...
"I've finally found the meaning of battle!"
"Kiritsugu Emiya... I will shatter that man's ideals before his very eyes—along with the Holy Grail itself!"
After making his declaration with unmistakable delight, Kirei Kotomine turned respectfully toward Gilgamesh.
"Doing so may destroy your Holy Grail, my King. Do I have your permission?"
"Of course."
Gilgamesh smiled indifferently.
"So long as the process is entertaining enough to amuse me."
"Otherwise..."
He narrowed his crimson eyes.
"You understand the consequences of destroying my treasure."
"Even if you've warned me beforehand..."
"...don't you, Kirei?"
An overwhelming aura of absolute kingship settled upon Kirei.
"So be it."
"That sets my mind at ease."
The two exchanged knowing smiles.
Both men raced toward the delight they sought...
Like two trains that had already passed the point of no return.
Either they would destroy everything standing in their path...
Or they themselves would be utterly destroyed.
...
"Maiya?!"
By the time Kiritsugu found Maiya Hisau...
She was already lying on the ground, having lost far too much blood.
Barely conscious.
"Kiri... tsugu..."
A pale, exhausted smile appeared on her face.
Turning her head with great effort, she looked at the horror in Kiritsugu's eyes.
"I'm fine..."
"I'm just... a little tired."
Kiritsugu immediately knelt beside her and gently gathered her into his arms.
Only then did he notice...
Hidden beneath her blood-soaked bangs...
Her right eye had become an unrecognizable mass of blood and shattered flesh.
"...Who did this?"
His face darkened.
His voice, however, remained unnaturally calm.
His eyes quickly swept across the surroundings.
He noticed a deep puncture mark in the ground nearby...
Yet the weapon itself had completely disappeared.
"...Archer."
Before Maiya could answer...
Kiritsugu had already reached his conclusion.
He slowly turned toward the direction of Fuyuki Church.
His arms tightened around Maiya almost unconsciously.
"Kiritsugu..."
"Don't do anything reckless."
"They still don't know about the rift between us and Leon... and Artoria."
"Before they discover it..."
"We need to leave."
Maiya pleaded weakly.
Her bloodstained hand slowly rose and gently smoothed the deep furrow between Kiritsugu's brows.
"...You're right."
"Let's go home."
Kiritsugu finally managed a faint smile.
Then—
Maiya's arm suddenly lost all strength.
It dropped limply to the ground.
Kiritsugu froze.
His pupils contracted.
They were still far too close to Fuyuki Church.
If he used that now...
There was a good chance Archer, whose eyesight surpassed that of every other Servant, would notice.
Perhaps...
Gilgamesh and Kirei were already watching from somewhere nearby.
Watching him struggle.
Watching him suffer.
Given Kirei's twisted personality...
That possibility was alarmingly high.
Suppressing the turmoil in his heart, Kiritsugu immediately lifted Maiya into a princess carry and sprinted toward the nearest hospital.
"Time Alter — Double Accel!"
The magecraft Kiritsugu had once used only in short bursts to accelerate himself...
Now, strengthened by Avalon and his own unwavering determination...
Was being forcibly maintained almost continuously.
Even as the strain caused blood to seep from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth...
He ignored it completely.
He stubbornly continued invoking the temporal magecraft originally created by Norikata Emiya in pursuit of suspending human time and attaining immortality.
Faster...
I have to be faster...
Faster!
Feeling the warmth—and the life—draining from the woman in his arms...
Kiritsugu desperately wished Norikata Emiya's research had already been completed.
This had merely been another precaution.
Another contingency plan.
So why...
Why had it turned out like this?
His anxiety spiraled into countless thoughts.
Was my decision wrong?
Has everything I've fought for only ever led to loss?
For the first time...
Kiritsugu began questioning that possibility.
Even after arriving at the hospital...
Carrying what now felt more like a corpse than a living person...
He was still asking himself the same question.
Had he used a Command Seal to summon Artoria...
They would have reached the hospital much sooner.
But...
For everything that was to come...
He couldn't afford to waste a Command Seal satisfying his own personal desires.
Once again...
The pitiful man known as Kiritsugu Emiya had made his choice.
As doctors and nurses rushed Maiya through the doors of the operating room...
Blood trickled from the corner of Kiritsugu's mouth.
His internal organs had been twisted into chaos by the prolonged strain of Time Alter, only to be slowly repaired by Avalon.
He dropped to his knees.
Both hands pressed against the floor.
His face was filled with endless regret...
And tears that had long since run dry.
"What kind of joke is this?!"
"What kind of joke is this?!"
"WHAT KIND OF JOKE IS THIS?!"
His anguished roar echoed throughout the hospital.
The nearby patients and nurses recoiled in fear.
No one dared approach him.
He sat there completely alone.
Isolated.
As though abandoned by the entire world.
"Hahahahaha..."
"Kiritsugu Emiya..."
"What a fascinating man."
"Especially after learning about everything he's experienced."
High above the clouds—
Upon the royal throne aboard the flying Vimana, Gilgamesh casually waved his hand.
The magical projection before him disappeared.
The final image lingered for only an instant—
The precise moment Maiya's heartbeat became a flat line inside the operating room.
"Come, Kirei."
"There's no need to watch any further."
"That woman is already dead."
"Yes... my King."
Kirei bowed respectfully.
His mind remained fixed on the final image of Kiritsugu's despair.
The more he replayed it...
The more delighted he became.
Yet another question rose within him.
Even now...
Even after all this...
You still refused to use a Command Seal?
Kiritsugu Emiya...
What exactly are you trying to accomplish?
...
"W-What?!"
"Professor Kayneth is returning to the Clock Tower?"
"Why?!"
"The Holy Grail War isn't over yet!"
Hyatt Hotel.
Waver Velvet stared tearfully as assistants packed luggage around the room.
Meanwhile, Kayneth Archibald carefully dismantled his Magecraft Workshop, using Volumen Hydrargyrum (Moon Spirit Mercury) to form numerous tendrils that methodically recovered every magical installation—
Including the three hereditary mana reactors that powered the workshop.
If Iskandar hadn't been gripping the back of his collar...
Waver would already have thrown himself at Kayneth's legs in protest.
"Honestly..."
"Is that all the backbone you've got?"
Holding Waver aloft with one hand, Iskandar sighed.
"Even without your professor's support..."
"We can still fight."
"Idiot! Idiot!! Idiot!!"
Waver flailed wildly in midair.
"Do you have any idea how much mana it takes to deploy Ionioi Hetairoi?"
"The World's corrective force against a Reality Marble overwriting reality is no joke!"
"Even if you squeezed every last drop of mana out of me..."
"I'd only be able to support a single activation of your Noble Phantasm!"
"There's no way we'd win like that!"
To Waver...
The future had suddenly gone completely dark.
He refused to leave this Holy Grail War in disgrace.
He wanted to return triumphantly to the El-Melloi Classroom...
To prove to every classmate and every instructor who had looked down on him...
That even the weakest student could accomplish something extraordinary.
Unfortunately...
He had unknowingly blurted out those last thoughts aloud.
Right in front of both Iskandar...
And Kayneth.
Kayneth simply looked away in silent embarrassment before walking off to supervise the packing of his family's mana reactors.
Iskandar, meanwhile, stared at Waver with an odd expression.
"If you're trying to prove yourself to your teacher..."
"Then you should rely on him even less."
"Otherwise..."
"None of it can truly be called your achievement."
"...Huh?"
Waver blinked.
Because Kayneth, Sola-Ui, and the El-Melloi family's mana reactors had been providing such overwhelming support...
He had completely forgotten that fact.
He fell silent.
Seeing this, Iskandar finally set him back on the ground.
"Don't look so troubled."
"If there's something you don't understand..."
"Then ask him."
"Isn't that what teachers are for?"
When he was young...
Iskandar had constantly sought advice from Aristotle about philosophy, politics, ethics, and countless other subjects.
If he didn't understand something...
He asked.
That, in his eyes, was the mark of a truly excellent student.
After all...
Only a handful of genuine geniuses could uncover the truths of the world entirely on their own.
"Well..."
"I know you're right..."
Waver scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"But after embarrassing myself like that..."
"How am I supposed to face Professor Kayneth now?"
"No problem."
"I'll go with you."
"And besides..."
"I'd also like to know..."
"Why someone as proud as Lord Kayneth would suddenly abandon the Holy Grail."
"There has to be something we don't know."
As he spoke...
Iskandar's expression gradually turned serious.
He had a feeling...
That hidden truth...
Would overturn everything they currently believed.
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