his constantly twitching eye betrayed his anything but peaceful inner state.
Touko Aozaki, the Elder Sister of the Fifth Magus and the renowned Caster of the Crown in the entire magical world, was now reduced to being carried by a girl a generation younger than her, thoroughly losing face in front of a large group of people. Seeing Touko's plight, Kiritsugu Emiya seemed to glimpse his own future retirement life. However, right now, only Rin's Holy Grail could fulfill Kiritsugu Emiya's wish.
After Rin left, Kiritsugu Emiya and his group tidied up briefly and boarded the elevator leading to the Tenth Floor.
Gudako, who was about to ascend to the Seat of the Summit, was excitedly talking about something while surrounding Kiritsugu Emiya's family of three.
Especially whenever Illya mentioned place names that Gudako had never encountered in her memory, Gudako would feel longing and continuously ask Illya for the meaning of those names.
Martha stood aside, watching Gudako worriedly. Martha, who knew most of Rin's plan, knew that Rin would erase the memories carried by this part of Gudako's soul once the plan was complete. Perhaps after this, they would meet Gudako again as strangers.
But as soon as Martha recalled the desolate expression Gudako showed when hearing words related to family, she suppressed the urge to expose the truth and secretly swore in her heart, 'Rin! If you cannot give Gudako a better future, then I, Martha, will definitely let you know the origin of the nickname 'Iron Fist Saintess' I earned at Chaldea!'
Tenth Floor, Seat of the Summit.
After more than a month of growth, the Twin Bodhi Tree had reached the height of a person. Kirei Kotomine, sitting cross-legged beneath the tree, opened his eyes and looked toward the elevator located in the center of the Tenth Floor.
"They've arrived! Kiritsugu Emiya!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the massive elevator broke through the sea of clouds and appeared on the Tenth Floor, known as the Seat of the Summit. As the elevator doors opened, the fully armed Kiritsugu Emiya was the first to step out.
Stepping off the elevator, Kiritsugu Emiya immediately saw Kirei Kotomine sitting cross-legged beneath the only green plant in the desolate Tenth Floor. Then, Kiritsugu Emiya looked up and saw an unbelievable sight.
A massive golden halo, tens of thousands of meters in diameter, hung in the sky. No! It was a gigantic ring composed of countless intricate Noble Phantasms. Below this ring was a smaller wheel, thousands of meters in diameter, guarded by seven massive, strange weapons.
Simultaneously, The Enlightened One, who was at the center of the halo, slowly descended upon a Lotus Pedestal beside Kirei Kotomine as Kiritsugu Emiya and the others arrived, opening his eyes to look at the guests exiting the elevator.
"Master!"
Seeing The Enlightened One descend beside him, Kirei stood up, respectfully performed a Buddhist salute, and then stood behind The Enlightened One. As Kirei took his stance, the Twin Bodhi Tree transformed into two green vines that wrapped around Kirei's hands, becoming dark green tattoos.
"No need for formalities. Is this man your antithesis? Alas, his demonic nature is too strong, and he is not destined to be with me."
The Enlightened One then spread his palm, emitting a golden light that pierced the sky, revealing the special space where the Holy Grail was located to everyone present.
No words were needed; the moment they saw the Holy Grail was equivalent to signaling the start of the war. Kiritsugu Emiya pulled out two handguns and charged towards Kirei Kotomine without looking back.
Irisviel, Martha, and Chloe surrounded The Enlightened One from three directions.
The three Servants, clearly sensing The Enlightened One's terrifying strength, shouted in unison, as if by telepathy.
"Crane Wing Triple Strike!"
"O Dragon of Sorrow and Fury!"
"O White Holy Grail, chant!"
The three Servants fully deployed their Noble Phantasms without reservation and launched an attack towards The Enlightened One.
Just as the soaring Tarasque and twin swords were about to strike The Enlightened One, a massive Bodhi Tree phantom appeared behind him, causing Martha's and Chloe's Noble Phantasms to dissipate into nothingness.
'Enlightenment of the Bodhi Tree'—this was the inherent ability possessed by The Enlightened One.
This protection is held only by those who have reached the truth of the world, the Answerers of Human History, and is proof of being a "World Guardian" with Anti-Purge Defense. It unconditionally weakens damage received from physical, conceptual, and interdimensional attacks, reducing the damage value by an amount equivalent to his own Endurance. Furthermore, it provides 100% immunity to mental interference. The Enlightened One, possessing this skill at EX rank, can calmly endure even the seven emotions and six desires of all humanity.
The Enlightened One, having been attacked, began to counterattack. He instantly vanished from their sight, and then The Enlightened One, still seated upon his Lotus Pedestal, appeared in front of Martha, pressing his left palm onto her abdomen with a movement that was strangely rhythmic.
"Bang!"
A surge of energy erupted from her back, and Martha, whose eyes rolled back, was instantly critically wounded and near death from The Enlightened One's gentle palm strike.
However, all of this seemed only natural. If Martha was a Servant whose close-quarters combat and grappling skills were first-class or even top-tier, then The Enlightened One was an invincible existence in those fields.
Seeing Martha fall, Gudako shouted Martha's name without regard for anything else, running toward the fallen Martha even as Illya tried and failed to hold her back.
"Martha!"
Chloe looked at the fallen Martha in disbelief. Knowing how strong Martha was, Chloe was so frightened that she quickly performed several back-leaps to distance herself from The Enlightened One, not wanting to take even a single hit from him.
However, everything Chloe did was meaningless to The Enlightened One. Several weapons outside the halo in the sky suddenly began to move. As they stood up one by one, countless golden Magic Bullets descended from the sky like a meteor shower.
A series of Magic Bullets began to land near Chloe, causing the earth to tremble violently from the explosions.
Chloe, dodging miserably within the meteor shower of Magic Bullets, complained.
"This guy is cheating! How can anyone beat a monster-like enemy like this? Even Big Sister was taken out in one hit, ugh..."
A Magic Bullet grazed Chloe and struck the ground beside her; the resulting debris and shockwave sent Chloe flying heavily.
At this moment, Martha, who had awakened under the healing of Irisviel's Noble Phantasm, the White Holy Grail, her pupils constricted as she pushed away Gudako, who was leaning against her chest and weeping. Simultaneously, countless golden Magic Bullets fell from the sky, submerging Irisviel and Martha together.
Gudako watched in agony as the companions she had spent time with fell one by one. Having no memories of her past, Gudako had long since come to consider these companions as her own family.
"Please stop, we don't want the Holy Grail anymore, please stop..."
Illya felt a sense of desolation seeing Gudako's behavior. 'If I were about to be destroyed, would Kiritsugu worry about me like this... Well, it's definitely impossible. Otherwise, how could he be Kiritsugu?' Then Illya raised her right hand, revealing the three command spells on the back of her hand, and shouted loudly.
"Chloe, recover!"
"Chloe, grow stronger!"
"You must come back to me alive! Chloe... sister..."
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