The mercenary eyed his goal. The Holy Grail floated just a short distance away.
Having taken in the fallen six Servants, it was at the peak of activation. The black-red flood overflowing out of it down into a hole in the floor searing away at the levels below was proof of that. It had to be.
Once Saber defeated Avenger, it would all be sufficient. Maybe, he need not order the King of Knight's suicide either.
'No…' he argued against himself. 'Once Saber realizes only one wish can be asked of the Grail, she would turn on me in an instant.'
A hand caressed his Command Seals, thoughts on activating it as soon as Saber reported victory was all he had.
She would be the last… on this road of good intentions. To deny the naïve child of a past long gone her earnest wish, such would be cruel. But if it was for the sake of the future, then King Arthur will have no choice but to fall to betrayal once again.
Such was the cruel nature of the world. And by its rules will he change it for the better. Resolved on his path, he waited patiently for his moment. His chance.
However…
"Hm?" Emiya Kiritsugu's eyes caught sight of the floors below. Being located on the floor just above where he fought the boy, he noticed that he saw Maiya's corpse, almost sleeplike in its peaceful state further down. But he also noted the distinct lack of a one-eyed corpse. "What… where—?!"
BOOM
It was at that same moment that the Grail suddenly surged with power, coughing up more of its contents like a black mud fountain.
'Again—?!' Thoughts were drowned out as the fluids immediately coalesced around him, seemingly encroaching the man where he stood. With widened eyes, Kiritsugu watched as he was once again doused by the black muck. "What… in the hell—?! Ah… …."
Only this time, when he reopened his eyes, he wasn't standing before the Grail. Instead… he saw…
"Kiritsugu…"
Her warm voice called out to him. Her crimson eyes partnered with her soft smile, alluring in many ways that made her almost inhuman, shook him when they met.
"… I… Iri…"
The woman he loved stood before him. Every fibre of his being rippled and wept. Wanting to run towards her. Wanting to embrace her. Wanting to feel her warmth one last time…
Only, there was no way she could be alive. Not when the Grail had already…
And yet, there she awaited him. She stood on a beach under the cloudless night sky that softly rained black droplets.
"You're finally… finally here…" she whispered to his ear as she gently approached. However, when the truth dawned upon him, his blood froze. His heart… was crushed.
There, his dreams… were crushed, heralded by the brat he ignored and killed without mercy.
Oh, how twisted fate was for his foe's words to ring true on the eve of his final victory.
To live in ignorance truly was bliss.
***
The man opened his eyes as he awoke to reality on his knees.
"No… No… no, no, no! NO!" Kiritsugu hoarsely muttered under his breath as he recalled what just happened. What he just saw. "It… can't be!"
This wasn't what he desired. This wasn't what he wanted… what he wished for! This wasn't the dream Iri had offered her life over—!
'That thing—no! NO! I won't allow it! I won't allow any of it!'
The insidious being within Grail was wrong. It was not another soul deserving a chance at life. It was just another evil… One that should be stopped for good.
The Command Seals on the back of his hand reflected the Grail's light. The crimson cross, a bloodred mark that was a culmination of his martyrdom, still thrummed with the power granted to him by the Grail system. That meant, despite his refusal of the Grail's desire, it would still grant him control over Saber.
'But… what if…' What if Saber turned on him faster than he could react? He didn't have a way to protect himself apart from his command— 'Ngh!'
Something within him thrummed. A power that shouldn't be within a human began to beat. Like a heartbeat. Warm and welcoming, he noted his burns from being doused by the Grail's much starting to heal.
'What is… but, I didn't…' Kiritsugu gasped. "Avalon?!"
Realization struck him as he turned his eyes to the Grail. The memory of his former beloved no longer here sparked her reflection, her smile, on the golden cup's surface. Encouraging him. Reassuring him that she was always there for him.
"Iri…" he felt the warmth grow, healing him as the Conceptual Weapon's owner fought just above, activating due to being so close to its True Wielder. 'Then… I shouldn't waste time.'
As he stood, his resolve didn't waver any longer. Only his primary objective changed. There was only one solution… to the dilemma he was faced with right now.
'Forgive me… Iri…' He sent one last look of longing back at the cup, knowing full well that his wife had died for nothing, before affirming the consequences of his plan. 'Forgive me… Illya…'
His daughter… might not understand why he wouldn't come back. She might curse him for it. For being a poor excuse of a parent.
But… then again, maybe it was natural things would've come to this. He never really had a proper upstanding parent to look up to anyways.
Well, maybe one. But Natalia didn't set a fine example of coming home after a tough day's work either, didn't she?
***
Under the Fuyuki City night sky.
Golden light flared, burning orange as it clashed with the crimson flames.
Sparks flew as swords clashed and clanged against each other, scraping away at the concrete flooring while sending fire up into the air.
The battle of the Servant of the Sword and the Servant of Vengeance raged. The former kept it up through sheer power and grace befitting her noble Knight Class, but the latter tore through with such ferocity and rage that she could've been mistaken for a bloodthirsty Berserker.
The only reason neither had won yet was due to both keeping their cards to themselves still, waiting for the other to slip up first.
'Annoying little knight! Stay the hell down already!' Oda Nobunaga's thoughts were shunned away as the girl slashed against her katana once more, pushing her back.
Having been trying, and failing, to decapitate the knight since the beginning, Avenger opted to switch tactics.
She wasn't a master swordsman, and despite her reputation as a warlord, it was due to her skills as a tactician and leader of an army that earned her such a bloody prestige. Hence, though she had the skills to wield a katana, she couldn't match the legendary King Arthur.
But that didn't mean she would lose outright.
"You wield your blade with such grace, I'm impressed!" Kicking away from Saber, she launched a blazing slash that forced the King of Knights back. "But how long can you last under a hail of hellfire?"
Stood at the edge of the rooftop, Nobunaga swung her blade sideways and summoned up rows upon rows of arquebuses. The entire formation began to surround Saber in a half circle before relenting a volley of gunfire.
"Damn you!" Saber cursed her foul play as she was forced to defend.
Excalibur, sheathed in a violent gale, was used to avert or deflect shots from a hundred and eighty degrees. The clang and pinging of metal mixed with the cacophony of fire glancing and singing bits and pieces of the girl's battle dress. Like a musical accompaniment to Saber's desperate dance to dodge, Nobunaga smiled as the almost-theatrical display chipped away at her foe's stamina.
Under the heat and fury of her volleys, the knight grit her teeth. Without any support to defend or heal her, Saber was facing a battle of attrition against the fully stocked and near-infinite supply of shells Avenger had to offer. Having struggled against Lancelot, both emotionally and mentally, there was no way she'd be at full capacity. Lelouch made sure to brief her of it.
Unlike Nobunaga who'd never had a lack of firepower since the start, Saber wouldn't be able to keep this up for long.
However, the King of Knights had no intention to give up so easily.
"HYAH!" A wide swing. That was all Nobu saw. But the torrential wind that erupted from Excalibur was anything but just that.
"Heh! So you still had this much juice in you?!" Evading to the side, her matchlock armoury dispersed, many shredded and dispersed to the wind. In a flash of crimson light, Nobu's right hand suddenly held a Gatling gun. Whirring to life even before she aimed, Avenger set herself up, kneeling as she fired full-auto at Saber. "Then, how about this?!"
BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR—
Hell rained. Had anyone spied it from afar, they would've assumed an anti-air weapon going berserk as it was unleashed over the city skyline. But where the Demon King fired, her barrage was just the melodic hum accompanying the flashes of vengeful hellfire.
To Saber, however, it must've been a gauntlet for that's what she treated it as.
"Little tryhard!" Arturia ignored Nobu's competitive smirk as she charged into the onslaught. Ducking and weaving, the girl's battle instincts hardened by war and enhanced by her myth had her dancing through the rain of lead.
She wasn't unscathed, however. Small and lithe as she was, bullets so numerous it would easily kill the protagonist of The Matrix wasn't so easily avoided. By the time Nobu was in blade's reach of Excalibur, Arturia had suffered wounds to her leg and forearm. She even endured a near-miss that sliced her cheek and neck. Twice!
"HAH!" Still, it didn't stop the downward swing of her legendary blade.
CLANG
But it wasn't as if Nobunaga would be on the backfoot should their distance be closed. Fiery katana materializing to take the blow, the rooftop floor cratered under her. But Avenger only smiled.
"Think that's the only dirty trick I have?!" She said as her gun momentarily dispersed in a flash but reappeared with its barrels whirring just under Saber's breastplate. "DIE!"
"Kuh—!"
BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR—
Saber took the blast full-on. The endless blows sent her flying upward and back away from Avenger.
"I'm… not done!" Although, despite spitting some blood, Arturia managed to recover herself mid-air. "Hah!"
A sudden storm expanded with Saber as its centre. Her armour of magical silver burst into motes of light, momentarily exposing herself but also dispersing Nobu's shells as raw magical energy exploded from her form, slightly blinding Avenger.
When the light dispersed as well, Saber was back on the ground. Avenger noted her armour had returned, but for the momentary explosion, King Arthur looked to be fine.
'That's new…' Nobunaga's eyes narrowed. She knew she had her foe on the backfoot. Had it been anyone else, they wouldn't have survived so many shells to the chest. Especially those clad in her hateful flames. 'But… she lives…'
Nobunaga's eyes noted the lack of any lasting wounds. As though Saber was an immortal, her chest that was hit by at least three dozen shells in a single instant still breathed life. Not just that, but even the scratches to her skin and limbs were gone.
She was fully healed in the mere instant she dispersed her armour. As if, for just that one moment, she'd put her all into recovering herself.
'Strange… has she ever had such an ability before?'
Lelouch never noted such from his analysis of all the Servants. But then again, neither was she aware of the possibility that King Arthur could heal her own wounds. It was a well-known fact that she'd lost Avalon, her only real tool of protection, long ago after all.
But even though she healed herself, she wasn't fully unscathed.
She was the far more exhausted of the two. Having used her own mana reserves to haphazardly heal herself, the knight who wasn't well-versed in magecraft had pushed herself to endure it. All in order to reorganize her plan of attack.
All of that, Nobunaga saw with practised eyes. Saber's power, her injuries, but also her will and determination to continue.
"Tch…" It was all starting to bore the Daimyo. "Still standing, are you? Though your wish would never bring anyone real happiness, you still fight?"
"I don't need the advice of a tyrant!" Saber snapped back as she held her blade up, aiming towards Avenger's throat. "I choose my own fate. Even if it means cutting you down, I shall—"
"Even if it means you'd lose everything in the end?" Nobunaga scoffed. "I pity you, girl. Fighting so eagerly when you know not the folly your foolishness brings!"
"Even if it is folly… Even if I am to be scorned for naivety, I will not bow, Avenger! I will not break! Even if I must shut the world away, my wish will be fulfilled!"
"Then," Avenger raised her katana to meet Saber's. Her blade burst into flames. The fires of vengeance seared the air in anticipation. "Fall into hell and bathe in despair!"
The King of Knights acted accordingly. Her blade held high, Invisible Air was dispelled. Revealing the golden blade in its full glory, the holy sword made by fairies shone with divine light. So divine that Avenger's flames only burned hotter, eager to snuff out the weapon's divinity.
But despite the hunger, the keenness of a good fight, all she could do was eye the King of Knights with disdain. The futile struggle of the child was grating on her nerves. Though she survived the slaughter barrage, it was only a matter of time.
Even if she could be bested by the blade, her power still trumped the brats. With Lulu's endless supply of power in hand, there was no way Nobunaga could lose!
BOOM CRACK
"What the—?!"
"Hn?!"
Eyes widening, both warriors jumped back as a hole ruptured beneath their feet. Out spewed a geyser of black muck that stank of rotting flesh. The rain seared and burned the concrete where it stained, causing more cracks and degradation of the material but nothing more. However, as soon as the geyser dissipated back into the depths, the two Servant's gazes flitted to the source of the spill.
There, floating several floors down, a golden cup continued to overflow with the acid-like flood. Like the light leading to the afterlife itself, the Grail glowed radiantly into the night sky.
"The Lesser… Grail?" But Nobunaga could only say one thing to the sight. "Heh! Hahahah! So it was there all along!" Knowing the cup's position matched the very room Lelouch had imprisoned the woman in, it was clear as day to the Demon King what had occurred.
"To think the homunculus witch would've had it—!" No, it would be better to think she always did. Otherwise, why bother with Saber's protection? It all made so much more sense that way! "The Einzbern bastards! It was always their plan from the start to keep the Grail for themselves!"
"Homunculus?" Saber's expression soured as she glared at Avenger. "What have you done to Lady Irisviel?! Where is she?!"
"Still lost in lies, dear knight?" Avenger waved her katana as she brushed the brat's apprehension aside. "Or are you so blind as to not be able to see your liege as she graces us with her presence?!"
Arturia froze. Her expression became horrified as she looked upon the artefact below. That which had been her charge, her friend not so long ago, was…
The look on her face said it all. 'How?' 'What?' 'Why?'
Questions seeking an unanswerable truth tore through her emotions, stabbing her heart as the Grail floated there, seemingly mocking her. That the one she came to save died all the same, and to reveal the prize she so sought, it must've been quite the shock.
Nobunaga revealed the child knight's horror. Unbeknownst to the brat, this was but one of many horrors the Grail War had to offer her. One of many truths that would break her. Avenger toyed with the idea of revealing the whole truth, but… well.
'Truth from a foe's lips fall's only on deaf ears.' Such went the saying.
Had she been told the truth, not by Lulu, but by Rider or someone else, even she wouldn't believe it. Dissuasion was but one of many distractions and tactics to confuse the enemy. As a tactician herself, it would be prudent to fall for it.
"Heh, well, not that I really care what you'd think of this whole charade." The War was at an end. The Grail had manifested. All that was left was eradicating the pest before she sought to use the cursed cup. "Seems like we're at an impasse, dear King of Knights! What say we end this? Once and for all!"
Avenger's katana flared with violent crimson energy, but at the same time, her Gatling gun vanished. It wouldn't be gone permanently, however, why is waste time lugging it around when she needed a free hand to call upon her trump card?
"Enough…" Saber muttered quietly. A streak of a tear slid down her face, but her features were anything but composed as she glared with pure anger and frustration. "Enough with this farce!"
Excalibur exploded with a gale, buffeting and billowing Nobunaga's hair into the breeze. "Not a fan of lies, are we? Is that how it is?"
"To stain my chivalry, to use me and my friend as pawns, to… use my dream as a tool… This war has gone on long enough!" Bringing her blade up on high, golden motes of light started to gather around the King of Knights. Like a dream one awakens from, tear-stained and longing to return, the holy sword called upon immense power at the heed of its hurting wielder. With her voice slightly cracking, Saber declared, "I will bring an end to it all!"
Unperturbed, however, the Demon King uttered back as she raised her palm to the sky, "No. It is I who will bring the curtains down."
The air stilled. The simultaneous activation of great Noble Phantasms caused the night sky to cloud over, both awaiting a storm as well as clearing away from the dawn's light. The Divine Construct that was the Holy Sword Excalibur exuded divine energy so bright and warm, it could've been mistaken for the glory of the sun.
However, Oda Nobunaga was not shying away. The fires of hell started to manifest around her, burning and crackling, crying out to the sky as a passionate inferno of vengeance enveloped the redheaded woman. As she started to focus her power further, calling upon her beloved's reserves to form her Reality Marble, their own personal hell, Nobunaga cried out triumphantly.
"Despair, foolish girl! I shall relieve you of the suffering that is living! 『The Hajun Re—!" CRACK
Suddenly, everything froze.
No, it was more apt to say that the burning hell dissipated, allowing Fuyuki's night air to return and freeze over their surroundings.
The flames of hell had disappeared. Avenger's power had vanished.
What's more, something hurt. A pain akin to her heart being stabbed by a needle—nay, it was far worse than that.
It felt… it felt like her heart… had been wrenched free from her ribcage.
Chills ran down her spine and her throat felt hot. This feeling of loss, of dread, of despair, that she never experienced before—
"—No…" The Demon King fell to her knees. "It… it can't be!" Eyes widened as she clawed away at her thoughts. 'Lulu?'
'…'
'Lulu?!'
'…'
'ANSWER ME, DAMMIT!'
'…'
When there was still no response, she shut her eyes, clamping her palms to her ears, she tried seeking him out. They shared a bond beyond mere accomplices. As Master and Servant, they could instinctively tell where the other was. She sought him out through this very bond.
Only… she could find nothing…
"No… That's a lie… …" The once mighty and proud voice of the Demon King was gone, replaced by the whimpers of a lost child. And, unable to accept the reality that befell her, she could only mumble his name. "Le… Lelouch?"
'…'
"It's a lie… right? You can hear me… right?!"
'…'
The panic set in. Her heart raced as her mind began shutting down. Lelouch would never cancel their contract. Not without informing her. And at the very least, not unless he knew or found out a way to keep her manifested. The sole reason she was even still here was due to the promise they made, the contract they mutually accepted.
But… all that led to one conclusion.
Lelouch Lamperouge had been killed. His life ended, vanishing from the face of this Earth. It was the only explanation she came to, unable to seek him out nor sense his presence in the building.
"Le… louch…?!"