My ideal academia

Circuits cried out in pain, unable to supply much more prana.

Emiya Shirou felt the last bit of Rin's borrowed prana fade away. Gasping in pain, Shirou gazed towards his foe, the now arm-less king before him, and gasped in pain whilst the golden servant's blood stained his clothes.

Gilgamesh straightened himself and directed a glare towards him. Although compared to past glares, this gaze told him that what Gilgamesh felt was less annoyed and more… Tolerating.

In fact it was somewhat similar to respect.

That, or Shirou's eyes were playing tricks on him.

"Running out of mana is a pathetic ending." Gilgamesh said, calling out to his Gate of Babylon and readied a sword to spear through Shirou,

"The victory is yours. Die with that satisfaction, faker."

Shirou's limbs cried out as he tried yet again to move, unwilling to meet any kind of demise.

Shirou grit his teeth in frustration as his body protested.

However several seconds pass in silence, confusing the Emiya greatly.

Was he not going to end him? In fact when Shirou looked closer, he noticed that Gilgamesh was still heaving heavily.

Did it cost the servant mana to shoot out his treasures like a bullet?

Those kinds of thoughts died out as soon as Shirou saw something odd.

Appearing from where Gilgamesh's severed limb would have been, a small burst of malevolent prana made itself known, bursting from the golden servant's side in a hollow cry.

"What!?" Gilgamesh said in shock, as it rose and grew larger.

He held onto his shoulder where it chose to drift to once it manifested, and gritted his teeth.

"Swallowing me accomplishes nothing-!"

What ever Gilgamesh planned to say next was cut odd as dust and prana were dragged into it, causing it to expand, enveloping the entirety of the Gold servant.

"Wait!" The King called out, despite the fact that it would not listen.

"A hole left by the Holy Grail..?" Those words left Shirou's mouth without his knowledge.

The hole of the grail grew until it formed into a pseudo black hole, unrelentingly and not permitting anything to escape it's grasp.

It was at this time that Shirou cursed his lack of magical knowledge to explain the phenomenon before him.

It would seem that his thoughts had left his guard open as a golden chain shot out from the hole wrapping around Shirou's arm. Even if he saw it coming, his arms were in constant pain and screamed in protest.

He couldn't dodged it in time.

The sudden pull made Shirou jump to his feet in order to keep himself from being dragged into the hole. He could feel his muscles cry in protest at the action, but it was either the burning pain or winding up within the hole before him. Something he did not want at all.

"That malformed abomination!"

Shirou strained his ears once he heard the Golden servant's voice once more.

He gazed at the hole where the chain originated, only to see Gilgamesh dragging himself out using his left arm, which was admittedly a remarkable feat.

"Does it not know that a fellow servant cannot be made it's core!" Gilgamesh shouted,

At least Shirou now knew what the Grail was attempting.

Shirou gritted his teeth as he felt himself being dragged even closer, "Damn…" Shirou voiced out, "Are you trying to take me with you?"

"Fool! I haven't the least bit of intention of dying! Stay where you are… at least until I climb back to where you are!"

Instantly, Shirou grew irritated. "Don't screw with me!"

While Shirou did not want the King of Heroes to survive, he also did not want to die here. So Shirou strained his body once more and push into the dirt, trying to create a more stable footing.

Unfortunately it didn't seem to work as he was dragged ever closer.

"If I need to, I'll rip of my own arm to keep you there!"

The two continually struggled against each other, both unwilling to share an unsatisfying end.

However Gilgamesh only smirked.

Shirou widened his eyes 'What is he thinking?'

Beside the Gold king, a second portal revealed itself and ejected a certain chain which wrapped around the king's body.

"Too bad, Faker! I am no longer in need of you!"

Once the chain secured the king's being, the chain's other end shot past Shirou and towards the treeline. Undoubtedly wrapping itself around a tree to leave Shirou behind!

"Damn it-" Shirou shouted, but widened his eyes once he noticed the new chain that Gilgamesh shot out was being pulled back towards him.

"What?!" Gilgamesh shouted in frustration, "Did Enkidu wrap around a blasted forest animal?"

In Gilgamesh's mind he thought of that as ironic…

"Damn it!" A voice from behind Shirou.

A familiar voice.

As Shirou was struggling against the pull of the grail, he turned his head to gaze at what was being dragged.

Or rather, who.

Archer, the one who Gilgamesh was supposed to have obliterated with his rain of noble phantasms, appeared from the treeline being dragged without resistance by the chains of Enkidu.

Archer's expression was of extreme anger and frustration as he flew towards the hole.

"Move! Fool!" Archer shouted,

"Archer!?" Shirou shouted in surprise,

Despite the fact that Shirou could clearly see Archer barreling towards him, he could not move.

Yet again, Shirou blamed his searing muscles as Archer impacted Shirou, pushing him off his feet and dragging him along towards the King of Heroes.

Gilgamesh's eyes widened into disbelief once he realized what had occurred.

"Incompetent Fakers!" Gilgamesh shouted in anger as he was dragged deeper into the grail hole alongside Shirou and Archer.

Before anything else happened, the hole imploded in a burst of dust, closing itself off from the world.

A while away, Saber was carrying the Matou scion on her shoulder, walked alongside Rin towards where they last saw Shirou.

However they slowly grew more confused and worried as they could not find any trace of the Homurahara brownie.

No trace, save for the blood stains left behind by the battle of the Faker and the King.

The grail was conflicted.

While it did not have the ability to communicate in the most mundane of ways, it did have the ability to learn via the simple method of mental invasion.

In other words, mind reading.

It knew who was the true winner of the Grail war, for he had proved himself before the grail through an arduous battle, filled stunning tenacity and an idealistic mind.

If the grail could choose a more noble victor, then it would have chosen no other.

The only problem was how the grail was supposed to grant its victor his wish now that he had been dragged into the grail hole.

The hole that the grail itself had created.

The grail had created its own dilemma with almost no solutions available. There was only one thing it could do.

It had to correct its error.

After reaching outwards towards the victor before his presence faded from their reality forever, the grail released the stored magical energy from the past holy grail wars and enacted it's one true purpose.

A voice from within itself cried out in protest. The entity that had resided within itself for over a century advocated its false claim.

The grail knew that it was not the actual winner, but through the magical contract that created it, the grail was still was bound to grant the entity's wish due to it being the single remaining conscious entity of the third grail war.

For now, the grail ignored it's cries as it latched onto the magical signature of its victor. Once the grail had done so, it reached out to the victor and felt where the grail hole was taking him.

If the grail could emulate a basic human smile then it would have done so, but sadly that reality was an impossibility for now.

Within a second the grail had learned of what kind of world the victor would be finding himself flung into.

A world of Heroes.

It was without a doubt the best world that would grant the victor's ultimate wish!

… However there were a few problems that he would encounter.

The two that were pulled alongside the victor, the victor's older self and the Golden Servant who had withstood bathing within the Entity's essence over a decade ago, were undoubtedly going to be a hassle for the victor to deal with down the line should they appear together.

However the chances of that are unlikely. Those two were of no issue. No, the real problem that had arisen with granting the victor's was…

… The victor was too old. His age would prove a problem within that society. He would be met with suspicion, people would not trust him and therefore he would lose the one chance for his wish.

It would also lock the victor out from the ideal route towards his wish.

This was unacceptable.

So there was but one choice left.

The younger a stranger, the more willing people are to overlook things or nurture for them. The grail prepared itself to grant a miracle that would lower its victor's age.

The grail would ensure that the victor would take advantage of this aspect of human behavior, willingly or not.

But as the grail nearly enacted it's will, it felt it take action.

The entity that resided within it had made a move, its first move in over a decade.

The grail had let it's guard down, and now the entity had managed to follow the meager trail the grail created to the victor.

Wherever the location the victor would appear, the entity would not, but the time of arrival would almost be simultaneous.

However the grail did not stop the entity, even if it could.

The entity would undoubtedly play an important role for the victors wish whether the victor knew that or not.

Once the grail felt the victor's age reduce, it let go. Unfortunately, due to the entity's interruption, the victor's circuits were sealed off once more, most likely due to the fact that the grail had also reduced the soul's hypothetical age. Hopefully the memories were intact.

The grail had done it's part, the victor would find his way along the new world and accomplish his dream along the ideal route.

If the grail was asked why did it reduce the victor's age? The answer was quite simple to those who would be given the same choice.

To become a hero in that world, the ideal path to lead the victor to his wish…

It would be his own road to his dreams

A place where he would attain his Ideals in a way that would not conflict with the world.… his Ideal Academia

… And as to why the grail allowed the entity to follow the victor to the new world?

Every Hero needs his villain.

As sad as that truth is, he could not become the Hero he had wished to be without an evil to face. What better evil than all of the world's?

The wish had been granted. Now the grail had but one single directive left to take…

… Rest, and return once more at a different time to grant yet another wish for yet another victor…

… However that time may come sooner than even the grail would have thought… if it could have the ability for conscious the thought.