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When her consciousness fully recovered from the shock, the first thing her ruby eyes saw…
Was the devastating destruction in the Einzbern Forest.
The trees were cut, broken, and uprooted, even with their roots intact, from the ground.
It looked as though a tornado had passed through that place of destruction.
'What happened here?'
She was very weak but stood firm, searching for something with her ruby eyes, which held little vitality left, until…
"Ahhhhhhhh….!"
A terrible scream of pain and suffering echoed through the entire forest.
"Saber…?"
Irisviel, who had just regained her consciousness from the mental shock she had received.
Looked in the direction of the scream with great fear in her heavy heart.
"…Ah?"
There, she saw him, the terrifying Demon, holding the broken and violated Saber in his Demonic hands.
Saber had been completely violated in the hands of the Demon.
Saber's armor was utterly destroyed, and her beautiful, pure body had been ravaged and violated by the Demon of legends, who hid behind a human appearance and deceived all of humanity with his lies, leading them to the terrible sweet sin.
The Demon held both of Saber's hands with terrifying strength.
The slender, beautiful hands that wielded the Legendary Holy Sword, Excalibur, alongside her Knight King.
They were firmly trapped in the strong hands of the Demon of Biblical Legends, while her pure body was ravaged and then violated by this Demon.
"Ahhhhh…! Ahhh…!"
Saber's body convulsed amidst her screams.
Blood ran down Saber's legs, forming a small crimson pool.
Slowly, the Demon withdrew from inside Saber, and more blood flowed down her legs.
His member was stained with fresh, bright red blood from the recent violation of the King of Knights in his terrible hands.
The Demon then released both of Saber's hands, and she fell like a puppet whose strings had been cut, kneeling, humiliated, and violated by the Demon's hands.
The Demon shook his member, and all the blood splattered, staining the grass and Saber's face.
Not a single drop of blood remained on his fingers or nails.
His member, the demonic hand of the Demon mentioned in the Bible, was completely clean after violating the purity of the King of Knights.
The bloody hole in Saber's stomach seemed deep.
But the terrible Demon of the Bible appeared to have deliberately avoided her vital points, causing only significant blood loss in Saber, not a fatal wound.
Though for a Servant, whose blood was Magical Energy, significant blood loss was more fatal than damage to a vital organ, except for the heart.
But Saber had no intention of giving up, even with all the blood loss or the wound she had received from the Demon of the Bible.
"W-Wait!"
Saber, gripping her sword with all the strength she could muster, stood up and faced the Demon, who was walking away without paying her further attention.
"It's not over yet… I can still fight… Berserker!"
The Demon stopped at Saber's words, but he didn't turn to look at her.
"It's over."
"No!"
The Demon turned his head, his deep blood-red eyes glaring.
Then the Demon of the Bible stared at Saber.
A cold, threatening tone exuded from the Demon's voice, filled with cruel, murderous intent and impure desires directed at Saber.
"Look around you, Artoria. Are you sure you want to continue?"
Saber calmly surveyed her surroundings, as the Demon mentioned in the Biblical Legends had told her to do.
Her ruby eyes and Saber's celestial green eyes met for a moment.
The draconic fury in Saber's eyes faded, and she lowered her sword.
There was no longer any reason for Saber to continue fighting the Demon, it seemed.
At that moment, continuing would only put Saber in unnecessary danger when the Demon himself no longer wished to fight.
For now, it was better to listen to the Demon and stop this fight.
"This isn't over, Berserker. The next time we meet, I will defeat you."
"I really like you, Artoria, but… no. Please, forget I said that, Saber. It's just nonsense."
The Demon liked… Saber? No! That was impossible.
He was that Demon mentioned in the Bible.
There was no way a monster like him could feel love or genuinely love a human.
That was something absolutely impossible.
Was the Demon trying to deceive Saber?
The Demon vanished into the darkness of the forest, while Saber limped in his direction, leaning on her sword.
"Irisviel. Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
Saber was deeply concerned for her, even though she was in a far worse state after being violated by the Demon.
"Saber…"
Her voice was weak, though she was in a much better state than Saber.
"Yes, I'm here. Are you okay, Irisviel?"
"…Saber, Kiritsugu, you need to save him, Saber… he's in danger. Please, Saber."
"The Master?"
Saber looked toward the direction of the castle deep within the forest.
"I'll be fine, Irisviel!"
She ran, enduring her wounds and the hole Berserker had made in her stomach.
If Berserker hadn't avoided hitting her vital point, she likely wouldn't have been able to run like this.
Did Berserker avoid her vital point so she could save Kiritsugu?
But how did Berserker know that Kiritsugu was her Master?
Berserker even knew her true name, not the famous name of King Arthur by which everyone knew her.
How could Berserker know all of this?
And what did he mean by liking her? She didn't understand what he was talking about.
She shook her head.
It was better not to think about what went on in the mind of the Servant of Madness.
▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎
Kotomine Kirei pursued Emiya Kiritsugu through the Einzbern Castle relentlessly.
Kiritsugu fired with his Calico, but his bullets barely slowed the relentless Kirei.
Kirei advanced with superhuman speed against the rain of bullets from Kiritsugu's Calico submachine gun.
'Time Alter… Triple Accel!'
Kiritsugu dodged Kirei's fist and ran down another dark, unlit corridor of the castle.
Kirei's reinforced fist shattered the castle's stone wall.
Kirei turned to continue the pursuit of Kiritsugu, but…
"Berserker and Saber have finished their battle. Saber will reach you soon. My Master, it's too dangerous to stay here."
Kirei coldly listened to Assassin's report and nodded, disappointed.
It was pointless to continue pursuing Kiritsugu now. There was no chance he could face the Servant Saber head-on. In fact, even retreating and escaping safely from there was dangerous now.
He needed to flee as quickly as possible to escape Saber's pursuit.
Kirei let out a bored sigh as he jumped through a castle window and began galloping through the forest, guided by a safe path by Assassin.
Saber wasn't like Berserker, who didn't seem to care about what he did; besides, Kiritsugu was Saber's Master.
But his expectations regarding Emiya Kiritsugu were completely shattered. Were his instincts wrong?
Emiya Kiritsugu was an empty man. He should have been a man on the brink of the void, but he hadn't yet found a reason to fight.
That's why Kirei was eager for him.
He believed that deep in Kiritsugu's heart, in that kind of lifestyle, there should be the answer he was seeking.
If he wanted to do this, Kiritsugu should have been solitary.
He shouldn't be accepted or understood by anyone, thus becoming the master of a soul separated from the world.
Just like Kirei. But?
What was all that?
Those two women who stayed with Berserker were willing to protect Kiritsugu at all costs. With a persistent desire to win a battle they couldn't.
Those women who stayed with Berserker weren't actually trying to achieve victory for the Einzberns, but instead, they were protecting that man, Emiya Kiritsugu.
If they wanted to win the Heaven's Feel.
The two women would likely be in the city with Kiritsugu, fighting their enemies.
They wouldn't use that kind of firm battle tactic, but instead were abandoning Kiritsugu and advancing defensively.
To protect Emiya Kiritsugu?
What trust and expectations did they have in Kiritsugu? When their combat skills were on a completely different level, and victory wasn't reasonable, what were they protecting? Was there a reason for someone to be so reckless and do something so foolish?
Kirei could only think of one.
Faith…
If those two women were helping Emiya Kiritsugu because of the faith they placed in him, then all their foolish actions made sense.
But in the end, an important question arose.
Women are selfish beings. Sacrificing themselves to save Kiritsugu is something that could only be done if those two women fully accepted him, fully understood him.
Does that mean Emiya Kiritsugu is a being who can be understood by others?
Moreover, when he met Kiritsugu, he seemed like such a… coward?
"That's not possible…"
Kirei cast aside the growing suspicions in his heart, as if escaping those thoughts, and clenched his teeth as he ran through the forest.
▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎
I walked out of the Einzbern Forest and left the Bounded Field of the forest.
Now no one could track me.
Though I wasn't too worried about being pursued.
Besides, any Servant, like one of the Assassins, who might be pursuing me, would find it strange that I didn't enter spirit form, even while injured.
So they would avoid engaging in combat with me today or getting too close.
Any intelligent Servant would think it's a trap.
Well, unless the Servant is an idiot or an overly arrogant one.
They would surely fall into an all-too-obvious trap. Come to think of it, there are a lot of idiot Servants, aren't there? But that's actually common in any anime or manga.
But…
The cut from Excalibur on my shoulder is a bit painful.
Though it's nothing this body couldn't endure.
The real problem was my Core. I pushed it beyond its limit, and now my entire body was very sore and close to its breaking point.
There was a high chance I'd disappear if I pushed myself too hard in a battle.
Did the Dioscuri endure this pain when they pushed to the Speed of Light?
If I force it again, I'll surely disappear from this world.
For now, I need to recover.
But I don't think I have enough time to fully recover my Core before the end of the Holy Grail War.
The Fourth Holy Grail War of Fuyuki won't last that long.
"Tsk…"
I had to make this sacrifice because of her stubbornness.
But still, I didn't expect her Instinct to be so absurd.
I know very well that Saber's Instinct is her Plot Armor. It's something that always fails when the script needs it to and works when the script needs it to.
It's completely unfair to fight something like that on equal terms.
It's like I'm an extra going up against the protagonist.
So, when it's all over, the extra will be forgotten, and no one will remember him.
It didn't matter to me, really. My goal isn't to be remembered or to win the Holy Grail War in the first place. I have my own objectives.
I'm here only to learn and improve.
And even though this was a completely unfair battle, I learned a lot from Saber in such a short time.
I looked at the bright Moon in the sky.
I still had a lot to improve before falling here.