Thud.

Saber was threw to the ground once again. She could not bring herself to fight against Lancelot while the black knight bashed her continuously with his sword.

Arondight, the Unfading Light of the Lake, the holy sword wielded by Lancelot and the counterpart to her Excalibur, the Sword of Promised Victory were the most precious of swords that had been obtained by men from the fairy lands.

That sword had been dyed pitch-black. The holy sword which everyone praised and respected was now filled with resentment, turning into an accursed demonic sword.

The once ideal knight admired by the citizens of Britain was clouded by madness, and became a beast that only seeked vengeance. Her most loyal knight, screaming and roaring at her. He stared at her with eyes filled with such hatred.

'Why?'

What has she done wrong? She gave up everything and swore to protect Britain. Why do you hate me so much? Was it Guinevere?

"The king does not understand the hearts of men."Sir Tristan's last words echoed in her head.

...Is it because I do not understand the feelings of my subjects? She recalled Rider's solemn words.

"You saved your subjects, yet you've never led them. You never showed them what a king should be. You abandoned your men when they lost their way. Alone and unperturbed, you followed your own little pretty ideals."

The fall of her kingdom... the lifeless bodies of her subjects, knights and loved ones... the hill that had been dyed red with blood...

'Why is Fate so unfair?! I strived for the prosperity of Britain! I fought and killed, defending my homeland again and again and again! So why?!'

"Stop!" She shouted with tears rolling down her face. 'The Holy Grail... if I can have the Holy Grail! I will be able to!'

Saber put strength into her sword and deflected Lancelot's blow. At the moment she decided to fight back, Lancelot stopped moving. Excalibur pierced into his heart and the knight in black armor slowly falls down onto Saber.

"If I do not do this, my friend… If I do not do this, then I will be unable to give you any sort of recompense at all." Saber said amidst sobbing. "With the Holy Grail... I will be... I will be able to... save everyone..."

"...Saddening indeed. Things have come to this, and you still make excuses to fight?"

A nostalgia voice.

"My king... I could not stop myself from loving Guinevere, so I was never able to forgive myself." This voice... Saber slowly turned her head to the man leaning against her.

It was Lancelot.

"However, King Arthur... You never questioned me for my crimes. You never sought recompense. You simply continued to stand before us in your righteousness."

"But I desired judgement at your hands. Had your anger judged me, I might not have fallen into the path of madness in my search for atonement."

"Lancelot, you...!"

"To die in the King's arms, before the King's eyes..." The Knight of the Lake quietly whispered and sighed. "Haha, like this it is really... as if I am a loyal knight..."

"You... you shouldn't say that-" Tears kept rolling down Artoria's face.

'But I can say this much with certainty, King Arthur.' Lancelot was dissipating. 'You were the greatest among all kings.'

"...Wait... wait... Lancelot...!"

'All those who served you...' Lancelot smiled before his body slowly dissipated into specks of violet lights. '...felt the same way.'

"No...! Lancelot!" Saber fell down. She cried, tormented as if countless thorns were piercing her heart.

If there was a miracle, could everyone be save? Could salvation be granted upon Britain...?

"The Grail...!" Saber wiped the tears on her face and stood up. "It's not too late... I still have the Grail. I still have the miracle that can overturn fate..."

As long as she can obtain the Holy Grail, all the previous mistakes could be righted.

Covered with wounds, Saber stepped forward.

Kiritsugu and Saber met at the entrance of the music hall. The corridors, stairs, rooms he passed through were filled signs of combat. He could guess what happened to the Assassins from the countless bloodstains.

Both them were in poor conditions. His unique Magecraft places a large burden on himself since his Innate Time Control was far above the level of basic physical enchantment.

It causes inconsistencies between the flow of time inside and outside the field. Once the movement is complete and the field is removed, natural forces will forcefully adjust the incorrect time.

And since the Bounded Field is within his own physical body. In order to get back in sync with the normal time flow, adjustments occurring within his flesh greatly damage him. Even brief uses have him accompanying death, and continuous activation is nothing less than suicide, making it his riskiest technique.

'Irisviel...' Perhaps it was her intuition, Irisviel has left Avalon inside his room in the Einzbern Castle on the day she was kidnapped.

Avalon, the Everdistant Utopia, is the scabbard of Excalibur. It is the embodiment of the utopia King Arthur seeks, originally stolen from her shortly before the Battle of Camlann due to the machinations of her sister, Morgan le Fay.

Jubstacheit von Einzbern, the eighth and current head of the Einzbern family, presented them the golden scabbard as the catalyst to summon King Arthur. Rather than allowing Saber to have it, he hid its existence from her and kept it for his own use.

Normally, it would be used as the trump card of Kiritsugu as Saber's Master, but he was not someone who would be present on the direct battlefield. It was a useless tool to him due to that Saber would not be able to provide it with Mana since he was working so far apart from her. That was why he implanted it inside Irisviel to preserve her human functions as he didn't want to watch his wife slowly turn into a golden cup.

"Assassin is dead and you took down Berserker." Kiritsugu glanced at his Servant's somber face. "Excluding Caster, that makes two Servants left on our side."

Saber paid attention to Kiritsugu's words despite her current tangled emotions. The man rarely spoke, and when he did, it was always important.

"No, only one remains." The pair turned to the source of the voice, it was from beyond the door.

The door slammed open as an invisible force filled the corridor they were in, pushing them into the room. They entered the music hall, coming face to face with...

"You are...?!" Saber eyes widened at the least expected person. "...Why is it you... Ruler?"

Kiritsugu didn't change his countenance, though he was as surprised as Saber. He scrutinized the two-story music hall, it was spacious enough to accommodate around three thousand patrons. The hall was decorated nicely, giving off both a modern and traditional western feeling.

"Welcome, Saber of Blue, King Arthur and her Master, Emiya Kiritsugu." Titus stood in the middle of the hall, the Lesser Grail was floating above a white table behind him. "King of Knights, you are the last Servant of the Blue Faction. Rider, Berserker and Assassin of Blue have all fallen before you reached here."

Kiritsugu narrowed his eyes. He could guess what happen. Their Berserker stalled Saber while Rider faced off against the Servants of White, Ruler must have been the one to kill all the Assassins. It wouldn't be a problem at all for someone with such high parameters to finish them off all in one go.

"Answer me, Ruler!" Saber glared at the white-haired man. "Why are you here?!"

"Saber, no, Artoria Pendragon." Titus glanced at Saber. "You should have already grasped what is going on, right?"

Saber faltered, she wasn't ignorant nor dull-witted. The situation was crystal clear... Ruler was never on their side from the beginning. They were played by him the entire time.

'But why?' He was the Ruler-class Servant. His mission should have been the protection of the concept of the Holy Grail War and to ensure the laws of Heroic Spirits wouldn't be violated.

The role of a Ruler is to arbitrate the truth and adjudicate all things in order to maintain human history. The criteria to be summoned for the Ruler Class is impartiality and possessing no desire for the Holy Grail. Those who qualify are most often Saints, and any Ruler summoned to preside over a Holy Grail will be a Saint under normal conditions.

So why would someone who should be lawful and fair disrupt the Holy Grail War when their exact mission was to see it progress smoothly?

Creaaak

The sudden sound disturbed the silence and nine figures entered the music hall. Most of them were familiar to the pair of Master and Servant, and this could only mean that...

"...Rider is definitely dead... and you are also on their side." Kiritsugu voiced out. Ruler wasn't only against them, but he was also cooperating with the enemy faction.

"Yes, the King of Conquerors is dead. But you are wrong about one thing." Laughter interrupted the Magus Killer. "It is not that he is on our side, but we are on his side."

"After all..." Semiramis sauntered down from audience stand, and leaned against Titus. "He is our Master..."

Saber felt strength leaving her body and even Kiritsugu clenched his fists, proving how shocking the revelation was. She stared at Ruler incredulously and looked back on the previous days.

...

"Caster of Blue has betrayed the Blue Faction, she has been monitoring you the entire time."

"Ruler, shouldn't you assist us in this war then? The White Faction is clearly breaking the rules."

"Regrettably, I won't be able to lend a helping hand to you. I am summoned to be a supervisor of this war, not to fight in it. It might seem unfair to you, but to me, betrayal is an extremely common thing in war. You will have to surmount this difficult task by yourself."

...

"Is Ruler not joining us?"

"Ruler went after the White Faction and hasn't returned since last night."

...

"Betrayal is an extremely common thing in war." The words spoken by Ruler reverberated inside her mind. Even though they weren't familiar with each other, Ruler gave her quite the good impression. He seemed just and kind-hearted... but was he acting all this time?

"Was it the Holy Grail?" Saber rasped. Does he desire a miracle similarly?

"Yes. It is because of the Holy Grail." The fake Ruler turned back to the floating holy cup. "You might not know this, but the Holy Grail is corrupted. I was summoned and assigned by the planet's will to exterminate this... thing."

"The Grail... corrupted?"

"Yes. Inside this cup is Angra Mainyu, All the World's Evil." Titus frowned. "It will still grant wishes, but it will interpret any wish of the owner with nothing else than destruction. Moreover, once it has been opened, it will keep flowing out infinitely and bring disaster."

"Thus, the world would be eventually destroyed if I allowed you to wish upon the Holy Grail. Though..." The white-haired man turned around and looked at Saber with an expression that sent chills down the young girl. She has never expected such cold and emotionless expression from the man who always smiled kindly.

"Your wish for your homeland's salvation is as dangerous as the curses of Angra Mainyu."

"What...?" Saber was taken aback. "What do you mean my wish is dangerous?! I merely want to save my subjects!"

"You are trying to reverse history!" Saber winced at Titus' booming voice. "The simple act of reversing history, means that everyone who were born after your time would disappear! Innocent lives, traditions and cultures, technological advancements would all vanish just because a naive young girl pursued an impossible dream. So how could I approve it?!"

"How many sacrifices do you think the human race made just to reach here?! How many died to famine, plagues and war?!" Everyone flinched at his words. "Your wish will cancel all the efforts they have made...!"

His Servants recalled the dreams they saw, the bloody life the enraged man in front of them had. He wasn't a shining hero from a warmhearted fairy tale, but an anti-hero who attained his position from passing by the countless bodies of his enemies.

'The Black Death.' Ripples appeared on Tamamo's eyes. 'Is that why you created it...?'

The population of Eurasia decreased by over a hundred million because of the Black Plague. But thanks to their death, overpopulation was solved and people no longer had to suffer from the lack of resources. Famine would have kept happening and many would die while competing for food. Many wars would've been waged and many revolutions would've happened.

The Black Death saved more people than it killed and the survivors didn't have to suffer with the available lands and resources. It also lowered the belief in gods and let people rely on themselves more, becoming the foundation for numerous industrial revolution since fewer population means many works needed to be replaced by technology.

'Even then, why do you walk such a painful path?' She stared at the man who was her Master, his shadow seemed more solitary and fragile than ever. 'Why do you put on such a strong front when you are so anguished and despondent...?'

"No... that is not what I am trying to do..." Saber shook her head and took a single step back. "I only wanted to..."

She has never imagined the severe consequences from her wish, she simply yearned to prevent Britain's destruction. But.. but this... This isn't what she had wanted...!

"...By the name of Emiya Kiritsugu, I order you with my Command Seal..."