As someone born into a family as old and steeped into the world of magecraft as the El-Melloi, Reines El-Melloi Archisorte was, for a certainty, far more used to navigating the convoluted landscape and power struggles throughout the Clock Tower than I ever would be. This was doubly true now that I had severed myself from that aged framework entirely.
That was to say, she was the type of person who could easily hide her true thoughts, put on face expressions, and never let the mask falter so as not to give away any advantage in any social encounter or otherwise.
And yet, walking behind her, I easily noticed that she was on edge. One of her shoulders trembled from time to time. Her ears were slightly red. In the reflection from a nearby window, I even spotted the beads of sweat on her forehead and the slight way her lips were pursed.
Maybe it was copious amounts of wine she'd downed earlier, but her behaviour was odd to me, because it was just us two there. She'd been 'told', in not exactly those words, to take me to one of the other guest rooms in the castle where some mystery was awaiting me. Sure, there were the servants, but those men and women didn't even dare raise their heads as we passed them by.
In the end, I couldn't help myself. I patted her shoulder.
The young princess of the El-Melloi let out a startled yelp and made to jump away but forced herself to stop just before her feet actually left the ground. Her feet came to a grinding halt on the thick red carpet.
"W-W-..." Reines coughed into her palm, "What do you need?"
I smiled, "I know we don't really talk much, but you're the Professor's little sister. I don't think you have any reason to be afraid of me."
"I don't?"
I smiled further.
"I mean-... I don't. No, I don't. It's just that I'd rather not be the one to drive the final in the El-Melloi's coffin." She began walking again.
"Ah right, you're in a lot of trouble, aren't you?" I crossed my arms, following along, "Debts to Eulyphis, Jigmarie and Kischur, was it? Plus, you lost the Department of Evocation to Meluastea."
Her answer was cordial and plain, but there was something else in the way she spoke too. "Yes."
She was being measured and careful and... ah, so that's what it was.
"You like this, don't you? A conversation where you feel like you're walking in a minefield and even a single word could have dire consequences."
She froze up for the barest of moments, but that was more than enough. My eyes missed little, and I grinned at the realisation.
"Well, not like I'd ever do anything to the Professor's sister, so sorry about raining on your parade."
Nothing. She kept walking.
"But if you enjoy that kind of thing, we should've had tea a lot sooner, Reines."
After all, I was the same. Though the rush of adrenaline I enjoyed also often came from physically putting my life in danger where she seemed to enjoy the prospect of it. The prospect of making a mistake that she'd have to pay dearly for.
For a while, she gave no answer, so I was forced to quiet down. But then, as we made our way down a grand flight of stairs into the main hall, Reines spoke again.
"I've always felt that I would hate to meet someone like myself."
"Oh?" I raised a curious brow.
"And I know that was true now. Ah, how annoying it must be to deal with unreasonable people."
It seemed she had realised that the best way to maintain a friendly relationship with me was to be straightforward, and not skirt around topics to avoid harsh rebuttal.
I clapped my hands together, "I knew you could figure it out. You're my professor's little sister, after all."
"You're a bit too obsessed with my beloved elder brother."
"Well, we tend to remember people who do things for us." I nodded, staring at the crystal chandelier hung above, and the mural for a ceiling beyond it. "And your brother's done a lot."
On the balcony, some maid slammed shut a window that had been thrown open by the strong winds outside with the help of her fellow staff. The guards by the doors were watching our every step.
"...Are you gay for him or something?"
I froze. Reines pushed down a sudden giggle as I cleared my throat, knocking a fist against my chest. "No, definitely not. Don't you and Luvia hate each other?"
"The Edelfelt Princess you fancy? I enjoy her company." She said matter-of-factly, hand against the railing. "Though she's a bit over-bearing at times, and too lovestruck for my tastes."
"Eh, don't be jealous." I chuckled. "But yeah, I guess you could say I love the professor. He's my boy."
This time, it was her turn to do a double take. She whirled about with eyes so wide I thought they'd pop out and jaw slack. This Princess was wholly unfamiliar with modern slang and unfortunately for her, it was too entertaining to watch her shock for me to clear her misunderstanding.
She tried poking and prodding, but I gave no answer. For once, I refrained from tattling up until we stood in front of an unremarkable wooden door in some odd corner of the castle.
"Who am I meeting?"
Reines shook her head, "I don't know. Even old man Eulyphis didn't know. Now... I think... I think I'm going to go lie down."
Laughing, I waved her goodbye. Once she had rounded the corner, I gave the door a polite knock.
"I'll admit, I wasn't expecting you to be one to knock. Come in."
The voice was that of an old man, but unexpectedly warm when compared to the geezers that lorded over this place.
I opened the door to an unassuming office. A few shelves lined the wall to the side, carrying rows of dusty old tomes thick and thin. Opposite that was an unlit fireplace, and then a simple office table right across from me under a window sealed shut.
It felt like I was about to give a shady job interview, especially with the way my 'host' was sitting, fingers knit together and broody look on his face. Yet, my impression was not that of some great monster in human skin. No, this person just felt like a neighborhood grandpa, of all things.
His spiky hair had greyed from age, and was slicked, leaving only a few bangs to frame his forehead, and his well-kept beard was neatly cut. Put together, they reminded me of a lion's mane. A picture-perfect old gentleman, suit and mantle and all.
He felt oddly familiar for some reason, though I was certain I'd never seen him before.
"I wouldn't be rude for no reason. Why does no one believe me?"
"No one believes me when I say I don't mean trouble either." He stroked his beard with a gloved hand, "Even now, you'd think those children you were meeting were going to have a heart attack."
They were children... huh?
"Do they think I'm some old man who'll just sit in a corner talking to himself all the time? I get curious too." He looked to the side before his crimson eyes returned to me, "Ah, you must be confused with me just talking on and on."
He seemed harmless. I knew he was not.
"You've been up to quite the interesting activities, and I'm sure you've given those grumpy lot not very little to worry about these days."
Somehow, I knew damn well he wasn't referring to the Twelve Lords.
"But I suppose they see something in you too, for there to be no attempts at getting rid of you just yet. Ah, I started again. Allow me to introduce myself."
The old man stood up, his mantle shifted with him and the golden chain it was tied with chimed with the movement. He picked up the cane lying beside his chair, which I only now noticed was more a throne, and held both hands atop it.
"My name is Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg. Zelretch is fine. Still, I never expected that Holy Grail would be destroyed by someone who was a step away from attaining the Third."
I stared up at him in silence, and took one of the two seats lying across from him.
Apparently, this person was supposed to be a big deal. He behaved like it too, and even that unreasonable woman I had met a bit ago was ready to meet his demands for no apparent reason. On top of that, he could give them heart attacks-
"What? Are you too surprised to speak? Haha, I don't blame you-"
"No, mate," I held up a hand, "I'm obviously supposed to know who you are. But uh, yeah, I don't."
"Old Man of the Jewels? The Wizard Marshall?"
I pursed my lips.
"Kischur is named after me?" He said with eyes full of hope.
Hope I dashed by shaking my head.
Instead of getting angry like I thought he would, the old man threw his head back and laughed, plopping back down on his throne. He laughed for a good while even after, and only quieted down when I was starting to get bored.
"I like this. So enthralled with magecraft, and yet so utterly out of touch with its world. You even destroyed Nagato's land-... Henry, I am the Magician of the Second."
He dropped that bomb so calmly and my reaction was... not so exaggerated as I would have liked. There was screeching or screaming, just a massive grin and excitement that threatened to spill out.
"I'm not here to fight-" He held up a hand, "-But to assess, and I am pleased. There's no need for me to interfere with you, even if you ended that ritual I oversaw. Instead, I'll welcome the Third into the world, when you decide to tread that path... or will it be the Sixth?"
Strong winds hammered the sealed windows.
"You could give me the Second."
"Ah, but getting it like that would be no fun at all, would it?"
I let my head hang, "True enough."
"Instead, I can give you a glimpse of what's to come for man as a whole."
"Why?"
"Because."
He did not explain himself and uttered only that word before standing up once again. I opened my mouth to ask, but he tapped his cane against the ground and the chair disappeared from underneath me.
We stood in a burning city, great buildings had fallen to the earth and burnt-in red flames, smoke billowing from within to mar a crimson sky. I recognised these ruins.
And yet, before I could put my thoughts to words, I heard the tap of a cane again.
We stood upon some beach against a raging ocean. The sky was clear, and yet my heart choked up. In the distance, a great titan tall as a mountain stood in the water with great horns emerging from its being.
I heard a piercing howl and then the cane once more.
Now we stood in a world of white. A world of nothing at all. The old man grinned at me and I at him, with nothing but dunes and plains of white all around us.
Then again, the cane.
This time we stood in some wondrous paradise, with lush floating islands from which burst waterfalls, teeming with exotic wildlife. A great white ring hovered in place of the Sun, and under it was a throne of rock.
The King of man that sat there was not a man at all, but some Beast with crimson eyes and long white hair whose jaws went till his ears. He locked eyes with me, and then we were gone again.
A land of frost.
A world ravaged by fire and ice and warring myths.
A world where knowledge was sin.
A cycle of endless destruction and rebirth.
A city of gods whose flesh was steel and wire.
All built on illusion.
And then, finally, a Land of Steel which humanity had left behind, and a war that spanned the entire system.
"But, more immediately-"
We stood in a lush valley, in view of some strange metal monstrosity that bent and broke the very world around it. It looked like a spider.
"-That spider will wake up. It absolutely must not wake up before we have a way of dealing with it."
So that was why it was so still.
And then again, we were in the old, clammy office. He sat back down, and I treaded over to the window with slow, heavy footsteps, struggling to find my balance.
"That is what's waiting. What will you do, Henry?"
What he had shown me was of a magnitude I couldn't even begin to imagine. Yet, there was no dread or feeling of foreboding, no desire to avoid facing that which was coming.
My heart thumped so loud I could hear it.
No, indeed, the only thing I felt was excitement. Excitement and nothing else at all.
"I'll go through it all, eagerly. Thank you."
"Hahaha, that's right, I'm proud of you, youngster. We need more like you if humanity's to live."
I stared at the stormy skies above.
Down below, a beautiful woman stood in the courtyard, hand hovering above a patch of roses swaying with the wind. She had a plaid scarf wrapped around her neck, over a brown coat and a skirt that went down to her stocking-covered knees. Strangely, her dark hair did not sway at all, despite falling all the way down to her back.
For a fleeting moment, her blue eyes met mine.
Ah, this world really was just so much fun.
But first-
"I think I'll chill for a while now though."
"Hm?"
"I've got all the time in the world now that-" I grinned, "-I'm the strongest. The world, and humanity, can wait."
"What?"
"I need to go talk to my lady, and I promised I'd go to the arcade with Flat."
At that, the old man gave a defeated chuckle.
"I suppose... you do have time."
"Yeah, but I don't think I'll ever stop having my adventures, no matter how much time passes or how I grow."
He gave no answer so I turned to leave.
Then, from the corner of my eye, I spotted a familiar piece of clothing on the coat hanger. A dusty, old trenchcoat marked by stains-
"You motherfuck-"
"Hahahahahaha....-!"
-
There we go.
With this I end Fate/World, on 22/2/2026. I know, I know some of you might be dissatisfied because this could clearly go on longer if I wanted it to but, I've said this before, this is where I planned to it. If you look a moment, you can probably realise that the narrative rise-and-fall curve is completed. The goal of the story, the main character's goal, has also been brought to completion.
But, beyond all else, I myself am deeply satisfied with this ending, despite the potential for continuation. It just, feels right. For me to write, I need to enjoy it. I deeply enjoyed writing this fic till now, despite its ups-and-downs, the latter of which were few, I hope. It's been great for me. I got super-hyped about his fights, and super into his few emotional moments, and I find very little I'd change if I were to go back.
This is, beyond a doubt, my best work yet, and that last fight, oof, I think I'll rarely ever come close to something like that again. I've also learned much about writing itself over the course of this, and I'm thankful for that.
I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it for you, and as for how the romance goes, well you can probably infer from that last line.
Lastly, some of y'all (WN specifically) need to learn how to read bruh.
With this, I bid you adieu. Thank you all for all the support you've shown this with your comments and ideas and those of you who went even beyond that. I can't thank you enough.