"————、———— huh?"

The scabbard, which glowed with a golden light, gradually blurred, as if it had merged with the air, and had withdrawn from everyone's view. And along with the disappearance of the scabbard, there are also Illya and Miyu, who were originally worried about Shirou and flew towards him regardless of the danger, and bathed in the dazzling light at close range.

"Saber's... Scabbard... Why do mongrels have this thing in their bodies......?"

The sword in his hand turned into golden light and dissipated, and Archer muttered a little confused.

- Emiya Kiritsugu orders Saber with a spell -

The muffled words shook Saber's body from the depths of her soul. On the wall, which is equivalent to the height of the second floor, there is no semi-circular box protruding outward. In the light of the fire, a silhouette appeared like a ghost wearing a long trench coat - he was the true master of the contract with Saber - Emiya Kiritsugu.

The voice, too familiar to be more familiar, was declared clearly and resolutely.

- Use the Noble Phantasm and destroy the Holy Grail -

How to interpret the meaning of this sentence, how to understand it, Saber's mind went blank for a moment.

「…… What's ......?"

A whirlwind dispersed the flames around it. From the center of the Wind King's enchantment, the figure of the Golden Sword appeared.

Even though Saber's brain refused to understand, her body as a Servant faithfully accepted the commands of the Command. The sword began to weave a beam of light, completely ignoring the will of the wielder.

"Why—what's going on—what are you going to do!?"

Even Archer, who had just reacted, was dumbfounded at the moment. He had thought that because he had his back to the Holy Grail, Saber would never be able to fight back against him.

「… Cut... Heir..."

Without a trace of strength, his whole body was as soft and weak as if it had been pulled out of bones. But Shirou Emiya, who had fallen directly in front of Archer, naturally witnessed a fourth figure appearing in the auditorium.

How to describe the mood at this time, my father, who has passed away for many years, appeared in front of me again, and I wanted to say so many things that I couldn't finish all day, but now I don't know why I can't say anything.

I didn't expect to see him at this time, the magician of justice who raised me from hell.

「…… No...... Not really!"

Saber roared, screaming with all her might. The golden sword, which was raised high, suddenly stopped in midair.

As the legendary Knight King and the Servant of the highest rank, Saber possesses a special level of magic resistance that can even resist the bondage of the Command. She used all her strength to stop herself from swinging her sword. Strength and inhibition, two opposing forces collided violently in Saber's body, and her slender body seemed to be torn apart at any moment.

This excruciating and unimaginable pain reminded Saber of Dilumudo Audi's deathbed. The bitterness and humiliation that the tragic heroic soul tasted, she also had a personal experience at this moment.

While confronting the powerful magic, Saber stared at Kiritsugu Emiya standing in the box and shouted.

"Why!?Kiritsugu—why you!?"

No way. He could not have given such an order.

Emiya Kiritsugu was so eager to get the Holy Grail, so why did he refuse the Holy Grail at this moment?

After understanding that Saber's unusual behavior was the effect of the spell, Archer finally sensed the presence of Emiya Kiritsugu.

"Do you want to ruin my wedding too, bastard!"

The group of treasures that suddenly appeared turned in unison, aiming at the location of the box where Kiritsugu was.

But before the Noble Phantasm could begin to attack, Kiritsugu raised his right hand again and gestured to Saber below, the back of his hand—there was still one last spell left on it.

- Command again with the third spell -

"Stop!!"

Seeing that his pride and hope were about to disappear in an instant, Saber screamed with tears in her eyes.

— Saber, Destroying the Holy Grail —

This is an absolute power that is completely irresistible.

The immense coercion of the Double Command ravages and oppresses Saber's body, drawing out the remaining magic from her and weaving it into the Light of Destruction.

The beam of light that was released cut through the auditorium, striking the Holy Grail floating on the stage. Archer was able to dodge the attack with agility, but the beam at close range was too dazzling for him to attack Kiritsugu.

The Golden Grail, once part of Alice Phil's body, silently lost form in the scorching heat of the flash, and then vanished. Saber closed his eyes, not daring to face the scene - now, the last hope was gone. Her battle is also over.

In that case, how could I witness this tragic scene with my eyes open?

In fact, she never opened her eyes again. The Noble Phantasm, which was forced to exert its power against his intentions, had exhausted all of Saber's remaining magical power, and he could not even maintain the Servant's physical form. Saber loses the strength and will to stay in this world. Of course, this is also due to the fact that the Master, who is the contractor, does not intend to keep her.

Maintaining a sword-swinging stance, Saber began to detach from the present world, and soon, her entity vanished.

At the moment when he gradually loses his intersection with the real world, the last emotion that flashes through Saber's mind is the mystery of the character of Emiya Kiritsugu.

A lovely father who dotes on his daughter, a warrior who wants to save the world, and a murderer who despairs of justice, he shows all kinds of contradictory fragments of human nature, but in the end betrays everything and denies everything.

Until the end, for such a man, Saber can only be sure of the coldness and ruthlessness in his heart.

It wasn't until the end that he and she didn't get to know each other and build a relationship of trust—nay, maybe it should be said that it wasn't until the last minute that she realized she didn't really understand what he really thought.

But, there is nothing wrong with this -

Fade into consciousness, Saber laughed to himself.

How can a man who has nothing to do with other than give three orders to himself, how can he understand himself? Such a self has not even been able to read the hearts of the people around him.

All this may be a long and euphemistic punishment for the "king who does not understand people's hearts".

Although Saber left the world scarred and unable to fulfill her ambitions, not having to witness the tragedy that followed might be a kind of compensation for her.

The beam of the "Sword of Victory of the Oath", which destroyed the Holy Grail, consumed the ceiling of the stage, splitting the entire Civic Hall in two. The building, which had already been burned to its core, could not withstand such a blow, and the superstructure was destroyed, and the roof that had lost its support fell halfway into the auditorium like an avalanche.

Then, through the pillar-like debris of rubble, Kiritsugu saw "it" in the night sky that was exposed again.

The Black Sun - What you have seen when you come into contact with the black mud, a symbol of the end of this world.

That's when Kiritsugu couldn't see clearly, but its entity was actually a real "hole". It is a spatial tunnel connected to the "Great Grail" magic array hidden under the altar of the Advent Rite and the Enzo Mountain on the east side of Fukayama Town, and it has absorbed the energy of the leylines for 60 years, and now it has been filled with the inside of the Great Holy Grail of the six heroic souls, turning into a huge magic vortex. This is the body of the black "hole".

The "device" taken from the android of Einsbelen is nothing more than the key to open the hole, and it is also the control device that keeps the hole in a stable state. Kiritsugu, who is unaware of this secret, has made a well-known mistake by not ordering Saber to destroy the Holy Grail, but rather having her use the "Sword of Victory of the Oath" to burn the holes in the sky. Due to the loss of control of the "device", the black sun began to dissolve, and the hole gradually decreased, but it was completely impossible to stop the black mud from flowing out of the inside of the hole until it was completely closed.

Originally, it was a non-attribute power that was only used to create a breakthrough to the "outside world", but due to the mistakes of Kiritsugu before, it was dyed with a dark curse color.

A black mud filled with the curse of "all the evil in the world." It has the power to destroy all life, and at this moment, it is like a waterfall falling half from the top of the civic hall.

Archer, standing in the audience on the first floor, could not find a way out of this baptism.

"This ...... Is this ......!?"

The raging black waves swept away the golden servant that could not be done. No, it wasn't just swept away, he was gone the moment he came into contact with the black mud. Archer's body was disintegrated and absorbed by the black mud in the blink of an eye, becoming one with the raging mudflow.

Nothing can be heard, and no sound can be made. Shirou Emiya, who was also below Archer, was inevitably caught up in the middle of it, and was instantly swallowed up by the unknown thing.

There was a "snap" and I felt my body being squeezed. In the water pouring down like quicksand, Emiya Shirou, who was swallowed in it, felt as if he was in the deep sea.

The tsunami of black mud engulfed the first-floor auditorium, and Kiritsugu, who stood in the box and had managed to escape, commented on it all. The cursed waterfall that fell from the sky did not stop, and the black mud poured out of the buildings through the entrance of the guild hall and spread out to the surrounding neighborhoods.

And so, the killing began.

People were asleep, smelling the death mud of the breath of human life, turning into a burning curse that came down to their pillows.

Burn down houses, burn down courtyards. Both those who fell asleep and those who woke up trying to escape were burned to the ground—it had waited inside the Great Holy Grail for sixty years, as if celebrating its brief release, mercilessly stripping it of all life it had come into contact with.

It was later determined that more than 500 people were killed and 134 buildings were burned. This huge disaster, which has always been of unknown cause, has left an indelible mark on the hearts of the citizens of Fuyuki City.

After a while, the holes in the sky disappeared, and the black mud stopped gushing out. But the earth brought about a massive fire, and the people who could not escape were reduced to charred corpses one by one. The night sky is rendered by the grand red lotus fire, and the ground is endlessly staged with the feast of death.

Escaping from the crumbling civic hall, Emiya Kiritsugu witnessed the whole process with his own eyes.

The life that was about to be destroyed was so similar to the situation that tormented him in a nightmare. But what follows, undoubtedly, is reality.

She had a dream in which the world was burning.

The girl, trembling with fear, opened her eyes wrapped in a duvet.

The bedroom, guarded by the warm light of the fireplace, is still so calm and peaceful. The cold night outside the window will never pose any threat to the girl lying in bed.

In time, through the thick glass window, you can still hear the cold wind howling outside the window, and the cold wind quietly penetrates into the house through the crack in the window. It must have been this voice that I mistook for the cries of the burned people.

- What's wrong? Illyasfil -

Mother said this and gently stroked her cheek. The voice and touch of her mother, who was always by the girl's side, immediately reassured her.

The girl and her mother are based on the personality of a magician known as the "Goddess of Winter". So the girl has a mother and an uncle in her heart. Even the earliest trace to the "original Yussa" has been recorded in the girl's heart.

Therefore, even at night when she sleeps alone in a duvet, the girl will never be alone. As long as you call, you can hear your mother's voice at any time, and you can see your mother's figure at any time.

"Mom...... I had a terrible dream in which Illya turned into a cup. 」

Reassuringly gazing at her mother's silky silver hair and gentle gaze, the girl continued to recount the nightmare.

"Illya has seven big, big things in it. Illya was about to break, frightened but unable to escape, when I heard the voice of Yustiza, and a large black hole appeared in the top of her head...... Then, the world became less. Kiritsugu looked at the world and cried. 」

yes, I dreamed of him. The father who is said to be in a faraway foreign land, dealing with tricky jobs.

At the thought of this, the girl suddenly realized that the nightmare just now seemed to symbolize something bad, and she became uneasy again.

"Mom...... Kiritsugu won't have an accident, will he?

Looking at the girl who was worried about her father, her mother smiled softly.

- It's fine. That person will definitely work hard for Illya. In order not to let Illya have such terrible memories again, he will definitely grant our wish -

「…… Well, yes, yes. 」

She knew that the man was a very competitive person. So when he has finished that important work, he will definitely come back here at once, the girl crossed her fingers and counted the deadline for the day to come, although it was cold to sleep alone, but even so, her mother would still be by her side. She wasn't alone – until the day she could properly understand this contradiction.

The girl waits in the city, forever locked in the snow. The agreement exchanged with her father was the most cherished treasure in her heart.

……