FateAlternative Records (Machine Translated)

by Dominatroy

Story is not mine. I repeat story is not mine. The translation by the author is slow as such I machine translated the next few chapters. The original author is Rinaru. Please give him a favorite/follow.

3. Chapters 26-32

I am amazed at the incredibly stupid reviews asking for Chapters 1-10… Sorry if this sounds harsh. But I literally told you guys on the MLTed Chapters 11-20 that it's on Rinaru(original author's fanficl ist) Fate Alternative T. I only MTLed this because that is slow. This isn't the most accurate in the world though.

Chapter 26, "Girl Talk."

-What do you mean? -asked the Princess quizzically.

-It's just as you hear, for some reason, Gaia's Counterforce has intervened in the ritual. Any reason you know of why this might be happening? -asked Caubac from the other end of the line.

For a moment, Altrouge was thoughtful. The will of the world is divided into two: The Counterforce of Gaia, the will of the planet, and the Counterforce of Alaya, the collective unconsciousness of humanity. Both act for and for the survival, in the case of Gaia, the survival of the planet, and in the case of Alaya, the survival of humanity?

-That is common knowledge, why the need to emphasize it?

Altrouge frowned. Haven't you noticed, Caubac?

-What? -asked the interested comedian.

-The actions of both in the last few centuries. Gaia's make sense; but Alaya's...

-Alaya...? But Alaya hasn't done anything?

The Princess smiled... Exactly. Humanity has not reached the rest of the stars, therefore, the planet is its only refuge, if it dies, it is almost certain that humanity will follow soon after and, even so...

-Alaya has done nothing to prevent it, I see... Now, the question is, why?

-I've been asking myself the same question for the past decades; but, no matter how many times I think about it, I haven't found a satisfactory answer; however...

-However? -asked Caubac, more and more interested.

-If you study their movements, you will realize that in the beginning it was not so; let us study for a moment the actions of the two halves of the will of the world:

Let's start with the one that makes the most sense so far, Gaia. The first great action of Gaia that comes to mind was in 12,000 BC...

-Oh, you mean the arrival of Sefar, little one?

-Do you know him? That will make things simpler. On the other hand, don't call me little girl, or child, I don't remember you being older than me...

-It's a custom, it's not my fault that you choose to remain a girl of 14," excused the apostle.

A 14-year-old girl?

-Wait, now that I look at it... Have you changed a little? You look taller and more developed than your usual appearance?

These statements made the Princess a little angry, but she decided not to play along. Never mind, I have no idea how you are watching me, but focus," she said without giving it any importance. Sefar arrived 12,000 years ago, during the Age of the Gods. That thing destroyed most of the civilizations of the earth at that time, as well as a great number of gods, finally, it was defeated by a sacred sword forged in the core of the planet; this would later be known as Excalibur, King Arthur's sword, or Altria, in our case...

-Wait! King Arthur was a woman?!

-Yes, but that doesn't matter, again, focus.

-Well, I had no knowledge about her defeat by Excalibur, I only knew about her history in general, where did you get that information?

-Let's just say I was forced to learn. -Altrouge sighed, she was in part a true ancestor, having this knowledge thanks to her connection to the world was not something that should be considered strange. Be that as it may, that was the first time, at least to my knowledge, about a more direct involvement of Gaia to protect herself. In creating the fairies who would forge the sword...

-After the Age of the Gods, there came momentarily the Age of the Fairies, and then the present age, the Age of Common or Age of Man," Caubac complemented.

Altrouge nodded, "Around the year 0 A.D., the Age of the Gods ended completely and the population of mankind grew explosively. Because the earth obeys the law of the most prosperous species on its surface, the rules of the world changed completely from being governed by Sorcery to being governed by Physics. The ghostly species, as well as the gods, ceded the surface of the earth to humans and moved to the Reverse of the World, where mystery still thrives.

-Besides Excalibur, another of Gaia's greatest acts is all that led to our creation.

Yes, it was obvious that human beings' self-destructive behavior would not only affect them. To Earth's misfortune, the human race is basically the opposite of the idea of an Ultimate, or Aristotle, as humans have called them. And well, the rest of the story we already know: Gaia's response to the human threat was to produce beings that can destroy or rule humanity; but being forced to obey the laws of humans, it is impossible for her to manufacture anything with the power of an Ultimate. So his greatest creation so far was PM, he was created to quickly eliminate as many humans as possible. And in part I, as well as the other True Ancestors, are nothing more than great fairies inspired by Brunestud, The Last of the Moon. As another defense system, we were introduced by Gaia to rule humanity or to destroy it.

-However, even with all the efforts of the True Ancestors and Primate Murder, the constant unrestrained and unchecked evolution of humankind has increasingly amplified the deterioration of the planet, leading to more and more extreme actions by both Gaia and humankind.

At the thought of radical actions, Altrouge's mind raved to that ritual. The Ritual of Aylesbury Valesti..." Altrouge whispered. -Altrouge whispered, "My reasons for participating in that one was because it had been established by Brunestud, so I figured the Dark Six could help me deal with this problem. -An uncomfortable smile showed on his face. I was too optimistic, after all, no one knows the true colors of the Six Gifts of Darkness.

-Yes, I heard about what happened, it was an unfortunate event... Tell me Princess, do you believe in the prophecy that was made some years ago, the so-called Year 2000 Prophecy? -asked Alcatraz.

-Not only do I believe in this Caubac, I know it will come true, and so do you, even in your world, you must have felt the signal that Gaia sent thirty years ago, didn't you?

-I won't deny that something strange happened after the ritual, besides the damage to the planet...

Altrouge looked down. The humans are aware of this prophecy; but they took it as a joke, even if in the last three years there has been evidence to prove its veracity. If only they would accept the prophecy, then the human race would be the only victim, and the rest of the planet could be spared...

-Well, that wouldn't include us, probably. At the end of the day, we need humanity to survive... -sighed the ancestor.

Altrouge nodded, "That probably ended up affecting me too, but it's something I'm willing to accept. At the end of the day, humanity is a disease that destroys the planet, and we, who are related to Brunestud, possess the same nature that corrodes the Earth, we are also a poison that must be destroyed. The only difference between them and us, is the impact of our existence, compared to humanity, we can be considered a lesser evil.

"So Zelretch was right... I wonder how much you hate that part of you, Altrouge. How much you hate yourself enough to agree to die in order to save the planet. If you had been a True Ancestor in your entirety, would you feel the same way?" Obviously, Alcatraz did not voice his thoughts, but fell into deep contemplation after hearing the Apostle's words.

However, the labyrinth builder continued with his explanation in spite of this. Humanity will never accept something like that, if that is the case, they will prefer to condemn themselves along with the rest of the planet, such is the selfishness of human nature, to believe otherwise is naive Altrouge... -And the selfishness of our species is no less, as you have already said.

-I know. -Altrouge tried to distract himself, playing with the phone cord, so as not to think too much about it as he continued the conversation. When she was mortally wounded, the planet begged the other celestial bodies for her compression, at that time, she thought she was dead and, if humanity had perished at the same time she did, then she would have been happy, but she was afraid of the existences that might continue to live on her after her death, after all, humanity is very adaptable. The other planets, hearing this wish, have each sent their highest ranking species to fulfill it. The Ultimates, the Aristotelians, they will come to wipe out humanity...

-If only we could come to some sort of understanding...

Altrouge let out a dry laugh. Do you really believe the nonsense Ortenrosse put forward? That's just a theory, and one with very little foundation. I'm really beginning to understand why Merem considers it so old-fashioned. In case you don't remember, the last of our people who tried to talk to an Ultimate, ended up being eaten, and now his place is taken by that same Ultimate...

-ORT, Mercury Type. Do you think they're all the same?

-While I can't say for sure, does it really matter? The signal was sent to the other planets that make up the Solar System, that gives us a total of 8 ultimate and, you know how much power a single one has, don't you?

Caubac would have nodded if he could. Each one is the strongest life form on its planet, essentially, they are the representation of the power of the planets themselves, and each one has the power to single-handedly exterminate all existing life forms on Earth.

-Exactly, we already know that we cannot communicate with Mercury Type, or at least we have not found the way to do it. By itself, this is already a threat with enough power to destroy us, although by itself does not guarantee our total annihilation, it is enough that we can't communicate with one of the other 7 for our annihilation to be practically guaranteed, and that's not counting Velber?

-Velber?

-Nothing, nothing... Well, this is our situation, 7 Ultimates against us, it's not an encouraging scenario...

-Maybe we should imitate the divine spirits and retreat to the Reverse...

Altrouge gave a dry smile. As an entity in extreme relationship with the planet, I can assure you that the death of the star will not only affect the surface.

-I guess it was too good to be true...

-And, in spite of all this, the planet has not yet surrendered completely.

-Hmn...? -This puzzled the comedian. -What do you mean?

-It's just as I said, it hasn't surrendered completely yet, for example: It was an agent of Gaia's Counterforce, a Fae, who guided Shirou so he could find the sword with which he managed to harm me.

-What are you talking about? Shirou...? Oh, is that what the new seventh is called, is it? Why would a Fae give him a weapon to harm you, you of all people?

Altrouge smiled, "Because I wanted him to survive, and over time, I've come to realize why, too...

-What do you mean?

-Shirou will be the one to help me deal with all this.

-Deal? You mean a confrontation with the Ultimates?

-Not exactly; but Gaia's Counterforce believes Shirou is necessary, that's why I led him to the remains of the sacred sword, and I think that's why he's also interfering in the lamyros ritual. Despite his plea to the other celestial bodies, it is obvious that the planet longs to be saved and will not give up until there are no more options...

-I see, that's kind of interesting. I guess that's not the case with Alaya, is it?

The Princess shook her head, "In fact, I think it's quite the opposite, or at least, she hasn't given me reason to believe the opposite. As you well know, Alaya is the collective unconsciousness of humanity and the drive for the survival of all human beings, in short, Alaya constantly keeps humanity from extinction, or at least, it should be... However, as we have already seen, Alaya has not taken any action relevant to the preservation of humanity in recent years, or at least, none to our knowledge.

-Hmn... Alaya is not specifically subtle when it comes to solving the biggest problems, generally, her modus operandi consists in the deployment of one or several of her Counterguardians, these eliminate the threat with everything and the environment around them, usually, generating great collateral damage.

-However, now it is different, the problem is not as simple as a threat that can eliminate humanity, the planet itself is dying... -declared the Princess.

-That's right, but... precisely because we know her behavior and way of facing problems, you don't think Alaya is planning to face the last ones, do you?

-That's one option; but, I don't think Alaya is unaware that her chances of victory are quite low. However, the other thing I can think of is that Alaya has given up and ended up abandoning humanity; but that's even more unlikely.

-Certainly," Caubac replied.

Altrouge said that in an attempt to sound confident; but, deep down, it was quite the opposite. As she herself had said, Alaya is the collective unconsciousness of humanity and the drive for survival of all human beings, so what would happen if humanity lost its drive for survival? At present, humanity evades its problems and, for the sake of its other interests, does nothing more than patch up what they think is wrong, rather than trying to change and deal with the problem if...? It could be that, by evading her problems, by acquiescing to her self-destructive behaviors, Alaya decided to "give up" on humanity, or rather, to give up and accept the destruction of the species. Normally, she would think that this is impossible, human beings still possess their instinct for survival and self-preservation; but, if, even if unconsciously, they became aware of "the end of the world" and, instead of facing this problem, evaded it, just as they evaded all the problems that have appeared in recent years, would humanity have lost its desire to overcome and the hope of achieving a tomorrow? And, instead, did they prefer to accept their situation and indulge their more mundane priority desires...?

At that moment, Altrouge realized something. "It can't be... Don't tell me that, the reason for humanity's strange behavior, no, not only them, even that of inhuman beings who also don't care about the future... The fact that we constantly avoid problems, the collective hysteria, maybe all this is a consequence of the fact that we have lost it precisely, the hope or, better said, Elpis, maybe... with the passing of time, being locked in Pandora's Box...".

-Is something wrong, Princess? You were silent for a few minutes...

-O-Oh, nothing... As you can see, our situation is quite worrisome, Gaia's Counterforce is still trying to do something to save itself; but we have no idea what the hell Alaya is planning...

-I understand, I think I understand our situation better now, so, you are suggesting that the reason why Gaia took control of my labyrinth... is part of one of the measures she is taking in an attempt to preserve herself?

The Princess nodded- While I can't say for sure one hundred percent, I can say that the Counterforce thinks Shirou is necessary for its survival, whatever it has in mind, it wouldn't waste its power without having a relevant reason, and I think it's related to him.

-Hmn... In that case, what do you think of this? -On one of the glass walls, a scene began to manifest. This happened a few minutes ago...

Altrouge watched as Gray confronted one of the automatons in the labyrinth, in this way he also watched as a person appeared nearby and manifested a summoning circle from which the silver-armored knight would emerge and how he saved the tomb guardian.

-The one who manifested the summoning circle was none other than that fairy, she prepared the summoning ritual beforehand so that girl could summon the Ghost Liner. Besides, she was the one who mutated the grail, why do you think she took these actions? -asked the comedian.

Altrouge rubbed his chin for a few moments. That's not just any fairy, Caubac. She's a Great Mother, and not just any fairy, I imagine you're versed in Arthurian legends.

-Not enough to know the gender of the King, now Queen, of the Knights, but more than most, surely," replied the apostle.

-Then let me introduce her to you, she is the Lady of the Lake, Vivian -This was something she had discovered after her first encounter with the fairy, a simple illusion may have been enough to fool Shirou and the others, but not her, after all, the True Ancestors were also considered great fairies. For now, she had kept it quiet, after all, she doubted they would ever see the Lady of the Lake again, but it seemed that would not be the case.

-That Lady of the Lake, surely?

-Although there are many fairies associated with the lakes, I think the title only takes on force if she is the one who carries it," Altrouge replied with a smirk at the apostle's disbelief. I don't suppose you were ever related to her in those days?

-I wasn't up to the job in those days... Anyway, why do you think someone like her has manifested in the current era? The Age of the Fairies ended several centuries ago.

-Hmn... I don't know how well versed you are in Arthurian legends; however, I imagine you know that Excalibur was not the only weapon wielded by the King of Knights.

-Of course, if I remember correctly, he had several weapons, such as, for example: Carnwennan, a very useful dagger.

-Exactly, among these also stands out another weapon related to the world, besides Excalibur, his spear, Rhongomyniad.

-Rhongomyniad? If I recall correctly, it is said to be a tower of light that anchors the layers of the world. The authority of the tower is granted in the form of a spear to its bearer, in this case, Arthur, or Altria, rather. But... What does the sacred spear have to do with that girl?

-It's a bit difficult to explain, but, in short, that girl possesses it.

-What? -Impossible, a mystery on the level of Rhongomyniad would not be allowed nowadays.

-Yes, you're right; but it seems that Morgan somehow managed to seal the spear to prevent its mystery from fading, then the people of the place from which that girl was born passed on that mystery to the present day. The existence of the spear itself is one of the reasons why Sorcery and the connection to the Reverse of the World has not deteriorated at a faster rate. As you said yourself, the spear is only the shadow of its true form, it is said to be a tower that holds the outer layer of the world to the planet, linking the Outer Layer of the World (reality) and the Reverse of the World (illusion). It is also said that, in the unlikely event that this is undone, reality will be torn away from the surface of the world to reveal the reverse of it, recreating the Age of Gods...

-Now that you mention it, one could recover the magic that way... Though that would also destroy our reality, in short, the Age of Man, wouldn't it?

-In a normal situation, I wouldn't deny you; but with the world in its current state, it's more likely that the Reverse of the World would be lost forever, and that magic would completely abandon reality, than a regression to that era. For better or worse, during the Age of the Gods, Gaia possessed greater authority than in the current era, if it were to let the mystery of Rhongomyniad fade away and, if my theory is correct, then the power of the world to take measures that could help it save itself would be greatly diminished.

-And that's why Vivian saved the girl...

-Now that I have filled you in, would you mind sending me into the labyrinth?

For a moment, silence filled the room, but finally Apostle Twenty-seven broke it. I'm afraid that would not be wise...

-Caubac... -whispered Altrouge in a tone of voice that indicated danger.

-Don't misunderstand me, it's not that I'm interested in holding you back. But, after Gaia's Counterforce took the ritual by force, I have lost most of my authority over the labyrinth. So I can't transport you to any specific location.

-Then just get me out of this room, I'll go through the maze on my own.

-Are you sure that's what you want? -Caubac asked. This is what awaits you if I open the door to this room?

On another of the walls, a tunnel was reflected, inside it, Altrouge could glimpse a gigantic amount of ghostly species: Chimeras, Golems, killer rabbits, etc.

-What the hell? -asked the astonished ancestor.

-I was surprised too, somehow, they all gathered at the entrance of this room," commented Caubac. At first, I didn't understand why they did it; but now I think I understand.

-What do you mean? -asked the Princess.

-It is obvious that it is the Counterforce of Gaia who is manipulating you, what I didn't understand was why; but now, according to what you have told me, I can give a hypothesis: Vivian, as an agent of the Counterforce of Gaia, has taken this ritual by force, to carry out whatever her plan is in order to achieve her objective and, for some reason, the Counterforce of Gaia believes that your participation in the ritual will be detrimental to this. That is why I believe that, if you leave this room, you will be constantly attacked by all these ghostly species...

"What the hell is Vivian planning?". Altrouge didn't show his concerns and instead smiled, "Caubac, is there anything inside this maze that you think can stop me?

-Hmn... There is one, on the third level of the maze. I don't think it can beat you; but, it will give you a good fight.

Altrouge frowned, not because he was worried about her, but because some member of the group might encounter whatever this being is. All the more reason for me to go, then, if anyone runs into this thing...

-I see your point; but wouldn't this go against your objective?

-Excuse me...?

-Vivian seems to be acting as an agent of the Counterforce, which means that the planet believes this is necessary for its salvation, if you leave here, wouldn't you be going against your goal of saving the star?

This made the Princess clench her fists?

-Primate Murder seems to understand this? -commented the ancestor.

-PM? What do you mean?

Once again, an image began to reflect on one of the walls of the room, there he could see how Fou was lying on the floor in front of where the entrance to the labyrinth should have been, for some reason, the entrance to the cavern had disappeared, right in front of him, were both Sella, Leysritt, and Fillia.

-I have been watching him, since Merem told us about his current form. Since he separated from the rest of the group, he left the labyrinth of his own free will, and, unconsciously, led these three out of it. And he doesn't seem to have any intention of going back in, although I'm sure he might... So what will you do, Princess?

Altrouge bit her lip, at first, she would have stood aside and simply watched, just as she had done during the entire Einnashe Predator Forest event. But, now it was different, very different, in just a few weeks, the situation had changed quite a bit...

On the morning of that same day, Altrouge was on the roof of the Marbury Workshop, it was just dawn and she could see the red-haired man training with some timbers.

It had been almost two weeks since the conflict within the workshop between her and Manaka had occurred, and a little over half a year since she and Shirou had met.

The situations after the incident had developed in a peculiar way, at least, from her perspective. Shirou seemed to be the same, key word: seemed, she had noticed certain changes in his attitude. He was currently more attentive in the interactions she had with her sister and the brat; at first, she thought he was just trying to prevent further conflict; but, after two weeks, she understood that, most likely, Shirou had already realized the charade the little sister had proposed weeks before. Illya, on the other hand, seemed to have understood the situation in which she was plunged, and was adapting as best she could, she was hostile to the two when they were in private; but she kept up the charade perfectly when the redhead was present. And finally, Manaka, the brat seemed to have changed slightly, she kept up the charade; but only to a certain extent, as she was obviously hostile towards her, however, she kept up the act when it came to Illya, perhaps the talk the two of them had influenced her a bit; but she wasn't the only one that talk had affected...

Obviously, she would never let the brat find out; but, amidst the cries of anger that her supposed rival, or enemy, had declared that night, there was something that caught her attention...

"It's true that I presented myself in a terrible way the first time; but... I did my best to clean up that first impression! I advised him when he faced the Predator Forest, I helped him in the raid on Castle Einzbern, I healed his sister's homunculus when she was on the verge of death, I'm even going to create a mystic code for him and teach him how to improve his spellcasting, I've done more than you've done in less time!"

The Princess frowned, she didn't like to admit it; but it was true, she promised to help him achieve his goal: forging the ultimate sword, however, she hadn't done much in the time she had known him. While she helped him begin to understand his Reality Marble, this type of spellcasting was so; but so personal and individual to each person, that it was impossible for her to help him beyond simply giving him the fundamental outlines. After that, among the few things she had done, was to help him practice with his sword, acting as a simulated enemy; but now Leysritt and the golems filled that role, there was also the contract they held; but this one didn't make him stronger and only helped him if she was in the vicinity and, finally, there were the mystic eyes, although thanks to her Shirou had obtained the Glam Sight, considering that she had had to fight against The Predator Forest to get them and that, in the end, she was the one who benefited the most from that deal, she didn't want to count them.

And this bothered her for two different reasons: the first is that, as the brat had told her, Manaka had done and, worse, will do, more than her to help her. The second is that, although she was supposed to be the one who would help him, in comparison, it had been him who had helped her the most, after all, thanks to him, the Princess had gotten her rainbow-ranked eyes.

She could not help him in the same way that Manaka or her sister helped him, while she was knowledgeable in Sorcery, that was from knowledge accumulated through the many years she had lived, she was not like Zelretch or Caubac who, before being part of the 27 Ancestral Dead Apostles, was a wizard, in Zelretch's case, or a magus just a step away from becoming a true wizard, in Caubac's case.

She was different, and based on that thought, she began to ramble, to remember what had brought her to this moment, who she was...

Moon Guy, Brunestud of the Crimson Moon, also known as the King of Vampires, the Last of the Moon. He answered a call from the collective will of the planet, over four thousand years ago, and made a deal to allow him to live on Earth in exchange for protection against the corruption of humanity.

Perhaps if he had done so much earlier, Earth would have been able to create its own Ultimate, however, there were many things that prevented this from being accomplished, most importantly humanity to begin with. 8000 years ago there was a goddess, now forgotten, the earth mother goddess: Catalhoyuk, the goddess was the equivalent of the Earth mother, in other words, the "Root" that created all of creation. Her powers eventually branched out into other goddesses such as: Tiamat, Cybele, Ishtar, Anat, Astarte, Gaia (The Titan), Hera, Artemis, Aphrodite, Demeter, Athena, etc.

The earth mother, Catalhoyuk, was a protective guardian deity revered by the people, and was also the sacrifice that fed them with the crops born from her body and the beasts of the fields and forests. Her true nature is the cycle of life and death, the circle of the food chain where she feeds man with her blood and flesh, kills man over time and absorbs him as nutrition, and thus, once again, feeds man with her renewed blood and flesh. She represents the system of life itself, so the Earthborn cannot deny her authority, the Potnia Theron. Only when they have fulfilled the wish of Catalhoyuk, leaving the planet into space, they will no longer be bound to it.

This authority over the power to bring death and give life is symbolized by the holes that open in the earth and in the sky, the caves and the moon, the whirlpools and typhoons of the sea, the craters of volcanoes and other natural phenomena. By this authority, first evils are born that produce all forms of death and, once the evils finish sowing death, they leave the promise of a good harvest and fertility for the future to come, in short, it is an endless cycle. The goddesses that followed, inherited this authority, and many were represented with crowns in murals because they were also the guardian deities of many cities. Most used the authority to give birth to countless monsters and giants that posed a threat to the gods and to man, or gave birth to heroes and became protectors of men. Tiamat and Gaia (The Titan) are examples of those who became threats, and Hera is an example of the mother of heroes.

What was the problem with this? Even before the Common Era, humanity gave face to the Earth, and this prevented her from being able to reflect herself to give birth to her own Ultimate. Subsequently, the Age of the Gods began to come to an end, which caused Gaia's (The Counterforce) authority through mystery to be further reduced, and thus she was forced to follow the laws of humans. Because of all this, she is unable to use a mirror to reflect herself, which resulted in her being unable to set her own standards and, in the end, she had to ask for help from another celestial body, since only another celestial body is able to understand the death of a planet, that was Brunestud.

The True Ancestors, based on his image, were created as a natural protective system for the Earth, and were established to return it to its natural state. Brunestud traveled the planet and challenged random beings to defeat him, such as Gransurg Blackmore, who was just an average magus at the time, and the villagers holding Merem Solomon. He also gathered several followers, such as, for example: Trhvmn Ortenrosse, in an attempt to eventually take over Earth as if it were his own kingdom.

Finally, he was defeated by Kischur Zelretch wielding an aspect of the Second Magic. During her battle with Zelretch, she was able to create a mirror image of the Moon and dropped it towards the planet in an event that was known as The Fall of the Moon, she was still unsure how the Association and the Church concealed such an event, although, for those years, the rationality of the human being was not yet so prominent. This forced the Wizard of the Second Magic to use a practically unlimited ether cannon to push her back.

However, before all this happened, Brunestud foresaw that his own life was coming to an end, because, at that time, he had too many enemies, this because he had a "corrosive world will" that was governed neither by Gaia nor by Alaya. So he desperately wanted to have a ship that met the world's standards, and he planned to use the True Ancestors as tools to cause the extermination of mankind.

The True Ancestors, your species, or well, half of it... their origin is directly related to Brunestud's descent. Once he responded to the Will of the World, in exchange for being allowed to live on Earth, he created a self-defense mechanism for the planet based on it, those are the True Ancestors, in short, they are nothing more than copies of the Last of the Moon. From this pact between Brunestud and the Will of the Earth, they emerged as a counterforce with a defined form, created with the purpose of returning the planet to its original state, in the face of the corruption caused by humans.

Despite their origins as anti-human entities, Alaya does not see them as targets. This is because they are extensions of the world, mediators of nature, before being enemies of humanity. However, unlike divine spirits, they are supernatural beings born of the world, without the interference of humanity. They are what the planet desires; as opposed to the desires of mankind, and so they are destined to disappear from the observable world and diminish in numbers over time. When Arcueid, which could be considered a kind of family to her, was born in the twelfth century, the True Ancestors had dwindled to only a hundred and, of which, most died when their own executor was driven mad by the wiles of that serpent.

Normally, they were only created by the planet out of necessity; but Brunestud decided to teach them how to make themselves part of "their species", in order to speed up the creation of a suitable vessel. However, this method of creating a future body through his copies ended in complete failure, or so he thought. Because of this, he looked for other possibilities when he realized that a sufficiently strong and compatible "heir" could not be born through this method.

This is the origin of her birth, she was created as a hybrid being between a dead apostle and a true ancestor, with the purpose of succeeding him, of being his new vessel. However, in a way, she was also a failure, she was too unstable and still lacked the power to bring him back; however, because she had been born with the ability to summon his power, The Crimson Moon, and thus to harness it, it was because she was allowed to have the name Brunestud.

This was her origin, born as an experiment of the Last of the Moon to "succeed" him, so, she never needed to devote herself largely to studying sorcery, in fact, because of her superior nature, modern sorcery was mostly useless against her, as her magical foundations are of a mystery that cannot be reached through sorcery. While under the thaumaturgical schools her contracts could be considered Binding Sorcery, she did not use the common foundations or formulas used by magus, her contracts were something that had arisen from herself, without the need to perform such procedures and, if she so desired, these could become so powerful as to totally alter the laws of the planet and create phenomena such as Tatari is, if she harnessed the power of Brunestud. That is why, unlike Manaka or Illya, she could not help him with sorcery; her knowledge was only generated due to her encounter with numerous magi throughout her long life.

She bit her lips, she had felt this feeling during several occasions throughout her existence, helplessness. The first time, was when she was informed that she didn't possess the power necessary to fulfill her purpose, while the idea of being possessed by the spirit of her "father" wasn't something she was particularly excited about, she wasn't going to deny that, for a time, that was the reason for her life and her reason for existence, and being told that she wasn't capable of achieving it wasn't something that felt good. Also, Merem and Blackmore didn't help much when they heard that, while she couldn't bring her master back, she still had access to his power and, for that, was granted the name Brunestud. Both considered her a fake and, on more than one occasion, attempted to take her life, although they only dared to do so directly together during the Aylesbury Ritual. On the other hand, there was also Ortenrosse, who considered her and anyone else who reigned under the name of Brunestud; but who was not the real Moon-Type.

At first it affected her quite a lot and, as time went by, looking for a reason to continue with her existence, she decided to perform what, in the beginning, her "father" should have done; but which, in the end, he did not fulfill: planet salvation.

"Haaaa... Back then it seemed so easy, it was enough to simply eliminate humanity, who would have thought that in the end everything would lead to this madness...". Altrouge frowned and, in his expression, some sadness was denoted as he raised his gaze towards the sky, more specifically, towards the Moon, faint, about to disappear. "I'm still not able to answer that question... Did I do it for the simple need to have a goal in order to continue? O...". The Princess shook her head. "I am me, I am not him, I cannot be him; but if I succeed where he failed, then... then perhaps I can be more than him, more than a failed experiment of what you were...".

If she could ever have been different from how she ended up being, that was decided early in her life. She had been unstable since birth, both in powers and, in a way, personality, not that it showed much, not that it was very noticeable, after all, all the members of the 27 Ancestral Dead Apostles was a very peculiar group of eccentrics, to say the least...

Over the years, many came to end her life, either because they saw her as a threat or as a failure that usurped the name of her master, others tried to steal her power or use her in some way, however, they trusted her when they saw her weak and powerless, and that was their biggest mistake. For several years she was alone in the world and, realizing how ruthless this world was, and the rumors that were beginning to swirl around her person, she decided that she must protect herself.

Altrouge smiled as she lowered her gaze to the redhead. "I was always unstable in the sight of everyone else, the thing I hated most about myself, the thing that caused me to be branded as a failed experiment, a phony, and, in the end, ironically, became my greatest weapon and armor."

She had to protect herself, just as the other members of her species protected themselves, several of them did not have legions of dead behind them, or children they had raised to become stronger; but they had something that kept them from being constantly hunted: Power and, more specifically, the fear engendered through it. It was then that Altrouge Brunestud was truly born, when the Princess of Twilight, the Mistress of Contracts and Black Blood, first saw the light.

As time passed, some realized that, while she was not the one who would bring Brunestud back, she was a worthy successor who would accomplish what even he could not. In that way, she managed to gain the loyalty of those who followed her today, such as, for example: her two personal bodyguards: Fina-blood Svelten, her White Knight and a pirate captain, not even she knew how those two roles had been linked, although she would not deny that she found it amusing, and Rizo-Waal Strout, her Black Knight and one of the five dead apostles who was part of the elders, part of those who dwelt during the final moments of the Age of the Gods. The latter were so important that they were given the title of: League of the Age of Gods.

That was the first time she felt helplessness, helplessness in the face of something she never had control, voice, or vote over, the helplessness of not being born meeting the expectations of the one who created her, and her followers; but, more importantly, it was also the first time she overcame it.

With the passage of time, many years after her birth, there was a second time in which she felt a similar impotence to the one she felt because of her lack of power and instability. The second time was between the 12th and 13th century AD, this occurred when, after the original brat was born, she was tricked by Michael Roa Valdamjong. She was the one chosen to punish Roa for the actions he had carried out, so, she had no choice but to investigate the actions of the, at that time, new apostle.

Roa, also known today as the Akasha serpent or the infinite reincarnator, was, between the 12th and 13th century, a priest of the Church who quickly rose to the top using all of his father's inheritance. During this time, he created the "burial class," the basis of what would become the current Burial Agency, along with the first Narbareck, ancestor of the current leader. With his resources exhausted, Roa decided to leave the Church and gave the whole agency to Narbareck, after betraying the Church in favor of the Magus Association, he was discredited. He wished to obtain an immortality different from that possessed by the dead apostles; but, trying to overcome his limits as a simple human, he reluctantly became a vampire in order to continue his research.

He became a powerful dead apostle after his revival, the power of the converted Dead Apostle increases in proportion to the strength of the converting Apostle/Ancestor. Roa used the strongest true ancestor, Arcueid, to instantly become a Dead Apostle of the highest rank by skipping the stages of growth thanks to its immense power. In this process, Roa stole a portion of Arcueid's power and managed to reach the pinnacle of his spellcasting skills while increasing his power. However, he earned the scorn of the other members of the 27 as he accumulated power. It was all of this that led to her being chosen to put him in his place...

The smile the Princess sketched soured at the memory of these events as she clenched her fists. "If I had known that that foolish brat had not only turned him, but allowed some of his power to be stolen from him, then I would have acted differently...". Altrouge bit his lips slightly. "Maybe I should go and hunt down his latest reincarnation? After all, she's already killed him seventeen times, she shouldn't care if someone takes number eighteen from him."

Her defeat at the hands of Roa was the second time she felt helpless because of her lack of power, it was then that, perhaps by fate, or, rather, by the will of the world, that the two met, the first time she met her loyal hound, the one who would come to be known as the greatest Primate Killer, her Demonic Dog, The White Beast of Gaia, or Fou, to friends.

Now that she thought about it carefully, it was, to a certain extent, logical that she was the one to whom Fou would be entrusted, to whom she would obey, after all that happened with Arcueid's madness, most of the true ancestors were eliminated from the face of the planet and, although the dead apostles also functioned as a defense mechanism against the over exploitation of human activity in an indirect way by consuming humanity, few, or practically none, of these maintained as their objective the salvation of the world, even more so after the Aylesbury ritual. Now something like eliminating all of humanity, something extremely complicated thanks to Alaya, was not enough, so the few who remained faithful to the objectives that gave rise to the true ancestors, and indirectly to the dead apostles, were really scarce.

Not even Arcueid, who was one of the two with the title of Brunestud, had shown any interest in taking matters into her own hands. Although well, her goal at first was not to save the world, but to hunt the Demon Lords, The True Fallen Ancestors who ended up succumbing to their vampiric impulses, and, after being tricked by Roa, she dedicated herself to hunting him exclusively, through each and every one of his reincarnations.

It's not like she expected the original brat to think about things beyond her goals either, after all, she called him a brat, at first, because the ancestor knew little to nothing about the world in a sense, which made her an airhead at worst, and an innocent "child" at best, in a way, her existence gave her some grief, all she knew was to hunt, either Demon Lords or Roa. Though it's not like she was going to acknowledge it, she was still angry that he had stolen her prey and not allowed her to have her revenge.

After her defeat to Roa, the rest of the ancestors decided to reject him and ignore his existence; but not her, she simply could not allow that humiliation to go unpunished, so, after she met with Fou and he accepted her as his master, she decided to give the creeping serpent his deserved punishment; however, it came too late, years later after her defeat, Roa was finally destroyed by Arcueid, who joined forces with the Church with the goal of killing him once and for all, or at least, so she thought. Over the next seven hundred years, he was reincarnated seventeen times, and Arcueid killed him relentlessly each time, so he could never get his revenge.

Finally, this was the third time he felt this level of helplessness, Altrouge was by no means innocent, he had seen several of the most horrible things the world had to offer. He had formed his own faction, much to Ortenrosse's annoyance, and under his command he had several of the most powerful dead apostles, and even, the Beast of Gaia, all this despite his instability. However, in truly mundane things, she was almost as innocent as Arcueid, in this sense, she couldn't deny that she was lucky that Shirou was fascinated by doing housework, because she was a complete disaster in that aspect. Another aspect in which she wasn't so experienced was... Well, relationships with beings as fragile as ordinary humans, as well as romantic relationships with these...

The Princess sighed as she watched the red-haired boy finish training, while she felt helpless for not keeping her part of the bargain to help him, or at least, not being able to help him to the level that the other two, this was not the only thing going through her mind. She wasn't going to deny it, she had made a mistake, for a moment, she forgot that the boy was a human being.

She wasn't like the brat, she had no reason to hide her true self, she didn't care in the least what they thought of her. Throughout her life, she tried to prove that she was more than what others thought of her and, thanks to her efforts, she was now feared by virtually every dead apostle, considered a greater monster than Brunestud himself in some ways. But, precisely because of who she was, being surrounded by dead apostles and similar beings, she was not used to how fragile humans were, while she had been careful when she first met him, as time passed with him, she forgot this small but fundamental point.

In a way, it was also a bit of the redhead's fault, he was able to survive a game with her in the town of Aylesbury, he survived a confrontation against the Predator Forest, and later, he even survived a fight against a heroic spirit. Obviously, she would never claim him for this, that would be ridiculous; but, the fact that he did, that he survived several confrontations that no ordinary human, and most magus, could survive, made her conception of: Shirou is a fragile human, so you have to restrain yourself around him if you don't want him to end up breaking, began to diminish. And the result of this, plus his inexperience, was the accident that happened a few weeks ago.

Altrouge could still hear her screams of pain echoing in his ears, as well as the blood splattering part of the dining room as her body was sliced and diced in equal parts. That scene, in itself, made no great impression on her, she had observed worse things throughout her life; but, still, the scene caused her terror in a different sense. At first, she did not show it, innocently, she expected him to survive as he had done several times before; however, seeing that the damage was indeed severe, that, even with Avalon's regeneration, Shirou did not recover instantly and, worse, something she had not taken into consideration: even if Shirou possessed the relic forged by the fairies, it did not eliminate the pain. Faced with his cries of pain and his pitiful state, she couldn't help but feel desperate and tried, together with Manaka, to heal him as best she could.

Wounding, murdering, massacring, those kinds of scenarios and actions were not unknown to her, quite the contrary and, in fact, due to the position she was in, confabulations and betrayals were also the order of the day. But, for the first time in a long time, she regretted her actions, that day Altrouge remembered that the person accompanying her was a human, perhaps a tougher than average one; but still, a human. Perhaps in the future he would become a being she could be with without having to hold back, but, for now, he was still someone she had to deal with with some delicacy, if she didn't want him to die because of her actions.

"Maybe I should have turned him when I had the chance." She smiled bitterly, that selfish desire had grown stronger after these past few weeks. With someone else, she wouldn't have hesitated, if she wanted something, she would take it, even if it meant doing it by force; but, precisely because she was in love with the boy, she took into consideration what he wanted, and she knew that he appreciated being human. She frowned, "Love is more complicated than I thought."

While she was not innocent when it came to love, neither could she be defined as an expert, Altrouge knew what she wanted and was sincere with herself, but, similar to what happened with sorcery, what she knew about love and love relationships did not come from her own experience, but from what she had observed throughout her many years of existence. It's not like she didn't want to fall in love and experience that emotion, in fact, she couldn't deny that in the past it had caught her attention a bit; but, because of who she was, having that kind of relationship was extraordinarily complicated.

At the beginning of her years, she was an unknown and dangerous existence in her world, she could not succeed Brunestud, so, people like Merem, Ortenrosse, and Blackmore, were directly her enemies and, after Brunestud was killed and it was discovered that she could access his powers, assassination attempts were not lacking from his staunchest followers. On the other hand, there were also those who approached her to use her in one way or another. All this led to two things: the first is that she distrusted everyone, and the second was the creation of the Twilight Princess, as a way to protect herself. And this brought with it more consequences, such as, for example: that she did not give importance to love relationships, much less, when they could be used against her.

After she was already feared and respected as one of the two Princesses, there was no room for love either, both because her own fear of her made no one try to approach her with such intentions, and if you add to that the fact that the world was "slowly" coming to an end and that her goal was precisely to save the planet, therefore, she gave little or no importance to such mundane things.

For a moment, she sketched a small smile, she hated everything that had to do with the Aylesbury Ritual, since that fateful day her life had taken a horrible 180-degree turn for the worse; however, now that she was analyzing things, not everything was negative. Thanks to this one he was able to meet Shirou and, precisely because he had almost abandoned any glimmer of hope by which the planet could be saved, he clung to him and his foolish and innocent dream, perhaps if this had not happened, he would never have had the opportunity to experience these emotions.

Maybe she couldn't teach him sorcery; but that didn't mean she couldn't do anything, she was the Mistress of Contracts for a reason and besides, she knew that Shirou, sooner or later, would become someone she could be with without needing to hold back, so she would protect him until then...

-Hey, Earth to Altrouge, is anyone there?

The Princess clucked her tongue as she was abruptly pulled out of her ramblings. You're too loud, Caubac.

-You were quiet for several minutes, I thought something had happened with the communication, some kind of interference from the Counterforce or something.

-Not exactly, I was just thinking...

-Oh? So, have you made up your mind? Are you going to get out of here or respect the will of the planet?

Altrouge frowned, in the past, she wouldn't have minded playing bystander like when the whole Einnashe mess happened; but now that she had decided to protect Shirou and, knowing that there was something extremely dangerous inside the labyrinth, the situation was different, even so, she knew that Vivian would not put the boy in an insurmountable situation, since they needed him alive and, probably, this was nothing more than a way to strengthen him, however, she also knew that the Counterforce as such was often tactless, and she was worried about what predicament the Will of the World could put him in in order to make him stronger.

-Caubac, this room, where is it?

-Hmn... Near the deepest part of the labyrinth. Why?

The Princess smiled, luck was on her side, the creature must be close to her position, so, if Shirou got into trouble, she could get out of the room and reach the place without taking too long.

-I guess I'll stay for now, at least, until Shirou gets into some trouble?

-Sounds like you're pretty confident he will.

Altrouge chuckled. He will, it's been a while since I've seen someone as unlucky as him. And in the meantime...

-What will you do?

-Caubac, have you ever been in love? -I mean, had a partner?

-I'm sorry, what?! -I'm sorry, what?!

-What if you ever fell in love and had a partner? -What if you ever fell in love and had a partner? I doubt you ever married, so I won't ask about it...

Although puzzled by the question, the comedian answered, "Well, you're right about the latter. Usually a magus marries and has offspring so he can pass on his research, and his son or daughter can finish what he couldn't. However, I ended up becoming an apostle because of my research, so I had no need to marry and have offspring...

-I see... But did you ever fall in love, or have any kind of romantic relationship after becoming an apostle...?

-Again, what? Why are you asking me these questions? Wait, don't tell me you...?

Altrouge smiled, "I'm just taking you up on your invitation, didn't you want to have a "girl talk"?

Caubac couldn't help but stifle a resigned chuckle, really, her, of all people?

For his part, Altrouge didn't mind talking about this with Caubac, precisely because he was locked deep in a labyrinth, he didn't have much contact with the rest of the world, however, seeing how he could communicate through these phones, she decided to give him a little warning-. By the way Caubac, as this is a "girl talk" nothing we talk about must get out of here, if something were to get out, I would be forced to take action, you know what you would have to do in that case, don't you?

-Keep my keyhole clean as long as I can?

-Exactly...

-Relax, I'll make sure it doesn't need to get to that point. So, what do you want to know?

Elsewhere, inside the labyrinth, Waver opened his eyes. His head ached and his eyes were having trouble adjusting to his new surroundings, but when they finally adjusted, he couldn't help but be surprised...

He was inside a gigantic subway cave, the temperature had gradually dropped and ice adorned the walls.

He stood up and saw that, nearby, there were several tunnels inviting him to enter these-. I see, so if it was a space transport circle... -This was a nuisance, in his plans was not to explore the labyrinth of the apostle, he knew well its limitations, and these were emphasized to him when the whole Rail Zeppelin thing happened.

He was not a magus who could be in the vanguard, his abilities did not allow it, whether he liked it or not, he had to depend on Gray for this; but now he found himself alone inside a labyrinth full of traps and ghostly beasts.

For a moment, a sound invaded his ears, Waver raised his gaze and what he saw made him slowly back away-. It can't be... How come there are so many of them?

On the ceiling of the cavern, a large "cloud" was moving randomly, but that was anything but a cloud, if a person looked closely, he could see them, small, between 20 or 30 cm, but in huge numbers, bluish, with claws on hands and feet, and mouths with fangs instead of faces: carnivorous fairies devouring humans.

-Do your best, while you're here.

-Yeah, yeah, you're amazing.

-Very amazing.

Suddenly, the fairies started talking over each other with their voices overlapping in a charming way. "Human." "Do your best." "Be a human doing your best." "I like..." "I like..." "The human here." "I wonder if you got separated from your friends." "Poor thing." "You poor thing." "Do your best." "You poor thing." "Yes."

These voices had a hypnotic charm, so these "fairies," who were really more like a type of familiar than true fairies, used it to immobilize their prey and then devour them.

While Waver was a fourth-class magus, he had still refined all the areas that were possible to polish, and that included his mental defenses, he would not fall so easily to a hypnotic attack. Thus, the young Lord didn't think much of it and tried to slyly flee the place, however, to his misfortune, the fairies had no intention of letting their prey escape. In a swarm, they chased him and he ran with all his might to escape.

He was short of breath, not a very athletic person, but still, he would not stop, the human-eating fairies were so named for a reason. He had studied them quite some time ago, their attributes were wind and fire, although their magical resistance was low, they were very agile and could easily dodge many spells, their weak point was their head; but, being so agile and small, it was very complicated to hit them with any spell, finally, their elemental weakness was water, while the element to which Waver had more affinity was another one, earth.

In short, he could not take on an entire colony without preparations, the only option he had left was only one: to keep running. Unfortunately, since he was not good physically speaking, what inevitably had to happen after several minutes of a hurried run happened:

-I c-can't c-can't anymore...

The professor bent over exhausted, his legs ached and he was short of air in his lungs, his whole body was burning. But none of this mattered to the fairies who were chasing him; they, without stopping for a moment, rushed at him.

For a moment, he thought he was lost, when a scream brought him back to reality. Down!

Waver threw himself to the ground and something passed over him, he didn't know if it was a spell or the person who had shouted at him; but, whatever it was, he advanced against the fairies...

Chapter 27, Pyrrhic Actions

-Your king? -Who? -asked the tomb guardian in confusion.

-Of course, I'm talking about you, King Arthur, your majesty...". -However, then the knight corrected himself. A-Although, I suppose calling you Arthur is a bit inappropriate, is it all right if I call you...? Eh...? -For a moment, the knight looked thoughtful. Oh, I know, how about Arturia, your majesty? Or, would you prefer me to call you master?

-A-Arturia? And I?" The mere fact that that name was used to refer to her made Gray begin to tremble slightly. S-Sorry; but who are you?

This surprised the knight; nevertheless, he knelt down in front of Gray and introduced himself. My name is Bedivere, Your Majesty, one of your faithful knights," Bedivere looked up with obvious concern. Don't you remember me?

Bedivere, she knew that name well, she had been told it in the village where she lived before her master took her away. The villagers, they told her all she had to know about it about the various legends surrounding King Arthur, or Arturia, as Bedivere just referred to her a few moments ago, though her real name seemed to have been Altria, and, within these legends, Bedivere's name was well known.

Bedivere was one of the earliest members of the Knights of the Round Table, serving as a steward of the royal court, basically, the King's caretaker. He was one of the few who remained loyal to "King Arthur" to the end and cared for him in his final moments. Although he was not as popular as other knights, such as Lancelot, Percival and Galahad, who embarked on the quest for the Holy Grail, he was one of the oldest knights, along with Kay and Gawain, showing an even older history than even Arthur himself. His name was said to be derived from the ancient Celtic god of war, Bedwyr. Eventually, he came to serve the young King because he admired him, entrusted him with his sword and worked to become his personal guard.

Gray instinctively, she pulled her hood back on. N-No, you're wrong, I'm not...

Bedivere looked at her quizzically. But that's impossible, even though there are some differences, the physical similarities are more than evident...

The fact that the gentleman referred to her with so much conviction, sure of who he was, only made the girl even more nervous, instinctively the young woman declared-. A-Yet, you are wrong...

-But, though it is faint, I can feel the restraint that so many years ago we placed upon your spear, only you, the true King, can carry it!

-I-I... -Gray stepped back even further.

For a moment Bedivere looked thoughtful, "I don't understand why he has changed gender, it sounds like something Merlin would do for fun, or something Morgan would do to annoy us. I'm also not sure how he has managed to be reborn in this era, unless it is his second coming? If the information the grail has given me is correct, it has been about 14 centuries since our era, it is really confusing... -Nevertheless, Bedivere overcame his confusion quickly and, believing that his King was so agitated by the same doubts that afflicted him, he did what he thought would be the best thing to do. While smiling a smile of complete trust and loyalty, he said, "You may rest assured, no matter what. You can rest assured, no matter what you look like at the moment, or what era we are in, I will continue to serve you as your knight, Your Majesty.

That was too much for Gray, if she was truly the King that Bedivere believed her to be, then she could not fail to be comforted by such words of absolute devotion, however, precisely because she was not, and because she had tried to get as far away from the legendary figure as she could, was that these words caused the opposite effect, instead of reassuring her, Gray could not help but turn and run as far away as she could.

-W-Wait, Your Majesty!?

Seeing how Gray had turned away from him so suddenly, the knight couldn't help but chase after her, wondering what he had done to offend her; however, something stopped him before he could begin his pursuit.

Using what little mana he had managed to absorb from the magical traps he had encountered within the labyrinth, Gray enhanced his speed as much as was within his means, in an attempt to lose the servant within the maze.

-Ah... Ah... Ah...

After several minutes of much running, she finally stopped, having exhausted all the mana Add had absorbed.

-Ihihihihihihi! Goodbye to the confidence gained, so much it cost you to gain it only to lose it in a few seconds, don't you think so, Gray?

Gray didn't respond, she simply bit her lips in frustration as she clutched her scythe, part of her wanted to refute him, to tell him it wasn't so, but, as much as she wanted to, her actions gave her away.

-Well, I guess you were unlucky. Of all the knights you could have summoned, you had to summon probably the most loyal of all the Knights of the Round Table. -If the legends are true, perhaps it would have been better if you had summoned the traitors of Mordred or Lancelot, or, perhaps, the cold Agravain, I am sure they would have rejected you instantly, but that would have been easier to cope with than being instantly recognized as the true King, don't you think?

Despite the painfully sharp words of her oldest friend, deep inside herself, Gray couldn't agree with him more. If she had been rejected by the people closest to her towards the one who should be her distant ancestor, to call him something, there was no doubt that she would feel hurt at such coldness, similar to how she felt at Svin's behavior some time ago; however, she would rather feel hurt that way, than how she felt at this instant.

-Tell me Gray, it's unlikely; but... What would you do if at some point in your life you met the real King? If she rejected you, or worse, if she accepted you as her own person, would you run away too? Would you lower your head? Would you go back to isolating yourself in that corner as you did before?

The questions hit her back fiercely, like a rain of arrows, she knew that Add did not ask them with the purpose of hurting him, her friend was someone with a sharp tongue and who did not hold back when he had to say the things he believed were necessary. Because of the many years they had spent together, Gray had become accustomed to his way of speaking and interpreting the true intentions behind most of his statements.

She knew it well, knew what the true meaning of those heavy questions were. Gray didn't consider herself to be particularly very intelligent, nor really strong, besides, she wasn't someone who was comfortable around large numbers of people. And, what Add wanted to tell her was that, despite all these things, she had made it this far. And that she couldn't afford to go back, and, if she was honest, she didn't want to go back, because, although during her childhood she isolated herself from the rest of the world, keeping Add as her only company, after having spent more than a year with the company of her Master, Lady Reines, and several of her classmates, such as, for example: Shirou, Flat, Yvette, Svin, Luvia, etc, she was not attracted to the idea of isolating herself again.

-I-I know, I know I can't keep running...

The words Faker had said to him over a month ago during the Rail Zeppelin incident were still echoing in his head...

"You will have to find your wish, or you will die on the battlefield."

And she knew what it was, she told him at that instant...

"I want to stay with my master, even though I don't want him to put himself in danger. I want to fulfill his wish! I want him to finish his journey with the King of Conquerors so he can move on!".

To which Faker had stated...

"That contradiction could cost them their lives."

At that point, she decided that she would become stronger, strong enough that, even if her master got into dangerous situations, she would be able to protect him and keep him safe, at least, until their paths parted, which, though it didn't appeal to her, she had come to accept would happen sooner or later. And yet, she hadn't even been strong enough to stand up to Bedivere's words...

CRASH!

-Hmn!

The tomb guardian turned to see the floor of the room she had reached after running through the network of tunnels that made up this floor of the labyrinth crack under a footstep. From one of the tunnels that led to the room where she stood, they emerged...

Golems, three of them.

Fortunately, golems were much more common than automatons, so Gray didn't have as much trouble remembering what she had learned about them during her classes: Golems are artificial beings created through a variety of different techniques.

"According to what the professor taught us..."

It can be said that the very basis of the concept of golems can be found in the passage in Genesis that reads, "The Lord fashioned man from the dust of the ground and breathed life into him through his nostrils." Based on this passage, the magus attempted to create "humans" in the same way that God created Adam from the earth. The first golem makers emerged in ancient Israel, during the period from the second to the ninth century, creating the basic concepts for their manufacture. These creators felt that the ideal golem was one that matched the human form, hoping to create one in the same way that God did. Each golem is treated as a fetus, "which has no form," and golemancy is treated as: "the arcane art of the Lord to infuse life into Adam and, thus, mankind." While many practitioners shape the earth according to their desires, and give it life, they do not as such delve into the craft, that of seeking the creation of Adam himself. That is the desire dearest to all Kabbalists, one they do not take lightly. The more a golem is perfected under that ideal, the more it will become an existence far removed from its original design.

The room was not particularly large, and his enemies occupied a considerable part of it, besides, the tunnels through which he could flee and the tunnel through which he had come, were behind them. For a moment, he considered his options, if what he remembered was true, then the magic resistance of the golems varied from low to high depending on how they were constructed.

The builder of these should probably have been Caubac Alcatraz and, according to what her teacher had taught her, in addition to being a dead apostle, Alcatraz was an extraordinary archimagus who was only one step away from becoming a true wizard, so, probably, the golems should have a medium or high magic resistance.

Nevertheless, she had nothing to lose by trying, so, asking Add to adopt her bow form, she fired a powerful arrow made of magical energy at one of the stone golems. To his misfortune, his assumptions were correct, while the arrow had caused him damage, it was quite little for the amount of magical energy he had used.

CRASHHH!

Once again, the golems attacked him and, once again, Gray dodged them. He had two options: overpower his enemy using only the attack power of Add's hammer form, on the other hand, unleash a powerful magical energy attack that would overcome the golems' magical resistance.

Both methods had their pros and cons, in the first she ran the risk of not being able to eliminate her enemies fast enough and, in the second, firing an attack charged with so much magical energy inside a subway labyrinth could be extremely dangerous, as it could collapse on top of her. Fortunately for her, she didn't have to decide between the two methods...

Several minutes earlier, at the place where Gray and Bedivere parted...

-H-Wait, your majesty!?

What had happened? From one moment to the next, his King, or well, Queen, had run off speeding away from him. Had he said something that was an insult to his pride? He wasn't sure, in fact, he wasn't sure of a lot of things?

If the information provided by the "holy grail" was correct, then he was in a ritual called the holy grail war, not the same grail that his companions, Lancelot, Percival and Galahad, sought while they were alive, but an artifact created by magus that possessed the same name. By means of this, he was summoned into one of the three classes of knights and, at present, was many centuries removed from the time in which he originally lived.

So how had his King survived to this time? He saw him die and, after his departure, became a hermit for the rest of his life, lived inside a hermitage run by the Archbishop of Canterbury, even meeting again with one of his former brothers in arms, Lancelot. He could never forgive his comrade for his actions, though, knowing that he failed the King as well, and that the King would not agree to revenge that would lead to nothing, he did not attack him for his actions in his later years of life, regardless of whether he really wanted to. He saw the death of his comrades, the destruction of the kingdom, and eventually death came for him as well.

He had only one dream, one that he could never fulfill until the end: To see the peaceful face of his beloved King smiling, as he felt proud of what he had achieved; but he could never see it, he only saw his peaceful face on the last day of his King's life, and he never saw him smile. However, he was here and now, he did not know how or why; but his King had invoked him and he had responded. He did not understand why he had changed his gender or why he had acted so differently from how he remembered him; but little or nothing mattered to him, at this moment, there was only one thing on his mind: to fulfill that dream he could not achieve in life. To let his King know that he should be proud of his accomplishments, that he felt extremely grateful for all the years he was able to serve him and, that he wouldn't change anything about those years, not even the end, so, even if it was just for once, he wanted to see him smile.

-So that's what you've decided? Unfortunately, you may not be able to do it, or at least, not the way you want to...

-Eh? -Bedivere heard a voice he knew quite well; but, it was impossible, wasn't it? However, if he King had come back, then it was obvious that he should come back too. The knight turned his gaze and finally saw the source of that voice...

A whirlwind of brushed flowers appeared a few meters away and, from it, that legendary wizard emerged. Dressed in a white robe woven from the finest fabrics, although he still looked modest, his long white hair seemed to reflect the glitter of small stars when illuminated by the torches of the labyrinth, giving him a totally different appearance. In one of his hands he carried his trademark staff.

-Merlin?

The man smiled a rather jovial smile. I figured one of us would be summoned, but I didn't think that, of the thirteen, it would be you, Bedivere. A curious reunion, no doubt...

Bedivere couldn't help smiling a little, this kind of conversation seemed a bit nostalgic to him. It's strange to hear you say that when you can prophesy the future. You don't seem to have changed at all.

-Well, my prophesying skills are not very useful in a world whose fate is already practically decided; however, I have noticed a very interesting plot twist recently," commented the Flower Mage.

-Eh? -Without understanding the wizard's words, Bedivere decided to ask him something he considered more important. Merlin, I've always wondered why you... -However, the words didn't come out, he closed his eyes for a moment and frowned while he shook his head. No... at this point it won't really change anything to know, it doesn't matter anymore. Tell me, why have you returned, is your return an omen of the second coming of our King?

-His return, huh? I wouldn't exactly describe it that way. As for the doubts you cannot express, the answer is, I did not leave of my own free will.

-Really? -asked the gentleman in confusion. For us it was as if you had vanished from one moment to the next, and never came back, even at the end...

Suddenly, Merlin's relaxed expression disappeared for a few moments, his brow furrowed slightly and Bedivere could not describe what that kind of expression meant, anyone else could think of some options, sadness? nostalgia? regret? Any of these could be a candidate, but for someone like the gentleman who, during his many interactions with the Flower Wizard, had practically never seen him abandon that sense of coolness that his presence exuded, it was a truly disconcerting sight-. Unfortunately, I was forced to flee when my dear cold-mannered student tried to assassinate me... -He finished casually.

This surprised the gentleman, did someone really try to assassinate the famous Flower Magician? I mean, by his behavior and above all, by his actions, he was surprised that it had not happened many times before; but, there was a reason for this, the only person that came to his mind that could antagonize Merlin using magic against him was that witch that had caused them so many problems in multiple occasions: Morgan Le Fay... But... Wait! Did he say student? The only one of his students to whom he had referred to as a woman with cold manners was... It can't be, her?

-Are you talking about Vivian? -asked the surprised gentleman.

-Oh? Why so surprised? Believe it or not, she is really cold and frightening when she wants to be? -said the wizard without understanding the reason for the knight's astonishment. I'm sure you won't believe me, but the reason why the entrance of this labyrinth was closed, was to prevent me from escaping once I finished what I came here to do...

Bedivere didn't know that the entrance to the labyrinth had been closed, and he didn't know that it was Vivían who had caused it either, but if it was to prevent Merlin from causing trouble, then he could understand it. Trying not to sound cynical, the knight replied, "Forgive me Merlin; but, it is very hard for me to imagine the kindly Vivían as a cold and frightening woman, much less after she helped us when you disappeared. In fact, I think the only times I've ever seen her act cold was when you were acting like a womanizer in front of her towards other women," Bedivere narrowed her eyes slightly with a tired look, as if she had dealt with this a few times before. You didn't happen to bring this on yourself, did you?

Merlin gave an uncomfortable smile as he let out a heavy sigh. You wouldn't believe me if I told you... But, well, in his own words, "This is my dear master's punishment for playing with the wrong things, including the fate of that little girl."

-Playing with what you shouldn't...? And what do you mean by the fate of that little girl? -asked the knight inquisitively.

Like a child who had been scolded, having been caught red-handed, the wizard replied, "That's not what he meant, in fact, you could almost say it was the opposite. Besides, even if I did, don't you think that confining me to spend the rest of eternity locked inside a tower in the Reverse of the World is too severe a punishment?

-To lock you in a tower for eternity in the Reverse of the World? Wait, are you saying you're alive and locked in a tower, even in this age?

Merlin nodded with his typical smile.

-T-Then how...?

The wizard's smile grew wider. You see, you see, the pupil is not yet able to surpass the master?

-And what does that mean?

-Well, I cannot be summoned as a servant normally because I am still alive, therefore, my soul could not be registered in the Throne of Heroes. I cannot die from being imprisoned inside my prison for the rest of eternity; however, it was impossible for me to resign myself to being trapped in that tower without being able to interact with the outside again, so I developed a special ability called Independent Manifestation for this kind of case, basically, it allows me to be summoned and act as if I were a real servant. Unfortunately, Vivian usually hunts me down after noticing my escapes and I always end up being forced to return to Avalon... Fortunately, it seems that, as long as it's to help them, she'll let me stay for a little while longer.

Really, Bedivere didn't know if Merlin was telling him the truth, but apparently, it had worked for him, so he couldn't really object to anything.

-And as for what I've come for, well, my skills are rusty, but it's impossible for me not to want to be a part of this story, much less when I'm being given this opportunity...

-So, you've come to help again?

Merlin shook his head, "Yes, but this time I plan to correct some of my mistakes?

-Mistakes? Which ones?

Merlin nodded, and then, like a father boasting of both his own and his offspring's accomplishments, he declared, "Before I am the greatest wizard you have ever known, and ever written about, I am something more. I am the greatest kingmaker history has ever seen, and she is the greatest proof that this is true.

-She? It's true Merlin! Our King, something has happened to him, for some reason, his gender has changed! He has transformed into a woman! I think it's due to some kind of sorcery done by Morgan, so we must go after her to help her, we need your help to reverse whatever has been done to her! -exclaimed the concerned knight.

At Bedivere's statement, Merlin could not help but scoff. A little choked with laughter, he replied-. Pff... R-Really, you haven't changed a bit.

-Eh...?

The wizard pulled himself together and explained the situation seriously, or well, as seriously as one would expect from Merlin. I did not refer to her incorrectly Bedivere, there is no witchcraft or spell to undo. Many years ago, before our story began, I correctly "divined" the existence of two dragons: one red and the other white, both sleeping beneath Mount Emrys, I spoke of how, at the moment I had that vision, I saw them fight each other as they awoke, and how, under the reign of a Great King, Britain would finally gather its forces and, surely, reign over Gaul and Rome.

Bedivere nodded, "Yes, I believe I heard something about this in my travels, your riddle became a prophecy, and the dragons, both red and white, were interpreted as Britain and our enemies, the Saxons. Isn't that right?

-That's right. At a certain point, I served Uther Pendragon.

-The father of our King...

Merlin nodded. Hmn... He loved Igraine, the wife of the Duke of Cornwall, so he asked my help to win her love, the price I offered him for my services was that, after he had a firstborn, he should leave him in my care. Thus, after I had risen as a wizard of great renown, I helped arrange the marriage between Uther and Princess Igraine, and cared for the future King from even before his birth.

Bedivere did not know why the wizard was telling him all this; but if it would help him understand his current situation, he would listen patiently.

I told Uther the prophecy about his descendant, who would become his designated successor during the war-torn times. Under an arrangement with him, I helped produce an heir with the "essence of a dragon," infusing him with the concept of the red dragon, thus becoming his incarnation.

-And then?

-The offspring was born, believing in my prophecy, Uther longed for the birth of his successor; however, what was born was not what he expected, the offspring was not the boy he wanted, but, a girl.

-WHAT? -asked the knight, dumbfounded.

Merlin nodded, playing it down. But that didn't matter to me, because gender was never really a fundamental issue, in fact, the fact that it was a girl made some things easier for me. Uther fell into despair over the situation, so it made it easier for me to take the girl away from the rest of the royal family, so I was able to protect her from the crisis she would suffer. The rest of the story you already know, she was taken to live with a knight during her childhood, until the day she was ready?

-The knight was Sir Ector and the day she was ready must have been when she pulled the sword out of the stone, wasn't it? T-Then, the reason she never showed her true self, was because of...? -At that moment, Bedivere lowered his gaze, he had finally understood it. Because he couldn't do it...

-Exactly, while her gender was never of importance to me, to Britain it was, she could never claim the title of King as a woman, so, in order for her to do so, she locked herself inside a suit of cold steel armor. From her point of view, "Only a King can save a ruined country that is heading towards death". From that moment on, she abandoned her original self to become the King Britain needed: she became Arthur Pendragon. Even if someone were to discover the truth of her gender today, it is unlikely they would discover who the girl was who abandoned herself for the sake of her homeland, they would call her Arturia, just as you called that girl, or, probably, a feminized version of her Latinized name, Artorius, i.e. Artoria, no one would ever know her name or true form of being...

Since that moment, at the end of the battle of Camlann, at the sight of his King dying in the shade of that tree, he had never again felt this feeling of helplessness that was strongly harbored inside his chest. Never, could he see his beloved King smile, no, his beloved Queen, and he could only see her with a peaceful face in her last moments. He had always blamed himself for it, so much so that, when she ordered him to return the sacred sword to where it had come from, he hesitated twice to carry out that order.

He remembered it as if it had been yesterday, that was undoubtedly one of the hardest moments of his entire life...

After the end of the battle of Camlann, where the fight between Mordred and his King, now his Queen, ended with victory and a fatal wound for the latter, he, the only other survivor, carried his King on his own wounded white horse away from the battlefield. Although he too was wounded, he expended all his energy to try futilely to save his Queen, even going so far as to believe, in desperation, that she could be saved if they reached some forest. He clung to the idea that his sacred sword, Excalibur, and his immortality could save her if they reached a place that was considered pure, he refused to accept the obvious fact that the wound was truly fatal and would not heal in such a simple way.

Not wishing to accept her death while she was still isolated from others, without even being rewarded for her accomplishments, he wished to try to seek help for her, so he laid her against a tree and planned to hurry towards the post where his army was stationed, half a day away, but she woke up and stopped him. He begged her to hold on a little longer, that he would leave at once for help; but she refused, instead, he ordered her to return Excalibur back to the lake, and return to tell him about her journey. He protested; however, she did not rescind her order and he was forced to take the sacred sword while he was tormented by indecision. He sensed that his King would disappear by throwing it into the lake, so he could not throw it away no matter how much he wanted to fulfill her order, because he was unwilling to leave her side.

He returned to his King twice, each time lying that the sword had been thrown into the lake; but was only met with the same order in reply. Although it was a great sin for him as a knight to disobey him, he did so twice because of his loyalty to her; but finding that he could not make her change her decision, he ended up throwing it into the lake when he reached it for the third time.

When he threw her back, she was grabbed by a hand and disappeared for the rest of the world. With this, he accepted the end of his King, of his kingdom, he accepted that he was never able to see her smile, he accepted his mistakes as the knight who should take care of her and protect her; but he was never able to understand her, finally, he returned to her when dawn came, telling her that the sword was accepted by the Lady of the Lake.

At the end of his mission, she told him that he should be proud to follow his King's order, and he nodded silently towards her, whose voice faded away as he apologized that he would be sleeping for a long time. As he nursed her to the end, she could see for the only time how part of her wish came true, as she watched the peaceful face of her King as she left this world to be taken to Avalon.

Bedivere collapsed on the floor of the labyrinth, all his life, during all his deeds, he had seen and followed the perfect King of Knights, although he could never see the totality of his greatest wish for the King fulfilled, seeing how the King was able to accept the end of his life, no matter how unfair he thought this end was, gave him the strength to accept it as well. He returned Excalibur to the lake, said goodbye to his beloved King, and lived the rest of his life as a hermit recounting his deeds and achievements. He lived in the hermitage run by the Archbishop of Canterbury, where he was able to accept all that he had lived through with great pain in his heart and was able to find peace with himself; but, now that he knew the full story, now that he knew the truth, he simply could not bear it...

Tears welled up in his eyes as he tried to comprehend how serious his failures had been. I-I was supposed to be the King's caretaker, I stayed by his side until the end and, even so, I could never see his true self. In the end, I accepted it, accepted that I could never see him smile proudly at his accomplishments. B-But now, now that I know this, not only was I not able to see beyond the perfect King who led us in every battle, n-nor... I was not even able to understand the true weight and pain she carried! -cried the knight in frustration as he pounded the ground with one of his fists.

Merlin would not say that he sympathized with the knight's emotions, though he did understand them, and that was why his response was so blunt. You should not have known, for if you had, then it was likely that it was she who would have failed. Only we, who knew its provenance, and a few special people like Guinevere, knew the secret, and when a secret is known by more people than necessary, it will irretrievably, sooner or later, cease to be a secret. While everyone would accept the King as long as he acted as such, even if someone discovered the truth, the moment one person completely uncovered the lie, rejection by many would be inevitable... Her country, no, by those nobles with a lust for power, would not accept her as King.

Bedivere clenched his fists with all his might. And yet she fought for all of Britain!

Merlin lowered his gaze slightly. Yes, she did...

-D-Tell me Merlin...

-Hmn?

-What was she like before she abandoned herself? What was her name? What was the true self of the Queen I swore to serve faithfully with my life? Even if her name is unimportant to the history of our country, even if it was erased from the annals of history! My only wish was always to meet her, and the only thing I regret in life is that I could not have done so, so please tell me!

Merlin smiled, "Altria Pendragon. She may have been forced to change to be the King the country needed, but if there was one thing that girl and the King you served under shared, it was a strength and will far greater than you could ever imagine, and it was that strong will and determination that allowed her to become the Queen under whom you fought so many battles, and with whom you achieved so many feats.

-I understand, Altria... My queen... -Bedivere stood up once more, "Merlin, the teacher who summoned me, is she your second coming? If so, I can understand why she fled when she heard how I called her and I must clarify my actions at this very moment.

-No, she is not Altria.

-But it's impossible for them to look so alike, I even felt the power of Rhongomyniad.

-Yes, that's true; but still, she is not Altria, your voice can no longer reach her Bedivere; however, that girl is one of the few people who knows the truth about our Queen, she is an indisputable imprint left by our history, someone who, probably, in the future, will carry a weight similar to the one she carried. What we do now will not change the weight of our past mistakes; from that point of view, everything we do now will be nothing but pyrrhic actions; however, if you really feel some regret for what you could not be for our Queen, then maybe you can change the destiny of a girl who will go through a similar story and who is indisputably related to her.

The knight did not fully understand the words of the magician, however, he understood enough, if that girl was related to his Queen in some way, and he will carry a similar weight to the one she carried, then, the least he could do, was to be what he could not be for his Queen, even if it was for a short time, if he could lighten that weight... and even if they were pyrrhic actions as Merlin said, if he succeeded, maybe then... he could amend even a little his faults.

-So, what is your decision Bedivere? Right now, your teacher is in a bind, if you are going to act, you must act now.

-Even if they are pyrrhic actions, they are not meaningless, what will you do, Merlin? -asked the knight, showing a determined attitude.

-Didn't I tell you? I have come to help and to correct some of my mistakes. My biggest mistake when I was with you was that I did not give importance to the person who should support the King and who would rule with him, I prepared an ideal King who could save and guide all Britain, but I did not do the same with the Queen, the kingdom is ruled by both of them and, therefore, when one fell apart, it was impossible for the other to keep the kingdom standing on his own.

This surprised Bedivere, "Now that you say it, the fall of our kingdom began when the adultery of our Queen was revealed, and the death of Agravain at the hands of Lancelot also hastened our fall.

-This time I do not intend to make the same mistake, if only for the short time this ritual grants us, I will try to prepare you both in person.

-Both of you? -asked the gentleman in confusion. Who is...?

-You will probably meet him later, but now you don't have time, as you said, even if they are only pyrrhic actions, it doesn't mean they are meaningless, this is not our story; but we have been given the opportunity to participate, if we play a good role, maybe it won't be the last legend in which our names resound. Finally, the wizard dismissed him. I leave her in your care until we meet again.

Though not fully understanding, Bedivere nodded, he could sense where his teacher was thanks to the bond they shared through their contract, without a second thought, he turned towards the tunnel where Gray had fled and set out to catch up with her.

Once he was sure that Bedivere was gone, Merlin let the demeanor of the great wise wizard disappear, not that he was trying to hide his ways, he never had; but on this occasion he had to take on the demeanor of the great wizard Merlin if he wanted to get the desired results.

He sighed, for someone who always remained cheerful and carefree, as he must have been, he now came across as someone with an unusually serious expression, surely anyone who knew him would be genuinely concerned, and he had no doubt they would ask him if he was ill or something.

-I guess I got a little out of character, or, considering how I should normally act, I should say, did I get too much into character? Hmm... This manifestation feels slightly different from the previous ones... -Then he simply dismissed these concerns with a smile- Well, whatever, right now I have too much to do to worry about this, and I'm sure Altria would love it if I behaved like this more often, maybe I can annoy her with this attitude if we meet again...

Even to Merlin himself it seemed strange how he was behaving, he was the kind of person who, if he knew the end of the world was coming, would say relaxedly something like, "Oh well, that's just the way things are, right?", in fact, that was what he had been doing so far. He would simply watch the end from his distant tower; however, at this moment things were a little bit different...

"My punishment was not for something as simple as simply despising Vivian, it was for manipulating that little girl's life and destiny, even though I knew what her end would be, even before she was born. Yet, I still guided her to that point, and even though I warned her that she would eventually despair, I never gave her other options. In the end, I did what I always did, I tried to disappear completely from everyone's memory, just before the story came to an end. After all, what matters to me are the stories themselves, not the people in them, if there was no story to entertain me, I would create one, and once it was about to end, I would walk away and watch the ending from afar, no matter what it was...".

-Although I must say, even if it was Vivían and not Morgan, angry older sisters can be really scary... -Finally, the great wizard began to fade away in a swirl of pink petals, his last thoughts before he was reunited with that boy were for the past, for the present, and for the future.

"Well, it was obvious that sooner or later someone would punish me, being able to see all those amazing stories; but not being able to fully participate in any of them, really, she can be scary when she wants to be." For a moment, she closed her eyes. "What is this I'm feeling...responsibility for my actions...isn't that why I came all this way? How strange... Even if it doesn't fix anything, since there are people just like you who dream of reaching an unattainable future, who even though they know they may end up despairing in the end, still advance into the future without hesitation, just as you did, wielding the sword I prepared for you, and carrying the spear you once used, I guess it was impossible for me to keep myself at bay this time..."

Before fading away, he gave his typical carefree smile. Well, it's time for the second and third rate wizards to step aside, if only for a limited time, the world will once again see the greatest wizard and kingmaker history has ever had the pleasure of witnessing at work.

That said, the flower magician disappeared in a whirlwind made by the flowers.

Bedivere was running at full speed through the labyrinth, fortunately for him, being a heroic spirit, even if he was sweating and his body faithfully imitated perspiration, he could not feel exhaustion, he could feel the vibrations through the tunnels of the labyrinth a great struggle must be taking place.

Finally, Bedivere reached the entrance to a room, there he could see some sort of golems, two stone and one crystal, these were heading towards their master, she was standing a little away as she held a bow, this one was similar in style to the scythe he had seen her use to fight the 8 legged automaton. For a moment, he wondered why he had not used Rhongomyniad to destroy the three golems, however, after remembering where they were, he understood that using the spear carelessly could be dangerous inside this subway labyrinth.

Without a second thought, he hurried to take care of his enemies. Ignite, Airgetlám: Pierce as the spear of the god of war, my silver arm!

Bedivere's right arm, which he almost never used and mostly tried to cover, flared into a greenish-whitish light, it lengthened, giving the illusion that, rather than an arm, it seemed to be a spear, with a speed and agility greater than any human could aspire to achieve, the silver-armored knight pierced one after another the three golems splitting them in half and causing them to crumble.

Finally, he stopped in front of his master...

-Excuse my tardiness, teacher.

-Huh? -Gray exclaimed, it had all been too fast for her, from one moment to the next, the knight had appeared and had swiftly taken care of all the enemies. Once again, she felt the compelling urge to flee out of the knight's sight, however, knowing that she could not achieve her goals that way and, regaining some of the confidence she had gained in these last months, she restrained herself with all her might-. Y-You are...

Seeing the girl's nervousness, he tried again to reassure her, although this time, in a different way-. I understand that you are not comfortable with my presence, but allow me to introduce myself once again...

Seeing how the man almost seemed to be begging, Gray nodded.

-My name is Bedivere... -For a moment, he pondered whether saying what he was thinking was right; but if what Merlin had told him was true, then he could say it proudly without tarnishing the effort his Queen had put into hiding it. I am one of the 13 Knights of the Round Table of Queen Altria. My name is derived from the ancient Celtic god of war, Bedwyr. Because I lost one of my arms in battle, I considered myself unable to attend court meetings and had to ask a blacksmith to build me this silver arm to be able to attend them, although I usually use my sword as my main weapon, my heroic treasure is a magical spear sealed inside my arm, that is why I have been summoned into the Lancer class, my master... -For a moment, he looked embarrassed. Excuse my bad manners, but what is your name?

Although still confused by the strange situation, the tomb guardian replied, "Ah! Gray, my name is Gray.

Bedivere smiled, "Well, Gray, my master... To be entrusted with a sword is the same as being entrusted with a destiny. While I dedicate my loyalty to my Queen ... I will now take up my sword for you, master...

With that said, the contract between master and servant was sealed. At that moment, he swore with all his might that he would not fail a second time...

On the other side, in another part of the maze...

Manaka stood up still a little dazed, for a moment, she observed the place where she was, she knew this place, she had been here before, well, not her exactly; but she knew that many of her other selves sometimes liked to "dream" beyond true dreams.

Her other selves sometimes sent their consciousnesses through the Reverse of the World, beyond the end of worlds, to different times and different spaces. During the transference, sometimes they saw a dragon waiting for another person for a long time, sometimes they observed the light shining at the end of the world, and even, on more than one occasion, they ended up in an apartment, in a room that belonged to someone with a similar root connection to the one she had. And there were times when they ended up in this labyrinth that housed a variant of the holy grail war.

This, in a way, worried her, if another of her selves felt like "dreaming" and came to this labyrinth, it was likely that Alaya would temporarily seal her inside Shirou, so as to avoid creating temporal paradoxes; but that wasn't what really worried her, it was the redhead's possible interaction with one of her other versions.

-No matter what happens, I'll protect you, even if it's from myself, Shirou... -whispered the girl as she watched the redhead lying on her lap, she had interfered with the space transportation circle so that it would send them to the same place-. Come on, wake up... -Gently she moved the boy.

Finally, he started to wake up... Mana...?

She smiled at him-. We have to move, this place can become dangerous...

Chapter 28, Conquer the future.

A great watery sound and the piercing scream of many beings rose up in the great cavern.

Waver, who was crouching with his face to the ground, turned his head and slightly raised his gaze to observe how the large number of fairies were being cut down or drowned by powerful water elemental spells.

"How is this possible? So many spells in such a short interval of time? I didn't even hear him sing an aria! No ordinary modern magus should be able to use so many spells of that level without an aria and with that speed." Waver was astonished and concerned to see the abilities of the one who had saved him, he could only think of two possibilities: A very talented magus or, considering what the ritual that was taking place in this labyrinth was, a Servant, specifically, a Caster-class Servant. Although neither of the options pleased him, if given the opportunity to choose, then he would choose the talented magus, he had knowledge about most of the magus that could perform these types of mysteries; however, if it was the servant, then things would get complicated...

Waver had knowledge about many types of current magecraft and was even able to understand magecraft he had never studied with just a few glances; but, if it was a Caster-class Servant, the memories of the spells used by the Caster from the previous war came to his mind. They did not meet many times; but of the few times it happened, the servant left a great impression on the boy. He could never find out the name of that Servant, but along with Saber and Archer, not counting his own, they were the most powerful Servants in the war. From the few spells he could see from Caster, he could only infer one thing, that man was a true magus of the Age of Gods, not even a decade later, he was able to understand the spells the Servant used.

Carefully, Waver turned his head again, and the face of the person he encountered brought back terrible memories. Perhaps meeting a prodigy or a Caster-class Servant would have been better...

The person, or rather, the servant ahead of him, a few meters away from his person, had to be related to him, it was impossible that they were not, after all, if it were not for their young appearance, they would be the same person. The boy had blood red eyes, as well as golden hair that obviously made him stand out from the others. He was the spitting image of the Golden King that he and Rider had fought against in the last war. This one was dressed in a white, open, shirtless attire, as well as pants of the same color and gold-colored accessories.

And if there was any doubt that they were related, it disappeared the moment Waver raised his eyes above the boy, there they were, the same golden-colored portals, from which several staffs protruded, from which the Golden King fired his practically unlimited repertoire of weapons, many of which were fired to wipe out Rider and his army in his last onslaught against the Babylonian King, the legendary King of Heroes, Gilgamesh.

"Hmn... This is really strange, I mean, I didn't necessarily expect him to jump up and down in cheers at me; but... Generally, when you save a person's life, shouldn't you show gratitude? At least that's how it was in my time... And yet, why does he look so frightened?". Young Gilgamesh thought. In an attempt to calm the man down, he made use of a combination of two of his skills: Charisma and Rosy-cheeked Young Man.

Rosy-cheeked Young Man is the disposition of a "pretty boy" who charms people. This ability causes a mesmerizing effect similar to Charm Spellcasting and works on both men and women. It can be mitigated as long as there is the will to resist it, and its complete evasion is also possible through some Magic Resistance skill.

Charisma, on the other hand, is a skill composed by the charm of its user, as well as by the natural talent he/she has to command and unify armies or even an entire country. When used in group battles, it should increase the fighting capacity of the allies. In his case, he was often praised as the greatest king of all. Even at a young age, he possessed an extremely high charisma, almost as if it were a spell or, perhaps it would be more accurate to describe it as a type of curse.

Displaying both of these abilities, Gil tactfully asked. Excuse me Waver, are you all right?

This question surprised Waver, did he remember his name? It seemed that the boy really cared about how he was doing. It was really strange, even though it was more than obvious that this child was a younger version of the King of Heroes, upon hearing that question, he was unable to unconsciously associate him with the dreaded Golden King. It was only through his memories of the last holy grail war that he was able to keep the connection between the two, and even so, he couldn't help but feel more at ease at this one.

"Is this due to any of his servant skills?". Thought the Lord, however, seeing the concern on the boy's face, he gave less importance than he should to this question and decided to answer-. Ah, yes, I feel fine.

The young man smiled, "I'm glad.

This was good for the boy, if he could not calm the man down, coming to save him would have been a waste. Of course, this encounter was not fortuitous, Gil had come directly to save Waver.

He knew that Waver was in danger, thanks to one of his heroic treasures, in this case, this was the heroic treasure that received the name of: Sha Naqba Imuru (He, who saw into the depths): The Omniscient and Omnipotent Star.

This ability is the mentality of Gilgamesh sublimated into a Heroic Treasure. It is said that his mentality and way of seeing the world "spread to all corners of the world like the shining of the stars, seeing through all creation." It is a treasure that is continuously active, therefore, it is not necessary to invoke its name. It possesses tremendous efficiency, allowing him to discern hidden truths at a glance, such as the true names of other Heroic Treasures and servants, and even allowing him to see a small part of the reasons why this world has deviated from the correct history of mankind. By releasing his true name, it will function as a form of "instruction" for him to guide others using the most optimal tactics, simultaneously increasing both the attack power and defense power of all combatants near his position.

Gilgamesh is a clairvoyance user with a "sense of 'sight' several levels above normal". No matter who faces him in any type of game, he is able to claim that even someone with the ability to make advanced predictions and read the flow of the game will have lost by the time he challenges him. Gil does not read the future of the game, but looks down and monitors it, allowing the correct move to always be visible to him. He can also see the possibilities of various parallel worlds, if he so desires; but, as a heroic spirit, the Throne of Heroes normally adjusts his memories and knowledge to the world in which he is summoned, so as to avoid being confused by multiple sets of memories.

Using this ability, Gil observed the present, as well as some near futures, and in most of the ones he saw, encountering this person, Waver Velvet, also known as Lord El-Melloi II, was actually helpful. Because of the world they were in, Gil had a limit to how much he could see, because no matter how far into the future he looked, or how many different possible futures he analyzed, each and every one of these all came to the same result: the death of the planet and the end of humanity, as well as all other living things. Nevertheless, he managed to see a small part of the truth about the deviation of this world, a truth that could be revealed in some possible futures.

Nevertheless, he kept this ability limited so as not to be confused with other realities, moreover, it allowed him to see truths not only in the present and in the future, but also in the past.

-Do you remember me? -asked the Lord as he tried to regain control of the situation.

"I see, so we've already met; but honestly, I don't want to see what nonsense my future self will have done..." Gil smiled- Well, not exactly, what I know about you is that your name is Waver Velvet, currently known as Lord El-Melloi II, you came to investigate this labyrinth and defeat the lamryos that dwells in the depths of this place. Isn't that right?

-How did you...?

However, the boy played it down. Never mind, these are things of little relevance, allow me to introduce myself, I am...

-The King of Heroes, Gilgamesh, Babylonian King of the city of Uruk, in ancient Mesopotamia.

This surprised the boy. Then it's true that we really did meet, isn't it?

Waver nodded. Yes, well, I met you. Not the actual you, though, I suppose...

The young Gil frowned. I see what you mean, I guess you met my adult self.

-Yes, during a ritual very similar to this one, in which I participated when I was younger. How do you know?

Gil sighed, "Well, there's no reason for you to react that way unless we've met before. Generally this should be impossible, but, if you participated in a ritual similar to this one, the odds go up. -Inwardly, Gil also thought, "Besides, if we consider that my adult self is still roaming this world, the odds increase even more. Then he smiled, "Besides, I don't think my current version or my Caster version... Well, maybe if you piss him off he can be a little scary... But still, I don't think either of us could make such a bad impression that they would look at us the way you did.

-Caster version?

-Yes. The throne of heroes is outside of space and time, so it can hold different versions of the same servants. I, for example, am the same Gilgamesh you knew, but in his youth. -Gil made a thoughtful expression. If the knowledge that the grail granted me is correct, most of the servants who are summoned in their youth receive the term Lili after their names. -Then the young King smiled kindly. Although you don't have to call me that, Gil is enough to differentiate me from my other versions, after all, in my case, the grail didn't have a younger version of myself registered beforehand, but I was registered when another version of me decided to play with a treasure inside our vault, a potion of youth.

Waver was actually surprised by the manner of the young heroic spirit in front of him, would this boy really become the same Golden King they had faced in the last holy grail war?

-In any case, thank you for saving me.

-You're welcome," the young man replied with his innocent smile, "And no offense Waver, but this doesn't seem like the kind of place you need to be. From your skills... You're more of a tactical type than a front line fighter, am I right?

The young Lord stood up, still a little uncomfortable with Gil's presence; however, he nodded. Yes, you're right. Originally, the plan was for me to stay at the entrance of the labyrinth, while my students would explore it; however, I was swallowed up by this one.

-I see, that makes sense.

-Besides, it's just as you said, our objective is to deal with Wolfgang Faustus, the lamyros who took control of this labyrinth.

At that moment, Gil smiled, "In that case, how about I come along?

This puzzled and worried the Lord in equal parts. If I may ask, why?

-Nothing specific, just a simple whim. -The boy played it down. It's just that we have the same destiny.

-The same? Are you planning to advance to the deepest part of the labyrinth?

Gil nodded, "Yes, and I sincerely doubt you can reach the deepest part of it on your own, don't you think so too, Waver?

The young Lord frowned, as much as he would like to deny it, the heroic spirit was right. As he had said before, he was not a forward fighter, he was more of an investigator, detective or strategist. Therefore, if he advanced on his own into the labyrinth and, by bad luck, came across another dangerous ghostly species, he would have no choice but to flee. Besides, he was in a labyrinth created by one of the 27 most powerful dead apostles, and if he was sure of anything, it was that this place must harbor more dangerous things than just carnivorous man-eating fairies.

Even so, Waver was reluctant to accept the boy's offer, for if he could say anything about the boy based on his limited interaction, it was that this was certainly not the same self-centered despot he had faced almost a decade ago; but even so, the memory of him overlapped with the boy's presence, making him unable to help but relate the two.

Being cautious, he decided to ask- Why do you wish to go to the bottom of the labyrinth? Is it to obtain the subcategory of the holy grail installed deep within it?

To his surprise, Gil dismissed him with a simple wave of his hand. Not at all. The holy grail found inside this labyrinth is not the true and original holy grail, and I don't need cheap imitations inside my treasury. -Then he looked somewhat disappointed, as if he had lost a great opportunity. If it were a treasure on the level of the real grail that was prepared for the original ritual, then it would be different. Even though it is not the original treasure, I would consider it a different treasure that shares the same name. But that is not the case, this ritual is just a simple imitation of the original, and the grail prepared for this one is more of the same... -Finally, the boy smiled as he asked Waver, "You must have participated in the original ritual, didn't you? After all, it's almost impossible for my adult version to agree to participate in an imitation ritual for an imitation treasure. Even if a catalyst were used, he would rather murder his master and disappear than be forced to participate for a fake.

"He possesses good observation skills, in fact, now that I remember...". Waver nodded, "That's right, I participated in the original ritual. In fact, I have a question for you, King of the- -Seeing the young King's pout, Waver corrected himself, "I mean, Gil, right?

The boy nodded with a smile.

-When I participated in the ritual, on one occasion when we met your adult version, Rider asked him why he was participating in the ritual, your adult version replied that he was simply participating because the holy grail was a treasure, and all treasures belonged to him. I remember him explaining that he didn't mind giving it to someone who deserved it; but that he wouldn't allow a bunch of thieves to refer to themselves as its owners, without first having earned its favor.

-Yes... that sounds like something he would say, though, at least this time, I don't totally disagree with that statement..." Waver nodded.

Waver nodded... If what you said is true and you agree with your adult version, then... Why are you participating in this ritual, wouldn't it be easier for you to just disappear?

-Hmmm... You're right. -Gil raised one of his arms and showed a bracelet. I got this bracelet from a chest left in the middle of a room in the labyrinth. It seems to provide mana by which we can maintain our existence; however, this is quite limited. That is to say, it is enough for me to spend all the mana inside the bracelet for it to disappear, "At least if I didn't count on my independent action"; however...?

-Nevertheless...? -the lord asked curiously.

Gil smiled, "Nevertheless, despite being an imitation, this ritual has become interesting?

-Interesting? What do you mean?

-There are two very powerful forces at work in this ritual...

-Which two?

Gil's smile grew wider. Gaia and Alaya.

This put the young Lord on alert. "Gaia and Alaya! why are two parts of the will of the world interfering in such a small scale ritual as this!?". No matter how much he wondered he could find no answer, and this troubled him, it was no mystery to any magus what the modus operandi of the two parts of the will of the world was. At present it was no more than a simple theory, but it was said that such things as the destruction of Pompeii and the sinking of Atlantis were the work of Gaia and Alaya respectively. If this was true, he did not know it, but it was more than enough reason to be on alert. On the other hand, it was also known that, generally, both sides of the will of the world only released a little more of the power needed to take care of the problems that came their way, so it was almost impossible for anything similar to the destruction of Pompeii or Atlantis to occur within the labyrinth.

However, to begin with, Waver had no idea why both sides of the world's will were acting in the first place. Alaya did not prioritize the destruction of the 27 Ancestral Dead Apostles, much less would she care about a mere lamyros like Wolfgang. On the other hand, Gaia's actions had been declining over time, and since mana began to disappear from the face of the Earth, her actions were reduced to a minimum. If Gaia wanted to prevent the ritual from further diminishing the amount of mana that currently existed, then why did she wait so long? Why didn't she take charge of the ritual from its inception?

-The Counterforce of Gaia seems to have taken over the ritual, an agent of it has modified the grail to make it more powerful. This has caused some relics from the past to be invoked, albeit in a somewhat peculiar way. On the other hand, my participation in this ritual is part of the actions taken by Alaya," explained Gil.

-You? -asked the Lord in surprise.

Gil nodded, "Yes. As I said, this ritual is of no interest to me, it is not worth fighting for a mere forgery. And yet, here I am. I didn't come of my own free will, I was forced to come, by Alaya to be more specific.

-Why...? I don't think Wolfgang is such a problem as to require the participation of both sides of the will of the world.

-I don't think so either, in fact, I think they are simply taking advantage of the ritual. This seems to be one of those rare occasions where both sides of the will of the world are "working together". I don't think a simple lamyros could cause something like this, if I had to give my opinion it's... Well, let's just say it's about a project going forward.

-I think I understand what you're saying, but... I can't imagine what problem could become so big that both sides of the will of the world would act at the same time.

-Sometimes seeing less is more... -whispered the boy. Be that as it may, what do you say Waver, may I join you? I have two objectives, and both of them are on the same path you have to take...

-Two objectives? Which ones?

-The first is to put an end to this ritual, therefore, I must take care of the lamyros. The second has to do with the orders Alaya gave me when I was forced to come, apparently, I must meet with one of your students, his name is: Muramasa Shirou, isn't it?

"Shirou, why does Alaya want to reunite a young version of the King of Heroes with him? I can only think of one thing, considering the kind of sorcery he uses and the arts he practices... Nonetheless, why would Alaya want to strengthen him?".

-Don't think so hard... -Gil interrupted him. Sometimes knowing less allows you to do more..." Waver sighed.

Waver sighed, "I guess I have no choice, it's just as you say, I won't survive inside this labyrinth if I go on my own. I appreciate your company, Gil...

The young king of heroes smiled, "It will be a pleasure. Let me guide you, I know the way...

Thus, albeit with some resilience, the Lord of Modern Wizardry Theory entered the labyrinth being guided by the young King of Heroes. On his descent through the labyrinth, Gil asked him about the previous holy grail war and its history in general, apparently he was curious about the actions of his adult self. Honestly, Waver didn't want to remember anything to do with the proud King of Heroes, but, for some reason, Gil had some kind of charisma that made it much easier to open up to him. This was a different kind of charisma from the charisma that Rider exuded, however, it was just as effective, as the young Lord ended up telling him about several of the experiences he had during his time as a teacher in the last war.

...

...

...

-Hmm... I see, that was an interesting story. I know it won't amount to anything; but I apologize for the actions of my future self.

Waver was no longer surprised that this kind of statement came from the one who would become that proud King, nevertheless, he couldn't help but ask. You and him... Will you really become the same person?

-Hmm? -After hearing that question, the young King couldn't help but let out a laugh. I-I know it doesn't seem so, but yes... -After that, his expression soured a bit. If I'm honest, even though I know why and how I'll end up transforming into him, I still can't believe it.

-Now that you mention it, does the grail give you memories of your future?

Gil nodded, "Generally yes. Although, if Alaya deems it necessary, she can take them away from you so as not to confuse the servants or cause paradoxes. -Then he lowered his gaze. That said, I know our story, since you have been kind enough to tell me yours, how about I tell you mine as payment? I am sure hearing it from the protagonist's point of view is much more entertaining than reading it from a history book.

This intrigued the Lord, he was not going to deny that, after the last ritual, he had done as much research as possible on the King of Heroes, in case, in the future, he came to have to face again against the great wall that was the Babylonian King. Obviously, all this was before he learned that there was not going to be a 5th Holy Grail War.

-I suppose this might give me more perspective..." Gil smiled.

Gil smiled. In that case...

My life can be told in three acts:

The first act is me. As you may well know, my name Gilgamesh, I was born to be the King of Uruk, my parents are Lugalbanda, also known as the shepherd, and the goddess Rimat-Ninsun, known, among others, as the Great Queen. Before my birth, my father made a deal with Sefar, in order to save himself, which spared the Sumerian Gods, thus allowing my birth.

-Sefar, who is she? I have never heard that name in the Sumerian Myths in all my life... -interrupted Waver.

-I suppose not, her name has been distorted throughout history, and her existence spans several mythologies. Take her as a monstrous and tremendously powerful being, with more than enough ability to fight against the gods.

-Did such a thing really exist?

Gil nodded, "The sands of time hide many mysteries...

In short, I was born with a body that was of the highest degree, by mortal standards, one-third human and two-thirds god, as well as the knowledge to reach the truth. I was designed as a King and as the wedge of heaven that would connect the humans, who were on the rise, and the gods, who were beginning to fade. I was sent to guide the humans and to reconnect the Earth, which was slowly leaving behind the Age of the Gods. In short, a being that embodied the two sets of life forms, with the blood of those who had ruled, and the blood of those who would rule from then on. From the point of view of the gods, I was to be the third party, the neutral one, able to discern the faults of the other two, judging from both positions. During my time, I respected and loved the gods more than humanity, however, I never submitted to them...

Then, the boy showed a smile that hid a mixture of various feelings. Several of which Waver could not identify.

-Seeing that I respected them but did not submit, the gods created Enkidu to punish me, predicting that I would become a despot and arrogant. I will not deny that they were right, but it was precisely because of his actions that began my conversion into what they feared. With the creation of Enkidu, I realized who I was in the sight of the gods, a tool, a wedge to bind their decadent era and thus prevent their demise?

-But you didn't know that already? -asked Waver quizzically.

The young King nodded, "Yes, I knew. But I believed that the gods had created me, not in order to coin the past and avoid the impending future, I believed they had created me to unite them, so that gods and humans could move forward as equals. When I realized the creation of Enkidu, that if I did not obey the designs of the gods, as they wished, they would punish me, I understood the inability of the gods to move forward, I understood why their era was fading, and I understood that, as long as the gods existed, humanity could not walk on its own into the future. -Gil let out a dry laugh. That day I shook the Ziggurat. I shouted things like, "Who do these relics of the past think they are! If you want to stay in your old-fashioned era so badly, just fade away! And so much for that...so much for the first act, as well as my latest memoir of my own.

-The second part is the you I knew, isn't it?

-That's right. I guess it was more than obvious that the gods couldn't understand my way of thinking, after all, I wasn't a god..." Gil sighed. -Gil sighed, "Neither human, nor god, and at the same time, both, I couldn't side with either of them, I couldn't think like either of them and, what I saw was, a world impossible to see, both for humans, and for gods. In the end, I was understood by no one, and I ended up isolating myself; but my own self-determination prevented me from abandoning my reign and fleeing from the mission imposed on me. In the end, revering the gods and loving humanity, I decided to follow the path to its conclusion and, finally, I ended up deciding that I should depose the gods and abhor humanity. Although, in the latter part of my life, some things changed?

-Why are you telling me these things? If you are the King the gods planned, a King with the aptitude to rule above all others. Then there must be a reason for this, mustn't there? -asked the Lord in dismay.

-Yes, of course there is. Three reasons, to be exact. -Gil smiled. The first is, to teach you a lesson. Waver, sometimes the future is not as we wish it to be. I wanted to create a world where humans and gods could walk the earth together hand in hand; but in the end, I ended up separating heaven from earth, handing the future to mankind and driving the last nail in the coffin of the Age of Gods. Wanting to relive the past can be dangerous, it serves for those who live in the present to learn from the mistakes already made, but, if you go too deep, you may stop living in the present and no longer be able to raise your eyes to the future. While I'm not saying that you and Iskandar can't get back together, it's likely that fate has different things in store for you. The when it ends, or if it already ended your journey with the King of Conquerors, it may not be something that is within your choice.

Waver clenched his fists tightly, he knew, he had known for quite some time, that the chances of the two of them meeting again, even if a new holy grail war happened, were really low, not only because he might not be chosen as a master, but also because of the problem of memories. But even so, he still held on to a: it might if it happens, or a, maybe it will happen.

-I know, but I still want to prove that Iskandar deserved to win, that I was the one who failed.

Gil laughed. Well, I think that last one is obvious to everyone who fought in that war...

For a moment, Waver stumbled.

-However, I think there are more important things you can prove..." The lord paused.

The lord paused. What do you mean?

-The King will not die as long as at least one of his vassals survives to tell his story. Iskandar's last command was with that intention, wasn't it? Live and tell my stories, if you're going to do something, do it with all your might. Those kind of words, you know what kind of man would say them, don't you? Waver Velvet.

-What kind of man...? -For a moment, Waver was silent, then after a few minutes, he couldn't help but smile. Yes, I suppose so.

-Iskandar, the King of Conquerors, from what you tell me, sounds like a man whose sights were set on the future. He fought and fought to reach his goal, Okeanos, and at no time did he ever think of turning back. Even if his goal was a pipe dream, even if he realized it at some point, he didn't turn back until death came for him. He never regretted it... -Gil smiled and pointed at him. Rather than proving something you already know, shouldn't you prove that your King's way of living wasn't wrong?

-His way of living... Glory lies in the distance. I fight because I long for something... To prove that, in spite of everything, he was not wrong. Yet I can't find a way to reach his back, I couldn't even beat Faker...

"Faker, huh? It's ironic that this class was created in this timeline, where the greatest Faker my adult self had the displeasure of meeting, is trying to stop being a forger and become a creator of original works," then the boy frowned, "Come to think of it, there's a high probability that the extra classes will become a problem in the future war, although if we're talking about problems, they wouldn't even be the biggest one... Looks like we've got our work cut out for us, another me...". Gil sighed and continued his explanation. But you can still catch up..." Gil sighed and continued his explanation.

-How? Despite a decade of thinking about it, I haven't come up with an answer," the Lord exclaimed with palpable frustration in his words.

Gil smiled. Okeanos.

-Okeanos?

-That was your King's dream, wasn't it? To reach Okeanos.

"My goal is the end of the world. My destination is the farthest frontier to the east. I want to behold Okeanos with my own eyes. I want to leave my footprints on the beach by that endless sea."

That was his statement, wasn't it? -Gil mimicked what he thought Rider's voice would sound like, much to Waver's amusement.

-Yes. But what does that have to do with me?

-Reach for your Okeanos, Waver Velvet.

-My Okeanos? -When I entered the war, my goal was to prove that a magus without a long history could match one with a long lineage if he put in enough effort, but, at the time, I was... very naive..." Gil nodded.

Gil nodded, "A long history usually includes inherited research and better magic circuits. To accomplish anything, you need two things: talent and effort, even if it's a little of both. Unless you're some kind of prodigy born from "nothing," if one is missing in its entirety, you won't be able to reach the top. In the magus world, most born talent is nothing more than the product of the efforts of your ancestors. And, even so, there are times when you are born without that talent, or with different talents. Do you understand?

The Lord nodded, "I was born as the third generation of the Velvet Family, but my family did not belong to a very prestigious bloodline. My grandmother, the first generation, was the mistress of a certain magus, she learned the basics of sorcery during their nightly chats. My mother, the second generation, only practiced sparingly as a way of honoring my grandmother. Finally, I am the third generation," Waver sighed. It was obvious that I would not have the inherited talent.

-Nevertheless, you were given other gifts. Tell me, does the name Chiron ring a bell?

-The Greek mythological figure?

-That's right. You have a similar talent to him. Despite being the son of the Titan Cronus, patron of the harvest and the earth, and Philira, deity of writing, Chiron is mostly remembered not for his ancestry, not even for his own deeds, but for those of his students. He mentored numerous famous heroes, beginning with Heracles, Jason, Castor, Asclepius and Achilles. For other people, to be remembered not for your own actions, must be an insult, but, for a teacher, shouldn't it be the greatest pride to be remembered for how far your students went?

-Are you saying that I...?

However, Gil interrupted him, "You have a conquest in front of you, Waver. You must conquer the future.

-What do you mean? -It was obvious that he was revealing less than he knew, although he did not understand how he knew these things in the first place.

-The second reason why I am telling you this, is because this world is facing a dire fate, worse than you must already imagine. And the people who will face it will be your students.

What are you talking about? What are you hiding from me? I know that mana is disappearing from the face of the planet, and that this happened because of the ritual that the bloodsuckers performed three decades ago, that in itself would be considered the apocalypse for the magus; However, as the Lord of Modern Sorcery Theory, I have always kept my mind open to the possibilities that Sorcery will evolve in some way that will allow it to exist even without the mana of the world; but, from the way you put it, it seems that you are not just referring to the end of sorcery as we know it. I know that someone, no... I know that some people are planning to carry out a new holy grail war on the same scale as the original ritual, something that should be impossible under our current conditions; however, beyond that, I have no further information... -Waver could not resist the temptation to take out a cigarette and start smoking. It is obvious that the holy grail war will be really important, perhaps the key to solving our problems; however, it is also obvious that there is something else. If what you said will come true, then several of my students will participate in the war, is that what I have to prepare them for?

Gil nodded his head, "For that and to face the enemies that will be present in this war. Like the young and naïve Waver who entered the last holy grail war without knowing what he was getting into, your students will enter into a similar ritual, but of much greater scale and importance, and therefore, danger. In your case, you survived because you had Iskandar by your side, but they will face much worse enemies than the ones you encountered, they will face a much harsher fate, even with the allies they will have, their chances of survival are quite low. And you probably won't be able to help them as much as you would like. -Gil turned to the Lord. In short, the survival of your students will depend on whether they are sufficiently prepared to face this fate. And the one who has to prepare them is you, Waver.

-Preparing them for such a big event with so little data, couldn't you give me a little more information? -asked the concerned Lord. For the first time he was seeing the young King behaving in a serious manner, and this did not bode well. But, he did not even know what he was facing, it was not enough for him to know that his enemies would be Masters and Servants. How could he prepare himself, or rather, prepare his students, without even knowing the identity of his enemies?

-I can do it, but at this moment I can't waste time explaining everything to you, even so, you can rest assured, the information you need for you to be able to have a better view of the big picture, will be given to you when this ritual is over. Also, it is best that you do not find out certain things for now, because what you will face will be more than just servants, revealing to you who your enemies will be may be a truth so hard that it would discourage even the entire army of Iskandar. Remaining ignorant of some of this information will allow you to hope. Besides, even we who possess the wisdom to discern the truths that lie hidden in this world have not been able to find a solution that would allow the survival of... -Gil shook his head, "No, never mind. Waver, no, Lord El-Melloi II, you became a master out of your own desire, to give the same opportunity to others that you had and that you unwittingly took away from them. I was not remembered for uniting heaven and earth, humans and gods, Chiron was not remembered for his own actions, but for those of his students, and Iskandar, your King, was not remembered for reaching Okeanos, but for the great deeds he performed in pursuit of it. And, finally, you, his last vassal, may not be remembered for being the great magus you wish to be; but you may be remembered for being the forerunner of the greatest conquest ever seen in the history of mankind, preparing those who will carry it out. -Finally, Gil abandoned his serious countenance and smiled once more. You told me that there is a place where all the vassals of your King gather. Reach that place Waver, etch your name in history as the last vassal of the King of Conquerors. How, through you, and through your students, you proved that your King's way of life was the right one, that thanks to it an unattainable future was conquered, more even than Okeanos himself. So, I am sure that you will meet again, in that place.

Waver was speechless, for a moment he could see him, his smile huge, cheerful and defiant, standing above that endless sea, in the unfathomable Okeanos, the place he never reached and yet there he stood. Even if his conquests did not reach Okeanos, his name conquered history. For a moment, he heard her shrill voice, it reminded him once again of those words, those that were conveyed verbally and those that were not: Live to tell my story. If you're going to do something, put your all into it. Whatever you do, don't regret it.

Finally, Iskandar turned to him. At that moment, Waver made up his mind.

-I apologize, my king.

Iskandar smiled and in his booming voice replied, "And what are you apologizing for, Waver?

-Our meeting will have to wait a little longer. Before me lies a conquest as great as this endless sea, one that I will accomplish in your name.

The great Alexander the Great let out a great laugh. Then there is nothing to apologize for. I never reached Okeanos, my greatest conquest ended unfinished, yet I regret nothing. Our journey may be over, but this is only the opening of your own conquest. We will meet once more, not here, somewhere else, at that time... -Iskandar smiled hugely. Be sure to tell me your great story...

-A-Are you all right? -Gil asked worriedly.

-Hmn? -Waver felt something warm and watery slide down his cheeks, quickly grabbed a handkerchief he had with him and wiped away the tears that spilled down his cheeks. Yes. It's just that I haven't felt this way since that moment during our last outburst. I guess the emotions overwhelmed me.

Gil smiled complacently. I see...

Waver pulled himself together. You said there were three reasons, what's the last one?

Gil lowered his gaze. We're looking for an answer.

-We are? You and..." Gil nodded.

Gil nodded, "It's just as you imagine, the first two parts of the story. It's not your role to give us the answer; but I want you to pass on my side of the story to the people who are likely to give it to me.

-I see, so you're still alive? -Waver sighed, "I see, so our opponent is even older than you. Will I know how to identify these people?

-You're molding them," smiled the young King.

-I see, in that case, I'll do my best.

-I thank you. We'd better hurry, it seems that the Lamyros already noticed Gaia's interference in the ritual and has taken measures, besides, it seems that not all the servants summoned inside the labyrinth by Counterforce's influence will be friendly.

-The best thing we can do is regroup," said the Lord.

Gil nodded, "Come on, I know the way.

So, the Lord of Modern Wizardry Theory and the young King of Heroes descended through the labyrinth, into its depths...

Meanwhile, with Illya...

Lady Einzbern was inside a large cave...

"Are you all right, Shirou?" asked Sitonai.

"Why did you have to call him as my Otouto?".

Sitonai puffed out her cheeks, or at least that's how Ilya imagined it, "Since you don't want to share our Otouto, I decided to call him Shirou."

Illya sighed, "And didn't he already have a name?".

"Yep, but Shirou is his name in his bear form."

"Would you two stop arguing nonsense?" Louhi asked, "Even if we defeat the boss of this floor doesn't mean we shouldn't be careful."

A few feet away from the girl stood a gigantic creature. This was a Kelpie, a ghostly species that was classified in the rank of monstrous beast by the Magus Association. In Gaelic, it translates as "Water Horse." It is said to have been a man-eating beast, a water demon that loves the flesh of young girls. It is a beast that appeared in a part of the northern islands of Britain and has an appearance resembling a large pale horse with a tail shaped like a fish fin.

A water demon that walked and ran freely on the surface of the water. In addition, the monstrous beast can change from its four-legged form to that of a Boobrie, a water bird. Said beast was in its water bird form right in front of her, dead.

"Illya, remember to take the Boobrie's feathers, we'll need them," Freyja reminded her.

"What for?" the young woman asked.

"It's part of my gift," the goddess replied.

"Your gift?"

"Yep, since it will only be for a short time, we've decided that we'll each give you a gift that you can use when we're no longer with you."

"Really?" The girl asked as she took a large amount of feathers from the Boobrie.

"Yes. My gift will be a recreation of an item I had in life, long ago. Louhi will help us recreate it, as his ability to create objects is among the best."

"In my case, well, you'll see," Sitonai said.

"My gift, well, you're already using it. My magic has influenced you the most out of the three of us, so it will be the one with the most scraps left over when we disappear," Louhi stated.

"I understand, that's why you want me to control it on my own as quickly as possible. Since when you're gone...".

"It could become counterproductive. While it will be nothing more than chinks of my magic, it's more than a mere human, or homunculus, should be able to handle normally."

"I understand..."

"You know, she may sound rude and cold, but she really likes you."

"Sitonai!".

"Now that you mention it, she did state that she really liked your inner world."

"You too Freyja!" the witch growled.

Illya couldn't help but smile, "Thank you Louhi." The girl finished gathering the feathers and set out to descend another floor.

Finally, deep into the depths of the labyrinth...

A great light suggested from the magic circle that stood in the room. Once it disappeared, a new servant had been summoned...

Wolfgang smiled, having created the grail subcategory had given him certain advantages, while he could not choose the servant he wanted, he could choose the servant's class. Understanding the situation they were in, most servants would turn against him. However, a servant of this class would not be able to do so easily, after all, they were only battle weapons thanks to the insanity of the Madness Enchantment.

He was just under three meters tall. He was a hybrid between a man and a bull in appearance, possessing animal traits, such as, for example: horns, a mane of wild white hair and inhuman eyes. His skin was of a completely white hue, with reddish markings on various parts of it. It possessed two reddish horns and a large tail. Metal shackles encircled its arms and legs, on those of the legs was a large chain with a large metal ball, and it carried two huge, elongated battle axes in each claw.

The lamyros smiled cruelly, "I see, Minotauros, don't you? The bull of King Minos. The monster locked in the labyrinth built by Daedalus. Yes, this place is perfect for you, and soon your precious sacrifices will come to you...

I was in that place again, I came here often. Until a few weeks ago he didn't know its name, so he simply called it the Land of Steel. For a moment, he set out to observe it...

An arid desert, the land was composed of a lot of minerals and metals, it was probably as hard as steel, maybe harder. As always, he was standing on the highest part of the hill, as always, all the swords he had managed to analyze and record were stuck in it. Embers covered the ground and bounded it, it was a beautiful illusory fire. The boy raised his gaze to the sky, there he could see it, a vast night sky covered with white clouds, in the distance, beyond the clouds, he could see a beautiful reddish glow...

"What was that?", he thought, "Maybe... The moon?"

He didn't know for sure; but it made him slightly uneasy. He could also see how the night sky was adorned by spectral gears not yet fully manifested.

If there was one place where Shirou felt at ease, this was it. This was his inner world, the manifestation of the diagram inscribed in his soul and, once manifested, his marble of reality.

Shirou frowned, in the end, he still wasn't entirely happy about manifesting his inner world incompletely.

He wasn't going to deny it, the "ammunition" and minimalist way his father had devised to make use of his reality sphere was indeed practical. But still, he didn't like to use it in this way, in fact, the reason he agreed to create it, was because besides being used as ammunition, this was a new sword with special properties that would be extremely useful to him and also, beyond that rib, he wasn't going to sacrifice anything else.

The ammunition created through his new sword allowed him to manifest his reality marble inside the opponent's body. This did not manifest in its entirety, but was only a small part, but even so, the tiny sphere became an incredible force that ended up tearing the target apart from the inside. Honestly, he would never have considered creating something like this, he supposed that an idea like this could only come from someone who, in his better moments, was called as, The Magus Killer.

For a few moments, he rambled on about his reality marble and its uses.

Obtaining a reality marble was not something most magus could achieve through pure and simple research. Neither its obtaining, nor its development, could be learned from another person and, although it was said that a reality marble could be transferred, that would only be with one that was already complete and by extremely complex, and probably very dangerous, means. In short, beyond the fundamental guidelines, nothing and no one should be able to help Shirou complete his inner world, discover his abilities, or how to manifest it properly. This time, he was on his own.

Currently, he had not yet been able to manifest his sphere of reality as he would like to. At first, he didn't even know how to manifest it of his own free will, and only recently had he gotten clues as to how he should go about it. The few times when his reality marble had manifested in some form, he had heard a few words deep in his subconscious:

I am the bone of my sword.

Steel is my body, and fire is my blood.

Sooner rather than later, he realized that these words were a kind of haiku that could be used as an aria. If so, then, the following words should be:

As the gears turn, I will create unlimited swords.

Without knowing the beginning.

Will never know the end.

Shirou frowned, he could feel his inner world reacting to these words; however, he did not know what the next sentences were. Even so, even though he was still unfamiliar with part of the path, he was sure of what the turning point in his life would be...

So, as I pray, have reached... The Unlimited Blade Works.

Yes, that had to be his name. Shirou's goal was the creation of the ultimate sword, but, as his grandfather had said, "A blacksmith is nothing without his smithy." And, for him, that was his marble of reality, his smithy. If he wanted to create the ultimate sword he would need both the skill to forge it, and the workshop and the materials and implements necessary to create such a weapon, and his Unlimited Blade Works provided just that. In short, before creating the ultimate sword, he had to be able to manifest the workshop where he would create it.

And just this was the problem, Shirou still could not manifest his reality sphere, which made sense, after all, his world was not yet complete.

That's why he was forced to create something like this new sword. Other than drawing projections from his reality marble, he could not harness it in any other way, or at least no other way that he knew of. However, this new sword would harness what little he could manifest and turn it into a very powerful weapon.

And speaking of this one, among the good things he had discovered about turning swords into bullets was that these were not recognizable as a devastating weapon, at least to the magus world, obviously. From this point of view, they seemed to be more the weapons of an assassin, than those of a marksman.

The most important thing about this new sword, though, was its low mana consumption compared to the others. Weapons like Neocaliburn needed a good amount of mana to be used, and even more so since mana in the air was becoming less and less, and thus, more and more attacks depended on their own Od instead of mana in the air, unless of course, they were close to a ley line. Projecting weapons such as, for example, Balmung, more than once, required a good amount of mana in addition to the mana he had to use in order to use his full power. Simply put, the most powerful weapons in his arsenal required a good portion of his Od, perhaps in a more "sane" world this would not be so extreme, but in the one they lived in it was like that. Of course, there were exceptions, such as the Monohoshi Zao, although in his case it was because the sword itself was not very powerful, what made it powerful was the Tsubame Gaeshi technique.

The only good thing was that the first projection of any weapon required minimal mana consumption.

The sword, and therefore the bullets created through it, also did not require a massive amount of mana to function. For, by only materializing a small part of their sphere of reality, they do not require the same amount of mana as would be needed to use it in its entirety.

The last advantage of bullets, was that they were his only ranged weapon per se. While he could attempt to shoot swords like arrows, he was not yet at the level where he could use them skillfully in the midst of combat. If it was a matter of him standing still in one spot, then he could still manage, but if he had to move and aim at a relatively agile enemy, then he knew that his skill was still not enough.

In long distance fights, he Black Barrel was clearly his most effective weapon. This was due to several reasons, such as, for example: The weapon did not expend huge amounts of mana no matter how many bullets he fired, although if he could not use the projection to replenish his ammunition and had to constantly buy bullets he was sure he would see his wallet cry, in fact, this had happened initially, with his new "bullets", the weapon would become more deadly than before. It was no longer just tremendously effective against immortal beings, but as long as he used the bullets, it would be effective against anything.

On the other hand, if he had to fight at close range with a ranged weapon, then his best option would be that weapon for which his father had been so feared, the Thompson Contender. This was developed in 1967 by the U.S. company Thompson / Center Arms. It was a single action pistol that was generally used for sport shooting. It was simple, but powerful, the gun can, with few modifications, be used to fire various ammunition ranging from, .22 LR caliber, to rifle bullets. While not suitable for actual combat, it was chosen by his father as his mystic code because it can inflict the maximum physical damage possible. Its hilt and forearm were carved from walnut, giving it the impression of a dagger kept in a scabbard. The only visible mechanical parts of it were the trigger and hammer, with no cylinder or slide on the outside, making it similar to the percussion pistols used in the late Middle Ages. The lack of complex parts between the barrel and trigger also allowed for high accuracy.

Kiritsugu customized his Mystic Code with a fourteen-inch rifled barrel, made to hunting specifications and fitted for .30-06 caliber Springfield bullets. The cartridge of the bullets he used has a bottleneck structure, and its size and power level are at a completely different level than the bullets used by pistols. The .30-06 caliber is 10% stronger than the .308 Winchester caliber rifle bullet, and even outperforms a magnum bullet. Unfortunately, it couldn't hold the power of his new bullets if they were used continuously, but something was better than nothing, at least until he got better guns.

Once his father had died, he had retrieved, both the Phantom Punishment, and the Thompson, knowing that both would be useful to him and that his father's wishes were that he use whatever he could spare to survive. Thus, Shirou decided to once again make use of the mystical codes.

And, even with all these advantages, Shirou still didn't feel quite right in using his inner world in this way. However, he was no fool either, in the world he lived in, and in the situation he found himself in, he had to use everything at his disposal to survive.

Something shook him...

-Va...mos, des...pi... er... ta...

Shirou heard some words, he recognized the voice calling him.

He opened his eyes. Mana...?

There he saw the face of his childhood friend smiling at him-. We have to move, this place could become dangerous...

He stood up and analyzed the place where they were-. Where are we?

-We are inside the labyrinth of Caubac Alcatraz.

They were inside a structure made inside the cavern, which was filled with ice and crystals.

The presence of the other members of the group alarmed the boy. Where are the others?

-When we entered the labyrinth, a spatial transportation circle was activated. It split us up and sent us to different parts of the maze.

This worried the red-haired man greatly, among the members of the group there were some people who were not combat-. Illya, the professor, Sella and Fillia! If they are alone or, if they are together, and they come across something dangerous inside the labyrinth, they won't be able to defend themselves. -Usually, Shirou had learned to stay calm; but due to his father's last wishes, the events that occurred after the accident in the workshop, and his closeness to his teacher, it was impossible for him to stay calm knowing that they were all in danger. We have to find them Mana! Quickly! Before something else finds them!

With that said, the red-haired man hurried out of the cavern through one of the tunnels connected to it.

-Wait for me, Shi-kun! -Manaka shouted as she ran after her friend.

After a few minutes, she stopped when she caught up with the red-haired man. For some reason, he had stopped.

-Shi-kun, I understand that you're worried; but you can't run with no idea where you're going inside a maze built by a dead apostle, you know?

Shirou nodded earnestly. I know. Forgive me, I'll be more careful next time; but this time, please stay behind me.

-Huh? -Manaka leaned slightly over the boy's shoulder. That's...

They were at the end of the tunnel through which Shirou had run, at the entrance to another cavernous room within the subway labyrinth.

The most important thing they could both see inside was a giant boar. This one was simply enormous, with two large horns, as well as long reddish fur.

-A demon boar," Manaka finished saying.

-A demon boar? -asked the boy.

The girl nodded, "There have been several famous demon boars throughout history, such as, for example: The reincarnation of the younger half-brother of Diarmuid Ua Duibhne. Or, the boar of Calidon, which is a monstrous beast that Artemis unleashed upon the earth.

-And this is...? -Shirou was worried, with his luck, it would be a divine boar or something.

-Hmn... Surely an ordinary demon boar. Though it's only at a glance, I can tell this one is in the rank of monstrous beast.

The boy stifled a sigh. I see... -Using his gloves, Shirou opened one of his pockets of imaginary spaces and took out Vorpal. Give me a few minutes, I'll take care of this one and we can proceed.

Manaka nodded, a simple demon boar should be no match for Shirou, much less if he used a sword like Vorpal, which had qualities that weakened ghostly species and similar beings.

Just as she had predicted, Shirou finished off the demon boar with ease, and before she knew it, he had returned to her side.

-You're not going to run around recklessly again, are you? -asked the girl like a mother scolding her child.

Shirou smiled embarrassed. Sorry, I lost my temper for a moment. But we must find those three soon, if they run into some ghostly species, they won't be able to handle it.

Seeing her lover's worried face, the young woman couldn't help but try to reassure him-. You're right, but this labyrinth is not only dangerous for them, also for us, if we run without caution, we might be the ones who end up in trouble, besides, considering that we were teleported together, maybe the same thing happened to them too. It would be problematic if they teleported together, but they could also have teleported together with Fou, the bloodsucker, Leysritt, or Gray. We have to search for them, but we can't do it in a desperate manner.

Shirou frowned, he knew his friend was right, but that didn't remove the anxiety that rose inside his chest, since the incident in the workshop, he had become more protective of his sister and those close to him. However, he also remembered that acting without a plan was what caused that disaster in the first place, and that he shouldn't continue to act that way.

Shirou took a breath of air and forced himself to calm down. Yes, you're right. We can't be late, but we can't move without caution either.

Manaka nodded with a smile.

Shirou prepared to leave the room. Let's go, Mana.

-Wait...

The boy turned to his friend. Hmn? What's wrong?

With some hesitation, she answered, "It's not that way.

Shirou looked puzzled. It's not? How do you know?

-I...

"I just know. Sometimes she wanted to tell him these words, but she knew it would be stupid, Shirou would start to get suspicious and question him. Manaka lowered her gaze, she could easily see through Shirou, or well, she almost always could. While she could see his memories, dreams and thoughts, there were times when she was prevented from doing so. This was probably due to Lady Kanon's protection, Manaka had wanted to break through this protection; however, considering the karmic bond they both carried, she was worried about the repercussions.

This was not the first time she had had to hide her abilities, and it limited what she could do and how she could help Shirou. She had already considered telling him about her birth status a long time ago, but she was afraid, afraid of being rejected, or worse, betrayed, afraid of being hunted down to end up like the Sakatsuki family. So much so, that she flatly refused to use her clairvoyance, she didn't want to force her lover to act as it suited her, but she also didn't want to see the outcome left to chance.

-It's that way... -With a wave of her hand, the mage pointed to another tunnel. If we want to reach the bottom of the labyrinth, we must go that way.

-How do you know that's the way? -asked the boy again.

-It's because I... -Manaka suddenly smiled, "I created some relatives and sent them to probe the labyrinth.

This surprised the boy. What? When?

-Remember I woke up before you?

Shirou nodded.

-Well, I used that time to create some familiars and sent them through the tunnels.

Shirou resisted the urge to frown, it was true that she had said she could create familiars to send messages through the maze; however, he had never seen her create familiars before. However, he also had to admit that, after seeing everything his friend had done so far, that she could create familiars and had sent them out to probe shouldn't be a big deal; but this was part of what worried him. What was the big deal to Manaka, High Thaumaturgy? He had already seen him use it, Sorcery of the Age of Gods? She had also seen him put it to use, she had even seen him use Ancient Runes! This was beyond being a magus prodigy, this made no sense at all and, at this point, every time Manaka demonstrated her abilities, he couldn't help but doubt her words.

-I see... In that case, I'll trust your guidance, Mana -Shirou did his best not to show his doubts, he trusted Manaka's abilities; but it was getting harder and harder for him to trust Manaka.

To the boy's surprise, his friend smiled beautifully, there was something different with this smile, something that made her different from the others. The red-haired boy couldn't tell what it was exactly, but he could tell that he liked seeing Manaka smiling this way, more than her other smiles.

-So, are you skilled in creating and using familiars as well?

-Yep, though my familiars are, well... -Manaka dodged his gaze with her cheeks flushed.

-Is something wrong with your relatives? -asked the interested boy.

-Well, for some reason, no matter how hard I try, I'm not able to create pretty relatives, I always end up creating bizarre things, that's why I didn't want you to see them...

-Well, after dealing with all the things I've had to deal with, I don't think it's that big of a deal... -Shirou smiled sarcastically, the image of the bloodsucking tree suddenly came to his head.

-Maybe, but I'd rather not show you something embarrassing.

-I understand. -This made the boy suspicious, had he really used familiars to probe the labyrinth? He couldn't affirm it, but he couldn't deny it either, so, he could only believe him with some suspicion. So, what were you able to see with your familiars?

-Well, the path you were going to take was a dead end, I was also able to find several ghostly species.

Interested, Shirou asked. Which ones?

-Hmm, killer rabbits, Trent?

-Trent? Killer rabbits? Sorry, but my area of expertise is not Zoology. Could you explain to me what they are?

-Sure. -Manaka was happy to be of service to the redhead. Killer rabbits are basically just that, monsters in the shape of rabbits.

For a moment, Shirou was reminded of the rabbits used by Gurdoa Davenant when he and Svin confronted him. Had those rabbits, in addition to his kin, been part of this ghostly species? He didn't know, but he would ask his teacher later.

-What about the Trents?

-The Trent are known as tree spirits, simply put, they are tree-like organisms. Normally, Trent roots are used as magical catalysts, but I have also used them as cooking ingredients.

-Are they edible?

She nodded. And not only them, there are also creeping plants.

-Creeping plants?

Yes. Also called the great man-eating plants, they are a dangerous ghostly species. Their leaves resemble lettuce and their fruit resemble tomatoes. They are also fit for human consumption.

The red-haired man replied with a nod, if things like dragon hearts were edible, even though they were probably extremely dangerous to consume, then other ghostly species being edible was not surprising. I see. So, is it this way? -Shirou pointed to the tunnel her friend had pointed out.

Once again, she nodded.

-Okay, let's go," Shirou walked ahead and Manaka followed close behind.

Shirou may have gotten better at hiding his emotions, at least, as much as a straightforward person like him could; however, she knew him very well, well enough to be able to see the distrust he was hiding, so she decided to try to read his thoughts in order to find a way to gain his trust, however...

"¥æþø ĦǼΐ£ΰ." For a moment, the boy's thoughts became unintelligible to her. Again, the power of the goddess was once again taking effect on her, however, this only lasted a moment...

"The knowledge about Einnashe, the runes? It is impossible that she had knowledge about all that. You ask me to trust you, to be patient with you, but for how long am I going to have to wait for you to tell me the truth? Why don't you trust me even though you say you love me? Why do you lie to me, hide things, or leave them half-finished? Was that monstrous thing you used in the last war one of your familiars?"

Manaka bit her lip without him noticing, when had she learned that, had Aya told him about her involvement in the war? She didn't believe it, Manaka had explained to her sister that, although she had set out to help the red-haired man using the holy grail war, Shirou at the time had no knowledge about the ritual, and that, due to his "amnesia", he had no recollection of what had happened. She asked her sister to please keep her participation in the ritual a secret, for, just as she had lost much to that war, so had Shirou, and she did not want to cause harm to either of them again.

His sister seemed to understand him, she knew all that the redhead had lost to the ritual, and, while she knew that Manaka wanted to help him by using the cup, in the end the holy grail war ended up destroying the lives of everyone involved, to a greater or lesser extent, and neither of them wanted Shirou to link them to that disaster. Still, Ayaka warned him that, sooner or later, Shirou was likely to discover his and his family's involvement in the ritual, after all, one of the few surviving masters, Lord El-Melloi, was now his tutor. After talking it over for a while, they both agreed to find a way to explain their involvement to the boy, so that he would not link them to the catastrophe, and Manaka doubted that her sister would go back on her word.

Suddenly, the atmosphere became uncomfortable between the two of them, or at least, that's how she felt.

Sooner rather than later, they caught a glimpse of another room inside the cavern; but this one was very different from the one they had seen before. This one was not filled with crystals and ice, instead, it was filled with weeds, grasses, and trees. Creepers covered the walls and trees.

This time, it was Manaka who stopped the boy. Shirou...

-Yes?

-There was a reason why I told you about the Trents and the creeping plants...

-M-Mana, don't tell me that... -Shirou saw her friend nod and couldn't help but ask: -So why did we come this way?

-Because there are worse things in the others?

-Like what?

-Synthetic chimeras?

-Like the ones made in the Zoology Department? -asked the boy, to which Manaka nodded- -I guess, in that case, Trents and creeping plants don't sound so bad.

The red-haired boy looked around the room once more knowing that what was inside was not simple weeds, trees and grasses. The vines had large leaves like lettuces, and small reddish fruits like tomatoes. The trees, on the other hand, emanated an unusual amount of magical energy.

Manaka turned and said, "If we go inside this room, we will almost certainly be attacked from all directions.

-So what do we do? Do you know any kind of fire elemental spells? I don't think Sowilo is powerful enough to burn everything, at least, not instantly. I could use CWEORÞ, but I think it would be better for you to use it since you have a better command of runes.

Manaka smiled, "It is true that I can use elemental spells or ancient runes like CWEORÞ, but I think it would be better if you were the one to do it.

-But the only way Sowilo can burn them all is for me to infuse her with a larger amount of mana?

-Yes, I know, Sowilo could burn them all, but it would take some time naturally. The Trent and creeping plants won't wait for us to burn them whole and will attack us right away. However, there is a way for it to burn them more easily, without the need to feed it more mana.

-How?

-By combining runes, Shi-kun. Haven't you tried it yet?

Shirou shook his head, "No, unfortunately, I haven't had time to practice combining them.

-So, this is a perfect scenario for you to practice.

-Right now? With enemies in front of us?

The mage nodded, "What better practice than one with real enemies? And this is one of those few situations where you can try it without your enemy interrupting you by attacking you. Do you understand?

The red-haired man nodded. I understand, but... Since I've never tried it before, I don't know how to combine them...

-It's easy, you just have to... -However, Manaka stopped and thought for a few moments, afterwards, she smiled, however, this smile was not the same as her innocent smile, it was a much bolder one, although her cheeks were completely flushed-. I have an idea...

-What?

-Stand facing the room, Shi-kun.

Shirou turned around and stood facing the entrance of the cavern. And now?

Manaka walked over and stood behind the boy. She slid one of his arms and held him against her tightly, placing her hand against his chest. Making the two of them glued to each other.

-M-Mana, what are you doing? -asked the boy a little surprised, she was holding him quite tightly, causing his back and her friend's chest to press against each other. It wasn't like he hadn't experienced this before, he had experienced it in Germany with her half-naked friend, and multiple times with Altrouge in the half a year they had shared the same bed.

Manaka tilted her head slightly whispering in his ear. I'm simply helping you hold yourself together. You need it to write the runes accurately.

While he wasn't going to deny that was true, her friend's teasing tone made it clear that she wasn't just doing it to help him write the runes better.

-Raise your arm...

Shirou followed his friend's lead and raised one of his arms. He had practiced to be able to wield a sword with each hand, so that he could use two at the same time without any problems, so, he was quite proficient with the use of both hands. He also practiced to be able to be able to write runes accurately with either one.

Manaka used his other arm and placed it under the boy's arm, holding his wrist a little tightly. Okay, hold steady, but don't stiffen up. Let me move your arm and remember the movements while we trace the runes, got it?

Shirou was still a little surprised, but he nodded.

-Now, let's go.

Moving her arm and wrist, she guided Shirou and, between the two of them, they first wrote Sowilo; but they didn't activate its effect, and then they wrote Ansuz, also without activating its effect. Then, and quickly, they activated the effect of Sowilo, which generated a flame that quickly created a small flame that spread quickly through the grass, to consequently activate the effect of Ansuz, this caused the strength of the flames to increase like a bonfire that had been poured with gasoline.

Fortunately for them, it was just as Manaka said, neither the Trent nor the creeping plants had enough time to attack them as they were at the entrance of the room.

The effect created by the runes that Shirou and Manaka summoned was a gale of flames that flooded the entire room.

The power of the two runes was much greater when used together than when used separately, it almost seemed to replicate to some degree the effect of the weakened CWEORÞ he had used against Einnashe Forest. This surprised Shirou, for CWEORÞ was an ancient rune, while the other two were modern runes.

Although, in fact, there were theories that Ansuz was an ancient rune, or even, some said that it could be a primordial rune degraded or mistransmitted over the years. This was said because, after much research, it was discovered that the Irish hero, Setanta, better known as Cú Chulainn, used this rune several times during his life. It was known that Cú was trained by the Queen and guardian of the Land of Shadows, Scáthach, and she, along with other great heroes such as Brynhildr and Sigurd, were users of the primordial runes. The theory was that Ansuz was one of the runes that had been taught to Cú by Scáthach and, therefore, could be a primordial rune or, at the very least, an ancient rune. Whether this was true or false, no one knew, after all, the knowledge about those runes had been lost. Even if Ansuz was a primordial rune, no one could ever say for sure, on the other hand, it could not be completely denied either.

Many people said that Ansuz was not a primordial rune, as it was a very weak rune to be considered as such and, while that was true, the great power of the runes lay in the large number of effects that these could achieve when combined, but their individual power was not for less, the legends spoke of the terrifying runes of death, but of course, not all runes were equal, nor were used in the same way, so it was also possible that it was a more powerful rune, but misused. Be that as it may, if this was the case, no one could know, again, such knowledge had been lost, but it was indisputable that the individual power of a Primal Rune should be devastating, and that without thinking of combining them with others. Therefore, the theory was more oriented to the fact that Ansuz could be an ancient rune, rather than a modern or primordial one, which could have been degraded by being poorly transmitted, or simply not having the knowledge on how to use it to its full potential. This was difficult to verify, as the Modern Runes were imitations of the Ancient Runes.

This knowledge only made him wonder again, how on earth did Manaka have knowledge about the Ancient Runes? At first, he felt hesitant to ask, however, if she was already teaching him the secrets of the runes, how she learned them should not be a major secret.

So, he asked, and while the answer her friend gave him was relatively convincing, it never quite convinced him. According to Manaka, her family's witchcraft came from her father's side, while the knowledge of runes came from her mother's side.

This had a certain logic, magus families with several generations like the Sajyou, were not used to commit themselves with normal people, they usually looked for families of a similar level, or families with some magical factor that they could take advantage of, all in order to have a better offspring.

At first, he believed her, after all, it wasn't so crazy knowing that his mother was of European, i.e. English, descent. However, he still had his doubts. If indeed her parents were from different magus families who had managed to arrange a marriage... Wasn't it logical that Ayaka had also learned about the Runes? He had never seen her use them, although, on the other hand, if they were a family secret, he supposed it made sense that she wouldn't use them in public; however, she should still be able to use modern runes... Nor could it be a talent problem, for his friend's talent with Witchcraft was limited, and anyway, she continued to practice in this field of study. At this point, he no longer knew what to believe.

Coming back to himself, Shirou could see how the Trent and the creeping plants tried to flee the place or defend themselves, trying to smother the flames, but it was useless, the embracing flames scorched everything in their path.

So, after both of them saw no sign of movement inside the room...

-Okay, now I'll take care of putting them out... -Without separating from the boy, and with her own hand, Manaka drew a series of runes related to water, rain, and cold, these glowed to create a small downpour that quenched the sea of flames that had previously been unleashed.

Steam filled the entire cavern and Manaka was forced to use some other runes, runes related to air and wind, to dispel the hot, abundant steam that flooded everything.

Manaka stopped clinging to Shirou, though not willingly, and asked, "What did you think of the combination of runes? While it is difficult for a combination of modern runes to match the ancient runes at their maximum power, it is still more effective to use them this way than individually.

-I understand, but what is the rationale behind this combination?

-Ansuz is a rune related to transformation, as this rune sometimes symbolizes "words" and sometimes symbolizes the Æsir, which means that it can take any form depending on the interpretation of the caster's Æsir, and it was precisely this aspect that we used. First we use Sowilo to generate the flames, and then we use Ansuz to increase the power of the flames through the wind that they will use to grow and spread. Transforming from a simple flame to a storm of these.

-Oh, I see, I guess from now on I'll concentrate on the effects I can achieve with my runes, rather than learning more complicated runes that I won't be able to get as much out of.

Manaka nodded, "The combinations will certainly be more useful to you in the short term.

In this way, they both continued to explore the labyrinth, once again, Manaka tried to see Shirou's thoughts, however, again, she only found more uneasiness in them.

She clenched her fists tightly. This was her fault, there were many things she could not easily explain, the excuse of, "I am a magus prodigy," could not explain all the things she had done, nor could it explain the things she had planned to do to help him, so she had told him little lies to avoid having to tell him the truth, but now those lies had become a snowball that, though small at first, began to roll downhill as she tried to deceive the boy, and now they had become an avalanche.

What could she do? If he continued like this he would completely lose her trust, she couldn't let that happen, once she lost it, it would be very complicated to regain it. As much as she had analyzed it, there was only one possible solution, if she didn't explain it to him, things would get worse from now on, she didn't need to know the future to know something so obvious, if she wanted to succeed, she had to tell him, and she knew it, but she had been putting it off, the reason? Lack of confidence, more than in her partner, in herself, but there was no turning back now, one step and she would fail.

"Even though you tell me you love me, and will do anything to fulfill my wish... why can't you trust me?"

The boy's thoughts echoed through his subconscious again and again. He trusted both Illya and her enough to reveal to them that he had a reality sphere, something that, if anyone in the Clock Tower found out, Shirou would be instantly branded with a Sealing Designation. Wasn't she being hypocritical by not trusting him with her secret as well? Even if this secret was not even known to her family?

Shirou stepped forward and entered inside the room, though, this time, he was more careful. Once he determined that no Trent or creeping plant had survived, he called out to his friend.

-Mana, there are no enemies, come on!

To his surprise, she did not answer. This made the boy turn to observe how the girl's eyes were lowered. Her face was hidden by her hair, so he could not determine what she looked like.

For a moment, he worried, "Mana, are you all right?

So engrossed was she in her thoughts that she didn't even hear the redhead's question.

Seeing that Manaka didn't answer, Shirou was forced to approach. Even this didn't elicit any reaction from the blonde, so he gently brushed aside the strands of her hair so he could see her face.

Her eyes were different from what he was used to, they were not those energetic eyes he usually possessed, nor were they the lifeless eyes he had seen in his memories. While she seemed to be absent, in her gaze he could notice an ominous presence that he could not identify.

Not knowing what to do, Shirou placed one of his hands on Manaka's cheek and moved it carefully-. Mana, are you all right?

It seems that his touch had worked, the girl looked at his hand and, then, looked at him, soon, her cheeks blushed and she quickly moved away.

-H-Eh? Oh, Shi-kun, is it all over now?

-Yes... Are you alright? -It seemed that his action had caught her off guard.

Manaka nodded with a smile, "Yes. I was just thinking about something, forgive me.

Although still unsure, the boy nodded. Then, can we go on?

-Yes. But give me a moment.

-Hmn? What's wrong? -asked the dismayed boy.

The blonde sighed. There's something I need to talk to you about...

-About what?

-Give me a moment. Having clairvoyance is really useful, it allows you to always be ahead of others, however, when you face other people with clairvoyance, you begin to understand what people who don't have it feel when they face someone who does," said the girl as she began to draw a mix between images and symbols around the room, using her Od.

For a moment, by her way of expressing it, Shirou dismissed her words, and was about to respond normally, until he understood the meaning of these-. Clairvoyance? Wait, you mean seeing the future!?

-Among many other things, Shi-kun? -he answered without giving it any importance as he continued weaving images and symbols at a terrifying speed. Forgive me, but it will take me several minutes...

While the girl worked, the red-haired man tried to understand what she was creating, however, he failed miserably.

-Fufufufu," Manaka smiled, "I'm sorry Shi-kun, but it's impossible for you to understand what I'm doing. To simplify it, it's a multi-layered barrier, each one a different ancient language dead in the present day, most of them from the Age of Gods, from before the invention of the current thaumaturgical system, and several of them did not exist in our version of history.

Shirou didn't quite understand the latter, did he mean other worlds? But weren't these accessible only through Second Magic? For a moment he wanted to ask, but was struck dumb as he looked at the intricate barrier. To use something as intricate as this? No, for one thing, how can you do something like this?

His friend paused momentarily and looked at him seriously. You'll know soon enough. However, I want only you to hear it, for this, I have to block four other busybodies. Fortunately, the most troublesome of these will be kept at bay, divine revelations are a real blessing, so, for all to go well, he will have the decency not to eavesdrop, but that probably won't be the case with the other three, so I have to see to it that they don't see us.

-Who?

-You'll know soon enough, but first let me say a few last words. -Manaka finished the barrier and prepared to activate it, but not before saying: "Excuse us, dear public, but a couple needs moments of intimacy from time to time, so, with your permission, or without it, we withdraw from the public eye.

And before Shirou could ask what the barrier was doing and to whom it was directed, the whole space transformed around them. From one moment to the next, they had left normal space. It was as if she had designated the territory where they were as their own world, and then separated it as if this was a completely different territory from the rest, while concealing it using a huge amount of different barriers that changed by constantly altering each other like an intricate web of camouflage.

-Was it really necessary to create something as incredible, and incomprehensible to me, as this? -asked the boy curiously as he observed the kaleidoscopic space outside the room in which his friend had locked them.

Manaka nodded, "Shirou, I've decided to trust you with a very important secret...

-I imagine it has to do with your abilities, doesn't it?

-Yes. I've kept this secret ever since I learned about it. I... Even my family doesn't know about it.

-Is it that important?

-More than you think. -Manaka placed his hands in front of his chest. Shirou, if anyone discovers this secret, then, the least that awaits me, is a sealing designation, if I'm very lucky...

-That means it's on the same level as my reality sphere...

Manaka smiled bitterly, "No, it's much worse, if anyone finds out, there won't be any magus family that won't try to hunt me down. And not only that, all the organizations related to sorcery, such as, for example: the Scladio Mafia, the Magus Organization of the United States, the Spiral Lordship, the Summit Court, the Magus Association, or even the Harwey complex, will all come after me.

These statements astonished and worried the boy in equal parts. Is it that bad?

She nodded, "Yes, that's why I've never told anyone; but I'll make an exception for you.

-Are you sure? Don't you want to sign a Geis, or something?

The girl shook her head, "No. Since you've trusted me so much, I want to show you that I trust you too, so I'll tell you. That's why a geis is not necessary, I want it to be a proof of my trust. -Then she smiled nervously. Although I would like that, after we finish with what we have to do in the labyrinth, in our classes we reinforce your mental defenses?

-If it's so important, it's better that, until my mental defenses are good enough, we use some kind of spell on me that protects this information... -suggested the boy.

-I don't think that will be necessary.

-Really?

-You may not have noticed, Shi-kun; but you still have Lady Kanon's protection, if anyone tries to enter your mind with malicious intent, it protects it by making it unintelligible to all but yourself.

-But Altrouge...

-That's different, she has a contract with you, it's as if she has permission to read your mind; however, if she wanted to go further, it wouldn't be possible. I, on the other hand, don't need to enter your mind to see your thoughts, and yet, sometimes they become unintelligible to me as well.

-I had no idea...

Manaka nodded, then fell silent for a moment, subsequently took a breath of air and began to explain to the boy-: Shirou, tell me, what is the purpose of all magus?

Shirou was puzzled by this question, not because of how complicated it was, but on the contrary, because of how simple it was to answer-. To reach the Akashic records through their respective researches.

Once again, she nodded. For the boy, it seemed as if his friend was going to give him one of her classes. The Root, also known as the Akashic records, is a metaphysical location that acts as the "force" and "origin" that exists at the apex of all theories in all dimensions, as well as the source of all events and phenomena occurring in the multiple universes. It exists outside of time, in it is stored and archived information of all possibilities and events, past, present and future of the different worlds. It is the place from which all souls, including those of the heroic spirits you have encountered recorded on the throne of heroes, originate, and where they return to after death.

-And the goal of most magi... -Shirou supplemented, the Root was the general goal of all magus, as well as the origin of the True Magics. Learning about it was one of the most basic things taught at the Clock Tower.

-Exactly, the ultimate ambition of magicians is to reach the Root, and many focus their experiments on discovering a path to it. There are several different methods used in attempts to reach it, and they usually involve reaching the pinnacle of a certain concept. -Manaka took a breath before continuing his explanation. There are also methods intended to reach it by manipulating certain systems, such as, for example: the holy grail war, using the heroic spirits as a way to make a hole to it. Once a route, known as Akasha gates, is used, it is permanently closed. If no one enters, it can be left open until someone claims it.

-Did that also happen with the Aozaki family? -asked the boy curiously.

-The Aozaki? You investigated them because of their relationship with Touko, didn't you?

The red-haired boy nodded.

-Well, as you know, the head of the third generation of the Aozaki was a genius who discovered a path to the Root beneath his land, he was absurdly lucky. However, after creating the Fifth, he did not take it and instead sealed the path and decided to wait for someone who had the potential to understand the Root. He can be considered to have been "The Fifth Magician" until the current head of the family properly inherited the Fifth Magic. The route they used still exists, at least in a sense, even after being used, as it is anchored to the earth; however, after Aozaki inherited the Fifth, the earth is now irrelevant and it is impossible to reach the Root through it.

-I see...

Manaka smiled, "Maybe you will reach the Root, Shi-kun.

-Me?" the boy asked incredulously. Well, I suppose what I intend to create can be considered the pinnacle of the sword concept, which should be equal in mystery to a True Magic and its effect should rival these, but I don't think I will reach the Root in doing so.

-Really? I believe you will inevitably do so. So don't discard the idea so soon... -Manaka advised him.

Shirou nodded with several hesitations.

-Although the True Magics are the goal for many magi before the creation of the Fifth Magic, which is considered to be the last of these, at least in our world, it is not their ultimate goal. The magus' main goal remains the Root itself and the "truth" of the universe it contains. Seeing the Root, touching it, and then managing to understand it, will completely erase the meaning of the "impossible", granting the magus what some describe as "the capabilities of God". Needless to say, this is impossible even for the most talented magus.

-That's precisely why from the Root originate Magicks, which are, basically, miracles impossible to replicate in a specific era.

-Exactly. -Manaka nodded. However, Shirou, my goal as a magus was never to reach the Root?

-Wasn't it? Then, to create True Magic?

The girl tilted her head to the side. Hmm... Maybe you could say yes, but that's not the point. My goal was never to reach the Root because, although I didn't realize it at first, and only discovered it as time went on as I grew older and became aware of more things, that I realized that... since my birth, I was always connected to the Root.

At that moment, disbelief graced the boy's face. Mana, that's not a good joke.

Manaka smiled sarcastically, as he had rarely seen her-. So many times you thought that the fact that I was a prodigy magus was not enough to have the knowledge about things like the Ancient Runes, among other things, but still, when I tell you the reason for my abilities, you don't believe me. This is a bit cruel, Shi-kun, revealing this to you is something that has been very difficult for me," said the girl with fake pain, after all, as amazing as she was, to believe that she was connected to the Root, was a madness to a greater than her abilities, so I could understand her disbelief.

Shirou sighed-. Mana, I won't deny that your abilities are truly incredible, beyond those of any magus of the Modern Era, probably rivaling or even surpassing the mages of the Age of Gods, but from there, to say that the origin of your abilities is because you are connected to the Root, is insane. Things like, telling me that you are a demigoddess, the avatar of some deity, or any of those kinds of extraordinarily crazy things, would be more credible than telling me that you are connected to the Root. If that were the case, and based on what you have told me, why don't you just not grant my wish? For someone connected to the Root it shouldn't be a problem, in fact, why participate in the future holy grail war? You could save the world without the need for that, couldn't you?

Manaka shook her head, "Unfortunately, no, Shi-kun. I understand why you don't believe me, but let me explain my birth state, once I'm done with it, you should be able to understand.

Although hesitantly, Shirou nodded, both because he wanted to know the truth, and because he couldn't leave this place.

-Well, then sit down," said the girl as, from the floor, a chair and a table emerged next to the two of them. This story is kind of long...

-Long? -As he said this word, Shirou remembered what they were doing before entering this barrier- -Wait Mana!

-Calm down, I know what you're thinking. Inside this barrier time passes differently, similar to the bounded fields you will one day be able to create with the use of the Emiya ridge. In short, we can be here for hours and the time spent outside will be no more than a few minutes.

This surprised the boy, that was a more than considerable time deviation, the amount of mana required to accomplish something like that would be huge for him, and Manaka didn't seem to be relying on any external source.

-Take it easy, something like this is nothing to me.

-Hmm?

Manaka smiled, "Remember I told you I have clairvoyance? Well, as I said before, I can see your thoughts, although, if we wanted to be accurate, it's more accurate to say that I can see through everything.

-...

-Ah, and before you express your disbelief, let me explain everything. Otherwise, this will take longer than I would like.

Shirou closed his mouth and, confused, nodded.

-Well, it all started with... Well, with my birth.

...

...

...

So, Manaka set out to explain the whole story to him, or well, as much as she could, after all, it was more than a decade of history, but she tried to summarize it as much as possible, and counter tell him the most important things, so that the boy would not be overloaded. She told him about her birth state, why she couldn't save the world, why she had lost the will to live by having almost everything at her fingertips and knowing the great spectrum of things, which had made her life lose color, as well as how important her meeting and participation in the holy grail war had been.

-Hmm... You know Shi-kun, come to think of it, I inherited some of the authority of the goddess Çatalhöyük, the Potnia Theron, which would make me similar to a mother goddess, so, in a sense, when you said I was related to a goddess, well... you weren't entirely wrong," Manaka digressed. Seeing that Shirou didn't answer her, she turned her gaze back to him and smiled, "Lots of information to process?

Shirou had his gaze on the table with almost no movement, he was totally focused on analyzing everything he just heard, and for the first time he understood why Manaka was constantly lying to him, most magus wouldn't hesitate to try in any way possible to put her in a workshop and use her as a lab rat; however, despite all the incredible information she had obtained, ironically, there was one specific part he couldn't stop thinking about. Maybe for other people this specific piece of information would not be so relevant, but, for him, it was really important.

-I...

-Do you need some more time to process it all?

The boy nodded.

-I don't like to see that expression of doubt and pain on your face, but I can't deny that, in a way, I'm glad. The reason you're worried and hurt, is because deep down, you have them too, don't you?

-Hmm? -The boy looked up to see his friend leaning against the table staring at him.

-I'm not going to deny it, at that moment, maybe it was love out of necessity. Love, in the end, can come from anywhere, from want, from need, from selfishness, or even from hate, that doesn't make it necessarily false, Shi-kun, or even bad, although I won't deny that in most cases where it stems from an emotion other than want, it's usually fruitless. But if that's what you're worried about, then there's nothing to be afraid of now, because I'm sure my love for you right now is for the right reasons, maybe you could say it's purer than before from your point of view.

-Did you again...?

Manaka nodded, "I saw your thoughts, now that I've told you the truth, I don't need to hide my abilities from you, do I? -Then she smiled, "I can say with complete confidence that I want to fulfill your dream only because I want to make you happy, and seeing you happy makes me happy too. I want you, Aya and me to have a happy future.

Shirou lowered his gaze.

-But it's hard for you to believe me, isn't it?

-How will I know if they're real, or if they're still just to make sense to yourself. I know love can come from different origins, but if you're lying to me and they're still out of necessity? In that case I would be nothing more than... -Then, the boy raised his gaze towards his friend's. "Mana, if you tell the truth, then I want you to promise me something.

-I refuse," the blonde replied firmly.

-But then...! -Shirou clenched his fists in frustration.

-Then you'll die," her friend replied calmly.

-Huh?

Manaka looked at him seriously, "I told you, remember? I can see through everything, in essence, I'm omniscient, so I can confirm it for you, you're going to fail. You should know that by now, shouldn't you? This is beyond you, so is the bloodsucker and anyone else you've ever met. Seme sincere, now that you know of my abilities, and knowing what you're up against, can you spare my help?

The boy lowered his gaze, he could not deny those words.

-Your failure will not only affect you, it will affect everyone. If what you want is for me to stop helping you from now on to test whether my love is true, then I am willing to do that. But in that case, I want you to accept responsibility for your decisions and move on, because I will not let you die, and when the end comes, it is enough for me to have everything ready to go to another world and take you with me and Aya, we will probably become enemies of Alaya and be hunted across the multiverse, but it is something I can deal with. But in your case, can you deal with failure, Shi-kun? Can you deal with not being able to keep the promise to Kiritsugu? With everyone's deaths?

Shirou gritted his teeth and pounded his fists against the table in frustration, how could he deal with all that, he obviously couldn't! That was why he was struggling to avoid it, but if he failed by not accepting his friend's help, then it would certainly be his fault, it would no longer be a matter of whether he could or couldn't do it, it would be entirely his fault for not taking the best opportunity he had. But even so, when she thought about accepting her friend's help without having cleared her doubts, she felt her chest tighten, could she really come to trust her feeling this way? It was then that an idea occurred to her...

-Are you sure about that? -Manaka asked without him having to explain what had occurred to him.

-Will I inevitably fail if I do?

-No, but I will not deny that it will lessen your chances of success.

Once again, the boy fell into contemplation.

-Then let's do it like this," Manaka finished without giving him time to make up his mind.

-Hey, wait, I haven't made up my mind yet, what if he failed because of this? It's not something I can choose so easily!

But Manaka faced him seriously, without hesitation. Then you'll have to live with that, Shi-kun.

-I CAN'T DO THAT! -Shirou stood up from the chair. In that case I...!

-Don't say it, you don't have that chance. After all, this doesn't depend only on you, it's our relationship, so it depends on both of us, just like you can't accept my love not knowing if it's just to give meaning to my life, I can't accept yours if it's just to save the rest of the world -Manaka shook her head-. I'm sorry, I'm not so altruistic as to get involved in all this for strangers, putting those I love and myself at risk, when there are simpler solutions for me; but I'm also not so selfish as to accept your love at any cost, even if you're only giving it to me for the sake of the rest of the world, Shi-kun. Just as you cannot allow my love out of necessity, I will not allow your love for the convenience of others. This is something just between you and me, just between the two of us.

Shirou wanted to counter-argue, but he couldn't, as selfish as it seemed to the rest of the world, it also seemed the right thing to do for both of them. In the end, he could do nothing but accept it, because Manaka was right, it wasn't just about him, it was about both of them. Then, there is no other way, I can't force you, and I can't force myself either," the boy lamented.

Manaka smiled sadly, "No, we can't, because we are human, and by nature we are selfish. It's not like we're choosing ourselves over the rest of the world, we're just making a bet. From now on, I will help you to be up to the task of facing the future that awaits us, but I will not reveal to you which methods are most likely to succeed in creating the sword that can save this world, you will have to find out on your own and pray that it is the right method.

-It is an absurdly risky bet, where we could lose everything...

-But one where no one but us has a say, even if the world is destroyed because of this, no one has the right to blame us, because if the rest of humanity could save themselves without our help, they would have already done so. This is the only way for us to maintain the possibility of reaching a happy future for the rest of the world, and at the same time, a future where we can feel happy with ourselves. If I do not help you to create the sword, you will see that my love is more than mere necessity, and so you will not be forced to love me for the sake of others, if love flourishes, it will be because we have wanted it to, not because of necessity, convenience, or some external factor.

-Shirou, a future where you struggle to make the rest of the world happy without valuing your own happiness is a future you will end up regretting.

The boy smiled cynically, "Is that just advice, or is it something else you saw that I should worry about?

Manaka also smiled, "Let's just say that a counterguardian from the future would have appreciated it if someone had given him this advice before he made a pact with Alaya. Although, considering it's you, rather than giving you this advice, it would have to be drilled into your head.

Shirou opened his eyes wide before shaking his head and sighing. You're right, dealing with someone with clairvoyance can be a real headache.

-Fufu, you'll get used to it.

-So, will it be like this from now on?

Manaka nodded, "Yes, it's better for both of us," then she blushed slightly, "Maybe it's a little late, but I have to do it. Shi-kun, forgive me, I lied to you. I don't know about the runes because I learned them from my mother, and well, also about all those other things I told you not to reveal the truth. All that information I got from my connection with the Root; but I... Until now, I didn't have the courage and confidence to reveal it to you. -For a moment, he observed the regret in her gaze. I know it's too much to ask, but can I ask you to keep this secret? If someone finds out...

Shirou sighed once more and smiled, it was a smile that denoted pure exhaustion, he felt like those times when he had to face Siegfried, Altrouge, etc; however, it was not physical fatigue, but mental fatigue, more than he had felt before and, even so, he also radiated joy within that fatigue-. Of course, now I can understand why you lied to me so many times. I'm also aware of what will happen if anyone finds out, and it's not a situation I can deal with right now.

Manaka nodded and sighed in relief, it was as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. There are still too many things I need to tell you, but we can take it one step at a time, for now, this is the gist of it.

-I understand.

-Well, in that case, from now on, I'll stop lying to you, after all, you already know my biggest secret. After we finish with what we have to do in this labyrinth, I'll take care of filling you in on the many other things you must know about the world situation if you want to have even a slim chance of achieving the goal you've set for yourself.

Shirou nodded, so far, even though she had lied to him, Manaka had not done so with the goal of harming him, in fact, some of her lies, were to cover up ways in which she was helping him, such as with the runes. Besides, if this secret was revealed, Manaka's life would be shattered and his existence could well become a living hell. If he was honest with himself, despite the trust he had with those closest to him, he would have lied to them as well. Please, he had lied to Kiritsugu, his father, during his last months of life, even though it was so as not to worry him! He really didn't feel he had the right to complain to her friend about her lack of trust. It wasn't that there wasn't, it was simply that the secret was too big and too heavy, finally, the consequences could be fatal if the secret was revealed.

-I guess it was inevitable, a secret like that is not something you can say lightly. -Shirou smiled sympathetically. I forgive you.

Manaka nodded with a smile, a real, genuine smile. Well, in that case, we must continue. Fortunately, everyone is safe at the moment, but it's only a matter of time before everything becomes more dangerous.

-Hmn? Is it because of the servants?

Manaka tilted her head to one side. It's partly because of that, but there are worse things.

More dangerous things than being locked in a labyrinth with heroic spirits as enemies?

Manaka nodded, "Yep, being locked up with heroic spirits while Gaia and Alaya interfere in the ritual to try to fulfill their respective agendas.

-Gaia and Alaya! why!? -This worried the magus. You haven't done anything yet, have you?

-Well, besides refusing Alaya's help, nothing for now. -Shirou was about to ask why, but Manaka beat him to it. I have my reasons, Shi-kun. I'll tell you some other time.

Alaya was of particular relevance to the magi, as those who are close to reaching the Root are considered threats by Alaya. Many of them go to great lengths to avoid her or hide from her.

While it was true that his grandfather and he had already more or less devised a method to reach the ultimate sword, they never expected to reach the Root, let alone be identified by Alaya as a threat. On the other hand, if it were Manaka...

-You can rest assured, Alaya is not coming to try to assassinate me. In other worlds I'm sure she would, but in a world almost destined to disappear, my influence in causing humanity to perish is irrelevant. Humanity will perish regardless of my actions, whether it is the death of the planet and depletion of resources, the arrival of the Ultimates, or Velber's attack, all of these are more important reasons for Alaya to act, after all, unlike the previous ones, I have not decided to eradicate humanity. As for you intend to, it seems, in your own way, plan to strengthen us, or well, you.

-That's good, isn't it?

Manaka gave a sarcastic smile. I'll just say that it's better we treat them as just another enemy, from their point of view, it's make them stronger, or die trying.

Shirou shook his head, it wasn't the first time he heard the saying "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" but that didn't mean he wanted to experience it to see if it was true.

-Well then, I'll undo the barrier. There's an annoying womanizing wizard waiting for us at the exit.

-Hmm?

-You'll understand...

Shirou watched as the barrier vanished, he expected to find the subway labyrinth covered in ice and crystal; but what they found was totally different. A gigantic sepia labyrinth built with bricks, statues, large columns, as well as huge rooms and long tunnels, this was the panorama they faced.

-Another labyrinth? -asked the boy.

-Faustus used the Heroic Treasure of the Minotaurus, this will be very problematic for the others," whispered the girl.

-Minotaurus? -asked the boy.

-No doubt it will be, it seems that the lamyros is not going to play fair. Although, if we're talking about playing rough, I think we should give the prize to Vivian, I should have taught her to restrain herself when bothering others... -A voice echoed through the room.

-I think, of all the people in this labyrinth, no, of all the people in this world, you have the least right to say those words- Manaka clicked her tongue and showed an expression of slight displeasure.

-That voice... I've heard it before... -exclaimed the boy.

-Of course you've heard of me. Since I've become such a fan of this story, I've decided to make a slightly longer appearance, instead of just a cameo.

Manaka sighed, obviously she already knew who this person, or rather this incubus, was. The two of them were beings who could see everything, although, in his case, he could only see everything in the present, so it was obvious that they both knew who the other was. His barrier was designed to protect himself from both Merlin's clairvoyance and Gilgamesh's, the two Gilgamesh, fortunately, did not have to deal with the other.

A swirl of beautiful flowers covered the room and, in the middle of it, the Wizard of flowers appeared.

-The best kingmaker ever... -With a fresh smile, he introduced himself. Merlin, at your service. Shirou-kun, Manaka-chan, pleased to finally meet you in person.

This left the red-haired man speechless, he recognized this person, he had seen him before when he analyzed the Caliburn fragments. First Manaka's secret and now this, what else would this day hold for him?

-M-Merlin? Th-That Merlin? The Wizard of Flowers? The one who, it is said, not only helped the Knights of the Round Table, but also the Paladins of Charlemagne? It was also you who helped me in my battle against Siegfried! And, more importantly, you are the original creator of Caliburn! Right? asked the red-haired man, surprised and excited in equal parts.

Merlin smiled, "Exactly! That's a good introduction, and also the kind of reaction I was looking for. I wish we could have a chat after our presentation, but I'm afraid we won't have time.

-Huh? -Why?

-She's right Shi-kun, get ready," the girl declared. We'll have to pay the price for Merlin being a bad teacher!

-Even if you teach your students restraint, there's no guarantee they'll listen to you," the Wizard defended himself.

-Huh? -Shirou didn't know what they meant, but he felt a shiver run down his spine.

Merlin smiled, "I was about to try to dismantle that barrier if they didn't get out quickly. I'm more of a support character than a vanguard.

-Didn't you teach Altria how to fight as her fencing master? -Shirou asked skeptically.

-Well, yes, and in all fairness, I am a superb swordsman. But that would be a bit out of character, don't you think? Although, I won't deny that hitting things with a holy sword is a lot more fun and easier to do than casting long spells. When I do them, I sometimes bite my tongue, it's quite unpleasant... And, on this specific occasion, I prefer to keep to the rear if possible.

Suddenly, the labyrinth began to rumble.

Shirou wasted no time, he didn't know what he was going to face, but he was sure it wouldn't be an easy opponent. He felt chills with every rumble. Quickly, he put Vorpal away and pulled Neocaliburn out, held her tightly in both his hands and prepared himself.

-Oh, now that I can see her in person, the new look looks quite good and her power has increased considerably, not bad Shirou," Merlin commented as he saw the new version of his original creation.

-Thank you, though I still don't do her justice. -Shirou wanted to say more, but the constant shaking forced him to concentrate.

From one of the gigantic tunnels that connected to the immense room, two large eyes glimpsed. Moving forward until he reached the room, a huge being came into view. A terrible black wolf, almost as big as the tunnels of the labyrinth, with fur as black as night, red eyes, gigantic claws, and the most terrifying thing about it, its fangs, along with its entire jaw, imbued with gigantic, embracing flames.

-To think that it would summon him, really, what the hell is it thinking? -asked the girl.

-It's training, so to speak? -Merlin answered.

-What kind of absurd training involves summoning Vánagandr? Does Vivian hate you that much? -asked the girl.

Merlin sighed and smiled wearily. No comment. "I guess that's why he summoned Bedivere...".

The wolf stared at them for a few moments... Watching them, analyzing them. As if checking who they were or, perhaps, was he allowing them to say a few last words?

Nervously and without taking an eye off the creature, Shirou asked-. Training, for whom?

Merlin smiled. For you, this is a way to encourage your growth, young King.

-King?

-Stop the useless chatter," Manaka declared. Shi-kun, Vánagandr has been summoned as Rider, prepare for battle.

-Vánagandr?" This name surprised the boy, but, being a student of runes, which had been created by Odin, it was impossible for him not to know his name, after all, he was the greatest enemy of the father of runes. So, this is...

-No." Merlin shook his head, "This is only one of his children. The true one awaits us at deeper levels...

Shirou felt a terrible pressure on his shoulders.

-Relax, I am here. As long as our enemy has no eyes of petrification, everything will be fine," Merlin declared as if there was nothing to worry about.

GRRRRRRRRR!

The wolf took a step forward, it seemed that he would not allow them to talk anymore.

Manaka smiled at him, trying to calm him down. We will have to face worse things in the future, and we will defeat them too. I'm with you, so don't worry...

Shirou took a breath and placed himself in the vanguard, if what Mana and Merlin said was true, then this had to be one of those two wolves.

For a moment, the boy remembered those incredible paintings of this wolf and his brother in mythology... The art did not do him justice, son of Vánagandr, the wolf that chases the Sun and that will devour it giving beginning to the Ragnarök, the wolf Sköll, a divine beast.

Interlude.

Where was he? What had happened? His memories were fuzzy...

It was like seeing a dream, only... it wasn't his dream, it was someone else's dream, it was the dream of the beautiful girl who had taken possession of his body. Through his relationship with her, he saw things that perhaps he should not have seen, but they were also things to some extent beyond his comprehension. There was a ritual, much like the one I had been told about, but it was different, the one I was hired to investigate was a sub type of holy grail warfare, a ritual inspired by the Fuyuki grail created by the Einzbern in the East, the copy of an omnipotent device that was not really omnipotent, but what I saw? That was the original ritual, right? It should have been, but... Wasn't that city Tokyo? Wasn't the war taking place in Fuyuki? I wandered among the... Dreams? Memories? I could not define them exactly, but I could see the long journey you made, through unimaginable and unreachable lands for me, you traveled and traveled through space and time, to finally arrive at this labyrinth and then... What happened next?

"I have to make the attempt... I have a headache... W-where am I, am I locked in? I guess I couldn't do anything, I'm no David; but she certainly has the strength of countless Goliaths."

Right, you had possessed my body, where was I at this moment? If you possessed my body, and following the logic of one soul per body, did you expel my soul? No, you had not, in fact, you helped me to link part of my senses with the body that no longer belonged to me, my soul must still be inside, but it no longer belongs to me.

What happened before everything took this turn?

For a moment, I made the attempt to remember, to remember how it had all ended up this way?

"Not that this matters much these days either, after all, my appearance...", I shook my head, not wanting to focus on this now.

relics, how long ago had it been? Humm, ten generations? I didn't remember exactly, but I knew it had been a long time ago. My grandfather was a famous explorer and researcher, so, inspired by his person, and driven by recklessness, I followed my family's traditions, and decided to work researching them, despite my incomplete schooling.

I was hired, like many researchers before me, to investigate the seventh labyrinth of Mr. Caubac Alcatraz. However, the moment I entered the labyrinth, all those who had accompanied me to explore it, including mercenaries, famous explorers, and treasure looters, were quickly killed by one of the creatures in the labyrinth. An elongated, snake-like being, and massive enough in size to occupy almost the entirety of one of the labyrinth's tunnels.

"That being, yes, it had to be in the labyrinth to attack the beings that were on the cusp of familiars, it was impossible that simple modern magus could take on something like that."

Fortunately, I managed to escape the creature's attack when it was attacking a poor magus before devouring it, however, unfortunately, I ended up getting lost inside the maze, and also losing my bag at the entrance in the middle of my escape.

This maze was really complicated, my incomplete knowledge as a magical ruin researcher could not help me find my way out once I was able to calm down. Usually, the labyrinth appeared as a connection of subway tunnels of some old ruins, unfortunately, it didn't always seem to be like that, I didn't know if it was the effect of some disorienting spell, but it seemed that the tunnels changed from one section to another, as if they were moving or as if they were changing direction. Be that as it may, this one was also equipped with numerous traps and bounded fields, so getting lost was inevitable.

At least, until that happened...

Suddenly I felt my strength leave my body and, although I did not deny that I was tired after all that had happened to it, this was not due to exhaustion. It wasn't as simple as exhaustion winning me over, it was more like I was forced to lose control of my body, I could link some of my senses; but I had no control over my body.

Obviously, I fought against losing control; however, whoever possessed me was extraordinarily more powerful than I was.

Concerned, I watched as my hand moved on its own. It made a bag appear, seemingly out of nowhere, my hand reached inside it and pulled out a small hand mirror.

...

"Huh...?"

So, Norma watched as the mirror pointed towards her, and expected to see her face reflected; but what she observed was very different from what she expected. Another girl, completely different from her, had been reflected.

This was a young girl in her early teens. She possessed light blonde hair and blue eyes, she also possessed light, English features.

Norma watched as the girl looked into the mirror in surprise, then, the corners of her lips lifted slightly.

"Huh? Are you smiling at me?" Norma watched as the girl smiled at her and waved a hand.

-Excuse me, I'll borrow your body for a while?

"Huh? What?! W-Wait, give me back my body!". Norma shouted internally. However, she couldn't say anything, just like with the rest of her body, her mouth didn't respond to her.

-"Easy, easy, I'll help you survive in this labyrinth, but in exchange, I want you to let me use your body for a while, it won't be long, I promise, okay?

"B-But I...".

Manaka continued smiling-. I'm sure you're minimally aware of how skilled I am, aren't you, Norma?

Yes, Norma knew, she had no idea how, but she knew. For this pretty girl, for Manaka Sajyou, this should be nothing more than a "dream", one taken on a whim, for this girl who possessed an omnipotent body, facing the dangers of the labyrinth should not be a problem.

-So just leave it to me, or well, both of us.

Even if Norma wanted to refuse, there was really nothing she could do, right now she was in a state where she was lucky to still exist, and even if she managed to regain control of her body, she couldn't deny that her chances of surviving without help were close to zero. In the end, she could only watch what the girl was doing, she watched her draw a summoning circle.

"Right, a holy grail sub war is going on, or at least that was what the Association reported."

Finding out if this was correct was one of the reasons they had hired her and the people who had accompanied her initially. Unfortunately, she didn't even have time to check.

Her grandfather would be disappointed in her for ending up in this situation so quickly...

She sighed, she couldn't afford to lament at this point, she had to find a way to deal with her current situation.

Manaka finished engraving the magic circle with the materials she had taken out of the bag.

Then, Norma heard her speak, her voice had an innocent and excited tone, like a little girl at Christmas about to receive a present-. Well, it's ready. -In a dreamy voice, she asked, "I wonder if I can summon Arthur back here too?

"Arthur? King Arthur? King of the Knights?" wondered Norma.

-Let iron and silver be the essence;

Stones and the Archduke of Covenants as the foundation;

Let a wall be raised against the wind that is about to fall;

Cardinal gates close;

Let the path divided in three, reach the kingdom from the crown that rotates;

Full, full, full, full, full, full, full.

Let it be declared now; Thy sword shall guide my destiny;

Answer to the standards of the holy grail, if you are willing to obey this will and this truth;

An oath shall be made here;

I shall obtain all the virtues of heaven...!;

I shall have dominion over all the evils of hell!

Now, our destinies are united, come to me from the circle of balance!

Protector of balance!

The researcher heard the girl sing the aria and, at the same time, watched as the circle began to glow brighter and brighter. When she finished reciting the incantation, a flash clouded their vision and a rumbling raised a light layer of dust in the labyrinth...

Norma could feel Manaka's expression pucker, had something bad happened?

-This is strange... It's not like she couldn't bring a copy of Arthur's soul from the Throne, it's just that, when she was about to do it, everything suddenly became a jumble... -Manaka watched in confusion as the mist dissipated.

"The Throne, you mean the Throne of Heroes?

The Throne of Heroes, she had researched it due to the fact that her work this time could become Ghost Liner related. It's supposed to be a place that exists outside of the world and the time axis, it's also occasionally referred to as the Ring of Deterrence, in reference to how it's mainly used by the Counterforce.

-Something threw everything out of control just as I was about to carry it out? Alaya? No, it wasn't just the Counterforce... This world... No, it can't be just that, if it's just choosing the heroic spirit I want to summon, even with Alaya against me and with the irregularities this world presents, it shouldn't be enough to stop me from summoning Arthur, so I guess it must be because of my current state...

Norma nodded heavily, at this moment Manaka was not in her usual state, as she was possessing her body, a body that was not omnipotent, Manaka was losing her usual state because of this, surely she had even been stripped of her eyes that could see through everything. But this did not make Norma happy, in fact, it depressed her, after all it was her ordinary body that was putting heavy shackles on Manaka.

-I see... A world that has diverged greatly, to think that she would travel so far. I wanted to have a fantastic dream, as I've never really been able to dream, but to think that I would get to a place like this- Norma felt the girl smile once again- Not seeing where I would get to was the best choice!

"A world that has diverged, what's that?". These questions ran through the researcher's mind, while she had seen several things through her connection with Manaka, many of these far surpassed her comprehension and, to protect herself, she decided not to go any further.

Despite going to Mass on Sundays, and her family being associated with a certain part of the Church, she did not consider herself hugely religious; but now she wondered, "Was Moses this lost when he and Israel wandered lost in the wilderness?" She sighed heavily, not understanding half the things that were going on.

-Still... Of all things, summoning this class back... Mouuuu, this world really has something against me...

-Hmm? Where are we? -A female voice in a childish tone sounded.

From the cloud of crystal dust, a girl came out. She was a white-haired girl, with greenish-yellow eyes, and also possessed scars stitched on her face. Her upper body was underdeveloped, like that of a young teenager, but her lower body was more developed, similar to that of an adult, this created a strange contrast when looking at her as a whole. She was dressed in a black vest that fitted her body, underwear of the same color, which was extraordinarily small, and long black stockings that covered the entirety of her legs, in addition, she wore pink high heeled shoes. She had both arms bandaged, but only her left hand wore a glove. She also had a purple oval-shaped 'O' tattooed on each of her shoulders. On her lower back, she wore a series of sheaths that held her knives. All of this was covered by a tattered coat over his attire, however, Manaka could see through it, and, thus, Norma could see through it as well.

It seemed that, although her vision had degraded greatly, she still possessed vision several ranks above normal.

-We were summoned? -With surprise, the girl looked up at the person who had possessed her body. You summoned us?

Manaka snapped out of her disappointment and nodded as she tried to cheer herself up. Yes, nice to meet you, my name is Manaka Sajyou.

The white-haired girl smiled excitedly. So, you are our mommy?

-Your mommy? -asked the girl a little confused, while her cheeks blushed slightly due to these implications.

The girl nodded, "Yes, if you called us, then you are our mommy, aren't you?

After quickly shaking her head to drive away certain fantasies that ran wildly through her head, and that Norma didn't dare to look at out of embarrassment, she remained silent for a few seconds, then shook her head, to the disappointment of the white-haired girl. Excuse me, but I'm not your mommy yet.

-You're not yet? We don't understand... -answered the confused girl.

Manaka smiled sweetly, "I'm still too young to be, don't you see?

Now that the Ghost Liner was looking at her, the blonde was right, they both seemed to be of very similar ages, she couldn't be her mommy. But she had also said she wouldn't be yet, so...

With that said, the blonde looked at her maid's stats and, being able to see through her eyes, Norma could see them as well. While the stats were displayed differently for all masters, she liked to see it as the typical measurement system that seemed to show the stats of a role-playing character, the same one used by the lover of her other self and that the Chaldea organization would use in the future

Real name: Jack the Ripper.

Class: Assassin.

Source: Historical fact.

Region: United Kingdom.

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Sex: Female.

Height: 150 cm.

Weight: 45 kg.

Weaponry: Knives, black scalpel.

Strength: C Endurance: C Agility: A+

Mana: B Luck: E Heroic Treasure: D - B

- Parameters due to being summoned in the United Kingdom:

Strength: B Endurance: B Agility:A+

Mana: B Luck: E Heroic treasure: D - B+

- Parameters at night or within The Mist:

Strength: -A Endurance: -A Agility: A+

Mana: B Luck: E Heroic Treasure: D - C++

Class Skills:

1-. Conceal Presence (rank A+): This is the ability to conceal the presence of the servant. It is a common class skill in the Assassin Class.

In Jack's case, this is more than adequate for spying. It is possible for him to disappear completely and become almost impossible to be detected, even against the perception of another enemy servant. However, in Jack's case, the efficiency of the skill will greatly decrease once preparations to attack are taken; but this weakness can be compensated by another skill: Murder on a Misty Night, which makes a perfect surprise attack possible.

Personal skills:

1-. Murder in a Misty Night, (rank A): This is a skill associated with Jack's nature as a serial killer, rather than a common assassin. It allows a preemptive strike against all opponents.

From the condition of their bodies, it is believed that all of Jack the Ripper's victims were attacked when they were unprotected. Unconditional success of the skill is only possible at night. If it must be used during the day, whether or not it is successful will depend on Jack's luck.

Manaka frowned, or so Norma felt. To her surprise, she managed to hear his thoughts...

"This is bad, your luck is of the lowest rank. On the other hand, in this labyrinth there is neither day nor night".

2-. Information Erasing, (rank B): Allows the removal of information about the servant's true name, skills, appearance in the records, and memories of all eyewitnesses, including those of opponents, after the conclusion of an encounter. This effect applies even if the battle took place in broad daylight, or if it was recorded by devices such as, for example: digital recordings from a camera. However, evidence of the battle is not removed from the scene and, through logical deduction, the identity of the servant may be revealed by examining the evidence.

3-. Surgical Procedure, (Rank E): This skill allows a surgical fix to be performed with the use of a blood-stained scalpel, which is applicable to both the servant and his master.

The process is risky, but Jack manages to manage despite this. The techniques are 120 years old, but are enhanced a bit with mana to achieve the desired effect. Jack the Ripper killed victims in ways that required anatomical knowledge, such as the removal of specific organs.

"I'd rather not get to have to use this skill," Manaka thought.

"A scalpel stained with blood? Techniques from 120 years ago? I don't know if you're still listening to me, but please don't let me get anything sharp near my body!" begged Norma worriedly.

4-. Mental Contamination, (rank C): This ability allows, due to possessing a distorted mentality, to eliminate any kind of Mental Interference Thaumaturgy. However, at the same time, it becomes impossible to reach any kind of understanding with individuals who do not possess an equivalent rank of mental contamination.

Being at only C rank means that Jack's distortion is not as high; however, this causes him to have only a moderate chance of negating Mental Interference Sorcery.

However, in the event that his master has an evil alignment (personality), or in the event that he perpetrates acts of cruelty against her, his mental contamination will increase in rank, further increasing the chances of blocking Sorcery. However, as the servant's psyche is inherently distorted, increasing the distortion could result in irreversible corruption.

"This ability is...".

"Horrible, just horrible," Norma completed and, to her surprise, Manaka said nothing more.

Heroic Treasures:

1-. Mary the Ripper, The Holy Mother of Dismemberment:

This Treasure replicates Jack's murders, it is the sublimation of his murders as a concept. It is a set of four oddly shaped knife attacks.

Normally these would be classified as D-rank weapons, but they can be empowered under certain conditions by the "hatred of the children who were denied everything, even the opportunity to sell their own flesh; the children who were abandoned back then by the 80,000 prostitutes in the ghettos of London in order to support their own livelihood."

"This Heroic Treasure is really strange, apparently, it is normally listed as D rank, but it seems that it can be increased with a modifier to a B rank equivalent attack if certain conditions are met, these are...". read Manaka.

Normally, her knives are used to inflict physical damage to the target, at least as long as the conditions to activate the modifier are not fully met. Upon meeting them, the damage inflicted receives a large boost, doubling its power, and the attack can guarantee instant death if,

1) It is nighttime.

2) The target is a female (a female basically, which includes animals).

3) It is foggy.

The knives manifest inside the target's body, instantly dissect her flesh, as a result, her insides come out of her body and she becomes a dismembered corpse. The attack is used more like a curse rather than a physical technique executed using the knife set, so it can be used at long range. Physical defense is impossible, but curse resistance can allow evasion.

"In a holy grail war it is relatively easy to fulfill all but the second of these conditions, so in that sense it can be considered an easy-to-use Treasure," Manaka concluded.

Norma didn't think of anything specific; but a great sadness lodged within her, the more she read, the more she realized what a sad existence this little girl was. If she could really be called that. To think that there were heroic spirits of this nature...

"Oh, she has a second Heroic Treasure, this one is...". Thought the blonde as she continued reading.

2-. The Mist, Misty Metropolis Darkened: This is a Heroic Treasure of rank C that creates a bounded field generated from an ancient lantern. It recreates the phenomenon of, "the fog of death". The mist, heavily mixed with sulfuric acid and created with mana is itself the Heroic Treasure. By opening the lamp and gently touching the candle inside, the burning flame instantly begins to generate a fog, similar to smoke, from the bottom of the lantern. The fog creates a bounded field around an area of more than a dozen meters that has a negative effect on all who enter within the perimeter, it can also be used as a way to keep people outside.

"This one allows you to automatically increase the power of the first Treasure by fulfilling one of the three conditions," Manaka expressed happily.

Norma sighed internally. "At last, something non-disruptive. It's just fog...".

Manaka continued reading and Norma observed accordingly...

Normal humans will quickly faint in pain upon contact with the dense cloud of enveloping smoke, as simply breathing it in burns their throats and direct contact with their eyes causes them to become infected. In the end, people die of asphyxiation because they cannot breathe and end up seeing nothing as they writhe in pain.

Magus will not perish immediately inside the fog, but they will take damage continuously and will find it difficult to use Sorcery if they do not take countermeasures. Heroic spirits will not take damage, but their agility will be affected.

Jack can direct the fog as he wishes to select which targets within the bounded field will be affected, allowing him to leave a blank space around his master. He can also limit it to a specific area, allowing him to activate it within a building.

It also affects the sense of direction of those within the perimeter of the field, causing them to lose their bearings within the area. Even within a familiar enclosed space, La Niebla tricks all those attempting to escape into running in circles in the same place without being noticed. The only means of escape for magus and servants is the employment of Sorcery to guide them into it in some way or the use of an ability such as, for example: Instinct of rank B or higher to guide them.

This ability is not something Jack gained by becoming a heroic spirit, but is something similar to the sorcery he used during his life. Upon finding her victims, The Mist will suddenly begin to thicken and she could approach them unnoticed. Her victims could only notice she was there when Jack spoke while standing directly in front of them. Similar to London's nickname of, "The Old Smoke," The Fog is a recreation of smog, the mixture of London's cold fog and smoke, as well as soot, released during the burning of coal that plagued the city countless times from the 19th century through the 20th century, due to conditions brought on by the Industrial Revolution. The use of coal emitted large amounts of smog that eventually resulted in a crisis in which a thick sulfuric acid fog plagued the city in the 1950s. The worst was the Great Fog of 1952, where this caused more than ten thousand deaths. By the time of Jack the Ripper, this problem was already becoming quite serious, and the serial killer took advantage of the fog to target prostitutes.

"This is very useful...", Manaka thought.

Norma wanted to cry, the harmless fog had turned into a homicidal and portable gas chamber. Besides, this one had really existed and had killed more than 10,000 people. The Assassin class... might not be the most powerful in close combat; but Norma already considered it the most terrifying of the 7.

Additional Personal Ability:

Enhancement Enchantment due to Madness, (Rank C): Normally this is a Berserker class ability, but when summoned in the UK, Jack is affected by the cultural sphere which makes her closer to the version of the legend she represents, giving her access to this ability.

The ability increases all parameters with the exception of luck and mana, but removes the ability to speak or have complex thoughts. In Jack's case, this is only active at night, and remains permanently active if Jack is inside The Mist, which will result in Jack attacking anything that possesses mana.

"This is very useful, but also very risky..."

Norma was already refraining from having an opinion, she just wished this war would end quickly. She just wanted to go home, take a hot bath, and curl up in her bed so she wouldn't think about this madness anymore.

-Mommy, are you done? -asked Jack excitedly.

-Yes, I know what you're capable of, little Jack. Now we can look for your other mommy.

-Biieeeeeeenn! -shouted the little girl animatedly.

-Then, let's go...

Norma could only plead one thing, "O Lord, have mercy on me, I promise that if you let me get out of this alive I will do charity work, help the elderly, anything."

So, the three of them ventured into the labyrinth.

-Is-Is that so?

-Yes, you just have to wish you could read my state as a servant. It is a type of clairvoyance given only to masters by the grail.

Bedivere and Gray were inside one of the tunnels of the Caubac labyrinth.

After he had introduced himself, Gray had told her that he didn't quite understand what she was talking about. I mean, she knew what a Ghost Liner was, she had fought one before; but she didn't know anything about what being a Master entailed, or at least, not in practice. She knew what role a Master should play, but she didn't know how to be a Master.

Suddenly a great brightness enveloped them both, Bedivere rushed to stand in front of Gray with the intention of protecting her from any enemy attack, however, and to his surprise, nothing came after them, instead, the labyrinth radically altered from one moment to the next. This worried the knight, obviously, this was the product of some enemy's skill.

-Master, I will explain to you what being a Master is all about as we explore. I don't know what has happened, but it is clear that our enemies have been able to modify the environment, it would not be wise to stay in one place for too long.

Gray, who was also alert, nodded silently.

Thus, the two began to move deeper into the labyrinth.

As they went through the labyrinth, Bedivere began to explain to her how to properly be a good master and, as he taught her how to use her clairvoyance, all at once, in front of her, 6 spectral flames manifested, the gravedigger did not understand how she knew, but she was sure that these flames represented her servant's stats.

-I see them! -she said, somewhat astonished, although, to her surprise, she felt dizzy afterwards.

-Is something wrong Mistress? -asked the concerned gentleman.

-N-No nothing, maybe it's because of the amount of information. -Gray began to feel a cold sweat sliding down her forehead and numerous small shivers suddenly ran through her; but she did her best not to show it, the overprotection shown by her servant was something she didn't know how to deal with.

Bedivere could see behind her intentions and, instead of questioning her, he decided to respect them, so he simply smiled. Read it carefully Mistress. Knowing what my strengths and weaknesses are will allow you to get along better with me, and will also make it possible for us to adapt better to various situations.

As if she was in one of Lord El-Melloi II's classes, Gray nodded determinedly, as time passed, she began to realize that her reluctance to learn about sorcery was a hindrance when it came to defending her master, and this could become a big problem in the future, so, she had decided to pay more attention from now on to her lessons.

Because of this, Gray carefully read the information about her servant. If she was honest with herself, she still had no idea how she had ended up being a Master.

She was hesitant to ask Bedivere about this, i.e., she hadn't recited any aria, she didn't have a catalyst either, and besides, she was still a bit uncomfortable around the knight. However, Bedivere had been extremely open and helpful towards her and, after they met for the second time, she stopped calling him King and started calling him Mistress. So she took a little courage and asked him shortly after they had started moving.

He was also a bit confused. To his knowledge, there were three requirements that were necessary to summon a heroic spirit, besides the grail of course, these were: A summoning circle, the spell, and a catalyst.

Bedivere explained to him that, of the three, the catalyst was not indispensable, if a master did not possess one and attempted to summon a servant, one would simply summon one with which he could have a good compatibility. The aria was not entirely indispensable either, but not reciting it could result in the contract between the servant and the master not being properly completed, which would lead to problems. Finally, the summoning circle, of the three, this was the only requirement that was really indispensable, for, without it, it must be impossible to summon a servant.

Even without the aria, the contract between the two had been successfully completed, so they could say that they had been quite lucky. But the summoning circle... After some thought, all they could infer was that the labyrinth must have created some kind of circle or something similar, so that she could summon the silver knight.

Even so, Gray still looked quizzically at the markings on the back of her hand, three reddish marks with a shape similar to the tip of a spear segmented into three parts. She shook her head, at the moment this was not important, what she had to do had not changed, she had to meet with the others. Once again, the tomb guardian paid attention to the information she was being shown.

Real name: Bedivere.

Gender: Male.

Height: 187cm.

Weight: 88kg.

Source: Arthurian Legends.

Region: England.

Alignment: Well legal.

The parameters were shown to him in the form of flames:

The first flame appeared to be extraordinarily strong, of the highest class, this flame seemed to be the strength of his servant. Next to it was another flame, this one seemed to be of a lower rank; however, from one moment to the next, it reached the same level as the previous flame, as if something had empowered it, this must be his stamina. The third flame, the one representing his agility, was at the same level as the other two; however, from one moment to the next, it burst out becoming twice as big for a few moments before returning to its original size. The flame representing his magical energy seemed to be at the same level as the second flame before it was empowered, and the fifth flame, the one representing his luck, was also at that level. And finally, the last flame, the one that represented his Heroic Treasure, was at the same level as the first three and, like the third flame, from one moment to the next, it expanded to twice its size and, when Gray thought it would return to its original size, it expanded a second time.

To her surprise, she understood very well what the flames meant, and in her conclusion, her servant was very strong statistically speaking. Her Agility and Heroic Treasure being her highest parameters.

Then, with letters made by the flames themselves, her servant's abilities began to be described:

Class Skills:

Magic Resistance, (rank B): grants protection against magical effects. Unlike the effect of the natural resistance to Sorcery that all living things have, which simply rejects magical energy, this ability cancels spells altogether.

At rank B, it cancels spells with an aria below three verses. Even if they are the target of High Thaumaturgy and Higher Rituals, it is difficult to be affected.

Ride, (rank A): This is a skill that denotes the ability to ride mounts and other vehicles. At rank A, all vehicles and all creatures, except ghostly beasts and divine beasts, can be used as mounts. This rank is high enough to have aptitude to be summoned in the Rider class.

Personal skills:

Tactics, (rank C): the representation of the tactical knowledge he had in life, this is not used for one-on-one combat situations, but for battles in which many act. It grants bonuses during the use of a servant's Anti-Army Heroic Treasure or, when facing an enemy's Anti-Army Heroic Treasure. Bedivere was said to be an eternal commander.

"Eternal commander? What does that mean?". Thought the gravedigger confused, "Should I ask him?".

-Is something wrong Maestra?

To her surprise, it was Bedivere who asked first. For he, who had cared for the Queen for many years, had gained the ability to see those small changes in her expression and understand their significance. That Gray was so much like his Queen, he could easily tell that she wished to ask him something.

Gray was still hesitant to ask her, so she was unsure.

To her surprise, Bedivere only smiled, "You can rest assured, Mistress. If you have any doubts about my abilities, don't hesitate to ask me. I will be happy to clarify any doubts.

-I... I wanted to know, why do they call you the eternal commander?

-Oh, that... -To his surprise, Bedivere looked a little embarrassed. You see Maestra, compared to my other brothers in arms, I was one of the least accomplished in direct combat. I had the skills to deal with most common opponents, but unfortunately, our greatest enemies could be called by many names, but common was not one of these. So, in order not to get in the way of my comrades, I commonly took charge by leading the armies instead of being in the vanguard, which is why they started calling me the eternal commander.

-Oh, I see... -Seeing her servant's somewhat embarrassed attitude, she felt the need to tell him something. I... I don't think that's something you should be ashamed of, being a strategist who leads others to victory is an amazing thing in its own way, it's not something I can do. So... I think you should be proud to be called that, Bedi- I mean, Lancer.

The silver knight couldn't help but show his happiness. Thank you very much, Master.

-However, only rank C, looks like someone didn't have talent in this aspect either, Ihihihihihihi!

-Add! I was wondering when you would decide to speak, and the first thing you say is this...-Gray held the mystic code cage tightly and began to shake it.

-H-Wait Gray, it's not my fault that the eternal commander was surrounded by superhumans! -This only made Gray shake it harder.

Although Bedivere was a bit depressed by those words, dismay and surprise flooded him with more force than depression-. That voice... That sharp way of talking and, that laugh...

-Forgive him Lancer, he's just like that," Gray explained, "His name is Add, as you could see, he's my mystic code, it was him who transformed into my scythe and bow.

-Huh? Ah yes, don't worry, Master.

-Did something happen, partner? You have the same, I don't understand, face that Gray makes during his lessons," Add exclaimed, much to his partner's displeasure.

-"Yes, it's just that you reminded me of an old friend, he had a way of talking very similar to yours.

-Hmm? Were there knights who acted like Add within the Knights of the Round Table? -Gray asked interested.

Bedivere smiled wistfully. There was one, always with a sharp tongue and an elegant way of expressing himself, there was no one who could beat him if it came to a battle of words, he was, in a sense, the first knight of the Round Table, the Queen's half-brother, Sir Kay.

-Well, if he was anything like me, you can be sure he was one hell of a guy, Gray," Add said.

Bedivere nodded with a smile. In his own way, he was. -Then, however, his expression turned to one of concern. Are you all right, Master?

-Are you all right, Master? Yes, why?

-You look a little red...

-Well, I'm feeling a little hot, but that's all.

-Are you sure?

Gray nodded.

-I understand, in that case, let's continue.

As they walked, Gray continued to read his servant's abilities...

Calm and Serene, (rank B): This is an ability that allows Bedivere to not get confused in any kind of situation. He suppresses his own emotions and calmly observes his surroundings, which allows him to use the most optimal tactics.

This ability provides a great plus to mental endurance, especially against confusion and impatience. Even when facing hundreds or thousands of enemy soldiers, Bedivere will never be bewildered. This skill will also function as a skill that allows one to have good management.

"I guess this skill can only be learned by someone who has constantly fought in multiple wars." Thought the gravedigger.

Oath of Protection, (Rank B): This skill improves the defenses of the base, camp, or establishment in which Bedivere has settled. It also increases the defense of all allies in the group.

Divinity, (Rank C): In ancient times, his name was thought to be related to one of the Celtic gods of war, Bedwyr; but in modern times, the Celtic god's name has become one with Bedivere's, and is treated as an ancient way of referring to the knight, while traces of the ancient deity have disappeared from history, and their stories have become intermingled. Normally Bedivere would not gain divinity by being related to a deity that has fallen into oblivion, but by being summoned as a Lancer, thanks to his Heroic Treasure, he is given this level of divinity.

After reading his abilities, Gray had a general understanding of the knight's position. It made sense that Bedivere was called a commander rather than a vanguard fighter, and even so, after watching him fight, Gray was sure that he could defeat her in a one-on-one fight with ease. Unless of course, she decided to use the spear, and even then, with her servant's speed, it was likely she wouldn't even have a chance to use it.

Seeing that his servant was willing to answer his questions, Gray asked once more-. Lancer?

-Yes, Teacher?

-What is the difference between Personal Skills and Class Skills?

As if he enjoyed being able to help her, he cheerfully took the floor. The servants summoned in the holy grail war are, in fact, a copy of the servants summoned by Alaya in times of need. When summoned by Alaya, these are not summoned into the usual containers, they are summoned into a superior vessel that allows them to display much more of their power. The classes are vessels or containers that act as our bodies, inside these is inserted a raw soul with the information of the heroic spirits copied from the Throne, however, this is not a true resurrection, it is only the temporary formation of a soul that does not require a real body, so, it is impossible for the vessels to manifest all the power that the servants had in life, not even Alaya could do something like that. So, the vessels can only manifest part of the power that the servants had in life, to know which part is expressed, it was that the classes and personal abilities were created -Bedivere paused to see if Gray managed to understand him and, seeing that there was no problem, he continued-. As for class skills, they are skills given by the vessels in which we are summoned, skills that servants should generally have if they were summoned in that class, like, for example: it's obvious that a Rider should have riding skills, right?

Gray nodded.

-But there are some servants who have the qualities necessary to be summoned into, say, the Rider class; but who do not possess the ability to ride on creatures. So the vessel gives them this ability so that they are better suited to the class they are summoned into, though of course, in this case, the ability will have a rather low rank.

-I understand.

-Still, class skills can be lost due to another skill or Heroic Treasure of the servant, or also due to the very nature of the heroic spirit. On the other hand, personal skills reflect the skills the heroic spirits had in their life and in their respective legends.

-That's why, despite being Lancer class, you have the Riding skill.

The knight nodded, "Exactly. In my case, in our history, both wars on horseback and horse chases were quite common, so having the ability to ride on creatures was almost a requirement for us.

Gray nodded, for better or worse, he knew the Arthurian Legends very well. Finally, he came to the section on the

Heroic Treasure:

1-. Name: Airgetlám, the silver arm of Nuada (False):

Type: Anti-Personnel.

Rank: C.

He, in one of his many deeds, ended up losing one of his arms, so he had a false arm made by a blacksmith he knew, to use when he attended ceremonies. For Bedivere, the actions taken by the round table required the utmost respect and decorum.

Even with the loss of his arm, he continued to help his brothers in arms, whether using his sword or as a commander of his Queen's armies. When the great wizard Merlin saw him bearing that silver arm, he casually suggested, "Hmm, a silver arm, you could pass it off as Nuada's arm, Airgetlám, giving it a name is giving it an identity, it will entrench its existence, even if it is a lie." Bedivere followed his advice, but in the end, history forgot the name he had placed on his arm, it's not like this was a legendary weapon and he, who could rarely fight in the vanguard, at least compared to his brothers, and who also didn't like to boast about an event like the loss of his limb, didn't have much occasion to reveal the name he had placed on his arm, in the end, he just gave up trying, it's not like Nuada would bless him just for naming his arm the same name after all.

2-. Name: Deg clwyf.

Type: Anti - Staff / Anti - Army.

Ironically, history did relate him to a deity, but not by his arm, but by his name, the Celtic god Bedwyr; however, their relationship was not something he was entirely happy about, for their stories had become intertwined in a somewhat bizarre way. At present, it was believed that he, by the name of Bedwyr, had helped his King to fight the giant Ysbaddaden and, while such events had occurred, they had not done so exactly as narrated, it was said that he could take care of three enemies with one hand, which, provided they were normal enemies, was not a lie, and also that, together with Kay, they never backed down when it came to completing an undertaking; but it was also said that hundreds of enemies fell by his hand, that he was a superior warrior to Kay and even to Tristan, and obviously these parts were not correct, or at least not for him.

But they were for Bedwyr, it was said that hundreds fell by his hand, that there was no warrior who could match him, it was also said that he did not back down before any mission and that there was no warrior more honorable than him, these last characteristics he shared with the knight and, perhaps because of this and his name they were related to the point of becoming the same individual; but obviously, Bedivere did not have the power or the ability of the Celtic god. Nor did he possess the legendary spear Deg clwyf, the spear that was said to be able to separate the tip of its shaft, bleed the wind itself, and return back to its shaft without any trouble, and that for every puncture wound in the body of his enemy, when withdrawn, caused nine more wounds, by which his enemies bled to death.

He did not possess it, or, rather, should not possess it; but when he was summoned, this spear appeared with him.

Perhaps Bedwyr was forgotten as a deity, but he was remembered through Bedivere, it was this relationship that made a "common human", such as the knight, have an average aptitude to become a divine spirit, which also enabled him to obtain the right and power to use the legendary spear of the Celtic war god.

Deg clwyf, this is the spear of the god Bedwyr, a divine construct, it was said that hundreds of soldiers fell by the hand of the god of war while using this spear. It was a spear made specifically to cause penetrating wounds, so, only the best shields and armor can stop its attack when used as a throwing weapon.

It is said that the god of war hated that, once he threw the spears he carried in wars, he was obliged to pick them up so that he could use them again. Deg clwyf was his spear of choice for this reason, he was able to detach the tip of the spear and fire it as a powerful projectile. When fired, the tip created a great and powerful burst as it flew towards its target guided by the same winds, these were transformed into blades that spun around it, which riddled everything in its path creating, in this way, an anti-army attack and caused the illusion of cutting the same wind and making it bleed, then it returned swiftly to its shaft.

It has a binding curse of multiplicity, which is activated at the moment the spear penetrates the flesh of the enemy and ends at the moment it is withdrawn, it forces time to repeat itself and overlap nine times in different points of the enemy's body in the small interval in which the spear is buried and withdrawn, which produces that, when the enemy is skewered, one wound is made, but when it is withdrawn, nine more appear. It is virtually impossible to avoid this effect by defensive or dodging means once activated, and even the highest protection against curses can only mitigate this effect when used directly inside the opponent's body.

However, this is not the spear's most important ability. This weapon was not Bedivere's spear, he should not have been able to use it, but because of his unique circumstances, he could. He was not a human who had been ascended to be a deity, neither was he a deity who had been demoted to a human, they were a human and a god whose histories had been joined, intermingled, and thus misunderstood. This was the spear of Bedwyr, to carry it meant to bear the existence of the god of war, it could not be said that Bedivere was counterfeiting the deity, nor could it be said that he was pretending to be, but at the moment he carried this spear, he must be the god of war. Rather than pretending to be the deity, Bedivere was acting as a catalyst that allowed Bedwyr to descend momentarily by using him as a vessel to lend him some of his power; However, a lie is a lie, Bedivere could not be Bedwyr, although it could act as a vessel for the deity, it was not a suitable vessel, which puts his body under extreme pressure, which can cause it to break if he uses the spear for too long, or if he asks for more power from the deity than his body can withstand. For this reason it was sealed inside his prosthetic arm.

As "Airgetlám", it could only release a small glimpse of its power, but once its true name was invoked, the seal was undone and the spear manifested physically, being able to really release its power. This could be used in two ways, as an Anti-Army attack, or as an Anti-Personnel attack that concentrated all its power on a single enemy.

Extra Heroic Treasure (Due to be summoned in UK):

Javelin of Ysbaddaden:

Type: Anti - Personal / Anti - Giants.

Rank: C+.

This was one of three javelins thrown at Bedivere, Menw, and Kulhwch, by the giant Ysbaddaden, and returned by each of the three against the giant. It is heavily poisoned, its poison is not powerful enough to kill a giant, but any normal person with a single cut, as for heroic spirits, it will generally not kill them immediately unless they have a weakness against poison, but once the poison begins to circulate through their body, it will slowly and inevitably spread until it causes the death of their enemy, unless of course, it is cured or extracted in some way, or the servant is strong against poisons.

The spear is said to be like a horsefly, once it touches the blood of an enemy, it devours it and uses it as "food", in short, it can transform the blood into an alternative source of magical energy, which it can use to strengthen itself. Having wounded a giant, it has gained the ability to do extra damage to this species.

For Bedivere who could not use his greatest weapon so freely, the Javelin of Ysbaddaden was a truly reliable weapon.

Extra weapon:

3-. Sword.

Type: Anti - Personal.

Rank: D.

This is not a heroic treasure, it is nothing more than a sword that Bedivere used to fight with, it has no great skills, a legend behind it, or even a name that resonates throughout history; however, it is the sword that accompanied the knight during his deeds, and with which he won the little fame he had as a fighter by being able to eliminate three enemies with a single hand before they could even hurt him. Which makes Bedivere have a great affection for it.

Despite being a normal sword, it is of the highest quality, making it extremely reliable when sizing up the enemy.

-Are you finished, Master?

Gray gave a brief nod. I think I understand your capabilities. And... I apologize.

The knight looked at her quizzically. Why?

-I don't think I can help you, I don't know any healing sorcery that is good enough to support you.

Bedivere smiled again, "You have nothing to worry about Mistress, the fact that I can help you is more than enough for me. That is my wish...

-Your wish?

Bedivere seemed to want to say something; but he held back. No, it doesn't matter. You have a wish too, haven't you?

Gray thought about it for a few moments; but finally he nodded, "I have a master, I want to stay with him, but he has decided to follow a very dangerous path, I don't want him to put himself in danger; but I want to fulfill his wish, I want to be able to help him when he needs it. In addition, I also want to protect the other people who have become important to me and...

-¿Y? -asked the knight curiously.

-I also want to move forward. Someday, my master and I will part ways, I want to be able to move forward on my own by the time that time comes.

-I see, in that case, I think I can help you.

-Hey? Help me? -How?

-As you could see, I'm well versed in the use of the spear. You possess it, do you not? The spear of our Queen, Rhongomyniad.

Gray gave another slight nod.

-I do not doubt that you are capable of wielding it properly; but, as a Lancer-class servant, and as one who saw first-hand the power of Rhongomyniad. I'm sure I can help you handle it even better.

To his surprise, Gray lowered his gaze very uncertainly.

-Is something wrong?

Gray lifted Add in his hands, showing him to the knight. As I said, this is Add, and he is my mystic code.

Without giving her time to explain the obvious, Add interrupted her. Ihihihihihihi! That's right, I'm the mystic code that accompanies the insecure Gray.

-Add! -Gray waved it once more, with a bit of difficulty due to the fact that it wasn't locked inside its box, so it was basically swinging the scythe erratically.

-H-Hey! G-Gray, s-stop! W-weren't you the one who ran with his tail between his legs!?

This only made Gray shake him harder.

Bedivere looked curiously at the talking mystic code. "R-Really looks like Sir Kay, when the Knights of the Round Table were just barely forming as an organization, only he could make our Queen lose her temper so easily."

Once Gray finished waving the scythe, she turned to the knight and explained, "Add is a mystical code designed to preserve the mystery of Rhongomyniad.

-So, it's some kind of seal?

Gray nodded.

-I understand, if so, it's unlikely I can help you...

At first, Gray wasn't going to say anything else; but seeing the knight's slightly depressed expression, she couldn't help but say. W-Well, there is a way...

-Which one?

Gray was silent for a few moments. Add can transform into several forms, one of which is a halberd. This form looks a lot like the silhouette that appears when I release Rhongomyniad, it also has the highest speed and sharpness of all the forms; but when I use it it reminds me of the trance state I go into when I release Rhongomyniad's seal, so I don't really like to use it.

"Trance state? Now that I remember, when our Queen used the spear for a long time, there were times when she seemed to be out of it. I didn't notice it at first, but I started to notice it after... after Avalon was stolen... But why? Come to think of it, none of us ever asked her or questioned the origin of the spear, we simply saw them as another of the powerful weapons the Queen was blessed with, like Excalibur or Carnwennan."

-I understand Master, however, if what you tell me is true, then even if you dislike it, the use of Rhongomyniad can be vital. If you will face multiple and powerful enemies, you must be able to fight taking advantage of all your weapons and strengths. Otherwise...

"That contradiction could cost them their lives."

Once again, those words echoed inside the girl...

Gray bit her lip slightly; but she lifted her gaze resolutely, "Addd, can you?

-Oh? Interesting, Ihihihihihihi! Good!

Add transformed into his halberd form and, as Gray had explained, it possessed a design similar to the spear from the ends of the world.

Gray looked at Bedivere and asked, "Please... My skill with it is not bad; but if you can help me use it even better, then could you teach me?

-Of course. It would be my pleasure.

...

...

...

Thus the two went through the labyrinth facing several opponents. These were used by Bedivere to teach Gray.

Rhongomyniad was not just any spear, besides being a Heroic Treasure with insane power, it was the perfect type of weapon for mounted combat; but, as for melee combat, it was somewhat crude and difficult to use. Its power lay, like all spears used in jousting, in its stabbing ability and, in desperate cases, its large size could be used as a means of defense.

Bedivere showed her the best way she could use the sacred spear, showed her how the effect of her attack could change depending on the angle she chose to give it. She could use it to break through enemy lines either by standing in one place or by running against her enemies and protecting herself with the power of the spear. Against larger enemies, upward attacks would be best and, if she had height on her side, downward attacks could cause both great damage and disperse large groups of enemies.

She told him how her Queen had used it on multiple occasions to change the conditions of battles in her favor. How it had pierced the draconic form of the tyrant Vortigern, and also the mighty armor of Mordred. However, it did not recommend her to use it as a melee weapon, at least, not for now, the spear was extremely large and heavy, for someone like Gray, it would be quite a complicated weapon to use. That said, she would have to harness the power of the spear to use it to the best of her ability.

Gray was panting heavily.

A synthetic chimera leapt towards the gravedigger and she used the packstock as if it were a pike to impale it in the air, however, its size was too heavy and she was forced to back up a bit. She had already been fighting this one for several minutes...

"She looks too tired for a fight of this level, will she really be alright?" the knight thought until Gray interrupted him.

-Unleashing Rhongomyniad's power puts enormous pressure on me... -She said as she continued to block the attacks of the chimera that had not yet fallen dead. I don't think I can use it multiple times simultaneously.

-Rhongomyniad's power can be restrained and controlled, Master," Bedivere was a few meters away from the gravedigger, he was watching the battle very carefully in case he had to intervene. The Thirteen Restraints we placed is proof of that.

Gray used the halberd to keep away both the claws and the fangs of the beast. B-But how do I do that?

-The restraints, each one can be considered a seal in itself. We place them in such a way that, with each restraint released, the power the spear can release will increase. Once all thirteen are released, the full power of the spear can be used. However, Rhongomyniad has an extra condition, it can only be used properly after releasing more than half of the restrictions, i.e. 7. If it is used without releasing a minimum of 7 of the thirteen, it will only show a fragment of its power. So, if you really need to use the spear properly, consider whether it will be necessary to release more than the 7 restrictions, do not release all possible restrictions at once, you should concentrate on releasing only the number of restrictions you consider necessary according to the enemy you are facing. This way you will avoid unnecessary expenditure of energy and put less pressure on you and on the seal, that is Add.

Gray nodded and continued to battle the beast, it took a few minutes; but, finally, he managed to defeat it using only Add's halberd form.

-Shall we continue?

Gray was panting and sweating, just like against the golems, she couldn't absorb magical energy from the chimeras to increase her physical capabilities-. Y-Yes.

Bedivere nodded and they both continued on, however, Gray paused for a few moments.

The knight watched as, for a moment, his teacher frowned. Something wrong?

-Shirou... -she whispered worriedly, she could feel Avalon coming into function, and that meant only one thing.

-Shirou?

-Oh? -Gray hadn't realized he had stopped. What's wrong Bedivere?

-It's just that... for a moment, he stopped and whispered a name. If I may ask, who is Shirou, Mistress?

Gray gave a small smile. He's another of my teacher's students. -A little embarrassed, she also said, "He-he's also... my pod.

"Your pod? Then he is..."

-Teacher, by his pod you mean... Avalon?

Gray nodded, "Shirou possesses it...".

This surprised the knight on multiple levels.

Avalon, the Excalibur sheath, created by the Fae, bequeathed limited immortality through constant regeneration, and also prevented physical deterioration caused by aging. The wearer of the scabbard was granted potent healing, allowing critical and fatal wounds to be quickly repaired to restore the wearer's health. Minor injuries are easily restored, and even large missing portions of the body and destroyed vital organs, such as, for example, the heart, can be quickly restored at the critical moment before death. Targeting anything other than the wielder's head to destroy his brain is useless, as it requires a decisive blow to cause real damage.

Its function as a heroic treasure is an "absolute defense" that completely protects its user in the fairy domain. Avalon, the unattainable utopia Altria dreamed of, and to which she was said to have gone after her death. It is the greatest protection in the world, going beyond defense or reflection, completely isolating its user in a world completely separate from the normal world.

Such was its power that it was said that, as long as the King of Knights wore it, he would not shed a single drop of blood on the battlefield.

Bedivere was certain that, had the scabbard not been stolen, Camelot would not have fallen, even with the treachery of Mordred, of Lancelot, and the infidelity of Guinevere. For the Queen would not have fallen, and as long as she remained, Camelot could rise again.

For a moment, he wondered if his Mistress knew of the importance of the scabbard; but then, such a question seemed absurd, it was impossible that she did not know. Why then? Why give such a valuable object to someone else. Besides, she did not say that Avalon was her sheath, but that the person, Shirou, was. This really confused Bedivere, the only thing he could get out of it was that this person must have been really important to his teacher to allow her to guard such a treasure.

"Maybe it was him whom Merlin...?".

Once again, she watched Gray pause- Are you really all right, Mistress?

Gray nodded with some hesitation. Yes, it's just that, my magic circuits are getting too hot, it's... strange...

This has never happened to you before, has it...?

No, that wasn't quite right, almost a decade ago, on a night that she considered extremely hot, and after which, her whole life was turned upside down. Even though she didn't remember it, she had this kind of heat once before...

-What the hell does this mean? -Altrouge asked.

She and Caubac had interrupted their talk when they saw how events had unfolded inside the maze.

In a gigantic room in the maze, which appeared to be a room leading to the next floor, a gigantic creature lay dead at the bottom of it, its corpse completely bloody. This surprised them enormously, but it was not what caught their attention the most, nor what worried them the most.

There, in front of the creature's corpse, was a silhouette. This one was small in comparison to the corpse; but it was surely more imposing than the beast. It wore jet black armor that appeared to be very heavy, the color of its hair was pale blond, as pale as its skin. His face was covered by a visor and, in his right hand, he carried a sword just as black as his armor, this one was traversed by bright reddish markings.

A black-stained version of the King of Knights? Or, in other words, a corrupted version of Altria Pendragon. Also the legendary London murderer, Jack the Ripper. One of the illustrious Knights of the Round Table, the Eternal Commander, Bedivere. The legendary Wizard of Flowers and the greatest Kingmaker, Merlin. A young version of the King of Heroes, the oldest hero of mankind, Gilgamesh. The monster locked inside Daedalus' Labyrinth, the Minotaur. And finally, the legendary wolf of Ragnarök and his two sons, Vánagandr... An incredible cast of characters, don't you think?

-No doubt about it... -Altrouge clenched his fists.

-I'm sure this is the craziest fake holy grail war ever, don't you think?

-Yes... -Altrouge bit his lips. "And, of all people, you had to participate in this one, didn't you, Shirou."

-So, what will you do?

The Princess was silent for a few moments. The door to this room, does it have a lock on it?

-Well, something like that?

-Then get ready to open it at any moment. I'm going out.

-Even if you go against the will of the planet?

Altrouge smirked. I'll apologize later, when I'm not endangering my boy.

Alcatraz stifled a scoff. Well... In that case, I think I'll guide you quickly to the last room. If you destroy the subcategory, it'll be over much faster.

-Can you do it? It's not your labyrinth anymore...

-Yes, that's true. Faustus has messed up my work, and that's not something I can let go. Besides, isn't it obvious that there's no one better suited to decipher a labyrinth than another labyrinth builder?

Altrouge smiled. In that case, I'm counting on you.

"Stop little girl!".

The maze, which had just transformed, began to rumble.

"Huh? Is something wrong Freyja?", Illya asked as he ordered Shirou to stop.

"Sitonai, tell Shirou to get ready, Louhi, you too!" the goddess shouted.

"Huh, what's wrong Freyja, why so alarmed?" asked Sitonai.

"Something's coming, something big, what's chasing us Freyja!", asked Louhi.

"Forgive me little one, it seems my past is chasing us," exclaimed the vanir goddess.

"Your past?" asked Illya.

"Yes. When Ragnarök happened, I was one of the few deities who was able to escape. The Ragnarök was carried out, mainly, by Loki and by his sons, among them, Vánagandr. And now... Now he and his sons have returned to finish the job."

Illya watched a silhouette approaching through the tunnel in front of him, with each step, the labyrinth rumbled. Shirou, for his part, grunted in response.

"Wait, isn't Vánagandr another name for Fenrir?".

The silhouette grew larger and Illya could admire it fully. A gigantic wolf nearly the size of the massive tunnel came into view. Its fur was white, its eyes cold and bluish, it possessed large claws and prominent fangs, a kind of whitish frost, similar to moon dust, seemed to emanate from its being.

"Hati...," Freyja said with charged hatred in her voice.

"The wolf that tore the moon apart in the legend?".

"Forgive me little one, I have involved you in my personal conflicts; but please lend me your strength at this time. I will not run away this time," the goddess pleaded resolutely.

"Well, I don't think she'll let us run away either," said Louhi.

"Hmn! At this point, we can do nothing but fight! Ready Illya!?" asked Sitonai.

"I-I wish I had that confidence...", the young Einzbern replied.

-GGGGRGRRRRRR! -grunted the wolf and prepared to attack.

Shirou growled in response as well and prepared to pounce, at the same time, still nervously, Illya manifested the greatsword he had used to cut off the chimera's head in one of his hands.

And so, another battle commenced inside the labyrinth...

Chapter 30, An ideal ruler.

CRRASSSHHH!

The gigantic paw of that enormous divine beast descended with great ferocity. The blow was so powerful that the impact cracked the floor of the colossal labyrinth.

It was only by a little; but he managed to dodge the attack of the wolf that devoured the Sun by a small margin of distance.

If he was honest, ever since his fight against the Dragon Slayer, perhaps a little earlier, the red-haired man had realized that it would be far from simple for him to face beings like the heroic spirits, much less would it be simple to face one that was, at the same time, a divine beast.

Fortunately for him, when he faced Siegfried, he had the good fortune to have Manaka's help, and this time was no exception either. Currently, he could strengthen himself beyond what would be achieved with a modern booster; however, he still did not reach the level to which his friend could strengthen him. Still, as she had said, if you don't practice, you'll never learn, and while he and Manaka couldn't be separated, he didn't know if he could always count on her to reinforce him.

Still, he wouldn't be crazy enough to take on a divine beast and use it as a practice partner. If possible, he would have grabbed the Black Barrel as soon as he saw the slightest shadow of Sköll and fired without a second thought. However, he didn't get that chance...

CRRASSSHHH!

Another swipe, once again, Shirou was able to dodge it by a small margin; but for how long could he? For now, he was doing nothing but dodging and looking for any opportunity that came his way. Fortunately, he had the tools to stay alive against this fierce foe.

For starters, the Triple Accel. Generally, the Double Accel would be his limit in previous conditions. At first, he could only use it in short bursts thanks to Avalon and his Reinforcement; however, as he became more accustomed to using the spell and, more importantly, becoming more skillfully reinforced, he had begun to extend that time. The Reinforcement improved his body's resistance, which allowed him to deal more easily with the Accel's rebounding effect, thus, when he began training with Manaka to further increase his abilities to reinforce himself, he in turn expanded his abilities to shovel the rebounding effect.

Still, what really made the difference was the recovery of the Emiya's crest. Kiritsugu only had a small portion with which he had created the Innate Time Control, on this small portion of the crest depended the effectiveness of the spell, it was not something he could improve with simple training, so, when he recovered the first half of the crest, and it mated with the portion he had, the spell's stability and effectiveness skyrocketed for the first time, thanks to this he was able to fight Einnashe's Throne using Triple Accel for a relatively long interval of time without suffering the repercussions to the level that he would feel with just the small portion of the crest. And, when he finally completed it, he was able to fight from the beginning of the battle against Siegfried with the Triple Accel and was even able to reach and maintain the Square Accel without suffering lethal repercussions.

Raising his innate time brought consequences, positive and negative, among which the increase of his speed was the most obvious, but the scope of this increase was wider than it seemed. He not only moved faster, he reacted faster, his reflexes increased his speed and, more importantly, also his speed of thought, according to Manaka, increasing his speed of thought through Temporal Manipulation caused a similar but extremely simpler effect than the one caused by Thought Acceleration used by the Atlas Alchemists. And, despite being much simpler, it still brought its advantages: against normal opponents it seemed, from their perception, that time slowed down, and, against opponents fighting at a high speed, it stabilized the battlefield in their favor. Furthermore, because the time augmentation was used on his entire body at once, including his brain and magic circuits, the speed at which he could project weapons also increased at the same level as the time adjustment increased; however, the exhaustion when fighting using Accel was also much greater.

This benefit of thought acceleration might not be a big deal on its own in a fight against beings like Ghost Liners, but thanks to his mystical eyes, this was taken to new levels.

Glam Sight were not extremely powerful eyes compared to others, hence, they did not even enter the top three rank of mystic eyes, being inferior to golden rank eyes, in fact, the auctioneer had stated that, in a sense, they were more akin to pure eyes than mystic eyes, and yet, they were surprisingly useful to Shirou. Glam Sight had unique abilities that set them apart from ordinary mystic eyes, so, in that sense, they could be considered special, but their usefulness, like all other mystic eyes, varied from magus to magus, and they were generally not capable of interfering with the outside just by their use, so they were generally considered to be not very powerful eyes.

However, since their effectiveness varied for different magus, there were exceptions. Fairy eyes allow, as their name suggests, to see fairies, which were normally invisible to ordinary people and magus¸ however, the fundamental ability of Glam Sight were twofold: they allow to perceive information that people are generally not able to process and, in addition, they are able to adjust this information so that the brain is able to understand it, one could say that they acted almost like an information translator in that sense. However, obviously, these had their limits.

The abilities of the mystic eyes are directly linked to the capabilities of the wearer, which can allow the eye to show all its capabilities, limit them, or even get out of control. An example of this was Father Karabo, whose eyes were more powerful than he was and occasionally got out of control. The Glam Sight worked with this limitation as well, i.e., when using them, how much you are able to see, how accurately, or how much information you are able to pick up, varied from person to person depending on their physical characteristics.

In other words, Glam Sight senses and adapts to information that the brain cannot normally process, but how quickly or to what level they can do so depends on two factors: the amount of information they have to adjust, and, more importantly, how much they have to adjust it, the mystic eyes work in conjunction with the brain of its user, and it was not the same to have to adjust information that exceeded the understanding of a brain, but still this was adequate to recognize such information, just not at such complex levels, to someone who, from the beginning, was not able to process such information.

An example of the effects of mystical eyes was Norma, who possessed this type of eyes, she was able to sense the presence of magical aura or magical energy at a distance, which allowed her to detect ghostly species without the need to see them directly, as a kind of radar, which appeared before her with an unclear form. She was able to obtain a little information from the beings she saw directly through eye contact, such as, for example: if someone was not human, and, these also allowed her to adjust the information she observed in case her brain could not process it, such as, for example: high-speed movements. In addition, she did not like to walk through cemeteries, because, from time to time, she could perceive the silhouettes of ghosts. She could probably also perceive fairies, but so far she had not encountered real ones.

Another user of fairy eyes was Wills, Lord El-Melloi's former co-worker. He could perceive fairies with total clarity. Whether he could only perceive fairies, or whether he could also see other types of spirits or other elements, was unknown to everyone after his disappearance. If Wills could only see fairies, it could be due to a few possibilities: he had some kind of natural ability that intrinsically linked him to fairies, which made his eyes specifically specialized in perceiving them, limiting everything else, which made little sense since he was supposed to be a genius for evocation, so, that his eyes could see other types of spirits, should be something to be expected, or, the second option, is that his mystical eyes had not been in a good state at the moment of transplanting them to him, which would greatly diminish their potential. And of course there was also the option that he could see more than just fairies, but it was rare for magi to reveal their secrets so openly.

Lastly, there was Shirou. He, for obvious reasons, was extremely skilled at understanding melee weapons at a higher level than normal people could with just a glance. So, his eyes allowed him to obtain a higher level of understanding of those weapons he analyzed, although he was not able to track things other than melee weapons, he was still able to obtain information of weapons other than melee weapons, such as, for example: he was able to judge the concept of the creation and materials of weapons that were far from swords, as well as the way in which they were employed, thus he had managed to learn more about the Black Barrel. He had also been able to improve the quality of the projections of weapons that he was previously unable to project properly, as were The Phantom Punishment and Neocaliburn, whether or not he could project divine creations or weapons that had reached the Realm of the Gods without him having been explicitly involved in their creation was something he had not yet had the opportunity to test. As for other things his eyes had helped him perceive, there were the high-speed movements.

Shirou was able to increase his range of vision when using Reinforcement, being able to observe up to around a distance of close to four kilometers in a straight line and could also increase his field of vision on the sides, on the other hand, thanks to the effect of his Temporal Manipulation Sorcery, his brain could handle information from high-speed fights, and, thanks to his new eyes, even if he were to face even faster enemies, as was the case with Siegfried, he would still be able to respond appropriately.

As to whether his eyes would allow him to see other things, that was something he could only find out at the time, but he doubted he could see any other kind of spirits other than fairies, he had no alignment to help him in that regard. Not all fairies were imperceptible, some were of the transcendent kind, which could be seen, so, the one he had seen earlier, didn't count. Still, even though the effects of his new eyes were truly incredible for their projection, it was unlikely that they were the only thing they did, for his eyes had come from the combination of the Glam Sight and his own pure eyes, and that day when the accident happened in the workshop, he discovered that he was right.

Speaking of pure eyes, until recently Shirou didn't know how he had obtained them, for starters, because these didn't manifest from birth, as they were supposed to; but according to his grandfather, in his family it was normal for this to happen at some point in his life, it had happened with all those who had agreed to pursue Sengo's dream. And this only made things stranger, while pure eyes were supposed to be more common than mystic eyes, neither were they something that could be assured would arise in every generation, there were methods to increase the probability of inheritance, but he hoped that his family had not resorted to these, he did not know how incest was viewed in his ancestor's time, but due to the genetic problems it could bring, it was not something well seen nowadays, at least, not by normal people, magus were special people, for better or worse. Fortunately, that wasn't the case according to his grandfather, but that only made things more inexplicable. At least until he started studying the curse on his katana...

One of the reasons the redhead had decided to study about curses was because his grandfather was well known for creating cursed swords, and one such example was Kokorozashi, while his studies had progressed wonderfully, and him being able to create Watsugunairui Muramasa was proof, to his surprise, Kokorozashi's curse was much deeper than he initially believed. Creating a cursed sword was not something that necessarily required understanding the curse it carried, Shirou didn't want to think about how long it would have taken to understand the extent of Angra Mainyu's curse if he had to do so for the creation of his katana, it would be the equivalent of understanding the immense amount of curses that made it up. But with the Kokorozashi curse it was different, at least he knew the effect of the Curse of All the Evils of the World; but that was not the case with the curse of the sword that acted as an anchor for his grandfather's soul. Thanks to his studies, he had been able to understand what a binding curse was, however, he had not been able to discover what effects it caused.

In her frustration at not being able to understand the curse, and as an act of sarcasm towards her friend's abilities, she asked Manaka if she was also talented in the study of curses. Ironically, Manaka replied with a smile and a nod, obviously, now he knew the reason for her skills, but at that time it seemed that irony had appeared in front of him to slap him. Manaka studied the katana, and at the time it seemed to be a thorough study; however, it was surely an act to keep him from being suspicious, it was more likely that she already knew the answer before he asked her.

According to her friend, Kokorozashi possessed a binding curse, between Sengo and Shirou, so that, progressively, Shirou was able to gradually inherit his ancestor's skills, faculties and knowledge, it could be considered as a kind of spiritual possession. This was something that many magicians had done in the past, they had let people from the past possess their bodies with the intention of obtaining their skills and knowledge. Obviously, this had its risks, the most common and well known being the loss of control of the body, and once the spirit stopped possessing you, the abilities possessed by the spirit were generally lost, unless of course, the possession had occurred over a long period of time, long enough for the spirit's soul genes to influence the host's body. Knowledge, on the other hand, was somewhat easier to preserve.

As such, Kokorozashi's curse could not be considered a spirit possession per se, as Sengo's spirit did not dwell within Shirou's body, but the binding curse caused the same effect as a possession, it could be considered a pseudo-spiritual possession. This had started from the moment Shirou had first unsheathed the katana, it was because of the binding curse that the boy had fainted the first time he had unsheathed it, it opened his magical circuits for the first time and began to affect them. The advantage of this pseudo possession was that Shirou would not suffer the risk of losing his body, but, on the other hand, the effect of the possession, that is, the inheritance, would take much longer to occur, it was for this reason that, despite having unsheathed the sword two and a half years ago, the effects of the possession had only begun to show physically until only a few months ago, with the appearance of his pure eyes.

This had cleared up many of her doubts, but at the same time, it produced many more doubts, was there something else she would inherit from her ancestor? Although Manaka could answer his questions, and in his own way he did, the focus of attention was on Muramasa at that moment. On the other hand, for old blacksmith, those things that had happened for several generations in his family had suddenly become something special and, seeing the look full of curiosity of his grandson, the old blacksmith could do nothing but nostalgically reminisce about many of the events he remembered had happened in the last five hundred years, which from his point of view had been normal things, but which it turned out were not at all. And for Shirou and Manaka, it was something he had rarely been able to experience, in Shirou's case, and had never been able to experience, in Manaka's case. He sounded like a grandfather telling the stories of his youth to his grandchildren.

From Sengo's stories, they managed to come to several conclusions about the things Shirou might inherit:

The first and most obvious had been his pure eyes, it now made sense that the eyes were inherited from generation to generation, they had been a product of Kokorozashi's curse, of inheriting Muramasa's karma, his will, and taking it as his own by inheriting his dream, therefore, only the firstborn of each generation inherited the sword, and thus, the duty, the dream, and the will. This had nothing to do with their status as blacksmiths related to the World of Sorcery, it was just something common within Japanese families.

According to Muramasa, some took more or less time to inherit the eyes, and the extent of their abilities varied from bearer to bearer. Manaka was able to come up with a theory about this, according to her, the time it took for the inherited characteristics to manifest could depend on several factors, these could be, for example, the physical, mental and spiritual compatibility Muramasa had with his descendants, things like, to what degree they were willing to inherit his will, could also come to affect. Based on this, and according to what Muramasa had told them, Shirou had started with his inheritance relatively quickly, according to him, some took decades before manifesting the eyes.

As for the eye abilities, Muramasa told them what he had seen over the years and again, based on the stories, Manaka put together a theory about his abilities. According to Muramasa, he always set his eyes on karma during his life, and several times he was able to have visions of things that would happen in the future. Manaka identified this as a type of precognition, karma was interpreted as a cosmic law of retribution, referring to actions that cause the beginning of the cycle of cause and effect, in simple words, every action has its retribution.

Muramasa possessed the ability to see those retributions resulting from those actions, according to what the old blacksmith had told them, his ability seemed to balance between predicting the future and calculating the future. According to the blacksmith, not all visions were fulfilled, those that were fulfilled to the letter, as if it were fate, occurred shortly after he had them, the visions that took place over a longer period of time also occurred, but often not exactly as he had seen them, and there were some that did not occur at all. For Manaka this was easy to interpret, the ability to see karma allowed Muramasa to see the future based on the retribution of the actions he observed. However, karma was a chain effect, action and retribution, the first retribution gave way to another action which in turn gave way to another retribution, an indefinite cycle in a nutshell. That said, from one action could come infinite retributions throughout spacetime, so, Muramasa could use his precognition to see the retributions through the karmic cycle of cause and effect, but the further he looked, the further the retributions went from direct retribution caused by one action, to indirect retributions caused by the cycle of cause and effect, it was the equivalent of going from calculating the future for a near time, to predicting the future for a more distant one, while the former had enormous probabilities of occurring, almost absolute, the probabilities of the latter diminished as the future became more distant.

Having said all this, Sengo explained how he had one of his last visions at the end of his natural life and, through it, he met Shirou for the first time, this vision happened just when he had begun to forge Kokorozashi and, although the old blacksmith had not been informed of all the theory behind his precognition, due to practical experience with his visions, he had come to similar conclusions, therefore, having observed a vision that could occur in such a distant time and, in his eagerness to make it come true, he worked tirelessly to achieve it, not so that one action would lead to that retribution, but so that all his actions throughout his more than five hundred years of life would produce that retribution and, without knowing it, the old blacksmith had begun to forge a destiny that distant day.

As for whether Shirou could harness these abilities from his pure karmic eyes, unfortunately, precognition was an extremely flesh-bound ability, so, it required a great deal of compatibility with the body in order to be used effectively and, unfortunately, Shirou's body was not suited for this one. This was one of the reasons why many of his ancestors had taken so long to manifest eyes, and also why some of these had seen their precognitive abilities so limited compared to other predecessors or successors. However, this did not mean that he could not use precognition, for this ability was inherited through pseudo-possession in the form of the pure eyes, i.e., unlike common precognition that was physically "inherited", Muramasa's soul genes were altering Shirou's body to some extent to make it possible for him to make use of the ability, but even so, it was a partial overwriting of his body, the only way his body was overwritten in its entirety, was for Muramasa to possess it for an extended period of time, longer than they actually had, and this could bring several problems, from the loss of control of his body, to an overwriting of himself, and that, added to the fact that moving his ancestor's soul to another vessel would increase the speed of his decomposition, made them discard the idea, in the end, his precognition would be very limited due to the poor compatibility with his body.

In other words, it could be said that his eyes could see the future through the karmic cycle, but that his brain was not very apt at the time of understanding this information. And so it should have remained, however, it seemed that karma was on his side, for every action has a retribution, and the action of boarding the Rail Zeppelin had the retribution of Shirou obtaining the Glam Sight. The eyes that see karma, but whose effectiveness was limited due to compatibility with Shirou's body, and the eyes that allow one to perceive what people generally cannot process, but which despite that, compared to other mystical eyes, did not allow one to see or interact with things valuable enough to be considered powerful mystical eyes, aligned perfectly to create hybrid eyes with the ability to provide precognitive abilities without the need to take into account whether or not the person was fit to handle this ability.

For many magus, this would have been considered a waste of resources. If you wanted precognition eyes, you just had to buy them, at worst, it all depended on whether you had the resources to afford them. However, if someone like Shirou got them, because of his low compatibility, at best, he would not be able to use them properly, in a more realistic case, the eyes would have more authority than him and it could happen to him like Karabo, and in the worst case, it could happen to him like Galvarosso, whose eyes went out of control continually showing him his future death. Probably, his precognition would not reach the level once possessed by his ancestor, Glam Sight are not miracle workers, but it would be far greater than it should have been, and far better than it would be with any other pair of mystical eyes.

Finally, Manaka named his new eyes as: Karmic Vision; eyes of hadic understanding.

After the pure eyes, thanks to Muramasa's stories, Manaka was able to realize something else that caused the pseudo-possession curse. Shirou was 16, in a few months, he would be 17, and he had started studying as a blacksmith two and a half years ago, and with that alone he was able to reforge Caliburn, reforge the Monohoshi Zao, forge Watsugunairui Muramasa, forge two prototypes of the Enjoyada Zelretch sword, etc. Shirou was talented, very talented in this area, after all he was practically a living sword, but still, it was too much to be believable no matter how much talent he had, if he was a magus, with a wealth of knowledge and skills inherited through a crest, then maybe it would be a bit more believable, but with Shirou it was not so, or, rather, it should not have been so.

The curse was not only in one direction, it linked Shirou and Muramasa, little by little, subconsciously transmitting the knowledge and experience of the blacksmith to his descendant and vice versa, the curse did not transfer memories or ego, only knowledge and experience to the forge, it was a curse created so that the techniques of the old blacksmith would not be lost and it would be possible to inherit them to his descendants, and that is precisely what the curse did, it transmitted Muramasa's will through the pure eyes, and subconsciously transmitted the knowledge and experience of the blacksmith, but as Muramasa had lived for 500 years, he had also collected the experience of the achievements of all his descendants and then transmitted them again, one after another. Perhaps he did not pass on magic circuits or spells from earlier times, but he passed on what was necessary for what Muramasa desired.

That is, five hundred years of experience and knowledge would be transmitted to Shirou slowly through the curse. And within this knowledge was not only the forging of countless katanas, for, over the centuries, his family had forged many more things, spears, arrows, shields, armor, and, even if they had not been forged by his family, as long as Muramasa had been present or had seen the weapon in some way, that knowledge would be stored. An example of this was the Tonbokiri spear, one of the three great spears of Japan, and the sword called Inoshishi-giri, now both Heroic Treasures, owned by two of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Tokugawa and forged by one of Muramasa's pupils, Fujiwara Masazane.

This knowledge was transferred in such a natural way that Shirou himself did not even realize he possessed it, it was as if he had always had it. This knowledge would serve him to forge more weapons more easily and of higher quality, and like the other information he possessed about different weapons, he could use it to discover different ways to deal with various enemies.

And, while this knowledge wouldn't do much good against Sköll's enormous claws, everything previously mentioned would, no matter how hard the wolf tried to hunt him down, he was unable to get his claws on him. However, and to his misfortune, it seemed that Sköll had come to kill him and him alone, for he had bypassed Merlin and Manaka, focusing on tearing him apart with his massive paws.

Although, maybe that wasn't such a bad thing...

Suddenly, a wave of concentrated beams of mana flew from the magic circles behind Manaka and Merlin's great staff. The attacks of the two mages hit the divine beast knocking it back several meters and, although the attack seemed to be devastating, the magical resistance of a divine beast was not to be underestimated, Sköll got up once again as if the damage had been minimal.

However, unlike before, now the great wolf was mindful of the involvement of the two mages.

Sköll was the son of the great wolf Vánagandr, who possessed a powerful authority and powers over the ice, and part of those powers had been inherited to his sons...

GGGRRRRRRRR!

The great wolf gave a gigantic stomp and, from the place where he had placed his paw, a wave of icicles of ice erupted covering and breaking the whole floor in the direction of Merlin and Manaka.

The wizard was about to act; but the Flower Wizard beat her to it. He placed his staff forcefully in front of him and, the wave of ice that was approaching him, suddenly began to transform into a beautiful sea of flowers.

This was one of the ways to use the Caster class skills, specifically, Terrain Creation. The ability allowed to build a special terrain that was advantageous to the mage, this could be created for different purposes, such as, for example: to collect mana, to use the terrain to his advantage, to allow him to do things inside the territory that he could not do outside it, or, in Merlin's case, he was using it to create a beautiful sea of flowers which fed on the wolf's ice, something really unusual.

Still, although Merlin was an extraordinary wizard, because he generally tended to tire of using this ability, he only used it half-heartedly.

And, while the wizard blocked the attack, Shirou did not stop, he knew well what his role in the team was, although he would also like to be able to attack from a distance, if there was no one to face the wolf in the vanguard, the three of them would be killed. And, to his misfortune, it seemed that, for some reason, Merlin was not willing to be the vanguard, so he would have to take charge.

Suddenly he began to feel strange, but even so, he launched himself against the wolf at three times his natural speed and, despite the risks he was taking, he felt confident, sure, as if, despite the situation, everything was going to be fine, just as the Flower Wizard had told him, obviously, the boy was not aware that, in fact, that feeling was because of that wizard...

If charisma was an ability given to leaders, Kings, among others, which allowed to increase the ability of allies during group battles. Then Merlin's charisma could be described as a strange kind of charisma, a charisma that he should not possess since he did not act as a leader, a natural charisma because he was a Dream Charisma. However, since we were talking about Merlin, one of the greatest wizards in history, but who ironically did not rely on Magic as his forte, for him to have an ability he should not possess, and at such a high rank as to have achieved the highest possible popularity, which should make it easy for him to lead entire nations, was not so crazy?

Despite the situation they were in, the red-haired man could feel that feeling of coolness emanating from the wizard, reassuring him, and enhancing his capabilities in a way he didn't understand. From one moment to the next, the wolf lunged towards him, Shirou had preferred to put Neocaliburn away, and instead, an absurdly long katana materialized in his hands...

"With this strength and speed, and at this distance...". Shirou found himself being protected by his runes, strengthened by his sorcery, and with his time accelerated by three, moreover, he was also being strengthened by Merlin and, at the same time, he also strengthened the Monohoshi Zao.

Before the claws could reach him, he unleashed the legendary technique. Sköll's claws, from one moment to the next, encountered a powerful cutting force that pushed them back slightly, at the same time as two other powerful cutting forces tore the skin of one of his paws.

Shirou smiled, he managed to take the technique one step further thanks to the combination of all his previous preparations, achieving four simultaneous slashes instead of three, and his cuts were really precise thanks to his mystical eyes.

However, the boy did not have the slightest chance to celebrate, Sköll responded fiercely, in just a matter of a few moments the wolf's less injured paw was heading towards him. In turn, Shirou dematerialized the katana and a western sword took its place, Ascalon's defensive power met Sköll's massive claw imbued by ice magic.

For Shirou, it was like being hit by a powerful spring, Ascalon managed to protect him from Sköll's attack at the cost of his break, but the rebound effect sent him flying backwards. The boy did his best to recover quickly and get up from the ground, however, the wolf that devoured the Sun persevered in his assault. He froze his wounds and assaulted the boy, however, when Shirou was close to have him on top, the wolf used his two hind legs to stop quickly and propel himself backwards, with a jump, Sköll avoided a powerful blast of mana from Merlin's staff, or at least he thought so...

Instinctively, and once again, the wolf hit the ground with a paw and, from this, a great wall formed by icicles of ice emerged to stop the apparent nothingness, however, as outputs from that nothingness, a rain of bursts of mana hit the wall and, although it managed to stop the attack, the wall fell into pieces by the impact. The first burst of mana had been nothing more than an illusion provoked by Merlin, while the ones that had just collapsed the wall were completely hidden by the wizard's illusions, but for his instinct, the attack would have been successful.

Preventing future attacks, the wolf once again generated huge icicles in random places to make it difficult for ranged attacks to protect himself.

Manaka wasted no time either and raised her hand, on the girl's palm a small flame formed in front of one of her fingers, with this, she wrote a combination of runes-. CWEORÞ; Ansuz," she said simply.

In Shirou's hands, the ancient rune CWEORÞ was able to fill the forest field of Einnashe with flames; in Manaka's hands, CWEORÞ was able to evoke the power of the mighty flames of Muspelheim and, with the help of Ansuz, supported by her element of air and her transforming ability, became a sea of flames with swirls of fire that crashed into the icicles summoned by the divine beast, melting them, and continued on its path rising up against it. Manaka handled the runes expertly, the flames and heat did not touch her, Shirou, or Merlin, and when they finished melting the icicles the flames became a dome of fire that gradually closed in, caging the wolf.

To the girl's surprise, the giant wolf also roared in response as, from its jaws, another sea of flames was unleashed, they fought fire with fire, Manaka's reddish fire and the wolf's bluish fire filled much of the room and they fought intensely trying to subdue each other.

But the battle didn't last long, due to their exchange, Shirou had the opportunity to attack from a distance, without wasting a second, he opened one of his imaginary number pockets, took out the Thompson and a small box with 5 bullets, it was the maximum number of bullets the gun was able to hold without breaking. Quickly, he took one of the bullets, reinforced it to the maximum of its capabilities, loaded the pistol, reinforced it as well, and finally used the Double Accel on this one.

While Manaka and the wolf were dueling, Shirou fired against the latter, the bullet was so fast and small that the wolf did not give it the slightest importance, that was a serious mistake. To his surprise, the bullet covered the great distance in a matter of an instant and, despite the wolf's strength and natural defense, it was able to penetrate inside his body, but he did not worry, for the huge wolf, the wound was minimal, unimportant. Unfortunately, the effect of the bullet was not destructive, but debilitating, this was made with a projection of the Vorpal Sword, and on it was engraved the rune Yr, which increased the efficiency of weapons, all this while the effect of the sword was used from inside his body, as the bullet had been buried inside it.

Suddenly, the wolf's flare began to fluctuate in power, weakening rapidly, which caused his flames to be overpowered. However, Sköll did not stand still to receive the flames, he raised a large dome of ice around him in the midst of the flames. Despite the power of the fire, it seemed that the dome was impenetrable, perhaps the wolf was reinforcing it by constantly creating more ice from within.

Seeing that the wolf was unable to see him, Shirou put away the gun and ammunition, pulled out the bow he had created several months ago and projected a sword, and altered it into an arrow. Unlike with his bullets, he had infinite ammunition when shooting swords, only limited by his mana, obviously. Until now, he had not projected this sword due to how wasteful of magical energy it was, and because he could not fully project it due to it being a Divine Construct, however, thanks to his eyes, while it still cost a good amount of magical energy, he could at least use it in a better way. Thus, Merodach was projected and altered to become a projectile, Shirou strengthened both bow and arrow, and once again, increased the speed of his timing, this time to triple the usual, thus, with one motion, the sword was released...

The string broke and the bow itself shattered, the rebound was powerful, but Shirou was already prepared and yet, even so, he could feel a great tearing from one of his arms, the rebound tore a muscle, however, Avalon began to take care of healing it. Even though the bow was destroyed, the sword was released at triple its speed and headed terrifyingly against the divine beast.

CCCCRRRASSSSHHHH!

The sword pierced the distance and the wolf instinctively felt the danger, it tried to jump to dodge, but it was inside the dome, so, it ended up crashing into it and, although it went through it, it did not manage to do so in time to dodge the shot. With devastating force, the sword riddled the wolf's flesh, piercing it, then, while it was embedded inside the beast, the sword exploded. Sköll let out a gigantic howl, not a roar of fury, but a howl of pain.

The rebound was powerful enough to finish him out of his dome and he hit the ground covered by flames, blood emanated from his side but was quickly evaporated, Manaka's flames cauterized his wound in a very painful way.

Unfortunately, this did not seem to be enough to kill him, with difficulty, he got up again. His reddish eyes emanated a fire more devastating than the one that came from his jaws.

With a devastating rage, Sköll jumped towards the red-haired man with his bloodthirsty fangs, his enemies had concentrated on keeping him away because they knew that, in a close combat, the only thing they could do was to run away.

Shirou quickly repositioned himself after suffering the ricochet of its attack and threw himself to the side to dodge it.

The maw tore the air; but Sköll didn't stop there, he chased the red-haired man until he cornered him against a corner. The divine beast did not think twice, with blind fury he raised his fangs against the redhead with unparalleled ferocity.

Shirou tried to defend himself but Sköll was extremely fast, he didn't wait to devour him, he regurgitated a large amount of flames before doing so, the fire burned his flesh, and his fangs tore him, from one moment to another, Shirou was totally engulfed and calcined at the same time...

Or, at least, that was what gigantic wolf observed, there was something strange, the boy's flesh was hard and cold, hard to swallow. There was something wrong with all this, and he knew it, after swallowing the red-haired boy, his enemies had disappeared from his sight...

More instinctively than anything else, Sköll again unleashed a terrible flare from his maw, the fire spread and covered the entire room. At the opposite end of where he was he could see them, out of nowhere, the fire began to turn into flowers and his enemies reappeared surrounded by them...

-Hmm, too bad, it seems that he has a high level of intuition, he was able to realize my illusions after devouring that piece of marble, I was hoping to catch him for a while longer... -I guess you can't underestimate a divine beast, even if it's a second-rate one...".

Shirou smiled wryly, if this gigantic, abominable wolf of about 15 meters tall wasn't a first rate divine beast, then what was? the boy wondered. For a moment, he hesitated to ask the great wizard; but the cool aura around him made it easy to open up to him. Merlin, from your point of view, what do you consider to be a top-notch divine beast?

-Well, not all divine beasts are monsters made for combat, but due to the minimal amount of mystery that all those in that rank possess, they are obviously a danger to consider," Merlin then smiled, "If I had to mention a top-notch beast, probably what awaits us below falls into that class.

At that moment, Shirou regretted asking.

When Sköll lunged at Shirou, Manaka had used Flash Air Sorcery, to replace Shirou with the piece of marble the maze was made of; but neither the wolf nor Shirou noticed the substitution, this was due to Merlin.

Merlin was an expert in the arts of deception and illusions, this manifested in his A-rank Illusionism skill, which allowed for the interference of the psyche and the projection of illusions into reality. Specifically, Merlin was so good that introducing nightmares into the realm of the psyche was extremely natural to him and he was even able to manifest a village-scale illusion with ease into reality, usually doing so for the purpose of seducing humans, he was an incubus after all. At his level, he could even go beyond just people and could deceive the environment as a whole.

For Sköll and for the redhead, what it had devoured was Shirou, but what it had really swallowed was that big piece of marble.

The wolf was really angry, ice covered its paws and bound it to the ground. Once again, Sköll opened his jaws and flames began to gather in his jaw.

-What is he doing? -asked the boy.

-He's trying to stabilize himself to avoid the recoil," said Manaka.

-So that means he's...?

-Planning to unleash a great attack upon us, yes, it would seem so... -Merlin completed before suggesting. On the other hand, this is good for us?

-In what way? -asked the worried boy, as he watched the bluish flames begin to concentrate more and more on the beast's maw.

-In a battle of attrition it is very unlikely that we will be able to hold our own, a single mistake could be fatal for our group. The best we can do is get this over with quickly, and if he's giving us the opportunity, who are we to turn it down, don't you think?

-It looks like that's our best option," said Manaka.

Merlin smiled, "In that case, it's all yours, Shirou-kun.

-Huh? Excuse me!?

-Do it just like you did when you faced Siegfried. Don't worry about the maze, it's a Heroic Treasure now so it should be able to hold up... -commented the wizard.

-I don't mean that! -Despite his protests, Shirou pulled Neocaliburn out once more and held it tightly in front of him, preparing to counter the wolf's attack, thus, the sword began to glow in his hands.

What really worried him was that, if he attacked with everything, he would be knocked out, whether he finished Sköll off or not.

But in the face of his worries, Merlin only smiled, "Relax, remember that we are supporting you. I have come to participate in the creation of new heroes and rulers, wouldn't it be very unfortunate if we could not continue after the first battle?

And, as if this statement was some kind of spell, just like last time, Shirou found it much easier and less strenuous to gather the necessary mana to charge his next attack.

"How...?" The boy wondered; but his thoughts were interrupted as he felt his friend's hand on his back.

Once again, he felt his body strengthen to much greater levels.

From one moment to the next, numerous kinds of support spells concentrated on the boy product of the two mages who were supporting him, what at first must have taken several seconds, became completely instantaneous, and Neocaliburn's light shone in an extremely intense way, of an even higher level than when he put everything to face the Dragon Slayer Knight, but, unlike that time, the red-haired boy did not feel exhausted in the slightest.

The searing flames concentrated with unparalleled ferocity on the wolf's muzzle, but this time it seemed different from the last, it looked like he was combining his powers over fire and ice, the flames emitted no heat, only a bone-chilling, tenebrous cold.

The great wolf roared and a colossal flaming shot was released in the direction of the group, freezing everything in its path. Although he had not had as much time to prepare as when he faced the servant, the help of Manaka and Merlin reduced that time enormously, without a moment's hesitation, Shirou swung his sword releasing all the energy he had managed to concentrate in the form of a powerful lightning bolt.

The flaming and luminous attacks clashed in the middle of the room for a few seconds before they transformed into a huge explosion that encompassed a large part of the room. Were it not for Merlin's territory creation, which saw to it that it did not hit them, the three of them would have been thrown backwards by it.

Shirou looked up, for a moment he had closed his eyes to avoid the powerful brightness produced by the clash of forces, the dust surrounded almost the entire room, or rather, what was left of it, the floor had been completely destroyed and the walls had wide cracks engraved with fire and ice on them, for a moment, the room seemed that it would collapse on him.

-What? Where is he? -asked the confused boy, there was no one in the room besides them. We defeated him?

-More or less, Sköll was summoned by Vánagandr as if he were a familiar, I wouldn't be surprised if with enough time and magical energy he could summon him again," said the wizard.

-"Besides, we were very lucky, if he had given importance to the bullet, it would have been an even more problematic fight," Manaka also said.

Shirou nodded.

-Oh, right, I noticed it too, that bullet greatly weakened Sköll. Considering the weapons at your disposal, it was made from Vorpal, wasn't it?

The red-haired man nodded-. Yes, Vorpal has weakening effects against ghostly beasts, and the effect is greater the closer it is, besides, it was being empowered by the Yr rune, which increases the effectiveness of weapons, having affected him from inside his body, its effect was maximum. We were lucky that she did not give it importance...

-At his sight, it must have seemed like an insignificant projectile compared to our sorcery or Merodach's presence," Manaka pointed out.

-Well, even if we have the misfortune of having to face it again, that doesn't change our objective.

Shirou nodded, before realizing something. Wait... Will you come with us?

Merlin nodded, "Of course, didn't I just tell you? I've come to see and participate in the creation of new heroes. How else could I do it if I don't come with you?

-New heroes? You mean new Ghost Liners? I thought that for people of this era to reach the Throne of Heroes was something almost impossible?

-Well, that's not exactly what I came here for. Although, I suppose, if we succeed, maybe one thing will lead to another. And while it's true that in modern times it's almost impossible to reach the Throne, haven't you noticed something, Shirou-kun?

-Hmm? What is it?

-Although it is a sad truth, heroes are not born in times of peace, quite the contrary.

Shirou lowered his gaze slightly. In times of adversity... That's when they emerge, isn't it? Heroes are not needed in times of peace, after all.

Merlin nodded. Exactly, and the greater the adversity, the greater the heroes who face it.

-I understand that, but even so, I have no intention of becoming a hero. My goal is to create a sword that will help us change the fate of our world, but that is only so that we can secure our future. Even if in doing so I were to save the world, it would not be for the right reasons, but for a personal one, I don't think I should be considered a hero because of that...

-Hmm... You have a very righteous concept of heroism, that's not wrong, however, wasn't it you who told Caules that action was worth more than intention?

Shirou momentarily recalled that conversation he had had with his friend when he had introduced them to Sieg. I suppose so.

The mage nodded, "Besides, many before you didn't intend to become heroes either, and if I'm honest, more than a hero, what I really want to create is a King... no, now that I think about it, that term is a bit obsolete, it's better to say that I want to create an ideal ruler. More specifically, I want to create a pair of rulers who can act together ideally, supporting each other.

Shirou looked at him in confusion, "I don't understand what you mean, in fact, now that you mention it, why did you call me King before?

Merlin smiled, "And isn't that a King's sword you carry?

-Well, yes, but I'm not a king...

-Not yet," said the wizard to the boy's confusion. Easy, of the two of us, I'm the one who likes to dream about the future...

-Hmm?

-Nothing, nothing, just let me tag along. Any extra help you can get is good, isn't it?

The boy couldn't deny that, let alone knowing what awaited them in the depths of the labyrinth, Vánagandr. Shirou had studied about several of the other holy grail false wars, but each and every one of them possessed serious limitations, thus, for heroic spirits of the caliber of Vánagandr and Merlin to be summoned was unimaginable. And, even so, and as an event worthy of his luck, in the war in which it was his turn to participate, these two were summoned, the red-haired man no longer wanted to know which were the other servants.

Shirou sighed, he knew Merlin would be a troublesome help, if the wizard's behavior said anything about it, and yet he was also reliable in his own way. In the end, weighing the pros and cons, Shirou could only say-. It would be a pleasure to work with you, Merlin.

Merlin laughed, "Likewise, there is nothing I enjoy more than participating in a good story. -Then, the Flower Wizard made a small gesture, Shirou turned his head and saw his friend with a lost look. Go talk to her, she needs it.

Again, Shirou only understood half of the things the wizard was referring to; but he could tell there was something wrong with Manaka at that moment, so he didn't think much of it and nodded.

Meanwhile, the Flower Mage fixed his gaze on the other participants in the war...

-Mana, are you all right? -asked the boy worriedly.

-Huh? -It seemed that the boy had forcibly brought her out of her reverie. Did you say something Shi-kun?

-I was asking you if you're okay, for a moment, it seemed like you weren't here.

-Oh? Yes, it's just a little annoying business, Merlin offered to accompany us, didn't he?

-Yes, he'll be a great help.

This didn't entirely please the girl, Merlin could be a good ally, but he could also be troublesome in his own way, as an incubus, he was a being that consumed people's dreams, and while he could essentially understand human emotions, he couldn't really sympathize with them. He was an inhuman being who only rationally excused himself within dreams, consumed them, and then left like a thief in the middle of the night. Due to his macroscopic evaluation criteria, perhaps he simply could not comprehend the heart of humans, so things like, playing with a person's fate, did not necessarily represent an evil act from his point of view.

Normally, it would be a being identical to the Beasts, a form of a higher order that is qualified as an enemy of humanity, something she herself could become depending on the path she decided to take. For someone like that to be at her side... Well, while she had no right to complain, with her being even more dangerous than him, she still had to worry about her lover's safety. On the other hand, Merlin's current manifestation was being affected by the current situation in the world, which was affecting him in a rather curious way that it probably wouldn't take him long to realize, and that also made him less likely to put them in danger due to his nature.

-I see... -Manaka bit her lips, of all the times when her own whims could give her headaches, it had to be right at this moment, she lowered her gaze and with a tone of voice that seemed more like a whisper, she said-. Shi-kun...

Puzzled by her behavior, he asked, "Hmn? Is something wrong?

-I... I'm going to have to separate from you.

This surprised the boy. Eh? Why?

-Something happened... and... I have to take care of...

-Something? Something like what? -For the boy, it was enough that he didn't understand one of the two wizards.

-Well...

Once again, she was back to trying to keep secrets from him, although, this time, she was doing a really bad job of trying to hide it.

-If she could face heroic spirits and divine beasts, it won't sound so crazy what you're going to tell her... -Merlin said in the distance.

Manaka frowned, still not liking the wizard's presence. You remember... when I told you about, well, you know...

Shirou nodded. Yes.

-Well, do you know what the Second Magic is about?

-The Parallel Worlds Operation? -This got the boy thoughtful. I only know what everyone else knows... W-Wait, don't tell me that you...

-Something like that, not in every sense of the word; but, another version of myself has possessed the body of a researcher who was hired to study the labyrinth. I... have to go and deal with her.

This only confused the boy even more. An alternate version of yourself? Really? -If Manaka hadn't mentioned Second Magic to him, he wouldn't have even considered it possible. The fact that Merlin seemed to already know about it also helped. Well, I suppose, knowing what I know about you and Second Magic, it's possible, but... -Shirou hesitated for a few moments, but, finally, he sighed and resigned himself, something told him that this kind of thing would be usual from now on. I... I guess I'll believe you. But, if that's true, why do we have to split up? Isn't it better if we all go together?

-No, I have to handle this on my own! shouted the girl hurriedly, startling the red-haired boy.

-W-Why? -he asked worriedly.

-Because she's an alternate version of myself.

-And that means...?

Manaka sighed, "Shi-kun, there are many worlds out there, and as these worlds are more or less different, so are the versions of ourselves that we can find in them.

-But they are still us, aren't they?

-Yes, at least most of the time they do. But just because they are still us doesn't mean they behave like us, take for example..." Manaka made a gesture touching his chin. -Manaka made a gesture touching his chin-. Hmm, well, imagine if the Fourth Holy Grail War had never happened, therefore, we would have never met, and you would have never had to go through the things you have lived through since then, you would probably still be living in Fuyuki "Surely living a romantic comedy with those two" with your family. That you who never lived through the consequences of the war, nor these almost ten years, would behave very differently from the current you, because the experiences we live are the ones that shape our behavior, even if the origin is the same, the path can diverge, you understand?

-Yes, but still. -Shirou tried to say something; but the girl interrupted him.

-Shi-kun, the version that is visiting us, lived a very different life from the one I have lived, for example, we never got to know each other, and I don't have to explain to you the reason why I can become very dangerous, right?

-So, you're saying that the version of yourself that possessed that person might try to attack us?

Manaka smiled uncomfortably. It's a possibility, and I'm not willing to put you in danger.

-But considering it's you, if you wanted to attack us somehow, wouldn't you have done it already? In fact, you could have used Sköll to your advantage?

-That could be true, although she is in a special state, so I couldn't say for sure... However, that's not the only reason I don't want you to meet her, I... I don't want your perception of me to change by interacting with her, Shi-kun. -Manaka sighed, "Even though I'm not me in every sense of the word, even though the path we've traveled is different, the core, our origin, remains. I don't want your perception of me to change by interacting with her.

Shirou scratched his head. I don't think my perception of you will change just because of that.

-It will, I can assure you of that as well. So, please, could you let me handle this?

Shirou was about to protest once more, but a hand was placed on his shoulder, stopping him.

Merlin smiled at him- Shirou-kun, there are things that a person can only deal with himself. Besides, have you forgotten? Your other companions are also inside this labyrinth, if we don't hurry, they could be in danger.

-That's true, but... -Shirou knew that; but he didn't want to leave Manaka alone in the labyrinth facing another version of herself and all the dangers that were inside it, she was already worried enough about leaving the others alone.

Manaka smiled, "Do you trust me?

-She asked again.

she asked again, "Do you trust me?

Although a little unsure, the boy nodded.

-Then let me handle this. You can rest assured, I can move easily within this labyrinth and there is no one who knows better than me what I'm up against.

The three of them remained silent for a few seconds, but finally the red-haired man gave in. Please come back safely, okay?

-Of course, that's my priority. Take care of yourself too, Shi-kun. I'll take care of you...

-You can rest assured, leave him in my care," Merlin declared confidently.

Manaka smiled, "I wasn't talking to you.

-Huh?

-Die Merlin! Suddenly, a whitish-blue spinning ball attacked the mage out of nowhere with a tackle and knocked him to the ground.

Manaka's smile almost broke from laughter. As I was saying, I'm entrusting Shirou's safety to you, Fou. Remember that the bloodsucker will be angry if he gets hurt.

Fou, who was on top of Merlin, kicking him, paused for a moment and grunted when Manaka called out to her bloodsucker teacher, however, then nodded in agreement with the girl and continued kicking Merlin.

Shirou, on the other hand, was in shock watching the scene of the small animal beating the big wizard. Besides, it was the first time he heard Fou speak in a language other than the language... Well, the Fou language.

-Wretched Cat Palug, you treacherous beast! This is how you greet your first master after so many years of not seeing each other? -the wizard shouted, trying to get Fou off his back.

-Merlin, you disgusting wretch! -snarled Gaia's beast in response as it struggled to continue beating the wizard.

-They do have history, don't they? asked the red-haired man trying not to laugh.

-Yep. Leaving you alone with Merlin would be a huge source of worry; but with Fou here I can relax a bit. If you were to become a womanizer because of him, Merlin, not even your best illusions could hide you from me.

-Now, now... You can rest assured, I don't think my influence will do anything that he doesn't already do on his own," answered the wizard, completely ignoring the girl's murderous look and focusing on getting Fou off his back.

-Wait, what? I'm no womanizer! -claimed Shirou, "Right Mana?

The girl avoided his gaze. W-Well, not consciously...

-Huh?

-It doesn't matter, just be careful with Merlin. He may be one of the greatest wizards in history, but he's still an immature adult!

-Ach... Don't you think saying that sort of thing, in front of the person in question, is a bit harsh? -the magician replied, pretending, very obviously, as if that statement had affected him. After finally being able to get Fou off his back and throw him to Shirou.

-It is precisely because you are in front of me that I say it out loud," the girl replied without any regret. However, in contrast to her mocking voice, she sent a message directly to the mage's mind. "I'm not kidding about one thing, if you gamble with his life, even that tower won't be able to protect you."

Merlin smiled amusedly, "My, I suppose we immature wizards are in sync in some ways, both trying not to make the same mistakes, don't you think?"

For a moment, the word brat echoed loudly in the girl's mind and her brow furrowed.

"But, you can rest assured, if being with you and the Princess of the Apostles hasn't gotten her soul back to the Root, I highly doubt anything I can do to her will. Besides, I am not lying when I say that I have come here to help him and to prepare him, and I am not referring to preparing him for the things that lie in this labyrinth..."

The girl narrowed her eyes; but she nodded, "Shi-kun. I'll see you later. -Manaka tried to turn around to go out through a tunnel; but the red-haired man stopped her once again. Hmm? Why are you stopping me?

-It's just that, now that I remember, weren't you supposed to stay far away from me?

She smiled, understanding his hesitation. Oh, right, I didn't tell you. It's true that I can't get too far away from you, but there doesn't seem to be a set maximum distance that indicates how far we can be apart. It seems to be based more on where you are than how far apart we are.

-What do you mean?

-For example, we're inside the labyrinth, as long as you're inside, I can't get out on my own, it's the same with London, I can't get out of the city unless you get out, I'm restricted to where you are. Do you understand?

-So, when we were in the dining room, I guess you said that so Illya wouldn't kick you out, right?

Her friend smiled as if she had played a prank. I didn't want to be left out, she already knows that too.

The redhead sighed. Well, in that case, take care of yourself.

Manaka nodded, "That's what I should tell you, I'll see you later.

With that said, the girl went off on her own down one of the tunnels.

-I guess it's just the three of us now? -said the boy.

Merlin nodded, seeing the boy's worried expression, the wizard decided to reassure him, he ruffled his hair removing all seriousness at the moment-. Come on, I think that if there is someone you shouldn't worry about in this labyrinth, it's her.

-I know. Unlike other members of our group, Mana can defend herself on her own, even against servants.

Shirou really didn't know how to behave around Merlin, he didn't know him well; but he was basically a walking mystery. Merlin was not a wizard per se, at least not for this time; but that was because, at the time of the Flower Wizard, Magic was still relatively common, there was no difference between Sorcery and Magic, or wizard and magus, hence the title of: The Wizard of Flowers, was not wrong for his time. He was undoubtedly one of the most prominent magicians in history, perhaps only surpassed by magicians such as, for example, the King of Sorcery.

The Flower Wizard nodded, "That's right. Fortunately for us, while our enemies are powerful, our allies seem to be reliable.

-Allies? -asked the confused boy. Do we have allies?

Merlin nodded, "Yes. Fortunately for us, several of the servants who have been summoned are on our side.

-But how do you know that?

Merlin smiled superiorly as he saw an opportunity to show off. It's due to my clairvoyance, not for nothing am I one of the possible candidates for Grand Caster.

"Grand Caster? Is that a more powerful form of a Ghost Liner? The boy wondered. Clairvoyance? From what I understand, it's an ability that allows for superior visual perception, isn't it?

-That's right, when we servants are summoned, if we had some visual ability that allowed us to have higher levels of perception in life, like, for example, seeing invisible things, it will manifest as the clairvoyance ability, the exceptions are abilities in life that allowed us to see something specific, those usually manifest as specific abilities.

-So your clairvoyance is very powerful?

-Of the highest rank," smiled the mage proudly.

To Shirou's surprise, Fou spoke again with a mocking tone. You can only see the present, you wretched omnidirectional telescope.

Merlin's mirth soured and he decided to counterattack. Oh? Miserable me? Big words for a perverted squirrel.

-Perverted squirrel? asked the red-headed boy.

-Of course, why do you think he let your sister carry him? If it weren't for Manaka and Altrouge fighting, I'd probably let her carry it too," Merlin smiled superiorly. You talk loud and proud, but you use that cute and harmless appearance to do perversions, worthy of Gaia's beast, right?

Fou prepared again to jump on the wizard's face, but Shirou stopped him before he could start another fight, so, in the end, he waved his paws towards Merlin's face trying to scratch him.

-So, the clairvoyance ability is similar to the effects of mystic eyes?

-They are similar, but not exactly the same, let's say that if you had mystic eyes in life and became a heroic spirit, you wouldn't get clairvoyance, but the Mystic Eyes ability. Clairvoyance does not function as a single action spell, it is always active, and its effect is more general than Mystic Eyes, the latter generally allows you to interact with a single higher form of perception, whereas, having clairvoyance at its lowest levels means having a great visual ability without ever having a higher form of perception, and having it at its highest levels means having several forms of higher perception.

-Huh? But Fou said you could only see the present.

-Exactly, unfortunately, I can only see the present, but I can see everything in the present. That means I have various forms of higher perception only applicable to the present time, for example, I can see invisible things, hidden secrets, magical energy, spirits, I can even see through the textures of the world, after all, when we communicated earlier, I was observing you from Avalon.

This made Shirou freeze, "All in the present moment? But... the amount of information the brain would have to handle to be able to use that kind of clairvoyance would be... just absurd, I'm not surprised by Mana's omniscience, but that's because she's connected to the Root, to think that someone else would get to see that much... Even if she's a high-class walking mystery, it's still amazing."

-That's extraordinarily amazing, you must be able to see everything inside the labyrinth, right?

Seeing the boy's expression, Merlin boasted of his abilities and nodded. Surprising, don't you think? That is why I can say that we have reliable allies; but still... We must not underestimate our enemies, and Vánagandr is not our only enemy.

That worried the boy. What do you think we should do? The only thing I can think of is to keep going down until we reach Wolfgang. No, wait, is it still the same maze? Can we still go down? From one moment to the next, it changed completely.

-I don't think we can say it's the same maze, it's been altered in a rather strange way, a maze merged with another maze.

-Another labyrinth?

-Yes. This one is a Heroic Treasure, it was summoned by Wolfgang's servant.

Shirou frowned. He summoned a servant? And one related to a labyrinth?

-That's right, does the name Daedalus' Labyrinth ring a bell?

Shirou quickly understood it. The Minotaur," the boy concluded.

-Exactly. However, it seems that certain things have remained in the structure of the labyrinth.

-Will we have to keep going down to move forward?

The wizard nodded, "Yes, the others have also decided to follow this course of action, so it's the best we can do. As we move forward, I can begin to instruct you as well.

With that said, the two began to move, Shirou letting the Flower Mage lead the way.

-Instruct me? In what?

-Well, to begin with, there is a question I must ask you. For you, what should an ideal King be like, Shirou-kun?

-What should a king be like?

This question did not take the boy completely by surprise, he had already realized that the person who had spoken to him during his battle against the Dragon Slayer was the Flower Mage. Back then, Merlin had asked him a similar question...

"What kind of King do you want to be?".

At that time, he had answered without much thought...

"If I were a King, I would want to be the kind that could protect those who placed their dreams and hopes in me. So, please, sword of selection, grant me the power! To protect their dreams and hopes! To cut down this obstacle that stands before me!"

And, while he did not regret those words, at the time, he answered the first thing that seemed right at the time; but he knew that a King must be much more.

For a moment, the image, or as close as he could imagine, of the people associated with the title of King fleetingly flashed through his mind. The Queen of the Knights, Altria, what little he knew about the King of the Conquerors, that King he encountered in the invasion of Einzbern territory, and, even, Lord Barthomeloi.

-An ideal King... I don't think there is an absolute answer to that question; however, if it is just my point of view, then I believe that an ideal King should be able to carry the weight of the hopes, dreams and responsibility that were placed on him, should not be driven by his own personal interests and...

-¿Y?

Shirou sighed-. He must also be above his feelings so that he can make the best decisions for his kingdom and, even so, a King cannot not understand human feelings; because, in the end, it is humans he governs. It must be a contradiction, he must weigh all his decisions, analyze the pros and cons, keep himself between rationality and sentimentality. I think that, an ideal King, is not something that one person can deal with...

To his surprise, Merlin nodded seriously. Over the years, I have seen many rulers, some better, some worse, the definition of an ideal King, Ruler, or Leader, changes over time, there is only one aspect that does not seem to change over time, an ideal King seems to have to achieve or maintain the prosperity of his people, although, the ideal part can be lost depending on how he achieves such prosperity and... Few manage to come close to that definition, and even fewer manage to endure in that way.

Shirou nodded. It is too heavy a burden... But why are you asking me this question? It's already the second time and I still don't understand why...

-It is because it is a question you must ask yourself, until you define what is for you an ideal King and work to reach it, and even once you reach it, you must keep asking it, so as not to lose your way. It is a question that you must ask yourself over and over again, and you must try to answer it in the best possible way over and over again, and compare it with your previous answers, in order to try to be the best possible King.

-Why? I already told you, I am not a King, and kingdoms hardly exist anymore in the same way as they did in ancient times. To create a Kingdom nowadays, where all the lands have already been established with their own governments, is something practically impossible.

-Perhaps you are not; but the sword you carry is not the sword of a warrior, it is a symbol of authority, the sword of a King. If you want that sword to reach its full potential, then you must become a proper King, in the hands of one, that sword will become a true sacred weapon with a completely different level than it has now.

Shirou lowered his head- Well, yes, I understand that, but...

-You're not sure you can be, are you?

The boy nodded his head, "At first, everything seemed so much easier, it was just working to fulfill my grandfather's dream; but... as time went by, the desires accumulated and the goals grew more and more..." Shirou sighed. -Shirou sighed, "A blacksmith, a magus, a sword, a scabbard, and now, a king too? Besides, I also have to create that sword, I want to protect and help Gray, also help my other companions, and help Altrouge solve all the world's problem...

-That's a lot of burdens, isn't it?

-Yes. Sometimes I just don't want to think about what's coming, because I can't think of how to deal with the future, so I just deal with one thing at a time; but, I don't know how long that's possible, I need to foresee in order to deal with future problems, though...

-When you see the future, you just don't know how to deal with it, it's like a mountain that with every step you take, it gets higher and steeper, doesn't it?

Once again, the red-haired man nodded. He couldn't have this kind of conversation with any of the people close to him, much less with those who depended on him. Just like everyone else, he had his own doubts; but, he knew that others had them too, and that he was acting as a support for several people, that's why he always tried to appear optimistic, stubborn and determined; however, after knowing everything he had found out in these last months, how could he not have doubts and concerns?

Of course, he wouldn't talk about this with a stranger either; but Merlin possessed that strange charisma that made it easy to open up to him.

-If you fear that these desires are too many and will overflow from your hands, perhaps you should see them as one, one that you will complete in a single step, but in order to take that step, you will have to be prepared," the wizard replied confidently.

-One step? How?" asked the interested boy.

-To help the Princess, to protect your sister and Gray-chan, to fulfill your grandfather's dream, and to help those close to you. See all that as a sequence. The same goal in different parts. -Said this, the magician stopped and pointed his staff to the floor, from this, a small path of flowers began to be traced, when he stopped, a flower bigger than the previous ones bloomed. The line of small flowers are your goals of minor relevance at a general level, helping your close people, although it is important and admirable, you must also understand that it is impossible to help all people, you must choose carefully who to help, because there will be people you can't help by yourself, or people who require more help than others...

Confused, he asked, "And how do I deal with the people I can't help, I can't just ignore them?

Merlin smiled, "And you don't have to; but you don't always have to be the one to help them. Do you remember what happened with your friend Caules?

-What do you mean?

-You started to make achievements, and because of that he started to feel as if you had advanced and he had stagnated, you realized this, but you couldn't help him directly because that could bring him down even more. In the end, it wasn't necessary, Caules started to improve thanks to his effort and the presence of Sieg, whom you later helped by making him stay together with Caules. Do you understand?

-I think so... One thing led to another and in the end it was not necessary for me to intervene.

-Exactly. You said it yourself, being an ideal King is too heavy a burden for one person. Let's take Altria as an example, she didn't carry all the weight of Camelot, by her side were her Knights, her Queen, and me, the Court Wizard.

-But still...

Merlin nodded unaffectedly. Camelot fell; however, that was due to multiple mistakes, some of them made by me. Because of her secrecy, Altria could not establish a relationship of full trust with her Knights, no matter how devoted they were to her, and in the end they resented her, some abandoned her, others betrayed her, and most importantly, their Queen was not prepared for the burden she had to carry.

-Guinevere, right?

-Yes. The figure of the Queen was as important as the figure of the King, or at least, it was in Camelot. The Queen has an absolute authority second only to that of the King and, in some monarchies, superior even to that of the King. In Camelot, Guinevere's role was to protect the country for the greater good, but for her to act as "the Queen" was to become a mechanical party that simply supported the King.

-It would not have been so if, "King Arthur", had been a man as he was believed to be; but, not being one, she could only act as a Queen, couldn't she?

-Exactly. The Queen could no longer be a woman, perhaps she couldn't even act like a human anymore. She also didn't want to put any more weight on Altria, considering the situation they were in. Since a couple should be able to lean on each other, Guinevere should have been confident enough to deal with Altria on this issue, at least that would have lightened her burden a bit, maybe with some help from me we could have found some solution; but the moment they did not look for a joint solution and each one decided to continue bearing their respective burden on their own, even when some of them did not have the strength to do so, we can say that their relationship failed. She loved Altria, she did it for more than 10 years, and the fact that that love could not be reciprocated, slowly destroyed her as the pressure on her increased, so in the end, she ended up leaning on the one who could reciprocate those feelings, but that was not something she should allow herself, it was a sin, a taboo, and when everything came to light, that mistake destroyed her along with the Kingdom -sighed the magician at the end.

Shirou remained thoughtful. You said... you said you wanted to create a pair of rulers who can act together ideally, supporting each other. Don't tell me you think I...

The wizard left the melancholy behind and smiled as he nodded. You get it. Yes, my goal is to correct my biggest mistake in the past as a kingmaker.

-Not having prepared Guinevere for the burden she would bear?

To his surprise, the wizard shook his head, "No, my greatest mistake was to know fate and do nothing to try to change it, simply because I did not care what happened to those who fell victim to it. -Once again, the wizard smiled, although Shirou noticed something strange in this smile. I am an incubus, a being far removed from humans. I consume the dreams of humans and can essentially understand their emotions, but I can't really sympathize with them.

-So why are you here? Why are you helping me?

For the first time, the Flower Wizard showed doubt. That... I couldn't give you a clear answer to that question. Maybe, after so many years in that Tower, something changed, maybe I feel responsible for my mistakes, or, maybe, I'm just doing the same as always -Merlin shrugged his shoulders.

-The same old thing?

-If I help humanity prevail, they can keep weaving stories for me. That would benefit me greatly, don't you see?

-You don't look very confident...

-I'm not... -Then his carefree smile returned once more. But my motives are not the important thing, the important thing is that you understand that you don't have to carry all the weight by yourself. You have people around you who, when the time comes, will help you, whether for one reason or another. A ruler must know when to delegate and to whom to delegate.

-Wait, do you really want me to be one of those rulers?

-Of course, why else would I have decided to intervene if not for that? You have already taken the first steps on your own, I will take care to give you even more perspective and provide you with the necessary tools to improve on your own.

-My first steps?

- "Taking out" Caliburn, forming bonds of trust with the people around you, several of whom are beings of great power or authority, studying politics. Haven't you noticed by now?

-I-I just went with the flow?

-Yes, that's what makes it more interesting. -With a theatrical demeanor, Merlin explained his point. There is no great destiny of glory awaiting us, but great adversity to come, immutable and impossible to dodge. There are no great heroes rising to save the world, only humans struggling to survive. There are no great hopes or reasons to keep fighting, instead, in humanity there is only a great general resignation. And yet, here we are. Your desire, your actions, however innocent and immature they were, have managed to create the current that now drags you, have forced forces to act, have motivated people to act, at this point, you only have two options.

-Which?

-To be dragged by the current that you unconsciously created and drown, or to use it as an impulse to get here and reach your goals -Merlin pointed to the biggest flower at the end of the path of the small flowers.

-"All the way over there? If the small flowers are my minor goals, then what is this large flower?

-It's the ultimate goal...

-The ultimate goal? Which one? -Shirou asked confused, forge the sword? Help Altrouge? Protect his sister? Which one of all?

-I told you, don't see them as many different goals, because, to your good fortune, all your goals come together and form this flower.

-They come together? -At that moment, Shirou realized. The Holy Grail War.

-Exactly, protect your sister from the dangers of war, forge the sword to ensure your victory, and finally win the war so you can use the Moon Cell to help the Princess. It all comes together in a single event...

-But that event... It won't be an ordinary war, something tells me that the Ghost Liners won't be my only concerns. If I want to catch up... I must take advantage of the current, is that what you mean?

Merlin nodded. Exactly.

-But will I be able to do it?

-Alone, maybe not. But, as I said, I want to create an ideal pair of rulers who support each other.

-Couple?

-Easy, let me take care of that part, this time, I'll see to it that it goes well. You just concentrate on what you know you have to do, just make sure of one thing, when the time comes when that burden becomes too heavy, rely on those around you whose ties are strong. If you do, I'm sure you won't fall.

Shirou could not help but show a slight smile of resignation. A non-existent kingdom cannot fall.

Merlin also laughed. Then take it as an advantage.

-Thank you.

-Hmm?

-Thank you, Merlin," Shirou thanked him sincerely. I hadn't been able to talk about this with anyone before. It feels like the burden is already a little less heavy.

Merlin closed his eyes for a second and kept his usual smile. No problem, I came here precisely for this, after all, I'm the Court Mage for a reason, aren't I?

Shirou was about to say something, but Merlin interrupted him.

-You'll have a court sooner or later.

Shirou closed his mouth at that statement. He didn't really understand what Merlin meant, he wasn't King of, well, anything; but the wizard seemed confident that he would be. Be that as it may, Shirou had understood those things that Merlin had wanted to convey to him, at this moment, he could not afford to question the current, he had to take advantage of it.

-So, are you ready? -Merlin asked.

-Ready? Ready for what?

-For me to start teaching you.

-But what will you teach me?

-Fortunately, no politics, I'll leave that to your teachers in the Clock Tower. I don't need to worry about teaching you how to handle a sword either, though I could give you a few pointers. Besides that, there are several things I can help you with, giving you a different perspective on the world, as you could see, is one of the things I can do. I'm not a master in the use of tactics; but, over time, you learn a little bit of everything. Also, things like the basics of running and leading a nation will also come in handy, and... Yeah, I guess some sorcery too.

-Sorcery? The alignment of my origin and element makes it extremely complicated for me to learn elemental sorcery. If it's not these, I can more or less manage, but since most of my talents lie with swords, I won't be able to delve into the depths of other disciplines unrelated to these.

-I know, but there's still a thing or two I can help you with, and more importantly, I didn't mean to teach you Wizardry directly, for example, can I borrow your gloves?

Shirou was unaware of the wizard's intentions; but he had no reason to refuse him either, so he handed them over and watched curiously what the wizard was doing.

Merlin began to alter them by engraving some strange symbols on them, for a moment, Shirou was afraid that he would spoil Manaka's work; but it was Merlin he was talking about, so he simply watched trying to understand what he was doing.

The boy was lucky he didn't know that, although Merlin was confident in his creation of objects, his skill was really only at C rank.

-I created this for Altria many years ago, after Avalon was stolen. It continuously needs a good amount of magical energy to keep it active, so it's not something you can use continuously, but thanks to your gloves already keeping your weapons hidden, you'll only need to use it in battles and, since you don't have the extraordinary abilities she was born with, I think you'll put it to greater use than she did in her time, at least, in her barrier form. -After observing his work, the magician did not seem convinced. I'll change the design a bit, you need some extra protection.

When the magician finished, the gloves hadn't changed much, but they had some protections that they didn't have before.

-Where did you get the materials?

An eight-legged golem.

Shirou received them and stared at them for a few seconds.

-Well, what are you waiting for? Try them on. Oh, and also hold your sword while you do it.

-I understand...

Once again he put them on and...

-What should I do now? -asked the confused boy.

-When you open your pockets, just transfer the magical energy to your fingertips, now transmit it to the whole gauntlet.

-No, not at all, everything works just as it should.

Even more confused, Shirou looked at his gloves again, again, he couldn't see anything special, he felt a slight breeze and he could also feel how his magical energy was being drained, but nothing else. He looked at Merlin again- Are you sure there isn't something wrong?

Merlin nodded confidently. Absolutely.

Once again, he looked at his gloves, but, after seeing nothing strange, he gave up and tried to analyze Merlin's work with his Structural Analysis and his mystical eyes.

-That's a bit of cheating! -complained the wizard.

-I-It was tricky for me to see it for myself, literally," the boy replied in astonishment.

He literally could not see it, or, rather, he could no longer see his sword. He had been so focused on his gloves that he didn't notice that his weapon had disappeared. No, that wasn't quite true, it wasn't that it had disappeared per se, but that it was hidden.

-"At the time I called it, Invisible Air: Wind King's Barrier, although, now that I say it out loud, maybe it's a bit long," said the wizard thoughtfully. You can treat it like a sheath of wind that covers your sword and hides it so it can't be easily recognized.

-It looks more like a kind of bounded field.

-It is. It's made up of multiple layers of air compressed at an incredibly high pressure, this distorts the refraction of light and makes what's inside completely invisible. I upgraded it a bit and it also serves as a seal so that they won't be able to perceive the power of the weapon it conceals until it is released. The magical energy it expends isn't exactly little, but, with your current resources, it should be fine for you to use it continuously during battles, at least, as long as you don't abuse it.

-This... can really come in handy. Even with its new appearance, it's quite easy to notice Neocaliburn's power.

The mage nodded, "And it has more uses, besides concealing your weapons, it's a barrier that, if used well, can save your life, you can also release the compressed air in various ways, in a way, it's similar to Wind Elemental Sorcery. It will also serve you in case you get some other famous sword.

Shirou smiled gratefully, "Thank you, though I doubt I'll get anything else. Relics of that grade are not easily found nowadays, in fact, getting the fragments of Caliburn, Merodach, and Ascalon can already be considered almost a miracle.

"A miracle created by Gaia and Alaya. And, if my assumptions are not unfounded, there may be more miracles. Not for nothing is the will of the world sparing no expense in this war," thought the wizard. You're welcome, I hope it will be useful to you.

-It will, even my grandfather will no doubt be thrilled, even if it's not a sword.

-Muramasa Sengo, right?

Shirou nodded.

-At the moment, he's holding his own, isn't he?

Shirou's smile died quickly after hearing those words. Do you know...? -Merlin nodded, "My grandfather kept it from me, and I didn't find out until recently thanks to Illya. That he could not clearly remember his own name, nor the faces of his family, was an indication of how much the rot had affected him. Even with Lady Kanon's protection, his anchor to the world is not adequate and his spiritual possession is not perfect either, besides, unlike other beings who have artificially lengthened their lives, my grandfather has not survived by devouring other people's life energy, but by his own willpower. -Shirou smiled again, but it was a bitter smile. I guess he already knows, but he didn't want me to worry, I guess that's why he didn't tell me that the loss of his memories was a product of decay.

-500 years, for a human soul to survive for so long without having obtained some kind of immortality and in such precarious conditions, is quite impressive. However, there is a limit to everything...

-Yes. Little by little, his soul has degraded. When he's not awake, he degrades a little slower. That's why I'm trying not to disturb him. He knows it too, he's trying his best to last until the time comes... -Shirou lowered his gaze. The last sword, it will truly be the last in every sense of the word. My grandfather's last creation...

As someone who could understand emotions, but not empathize with them, Merlin just listened to him in silence.

-I have to make it worthwhile. Your 500-year journey cannot end in failure.

The wizard nodded, "It must not, not if you want to succeed."

Quickly, the gloomy atmosphere dissipated thanks to the wizard's attitude. And, thus, they began their express lessons with the Flower Magician. For Shirou, it was a rather unique occasion, it was as if he was able to understand much of the vast amount of information the wizard was imparting to him with supernatural ease, if he had to compare Merlin to any of his teachers in the Tower, not even El-Melloi could be as didactic and yet, if it was any kind of spell, it seemed to break if Merlin tried to teach him something he didn't require to be a King.

Elsewhere in the labyrinth...

Hurried footsteps could be heard through the tunnels.

One of the two stopped...

He was short of breath and his lungs were burning... Ha ha ha...

The boy stopped as well and looked at him with a bit of foreign pity. Really, even though you're quite young, you have a really pathetic physical condition, Waver.

The Lord wanted to reply, but he was busy catching his breath.

-Even a strategist must have some stamina, you know.

-W-Why did we suddenly start running? -The man finally asked, even though he had strengthened up, he still couldn't keep up with the young King's pace.

Gil smiled, "It seems the trouble started inside the labyrinth. If we don't hurry, we may be too late.

The Lord was hunched over; but, after hearing this, he regained his strength and stood up straight. Then let us go.

-That's good, young people should have that kind of behavior.

-You're younger than me," replied the Lord.

-Only technically. Now let's hurry, we really can't afford for anyone to die. So draw strength from nothing if necessary professor, your students are in trouble.

Despite his fatigued state, Waver replied without hesitation, "You don't need to tell me. Let's go on, we're close, right?

Gil nodded, and the two continued on their way.

Chapter 31, Surpassing the past.

The footsteps continued down the corridors...

-Vanagandr!? It was my understanding that the false holy grail wars had serious limitations, both because of the incomplete grails and the current state of the planet, how did something like the wolf of Ragnarök get summoned under these conditions!? -Waver asked as he followed the young King of Heroes.

-You might consider this war an exception to the rule," Gil replied. Vánagandr is a servant to be feared, fortunately, we won't meet him until we reach the deepest floors.

-So, where are we headed?

As a rule, high-ranking servants are difficult to keep, and Vánagandr is no exception, even high-ranking magi would have a hard time keeping such a powerful servant. But, he is not only powerful, he is also quite versatile, his Heroic Treasure; Pack Hunt, proves it.

-Herd Hunting!? You don't mean he can summon those two.

Gil nodded, "Exactly, keeping Vánagandr has a huge cost even with the Grail bearing most of the cost, but he can lighten it by using his Heroic Treasure, Pack Hunt. This Treasure allows Fenrir to summon both Hati and Skoll, as if they were familiars. This Treasure falls in the line of Evocation Sorcery for you magi, it would be like summoning three servants for the price of one. This probably stems from the fact that, in certain myths, the name of his sons was used as a heiti for Vánagandr, this is especially prominently during Ragnarök.

-Heiti, I seem to recall, is an old way of referring to a synonym. At Ragnarök... Then it was not Sköll who devoured Sól, but Vánagandr himself," Waver said.

-Again, you are correct, even so, because of the relationship, if Skoll is summoned as a servant, he will be able to obtain part of the powers obtained by his father by devouring the Sun deity, although to a lesser degree.

-I imagine that the burden the master has to bear is lessened by using this Treasure, since you can keep Vánagandr dematerialized and use his children to fight, which should consume less energy than their father, right?

Gil nodded again. That's right, and the wolf itself can also restrict itself to consume less energy than usual. Still, while Pack Hunting can be very useful, it also has its drawbacks. Being summoned as familiars, the existence of the two depends on their father, this causes Vánagandr to have to provide them with part of his supply of magical energy to maintain them, which weakens him, on the other hand, by only receiving part of the supply, Sköll and Hati are weaker than they would be if they were summoned as individual servants.

-That will make things easier for us.

-Yet, we must not be careless, they are still divine beasts of the Age of Gods, most weapons of this age and Modern Sorcery are useless against them, only weapons of great power and Sorcery of the Age of Gods could harm them.

Waver nodded and followed the young King of Heroes.

Crash!

Pillars of ice erupted from deep in the ground on both sides of the battlefield. The ice impacted against more ice and the icicles collided with each other. What at first appeared to be a white room made of ivory-colored blocks had degraded to an icy wasteland in all directions.

Hati roared, summoning numerous pillars and, at the same time, swift footsteps could be heard running throughout the chamber, SHIROU advanced swiftly while dodging the sharp ice pillars that threatened to pierce him and murder his mistresses.

Illya was actually grateful to Sitonai's familiar, if it wasn't for him, she probably would have died quite some time ago. Hati, with enormous ferocity, was swiftly attacking both of them, and although she was not totally powerless in close range combat, she knew well that she did not have the strength to stop the fierce attacks of the colossal wolf, if it came to dodging, then she could still do something for a limited time.

Thanks to her familiar, she could concentrate on attacking while SHIROU took care of dodging the Moon wolf's attacks; however, despite that, it was more than obvious who was on the offensive and who was on the defensive. To her misfortune, although the phrase: fighting fire with fire sounded great, it was actually, on most occasions, quite ineffective, and, at the moment, she was fighting ice against ice, and it was quite visible that fighting the ice powers Hati possessed with the Ice Magic she was learning from Louhi was not the best option.

Louhi's Ice Magic was capable of stopping Hati's ice powers; but it was not capable of surpassing them. Perhaps if it was Louhi herself who faced Hati, she could surpass the wolf's powers, but, because she was possessing her body, she could not unleash her full power without harming her. For this same reason she also could not directly face off against the great beast, although she was much more resistant than an average human, and such resistance only increased if strengthened through Sorcery, her body still had limits that did not allow her to fight face to face against the colossal wolf.

At this moment, rather than a fight, it looked like a hunt between a cat and a mouse. Thanks to Illya's Sorcery and SHIROU's agility, Hati wasn't able to get his claws on them, but on the other hand, thanks to his powers and his colossal size and strength, it was complicated for Illya to seriously damage the wolf.

"Do any of you have an idea that would allow us to hurt it? We can't keep this up forever."

"If it were me fighting there would be no problem, but this is the best I can do to keep from hurting you," Louhi replied.

"A Primordial Rune of Death would be our best weapon; but to be effective it would have to be placed directly on his body, and he will kill us before we have a chance to do so. If we use some Primordial Runes to create a Fire Elemental Spell...", Freyja thought seriously.

"That's a good idea, let's fight his powers with the element he's weakest to!", Sitonai exclaimed.

"It's not that easy. Of the three of us, I have the least influence over the little one. My magic will be the least powerful and the most complicated to use, I don't know if it will be strong enough to harm Hati lethally."

"I think I can help you with that...", Sitonai replied.

"How?", Illya asked.

Sitonai smiled, or at least it seemed that way to the young Einzbern, "Illya, what I'm going to teach you is called Kamuy Yukar."

"Kamuy Yukar?".

"Yes. The Kamuy Yukar is a first person hymn that speaks about myself as a Kamuy. Pronouncing the Kamuy Yukar allows me to borrow the power of various Kamuys of the Ainu tradition. It is even possible for me to borrow the power of the Pase Kamuys, the higher Kamuys, related to the mountains, the villages and the sea. We will use the Kamuy Yukar, ask for the power of a higher Kamuy and strengthen the runes of Freyja with their power."

Louhi frowned. "That spell will combine two types of high level spellcasting from different cultures, done by two goddesses at the same time, something of that caliber will need a time interval to prepare everything, how are we supposed to stop the wolf until it is ready?".

At that moment, SHIROU ran faster to leave some space between him and the wolf, then growled at Illya.

"WHAT, are you insane SHIROU, you can't act like tallow!" yelled Sitonai.

"Hmn... that one wouldn't be a bad idea."

"Louhi!".

"Don't get me wrong Sitonai, I'm not saying to engage Hati directly while we prepare the spell. We just need you to stall him like you've been doing so far. Besides, I don't see any other option for a distraction that will last as long as we need it to."

-GRRR...

"You agree with her too SHIROU!?", Sitonai seemed to want to take control of Illya's body to scold his familiar personally, "Hmn! Then do what you want, but don't ask me to rescue you later!".

SHIROU stopped allowing Illya to dismount him.

-Are you sure? -Illya asked him worriedly.

SHIROU lowered his head slightly, he didn't delay and turned around to face the wolf. Without hesitation, the bear ran against it.

"Wait, why the hell is it running against him!?" asked Sitonai worriedly when she saw the scene.

"He needs to get his attention, otherwise he'll keep chasing us," the witch replied calmly, "Illya, help him get to Hati."

Illya nodded and set about countering Hati's ice powers, at the same time helping his familiar get to the wolf.

Hati ran at great speed as he dodged the boulders of ice summoned by Lady Einzbern, at no time did the proud and colossal wolf pay the slightest attention to the bear that had turned around to face him, in his eyes only the girl possessed by Freyja mattered.

SHIROU used this to his advantage, he ran towards Hati, but hid between the pillars Illya summoned to protect him. Although Hati had already seen that he was close, the wolf never paid attention to him, instead preferring to focus on destroying the pillars summoned by the girl that prevented his advance. SHIROU climbed onto one of the boulders and bravely charged at the wolf.

SLASH!

-GGRRRR!

Hearing the approaching footsteps, Hati raised her gaze towards the sound, it's not like the wolf didn't know about the bear's attack, it was simply that it didn't consider SHIROU as an opponent to be reckoned with; however, he would not let them attack him just like that either, before the bear could complete his attack, he destroyed the boulder that SHIROU had jumped on, however, the reaction of the goddess' familiar was not slow at all, at the moment he felt the pillar creak before it broke, SHIROU jumped from it and tried to attack the divine beast, unfortunately, he was not able to gain enough height to attack it with his claws, but this did not stop him, SHIROU opened his snout and from it an icy breath came out in the direction of one of the beast's eyes. The ice powers of the familiar that was close to an elemental struck relentlessly against one of the colossal wolf's eyes, immediately the wolf's eyeball was frozen in its entirety taking away part of its vision.

Hati shook violently throwing paws left and right, trying to drive the familiar away in case it wanted to continue its offensive. The wolf did not believe there would be anyone so brave, or foolish, to dare attack him directly, soon, the dismay and pain he felt at being wounded and semi-blinded turned to anger, rage, and desire for revenge at his wounded pride.

However, Hati's anger was far less explosive than his brother's, he was cooler and more controlled, so he tried to calm himself and used his healthy eye to glimpse where the insolent one who had dared to hurt him was, only to see the figure of the bear much smaller than him growling at him while the icy breath was still glimpsed on his muzzle.

-GGGRGRRRRR!

Even though Hati knew what his main target was, he could not help but be flooded with anger and attack SHIROU to punish him, and his anger only increased as he saw how the cowardly bear did not stay to face him, but fled miserably so as not to face him. Without wasting a second, Hati set out in pursuit.

"Right! Now's our chance little one, follow our instructions."

"Quick, SHIROU won't be able to distract him forever!".

Illya nodded as, guided by the two goddesses, she began to draw the runes Freyja was instructing her to do while beginning to repeat the chant Sitonai was reciting inside her head. Sitonai's Kamuy Yukar narrated her story with her loyal companion, telling how a terrible white dragon devourer of human flesh constantly besieged her hometown, and how she was chosen to be the next sacrifice for it; however, instead of resigning herself to her fate and accepting her imminent death, she fought with her loyal companion against the dragon without any hint of fear and, in the end, she ended up killing it, becoming a dragon slayer and becoming a legend. In her chant she begged the ancient Kamuy Pass, Kamuy-huci, the woman of the rising sparks of fire, the most important of the Kamuy, to help her face this enemy just as when she had to face the dragon.

At first, the two thaumaturgical foundations began to try to synchronize slowly, the two systems were too different, but due to Sitonai's mastery as a Kamuy and Freyja's as one of the deities who rules over magic, Illya's chanting and her runes began to synchronize with greater speed. The runes lit up one after another slowly, glowing brighter as the chant increased in length and pitch, one after another...

A thump... A shriek of pain...

"SHIROU!".

SHIROU had been thrown into the air by Hati's great claw and had crashed into one of the pillars of ice that had filled the battlefield. The great wolf of the Moon placed one of its great claws trying to crush him before he could get up again, and would have killed him right there if he hadn't felt the concentration of magical energy on his back.

When he turned around, he saw the runes lighting up one after another and it quelled his anger enough to allow him to hear the girl's chanting. In an instant he understood what they had done, and he knew he would not be fast enough to get to where the girl was and slay her before she could finish preparing the spell.

Illya felt the wolf's anger and fury just by seeing his expression, her body trembled at the hatred; but she did not recoil, instead, seeing her familiar under the wolf's paw, she too began to be filled with anger and an "innocent" smile was glimpsed on her face as the chanting increased and suddenly a flash filled the room, afterwards, only a perpetual darkness remained, a total gloom that filled the whole area...

Illya screamed in surprise, all her vision vanished and the world was filled with black, she could not see anything, from one moment to the next, she had gone blind.

If Sköll had managed to be able to use part of the power of the goddess Sól that her father had gained by devouring her because of her status as a heiti, then Hati, who had managed to devour and tear the god that personified the Moon, Máni, had also gained certain abilities that Freyja knew very well, at this moment she was glad that they were away from places with large bodies of water, Hati's power gained over the tides according to the phases of the Moon was something she preferred not to have to deal with and, despite this, it seemed that although she could not unleash the powers gained from having devoured the personification of the Moon, she still had a few tricks up her sleeve, it was said that, when Hati managed to catch up with the Moon, a strange phenomenon occurred: A lunar eclipse. Using himself as a reference point, Hati used the manifestation of his legend to, having torn the moon apart, cause a perpetual lunar eclipse, scattering all the light in the room.

"Little girl, calm down! You haven't gone blind, it's part of Hati's abilities, she has caused a lunar eclipse by stealing the light from the whole room. Her goal is to make it so you can't aim our spell at her."

"B-But, I can't see anything, I don't know where he is!".

"He's getting closer, you should be able to hear his footsteps!" shouted Louhi.

True, Illya could hear the footsteps approaching at high speed, but in that world of gloom he wasn't able to identify where the sound was coming from. She could only listen to the increasing footsteps and turn in all directions in an attempt to learn the wolf's position.

Her heart was beating fast and, for a moment, she could feel the shadow of death upon herself.

"YILLYA OVER YOU!" shouted Sitonai, but it was too late, Hati lunged at them.

-GRRRRRRR!

Classshhh! Classshhh! Crackk!

Hati roared in the middle of his attack, he had jumped to devour Illya, however, suddenly, he was forced to twist in the middle of his jump. Instinctively, he could sense danger and, sooner rather than later, he heard the air being cut through by a series of projectiles fired at his person.

Once again, Illya noticed another large change in the lighting in the room and became disoriented, however, this did not last long and, as he regained his vision, he could hear Hati's footsteps rapidly moving away and large, floor-shaking crashes appeared one after another.

The moon wolf glared hatefully at the newcomer, in response to his gaze, a smirk was sketched as a series of golden portals flashed behind him.

-Generally, I would not interrupt you, it is not to my liking to help those relics of the past; however, this time I will make an exception. It would be quite detrimental if that girl died, you know?

Hati did nothing but roar in response and attempt to pounce on the young King.

Unfortunately, the onslaught of projectiles: swords, spears, arrows, and other weapons, which usually the wolf would ignore and protect himself with his powers on ice and charge at his enemy, felt extremely dangerous, and, instinctively, he twisted in the midst of his offensive to dodge them, he could feel it, those weapons would cause him serious damage.

-Th-That... is...

The young King turned at the sound of his companion's gasps. Oh, you've finally arrived Waver. As I said, we will meet Vánagandr later, but first we have to take care of one of his sons, his name is Hati, the Norse wolf who tore and devoured the personification of the Moon in Scandinavian mythology.

Waver took a breath and caught his breath. That's Fillia, Shirou's servant? And... A bear?

For a moment, Gil looked at him in confusion, then, using all his strength to keep from bursting out laughing, Gil nodded. I guess it is, we were lucky to get there in time.

-Has she been fighting a divine beast by herself? -Waver watched as the large wolf dodged Gil's projectiles.

The young King nodded, "Yes, although she has had a little help, specifically, from three relics from the past and a guardian familiar. The latter seems to be not as fierce and powerful as the one who normally accompanies her, but... He seems to be just as loyal.

-Hmm? You talk as if you know her..." Gil smiled.

Gil smiled- -I do, or, rather, I will, or maybe I actually already have. I just hope our encounter differs from the others we will have.

Thanks to his great agility and speed, Hati managed to approach the young King and Waver, for a moment, the Lord thought of running, but, seeing Gil's confident smile, he decided to stay by his side.

Crrrrrinkkssshh!

A horrible shriek echoed throughout the room, a large shield had appeared in front of both of them, and the wolf's claws had impacted against it causing a resounding roar.

-Hmm... He is quite skilled, he instinctively noted that the weapons I fired were aimed at fragile points on his body and all possessed anti-giant or anti-divinity characteristics.

The Lord already knew that the young King said less than he really knew, but he also knew that trying to get information out of him would be futile, so he simply paid attention to all the little hints he gave from time to time.

-Lord El-Melloi II? -Lord El-Melloi II?" asked Illya as she regained her sight and watched Hati attack the two people who weren't in the room before. She recognized one of the two, Lord El-Melloi, however, she had no idea who the little boy next to her was.

"Be careful little one, that child is a servant," Freyja warned.

-Well Waver, it's your turn to fulfill your position as a strategist," Gil casually commented.

And to Gil's delight, Waver was not surprised, and instead moved forward to analyze the situation...

Hati had momentarily retreated to avoid the young King's counterattack. On the other hand, he could see the familiar Gil referred to getting up with difficulty, finally, he noticed Shirou's servant with a series of runes glowing in front of her.

-Could you finish him off? -asked the Lord.

-Unfortunately, I don't possess the same offensive capabilities that my future version has, just distracting him is exhausting enough for me," Gil replied.

Waver nodded and together with Gil proceeded to approach the girl while dodging Hati's advance.

-Phillia, we'll have to leave the explanations for later, we have to take care of Hati first, so answer me: do you have anything in your arsenal that will allow us to take down the wolf?

Illya nodded, "Yes, but I need a little time to prepare it and something that will prevent the wolf from dodging it.

-That's something I can provide you with," Gil replied. He had never taken his eyes off the wolf and continued to attack it.

However, as he had said, he could not keep up with the constant flow of attacks, and besides, Hati had learned from his past mistakes and began to create pillars to hide and dodge the hail of weapons that was coming at him, moving tactically to make the King's attack more difficult.

-It looks like this will be more complicated than we thought..." Waver nodded.

Waver nodded, "He is a divine beast after all.

Both the young King and the Lord paid attention to their surroundings looking for the place from where the wolf might attack them, unfortunately, it seemed that this one could be quite silent when it set its mind to it, probably due to the years it spent trying to hunt Máni.

From one moment to the next, Hati leapt from behind one of the ice pillars and lunged at the three of them, however, once again, he was forced to change the direction of his attack. This time it was not due to the hail of weapons provided by Gil, instead, it was due to an ice boulder that came out of nowhere with the intention of impaling him. The one who created this boulder was not Illya, but SHIROU who, with his icy breath, once again took advantage of the fact that the moon wolf had not been paying attention to him in order to attack him by surprise for the second time.

However, Hati managed to dodge him and tried to keep what little distance there was between him and the rest of the group.

Once again, Illya set about preparing the spell and, slowly, the runes began to light up once more as the chanting progressively increased. Seeing the attack his enemies were preparing, Hati fought even more fiercely than before, little by little, he began to close the distance between him and his enemies.

Crrrrrinkkssshh!

Once again...

In an attempt to stop the colossal wolf, Gil had thrown his weapons from different directions, but Hati managed to dodge them by demonstrating great agility. However, this caused several of his weapons to collide with each other, causing a great metallic clang.

"Again, it was only for an instant, but he reacted to the sound of the weapons? It could be that..." At that moment, Waver recalled an important part of the legend of the wolves that devoured the Sun and the Moon. Gil, do you have cauldrons in your vault? Any tool that can produce the same effect of shooting shooting shooting stars would also help.

Gil: -Huh? Of course I have cauldrons inside my vault, as for treasures that reproduce the shooting star effect, I must also possess many, why?

-I'll explain in a moment, I need to check if I'm right. For now, take out a cauldron and make noise with it, Hati's reaction will reveal if my suspicions are right...

Gil nodded intuiting what Waver wanted to test, so, he took out a large cauldron from his vault and made his weapons clash against it, causing several sounds of loud metallic clanging, at the same time, Waver used a basic spell that allowed him to create sparks while the noise of the weapons clashing against the cauldron flooded the entire room. And, to the surprise of the group, Hati stepped back a little and stopped attacking, for a moment, he began to look quickly at his surroundings, keeping alert, as if something was going to attack him at any moment.

What's wrong with him? -Gil asked in confusion. He looks as if he's going to be attacked at any moment, he's very nervous.

Waver smiled, "According to the myths, it was said that, before Ragnarök, the children detonated the cauldrons and made enough noise to keep him away from the moon (Máni). Also, they used the sparks from the cauldron detonations to fly into the heavens, so people started calling them fallen stars. I had a theory as to what the myth was referring to, but only until now have I been able to verify it. Now is the time Gil, use any heroic treasure that might be similar to falling shooting stars to attack it.

-Hmm... I think I understand where you're going, in that case? -Gil took out more cauldrons from his vault and made more and more noise than before, then, he summoned portals and placed them in several strategic places in the room, from these emerged several staffs that, swiftly, began to fire a multitude of spells, in addition, the magic cauldrons also began to attack with spells that caused numerous chips, all the spells of the staffs had different effects, but they shared one thing: they looked like shooting stars falling on the wolf.

The noise, the fire, and the sparks, made the wolf back up visibly alert, then, when the "stars" started falling on it, Hati was visibly worried, he quickly tried to run towards his target, but, to his misfortune, no matter what he tried to do to dodge the spells and get to the group, somehow, the spells always ended up hitting him and diverting him from his main target. Gil was visibly surprised, from one moment to the next, he had lost control over his staffs, now they were firing at the moon wolf almost as if of their own volition.

-This is...

-The recreation of the myth," said Waver.

-Hmm?

-There is another myth, this one not centered on Hati, but on Máni, whom the wolf chases through the skies. This one relates that, at one point, Máni took the brothers Hjúki and Bil who were fetching water from a well, lifted them into the heavens, and made them accompany him across the firmament. At first, it seems that the two myths were not related, but... But what if they were?

-In what way?

-It is almost unthinkable that the mere noise of the cauldrons would frighten Hati and prevent him from reaching the Moon, but, that would change if the noise was not a signal to Hati, but to Máni. A way for the children to tell Máni to raise them to the heavens, just as she did with Hjúki and Bil, and turn them into shooting stars who would prevent Hati from reaching his target by hitting and deflecting him and, once they were done with their work, they would descend from the heavens again as...

Gil smiled, "Fallen stars..." Waver nodded.

Waver nodded, "Heroic spirits are affected in different ways by their legends, in this case we are recreating the myth of Hati chasing Máni, the cauldrons sound and the stars rise to prevent Hati from reaching his target.

-I see, as a heroic spirit who died because of poison is extremely weak against it due to the influence of his legend, Hati is extremely susceptible to not being able to reach his target as long as the cauldrons sound and the "stars" attack him. There would only be two ways to overcome this impediment, the first would be for the same conditions of Ragnarök to occur? -said Gil.

-And the second is for Hati to silence the sound of the cauldrons to weaken the recreation... -whispered Waver.

-There's no need to whisper, it seems that he already realized...

Indeed, Hati had given up trying to catch up with the group and was ready to run towards the cauldrons to destroy them.

Gil smiled, "The problem with attacking so directly, is that you let your enemies know your intentions...".

The moon wolf leapt over the cauldrons and attacked them with its paws, and while it succeeded, after undercutting the noise, it found that it could not move. From one moment to the next, more portals had surrounded the divine beast and, from these, a chain emerged and intertwined from one portal to another trapping the wolf, binding it, and subduing it. Hati tried to free himself, but the more he struggled the tighter the chains tightened against him and the heavier they became.

-It's a pity, but you are not strong enough to free yourself from Enkidu on your own, besides, it seems that, after devouring a divinity, your own divinity level increased substantially, and, the greater the divinity, the stronger and more resistant Enkidu becomes. -Gil smiled cruelly. Fight as hard as you want, you won't be able to break free no matter how hard you try.

-Besides, you don't seem to have the time anymore... -said Waver as his gaze shifted to Illya.

The runes glowed with a reddish color as the Kamuy Yakar reached its completion. Well, let him tremble in fear! Let us defeat him just as we defeated the great white dragon. Kamuy-huci, lend me your flames to defend my home and those in it!

Illya finished and a burst of flames originated from the Scandinavian runes. These grew into a powerful concentrated flaming shot that was directed towards the moon wolf with the sole purpose of burning it to a crisp, it was so powerful that Gil had to pull out some shields from his vault in order to protect himself and Waver. Even if the area effect of the attack only grazed them, it was more than enough to burn them both without good protection to safeguard their lives. Terrified at not being able to break free from the chains no matter how hard he tried, and now with a powerful attack coming his way, Hati tried to flee with more force; but was thrown to the ground by Enkidu with immense ferocity for his escape attempt. In a poor attempt to save his life, Hati used his powers on the ice to create a barrier similar to the one his brother had used, unfortunately, unlike with this one, it only lasted a few seconds before succumbing. There was a clear difference between someone who used ancient runes and someone who used primordial runes, just as there was a great difference between someone who attacked to prevent his prey from hiding and someone who attacked with the sole purpose of killing said prey, and unlike Manaka, who only wanted to prevent the wolf from taking cover behind the icicles, Illya and Freyja wanted to see him consumed by their flames...

The flames embraced him burning his fur and skin, the great wolf of the Moon tried to free himself one last time by tearing at the places where Enkidu held him in order to break free; but in response to this more chains emerged to hold him, he writhed pitifully as he tried to use his powers to freeze himself, however, it was useless, the flames consumed him amid howls of pain as he writhed miserably.

A spell like this really caught the Lord's attention, it seemed to be a mix between Norse Sorcery and some sort of Eastern Sorcery he was unfamiliar with, even he was unfamiliar with the magic of a culture as unfamiliar as the Ainu. The four watched, some more shocked than others, as the wolf was reduced to ashes.

Once Ilya was sure that his enemy had been eliminated, he hurried toward the duo...

-Filli...

However, she walked past them in the direction of her familiar. On the other hand, SHIROU was slowly coming towards her while limping on one leg. The young woman watched as this one seemed to have a large paw on one side. Using the sorcery of the Einzbern, Illya reduced her familiar's pain while, using some healing runes shown by Freyja, she treated the wound.

-Are you in a lot of pain, SHIROU?

The bear licked her face in response, as if trying to soothe her.

-SHIROU? That bear is SHIROU? How come...? -Waver asked in confusion.

Gil shook his head. No, this is not the Shirou I'm looking for.

After making sure his familiar was all right, Illya turned to the other duo. Thank you for the help, Lord El-Melloi II and..." Gil smiled.

Gil smiled, "Gil, you can call me Gil.

Illya nodded, for a moment she watched the young King closely, she thought she had seen him somewhere before or at least a person who looked like him, she felt as if she was having deja vu, but before she could search her memories, a powerful and great tremor echoed throughout the maze shaking it. The floor, walls and ceiling shook, cracks appeared on them and several of the marble columns fell to pieces, for a moment, it seemed as if the room was going to collapse on them, but, fortunately, it managed to hold on.

The tremor lasted for a few seconds before disappearing...

-What was that? -asked the lady.

-Hmn... We are not the only ones fighting inside the labyrinth, and it seems that the other battles are not easy either... -Gil answered. We must hurry and regroup, our enemy will not rest on his laurels.

Waver nodded, "We can talk on the way, do you agree? -asked the Lord to the "servant".

Although she seemed to think about it for a while, Illya nodded, this time she did not ride on SHIROU and, instead, walked beside him.

In another part of the labyrinth, Manaka was heading towards her meeting with her other self, meanwhile, she was observing all the events that were taking place. She knew why reasons the two parts of the world were taking these actions, and she also knew that, in order for them to have the best possible effect, she had to limit her actions, even if it meant not helping Shirou as much as she wanted to.

At the moment, she was observing the recently completed battle against Hati, obviously already knowing this outcome, but with two clairvoyance users besides herself participating in the war, and two more observing from afar, and a world that diverged erratically, it was wise to always be alert to any "unexpected" occurrences. In the remote event that, for some reason beyond her control, Lady Einzbern's fight went astray, she was already more than prepared to save her life. Illya might not trust her, but she was her lover's beloved sister, and could become a pivotal player in the future, she could not let her die, both for her lover's sake and for the sake of the future of all three of them.

And, as much as she didn't like to admit it, a similar situation presented itself for her crush's classmate.

Servants' memories were something special, all memories of various summonings are stored in the Throne of Heroes and these records are integrated into the heroic spirits as integrated memories; however, to avoid contradictions, their memories are adjusted to match the time and place they are summoned to, so, generally, servants do not possess memories of past summonings, which causes any changes in the way servants act due to their experiences in past summonings to be nullified. The only way to avoid this is to use a special summoning system, such as the one Chaldea will use in the future, or to have special circumstances that allow evading this system, or also, to be a servant with a high level of clairvoyance, as was the case of Gilgamesh, Solomon and, to a lesser extent, Merlin.

Altria Alter... Like all Alters, her status was quite special. Alters are servants whose alignment was altered from that of their normal selves through various means, in Altria's case, it was due to being blackened by contact with the Curse of All Evils of the World. Alaya must have found that having a version of Altria with an alignment towards evil might come in handy in situations where the moral alignment of the original would hinder her use, so she must have kept the Alter data as a separate self from the original Altria, even so, she probably believed that the influence of the Curse of All the Evils of the World on her would hinder her use, so, she removed such effects from the version kept in the Throne of Heroes.

In short, the summoned Alter was not exactly the same as the same version that might come to appear in the different versions of the Fifth Holy Grail War, nor could she be compared to the one that would come to reside in Chaldea, for those events never happened for her, she was simply a blackened version of the original that did not deal with the consequences of the curse. However, she had to remember the reason for why she was her current self, didn't she? That would include memories of that war in which she was "born," but those memories were probably something only her main body on the Throne should have at her disposal, for if, as fate would have it, a certain red-haired man were to summon Alter in the war that saw her birth, her memories would cause contradictions that would confuse her and might even generate paradoxes. This took pressure off the girl, for if Alter kept those memories, how would she react to encountering a version of her former master? If it was the version affected by the curse, he would not hesitate to try to kill him like any other, but if it was the current version, not affected by it, that would not necessarily have to happen, and if it was a version with the memories of that war... She preferred not to think about that possibility, that would almost guarantee that something would happen between those two, even if it wouldn't necessarily have to be love, she preferred not to have to risk it. Fortunately, thanks to Alaya, she had nothing to worry about.

So, as she went to meet her other self, Manaka kept her eye on all the participants of this war, she might not like several of them, but for the sake of her future, she could not allow anyone to die, and, at the same time, she had to limit her intervention, so that the young heroes would suffer the hardships of war and grow up properly.

Several minutes earlier, on another side of the labyrinth...

"Bedivere, can you hear me?".

"Merlin?", the knight turned his gaze to his surroundings, but couldn't find the mage, "Are you communicating from another part of the labyrinth?".

"That's right, I have to warn you about something very important: The Saber-class servant was summoned, and to our misfortune, he's not on our side."

"That's troublesome, do you know what the servant's identity is?".

"Hmm... Well, let's just say yes. Rather, we both know Saber's identity."

"Both of us? And he's hostile to boot... Tiberius?" the knight asked.

"Oh no, I wish it was him, then this would be much less complicated."

"Then who is it?"

"Okey, for starters, Bedivere, as a heroic spirit I imagine you were given the knowledge that there are different versions of each heroic spirit stored in the Throne of Heroes, right?".

The knight nodded.

"Well, that also includes our Queen."

This caused the servant to stop abruptly, "Merlin, you're not implying that...".

"Alas, I am."

"But that doesn't make sense, even if it's not the same version we know, why would our Queen be hostile towards... Well, I can imagine a couple of reasons why she would be hostile towards you...".

"HEY! She's hostile towards both of us, and it has nothing to do with me, it's because she's an altered version summoned by Alaya to test your teacher."

"Huh? My teacher?".

"If she had been summoned and your teacher was not a participant within the war, then she could be a troublesome but powerful ally, for the grail found in this labyrinth is not powerful enough to fulfill her wish. Unfortunately, she was not summoned into this war by the grail, but by Alaya for a different purpose, the world used this fake war as nothing more than a facilitator and plans for your master to grow stronger by fighting Altria until Altria disappears or your master dies, whichever comes first."

This alarmed the knight, "I don't understand, why would my master get stronger by facing our Queen?".

"That is because your master is a user of Sibyl Sorcery. When a vessel is created that allows the resurrection of a soul artificially, that person is known as a Sibyl. In your teacher's case, she was created as an attempt to artificially revive Altria, so her body reacts to the presence of "King Arthur" as it activates the essence imprinted on her body, resulting in her body becoming more and more of a perfect vessel that allows for Altria's "resurrection"."

"Wait, is this what you meant by they were related? No, more importantly, who dared to disturb our Queen's rest?".

"You know that name too...".

"Morgan?"

"Morgan," Merlin confirmed.

Bedivere sighed, "Even after over a thousand years, it still causes problems...".

"The mere fact that this version of Altria has been summoned is already affecting your teacher. And, once she directly confronts Saber, not only will her body become suitable for Altria, but she will also gain her muscle memory, which will allow her to fight instinctively as if it were her."

"But my master is not up to a confrontation against our Queen, if she were forced to face her...".

"She will probably die. Altria wouldn't agree to such a dangerous method and would probably resist the world's orders; but it's different for the altered version that was summoned, she seems to agree to this method no matter how tyrannical it is."

"I understand... How close are we to meeting her?".

"Close, she was summoned in the room that allows you to go down towards the next floor, so that way you won't be able to move forward avoiding her."

"I understand."

Seeing the lack of emotion in the knight's tone, Merlin asked, "Will you be able to deal with her, Bedivere?"

"Yes, I will not lose my composure so easily, the duty of a servant is to help his master win the war of the holy grail, defeating all the enemies it presents. My Queen will always have my loyalty, but I am sure she would reprimand me if I thought of anything like betraying my master because of that loyalty, besides, Merlin already warned me, she is not my Queen, so there is no reason for my heart to waver."

"Good answer, Gray doesn't have a good impression of Altria due to the process he had to go through to become a Sibyl of hers, meeting her will affect her greatly, keep that in mind."

"I will have it, it will be a tough battle...".

"Yes, but you have an advantage compared to her. Because she has no master, her magical energy is extremely limited, and she relies on the mystic codes found in the labyrinth to remain manifested, so she's far from being in top condition, plus, this version seems to waste magical energy to a great extent."

"A battle of attrition wouldn't be good for her, but the problem is resisting her relentless strength... I'll keep that in mind."

"One last thing, another powerful servant has been summoned as our enemy."

"Do you know his name?"

"Yes, that wolf who devoured the god of the Norse pantheon whom our ancient Saxon foes so revered."

"Fenrir...," Bedivere frowned, "With an enemy like him...," the knight fixed his gaze on his prosthetic arm.

"Try not to take too much damage against Saber, you will be instrumental in our confrontation against him...".

"I understand, I'll do my best."

"Well, that's all I wanted to communicate to you, I have other matters to take care of."

"I understand, we will meet on the lower floors."

"I hope so."

With that, both heroic spirits ended their conversation.

Bedivere continued on her way accompanying her master and, to her surprise, he decided that she had better rest from her confrontations against the ghostly beasts inside the labyrinth, when Gray asked why, her servant informed her that they would surely face a powerful enemy in order to descend to the next floor and that she had better be rested when it was time to face that enemy.

After several minutes of exploration, they finally arrived at a huge door.

-Ihihihihi, it looks like a door to the ultimate enemy room," said Add.

Gray nodded silently.

Bedivere took a few steps forward and stopped before opening the door.

-Something wrong, Lancer?

-Master...

-Hmm?

Bedivere turned momentarily to her and smiled, "No matter what enemy is behind this door, you can trust me to deal with them.

Gray, for a moment was confused at her servant's sudden words, but believing it was just Bedivere's helpful behavior, she simply nodded with a small smile, unfortunately, it died the moment the door opened to reveal what would be the opponent waiting in the room, even though there was a gigantic dragon-like creature, though not quite a dragon, in the room, what really terrified the girl was the person standing in front of this corpse. The imitation dragon might resemble its appearance to the members of this species; however, the woman standing in front of this corpse was certainly closer to dragons than the imitation standing behind it.

Cold, but authoritative, that was how Gray felt the tone of voice of the person whose legend had inevitably marked his life-. They kept me waiting.

-Sorry for the delay," the gentleman replied without showing any particular emotion.

Her servant's voice brought her back from stupefaction, for a moment she worried and held Add tighter, between her and her former Queen, it was easy enough to guess who her servant would choose to serve. For a moment, she worried about having to face both Servants at once, already just Saber's imposing image was making her reel, if she had to face both of them, in that case she could only try to run away, and she really doubted she would succeed even in that. However, then she remembered Lancer's words before entering, and, coupled with his recent statements, it almost seemed that her Servant already knew of Saber's appearance, was he willing to face against his former Queen at her side? She didn't know, but there were many things she didn't know, it was obvious that the one standing before them was the King of Knights, but why did it seem like she had been bathed in darkness? For all the things she had heard of the legend that was the King of Knights, the image she had projected in her mind was far removed from the tyrant that stood before her.

The dark-stained Queen turned away from the dragon's imitation and walked unhurriedly toward them both-. Even if I did not command it, you complied wonderfully with my wishes, certainly something worthy of one of my most trusted knights; but now it is time for you to step aside, Bedivere, the matter that has brought me to this unfortunate ritual lies behind you.

The knight did not reply to his words, he simply unsheathed his sword.

Saber observed the gesture and with a smile that denoted confidence and superiority replied, "Oh? Do you refuse the orders of your King?

-My King... I wish you were my King, in that case I could have said those words that should have been expressed long ago, but that is not the case. My Queen will always have my eternal loyalty, but at this moment I am a servant in this war, my honor as a knight dictates me to fight against the enemies of my master.

Saber's voice became even colder and more certain, and the small trace of pride in it vanished instantly. Queen? I see, when she appeared before me I knew she would bring trouble, but I never expected her to be able to reveal it, even so, I suppose it is of little importance now. If that is the case, then answer me, Bedivere, which is of more value to you, your honor as a servant or your loyalty as a knight?

-For me, both weigh the same, but my Queen would not have forced me to choose between the two, if that were the case, I would have let the sword decide.

Saber smiled once more. Well, in that case, I will oblige you.

And, as both of them declared, neither of them uttered any words again, they let their weapons speak for them...

While that all the two of them thought should be said, for Gray it was very different, since they had entered the room and the image of the King of Knights had entered her field of vision, her speed of thought had been a step slower than the others, probably some words needed to be said, at least the asking why the heroic spirit was pursuing her, but when the words were ready to come out, they were drowned out by the sound of the clashing of weapons. Suddenly, flashes flashed across the room like swift and beautiful shooting stars before her eyes, the sound of steel clashing together harmonizing with this beautiful and terrible sight.

"It wasn't what you were expecting, was it?"

-Huh? Who are you?

"That requires a somewhat longer explanation, plus I'd like to have a good introduction for when we meet, so for now, let's just say I'm your ally and friend of Bedivere, I was the one who warned him about Saber Alter."

Gray realized that this voice was echoing directly in his head, so he began to speak through his thoughts, "Saber Alter?".

"Oh yes, the Throne of Heroes can house several versions of the same heroic spirit, let's just say that the Altria standing in front of you, is not the same one that lived in this world."

This made the young woman let out the air in her lungs that she didn't even know she was holding, "C-I understand..."

"He reassured you? That's good. I'm not sure what your image of her is, but I think you care too much, maybe more than the worshippers in your hometown care, and that's saying a lot."

"E-Eh?".

"Believe it or not, despite being an ideal King, she also had doubts, inner conflicts, and pain and self-hatred when she failed to achieve the utopia she promised her people. The King of Knights you see before you, you can say that he is the version who fell to those feelings, a King of Knights who abandoned the utopia he sought by putting practicality first, perhaps more than an Ideal King, you can say he became some kind of tyrant."

"B-But still... She's still..."

"Different from you."

"Ah?"

"Whether it's this version or any other, she's Altria Pendragon, and you're you, they're not the same person, nor will they ever be."

Gray lowered his gaze, for a moment, he remembered the people in his village, his mother, "But there are... people who want me to be...".

"Yes, but there are also people who want Gray over Altria, and if you ask them, I'm sure they'll choose you over her. If you don't believe me, then let me give you a few examples: I'm sure your teacher prefers you, also your oldest friend will choose you, you even have a pod that has stated it will protect you. And none of them want you to become someone else you are not. Between them and those who want you to abandon yourself, which are more valuable in your eyes?"

For a moment, Gray found herself dismayed; but if she was honest with herself, even if it meant ruining the hundreds of years of effort of the people of her village, even if it meant rejecting the wishes of her own family, she wanted to be selfish, deep down inside herself, she wanted to choose herself over the wishes of others, that was why she was deeply grateful to have Add as her friend, that was why when her master recognized her as an individual separate from the image of the King of Knights she was so grateful, and it was also why when Shirou told her that she shone with a different light of her own that she would not lose against the light of the King that she felt acknowledged. The words of those who possessed some sort of relationship with the legendary King but still, for whatever reason, preferred her, were invaluable in her eyes.

CRASH!

For a moment, her train of thought was brought back to reality by the sound of the ground being cracked by the collision between the two servants, to her surprise, it was Lancer who took the initiative. In an instant, the eternal general was in front of the tyrant, the prosthetic arm where the legendary spear of the Celtic god was sealed glowed swiftly and the light was elongated with the aim of stabbing his enemy. Steel clashed against steel, and the greenish-white light of the spear was repulsed by the tenebrous darkness of the corrupted version of the sacred sword.

The lights of both knights' weapons clashed like shooting stars in the middle of the crystalline room, despite the silver knight's offensive, the tyrant did not look defensive at any point, instead, he responded with a major offensive.

Gray had faced a servant before, she knew what they were capable of, or, at least, she thought she did; but she was sorely mistaken. She was certain that Faker would not have been able to fight with the same ferocity and skill with which these two were engaging. She herself would have been easily subdued had she had to face either of the two servants.

Thanks to having read the information about his servant, Gray knew that this one could take on the tyrant with an offensive of the same level, but to do so he needed to free his Heroic Treasure, something that, in the long run, would put him in danger. Right now, Bedivere could only release a glimpse of his spear's power, so despite his initiative, in the end, he was still on the defensive, he used his sword to deflect Saber's attacks that were not as powerful, and when the attacks seemed to be lethal, he blocked or deflected with his arm. On the other hand, Saber Alter also seemed to be sizing up her former knight, perhaps she was not used to fighting this one while using both arms.

At this point, the fight had become a tug-of-war between the absurd strength of the darkness-covered Queen and Bedivere's dexterity and agility. In his mind, the silver knight was extremely grateful to have been summoned by a master with such a large reserve of mana as was Gray's case, and which seemed to only increase with the passage of time, thanks to this he could use the power of his spear without fear of running out of magical energy, at this moment his arm was constantly emanating the power of the divine construct, being powerful enough to deflect his opponent's sword. Obviously, his opponent had not been fighting seriously since they had started exchanging attacks, he had barely and barely used his Mana Blast and had limited it to a great extent, it was thanks to the fact that the King was mostly using only his sword skill, that he had been able to deflect Excalibur's slashes with his obviously inferior weapon, and deflect the mana imbued attacks that the King had used with his arm. However, he knew that this was only temporary, the moment his enemy decided to unleash his power, he would not be able to rely on his sword or his sealed spear.

The ricochet of the clash between the two's weapons caused the two to have to separate, leaving a few meters of distance between them.

Bedivere watched his enemy closely, he knew he was at a disadvantage, he could not match the King's destructive power without releasing his trump card and, despite fighting so hard, he had not been able to open even the slightest opening that would allow him to cause significant damage. Perhaps, thanks to the mana provided by his master, he might have slight advantage in a battle of endurance, but could he really hold out until his opponent ran out of magical energy while keeping his ace hidden?

It seems he would have to find out, because, at that instant, Saber rushed towards him with breakneck speed, far greater than she had demonstrated so far. The knight knew what this was for, it was usually used to increase offensive power, but it's not like it couldn't be used to improve mobility, the same ability she had used to overcome many opponents who were physically stronger than her, she was finally using her Mana Blast without holding back. Her body was coated with the corrupted energy increasing her physical abilities at a terrifying rate, in just a few seconds she was almost in front of him. However, Bedivere's best feature was her incredible agility, this, coupled with the fact that it seemed this version of her Queen was slower than the original, and also that she could not use her Mana Blast to its fullest capacity due to the lack of a master, gave Bedivere confidence of being able to dodge even his skill-driven attacks. Still, the eternal commander did not relax at any time, well he knew that his Queen possessed an exceptional type of instinct that allowed her to achieve unimaginable feats in combat; however, from the clashes they had had, the knight had a theory that this version was also slightly inferior in this aspect.

However, there were also aspects in which he was obviously superior, he was undoubtedly stronger than his Queen and possessed a much more robust defense, this one was much stronger and more resilient than he was, he simply could not fight in a straight force battle against her. Having considered all of the above, the knight did not decide to dodge defensively and instead decided to dodge offensively and attempted to stab her with his "spear" at one of the points where her armor did not protect her, he knew that he was unlikely to succeed and that even if he did, it was also unlikely to cause her significant damage thanks to the protection of his Mana Blast, but at least it would allow him to alter the direction of his attack.

However, to her surprise, using a second explosion in the middle of the attack, Saber forced herself to change the direction of her offensive, thus, she managed to dodge the spear and turn to the side of the silver knight. Her sword was surrounded by that dark energy and increasing its power with the Mana Blast, she aimed directly at the knight's windpipe.

However, Bedivere had been aware of this possibility, and thanks to his incredible agility and, using the hand he had not attacked with, in a matter of seconds, he used his sword to try to deflect the blow. Originally the eternal general would not even consider deflecting the power of the mana-reinforced corrupted sword with his sword which, while it was a weapon of great quality, did not even come close to matching the Tyrant's sword, but, to his fortune, his resistance as a servant was not low at all, much less now that it had been reinforced by the cultural sphere, and more importantly, his abilities as a servant were in essence quite defensive, B-rank Magic Resistance, along with C-rank Tactics which, while his enemy was using an Anti-Fortress rank Treasure, its effect was similar in a matter of area of effect to an Anti-Army treasure, its greater power being what made the difference, so, his skill was able to help him against this one, and lastly, Oath of Protection, harmonized in a hugely effective way to allow him to deflect his enemy's sword by the slimmest of margins. If he had tried to stop it head-on, it would be another matter; but deflecting it by a small margin was within his capabilities...

Still, it would be very optimistic of him to believe that he would get away with such an exchange. If their weapons were shooting stars fighting against each other, then his sword would now be considered just stardust, its fragments adorning the crystalline floor of the room. Besides, it wasn't all over there, the ricochet of the exchange had forced him back.

The Tyrant wasted no time and, without waiting even a second, launched himself in pursuit of his opponent, however, he had barely begun his hunt when, once again, he was forced to retreat to dodge a large javelin that materialized in the hands of the knight, The Javelin of Ysbaddaden.

While all this was going on, Gray had been watching the battle intently, as it progressed, she was able to discover more about the state of the enemy Servant.

Saber's first flame, the one representing her strength, was of the same quality as her Servant's; but, from one moment to the next, it exploded, becoming twice as large. The same happened with the flame representing stamina. The flame that represented agility was much smaller than an average flame, one level below, but suddenly, it was empowered by becoming of a normal size. The flame that seemed to represent his magical energy seemed to be of the highest quality, just like the first flames, but to his surprise, it diminished by a full range, although it was able to burst once after it had descended. The flame representing her luck was of average size, and the one representing her Heroic Treasure, was of the highest quality, and managed to burst twice.

She also read several of the skills that thanks to the combat had been revealed, Rank B Instinct and Rank A Mana Blast. It seemed that neither had been altered from their original rank, but, as the power of Mana Blast was related to the available magical energy, which seemed to be less than usual, she would not be able to use it to its full potential.

Gray bit his lips, but held his weapon tightly, it seemed he had made up his mind.

Meanwhile, Bedivere watched his enemy closely, "Despite fighting like that, he still has that exceptional instinct for battle," thought the knight.

On the other hand, Saber Alter smiled to his surprise, "I didn't remember you having such fierceness, Bedivere...". -Despite his smile, his words were calm and, even so, they denoted a touch of pride and satisfaction at the actions of his former knight.

-I never expected that we would meet on opposite sides of the same battlefield, even if you are not the King I swore to serve. Only in the most difficult moments, when the situation obligatorily required sacrifices to achieve liberation and the maintenance of the sovereignty of our country, I could see in your person a similar behavior; however, not even as the most remote possibility, I imagined that you could become a tyrant who fought with a ferocity and coldness so similar to that of Vortigern.

-Vortigern... A tyrant... -Altria stifled a dry, uncondescending laugh. I have long since abandoned the quest for utopia, Bedivere. I have learned from the result of what the pursuit of these leads to, and you... you should understand that better than anyone, shouldn't you? As one of the few knights who saw both the rise and fall of the Kingdom.

In the middle of the conversation, Gray had stood behind his servant...

-Yes, I know. I know better than anyone, but still...

-But? There are no buts that matter, the past is all the proof we need," Altria interrupted him.

-No, there are! We all knew it, that the utopia we were pursuing was something we would probably never reach, and yet we decided to follow you... Because your splendor and brilliance were enough to give us hope that one day we would achieve the impossible! And, despite the end result, I am sure that neither I nor any of them regretted that decision. My only regret was never being able to help you deal with the great weight you silently carried on your shoulders. If given the chance again, even knowing the final outcome, I would rededicate my life to pursuing that dream at your side once more.

Saber frowned. Enough talk, we're not going to get anywhere this way... -Saber's Excalibur surrounded herself with the blackened energy as the tyrant increased her power with Mana Blast. If the way I have chosen to rule is the right way, then you will fall here Bedivere, and if the right way is the one you defend... Then... you will take my life. In the end, that is the only outcome that matters!

Faced with the overwhelming power of his opponent, Bedivere could do nothing but brace himself. The energy also began to focus on his Heroic Treasure in preparation for the release of his seal...

"Are you ready...?" Bedivere asked.

Gray nodded.

Saber raised her sword and, once again, it was charged with a great amount of magical energy, much greater than the previous times, the knight was certain that, this time, she would not be able to deflect his attack with her sealed spear. Fortunately, he would not have to...

The blackened energy that had accumulated around Saber's sword was unleashed with immeasurable fury against Lancer. The torrent of energy swept against everything in its path with the aim of completely destroying its enemy. When she reached the position where Bedivere was, as she expected, her attack was met with another force that confronted him, stopping him, but she knew well that her enemy did not have enough power to face him directly. With effort, her attack began to advance once more, knowing Bedivere, he would not meet her attack directly, he would try to deflect it, just as he had done before. Thus, she prepared to arc her attack so that, yes or yes, it would hit the silver-armored knight. However...

Slinsh...! Clash!

Among the large amount of dark energy, a flash of whitish energy was present, it went through the corrupted swell straight towards her, thanks to her intuition, she could sense that something threatening was coming towards her, but between sensing it and being able to avoid it there was a long way to go. Once again she was forced to use her Mana Blast to avoid her enemy's spear, but this time she was not as lucky as the previous times.

Bedivere had released the seal on her arm and the spear manifested in response, it had pierced through the stream of magical energy and headed straight for her enemy's neck with an upward attack; however, thanks to her intuition and skill, Saber was able to avoid it, so it only grazed her armor; however, her visor was shattered and she had to retreat using her Mana Blast to improve her speed and gain some distance.

Saber had no idea how Lancer had been able to deal with her attack, however, as she threw herself backwards, she could see the teacher who had accompanied Bedivere when they entered the room. It seemed that she had been the one who had managed to stop his attack momentarily to give the knight a chance to counterattack, in front of the gray clad girl, numerous golden particles remained floating.

She, without losing an instant, recovered, stopping and raising her gaze, but the only thing she saw after that, was the flash of her enemy's spear too close to be blocked, directly towards her person. Alter did not understand at first instance how it was possible for the attack to come with such speed, even though Bedivere was agile and fast, plus her spear possessed a good range, it should still be extraordinarily complicated to readjust the direction of her attack and cover the distance she had gained with her Mana Blast in just a few moments as she seemed to have done; however, Saber realized before the attack hit her that it seemed not to have been so. What was coming towards her was not the knight with his spear, but the tip of it that had been shot from its shaft as if it were a powerful projectile, the attack seemed to be a compact storm of thousands of blades of magical energy in the form of a hurricane that enveloped the projectile.

The attack was extraordinarily powerful, it had nothing to envy to the one she had provoked with her sword and, therefore, the damage it caused was no less devastating. Thanks to the combination of her great defense augmented with her Mana Blast, she was able to hold her own against her enemy's powerful offensive, however, she did not come out of it unscathed. Much of her armor was severely damaged, with the metal parts cracked and its fabrics matted, and she had cuts in those parts where her armor did not protect her effectively, and yet, what worried the Tyrant most was not any of this, but that, at the moment of impact, perhaps because of the whirlwind of blades, her weapon had flown out of her hands.

While Saber was affected by the attack of the spear tip, Bedivere wasted no time, in one of his hands he carried the shaft of Deg clwyf while the tip was already on its way to him, and in the other hand, he carried the Javelin of Ysbaddaden, and, with this, the silver-armored knight prepared to attack his unarmed enemy.

SLASH! CLINK!

The halberd descended fiercely against the heroic spirit of the sword, but, to Lancer's surprise, his weapon met another and both collided.

A new sword appeared in Alter's hands and clashed against the Javelin of Ysbaddaden, the sword servant seized this opportunity and quickly stepped forward to fight the knight using the short sword he had summoned, Bedivere tried to take space to analyze the new situation that had presented itself before him; however, he found that he could not even take a step back, in fact, he was forced to move forward against his will.

At this point, Bedivere was too close to his enemy to be able to use his javelin properly, but he could not retreat, and instead, his opponent began to attack him quickly.

"Th-That sword...," Bedivere could do nothing but defend against the short sword as best he could.

Saber Alter began to swing her second sword with an upward slash with great ferocity and speed, Bedivere managed to react in time to protect himself as best he could; however, he could barely and barely defend himself. The knight and the tyrant suddenly exchanged positions, now it was he who was trying to defend himself from the incoming attacks of his enemy. Saber not only swung her short sword swiftly, but coated it with her magical energy thanks to her Mana Blast and began to unleash rapid attacks one after another in succession. The knight brought back the tip of his spear in an attempt to force Saber to dodge and gain an opening, but Saber instinctively sensed the direction of the attack and was able to dodge it without needing to move away from the knight.

For a moment Bedivere was in serious trouble, as a Lancer-class Servant he needed a certain amount of space to maneuver and, despite his agility, in a one-on-one fight with only a few steps of distance between him and his enemy, and without the possibility of taking a single step back, while being attacked with precise and quick attacks one after another, there was little or nothing he could do but defend himself as best he could. At least until...

Slinsh...! Clash!

The sword and the albard collided...

Gray had rushed forward to prevent Saber's multiple attacks from taking Lancer's life. A flash of surprise crossed the sword Servant's face, not only because the girl had managed to parry his attack, but, with a strong swing of the albard, he had forced her back with a force she was quite familiar with.

Saber gripped her sword tightly and watched her new opponent intently, her hood sliding back from the bounce caused by the clash between their weapons. Saber was briefly surprised, even though the Counterforce had given her the information she needed to know about this girl, it was still a rare sight to see to see herself reflected in people other than herself or Mordred, but she paid no attention to her opponent's appearance for long, only one thing mattered: this girl was her true target and she had come directly to confront her, this made a small smile appear on her face. Still, she was not careless, she didn't know what the hell had happened, but Bedivere was a far more skilled and dangerous servant than she could have predicted, and this girl would do nothing but become more powerful as she was in his presence, and the ability she had used to block his attacks was proof of this, Gray had used Mana Blast.

Several minutes earlier...

Gray found herself surprised by the start of her servant's offensive, until now she had seen Bedivere as someone who would observe the situation before rushing into the offensive. Perhaps his actions were due in some measure to who his opponent was this time...

"Gray-chan, Gray-chan, can you hear me?".

"E-Huh?", she was pulled out of her state of concentration once again by that unfamiliar voice.

"You heard me before, didn't you? In any case, I was hoping to make a proper introduction; but considering the situation, I will reveal my identity, I am known as The Wizard of Flowers, the same court magician that appears in the Arthurian legends, so you must already know what my name is, Merlin. As I said, I am your ally, and at this moment, I need you to trust me if you want to be able to defeat Saber, do you understand?"

"Merlin!?". It wasn't that Gray hadn't heard it the first time, it was just that too many things were happening in a matter of seconds for her, the Tyrant's appearance, her Servant's offensive, and whatever was happening to her body... She simply hadn't been able to process all of that in such a short time, and now Merlin's involvement was added to it. She felt as if she had been transported back to those legends that her villagers were so obsessed with.

"Well, I'd like to have a quiet chat with you, but this isn't the right time, there are two things you need to know, so pay close attention, understand?"

Gray nodded, though not knowing if the wizard could see her, she replied as well. "What things?"

"The first is what's happening to your body, it's the same thing that happened almost 10 years ago, when your body changed overnight."

"O-Once again?", for a moment, Gray thought of the worst thing that could happen to her and shivered slightly.

"Easy, easy, no matter how much your body changes, your soul will always be the same, you will never lose yourself," those words were spoken with great assurance and, for Gray, who was already on the verge of drowning in a sea of doubts and fears, they proved to be an instant lifeboat, "Your body, which was imbued with the essence of the King's body, is reacting to the invocation of another being with a similar essence, and this is stimulating it, so that it is becoming more and more a suitable body to be Altria's vessel."

Gray did nothing but nod, after all, she wasn't detached at all from what was happening to her, only this time, it seemed like the change would be greater than 10 years ago.

"Can you feel the extra amount of mana originating from within you?".

Gray nodded, from one moment to the next, she knew that something had changed inside her body, something that originally shouldn't be like this, had now transformed, while she had always possessed magic circuits of very good quality and quantity, she now felt as if these had reached a new level, feeling that she was now able to use a greater amount of mana; but not only was that, now these were connected to something, something that wasn't so in the first place, and that was making her mana production skyrocket through the roof.

"This probably must mean that you've already inherited it."

"The what?"

"When I orchestrated Altria's birth, I imbued her with the essence of the red dragon element, this allowed her to have within her a magical core."

"And what is that?"

"A magic core allows for increased mana production. If a person can be considered as a single machine producing magic energy, then a person with a magic core can be considered as an entire factory producing magic energy. If you don't understand it by magical terms, then you might as well say that what is happening to you is the same thing that happened to the production of industries after industrialization and the beginning of mass production. Do you see that corrupted version of Altria?"

Gray nodded once again, despite the talk she was having with the mage, she never took her gaze off the battle that was happening in front of her. Both because there was a terrible enemy in front of her, and because she was still seeking to understand why Bedivere had made such a rash decision to begin his offensive.

"You saw the moment when Altria attacked Bedivere by breaking his sword."

"Yes."

"What she used is called Mana Blast, an ability that beings possessing a magic core can use. It is a skill that allows the increase in performance caused by infusing weapons and the body with magical energy and instantly expelling it. Simply put, it recreates the effect of a jet blast by expending large amounts of magical you understand?".

"Yes, but why are you telling me this?".

"Because Bedivere can't win against Altria."

"Huh? But..." The girl exclaimed in surprise, she had been watching the battle since it had begun and while she didn't approve of her servant's reckless decision, seeing how the fight unfolded, she believed Bedivere had a chance of winning, that assessment of Merlin, to her, was a bit harsh.

"Don't get me wrong, it's not that Bedivere doesn't have the ability to win under the circumstances, but, still, he won't win."

"Why!", such a flat denial was a hard thing for her to accept, perhaps because, despite his statements and taking the offensive, she knew that there must be doubts and concerns that Bedivere must be facing.

"Bedivere is a general, he knows that this is only a battle, and what will come next, will be war. You see, an extremely powerful servant has been summoned on the floors below, arguably even more powerful than Altria, Bedivere is aware of this, he knows that he can only win against Altria if he fights with the full power of his trump card, but he also knows that, if he does, he will be badly injured, and may not be able to face what lies below, and thus will have lost the war. That's why you have to act, you have to tip the balance in his favor."

"Act? Wait... I can't take her on!". That was something that had sunk in as he watched the combat unfold. Maybe if she absorbed a large amount of magical energy she might stand a chance; but would it be enough? She really didn't think so...

"Maybe not before, but not now. She can't fight with everything she has since, once she consumes all her mana reserve, she will disappear. And, on the other hand, now you can use Mana Blast to fight at a similar level to her."

"Just because I can use that ability, doesn't mean I know how to use it!" the tomb guardian protested.

Merlin laughed, "That's for the best, you don't need to."

"Huh?"

"I told you, didn't I? Your body is becoming more and more like Altria's, once you and her start fighting, Sibyl Sorcery will go into effect, with each exchange you will start to become more suited to your new condition, it would be the equivalent of inheriting her muscle memory unconsciously. Even if you have never used Mana Blast and have never trained with it, instinctively, your body will know how to do it. To use it in the best way for you you will need to practice it yourself, but for now this is the best we can do."

Gray wanted to protest further, but, at that moment, using his connection between master and servant, Bedivere communicated with her.

"Master, I need you to do something for me...".

"Huh? What do you need?" she hoped he wouldn't say something as crazy as what the mage had told her.

"I should be able to match the power of her Heroic Treasure by releasing just the seal of my spear without needing to release her true name, as long as she doesn't release the true name of her version of Excalibur either, but that won't allow me to cause her great harm, it will only level the situation. I will release the seal so I can use her properly, it will put pressure on myself, but not to the same level as declaring her true name."

"I understand, how can I help you?", Gray watched as both his Servant and Saber set about preparing their next attacks.

"As long as she doesn't release the True Name of her Treasure, the restriction of the second level of Add should be enough to stop her."

She really didn't have the time to hesitate, Lancer had explained to her earlier what the difference was between attacking with an unreleased Heroic Treasure, and attacking with one after having declared its True Name, the latter acts as an activation key that allows the full power of the Treasure to be used in the following attacks, although many of the powers of Heroic Treasures can be used without releasing this name, generally, Heroic Treasures can only be used to their full capacity after having released those names.

Neither Bedivere nor Alter had released their true names, but unlike before, it seemed that Saber had begun to stop sizing up Lancer and planned to start fighting in earnest. The only way Bedivere could level the situation was with the release of his spear seal, it wouldn't put as much pressure on him as releasing his True Name, but it would only allow him to level the situation, in order to cause effective damage, he needed an opening, and he was asking Gray to create it for him.

Before he could respond, Merlin spoke to him again. "Take the opportunity to get close to both of them, the two of them will try to kill each other using more powerful attacks than they have used before, but due to the danger of disappearing, Saber is unlikely to attack with everything. Let her attack first and use her own attack as cover, at which point, you can create an opening."

Although Gray doubted the mage's words, the certainty with which he stated what would happen caused her to move behind her Servant.

Finally, the clash of attacks occurred and she was able to watch as the flower mage's words came true.

However, now the situation had changed, Saber was attacking with a new weapon swiftly and with deadly accuracy at her Servant, and he was being cornered, and Gray, on the other hand, could not understand why he did not retreat.

"You have to intervene! That sword will not allow Bedivere to fight on terms. Its name is Secace, it's a sword of Altria, a Heroic Treasure of rank A. It has similar properties to Excalibur, but instead of being a holy sword it's a cursed sword, and instead of amplifying its energy, it compresses and concentrates it, this generates weaker, but more lethal and precise attacks, and its release and recharge time is also very fast so it can attack consecutively. However, that's not what's really annoying for Bedivere, it's Secace's ability that makes it can only be used in deadly combat."

"I don't understand, how does that affect Bedivere?".

"When using it, the sword curse is activated so that the combat meets the conditions of mortal combat: You are not allowed to retreat, you cannot flee, also healing skills that have to be used consciously and defensive skills that nullify lethal attacks are negated and, in addition, the curse forces you to attack against your will. Since spearmen need a certain amount of distance to effectively fight their opponents, and Saber went into that distance with Secace, Bedivere can neither fight effectively nor retreat to reposition himself."

As he watched the battle, Gray could verify the magus' words, ever since Saber had taken out Secace, Bedivere had not taken a step back. With no other choice, Gray mentally prepared herself for the madness she was about to do, and while she still had some doubts, as she watched the situation, she prayed that the magus' words about her magic core and muscle memory were also true.

Gray felt a burst of energy burst forth from the magic core she had inherited and spread through her body. Without a second thought she lunged towards the two Servants to prevent Saber's attack from taking her Servant's life.

Thus, sword and halberd met. The sound of steel clashing against each other came flooding back into the room, once again the weapons shone like flashes of light impacting and fighting each other.

Bedivere stood up and prepared to support his teacher, but...

"Stop," Merlin's voice echoed in his head.

"Why?" the knight asked as he watched the swift exchange of attacks his teacher and his enemy were having.

"The opportunity to confront your fears incarnate should not be underestimated, nor should it be wasted. Act only if you see it as completely necessary," the magician replied.

Bedivere remembered the reasons why Saber was summoned in the first place, and could understand the mage's motives, though that did not mean he agreed that his master was in such danger, but, at this moment, interrupting the combat could be even more detrimental. He decided to begin the offensive because he wasn't sure he could hold his own in a battle of endurance against the tyrant; but now his teacher was facing her with a similar force, if he meddled, he could harm her by disrupting the pace of the combat.

Fortunately, Gray's interruption allowed Bedivere to escape Secace's curse, which was now upon her master, and this allowed her to ready her spear waiting for the moment when she could be of help, in the meantime, she could only watch the combat unfold.

Secace and Add in his halberd form met on the battlefield at breakneck speeds, again and again the flashes and sparks caused by the meeting of the weapons sparkled in the room.

At this point Gray couldn't think, no, it wasn't that he couldn't, it was that the speed of the combat far outstripped the speed of his decision making, he had never been in such high speed combat. If he had been able to hold his own in this exchange of attacks, it was only because the mage's words seemed to be true, his body moved instinctively, somehow, his body knew how to fight in a way that was totally unknown to him.

Every slash of the short sword was blocked or deflected in some way, she just saw the attacks and somehow responded. Up, left, right, down, one after another, the attacks came and she blocked them as best she could; however, she also knew that she could not continue on the defensive for long, much less with Secace's curse taking effect. Taking all the courage she could muster, Gray once again deflected the sword attack and attempted to begin an offensive. Her shoulders, head, legs, and the parts uncovered due to the breakage of the armor thanks to Bedivere's attack were a target for her, one after another her attacks were launched with great speed and, one after another, were blocked by the sword.

Saber unleashed a torrent of mana to wound the tomb guardian in order to resume her offensive, but, to her surprise, her attack was swallowed by the halberd. Alter was much more experienced and, even though she could not retreat, she directed the combat so that she could recover Excalibur, once she retook her weapon, she deconvoked Secace, against only one enemy the sword could be very useful, but against two its effect could be turned against her.

The heroic spirit of the sword raised her gaze to analyze her enemy, and upon seeing her, Saber raised an eyebrow.

Gray was trembling.

Why was she trembling? This girl had managed to face him and she had not been able to deal him a decisive blow, she felt, in fact, as if she was facing a mirror. So why was she shaking? She still kept the Mana Blast surrounding her body and her weapon, her eyes were focused on it, but her body kept shaking.

Interested in the target of her summoning, Saber asked, "Are you afraid of me? The calm-toned voice came from her lips, and though it was a question, to Gray it felt like an affirmation.

She couldn't help but nod.

-Then you can die here. -Saber once again prepared to begin the offensive. There is no room for hesitation on the battlefield.

-N-No... I will not die, not here, not against you.

Saber frowned, this girl was the reason for his summoning. The grail had provided her with the necessary information about her, so she knew her circumstances, but she would be lying if she said she particularly cared about them. She was more interested in why Morgan would prepare this kind of ritual, and whether she should consider it a help or an insult to her memory. This battle was the one she wanted to have had all along, she expected a fight similar to the one she was having, but she didn't expect her opponent to tremble with fear in the middle of it, for some reason, it bothered her- Hmn...? Someone who fights in fear on the battlefield won't survive for long, it's a pity no one told you that before.

-They did, that's why I know I won't die against you. It is true that since that day, I have been afraid of losing myself in your shadow, but not in your shadow, but in the shadow of the other you. I was afraid of the Queen who chased utopias and shone brighter than anyone else, to the point of making the people in my village revere her and worship me as fanatics just for looking like her, I fear being devoured by her radiance and that my name and my being will be lost, just as she abandoned herself and disappeared from the annals of history. I fear to be in the shoes of the ideal Queen... -Gray took a breath of air, this scene had been in both his dreams and his nightmares, there was so much he wanted to say that his body stopped trembling for a moment-. But I'm not afraid of you, and now there are people who recognize me, despite knowing that glow, so...I...I... I don't want to lose!

-Fearing failure like my pursuit of something unattainable was, maybe you're a bigger idiot than I could have been. Chasing utopias only leads to the darkness you see before you. This is the result of chasing an unattainable dream! -For an instant, his stoic countenance cracked a little. If only... if only I had sought something more realistic... then those days wouldn't have ended this way... -Altria clenched her fists over her sword, gripping it tighter. What you see before you, is the answer to the doubts I carried throughout my reign, to the conflicts and hatred for what I could not achieve, and... the pain of seeing my kingdom fall, of seeing my knights betray me or abandon me...

Gray lowered his gaze. You, too... You were silent about things you wanted to say, but couldn't... You had doubts and regrets...

-The King doesn't understand human feelings, because the King is not human...

-What is that? -asked the stunned girl.

Altria smiled a dry smile. That's what was whispered in my court. The King does not understand human feelings, because the King is not human? They were not entirely wrong, maybe I was not able to connect with my people, because I was afraid that my secret would come out, but I always watched over them as I believed it was right. I appreciated every knight who put his sword in service to my cause, and my 12 knights whom I always saw as my equals, more than anyone...

"The King did not understand human emotions... But the King was certainly human, simply, he could not show it."

-The other me saw her dream disappear before it came true, she saw her utopia destroyed, and... his prayers died in Camlann. A total failure as King, not worth fearing something so pitiful.

-Not so! -Bedivere couldn't take it anymore and ended up intervening, standing next to his teacher. Some of what he said may be true, but not all of it is true.

Altria narrowed her eyes at her knight, scolding him with her gaze, "Hmn? What is a lie? Where did I go wrong according to your criteria?

Bedivere mustered the courage to say all those things he could not say while he was alive, staring at this version of his King, he replied, "I do not believe that the path you have chosen now is wrong, but I refuse to accept that my Queen's path has been a complete failure. Camelot may have fallen, but its glory did not fade in Camlann, its splendor has come down to these days, and so has the figure of the King you showed us! His prayers were not lost in Camlann, they were transmitted along with our legend to this day! So much so that there are still people who await her second coming, and while it is true that most of her knights deserted, there is still one knight who refuses to abandon her! To the dreams and ideals we share. I repeat myself your majesty: My only regret was never being able to help you deal with the great weight you silently carried on your shoulders, but nothing more.

Saber's hands trembled slightly. It doesn't matter anymore... It's all over.

-That's not quite true! -This time it was Gray who raised her voice, once again that force that drove her became present and the thoughts she had silenced for almost a decade were transformed into words, with a strength she didn't even know she possessed, once she started, she couldn't stop. It's not over. I was born for the ideal you once represented, I was afraid of losing myself in that ideal and being absorbed by you, but as I have lived more and met more people, I have understood that only I can choose what my path is, that I cannot bind myself to the past, to you, and that, to free myself, I must first surpass what you represented. My dream is not so great, not so grand, but in essence it is similar to yours. Your scabbard, your sword, your spear and your dreams, have not disappeared, there are still people today trying to surpass your legend and to reach the utopia that you pursued. I am not you, I will not become you, neither the current you nor the other you, but I have inherited everything that was precious to you, and I am currently pursuing a small utopia. I... I'm going to prove you wrong, and I'm going to prove to myself that I can go further than you did by following my own path! So... -Gray took a breath of air and held his halberd tightly, despite his trembling hand. Face me with everything you've got King of Knights, we'll take all the things you silenced and move towards our own utopia! Even if we never reach it, nothing says that everything we built to reach it should be destroyed just because we failed.

Hearing his teacher's words, Bedivere could not help but smile and nod, he too held the halberd so that it would stop shaking. My queen, even if you are no longer the same as the one I served, even if you now walk a different path... I will still persist in walking the same path I walked by your side!

Perhaps it was just an illusion, but for a moment the maid felt the grip on her sword tremble, but her convictions would not flank so easily, a smile deferring to the usual one adorned her face, it seemed to be a challenging smile-. I see... Then I will face them with everything I have, this is my determination! If you have the courage to advance along a path that has already come to failure once, then you must now prove that you have the power to change that end!

Once again, Excalibur Morgan glowed as the blackish energy enveloped her around her.

-Master..." Gray nodded.

Gray nodded. Add!

-Really, this should be considered slavery, but I guess it would be pretty pathetic to break me here, don't get used to this Gray! Artificial personality suspended, minimum magic power agglutination value exceeded. Initiating release of third level limit, thirteen seals, initializing decision...

While Altria was surrounded by deep darkness, a bright light surrounded Gray and Bedivere, 12 figures formed by that light surrounded them. Several of these began to speak:

-This battle is not against an elemental, I agree.

-It is a battle for survival, I agree.

-It is a battle for truth, I consent.

-The battle is not against humanity, I consent.

-Comrades in arms are brave, I consent.

-The battle is not against someone pure of heart, I consent.

It seemed that more restraints could be released, but Gray remembered her conversation with Bedivere and how much pressure it put on Add to release the restraints, and knowing the state of Alter, who had expended much of her energy in battle, she decided to only release those necessary for the proper release of the Treasure, only one was missing...

Finally, Bedivere spoke. The battle is against an enemy more powerful than you, I consent.

-Initiating the release of the third level limit," Add finished saying.

-Grave for you... Ancient mystery reaches your death, sweet enigma, return to nothingness! The light took the form of a spear on Gray, his trance-like state once again becoming present as his consciousness faded, but she forced him back, she had to make sure to finish this on her own.

Saber moved into position, ready to unleash all the power she had left. Shout and plead, The time of your downfall has come! Hammer of the vile king, strike down the aurora!

-Sacred spear, weigh anchor! / Swallow all the light...

Light and darkness roared and swirled against each other before being unleashed.

-RHONGO... MYNIADDD! / EXCALBUR MORGANNN!

And a catastrophic tremor was felt throughout the labyrinth...

Omake,

-RHONGO...! / EXCALBUR...!

-PAARREENNNNNNN!

Just before both girls launched their attacks, Merlin suddenly appeared in an attempt to stop Gray and Saber, however, he failed and both attacks were unleashed against them. Fortunately, Merlin had prepared for this so that the suicidal Merlin was nothing more than an illusion.

Due to the hesitation produced by the magus, Gray did not unleash the full power of his spear by parrying at the last moment and, on the other hand, Saber directed her attack directly at the magus, so he did not collide with Gray's attack.

-Did you not hear me! -shouted the Flower Magus, reappearing again in the middle of the room.

Gray looked apologetic. I'm sorry, I couldn't change the address at the last moment.

-I wanted to hit you, it was a pity that you were an illusion... -Saber declared.

A drop of sweat trickled down the magus' temple at the sight of his former student.

-Why did you suddenly appear Merlin? -Bedivere asked, coming out of his dismay.

-Oh, yes," Merlin struck an erect and proud pose, "You see, I have decided that Vivian's method is too old and archaic! And I, who have lived for 1500 years observing humanity, have decided to use a much more modern method so that you can resolve your differences and help each other without killing each other.

-Oh, that could be very good," declared the gentleman.

-Nonsense, I'll get it over with," declared Salter.

-Wait! If this doesn't work, I'll give you as an offering a red-headed man with a cooking ability that makes Gawain's pickles taste like garbage! -the wizard declared.

Salter narrowed his eyes, "Taste it," Merlin handed him a viand that had a homemade lunch made by Shirou inside, Salter uncovered it and tried a few bites, suddenly, his eyes widened and he devoured the rest of the lunch with absurd speed, after finishing the lunch, Saber declared, "I hear you...".

Merlin pulled a book out of nowhere and began to read it, the cover read: Psychology for Dummies.

-Okay, here it is. In this paragraph it says that people can understand each other better if they put themselves in the other person's shoes, so... -Merlin raised his cane and a flash covered the room and suddenly... suddenly it didn't seem that anything had changed...

-What did you do? -asked the gravedigger in confusion.

-M-Teacher... His clothes... -said the servant incredulously.

H-H-Huh...?

Suddenly, Gray and Saber Alter had changed outfits... Merlin smiled.

Merlin smiled. Now, how do you feel about wearing each other's clothes? Don't you see things differently?

Saber Alter just looked at each other for a moment before shaking her head. I still want to murder you for revealing the secret.

Merlin felt a shiver. W-Well, what about you, Gray-chan?

-D-In fact, I do notice a change... -The gravedigger replied as she looked embarrassed by her new attire.

Merlin's eyes twinkled, "Really?

Gray nodded, "I do think something changed inside me, I think I understand Saber Alter better now.

-Great, so how does it feel for you?

Suddenly, Gray raised his spear in the direction of the mage. W-Wait, Gray-chan?

Saber Alter smiled and his sword lit up as well. Maybe you weren't entirely wrong, Merlin.

W-Wait, w-wait, y-you two...

-RHONGO... MYNIADDD! / EXCALBUR MORGANNN!

Once again, the attacks were fired, but this time, both in the direction of the wizard.

-By the way, I still want the redhead," said Salter.

-You can't, that's mine," Gray declared coldly. Keep the pickles.

-Ohhh? Can you back up that statement? -Salter raised his sword again.

Surprisingly, Gray raised his spear once more. Of course.

W-Wait, w-wait, m-teacher...

Once again, spear and sword were directed at each other.

Chapter 32, Being optimistic.

Footsteps echoed along the corridors as she walked carefully.

Manaka always saw beyond what other people's eyes could observe, so she never had any trouble locating herself no matter how intricate the maze was and, for some reason, as she walked towards her destination her brow was slightly furrowed.

While it was true that she was a powerful mage, that didn't mean she was a front line combatant. She had never needed any training for close combat, and if she was honest, she preferred not to fight that way, both Ayaka and Shirou considered her a beautiful and graceful fairy, and she preferred to be seen that way. Still, it's not like she couldn't be, she had an omnipotent body connected to the Root, becoming a martial artist that would make a fool out of every modern fighter and probably those from the Age of Gods as well, wouldn't be something at all unbelievable for her.

Despite this, that didn't mean that all close range fighters didn't pose a threat to her, it just meant that most of them weren't. At this point, she was wondering if she should go straight to her encounter with herself, cutting through the ghostly beasts as well, or if she should take a detour and go slower, it seemed her other self was in no particular hurry. Meanwhile, her thoughts wandered...

To his good fortune, all the heroic spirits that were allowed inside the labyrinth had already been summoned, so none would stand in his way, though even if they did, they wouldn't be an obstacle for him to consider either.

Now that he thought about it, many unusual things, at least to ordinary onlookers, had happened in this war, for example, Illya's case was certainly an anomaly that almost no one, with his obvious exception, expected to be possible.

Suddenly, a huge tremor shook the labyrinth.

After it stopped, the expression on her face relaxed. Things hadn't really gotten out of hand and had gone as she had predicted. They had had to face the wolf that, supposedly, devoured Sól, Sköll, and, on the other hand, Illya had had to face the wolf that tore and devoured Máni, Hati, and, to her good fortune, Lord El-Melloi II and the young King of Heroes had arrived to help her at the key moment.

In a way, this was a missed opportunity for her. Manaka was more than willing to save her using either the Space Transport, Flash Air, or any of her practically infinite methods to keep her safe. At the end of the day, even if Lady Einzbern wasn't particularly attached to her currently, she couldn't let the young mage die, and by saving her, she could regain some of the trust she lost from the workshop accident.

Besides, that tremor that had occurred a few moments ago was proof that the battle between Gray and Bedivere against the corrupted version of the King of Knights was over. As for Gray, she probably is, or will be, also someone who desires, or will desire, her lover's affections, which means she will fight her for this one. She could not help having her doubts as to whether she should save her in a pinch. However, in the end she decided that, in the event that she was in danger, she would do so, after all, Gray's death would also cause a great impact on Shirou, but above all, she would also be an important piece for the future they were pursuing, even if saving her meant giving the girl a chance to steal the redhead's affection, something she obviously didn't agree with.

However, she was no longer so innocent in a sense, unlike her self of a few years ago who sought to live in a fantasy as a way to escape her present, willing to eliminate anyone who represented even a modicum to her. While she sought the boy's love as hard if not harder than before, she also knew that she could not simply eliminate her opponents without repercussions. And those repercussions could make Shirou hate her, something she would never allow.

After making so many mistakes in trying to win the boy's affection, Manaka was now moving with leaden feet, slowly but surely. She would get the boy's affection, but she had to do it by the right methods, or she might end up losing him.

Unfortunately, her thoughts were interrupted by a certain magician.

"That's a nice change of mind...".

Manaka was still walking and the frown was back on her face, "Are you done guiding those two, Merlin?".

"For now, yes," the Flower Mage replied.

"How collaborative and altruistic of you, no doubt the current state of the world has affected you more than you should have imagined, hasn't it?" she replied sarcastically.

"The current state of the world...?" the mage asked curiously.

Manaka smiled mischievously, "Oh? I took it for granted that, by this point, you would have figured it out. You know, for someone who's like a big omnidirectional inhuman telescope, it's rather ironic that you haven't noticed what's happening to yourself," the girl said as if that was an easy thing to see and, even if it was a bit hypocritical, since she could see even more than Merlin and something a bit similar had happened to her as well, she didn't feel bad at all about telling him that.

"I won't deny that there's something strange happening to me, I've known it ever since I manifested outside the Tower; but what does the world have to do with this?"

Manaka sighed and set about explaining herself, "I guess it makes sense that you're not related to a situation as special as this, special in a bad way obviously. It's something you've never been able to experience for yourself, and it's also a rare thing to see. Merlin, the planet is dying, hence the world's mana is running out. This has caused Sorcery to begin to disappear from the face of the earth and, of course, this has had severe repercussions on those beings who are related to it. You are a being of mystery, from a magical point of view, but only half of you is, remember, half incubus?".

At that moment, as the Flower Mage accompanied the red-haired youth, his eyes widened with surprise as he understood the girl's words.

"I see... So that's what happened."

Manaka nodded, "The arrival of the Age of Man had a great impact on most of the ghostly beasts who lived in mystery, these saw their existence rejected and gave up the surface to mankind, of course, there were cases and cases. Some, like the old dragon Albion, resisted leaving the surface, and well, in his case, now the magi use his corpse as a mine of materials, among other things, and on the other hand there are beings like you. You are a mixed blood, so, being half incubus, although you are less affected than the other ghostly species, since humanity has detached itself from Gaia, that does not mean that the current state of the world does not have repercussions on the part of you that is attached to it. Because of this, at this time, your human part must be more prominent than your incubus part, so tell me Merlin, how does it feel to be closer to humanity?"

To her surprise, he chuckled internally. "Strange, really strange, you're right, I've never experienced anything like this. Although now I understand why my way of acting seemed so uncommon and incomprehensible to me, and despite that, I also understand why I can't stop acting this way. How does it feel to be closer to humanity? Well, I can't really put it into words; but at least I can stop worrying about things I would normally worry about."

"Well, from my point of view, having your human side be more prominent is a beneficial change for me. Ultimately, it's your incubus side that I was worried about." For a moment, she looked quizzical, "Although... Did you really come for a reason like that?".

"You say that as if my reasons are fantastical and unreal, but I see nothing of the sort in my motives for participating in this imitation war. If anything, I think I'm being optimistic," replied the magician.

"Optimistic? In what sense?".

"If what has been posited is true, then the Moon Cell is the artifact that will allow the world to be saved, is it not?"

For a moment, Manaka hesitated to answer, the words, World destined for elimination, echoed loudly in her head, "It seems so...".

"But the Moon Cell is more than just that, it's also nearly the Moon in its entirety."

"As well as a digital realm in its own right.", the girl complemented, though, for a moment, she paused, wondering if the Flower Mage even knew what this meant, "Do you know what this means, at least, by any chance?".

To her surprise, Merlin nodded. "Of course. I've been several centuries trapped in a prison and, as you said, I'm an omnidirectional telescope, I know what the internet is. Specifically, I like to follow Magi⭐Mari."

"Magi⭐Mari? Isn't that an internet idol?" she asked increasingly confused.

"Oh? You know her?" the wizard asked with a mocking expression.

For a moment, she wondered if she should find out who this idol was and her connection to Merlin, that is, she could see everything; however, because of the problems it had caused her to see beyond what she should to her relationship with Shirou, and having decided to pay more attention to her present, than to the past, the future, and other worlds, that she began to limit herself from losing sight of what was really important to her again. In short, she hadn't felt the need to know what the Flower Wizard did in his spare time, or who that idol really was. In fact, she only knew who she was by mere chance (Who knew Ayaka would like those kinds of programs, did her sister have a hidden illusion of ever becoming an idol?). She laughed inwardly as she imagined her...

"No, but I'll consider meeting her," Manaka replied.

For a moment, Merlin felt afraid that his reputation as one of humanity's most amazing wizards would sink if the girl found out that, in his spare time, he became an internet idol. Maybe, at first, he did it with good intentions, as a way to help someone who needed a person to constantly tell him: hang in there and stand up to him, to show his true worth to the world. However, this "therapy", if it could be called that, seemed to be no longer so necessary as the destined time approached, and even so, this had lasted a couple of years, and the idol's channel, Magi Mari, had gained a more than significant amount of subscribers, now it was a bit painful to leave it abandoned for no reason. At this point, the magician regretted that humanity had discovered the Moon Cell so early, even if research on it had been stalled for almost 30 years, the short time in which humans were able to investigate the advanced artifact, was enough time for humanity on this world to advance technologically and faster than on other worlds, cell phones were a common thing for most people, and the internet boom was just beginning to take place now, while on worlds where the Moon Cell had not been discovered, it had barely begun to be relevant.

Not wanting to know how much the girl would annoy him if he discovered she was an internet idol in disguise, the Flower Mage changed the subject, "The thing is, the Moon Cell, it's more than just an artifact. It's a satellite and a digital realm."

"So?" the girl asked, knowing where Merlin wanted to take the conversation; but leaving him to boast about his foresight anyway, it wasn't like he had much to do, anyway.

"Like I said, I'm being optimistic. So far you've only thought about preparing for the holy grail war; but, none of you have thought about, what happens after the holy grail war?"

"After? We don't even know if there will be a then. Right now, we must concentrate on winning the war, the rest is secondary," Manaka replied.

"I agree with you, that's why I say I'm being optimistic. I'm thinking about that later, because when it comes, and I hope it comes, it might be really troublesome."

"I imagine what you mean, but considering you have more free time than I do to think about these things, please give me your point of view."

"In a normal holy grail war, once the grail is won, everything ends there. The winner makes the wish and the holy grail uses the power gathered to fulfill it, then it loses its power and remains an ordinary artifact, unless of course, you try to reuse it; but for that it would take several decades to become important again." At that moment, the magician began to take into account the problem that Merlin suggested, "The Moon Cell is not like that. This one won't wear out just for making a wish, neither can it be dismantled or stolen as was attempted with Fuyuki's holy grail." For a moment, the Flower Mage paused and sighed, which caused the red-haired man accompanying him to ask him if he was alright, to which he replied simply with a nod, "Do you really think humanity will keep quiet and simply thank you after you use the Moon Cell to save them? I may not fully understand human emotions; but I understand human nature well enough to know what will happen next."

Manaka lowered her head, "I understand. If we win the war, we will probably be seen as dangerous beings to humanity, we will be marked, hunted, and persecuted, both by the fear humans will feel towards us, and by those who will simply feel greed and want to take over the Moon Cell for their own purposes."

"Exactly. That is why I felt it was very important for me to participate in this war, I came to prepare two future rulers who will function ideally to run a kingdom, and this kingdom is none other than the Moon itself, including the Moon Cell, of course. So that these two will make proper use of it, and not allow its power to fall into the wrong hands or be used in the wrong way. Otherwise, even if the war is won and the world is restored, nothing guarantees that, without proper guidance, the future of mankind is assured."

"I understand...", Manaka sighed, "And you have chosen Shirou to be one of those two rulers, haven't you?".

Merlin nodded slightly. "I won't deny that I may be a bit biased, as he is the bearer of Caliburn, or well, his new form, and, even so, I was only certain to intervene on his behalf after I was able to get to this point."

"I heard you said you'd take care of Shirou's mate," Manaka narrowed her eyes and the Flower Mage felt a shiver run down her spine, "What exactly were you referring to? You're not referring to something like, choosing who his mate will be, or something like that, are you?".

"No, to Shirou's luck, he won't need to compromise for political reasons. However, whoever he chooses, this person will carry a weight similar to what the ruler of the Moon Cell will carry. And I don't want something similar to what happened with Guinevere to happen, so I have decided to prepare Shirou and those who have the highest probability of being his partner. Fortunately, one of them is a Princess and leader of one of the largest factions of the Dead Apostles, so, to my luck, I don't have to worry too much about her. On the other hand, there's Gray, and well, I'm conversing with you right now, aren't I?".

Manaka pouted, "You say that, but you already have an obvious favorite, don't you?".

Merlin smiled, "Well, I never said I was unbiased."

The girl sighed, "You can't create an ideal ruler in a single day, you know, much less two."

"I know, Altria was groomed throughout her childhood and part of her adolescence, to be the best ruler possible. However, that doesn't stop me from trying, besides, while this is probably the only time I'll be able to make a face-to-face appearance before the big event, that doesn't stop me from teaching you remotely by other means. On the other hand, I seem to have good luck for this type of undertaking, by manifesting as a servant, those techniques I used as a Kingmaker have crystallized as one of my skills, and of course it is a skill of the highest rank, while it is still not enough to create two rulers in such a short time, I will be able to lay firm foundations for the path they will travel, so I will be able to transmit years of teaching to them in this short interval of time we will be together. It will not yet be enough, but it will be the best teaching that can be given in such a short time.

"And as for me?" she asked mockingly.

"Fortunately, you solved the most complicated part on your own," the wizard replied.

"Hmn? The most complicated part?".

"Yes, it would have been really complicated to make you understand that, for one thing, your relationship with Shirou was not going to have a future unless you trusted him, luckily, your talk with the Princess seemed to make you understand that. On the other hand, you no longer trying to eliminate your competitors without measuring the consequences of your actions, that's a good change of mentality, as I said."

Manaka sighed, she couldn't deny that those experiences were really annoying and enlightening in equal parts, and she wouldn't know if a simple talk with the Flower Mage would have made her change her way of thinking and consequently acting, "I guess I understand, so now what will you do?".

"Now? Now I'm preparing Shirou as much as I can," he replied simply.

This caused the mage to pause momentarily. "Huh? That's it? You won't tell me anything else? That's all the preparation you'll give me!? Even if you are biased, this favoritism is too shameless," she declared dumbfounded.

Merlin chuckled internally, "Not exactly. Didn't I just make you see what will happen when they win the war?".

"W-Well, yes... B-But, that can't be all!" she cried out in frustration, had the wizard come to help them, yes or no?

The mocking tone in the wizard's voice disappeared and, with a more understanding tone of voice, he told her, "Unfortunately, it is just as you said. In such a short time I am not able to create two ideal rulers, much less prepare Shirou and the three of you at the same time. So I can only deal with your major problems and inform you of what will happen in the future if they win the war. Now that you know, it's up to you to prepare yourself. If you really love Shirou and are confident that he will choose you in the end, then you should prepare yourself to be able to support him even after the war."

Manaka sighed resignedly, this was something she already knew. Even if Shirou was not obligated to participate in the holy grail war as was the case with her sister, she was practically certain that he would participate anyway, in fact, based on what she had seen, she was sure that people who participated in holy grail wars on other worlds were more likely to participate in the war that will occur in the future than the rest of the people.

Unfortunately, calculating the future of an extremely divergent world was more complicated than in a world of correct human history, not only did the possible futures diverge very quickly, but, at a certain point in time, which could vary slightly in distance from the present, the possibility of the world's continued existence was erased and no one could see beyond it. Well, this was not quite true, she was able to see what might happen next, but that would be nothing more than registered possibilities, that is, futures in which the world would not be erased by the pruning system, but these possibilities were just that, they were no more than mere possibilities, it was more appropriate to call them impossibilities, for they would not become reality no matter how hard one tried.

It did not make much sense to pay attention to these impossibilities, she preferred to see the possible futures before that fateful moment, and she was aware that the chances of Shirou not becoming a master were not at all low, and that was not counting her intervention, or that of the King.

After learning that no matter what future she saw, the outcome would always be the same, she gave up trying. The possibilities may have been infinite, but the facts that a human can arrive at are certainly limited, the odds were not in her favor. And, even with the infinite possibilities, she was not able to see one that transcended the elimination of the world, in short, in all futures, the heuristic audit would happen, whereby it would be concluded that the world has diverged so much that its potential to guarantee survival is too little, the choices of the inhabitants of a timeline can no longer effectively impact its future, and the process by which this outcome was arrived at cannot be undone, or in short, humanity will inevitably become extinct and, so as not to waste energy on a world destined to fail, it would be pruned. It was only her conjecture based on what she had observed, but... Such a possibility terrified her.

"Isn't saving the planet enough to at least extend our time a little? At least until the next audit..." she asked herself over and over again.

And, now that she had spoken to Merlin, she began to consider that, indeed, saving the planet was not enough to even gain a century until the next audit. Their world was going to be wiped out by that will of the world that pursues the perpetuation of humanity, not the planet itself. This means that even if they were able to save the star, if humanity was still considered totally unprosperous and moved toward extinction, at least in this case, they would be wiped out anyway. From this point of view, wouldn't saving the planet, rather than the ultimate solution, only be a stepping stone to securing the future? Perhaps what would come next would be even more important.

Saving the planet would not ensure a prosperous future for humanity, they needed to do more, much more. Enough to buy time until a new audit.

The more she thought about it, the more she made up her mind that when they got out of the labyrinth, she would have to have another long talk with Shirou, so they could formulate a plan of action that would allow them to survive the next audit and give them a century's interval until the next one, which would allow them to fix the rest of things. Although she preferred not to have to explain all the things related to the blockages to him, that would be putting more weight on his shoulders. They also needed a second plan, one in case they couldn't fix things before the next audit, in which case, worst case scenario, they could just hold on to their hopes and bet everything on that...

"Are you all right?" asked Merlin as he saw the girl's expression.

"Hmn? Oh? Yeah, it's nothing, I'm fine...", Manaka replied as she realized she was lost in thought.

"You sure?"

Manaka nodded.

Merlin sighed, "Quantum locks and erasing worlds are big obstacles, you know? Carrying that information on your own might be too heavy; however, none of those who have awareness about these can give you any comfort, the only ones who could, are those two, so why don't you tell Shirou or Ayaka?".

Manaka wasn't surprised that Merlin knew about the Quantum Locks, after all, with his level of clairvoyance, seeing other worlds was something he could do, even if it was only in the present, with his life span of over 14 centuries, it was obvious that Merlin had seen more than one lock and more than one world being removed, and now that he had manifested as a servant, his understanding must have only become even more complete, "I... I can't..."

"You know, for two rulers to act in the best possible way, they need to trust each other enough that they can share some of the burden with each other," Merlin replied, heedless of the girl's intentions, "Trust Shirou more... Hadn't you chosen that was what you were going to do?".

Manaka lowered her gaze and asked, "But, you know what we're up against, don't you?".

Merlin smiled a slightly grim smile, something in the extreme strange for anyone who knew the wizard, "Of course I know," Merlin sighed, "I don't know how much your eyes see, but if you could take a look back to those days from which my name resonates most strongly, then you might realize that, while we made many mistakes, they should not have been serious enough to cause the destruction of our kingdom, at least not in our case, I . .. I tried, you know? At least, at first, I tried, but, like you, no matter how many times I prophesied the future, no matter how much I read the stars, it seemed that Camelot's destiny was already decided, no matter all my efforts... In short, I accepted defeat, and when the time came, I fled... And in the end I watched it, from my isolated tower, as the result of Camelot's fall manifested itself, despite my efforts, hers, and everyone else's."

"But in your conversations with Bedivere, it seemed like...".

Merlin smiled, "It wasn't like I could tell you, was it? That even if we hadn't erred, our fate was written in stone. I know well what memories, 'the heroic spirit Merlin', should possess if he were ever to be recorded on the Throne of Heroes, and I know how history was written, therefore, I also know what memories Bedivere should possess, so I acted as I was supposed to act."

"So, if you already tried and failed, why have you come to help us Merlin? From your point of view, our efforts should be futile, shouldn't they?"

"Should, yes, and perhaps that was why it took me so long to intervene, the me of 14 centuries ago probably would have done so since the reforging of Caliburn. And while I failed, I will not excuse myself by saying that I could do nothing, even if the outcome was definite, the process was still within my control, had I not accepted defeat, had I not fled, and had I continued my efforts, I would have at least changed several things, the number of dead, its very lonely end... whether Camelot would fall was something that was decided, but how it would fall, was still something where I had a say; but in the end, I fled, because I was not interested in wasting my time with a story whose end was already written."

"And during these 14 centuries locked up you've developed a certain sense of responsibility, and now you feel guilty, is that it?".

"I suppose you can put it that way, if you like. Anyway, this time I don't plan to run away, I'll do everything in my power to affect the final outcome, regardless of whether or not it's already decided."

Manaka lowered her gaze, "I see, I... I've wanted to tell you, but what if the weight is too much for your shoulders?".

Merlin flashed a slight smile, "Are we talking about the same boy who has faced dead apostles and heroic spirits? The same one who agreed to create an impossible weapon and help the Princess of Apostles save the planet?", seeing that Manaka did not react, the wizard took on a slightly more serious demeanor, "You won't know until you tell him, however, it is quite clear that the weight is too great for you to carry on your own. Besides, he won't need to carry the entire load, he'll share it with you."

"Maybe... I..." for a moment, she paused, fixating on what was to come later, Manaka sighed and focused, "I'll consider it, but right now, I need to deal with this."

Merlin nodded, "Let's talk later," with that said, the wizard took his leave.

Resolutely, and looking determined, she advanced into the next room, there her other self was waiting for her. Manaka decided to act carefully, knowing herself as she did, she doubted that her other self had come to this world with a specific purpose, probably her presence was due to nothing more than a whim; but, even so, it didn't hurt to be careful. Living with Shirou, she knew well the meaning of: your worst enemy can be yourself. And this situation was not unlike the constant encounters on multiple worlds between Shirou and his future version in Alaya's service.

The room she had just entered blended aspects of both labyrinths. Both brownstone and marble blocks blended harmoniously within this one, in the middle of said room, stood two people.

"It really is strange, is this how Archer feels every time he meets a younger version of himself?" she wondered after seeing a younger version of herself together with a heroic spirit.

The two girls who were talking animatedly in the room and, out of the blue, turned to look at her. The most surprised of the three was, in fact, the little servant girl. For a moment, she turned her head to look at both versions of her teacher.

-You were really telling the truth, Mommy! There are two of you! -Jack exclaimed, at first confused, then much more cheerful.

Manaka nodded, "See, I told you so.

Although, really, the most surprised was neither Jack nor Manaka, but Norma.

The girl was having severe doubts about what she was seeing at this moment, that is, having her body stolen by a stranger from one moment to the next, without her being able to do anything to prevent it, was worrying enough, that this person had summoned a dangerous servant girl with the appearance of a little girl made it even worse. But now, now she didn't understand anything... I mean, being with Manaka had broadened her horizons, but she was afraid of which way she should look, sometimes she felt that her grasp of reality would shatter into pieces if she probed further than she should, and she didn't think Manaka would let her do that either.

Back to the subject at hand, her mom? No, although she was older, she wasn't old enough that she could have a daughter of a similar age to the girl who had possessed her body, her sister? Norma really wanted to believe in this possibility; however, she couldn't forget that the Manaka who had possessed her had told Jack that, inside the labyrinth, there was another version of herself. And although, at first, Norma didn't think much of it, now she couldn't have been more amazed.

"Is it really another version of her? If I didn't sense who Manaka is, or rather, what she's capable of, I'm sure I'd be wondering right now: would this girl have any relation to the Marshal Wizard? With a silly face full of astonishment... Although, I guess that last part hasn't changed much...", and that was because Manaka not only amazed her by how amazing she was as a mage, but by how beautiful she was, and once she had passed her coming of age, Manaka had become much more beautiful than she already was.

Norma's job was the study of any kind of ruin that was magical, like, for example, this labyrinth. So, obviously, she didn't have extensive knowledge about Second Magic, but, even so, everyone knew the Wizard Marshal, as well as the basic concept by which his magic worked, The Operation in Parallel Worlds.

While Norma was trying to remember everything she knew about Second Magic, Jack had hurried over to Mana.

-Are you our mommy? -Jack asked.

-Your mommy... -Manaka looked at her other self and, to her surprise, she nodded.

-Hmn! Yes, we are your mommy, aren't we? -she replied.

For a moment, Mana watched the maid who waited impatiently for her answer with a smile. After a few moments, she sighed, she understood why her other version had brought her to this position, with a servant like Jack the Ripper, this way of dealing with things was the best.

-Yes. I am your mommy," the older one finally replied.

To her surprise, the maid suddenly jumped into her arms, for a moment, Manaka thought it was a surprise attack, but, seeing the unarmed girl, she hesitated and, in the end, ended up hugging her in an uncomfortable way. And it wasn't that there weren't reasons for this discomfort, if it was a normal girl she wouldn't mind, but this version of Jack, was the manifestation of all the murdered and abandoned children in London during the time of the Industrial Revolution, in short, she had a born instinct to return to the only place where they had once received warmth: the womb of their mothers, and, although she could see that this was really sad, she couldn't help but feel worried that, literally, the servant would try to return to her womb. Jack's ability, Mental Contamination, only encouraged her worries.

-So, shall we leave? -asked his younger self.

-Where to, Mommy? -Jack asked.

The young Manaka smiled, "Towards the bottom of the labyrinth, we have to finish Faustus, right?

Mana nodded, "Yes, we can talk as we walk...

-But before that, there's something we have to do... -Manaka crooned.

-Hmm?

-I'd better transfer the Command Spells to you. I'm not sure how long I'll be able to stay in this world before the little one takes me back, and it would be problematic to leave Jack in charge of Norma, after all, a daughter should be with her mom.

The eldest nodded, she wasn't afraid that Norma would use Jack against her. In fact, she was more "afraid" that Jack would try to murder Norma to get the Command Spells and give them to her.

As her other self pierced the Command Seals on her, she couldn't help but delve into the emotions his presence brought her, his appearance bringing back memories of the times when Shirou, her, Tachie and Ayaka, played together without a care in the world, even while a war was going on in the shadows. Moreover, Jack's presence and the way he acted towards her, treating her as his mother, reminded her of a more distant past, only, back then, she was the child and not the mother.

Thus, the quartet began their journey deeper into the labyrinth. Although at first glance it seemed that everything was quite harmonious, that was only at first glance. As Jack walked merrily between his two moms, these two were having a conversation that only both could hear.

"Why did you come, a whim?" asked Mana.

She nodded her head, "Yes, I wanted to know what it was like to dream, and I dreamed many wonderful things on the way here, I won't tell you about them because I know you know them."

"I thought Alaya would try to intervene to keep us from causing paradoxes, but at this point, you and I are too different to be considered the same being."

"Exactly, as with Shirou and Archer," Mana looked at her younger version intently, to which she replied with a smile, "Oh, don't make such a scary face, I'm not implying anything wrong."

"Considering your situation, your clairvoyance should be very limited."

"It is; but it's not like it's gone, besides, I think having you around slightly amplifies my abilities, probably due to a paradoxical effect between you and me, it's not like with Archer and Shirou, as we both possess the same abilities, it's more like my clairvoyance has increased in regards to what's related to you."

"So, you saw it, didn't you?", Mana prepared for a possible confrontation.

Manaka showed an indecipherable expression, with a multitude of feelings expressed one after another, "Yes, I saw it, and for a moment I thought I must have been watching wrong, I saw myself attacking Arthur, and how could that be possible? It must have been a mistake, if not, then really this world must have gone mad. The shock was so much that I turned my gaze away! Seriously, I didn't want to see that, you could have warned me...", the young 12 year old girl pouted.

Mana smirked, "Even if I had told you, would you have believed me?".

"Hmm... I guess not, for me the very idea of hurting Arthur or being unfaithful to him in any way is impossible and unimaginable."

Mana shook her head, "I have never been or will ever be unfaithful to Arthur, because I never fell in love with him."

Manaka cocked her head, "Yes, that's another thing I find surprising, to think that I could give my heart to someone other than my knight...", then, she turned her gaze to her other self and said with a smile, "By the way, you don't need to be so vigilant, after all, I'm in almost as bad a situation as you were the first time you broke Lady Kanon's seal."

That was true, right now her other self didn't have her omnipotent body, she was possessing Norma's body, hence, she was far from being in her most optimal conditions, it was as if the tomb scout's body had turned into heavy shackles that limited her.

Still, at least she was not in the same kind of situation she found herself in the first time she came out of Lady Kanon's seal, although Manaka had escaped from the bodhisattva's seal, the latter had been very clever in the way she had worked the seal, not only had she sealed her inside Shirou, but she had sealed her by dividing her into two parts, on the one hand her body, and on the other her soul. During the whole event of Illya's rescue, she had broken the seal in haste, but had only released her soul, while the seal on her body remained intact, with the state she was in, she could not break the seal on her body in time, so the only thing she could do was to make a projection of herself on the outside in order to help Shirou during the rescue. She was finally able to undo the seal completely and return to normal, but that was not until after the battle against Siegfried, while Shirou remained unconscious from his battle against Siegfried.

Knowing the state of her other self, Mana was less alert, though she did not let her guard down.

"For me this is a strange dream, but I wouldn't categorize it as if it were a nightmare, even though there are things in this one that I'd rather never have to experience, I still consider it a unique dream."

"Do you really believe in that?" asked Mana quizzically with her younger version.

For a moment, Manaka's smile wavered for a moment, "Of course I do, why shouldn't I believe it? But it's not the dream I wish to live in, my real dream will begin when I fulfill Arthur's wish."

"You say that, but you know what is likely to await you...".

"Well, quantum blocks are not absolute if you have what it takes to override them...".

The major nodded, "Yes, and in your case I cannot deny that you have a good chance of succeeding. If you were to fulfill Saber's wish, the Foundation of Human Order would reestablish history through the anchor bands, but by using the beast as a support, our abilities would allow us to override the records and prevent them from undoing the change, thus, our next step would be to rewrite the timeline from that point, overwriting part of the Great History of Man, replacing it, creating a new set (universe) of timelines, setting a new average value with respect to Britain where its perpetuation is eternal, and, if you handle yourself carefully, the new line you have chosen to reside with Arthur could avoid the pruning system as long as it meets the conditions of not becoming a dead end for mankind at century intervals. Although, it probably doesn't matter if you care about that either, with our connection to the Root amplified by the beast... Even keeping a deplorable timeline that should be erased wouldn't be a problem."

"Exactly," smiled Manaka sweetly, "And soon, this little one will be ready to assist me in this task."

"Although the cost to accomplish that undertaking is the destruction of the modern world, of all history after the sixth century, and having created this new universe of timelines with a new anchor band, all previous parallel lines in that universe that do not comply with this new average value will have to be rewritten as well."

Manaka smiled animatedly, as if sacrificing part of her world's history and part of the history of the rest of the worlds parallel to this one was nothing more than a fitting payment for the fulfillment of her goal. "Yes... It's a real shame really, but well, I guess all Arthur and I can do is hold each other accountable and make the new history we write together better than the old one... I guess you and Shirou will do the same."

Mana frowned, "No, ours is different. We're trying to keep our world from being sacrificed, if we manage to do that by avoiding fulfilling the conditions for it to be chosen as a sacrifice, then we won't affect any other world."

"Hmm... What if you don't succeed? Then what will you do? You know it can't be that easy."

"I'll bet everything on creating a Miracle."

"But even so, this miracle won't stop the rest of the lines from not being erased."

"No, it won't, but it won't affect them in any way either. Our situation is different, you will force many worlds to be overwritten, destroying their histories and the lives of those who wrote them, that is imposition. I will save my world, it may be a selfish salvation, for it will not extend to the rest of the worlds, but it will not condemn them either."

"Well... I guess it's like people say, you can save the world for love and you can also destroy it for the same reason," then she put a finger to her chin, "Though I guess in our case it would be: you can save a single world for love, or you can overwrite the history of many worlds for the same reason, can't you?" she said smiling sweetly.

Mana paused and sighed, "Let me warn you, you will fail."

Manaka frowned, "Why? You just said that, as long as I manage to summon the beast, I can do it. If you mean Arthur getting in the way, you can rest assured, I already have plans to delay it until the summoning is completed properly, I will not make the same mistakes other versions of us have made."

"That's not what I mean...," Mana reached out to her other self and to her surprise, she reached down and hugged her younger self, "You justify yourself out of love, and you even told Aya that she will understand everything when she falls in love, but... do you really understand love?".

"O-Of course I do, I love Arthur from the bottom of my heart."

"Then why would you condemn him to live in that hell?".

"H-Huh? I don't understand, it won't be a hell, we'll turn it into a paradise."

"You're wrong, if you really trust Arthur and your love is as pure as you think it is, then you'll trust to tell Arthur what the cost of carrying out his dream is, won't you?"

"I... I'm sure, once I see it made real, the cost won't be a big deal!" the girl exclaimed, but she couldn't tell if it was to convince her other self, or herself.

"Fufu, are you sure about that? You are right about something, he will take responsibility, I am sure he will, but he will not be happy to know the cost of his utopia, and he will live eternally blaming himself for this one, are you sure what he will be able to love you knowing this? Because you will fulfill his dream, but you won't make him happy...".

"I-I...".

However, Mana didn't give him time to reply, "Or do you plan on not revealing to him what the cost is? I'll tell you a piece of advice that took me quite a while to learn: a relationship based on lies will never work."

Manaka turned sharply away from her other self, "It won't be a relationship based on lies, I'll make sure... Of...", but she couldn't put her feelings into words.

"Of not failing?" Mana smiled, "Relax, I didn't say you've already failed, at least not yet, but you will if you continue down that path," Mana put a hand on her chest, "I know it's hard for us, for a long time we just existed, we lived life in black and white without having motivations, and it was only after we met that special person who showed us that life was full of colors, that our heart truly started to beat, and the feelings we never experienced for over a decade hit us full on. That's why it's complicated for us to control them, because we never had experience with them, unlike everyone else, nor were we taught how to handle them. The thought of, 'if I fulfill his dream, he must be happy,' in essence, is not wrong, but it is too innocent a thought if you don't take into consideration the feelings of the person you want to make happy, so much so, that instead of making him happy, you might hurt him."

This made the girl despair, "And what would you do! aren't you willing to do anything to make him happy!?".

Mana smiled, "Of course, but first I have to consider if my actions will make him happy. I was about to make that mistake too, sometimes choosing the most direct path to someone's happiness, if done through an improper process, will cause the opposite effect," then she smiled radiantly, "I will make him happy, I will do my best to see him smile, that's why I have to be careful, I can't get carried away by the rapid beating of my heart, because love is blind and madness accompanies it, I have to be careful, be patient, and I know that in the end I will succeed, even if for that I don't take the simplest and most direct way to fulfill his dream."

Manaka lowered her gaze not knowing what to do, "But I... I can't fulfill his dream without paying the price...".

Manaka smiled and stroked the head of her younger version, who looked strangely embarrassed at her immaturity.

"Silly girl, your goal is not to fulfill Arthur's wish, it's to make him happy because he's the one you love. My goal is the same, and it took me a while to realize it, I will help Shirou fulfill his dream, but if for some reason he would get hurt or have to sacrifice himself to make it possible, I will stop him, even if it upsets him. You can make Arthur happy without needing to fulfill his dream, love can't only be achieved in one way."

"What would you do if you were in my place...?".

"Me...?", Mana made a thoughtful gesture...? This version of herself had decided to fulfill Arthur's dream no matter what enormous sacrifices she had to make, she doubted she could stop her with words alone, but maybe Arthur could change her mind, "Me, I would tell Arthur the truth, why his dream shouldn't come true and the cost it would take to make it come true. And then, I would show him that his dream is nonsense, that despite the way Britain ended, it could not have had a better King than him, and that he should be proud of his history, I would show him how his knights would surely be angry with him if he tried to change it, for it would trample on everything they lived together. And, as his most loyal knight said, "Camelot may have fallen, but its glory did not fade in Camlann, its splendor has come down to these days." And that is something for him to be proud of."

Manaka showed a frown and had a lowered gaze, she seemed to be seriously considering her other self's words, "I think... I'll think about it."

So, as Jack happily held one hand of each Manaka, the four of them headed into the labyrinth.

Blood was all over the whitish floor of the maze, along their path was nothing but corpses. Chimeras, trents, kelpies, creeping plants, demonic boars, Golems and hundreds of human-eating fairies. All corpses or simple undergrowth, all destroyed and turned to pieces, on his way he had also encountered a few 8 legged automatons, but few in comparison to the other ghostly species. This made some sense, unlike all the others, the automatons were not living beings or directly connected to the planet, and not being biological living beings, Gaia could do nothing to command them.

Still, no matter what kind of magical beast she faced, none of them could change the result of fighting against her, no matter if it was one ghostly beast or many, the result did not change, they all ended up destroyed, one after another, in a brutal way.

Gaia was seldom known for being tactful when she acted, practically on no occasion, and she, as an agent of Gaia, was not much different in that regard, even when facing the very will of the world.

To anyone who knew her, such as, for example, her knights, this would look a bit odd. She had, for a long time, sought a way to save the planet through different methods, from turning a powerful wizard and dead apostle into a specific freak, just because he had a slim chance of achieving his goal, to participating in the ritual of Aylesbury Valesti, only because he believed that, with the power and help of the Dark Six, the, or the, higher system, they, or the, Original Dead Apostle, could greatly reduce the size of mankind's population and thus stop the constant degradation of the planet that they produced. And, even having failed in all her attempts, she had always worked for Gaia, so much so that one of Gaia's greatest and most dangerous creations, the one known as the Primate Killer, Fou to his friends, recognized her as his master and had faithfully obeyed and followed her in all her undertakings since they met. Therefore, to see the Twilight Princess go directly against Gaia's will was a truly strange sight in itself.

Mana smiled, "Of course, but first I have to consider if my actions will make him happy. I was about to make that mistake too, sometimes choosing the most direct path to someone's happiness, if done through an improper process, will cause the opposite effect," then she smiled radiantly, "I will make him happy, I will do my best to see him smile, that's why I have to be careful, I can't get carried away by the rapid beating of my heart, because love is blind and madness accompanies it, I have to be careful, be patient, and I know that in the end I will succeed, even if for that I don't take the simplest and most direct way to fulfill his dream."

Manaka lowered her gaze not knowing what to do, "But I... I can't fulfill his dream without paying the price...".

Manaka smiled and stroked the head of her younger version, who looked strangely embarrassed at her immaturity.

"Silly girl, your goal is not to fulfill Arthur's wish, it's to make him happy because he's the one you love. My goal is the same, and it took me a while to realize it, I will help Shirou fulfill his dream, but if for some reason he would get hurt or have to sacrifice himself to make it possible, I will stop him, even if it upsets him. You can make Arthur happy without needing to fulfill his dream, love can't only be achieved in one way."

"What would you do if you were in my place...?".

"Me...?", Mana made a thoughtful gesture...? This version of herself had decided to fulfill Arthur's dream no matter what enormous sacrifices she had to make, she doubted she could stop her with words alone, but maybe Arthur could change her mind, "Me, I would tell Arthur the truth, why his dream shouldn't come true and the cost it would take to make it come true. And then, I would show him that his dream is nonsense, that despite the way Britain ended, it could not have had a better King than him, and that he should be proud of his history, I would show him how his knights would surely be angry with him if he tried to change it, for it would trample on everything they lived together. And, as his most loyal knight said, "Camelot may have fallen, but its glory did not fade in Camlann, its splendor has come down to these days." And that is something for him to be proud of."

Manaka showed a frown and had a lowered gaze, she seemed to be seriously considering her other self's words, "I think... I'll think about it."

So, as Jack happily held one hand of each Manaka, the four of them headed into the labyrinth.

Blood was all over the whitish floor of the maze, along their path was nothing but corpses. Chimeras, trents, kelpies, creeping plants, demonic boars, Golems and hundreds of human-eating fairies. All corpses or simple undergrowth, all destroyed and turned to pieces, on his way he had also encountered a few 8 legged automatons, but few in comparison to the other ghostly species. This made some sense, unlike all the others, the automatons were not living beings or directly connected to the planet, and not being biological living beings, Gaia could do nothing to command them.

Still, no matter what kind of magical beast she faced, none of them could change the result of fighting against her, no matter if it was one ghostly beast or many, the result did not change, they all ended up destroyed, one after another, in a brutal way.

Gaia was seldom known for being tactful when she acted, practically on no occasion, and she, as an agent of Gaia, was not much different in that regard, even when facing the very will of the world.

To anyone who knew her, such as, for example, her knights, this would look a bit odd. She had, for a long time, sought a way to save the planet through different methods, from turning a powerful wizard and dead apostle into a specific freak, just because he had a slim chance of achieving his goal, to participating in the ritual of Aylesbury Valesti, only because he believed that, with the power and help of the Dark Six, the, or the, higher system, they, or the, Original Dead Apostle, could greatly reduce the size of mankind's population and thus stop the constant degradation of the planet that they produced. And, even having failed in all her attempts, she had always worked for Gaia, so much so that one of Gaia's greatest and most dangerous creations, the one known as the Primate Killer, Fou to his friends, recognized her as his master and had faithfully obeyed and followed her in all her undertakings since they met. Therefore, to see the Twilight Princess go directly against Gaia's will was a truly strange sight in itself.

t this point, however, Altrouge cared little or nothing for the will of the world. At this point, she was still fighting by sheer force of will, and that force of will was tied to the boy whom the Counterforce was endangering. Without his help, it was likely that she would have given up after the double failure at Aylesbury. She wasn't willing to risk the boy just because the will of the planet had decided to strengthen him in such an archaic and dangerous way.

She sighed, three chimeras leapt out to try to kill her, two were cut to pieces by sharp blades created by the air. The last one, faced her claws and finally stopped moving when the apostle ripped out her heart throwing her corpse aside.

Caubac could hear from the telephone that the Princess carried with her the sound that the battles produced, and thanks to this he knew well that a real carnage was taking place inside his labyrinth. To him, this situation was quite strange and, one might even call it ironic. It's not as if the dead apostles were heartless beings who had nothing they held dear. He, for example, had his holy writ Triten, the Rozay were a clan, so there must have been some minimal bond of affection between them, Merem and Blackmore worshipped their master; but Altrouge? What did Altrouge worship? What did he hold precious? From his point of view, only two things came to mind: his purpose and the loyalty of those who had chosen to serve him. Altrouge was the only one of the 27 who still retained the original goal of the true ancestors, a goal that was not inherited from the dead apostles: to act as a method of self-defense against human corruption.

For this reason she had acted as requested for so many centuries, whether it was when she was alone, or when she managed to bring Fou and the rest of her faction under her control, she was without a doubt the greatest murderer of humans, with the exception of Fou himself obviously, in the modern world, among the 27 apostles. She did not murder them out of personal hatred, in fact, in a way, it was because Crimson Moon had so many enemies and that, in the end, a human had murdered him, that there were reasons for her creation, neither did she murder them for pleasure or fun, not even feeding was her main motive, as it was in the case of the rest of the 27, for her it was simply her job, just as for Arcueid it was his job to hunt down the True Fallen Ancestors in the madness. In that sense, the two were no different.

Therefore, to see one of the greatest killers of humans, going against Gaia's will, precisely, to protect a mere human was... Absurd? irrational? incomprehensible? meaningless? All those words were popping up in the comedian's mind as he tried to describe the Princess's actions.

From his point of view, nothing made sense, was this human really so special that Altrouge would carry out these actions? He, at first, didn't think so, it was only after the meeting, when it was revealed that she planned to turn him, that he was able to make some sense of her favoritism towards this specific one; however, after their "Girl Talk" he had realized that it wasn't just that. Really, it was a bad joke...

In love, the Princess of Twilight, one of the biggest reasons why humanity should fear for their lives, the one who had the greatest human killing machine under her rule, had fallen in love... with a human...

"Is this for real? I mean, Zelretch and I had been joking about this possibility for a while; but... It was just that! A joke! A bad joke! Who in their right mind would think that this was even possible in this world!?"

Caubac had to keep his thoughts to himself though, he loved to joke around with the rest of the dead apostles, often a bit of a bad joke, but he wasn't a jerk, he still wanted to stay alive as much as possible, and he was sure that joking with Altrouge on this topic was no different than joking with Arcueid on the same topic, both could reach into his world and kill him for this alone.

At least with Arcueid it was a little, understandable? possible? It was the only words he could think of to describe the White Princess's love for that other human. After all, she wasn't actively engaged in the hunting and extermination of this species, so there was some possibility; but, Altrouge...

"What on earth could have driven that girl to fall in love?".

Now that doubt gnawed at his curiosity, and how could he quench it - by asking her? Again, he might be a jerk, but not that kind of jerk, he didn't want to die. The only option he had was to be lucky enough to meet this human and ask him, otherwise, he would stay in the shadows.

To the ancestor's fortune, if he asked the red-haired man right now and Altrouge didn't prevent him, he might get some clue as to why and a better understanding of things, because, if he had asked him a few days ago, even he wouldn't have been able to give him a clear answer. After all, Shirou had only had a greater understanding about his relationship with the Princess after that day...

A few days had passed after the accident inside the workshop and, during this time, everyone was preparing for their foray into the labyrinth. Well, almost everyone.

Altrouge really didn't need to prepare at all, when Shirou asked her if she wasn't going to prepare, she laughed and replied that the most preparation she could do was to file her nails. Her biggest concern was not, in fact, anything inside the labyrinth, it was the labyrinth itself.

It had been several centuries since the apostles began a game of conquest and saw themselves as lords of some castle, and whose job it fell to expand their territories. Moreover, old Ortenrosse even suggested a game to hunt down the remaining True Ancestors after the accident of Arcueid's madness. Obviously, no apostle was insane enough to try to hunt her down just because she was also considered a True Ancestor, with the only exceptions being Merem and Blackmore, obviously.

Because of this game of conquest, it was common that, when one of the 27 entered a territory of another of the 27 uninvited, this was seen as a declaration of war. These declarations were not at all uncommon and were done quite often as a way to kill time, but for her, or for someone like Ortenrosse, it was a bit more complicated than this. Her declaring war was no different than her entire faction declaring war, thus she had to be more careful about rushing into enemy territory.

She was known to do as she pleased; but she was also the leader of one of the two largest factions among the dead apostles, so she had to show a minimum of responsibility. And a full-scale war among the apostles was not beneficial to anyone at this time, not even as a way to kill boredom.

Fortunately, in this case, even if the labyrinth was considered Caubac's territory, because he had abandoned practically all of his labyrinths after being locked inside one of them, it could be said that it was now nobody's territory. Moreover, the only one who really had the authority to retaliate was thought to be dead until just a few weeks ago, and he seemed to have no intention of wanting to get out of where he was trapped. On the other hand, no one of the 27, with the exception of the comedian, had to know that she participated in this raid, and she obviously wasn't planning on leaving Wolfgang alive to tell.

That made her turn her thoughts away from this possibility as she walked through the halls of the workshop. Shirou had been acting a bit strange these past few days, apparently, her prediction was correct, the redhead was somewhat naive in several ways due to his stubbornness in other ways, but he was no fool, sooner or later, he would figure out the charade, and it seemed that day had come.

Through the contract they both shared, Shirou had asked him if he could go to his room. It seemed that Manaka was busy with the mystic code she was preparing for him in the workshop, allowing them some alone time.

So, Altrouge made her way to the front of the boy's room. She didn't even bother to knock, if the boy was the one who had called her, then why did she need to warn him?

So, she opened the door and there he was sitting in one of the chairs.

To her surprise, he seemed so deep in thought that he hadn't noticed her presence, so she took the opportunity to surprise him, pouncing on him.

-Hey!

-O-Hey!

For a moment, the boy almost fell over along with the chair as the girl climbed onto his lap. Fortunately, he managed to keep his balance by being trapped between the girl and the chair, with her sitting on his lap.

-A-Altrouge, what would have happened if he couldn't keep his balance?

The Princess laughed- -Nothing very important, are you telling me that you can survive dead apostles, heroic spirits, and very powerful magus; but you can't survive falling off a chair?

At these words, the boy couldn't reply in that sense; but he also didn't want to let it seem like she was right when he knew she was the one who was wrong. At least knock on the door! What would have happened if I was changing or something?

Altrouge smirked. You want to give me reasons to knock, or do you want to take away reasons to knock?

-Y-You... -Shirou sighed, he had lived long enough with her to know that when Altrouge wanted to tease him, no matter what he did to avoid it, she would succeed one way or another.

-Besides, it's not like he was going to see anything he hadn't already seen before...

Shirou frowned slightly as he tried to hide his embarrassment. He had never lived with a girl, let alone in an apartment as small as the one they both lived in for several months, it was obvious that, sooner or later, some accident would happen, they had never gotten to the point where they found themselves completely naked or something, but Altrouge had seen him several times half naked, not only because of the accidents, but also because of those times when the blood packs took a little longer than usual to arrive.

So, they both stood in silence for a few moments, he didn't want to back down even though it was silly, if anything stood out about the boy, it was his stubbornness, though it wasn't like she wasn't too. So she began to tease him...

Minutes passed and, seeing that his constant teasing wasn't entirely effective, she sighed- Okay, fine. I'll give it to you this time, I'll play next time, is that okay? -In a way, she was a little disappointed, before it was much easier to get on his nerves. Should she raise the level of her teasing?

Seeing the girl's expression, he felt a little bad; but finally he could let out the breath he was holding, for a moment, he had almost given in-. Well, I guess it's okay, just try to play next time...

The girl nodded, "So, what did you call me for?

At that instant, the boy's expression became a little more gloomy-. Well, you see... -He couldn't seem to find the words to ask her, and while he was looking for them he was also searching for anything that would give him an idea of how to say it; but, in the end, the only thing he could see was her, since she was in front of him, and that's when he realized. Altrouge?

-Yes?

-When are you going to get off my lap?

-When we're done talking, I'm quite comfortable in my current position. -Then she smiled. Why? Am I making you nervous?

There it was, she always managed, somehow...

He denied it, even if it were true, he wouldn't give her the luxury of knowing; however, Shirou was a terrible liar unless his life or his physical or mental integrity were at stake, in which case he could become decent, more or less...

She laughed mockingly- You know, someone like you is definitely not at all fit to lie convincingly, unless your life depends on it. In your case, I think it's better if you keep going the way you've been going, between half-truths and half-lies. At least then you won't sound so phony...

-I'll keep that in mind... -sighed the boy.

-So, why did you call me?

-Well... -Shirou took a breath. By any chance, did something happen between you and the others after the accident?

-Hmn... You noticed it sooner than I expected.

-So that's a yes?

She nodded.

-And you could tell me?

-Oh? And why are you asking me? You could ask your dear sister, or maybe your childhood friend.

The redhead sighed, he knew where she was going with this. Because, of the three of us, you're the one I trust the most.

He may have known Manaka since childhood and the two of them have been together for almost 10 years, but most of the memories they should have had together during that time were never created. Illya, on the other hand, he had only known for a few weeks and while their bond, thanks to Kiritsugu, was strong, that didn't make them fraternal siblings from one moment to the next. Even though it had only been for a little over half a year, Altrouge and he had a much closer relationship because they had been together for all those months, no, they hadn't just been together, they had lived together.

-Okay, I'll tell you," Shirou smiled when he heard his words; however, his smile died as quickly as it emerged. "But on one condition...

W-W-What? -he asked with obvious nervousness. Namely, what the Princess would ask him to do.

-Have a date with me," she replied with a smile.

This caught him off guard. What...? A date?

She nodded.

-Just that?

She frowned, "What do you mean, just that? Dating is an important thing in a relationship, isn't it?

-Well... I suppose they are. They allow you to get to know a person better, among other things?

The Princess nodded. Exactly, and I want to know more about you.

This surprised the boy. More about me? I think you already know enough, or at least all the important stuff...

-Well, maybe I know several things, but I don't mean magic rituals or that kind of stuff, simpler things like, what things do you like, besides housework and weapon forging of course, also the things you dislike, that kind of stuff is fine too. Besides, don't you want to get to know me?

-I'd be lying if I told you I didn't feel like asking you a few things before. But I didn't think our relationship was close enough back then?

-Well, it is now." For a moment, she showed doubt, something not very common for her. In fact, the one who should be worried here is me.

-You? -Now he was confused.

The girl sighed and lowered her gaze. Shirou, do you know who I am?

-Altrouge, don't you? -He felt a little stupid answering this question, and she would probably make fun of him for this.

But, to his surprise, she did not. Exactly. I am Altrouge Brunestud, the owner of the largest human killer currently in existence. I am a means of defense for the deterioration caused by mankind to the planet," Altrouge took a breath and sighed. Shirou... Do you know how many humans I have killed over the centuries?

The boy lowered his gaze and shook his head, now he understood what she meant.

She smiled sadly, not sadness because she had killed those humans, sadness because having done so could break or jeopardize her relationship with the boy. She had no specific hatred against humanity, it was simply her job. Still, she would not hide her actions, a relationship with secrets and lies would end badly sooner or later, she had told the brat, and she did not plan to make the same mistake. Now it was up to Shirou whether or not their relationship had a future...

The redhead closed his eyes for a moment, he already knew, it was something openly known in the magi world. When he thought about it and analyzed it, his feelings conflicted. Altrouge was no different to some natural disaster, like, for example: to an earthquake or a fire for mankind, this was also common knowledge, after all, she was a true ancestor.

To others this must have seemed terrible, a natural disaster wiping out all humans in its path; but, to Shirou, it was a possible escape. He didn't care if they called him a hypocrite, a blind man, or an idiot, if she said no, then he could accept her actions, maybe not approve of them; but at least he could accept them.

But first, he had to ask her...

-Altrouge... do you hate humans?

She looked at him puzzled- Hate them?

Shirou nodded, "Do you hate them?

She thought for a few minutes, "Hate them? Certainly, I don't like them; but I don't have a specific hatred against them. If you ask me what I dislike most about humanity, I'd say it's their ability to survive, they're like cockroaches, or maybe I hate their ability to reproduce more? That one's pretty annoying too...

Shirou swallowed saliva- How much do you dislike them?

-What's your point? -she asked.

-Why have you killed so many humans? Was it out of pure and simple dislike?

She looked at him quizzically and then shook her head, "No, I detest them, I don't deny it, but that's not why I kill them. It's... Simply my job, one of the reasons why I was created...

-Why are you part true ancestor?

She nodded. Among other things...

Shirou stopped holding his breath. I understand, in that case, I can't approve of your actions, but I understand the motives behind them, so, I can accept them.

-Y... What do you mean, you understand my reasons?

He gave a slight smile, "It means I can't blame you at all, you said it yourself, it's your job, or rather one of your reasons for existence, you don't do it for personal reasons. True ancestors were created because of mankind, they are a natural response to your actions, from this point of view, you are nothing more than a means, aren't you? -Shirou lowered his gaze, as if doubting what he was thinking; but finally, he gained strength. I cannot approve of your actions because many innocent people must have been involved; but I cannot condemn you either, because the only one to blame for you having to murder so many humans, is humanity itself. And the actions of humanity, whether directly or indirectly, are what have led us to our present situation...

The Princess stared at him in intrigue. Again, what does that mean? You accept them; but you don't approve of them? What does that mean for us from now on?

-Nothing about the past, I can neither approve nor condemn you, so I won't take it into account. I will judge the Altrouge Brunestud I have known from now on. Your actions may have made some sense before; but, at this point, trying to diminish the population of humanity will not change anything. So... -Shirou looked at her and was determined. I won't judge you for the things you've done in the past; but I won't allow you to murder any innocent people while you're with me.

-Oh...? -Altrouge smiled. And if I try, what will you do?

-I will stop you. Because that would be against our objectives...

-Our targets?

Shirou smiled, but unlike Altrouge, it was not a provocative smile. Save the world, we're aiming for an impossible future. If we are already pursuing a utopia, then why don't we pursue the most utopian future?

Each time, the Princess seemed more and more confused. The most utopian? What would that be according to you?

-A future where humanity and the planet can exist together, without you having to murder them to maintain the balance. Doesn't that sound like a good future?

Altrouge took a few moments to answer, but after he understood, he couldn't help but laugh out loud. Y-you, h-how naive can you get?

However, he kept his smile, "I'm not being naive, I'm being optimistic. I think, now I understand the old man a little better...

-Kiritsugu?

Shirou nodded, "It's ironic; but, even though I didn't inherit his dream of being a hero of justice, it seems that we both walk a similar path. Like him, I am looking for a miracle to fulfill my wish, a wish similar to the one he wanted to fulfill in the Fourth Holy Grail War. I'm not saying we're looking for a perfect world, but we have to aim for the best we can?

-Like him? -No, that would be to decree our failure from this very moment. We are not the same, we will overcome," the Princess declared, confident in her words.

Shirou nodded-. We will.

-But Shirou...

To his surprise, the Princess stared at him with intensity. You'll have to take responsibility in that case.

-Huh? Hold me responsible...? Hold me responsible for what?

She smiled. For me, of course.

Though embarrassed by the implications, he looked more confused than anything else. You?

She nodded. The world you want to reach is a world that doesn't need me, a world where I have no reason to exist. Do you understand?

He looked confused, but then he nodded slightly. I... I didn't see it that way.

-That's why I say you have to take responsibility, I just need a world where the planet doesn't die, if you want to go beyond that, then you must give me a reason to exist in that world. If not, I will be the one to stop you, do you understand?

To his surprise, the boy was not discouraged, instead, he showed strong conviction. I understand, leave it to me; but in exchange, you must not kill any innocent. Do we have a deal?

The girl smiled, "Well, we have another contract, but first we have to seal it, don't you think?

-Seal it? How?" asked the confused boy, "Hmn!

One more time... How many times would this girl steal his lips without him being able to do anything about it? And he really couldn't do anything, he was against her and the chair. Was this a new way to annoy him and make him nervous...?

She broke away soon after with a smile and didn't even give him time to say anything else, immediately, she began to tell him what had happened between her, her sister, and Manaka.

...

...

...

Back in the labyrinth, Caubac still wondered how extraordinary that human must be to make the Twilight Princess act the way she was acting, not knowing that she was not as he imagined her to be. He simply met her at the right moment and, with an optimism that approached naivety, and a stubbornness that bordered on idiocy, acted as her life-board in the midst of a turbulent sea...

"So, let's be optimistic together, Shirou." That day, that was his most cherished thought.