Chapter 568: Shiraino-chan Loses Something Precious
The clashing of blades and the confident voice of a boy mingled with the impassioned roars of warriors before fading away, vanishing from Shiraino's consciousness.
When the girl opened her eyes, emerging from the haze, what greeted her was not the familiar sight of the infirmary but an oppressive, solemn space—like a place long forgotten yet still harboring sacred spirits.
This was the end.
Unbidden, the thought crossed Kishinami Shiraino's mind.
A grand hall woven from flowing moonlight and piled gemstones; three stained-glass windows, sacred as chapels, refracting faint rainbow hues—
This was the final destination for awakened candidates, the place where their will resonated with the Mooncell, summoning the absolute weapons known as "Servants."
"Where is this…? I was just at school a moment ago…?"
Shiraino touched her forehead—the wound was still there, though it had stopped bleeding.
Meaning, this wasn't a dream, but a real place.
As she realized this, an unfamiliar figure swayed toward her. A dark trench coat, heavy and deep in tone, outlined the tall frame of a man. Just by standing there, he blotted out the radiance of the hall, casting a dense shadow of his own.
"Hmph. A face not on the list. So there are still survivors, huh."
Beside this shadowed man stood a red-haired martial artist draped in an ancient crimson robe embroidered with golden dragons. His arms were crossed behind his back, his ink-black pupils as unreadable as his Master's.
Yet the blood splattered across the floor behind them silently declared their nature—they were the same as the white-haired warrior who had invaded the school. In other words, finalists who had broken into the preliminaries with the sole purpose of slaughtering candidates!
Run!
Killing intent crashed against Shiraino's reason. The only thing she could do now was turn and desperately sprint in the opposite direction—
Swish.
A gust of wind brushed her ear. Blood sprayed from her chest, dyeing Kishinami Shiraino's vision red. Her eyes widened in defiance before she collapsed powerlessly, watching as the murderous Master and Servant strode away without a backward glance.
"Let's go, Assassin. There are still a few left to clean up."
The man's tone was flat, as if killing Kishinami Shiraino had been no more significant than kicking aside a pebble on the road.
Her clothes were torn open at the chest, revealing a gruesome wound deep enough to glimpse bone. Lifeblood drained from her body, generously watering the meaningless earth.
Saved by Rin Tohsaka in the hallway, protected by Sakatsuki in the infirmary—yet in the end, she had fallen at the final step…
Not everyone could defy reason like Sakatsuki. A lone magi stood no chance against the pursuit of a Master and Servant.
What had those two just done?
Kishinami Shiraino hadn't seen anything. She only knew she was going to die.
Suddenly, a blur of brown flickered in her fading vision—she couldn't tell how much.
[Ah… no way…]
The girl let out a belated sigh. Lying collapsed on the ground, her gaze fell upon others who also had their eyes wide open—yet their pupils had already lost their luster.
No, perhaps they had been there all along, and she was only noticing them now.
[That pile consisted of overlapping corpses—students (candidates) from Tsukimihara who had already perished.]
They had come this far, only to meet powerless deaths. She wasn't the only one.
The man in the dark overcoat had slaughtered the candidates before they could even summon their Servants.
—And soon enough, she would become one of them too.
...
...
...
[No. I can't let it end like this.]
Fear—fear of pain, fear of losing sensation, fear of the reality that she would soon become one of those corpses.
…And above all else, fear of vanishing without meaning.
—If she didn't stand up now.
Fear, pain—if she didn't try one more time…
[Why?]
Because… these hands had never once…
Fought of their own will before!!!
At the same moment the girl screamed silently in her heart, the crisp sound of shattering glass rang out, and the room was flooded with a light that pierced heaven and earth.
"What? How could—?!"
The dark-clad man's footsteps halted. His indifferent expression finally cracked as he whirled around to face the girl, who had barely managed to rise to her feet.
"Someone like you… actually managed to form a contract with a Servant at the last moment?"
Watching the form gradually materializing at the center of the awakening site, the dark-clad man issued his command without hesitation:
"Kill her, Assassin!"
Upon hearing this, the 'Assassin' the man had spoken of bared his teeth in a ferocious grin. His crimson robe billowed like a coiling dragon as he shot toward Hakuno like a cannonball.
"Heh, then where shall I start dismantling you?!"
A merciless extermination from an enemy Master—this was yet another crisis to befall the ill-fated girl, Hakuno.
But this time, she was not alone. For as the summoning light descended, the silhouette of a hero also manifested.
What appeared before everyone's eyes was a tall, upright man clad in black and red, wielding twin blades. His shroud-like coat fluttered fiercely, and just the sight of him conveyed his battle-hardened strength.
Yet, despite the fierce Chinese martial artist charging toward them with undisguised bloodlust, the man didn't even glance in his direction. Instead, he did something no one could have anticipated.
"…What?!" The dark-coated man gaped in shock.
"Oh?" The red-robed martial artist skidded to a halt, his lips twitching.
"Mmph! Mmmph!" Hakuno's eyes widened, her face flushing red. She weakly beat at the man's shoulders, but her hands were restrained. The excessive blood loss had sapped her strength, leaving her powerless as the man roughly leaned down and stole her…
Lips.
"Mmmph mmph mmph!" (What the hell is happening right now?!)
————
Slightly earlier, in the infirmary.
"That's enough, Impaler—Lord Protector of Wallachia. You should know that the one currently invading another's land is none other than yourself."
The black and white twin blades flew out in unison, slicing through the tottering iron stakes with unstoppable momentum before continuing onward to strike the white-haired warrior's armor, shearing off the dragon-scale-like spikes.
"Will you continue to disgrace the proud title of Guardian you hold so dear?!"
"Ugh!"
Never had the white-haired warrior appeared so disheveled—the iron stakes surrounding him lay shattered, countless steel fragments scattered across the ground. Not just those terrifying stakes, but black blades, crimson spears, swords of various designs... If these were compared to soldiers, then while Hakuno lay unconscious, this battlefield had already endured a meat-grinder of brutal combat.
And as for the final victor, compared to the warrior whose armor was broken and arm impaled by a blade, the unscathed young man clearly held the upper hand.
No, this outcome was nothing short of unbelievable.
"Impossible... Impossible!" As if his dignity had been trampled upon, the white-haired man's eyes widened as he roared in an undignified manner. "You're just a Master... a mere magi! How could you possibly achieve this?!"
For a Servant—and a Lancer among the three knight classes at that—being defeated by a magi participating in the preliminaries must have been unforgivable. If even Masters possessed strength surpassing Servants, then what purpose did summoning familiars like them serve?
But had this man known that his other self—the Black Lancer who once led a faction in the Holy Grail War—had been repeatedly wounded and ultimately executed by this very youth, he might have found some solace. Yet that was ultimately a tale from another world.
Under the assault of furious emotions, the aura of faith surrounding the white-haired man grew increasingly faint as rationality faded, replaced by an inhuman crimson glow in his eyes.
In this state, the man no longer clung to his laughable stance. His gaze finally bypassed the youth before him, locking onto the unconscious Hakuno and Sakura Matou, whose eyes brimmed with concern.
"Raise the offerings high—then slaughter them all!"
Mana surged like a tidal wave as the man with streaked hair spread his arms once more, unleashing the nightmare rooted in his enemies' hearts: "Only the manifestation of hell is fit recompense for immorality! Kazikli Bey!"
Unlike the previous linear release, slender yet unyielding iron stakes erupted from the earth like a vast army, spreading from all directions of the infirmary. Like machine gun fire upon pulling the trigger, they pierced mercilessly toward the two with shrill screams!
The infirmary's light took on a bloody hue. Faced with such a devastating attack, the young man merely raised his hand expressionlessly. Iron light madly expanded, forming fortress walls to block the white-haired man's Noble Phantasm. But at that moment, Sakatsuki's brow twitched, an unusual glint flashing in his eyes.
Gone, huh? Then...
At this critical moment of Noble Phantasm collision, Sakatsuki suddenly reduced his output before turning and, without hesitation, lunged toward the purple-haired girl before the attack could breach his defenses.
"Danger, Sakura!"
"Eh? Senpai, watch out!"