...
"Why?! Why did you take our Illya away?!"
Still kneeling on the ground, Irisviel struck Kiritsugu Emiya in a frenzy. The blows were so forceful that the Thompson Contender he had been gripping was knocked from his hand.
The scene had never happened before, leaving even Kiritsugu momentarily stunned.
But he did not dwell on it.
Instead, he reached out and seized Irisviel by the throat. With a sorrowful expression, he dropped to one knee before her and slowly tightened his grip.
"You... why?"
Unable to breathe, Irisviel instinctively grabbed Kiritsugu's wrist with both hands, desperately trying to break free. But the enormous difference in strength between them rendered all her struggles futile.
Her life slowly ebbed away along with her choked words.
"Why did you reject the Holy Grail...? Why did you... reject us...?"
"Urgh!"
Irisviel's questioning only made Kiritsugu tighten his grip.
"Compared to six billion human beings... you... you and Illya..."
Darkness concealed Kiritsugu's eyes beneath his bangs, making it impossible to see his expression.
But his trembling, increasingly broken voice told her everything.
"...I curse you."
As she struggled, Irisviel's expression gradually twisted into something terrifying.
"Kiritsugu Emiya... Angra Mainyu will curse you..."
Kiritsugu: "Compared to the lives of two family members... I... I..."
Irisviel: "Suffer... until the day you die..."
Kiritsugu: "I had no choice! So... I will kill you..."
Irisviel: "Regret it... You will regret this! I will never... forgive you!"
Kiritsugu: "Save... I have to save... the world!"
The two spoke with entirely different emotions, yet both voices trembled and broke with sobs in exactly the same way.
Irisviel's anguished curse pierced Kiritsugu's heart like a dagger.
Tears streamed down from his hollow, lifeless eyes. His tears, seemingly long since exhausted, gradually took on a crimson hue.
When they fell, they mixed with the blood of Illya that still retained its warmth on the ground.
It was impossible to tell them apart.
"I will never forgive you..."
Crack!
Her final curse was accompanied by the crisp sound of breaking bone.
Kiritsugu twisted Irisviel's neck and snapped it.
Her hands fell limply to her sides, and in an instant, she breathed her last.
The world fell silent.
...
When he opened his eyes again—
Kiritsugu Emiya had already escaped from the false world constructed by Angra Mainyu.
Lying in a pool of dark blood, he slowly rose.
The first thing he did was aim the Thompson Contender, still in his hand and already loaded with Origin Bullets, at Kirei Kotomine, who had awakened several seconds after him.
Kiritsugu opened the eye stained red by his own blood.
The sound of the Thompson Contender being cocked behind him immediately told Kirei exactly what kind of situation he was in.
With a smile on his face, Kirei slowly rose from the ground and raised both hands in surrender.
Even then, he could not resist taunting him.
"What an utterly boring ending. Why did you reject it?"
Everything Kiritsugu had experienced within that false world had been witnessed by Kirei in its entirety.
For some reason, the Holy Grail had seemingly acknowledged from the very beginning that Kiritsugu would ultimately win the Holy Grail War. It had never even extended an offer to Kirei.
That made no sense.
Gilgamesh was clearly the strongest Heroic Spirit currently manifested in this Holy Grail War.
Kirei simply could not understand it.
But it did not matter.
Being able to witness Kiritsugu Emiya's utterly tragic life unfold before his eyes was more than enough.
Even if Kiritsugu shot him dead right here and now, Kirei would still find the experience deeply satisfying.
"HAHAHAHAHA! Ahahahahahaha!"
At the thought, Kirei laughed aloud.
The emptiness and struggles of the man known as Kiritsugu Emiya were simply exquisite.
"Why are you laughing? Did you see it too?" Kiritsugu asked expressionlessly.
"You abandoned and sacrificed everything, only to finally make it here."
"And the thing you paid such a tremendous price to obtain had already broken the rules and willingly thrown itself into your arms."
"Yet you rejected it without hesitation."
"It could have granted your wish. Why cast it aside now as though it were worthless?"
"Utterly foolish. I simply cannot understand you."
Kiritsugu calmly replied, "Because compared to what it could give me, what it would have to sacrifice is far more important."
"That is all."
"That thing... is by no means an omnipotent wish-granting machine."
"Then give it to me!"
Kirei suddenly roared in exasperation.
"Even if it's useless to you, it is useful to me!"
"If it... if something like that could be born, then all the doubts and confusion in my heart would finally be answered!"
"It wants to have a life of its own. It wants to be born!"
"Please, don't kill it!"
Still holding his hands up in surrender, Kirei pleaded furiously.
"Because it is my last hope!"
"I'm sorry."
Kiritsugu's voice remained utterly calm.
"If the hope of one man would bring a terrible calamity upon six billion human beings, then there is only one choice I can ever make."
His words pronounced Kirei's death sentence.
Kiritsugu's finger slowly tightened around the trigger, preparing to put a bullet through Kirei's head.
But then—
Kirei, who had been so agitated moments earlier, suddenly became completely calm.
The corners of his lips curled into a strange, delighted smile.
"Maiya Hisau."
"That woman who has always served as both your tool and your lover."
"What?"
Kiritsugu's finger froze on the trigger.
His melancholy brows drew sharply together.
"Aren't you curious about what happened to her?"
"You were so agitated just now, asking it about her."
"So why not ask me directly?"
"Ask me—the man who personally killed her—about the final words she left for you."
"!!!"
"Hehehehehe..."
"Muhahahahahaha!"
Sensing Kiritsugu's emotional turmoil behind him, Kirei trembled with delight.
It was as though the afterglow of ecstasy had barely faded before he had once again been pushed to the very peak.
His laughter began low and restrained.
Then it gradually rose in pitch.
Until, in the end, it became a demonic, unrestrained laugh.
At this moment—
Kiritsugu was clearly the victor and held the overwhelming advantage.
Yet Kirei, standing there with his hands raised in surrender and laughing wildly, looked far more like the winner.
He was mocking Kiritsugu Emiya—the man who had lost everything—as though he were the true loser.
Kiritsugu's instinctive desire for the truth and his rational sense of justice were tearing each other apart.
The Origin Bullet loaded inside the Thompson Contender remained unfired.
Then—
Accompanied by Kirei's crazed laughter—
RUMBLE!
Enzō Mountain suddenly shook violently.
"What?!"
Caught completely off guard, Kiritsugu staggered from the tremor.
The Thompson Contender shifted with him, its barrel momentarily moving away from the trajectory aimed at the back of Kirei's head.
"Heh—"
Kirei had never abandoned his hope of surviving.
His apparent surrender and abandonment of resistance had merely been a facade. He had been waiting for an opportunity to strike.
And now, he had gambled—and won.
The thrill of victory nearly drove him into a frenzy.
Without even looking, he swept out with a low kick.
Then, moving almost as though he had teleported, he spun around to face Kiritsugu head-on.
"Damn it!"
Kiritsugu barely avoided the sweeping kick by taking advantage of his position.
But then he saw Kirei standing directly before him, excitement blazing crimson in his eyes.
His pupils contracted sharply.
Kirei planted his feet firmly.
White vapor escaped his mouth.
Then he drove forward with a devastating straight punch!
Whoosh—
The fist came tearing through the air like a massive mountain bearing down upon him.
Kiritsugu only had enough time to cross his arms before the punch slammed into him.
BOOM!
He was sent flying more than ten meters.
Just as he had been earlier.
But this time, there was a difference.
The erupting black torrent had already crushed the surrounding mountain forest completely.
Without those trees and vegetation serving as natural "speed bumps" to slow his momentum, Kiritsugu rolled across the ground like a cylindrical sandbag.
He continued tumbling until his back slammed violently into a massive boulder that protruded halfway from the earth.
Thud!
A mouthful of old blood sprayed from his lips.
Only then did his momentum finally stop, preventing him from rolling straight down the mountainside.
Following the principle of "strike while the enemy is down," Kirei immediately turned the tables once again.
He consumed another Command Seal to reinforce himself.
With five Command Seals still remaining, he charged forward with overwhelming confidence, pouncing toward Kiritsugu like a tiger descending from the mountain.
"Looks like Fate truly is on my side after all!"
Kirei's afterimage streaked across the ground as he charged.
His savage grin stretched almost to his ears.
Then came his declaration of ultimate victory:
"Die, Kiritsugu Emiya!"
"Cough—"
Seeing Kirei approaching him in less than 2.5 seconds, Kiritsugu coughed up another mouthful of blood so dark it was almost black.
He tried to stand.
He couldn't.
It seemed he would have to waste a precious Command Seal here before the final battle.
With his vision darkening at the edges, Kiritsugu silently raised his right hand.
"Don't even think about it!"
The instant Kirei noticed the movement, he accelerated once more.
Kirei absolutely refused to allow anyone else to interfere with the decisive battle between himself and Kiritsugu Emiya.
This was their war.
Theirs alone.
"Saber..."
"DIE!!!"
And then—
RUMBLE!
Enzō Mountain shook once again.
This time, the tremor was even more violent than before, as though an earth dragon were twisting beneath the mountain.
A pitch-black fissure suddenly opened at exactly the right moment.
Kiritsugu, helplessly leaning against the boulder, was swallowed into it.
Kirei immediately leapt after him.
The fissure began closing almost as soon as it had opened.
Yet Kirei managed to dive inside before it completely sealed shut.
Like a hunting hound pursuing its prey—
he would never stop until he had bitten his prey to death.
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