Kiritsugu's hands finally began to tremble.
He looked at the ten terrified faces of the people he had saved along the way.
Then he looked to the other side, where Irisviel held Illya and smiled gently at him.
"Kiritsugu, no matter what you decide, I will support you," Irisviel said softly.
"Daddy... hug..." Illya reached out her small hands.
Kiritsugu seemed to understand what this series of multiple-choice questions was truly about.
He stared at the scene before him in agony.
"Why... why are you forcing me..."
"Aren't you a miracle? Why can't you save everyone? Why must it be..."
The voice shifted into Irisviel's, yet it carried an endless, freezing chill.
The scene changed once more.
Kiritsugu found himself standing atop a mountain of corpses that pierced the clouds.
Beneath his feet were billions of bodies—the elderly, children, soldiers, civilians.
The entire world was dead silent.
There was no war, no arguing, no pain.
Because there was no one left.
The Holy Grail, taking Irisviel's form, gently embraced Kiritsugu and pressed a black dagger into his hand.
Kiritsugu stared blankly at the dagger in his hand, then at the devastated, deathly silent world before him.
'Is this... my wish?'
'Is this the result I get after sacrificing everything?'
"No... this isn't..." Tears of blood streamed from Kiritsugu's eyes. "This isn't... what I wanted!!"
There was no light.
Asuka felt himself falling, falling endlessly.
Until his feet finally touched solid ground.
He opened his eyes to find himself standing on a familiar street.
Bluestone paved roads, old Japanese-style buildings on both sides, the smell of disinfectant in the air, and... the faint scent of wisteria flowers.
'This is...'
Asuka's heart skipped a beat.
He walked forward quickly, passing familiar corners.
"Mr. Asuka! You're back!"
A pleasantly surprising voice rang out.
Asuka looked back and found a petite figure standing under the wisteria tree.
She wore that familiar butterfly haori, bearing the smile he knew best.
"..."
Asuka dropped the sword in his hand and rushed over recklessly, wanting to catch hold of that figure.
He touched her.
It was a real, soft touch, still carrying a faint warmth.
"Welcome back, Mr. Asuka." Shinobu Kocho looked up, her purple eyes full of tenderness. "Everyone is waiting for you."
"Everyone?"
Asuka followed her gaze.
"Ah."
Deep within the wisteria forest, familiar figures walked out one by one.
Tanjiro Kamado, Zenitsu Agatsuma, Inosuke Hashibira, Giyu Tomioka, Kyojuro Rengoku...
Those fallen and living comrades were all standing there perfectly intact, smiling at him.
"We always believed you would come back," Tanjiro said with a smile.
From inside the Butterfly Mansion, a man wearing a striped bucket hat walked out. "My, my, if it isn't my little employee. Long time no see."
"Kisuke? You're here too?"
"What are you saying? Aren't you in my shop right now?"
The scene shifted, and Asuka noticed that the street he was on had actually turned into the Urahara Shop.
Miss Yoruichi, in her black cat form, was lying on the counter grooming herself. "Yo, Asuka boy."
Before Asuka could react to the situation, an urgent shout came from behind him.
"Asuka! Run! Those guys are here to steal water again!"
Asuka shuddered and turned around in disbelief.
A scrawny boy was running toward him, his face dirty, but his eyes exceptionally bright.
"Kenta...?"
Asuka's voice trembled as he uttered the name that had long been sealed away deep in his memories.
That was the first friend he made after arriving in the Rukongai.
And the friend who was beaten to death right in front of him.
"Why are you spacing out! Let's go! We'll get beaten up if we don't leave!"
Kenta grabbed Asuka's hand and dragged him toward the alley.
Asuka passively ran along with him, his mind in chaos.
'Is this a dream?'
'Or... did the Holy Grail send me back to the past?'
'No, that's not right.'
Asuka keenly detected a trace of dissonance.
None of this was right.
The streets looked very similar to his memories, but one section was a Taisho-era streetscape, while another was the World of the Living in Karakura Town.
If one looked closely at the clouds in the sky, they would also notice that they were completely static.
Moreover, aside from the familiar scent of poverty in the air, there was also a faint, almost imperceptible smell of...
Rot.
...
His brain swelled for a moment, and Asuka immediately pulled his deceived consciousness out of the illusion.
"..."
Asuka's eyes turned cold.
He backhandedly grabbed Kenta's wrist, forcing him to stop.
"What's wrong, Asuka?" Kenta turned around, looking at him in confusion.
"Stop pretending."
Asuka looked at his former best friend, his eyes filled with nothing but icy killing intent.
"Let me out. I don't have time to play-act with you here."
Hearing these words, Kenta's originally anxious expression suddenly froze.
His mouth split open, tearing all the way to the base of his ears, revealing a pitch-black maw inside.
Asuka pointed at the surrounding scenery, then at the entity itself.
"It's impossible for Tanjiro and that shady merchant to appear in the same scene. It seems that although you can read my memories, you can't understand the differences between them."
"And you understand even less what kind of wish I truly desire."
"Furthermore... even though your disguise is very convincing, right down to the exact calluses on your palms..."
"Kenta never called me Asuka."
"To him, I was always 'Brother Dog'."
Kenta burst into maniacal laughter, his body beginning to melt into that familiar, nauseating black mud.
The surrounding scenery also began to distort. The originally realistic illusion of the Rukongai started to peel and collapse like a scorched painting.
What appeared next was a boundless, black wasteland.
In the center of the wasteland stood a massive cup formed from black matter.
A woman's voice echoed from the cup.
The voice sounded like Irisviel, yet also like some older, far more sinister entity.
The black mud surged, transforming into countless tentacles that swept toward Asuka.
"Afraid?"
"Don't make me laugh."
Asuka placed his hand on his waist, even though there was nothing there.
"...Since you want to see my nightmare, I'll let you see enough of it."
Under the effect of Asuka's powerful willpower, even the illusion created by the black mud began to tremble.
Countless glass vats containing corpses rose from the black wasteland, filled with an unknown liquid.
Miserable wails rose and fell in succession. The auras of countless lives dissipated, turning into Reishi that was absorbed into Asuka's body.
In the sky above the wasteland, a pair of cold eyes behind glasses watched everything. Even the black mud could feel the apathy within them.
Asuka ignored the Holy Grail's frantic roars and took a step forward.
"Speaking of which, this is my own dream, isn't it?"
"Then in my own dream, there shouldn't be any restrictions on magical energy or Spiritual Pressure."
Swish—!!
Facing the sky full of malice, he swung a blade that didn't exist, yet was omnipresent.
"Incinerate all forms, devour heaven and earth—Gouka Kourou."
The sound of the dream shattering abruptly echoed at this moment.