"So this is… the truth behind the Holy Grail War?"
"From the very beginning, the Holy Grail was never some omnipotent wish-granting machine. It was merely a means created by the Einzbern Family to achieve the complete Third Magic."
"Regardless of how this war ends, regardless of who emerges as its ultimate victor, it can only ever lead to this one outcome!"
Only now did Emiya Kiritsugu realize that he had been deceived by the Einzbern Family—by Acht.
His wish would never be granted.
The only wish that would be fulfilled was the Einzbern Family's.
And to make matters worse, the Holy Grail had now been contaminated by that strange thing.
—All the World's Evil.
The very thing Makiri had wanted to eradicate had somehow become attached to the Holy Grail he had created as the means of eradicating it.
What an irony.
Thinking of this, Kiritsugu suddenly sensed a profound malice emanating from "fate."
It was not directed at him.
It was directed at Makiri—that equally tragic man.
Was this what became of pursuing justice?
Forever…
Forever unable to reach the truth of justice…
The world would ultimately be swallowed by that dark, evil, chaotic tide.
Overcome by despair for the future, Kiritsugu could not help but think pessimistically.
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
Kirei, who had not quite died yet, suddenly laughed.
He staggered to his feet and looked toward Kiritsugu with a mixture of anger and contempt.
"How foolish!"
"If you possess a sufficiently vast amount of magical energy, you can fulfill practically any wish in this world. Who cares whether that wish is good or evil?!"
"If you don't want the Holy Grail, then give it to me!"
"PFFT—"
After barely getting those few words out, Kirei, who had been forcing himself upright, spat out another mouthful of blood.
His body toppled backward, occasionally twitching.
It was both comical and absurd.
That was how Kiritsugu viewed the Kotomine Kirei before him.
He had already made his decision.
No one should obtain the Holy Grail.
Including himself.
VMMMM—
The surrounding scenery gradually darkened.
Kiritsugu and Kirei seemed to return to reality in the exact positions where they had been standing, as though they had never moved at all.
…
A mysterious void existed without sky, earth, sea, or any other material substance.
Its outer shell resembled a brilliant, dazzling multifaceted gemstone floating in the darkness.
"This axis isn't quite right."
"This line is a complete dead end, too."
"This one that I spliced over here isn't bad."
The Jewel of the Magic Tower, Zelretch, sat within this empty space on an elegant yet archaic wooden armchair that floated in midair.
His hands rested upon the armrests.
Before him floated a dark-gold book whose pages turned automatically.
There was no doubt about it.
This was the true body of the Magic Marshal, Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg.
Ever since he had "graduated" from Earth and mastered the Second Magic, Kaleidoscope, he had been able to freely observe and wander through countless parallel worlds.
As an observer of worlds, he pruned dangerous worlds whose futures contained nothing but despair, while preserving beautiful worlds that possessed bright futures.
He continued watching a world line that he thought looked promising.
Then Zelretch suddenly frowned.
"No. This is too terrible."
"That damned Spider is going to awaken."
With a casual gesture, he erased the records concerning that world line from the book and continued browsing the developments of other worlds.
Repeating this process over and over again had become his daily routine.
After his battle with Crimson Moon, in which he had utterly destroyed the True Ancestor of the Moon, Zelretch considered that period the most magnificent and glorious "youth" of his infinite life.
Everything afterward was merely what one might call his "remaining years."
Until—
"Hm?"
When he turned to a particular world line, Zelretch suddenly let out a puzzled sound.
"Why can't I see what happens after this point?"
With this question in mind, he rewound the timeline of that world line and roughly reviewed its history, searching for the "singularity" that might have caused such an anomaly.
Eventually, he locked onto a single individual—
Leon Stark Odinson.
A Berserker-class Servant summoned into this world through the response of an Outer God to the Holy Grail ritual.
"Leon Stark Odinson?"
"Odinson… Son of Odin?"
"This name, and the Noble Phantasm he uses…"
"Could he be connected to those so-called Norse gods that don't even exist in this world?"
Flip, flip, flip!
The dark-gold book automatically turned forward until it finally stopped on a particular page.
Within Zelretch's crimson eyes were reflected two scenes of Leon deploying Aegis Sigma and manifesting the divine realm of Asgard.
The first had taken place at the Tohsaka Residence, where Leon had used it to withstand Gilgamesh's nuclear-bomb Noble Phantasm.
The second had occurred during the battle against Caster, when the Servant had transformed into a gigantic Sea Demon and Leon had used Aegis Sigma to support its enormous body.
The incomparably intricate crystalline palaces looked so real that Zelretch seemed to glimpse a magnificent divine kingdom created by powerful gods.
THUMP—
His long-dead heart suddenly beat once.
"This is…"
Zelretch placed a hand over his chest, feeling the strange emotion stirring within him.
He was genuinely astonished.
It was a sensation he had not experienced since Crimson Moon.
With that feeling—
And with his concern and curiosity about the unknown future of this world line—
Zelretch was like an otaku who had suffered through years of terrible anime only to suddenly strike gold and discover a hidden series perfectly suited to his tastes.
He could hardly wait.
He immediately went through every event that had occurred along the world line following the moment Leon Stark Odinson was summoned in response to the Holy Grail ritual.
Before long, he dragged the progress of the timeline all the way to the present, where it continued extending into the unknown future.
The young woman who was currently Leon Stark Odinson's Master had been seduced by the demon hidden within her heart.
Driven by the anxiety that had been magnified within her, she used a Command Seal to teleport directly to his side.
…
Mount Enzō.
Ryūdō Temple.
Clang, clang, clang!
Gilgamesh tossed the Ebony Blade he had confiscated from Matou Kariya onto the ground beside Leon, as casually as if he were throwing away a piece of trash.
Leon was in the middle of warming up with the "National Number One Radio Calisthenics" routine.
He stopped exercising.
With nothing more than a curl of his finger, the Ebony Blade automatically rose from the ground and flew into his hand.
"Hmph!"
Gilgamesh casually swung Ea, the Sword of Rupture, to the side and snorted disdainfully.
"Not in my treasury?"
"What nonsense. This entire world is the King's garden!"
"However, since you are currently the owner of this sword, even I am not so boorish as to take something belonging to a commoner and declare it my own merely because I happened to pick it up."
"Only after I have dealt with you will it truly become ownerless. At that point, it will naturally belong in my treasury as one of its treasures."
Gilgamesh menacingly turned the black tip of Ea toward Leon.
"Heh. You actually have principles."
Leon chuckled.
He brought his index and middle fingers together and gently brushed them across the Ebony Blade's black surface, which shimmered with faint ripples.
Silently, he mourned for its former owner.
Gaining the power to change Sakura's fate.
Challenging Tokiomi Tohsaka for revenge.
And ultimately dying a glorious death in battle against an overwhelmingly powerful opponent.
Matou Kariya.
Our contract has come to an end.
Next time, dream of something you can actually make a reality.
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