In a magnificent castle in the middle of a forest, Artoria stood in the garden. Iri stood in front of her, playing with some flowers. "Hey Saber, do you think Kiritsugu will like it if I give him a bouquet of flowers I arranged myself?"
"He will definitely like it, Iri. You can make it—" Artoria smiled at her, about to nod, but suddenly she stopped. She turned around, looking up at the blue sky. Her eyes sharpened as if she were staring at something far away.
Iri, noticing Artoria's strange behavior, turned her head. "What is it, Saber?"
"This feeling... Excalibur. Something is using it."
"Excalibur? This morning you said something similar. Is it the same this time?" Iri stood up and approached Saber.
"No. What I felt this morning was merely like a firefly, but this time... it is different!!!" Artoria's brow furrowed, her face instantly looking angry. "This power is full of evil! Someone is using something like that... to wield Excalibur!" Artoria shouted angrily. Instantly, she changed her black suit into her knight's armor. Just as she took her first step, preparing to leave, a voice suddenly stopped her.
"Saber, stop. You cannot go there," the voice said. Kiritsugu stepped out from the castle's shadows, smoking a cigarette.
"Master!" Artoria gasped. "What do you mean I cannot go there?"
Kiritsugu pulled the cigarette from his mouth and exhaled the smoke. "The one using that power is Ritsuka Fujimaru. The cameras I set up around the roads near the Matou residence caught his movements there. If you go there, you will experience the same thing again as last night when you met that boy. For the time being, you are not allowed to approach him."
!!!
Artoria's eyes widened upon hearing that name.
"T-that only gives me more reason to go there! Not only does he possess a Dragon Core stronger than mine, but he is also an Excalibur user. I have to see it—"
"No. You must keep your distance from him. That boy is an anomaly in this war. There are too many things that are anomalous surrounding him: first his Dragon Core, then Excalibur, and finally his Servants," Kiritsugu glared sharply at Artoria and continued his sentence. "He is too dangerous to approach."
Artoria flinched. She wanted to go but was held back. Her expression hardened, her hands clenched tightly, before Iri spoke up.
"But who exactly is he, Saber? That child has too many connections to your legend. The Dragon Core, the shield used by that girl—which you said was very similar to the shield of one of the Knights of the Round Table, Sir Galahad—and now that he can use the sword Excalibur, it makes him even closer to your legend. Are you sure you don't have any connection to him?" Iri tried to calm Artoria down.
"I already told you, Iri, we have absolutely no connection. I also don't know how he came to possess all of those things."
Iri looked at Artoria, who was holding her head. "This is just a possibility, but could this be the work of that magus you often talk about? Merlin?"
Artoria gasped, then looked at Iri. "T-that is a possibility," Artoria said, recalling the mischief of the flower magus. "But why would he do all of this?"
Kiritsugu stared at the two of them while smoking. "First of all, we will eliminate that boy as soon as possible. It might be dangerous, but there is no other way. We will form an alliance with the other Masters."
Artoria turned to him. "Impossible. Are you planning to order me to gang up on a human?" she said.
"That is the plan. Fighting him alone would be impossible in your current state."
"What?! Do you want me to violate my honor?! He is just a boy, Kiritsugu! And you are ordering me to kill him by ganging up on him with other Servants? That is a cowardly act!"
"Throw away that honor of yours on this battlefield. We cannot win if you keep clinging to it." Kiritsugu turned his back on Artoria. "With Lancer being eliminated because of him, it already proves just how dangerous that boy named Ritsuka is. You cannot win against him on your own, Saber." After that, he walked away, entering the shadows of the castle.
Artoria stared at his silhouette, her hands clenched tightly. Then, she felt Iri pat her shoulder. Artoria turned to see a worried Iri. "Saber..."
. . .
"Hahaha!" A booming laugh echoed in a luxurious-looking residence. The laughter belonged to Gilgamesh. He laughed loudly. "How beautiful! Just as I expected from my subject." Gilgamesh gazed out the window of the Tohsaka residence. He held a wine glass, swirling it in front of him. "You truly leave me satisfied with your performance."
BANG! The door behind him swung open. Gilgamesh glanced briefly as a man hurried inside. The man bowed his head.
"My King! I beg for your assistance! Please, can you save—" The man was Gilgamesh's Master, Tokiomi Tohsaka. His words were cut off.
"Your child is fine, Tokiomi. She is in the right hands," Gilgamesh interrupted him.
Tokiomi immediately looked up. "What! Are you certain?"
"Are you suggesting that this King is lying to you?" Gilgamesh glared sharply at Tokiomi with a cold tone.
"No, I believe you. But my daughter... would you be so kind as to tell me where she is right now?"
"Rest easy. The person looking after your daughter is the right person. I guarantee upon my own name that he will not harm your daughter."
"If so, can you please tell me her current whereabouts?"
Gilgamesh fell silent, swirling his glass. "No. If you want to know your child's whereabouts right now, you must serve me properly. Only then, after this war, will I tell you the whereabouts of your daughter," he said.
Tokiomi looked up, his eyes hardening. "W-what?!"
"Are your ears not clear enough? I said, serve me properly, and I will tell you where your child is," he repeated his words.
Tokiomi glared sharply at Gilgamesh, then bowed his head again. "Very well. I will give you my absolute best." After saying that, Tokiomi stood up and was about to leave, but Gilgamesh called out to him.
"Summon all the Assassins here. I will lend them weapons from my vault. We are going to form a temporary army out of them. And tell Kirei that I will be commanding all of them directly; he only needs to relay my orders to them."
Tokiomi turned around, his eyes widening in disbelief at what he had just heard.
"What is it now?! Are you going to keep me waiting?!"
"N-no." After that, Tokiomi left the room. Gilgamesh turned back to gaze at the blue sky from the window.
"Do not blame me for using this method, my subject. You are not facing a mere Archer, but the King of Heroes. I will make you face even more challenges and make you shine even brighter! Hahaha! The Grail is no longer important. But you, the Last Master of Humanity... it is your final form that I want to see. What kind of hero and king you will become—I want to witness it all." Gilgamesh held his glass out to the empty air, as if making a toast.
. . .
"Master, are you alright?" Arthur asked. He saw Ritsuka panting heavily while leaning on his sword. The surrounding area had turned into a massive crater; the Matou residence had been destroyed, leaving absolutely nothing behind. Arthur was deeply focused on Ritsuka, but his eyes widened instantly as he saw a red line creeping out from under his clothes, spreading across his face.
CLUNK!
The wheel spun.
After that, the lines vanished. Ritsuka's eyes returned to their emerald color. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said, standing up. "Now, let's head to where Rikka and the others are." After that, Ritsuka crouched slightly. The magic circuits on his legs lit up, and glowing red lines also appeared around them.
SWOOSH.
Ritsuka leaped into the air, flying incredibly high into the sky. Ritsuka looked at himself, his brow furrowing. "Master... you—" Arthur said in worry.
"No need to say it, Arthur. I know I'm getting closer... to that point." Ritsuka clenched his hands repeatedly, then looked down at an empty park. There, he saw Rikka, Mash, and a little girl sleeping on a park bench.
BOOM!
Ritsuka landed there. Rikka and Mash immediately approached him. "Brother..." Rikka said worriedly. From the park, she could clearly see the explosion from Excalibur Morgan.
"It's alright, Rikka. I'm fine," he said. He then looked at the little girl sleeping on the bench and approached her. "Sakura," Ritsuka gently stroked her head. "I'm sorry I'm late," Ritsuka said, bowing his head.
Without him noticing, Sakura began to open her eyes, glancing at Ritsuka. "Se-en-pai..." a playful voice sounded in Ritsuka's ears. His body suddenly shivered upon hearing that tone of voice. Ritsuka looked up to see Sakura's face smiling, but that smile made Ritsuka stumble backward in terror.