Confronting the Holy Grail — Artoria / The Finale

In the silence of the night, Waver stood alone.

The King's figure had vanished entirely, leaving only the hoofprints of that legendary steed.

He may have lost the Holy Grail War, yet his wish had been granted.

One of the world's greatest kings had acknowledged him, praised him, called him a vassal, and made him witness his dominion.

Waver had fulfilled all that was asked, but his King had departed forever, leaving him alone in this desolate world.

Through his tear-filled eyes, he could barely see Avenger disappearing into the distance.

Waver looked up at the ridges of Mount Enzou, and a single tear slid down his cheek.

——

Deep within the vast hollow of Mount Enzou, the black consciousness hovered, bewildered.

Everything had been meticulously prepared, the sacrifices offered, yet still—no one had made a wish.

It craved its own birth, yearning desperately to descend into this world.

From within the black mud, the figure gazed up at the overhead cavity, eyes filled with disappointment and confusion.

——

With Rider's departure, a golden cup-like vessel rose amid resplendent golden light—the Holy Grail itself.

The "all-encompassing vessel."

Yet, as Kiritsugu looked closer, he could see a continuous trickle of black mud seeping from beneath that radiant glow.

Maiya had already been stationed by the lake behind Ryuudou Temple; by now, she would likely have joined Saber and the others.

"Everything's ready," he murmured into his mobile phone before turning away.

The pitch-black, curse-filled black mud poured out, its deathly force capable of burning away all life.

——

It was finally ending.

Stepping out of the temple complex and glancing back at the ancient building, Kiritsugu sighed briefly.

He reached into his pocket for a cigarette with one hand while swiftly dialing a number with the other.

The number led nowhere, but the specialized circuit linked to the detonator on the C4 buried throughout Ryuudou Temple.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A series of explosions erupted, reducing everything to rubble in seconds.

The Grail altar—where the Holy Grail had materialized—was buried under the greatest number of explosives, shattering the golden chalice in the ensuing blast.

The Holy Grail was by no means indestructible, as history from the Third Holy Grail War had made abundantly clear to Kiritsugu.

···

The apocalypse had arrived.

A dark, endless void tore open the sky once more.

It was an omen of the world's end.

An enormous wave of blackness poured forth from the sky.

The void was, in fact, a spatial tunnel linking the underground hollow of Mount Enzou to the Greater Grail's magic circle.

After sixty years of continuously drawing mana from the land's leylines, and with the essence of six Servants now added, it had transformed into a massive vortex of mana.

This living mana circuit spanned nearly a kilometer in diameter.

···

A black sun loomed in the night sky.

From it poured a vile rain, transforming everything it touched into charred ashes.

Hopeless, inexorable destruction.

The world was aflame.

Kiritsugu quickened his pace, fleeing toward the lake behind Ryuudou Temple.

His brows furrowed—where was Saber?

—By command of the Command Spell—

Kiritsugu prepared to forcibly activate her.

···

Saber wasn't dawdling intentionally.

In fact, by the time Maiya had arrived at the lakeshore, Saber was fully prepared to intervene.

What they hadn't anticipated, however, was a wave of black mud welling up from the lake, seeping from the surrounding thickets, burning and reddening the night sky as it encircled them.

It was as if the mud were seeping up directly from the earth.

For magi, this cursed mud could be endured with adequate protection, tolerable for short exposure.

But to Servants, it was a deadly poison.

Indeed, that black mud was filled with the "All the World's Evils," a corruption nearly akin to a Servant itself.

The sludge crept closer, staining everything in sight with a sickening darkness.

Unable to dematerialize, Saber had no way to escape.

"Damn it…"

Gritting her teeth, Saber turned to face the black sun now risen over Ryuudou Temple.

"Saber…" Irisviel's face was etched with worry.

"Iri… Maiya…" Saber's expression was grim as she assessed the situation.

With a burst of mana, she unleashed the Invisible Air, temporarily repelling the black mud with a roaring gust.

"Listen," she instructed, "I'll release my Noble Phantasm—use that chance to escape."

"But…" Irisviel hesitated.

"Come now, we're nearing the end, aren't we?" Saber turned her head and, in an unusual moment, smiled. "As for that void… I'll have to leave it to Avenger."

"Too bad, though, without Avalon."

···

"Avalon?" Irisviel murmured, something stirring within her memory.

The artifact—the summoning relic that had originally brought forth Saber—was currently sealed within her own body.

With hands over her heart, Irisviel conjured a golden scabbard adorned in luxurious blue enamel, bathed in pure light.

Engraved with runes, the golden sheath was a marvel not of human origin.

"Saber…" Irisviel smiled. "I return this to you."

"Oh, Iri…" Saber's own smile grew soft.

"So… you were my scabbard all along."

——"Thus, my sword remains with you."

——"And my fate is bound with yours."

After fifteen hundred years, Saber once again held the scabbard in her hands, her mana surging forth like the roar of a red dragon.

"—True Name Release, Avalon."

In an explosion of blue light, the scabbard—an artifact in the realm of magic itself—unfolded.

An unbreakable protection; even a conceptual weapon of anti-world proportions could not breach it.

A torrent of mana surged across the land. Compared to Excalibur, Avalon was Saber's true Noble Phantasm.

···

—By Command Spell—

—Saber, destroy the aperture with all your might—

—By another Command Spell—

—Saber, destroy the aperture with all your might—

—By the final Command Spell—

—Saber, destroy the aperture at all costs—

Perfect timing.

Saber's smile was resolute as she gathered all her strength, channeling it through her arms and into the golden sword she now raised.

Light converged, gathering as countless rays from the earth coalesced into a blinding beam.

It was a pure, brilliant radiance, one that had once illuminated a world darker than night.

Through ten years of battle, through twelve campaigns undefeated.

It was the light called "victory," revered by all warriors who had perished on battlefields throughout history.

Saber stepped forward, her right foot firmly planted.

With a resounding cry, she proclaimed the sword's true name.

Ex—calibur!!!

The tempest of unleashed mana roared in the night.

Countless beams of light surged, the dragon's essence strengthened and accelerated, transforming into a brilliance that pierced the heavens.

The torrents formed numerous whirlpools, swallowing and vaporizing both the black mud and the portal itself.

A massive cross-shaped flare, visible across all of Fuyuki, blazed in the sky.

The river of light tore through the portal, striking the Greater Grail's magic circle on the other end of the spatial tunnel.

The massive one-kilometer-wide circuit, originally created through the Einzbern Saint Justeaze's sacrificial ritual, was utterly annihilated.

Mount Enzou trembled.

···

"Do you see it? That's Saber's light—that's her ideal."

Standing behind Kiritsugu, who hadn't noticed her arrival, Kurumi smiled.

"A radiance painful to behold." Gazing at Saber, who embraced Irisviel tightly as she slowly dispersed into motes of light, Kiritsugu lit a cigarette and spoke softly.

"Her duty, her ideal—they all ended on that 'Hill of Swords,' didn't they?" Kurumi leaned against a lifeless tree and looked at Kiritsugu.

"Aren't you going to say goodbye?"

"No, I'll let her and Iri part in peace." But then Kiritsugu noticed something odd.

"Why are you still here?"

"Oh my, me? I'm just a spirit."

"Just a mere traveler passing through."

——

The cross-like light closed the portal, turning the Einzberns' 200-year-old wish into nothing more than a dream.

The massive mana condensed by that irreplaceable radiance dispersed into spirit particles, snowing down over all of Fuyuki.

After sixty years of gathering, it all returned to the land.

"The contract is complete." Lowering the sword in her left hand, Saber looked at her right hand, a hint of sorrow in her eyes.

The time to part had come.

"You won, Irisviel."

"Saber…"

Surprisingly, Irisviel hugged Saber in their final moments together, a warm and heartfelt embrace.

"Thank you."

···

"My Master's sword, striking down my foes, my shield protecting them," Saber smiled peacefully, dissolving into spirit particles.

"I am glad to have protected you."

She closed her eyes, her peerless heroic figure forever imprinted in memory, vanishing on the breeze.

"I'll… always protect you."

At the last moment, countless blue rays of mythical light marked Irisviel's form like a network of magic circuits.

—The Ideal Distant Land.

"Saber…"

"Thank you."

In the end, Saber left behind the scabbard, blessing Irisviel with Avalon, allowing her to live out her days as an ordinary human.

···

When the four returned to the residence near the city hall, dawn was breaking.

The first rays of light pierced the darkness.

Kicking off her shoes, Kurumi quietly returned to her room.

The small girl lay curled up on the bed clutching a pillow, her tear-stained pillowcase hinting at her sorrow.

"I'm back~~~" Kurumi whispered gently, cradling Sakura in her arms.

0:00:00

Everything had come to an end.

——

Fuyuki Church.

Father Risei, looking utterly worn out, stared at the newspaper photo of the massive, cross-shaped light.

"I was so naive, truly…"

Choked with emotion, he scribbled down the report:

—Massive Gas Explosion Incident.

···

It was over.

···

The Hongshu Banquet Hall welcomed a new chef, a tall, imposing figure with an unpleasant air.

He was said to excel in ramen and volcanic-level mapo tofu.

He preferred using a long, cross-shaped knife.

This chef had a fondness for hydrangeas; apparently, it was his late wife's name.

It was rumored she was a beautiful woman.

The "Winter's Devilish Spicy Demon Chef" gained notoriety as more and more daring patrons attempted to challenge his mapo tofu, only to find themselves in unbearable agony as he looked on with an immensely satisfied smile.

Until, one day, a young girl from afar succeeded in the challenge.

A petite, expressionless girl with long, silvery hair and amber eyes.

She looked almost angelic.

···

The legacy of the Tohsaka family ultimately fell to Rin Tohsaka, facing the Magic Association that attempted to exploit the family's inherited magecraft crest.

The Edelfelt family, a prominent Nordic magic family, intervened on their behalf.

It was rumored they were distant relatives of the Tohsakas.

Aoi Tohsaka, however, never forgave Kariya Matou, the man who had sent Rin and Sakura's father to his doom.

But she did get along well with the new Emiya family that had moved in nearby.

Even so, this graceful, traditional Japanese woman still lacked the courage to face Sakura.

···

And Kariya Matou?

As his body was nearly consumed by the worms, he saw someone unexpected.

Kurumi Tokisaki.

The one who should have left after the Holy Grail War ended.

She tossed him a vial of potion, shimmering with faint blue light.

"To live on, hated by all… or to die, freed from it."

"You decide."

···

Kurumi was no Heroic Spirit, but a "spirit."

Her fate was not dictated by the Fuyuki Holy Grail system.

Even after dealing with Rider, she had taken some of the mana from the large cavity.

In Kurumi's words, she'd "eaten her fill."

With Kiritsugu, she fought her way back to Germany, rescuing Illyasviel from an old man devastated by Kiritsugu's destruction of the Holy Grail.

Kiritsugu and Irisviel settled down in Fuyuki with Illya and Sakura.

Their new home was on the former Matou estate, as Kariya had transferred all his holdings to Sakura.

It was close to the Tohsaka estate, and the three children became friends as if meeting for the first time.

Maiya Hisau left.

She couldn't bear it; Kiritsugu was no longer the same man he had once been.

···

In Miyama Town, a new house was built beside the Gran home where Waver had lived during the Holy Grail War.

It wasn't large, but it was quite charming.

The man of the house, a somewhat stern fellow with slicked-back hair, had a limp but adored children.

His wife, a striking woman with red hair, looked at her husband with eyes as gentle as spring water.

——

Before she left, Kurumi slipped a small card into Sakura's hands.

It contained the spirit of a magical sword to protect her.

Its name was Apophis, the Cursed Sword of Chaos.

Then, after sweeping up all the rice in the market, she left with a smile.

[Ding~]

[Fate/Zero - Cleared]

[Deaths: 0; Clear Time: 269:15:45]

A large 'A' grade appeared.

[Materials Gained: Fate's Mark x200, Eternal Melody x200]

Opening the rewards panel, she found:

[Skill Acquired: "Instinct (False)"]

——

Perhaps she had once been confused and sorrowful.

But as she reversed that familiar tragedy and saw Sakura's beaming smile,

Kurumi finally understood the meaning of her journey.

Just like long ago when she had faced that primordial spirit—

——I will save the world.

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