When the Shadow Border stopped in the Tokyo neighborhood, Steve saw the small figure with a backpack disappear behind an apartment door, finally letting out a long, relieved sigh.
His mission for this journey was now complete—helping Ritsuka and companions recover their memories; defeating Marisbury and Solomon head-on; allowing Solomon to reincarnate as Dr. Romani; making the old director useful in the only way left; and sending him back to the Animusphere house for a normal life.
Steve did not immediately return to Fuyuki City. Instead, he stood alone on the streets of Tokyo.
He closed his eyes, attuning himself to the vast network of spiritual ley lines stretching across the entire Japanese archipelago.
Soon, he saw the enormous magical cauldron in Fuyuki City: the Greater Grail.
After Romani's miraculous wish to become human, the magical power accumulated in the Greater Grail over sixty years had been greatly depleted. But like a gluttonous beast still with food left even after a feast, there remained a considerable amount.
To modern magi, this was still a fearsome power that could easily trigger a bloody conflict.
Leaving it as is would be a problem. This now meaningless Holy Grail War, currently with zero casualties, still risks being made into an actual disaster… Steve thought.
He couldn't come up with an urgent wish, but ignoring this power would go against his aesthetic of a perfect ending.
Thus, his attention shifted to Fuyuki City's spiritual leylines—left dry as a riverbed from ten years of harsh draining to fill the Holy Grail using Cosmic Magecraft, sapping decades' worth of the land's spiritual energy.
Negligible damage for Earth itself, but to Steve, it was always a tiny flaw in his perfect script.
"I can't disappoint Rin, the wealthy landowner of Fuyuki, too much…"
"Well, let's fix this flaw with the surplus energy."
He stretched out his right hand, palm up.
The tremendous power of cosmic magecraft gathered—the faint lights of countless stars swirling in his palm, eventually forming a fist-sized miniature Holy Grail, a dazzling galaxy concentrated in his hand.
It was not a physical object, but a wish-granting terminal composed purely of concept and energy. Steve instilled his will into this little star cup:
—Restore Fuyuki's leylines to their former state.
The wish carried through the small grail to the distant Greater Grail.
As if receiving a command from its terminal, the ancient magical cauldron began to replenish the ground with the remaining immense magical energy—gently and efficiently.
In that instant, all of magical Fuyuki sensed a quiet miracle.
The parched leylines revived, like rain arriving upon dry land. The magical particles in the air became more active and pure than ever before. The overdrawn of life was finally repaid in full.
With this final task completed, the little grail in Steve's hand shattered with a crisp sound, dissipating into countless flickering motes of stardust in the afternoon sun.
Thus, the Fifth Holy Grail War—arguably the most unusual in history, held by just two Masters and one Servant—truly came to an end.
Relieved, Steve took out his cellphone immediately.
He found Emiya Kiritsugu's number. After a brief thought, he typed up and sent a short text:
"The Holy Grail War is concluded, with zero casualties—a peaceful ending."
He imagined that man, waiting anxiously through the night in someone else's home for the result of this incident. Such a message should be enough to soothe his tired heart.
With everything done, Steve put his phone away and used no more magecraft. He snapped his fingers, sending the Shadow Border back to the Imaginary World, then walked alone to the train station and returned to Fuyuki City.
Like any normal office worker, he finished his work for the day and went home to his apartment in Shinto.
The afternoon sun was warm and pleasant. All around, students in uniforms strolled home in twos and threes. The air was serene and leisurely.
He treasured this hard-won peace.
In the end, he had reclaimed a normal life—saved from the original's unreasonable fate—by his own hand.
When he reached his high-end condo and opened the door, he saw a slender, silver-haired girl in the Homurahara Academy high school uniform, changing her shoes at the entrance.
"I'm home," Steve greeted her with a smile.
Hearing the voice, the girl slowly looked up.
Her features were beautiful as a doll, yet carried a saintess' unique, otherworldly indifference. Her golden eyes gazed quietly at him, and a subtle, almost invisible curve appeared at the edge of her lips.
"Oh my, isn't this our very own savior?"
Caren Ortensia's voice was as clear and cold as a church organ, yet tinged with the laziness and playfulness of a cat. "You didn't come home last night—I wondered if you were performing another grand drama in some parallel world."
"Are you satisfied with this script?"
Her words were as sharp as ever, as though she could see straight into people's hearts.
As Steve's adopted daughter, and one of the few in the world who could keep up with his thoughts, she always managed to cut past his composed exterior with the most precise words.
"Haha, maybe so… The process was a bit rough, but the ending was quite satisfying."
In front of his special adopted daughter, Steve's godlike powers were of no use at all. All he could do was awkwardly scratch his cheek, putting on a forced smile like any dad caught coming home late, and try to steer the conversation away.
"Let's not talk about that… Did you eat dinner? I remember there was some beef left in the fridge from yesterday…"
"Sakura already brought beef for hamburger patties, and she came by this afternoon."
Caren cut him off, neatly finished putting away her shoes, and walked over step by step—tilting her head up to look him in the eye with golden orbs. "You smell like stars and time. And… there's a hint of trouble mixed in."
"Last night's script must have been more entertaining than you imagined."
"…"
With that, Steve's forced smile finally faded away.