A pale blue magical light flashed in Tohsaka Rin's eyes. The sword prison, composed of countless noble phantasm magic swords, decomposed back into magical energy and dissipated. Tohsaka Rin walked forward and placed her hand on Kiritsugu Emiya's shoulder. Knowing that Tohsaka Rin would not harm him within twenty minutes, Kiritsugu Emiya remained calm and did not flinch or tremble.
"I thought you would dodge."
"If you actually hurt me, that would be truly wonderful."
Tohsaka Rin showed a look of disgust, releasing Healing Magic, instantly healing Kiritsugu Emiya's ruptured and bleeding internal organs. If Rin hadn't intervened with healing, given Irisviel or Kiritsugu's own level of Healing Magic, he likely wouldn't be able to fight intensely for the next few days.
Feeling the astonishing effect of Rin's Healing Magic, which instantly healed injuries with no burden on the recipient, only a personal experience could truly convey the power of magic enhanced to its limit by End Magic.
"Tohsaka Rin, what exactly is your goal in participating in the Holy Grail War? Do you truly have no desire for the Holy Grail?"
Kiritsugu Emiya returned to his usual expressionless demeanor, asking Rin, and although his tone was calm, it was clear he greatly desired an answer.
"Not exactly. You should know why the Einzbern Clan, who hired you, are participating in the Holy Grail War, right?"
"The Third Magic, chalice · Soul Materialization..." Kiritsugu Emiya, who had been stationed in the Einzbern castle for nine years, naturally knew this very well. The Einzbern Clan's pursuit of the Holy Grail could be said to have reached the point of putting the cart before the horse, focusing solely on completing the Holy Grail and recreating the Third Magic, while caring little about what wish needed to be made to the Holy Grail.
"That's right, that's my goal. I want to engrave and extract the Third Magic from the Holy Grail. I don't care about making a wish. Anyone who can just let me see the fully materialized greater grail will do," Rin said with a light laugh. "Therefore, I don't mind letting you have the wish to the Holy Grail."
"You want to become a Third Magus..."
Kiritsugu Emiya narrowed his eyes, looking at Rin. He knew Rin wasn't lying to him because there was no need; Kiritsugu Emiya had nothing worth Rin's deception. The strong don't need to lie to the weak.
"In that case, I'll go after Kayneth now."
Kiritsugu Emiya finished speaking and turned to leave. Rin watched his solitary figure walking down the dark corridor, bearing the darkness alone.
Just as he was about to leave Rin's sight, Rin suddenly spoke:
"Kiritsugu Emiya, if all lives are weighed equally on a scale, where one life can be treated equally with any other life, then it's less about loving everyone and more about loving no one."
Kiritsugu Emiya's figure suddenly stiffened. He didn't turn around, but replied:
"So what."
"I just want to tell you that only a god, who views all beings as ants, can achieve this. Only among ants can there be complete equality. But you are not a god; you are human, and a human with no emotional defects. Every person you kill adds to your guilt, and even if you save more people, I believe you clearly remember the face of every person you killed for the sake of saving more, because you loved them equally, just as you loved those you saved."
"Acting from a god's perspective with a human body, you will break down, and very soon. I think this Holy Grail War will likely be your last battle."
Kiritsugu Emiya's body trembled, and he left without a word. How much he took in, Rin didn't know and wasn't interested in knowing. The moment he witnessed the true nature of the Holy Grail would be the moment his will collapsed. In truth, when he decided to rely on the Holy Grail to achieve his wish, he was already exhausted.
Rin also had no intention of asking Kiritsugu the same kind of questions as all the worlds evils, like about two ships at sea, one with three hundred people and the other with two hundred, both sinking simultaneously with only he able to plug the holes, because there was no choice in that question from the start. If Kiritsugu Emiya choosing to kill the two hundred people blocking his way to save the three hundred on the other ship was wrong, then would choosing to stay and save the two hundred people while watching the three hundred-person ship sink be right?
Could it be right to simply ignore others' pleas for help because their faces weren't seen?
In a series of hypothetical situations that followed, Kiritsugu Emiya decisively chose to kill, kill, kill. Did those who thought he was wrong realize one thing: if he didn't do that, the larger group would die, the only difference being whether they died from a disaster or at Kiritsugu Emiya's hands. Life is singular, death is equal for everyone, and how one dies makes no difference. Faced with such an obvious choice, to hesitate and hold back due to personal reasons and the influence of those around them, that is the coward named human.
Kiritsugu Emiya's choice was to abandon all personal factors and human societal moral values, and from the perspective of all humanity, arrive at the correct answer. It wasn't for that person or any particular person; no one would thank him, but no one could blame him from any standpoint, because he chose the correct answer for all humanity.
The justice of all humanity is to sacrifice the smaller part and choose the larger side, without defense, without argument; this is the fact.
The former Kiritsugu Emiya yearned for justice more than anyone, wanting to save everyone, but such an ideal would inevitably be trampled by reality, turning into a curse like an endless nightmare. The more he persisted, the deeper he was wounded. When he understood that not everyone could be saved, he had already drifted far from his dream... alaya must really like people like him, after all, the Heroic Spirits under her command as Guardians have always done this. Could any human say that alaya's decisions are wrong? Don't be ridiculous, that is the collective unconscious of all humanity, and even those who criticize it as wrong are part of it.
Looking in the direction where Kiritsugu Emiya's figure disappeared, Rin couldn't help but chuckle and murmur, "Saving the world, perhaps it was a curse from the beginning. After all, due to different human perspectives, the meaning of justice also differs, and that can't be called justice. Absolute justice must come from the perspective of all humanity, but that is the realm of a god. I, ah, cannot bear it, nor do I have any reason to bear such a weight. It's enough for me to only bear what I love and everything I do. It's better to just be a good human, don't you think, Berserker?"
A shadow of magic power, like a dark night, gathered and solidified behind Rin. The pitch-black Berserker appeared like a tall shadow behind Rin.
"Master, do you really want to give the Holy Grail to such a person?"
"It doesn't matter. The Holy Grail is not something beautiful to be praised, even if it weren't cursed. My wish, Tohsaka Rin's wish, must be fought for with the fists I make with these hands. My wish cannot be granted by something like the Holy Grail. And I can't give the Holy Grail to my dad. Speaking of which, whether he succeeds or not, my dad probably doesn't plan on coming home, right? After all, reaching the Root using the Holy Grail is a more complete disappearance than dying."
As soon as she mentioned her father, who was obsessed with the Holy Grail, Rin couldn't help but sigh with a headache. Anyway, no matter what, she had to bring him back completely. But thankfully, Tokiomi wasn't the kind of pure Magus who completely extinguished his humanity for the sake of magic. If this Holy Grail War failed, he should probably give up.
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