Chapter 121: You Are All My Wings
Despite having the memories of his past life, Emiya Shirou had tried his best to avoid the various "Bad Ends" of the original story.
Whether it was Matou Sakura's tragedy, the truth behind the Holy Grail War, or individuals like Gilgamesh who wanted to cause a major incident... the original plot of Fate/stay night had long since been altered by him.
But even after changing so much, Emiya Shirou had never imagined that the Holy Grail could actually still be used!?
...No, to be more precise, it wasn't that Shirou hadn't thought about it at all.
His plan wasn't simply to defeat the other Servants, but to turn them into Class Cards—snatching the souls of the defeated Servants before the Grail could reclaim them. By using this method to lock in a victory in the Holy Grail War, and after collecting at least five Servant souls to fulfill the victory conditions, he would then use [Pseudo-Atum] to seize the soul of [All the World's Evil].
Through this, he would achieve the feat of purifying the Greater Grail... that was the plan Shirou had formulated earlier.
However, plans cannot keep up with changes.
As [All the World's Evil] exploited a loophole in [Pseudo-Atum] in reverse—trading the recognition of Shirou's partial victory for the chance to leak a portion of its essence out of the Greater Grail—Shirou had to act. To prevent this entity, filled with malice toward the world, from finding another chance to escape, and to solve the problem once and for all, Shirou had dealt with [All the World's Evil] ahead of schedule.
This meant the Greater Grail had been successfully purified.
This was the complete opposite of Shirou's original goal, which was to complete the purification after the Holy Grail War ended.
"In short, that's how it is," Shirou said helplessly. "Saber, while I don't know if your wish can truly be realized, compared to the initial state where it was absolutely impossible, now that the Grail is purified...
There is at least a sliver of a possibility that your wish can come true.
Of course, the same goes for you, Rin."
This was exactly why Shirou hadn't wanted to purify the Grail before the war ended. No matter how many times he tried to persuade Saber, and regardless of whether he was currently on the "Fate" route, the prerequisite for Saber letting go of her obsession with the Grail was the realization that it was tainted—that it couldn't actually grant wishes. Only then would she give up on using it to save her people.
Otherwise, as the King burdened with the responsibility of saving her nation, Saber would inevitably pursue the Grail with everything she had.
As for hiding the truth...
Shirou had already explained the reason for the Grail's corruption to convince her to give it up. Even if he didn't actively mention it now, as time passed and Saber gathered her thoughts, she would realize it herself.
Thinking of this, and sensing that Saber's hope of saving Britain had been reignited by his words, Shirou couldn't help but feel a headache coming on. With his past-life memories, he knew the real difficulty of Saber's wish didn't lie in whether the Grail was corrupted. It lay in the fact that Britain, as a remnant of the Age of Gods, was destined to fall. No matter what Saber tried to do or how many ways she devised to save it, the Counter Force would eventually intervene.
But what could he do? He was Saber's Master.
"Sorry, Rin. It looks like I can't let you have the victory of this Holy Grail War."
Sighing slightly, Shirou's expression became firm once more. He turned to Rin Tohsaka and said: "While I don't personally have much interest in the Holy Grail or winning the war—especially knowing it was corrupted and lost its original function—I am Saber's Master. Since Saber wants to obtain this newly purified Grail, how could her Master back down?"
"Shirou..." Saber looked at Shirou.
So what if there's a Counter Force? What Emiya Shirou fights against is precisely the Counter Force!
With that thought, Shirou stood beside Saber and continued: "Caster and Assassin are already out, and Sakura will likely withdraw as well...
In other words, the only ones left with the right to contest the Grail are us, and Illya with her Berserker."
As for his relationship with Illya... although it wasn't exactly great, thanks to Shirou's spoilers, Rin knew that Illya's father and Shirou's adoptive father were both Kiritsugu Emiya. They were, for all intents and purposes, siblings.
Furthermore, as Sakura's sister who had always looked out for her, Rin knew that Sakura seemed to care deeply about Shirou. Even if Shirou hadn't mentioned her withdrawing, if she were to continue in the war, she would clearly choose his side.
Three against two—even if Rin chose to maintain her alliance with Lancer, she would be at a disadvantage. Under these circumstances, Shirou had essentially secured victory in the Holy Grail War.
"You certainly talk big, Shiro."
Rin, who had also quickly grasped the current situation, put on a dangerous, "little devil" expression. "You dare say 'you can't let me have the victory'? Who was it just a moment ago saying they couldn't afford to lose me?
By the way, has even five minutes passed since you said that? In such a short time, you've already found a new flame. You really are a heartless man."
"That..." Shirou spoke with a slightly panicked expression.
But Rin, well-prepared, continued faster than him: "Saber, you'd better be careful. Don't be like me and get fooled by this man's sweet talk."
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