Hello everyone!

I know it's been a very long time and I'll have to apologize for that. At the same moment, I couldn't have really done anything about it. Shortly after posting the last chapter, a lot of shit happened in my life. First, a large part of my and my family's livelihood burnt down, then the dog I had just bought was ran over, the job I had was sold and I had to get another one that features incredibly long hours at inopportune times.

But all of that is behind me now. I've finished the chapter and it's finally arrived hot from the Talndir's Beta room. It was going to be longer, but we had a chat and came to a similar conclusion.

Enjoy!


The shrieking of metal was all he could hear. One after another, blades of every variety were being fired, deflected or dodged. The boy found a strange sense of familiarity in the monsoon of weaponry despite only ever being on the receiving end once before. It wasn't nearly as torrential as Archer's onslaught, though it wasn't easier since there were servant imitations assailing him from all angles.

It truly was a dance to avoid his untimely demise. Avoiding a projected sword poised for his shoulder, twisting out of the way of a spear aimed to gore his torso, ducking beneath a large horizontal swing that would have cleaved his head from his neck.

Had he any time to think beyond instinct and self-preservation, he may have noted the fact that he seemed to be more focused than Saber. His instincts kept him safe so long as he stayed purely defensive. It might have been because Rider believed him to be a weak master that could have been overwhelmed but it was equally likely she viewed him as the largest threat.

The two of them, himself and Saber, were actually fighting side-by-side effectively for the first time. While he stayed alive and distracted the blood-copies, Saber went about attacking when their backs were turned.

His mind was racing. Examining and projecting weapons, calculating trajectories, avoiding lethal blows from past heroes of old. Even if he was trying, grasping what was going on around him was practically impossible. Instincts and the experience of hundreds of battles logged by Archer were the only things keeping him unharmed and even then he received the odd nick as he barely avoided clashing blades.

He had been looking for an opening to gather some breathing room since the fight started and only one opening revealed itself to him as he was getting overwhelmed. Locking blades, the boy twisted his wrist and slid down to the blood-servant's crossguard. Using his offhand, Shirou deposited the other blade into the enemy's stomach.

Rolling with the forward motion, he simultaneously left what had been a closing circle and faced the enemy head-on. Backing away, Archer's bow formed within his grasp just in time to block the tip of a thrust sword. There was no time to do anything else and it had been a poor decision even then. The sheer force of the impact buckled Shirou's arms and pressed the freshly-formed bow against his chest. The drill-like weapon Shirou would hesitate to call a sword carried a lot more force than he would have expected even after watching it tear apart the ground following a missed swing. Toppling over backward, shards of his bow scattered both himself and the ground before beginning to dematerialize. While he could have done without the bruised ribs, the movement carried him further away and offered space.

Rolling over himself, he popped back onto his feet and traced another set of blades.

Thankfully, his foes were all straight ahead, making it easy for him to account. Of course, that was until the hairs on his neck prickled and his head snapped back to look at a spearman in mid-lunge. Twisting his entire body, his foot caught on a piece of upset dirt and the unexpectedness sent his arms autonomously flailing to catch himself. Blades striking the dirt first, they were twisted out of his grip and his upper body landed in soft, freshly-turned soil.

A ditch, with his arms either trapped beneath his own awkwardly-positioned weight or unable to gather traction.

Simply, he was stuck, unable to move as he helplessly eyed the nearing spearman. His eyes couldn't leave the glinting point as his brain tried to simultaneously rationalize escape strategies and acceptance of defeat.

Projecting a sword, while fast, took time. A lunging spearman under the effects of gravity was far faster. He wouldn't be able to move until he took the time and effort to dig his arms, then body, out.

The last option he had was to rely on his armour, but would it survive such a devastating strike?

Every sense told him no.

Was this where he died? Stuck, lying in the dirt to a servant's servant? He had been in life-threatening situations before of course, but he had always had options, always had the time to do something.

If he died it would be fitting at least. The park had taken his old life and every piece of him back then. Taking his new life would be ironically poetic.

The spearhead was close. Close enough that he could almost feel the wind-chilled steel. The servant's face above him was twisted in anger, but the eyes were vacant and devoid of feeling. It was some strange type of lifeless puppet that almost screamed for release from its shell.

The spear tip struck his armour and pressure forced down on his chest. Momentarily, he wondered if he had subconsciously activated Time Alter to slow the moment down. Or, was it merely his brain and adrenaline producing the effect?

Before he could answer either way, a blast brushed the side of his face and the spearman was blown off to the side.

Looking toward the source, the gleaming sword of Excalibur dominated his view. Wind swirled and danced around her, but she couldn't stand still and appear as his valiant saviour. Clamouring around her was a group of sword and spearmen trying to claim her head as their personal trophy.

Not squandering his gifted moment, Shirou wriggled free from the depression and stood upright. With her sword revealed, their element of anonymity had been broken. Rider would be able to know everything about her. From the strange noise the pink servant made, his suspicions were confirmed. From the sidelines, watching with a beaming smile from a plush litter, Rider leaned forward and the forces swarming them hesitated. "The famed sword Excalibur? That makes you King Arthur then, doesn't it? Strange, I thought only men could be kings."

The blood servants rapidly regrouped, circled and assembled to position themselves between Saber and Shirou as a wedge in the moment of their own confusion. He would have simply gone straight through the faux wall were it not for a barrage of his own weaponry cutting him short and forcing him back where he had just come from.

With a moment to catch his breath at least, he considered using one of his command seals to summon Saber to his side. They had done well enough fighting as a pair, but would it stop them from simply getting separated again? "The role of king falls to the one most worthy, no more and no less."

"That's a lame explanation," Rider groaned. "I thought you were going to say you were cursed into the body of a woman or something."

Even without seeing her face, Shirou could nearly feel the raw rage Saber suddenly expelled. "Is the matter of my gender really such a concern for you?"

"Well, now that you mention it, yes." Almost on cue, a disgustingly sweet smell appeared on the breeze. Before he could even think it over, he understood what it meant. As fast as his brain could process, a gasmask leapt to mind and projected in place of his scarf. Keeping his sanity was worth the excessive mana consumed by producing a non-sword. Looking to confirm his thoughts, a glance in Rider's direction let him see a plain-looking bottle in her hand.

"She's using one of her noble phantasms," he warned. "It takes control of you if you smell or taste it so be careful!"

The response came just as quickly as his warning. "According to her legend, all of her abilities seem to exclusively affect men. I should be immune to the effects and free from worry."

Her reasoning made sense, at least he thought it did. Thinking was a luxury he couldn't afford at that exact moment as the blood servants renewed their assault. Weaponry appeared over his copy's shoulder and a matching set appeared over his own. After dealing with his imitation's imitations, he discovered they were significantly weaker than his own. On top of this, they were simple. Simple in that they were unable to change direction, much like his own projections had been before unlocking his reality marble.

It was simplicity he could take advantage of and learn from, it let him know that something within his own body had fundamentally changed, that it wasn't just a way of thinking as he had believed. Even if it was a copy, it would have been smart enough to utilize the better method.

With his foes grouped together ahead of him, Shirou's job was actually made easier.

While his copy made projections and the enemies facing him began their advance, Shirou called forth his own and prepared another copy of Archer's bow. Placing his hands in perfect form, an arrow from Archer's list caught his eye. It was strange, as it was the name of the sword being used by one of the blood copies, albeit modified slightly.

Going through several near-death experiences, he was sick of holding back, of allowing weapons given to him to sit idle and collect dust in his mind. He had already failed once by hesitating and he wasn't going to make the same mistake again. By a glance, Shirou could tell that it would take a greater connection to his armoury before use. That would be easy enough. "I am the bone of my sword."

"Shirou-"

"I don't plan on using it again - not like I could with my mana. Just don't stand in line with me and keep backing up."

From between the blood-servants, he could see Saber shift in one direction, closer toward Rider out of his view. Predictably, the servants focused on him began sprinting as they clued in to his ranged attack. Thankfully, they wouldn't get close enough to cause a problem.

Archer's modified arrow appeared notched within the bow. It was a smooth weapon of slim design. Like its origin, it featured a spiral design only exaggerated to an extreme. Strangely, it was far shorter than the draw length of the bow. Uncertain of how it worked or how it would stay nocked, Shirou listened to his gut and did what felt natural.

Drawing the bowstring, Shirou marvelled as the weapon stretched to accommodate the draw length. The metal thinned, stretching material over bulging sections like knuckles on a hand. Lightning crackled from the ground, his feet, the bow and the weapon itself as mana funnelled into the arrow.

He was banking a lot on the arrow doing something big, but he was uncertain how big. With his stores drained from his reality marble and extensive usage against Assassin, an attack of this scale was all he had left before being burnt out completely.

A one-shot prayer was a problem, especially when he realized he didn't know how to actually activate it.

The blood-servants were closing in. Within a second they'd be upon him and Saber wouldn't be able to help if he got caught out again.

Aim at their feet, use its name.

The signal came from within. As if it was guidance ingrained within the blueprint of the weapon. Offering a mental thanks to his departed self, Shirou shifted the arrow to the ground just beneath where the wedge of servants had been and where his imitation stood firing blades.

"Caladbolg!"

… … …

Rin's mind was a slideshow of questions as they walked across Fuyuki. Every second, another one would draw her attention.

Zouken was dead, but he had almost purposefully worked himself into a corner. His plan had been to taunt, but something had gone wrong and he had been unable to regain control. She had never expected it to be so easy and obviously neither had he.

Whatever plan he had, it had to do with Sakura, so had Shirou found her and managed to complete their original plan? If that were the case, how would he have done the operation alone and why would he not have told them of the success through some means?

None of it made sense. If Shirou had found her, there was no doubt in her own mind that he would give a signal of some sort. Beyond that, he was only going to Central Park. Would she really have just been sitting in the middle of that cursed haunt in the dead of night?

The questions piled further when she considered the new Assassin at all. It made no sense how he even came into existence. Eight servants was impossible and was there even an eighth master?

Bazett stopped and turned around, drawing the Tohsaka from her questioning state. "Put yourself in the shoes of a high-class, snobby mercenary bred from one of the wealthiest families in all of Britain and where do you think she'd go if all of her mansions were destroyed?" A question of current circumstance. Honestly, it was a welcome distraction from her own head.

Rin barely needed to give Bazett's question a thought. "The fanciest hotel in all of Fuyuki."

Shooting the Tohsaka a finger gun, Bazett made a clicking noise and gave a wink. "Bingo, kiddo. So we head there, hypnotize the clerk and see if there have been any sudden entries."

It wasn't a bad idea. In fact, it was quite smart. Except, there was one problem. "And if they've been hypnotized by Luvia or Lectra?"

Bazett waved her hand and turned to walk onward. "You should be able to see something like that. At the very least you could find something wrong."

Caster landed a hand upon Rin's shoulder. "Little lady here probably means that this magus we're after has already taken the fact that we're after her in mind and has wiped her trail."

Bazett crossed her arms. "When it comes to people on the run they can act two ways. Either they panic and work sloppy or get scared and cover up too much. Either way, it's something that can be detected."

Rin shrugged the servant's hand off and turned to Gray who stiffened under her gaze. "Besides Shirou, you're the only person who really knows Luvia personally. Try to think about her and where she might have gone, maybe even what she would be doing right now."

The girl's eyes stared at her like a doe in headlights before flickering away toward the ground and around idly as if in deep thought. "Luvia is many things but at her core, she is a mercenary." Nodding to herself, the girl tugged the edges of her hood to hide most of her face from Rin's eyes. "With that in mind, I don't think she would sit on her hands."

So Gray felt that Luvia would try to take the offensive? There was a chance, but with so few targets left in the War who would she go after?

"Shirou."

Both Caren and Rin had said it aloud simultaneously, throwing the other a glance before Rin resumed her thought. "If she'll attack anyone it will be Shirou, he's the least defended. Saber also makes him easy to detect and if Luvia is in the Shinto region then their hotel would only be a short distance away."

Caster leaned precariously on his lance. "He should be alright. Rider might have the advantage on the kid but that lady with him will be able to keep her head. Flat-footed, there's no way Rider could take on a Saber."

Rin caught his meaning. "Rider has an ability that affects men?"

The servant nodded. "Beyond just personal knowledge, I know all about what her abilities are from the Throne. Not only does her luck keep her scratch-free, she has four noble phantasms and can control men with one of them." As if accenting the point, the servant wedged a pinky into his ear and closed one eye.

"Then wouldn't that mean Shirou would attack Saber? What if she's forced to kill him?"

Caster paused, then straightened and twirled his lance with one hand. "Might cause a bit of a problem. That kid is pretty strong and with Rider and her tricks, one of them might actually hurt the other."

"Two choices," Caren murmured.

Bazett surmised. "We either figure Luvia went into hiding and try to find her or find Shirou and expect him to already have found Luvia at the park."

Rin opened her mouth and something strange gave her pause. It was almost as if a ghost had drawn the breath from her lungs, depriving her of oxygen. Before she could even rationalize what might have caused such a thing, she found the answer.

A bright flash across the river in the direction of Central Park precluded an ear-popping boom. Both the occurrences matched a red sphere of energy that rapidly grew and held its form as the mystery swirled around within.

In terms of scale, it wasn't nearly the strongest attack she had witnessed in the Grail War. In fact, she had almost been holding something far stronger when she shouldered Gray and took on Berserker.

Still, it was decidedly a noble phantasm, and that was enough to unsettle her when its location was taken into account.

"I'd know that from anywhere," Caster began. "One of her other noble phantasms is that damned sword. Odd that it's a little different this time but still the same one. I'd say we've figured out where Rider is but that's something you masters can decide." Rin didn't let his notice of difference go missed. There was a chance Shirou was behind the explosion, which didn't appease her mind one bit.

If Rider and Shirou were fighting at the park then there was also a high chance that the Grail had formed there as well. If that were the case, it made sense that Rider would pull out everything she had in her repertoire. Rider was an enemy who knew their capabilities. Drawing her strongest card in the opening act was practically expected.

Whether that attack had been from Shirou or from Rider, it was enough to make her worry.

"To get to Shinto we have to cross the bridge. Bazett, can you get us a car?"

The woman snorted. "What do I look like? I haven't got the money to buy or rent a car when I go on trips."

Caster clicked his tongue. "Pretty sure she was thinking we would steal a car."

Rin stiffened. "No that's not-"

"It's no problem," he interrupted with a wave of the hand. "I can figure something out, probably." Before her eyes, the servant offered a wink and disappeared from sight.

Rin tried to get Bazett to stop him but the Enforcer blew her off by saying he wasn't listening to her commands. The Tohsaka didn't believe she had even tried stopping him.

She was the Second Owner of Fuyuki, the sole individual in charge of protecting the normal humans who lived life unaware of the magical world. The fact that a servant in a Holy Grail War was stealing one of their cars was practically a slap to the face as long as she held that title. The girl had expected some support from the Overseer of the War, Caren, but the priestess hardly seemed to care. In fact, Rin could have sworn the edges of her lips curled into a sadistic little grin.

Caster arrived with a car in less than a minute surprisingly. Despite Rin's redoubled attempt at scolding the Enforcer, Bazett passed off Rin's words and forced her into the backseat, then took over driving from Caster. The servant was reluctant to give up the seat but did so without backlash, instead claiming that he was fully capable of driving as if that defended his pride somehow.

Seeing as how the act was already done, Rin concluded that she could pass the sudden disappearance off as a random theft and devoted her thoughts to something more important: Sakura.

There still wasn't a definite answer on what had happened to her sister and if Rider and Shirou were fighting at Central Park, what did that mean for her? Had the Grail destroyed her body or had she somehow survived?

Absently peering out the window as she mulled over thoughts, Rin vaguely took note that they had turned onto the Fuyuki Bridge and let her eyes drift to the moving water below.

When she thought about Sakura, she was filled with a mix of emotions. Obviously first and foremost there was dread. If her hypothesis of who the Grail had chosen as a vessel was correct, there really wasn't anything she could do. Either she would be killed before she could become the vessel or her body would be converted to take the form of the Lesser Grail.

It was a thought she honestly didn't want to consider much. It horrified her too much and drove her anxiety through the roof. Besides, any hesitation caused by it might wind up getting her killed.

Blinking a few times, the girl returned to herself and quickly noticed something.

It didn't look like they were moving.

Leaning to look at the dash, Rin verified that the car was driving and the bridge seemed to be moving past them but according to the river they were stuck exactly halfway.

"You sense it too, don't you?" Caster asked.

Bazett turned her head. "What are you talking about?"

"Stop the car," Rin ordered.

"What?" Bazett asked, twisting her head to offer an annoyed glance. "What f-"

Caster interrupted her. "Do it, Master. We've driven into a bounded field and whoever made it doesn't want us to leave."

Grumbling, the woman stopped — rather quickly — and threw open the door to step out. Quickly, the car cleared out and each passenger stood within the middle of the road to examine their surroundings.

Even considering the fact it was so late in the night, the bridge was abnormally devoid of vehicles. In fact, they were the only car on either side of the bridge. In the distance, Rin could see the headlights of other vehicles as they passed the intersection but nobody was turning in.

For neither Rin nor Caster to notice the field as they entered would have taken an extremely competent magus and quite a lot of time. Only one person leapt to mind, but when would Luvia have found the time to construct something so elaborate?

Unless it had been expected all along. She might have started work on it as soon as she arrived, plotting weeks prior to the War.

With a hollow bong, the lance in Caster's hand pointed onward in the direction they had been driving. "Heads up, we have company."

Approaching, merely walking down the street, was a small figure wearing a well-worn black hoodie with the hood drawn up. On its front was a graphic of three cats sitting in a bowl of ramen.

It was identifiable and with their current situation, only one person fit the description.

"Lectra," Rin began. As far as she knew, Lectra wouldn't have been capable of making such a subtle bounded field. Only one explanation foretold her appearance. "You plan on taking us all on alone?"

The girl stopped quite a distance away and stood motionless. "So what if I did?"

Rin was momentarily taken aback. The question had been asked with such a dreary tone that she wondered if it really was Lectra. Shirou had always spoken about her as bright and cheery but she seemed nothing of the sort. "You'll die," she replied bluntly. "You're against two mages, a servant and an Enforcer. Even Shirou would have trouble against those odds."

Lectra shook her head. "Everything leads back to him, doesn't it? All I wanted to do was get help with finding my father." The girl clenched her hands at her side. "I get dragged into this stupid power struggle for some stupid fake cup that supposedly grants wishes and for what? I'm not even a master so even if Luvia won I'd walk away with nothing, even after all this pain and stress. The only benefit I ever got were the components to work on my magecraft."

Bazett reached into her pockets to withdraw a pair of gloves and began sliding them on. "Then why don't you just-"

"Leave?" Lectra finished for her. "I don't have the money." Bazett nodded her head in understanding. "And I never expected everything to happen this way. Besides, now I'm here on this stupid suicide mission, threatened with being killed if I don't delay you all long enough for Luvia to take out Blade and Saber."

Rin took a slow step forward. "If things aren't working between you two then why don't you join us? We can take out Rider and keep you safe from Luvia."

Lectra violently shook her head, throwing the hood away from her face. Blood seeped from her eye as her entire face twitched in extreme concentration. "It's already too late, I can barely control it anymore."

A crack of lightning, Caster's, snapped over Rin's shoulder and flew through the air toward Lectra but struck a black pillar that shot upward from the pavement below.

Before she could even ask what he was thinking the entire bridge lurched to one side. Thrown off-balance, Rin scrambled to try standing upright while looking around to locate the origin of the impact.

It was an appendage of some sort. Gripping onto the edge of the bridge for leverage, whatever it was attached to began hauling itself up. Rising and continuing to rise, It felt as if all the blood in her body was flash frozen. Even her joints locked up as her eyes tried to even rationalize what was before her.

Its size was impossible to even comprehend. What edge she could see blended in with the night sky itself. The only identifying factor that told her where this thing even was was the large fortune of gems that sat in the middle of its headless body. It had only two arms but each of them was wider than the car they drove in on.

It made no sound as it moved. Only the noise of rushing water below it as its motions shifted the river below. It was a fact that caught her totally by surprise when an arm rapidly descended upon her overhead.

It was only on sheer reaction and desperation that Rin was able to reinforce her body and leap out of the way before being crushed.

Upon impact, the arm caved in the road and upset the entire bridge. Groaning steel and cracking concrete unbalanced the entire road surface.

Arching trusses from above twisted under their own weight with a ghastly howl and came down toward the road - toward her.

Mana flooded her legs, but a sudden lurch of the entire structure sent her onto her back. The steel beam looked as if it would land on top of her and all she could do was raise her hands and reinforce her arms to try and survive.

"Shealbhú!"

Rapidly, the twisting beam slowed and stopped a few feet away from crushing her. Looking toward the source of the voice, she found Caster with one hand holding his spear which was impaled in the bridge and the other scrawling runes on the pavement. Crimson eyes locked onto hers and with a snarl, he shouted at her to "get the others and get out of here!"

She wasn't going to argue.

Panning the road around her, she found Caren and Bazett, the former being behind the latter on the opposite side of where Lectra's creation had just attacked. Both women locked eyes with one another with the Enforcer offering a nod. She spoke with Caren and the two began moving toward Rin to regroup.

Looking further, she found Gray standing beside the car. A birdcage rattled noisily in her hand as a cube inside violently jumped around. The servant look-alike was competent enough to be left to herself but a call of her name clued her in to their plan to escape.

Immediately, the cage in her hand shifted and changed its form. Rin had expected the lance Gray had used before and wondered if they could turn the battle around, but instead of a weapon, she held a shield.

Made of gold and deep blue, it was over half the girl's own height and seemed to take on the image of a face. Even more so when parts of it started moving to speak. "That thing is made entirely of magical energy! For once I won't mind getting hit!"

Caster grunted as more of the bridge crumbled beneath the creature's weight as it shifted and tried to lift itself further with the bridge. "Yeah, yeah why not talk about how impressive it is after we've killed it!"

Leaping over the depression in the bridge, Bazett landed beside Rin with Caren on her back. "If we're leaving, I'll take the priestess and try to break out of this bounded field. At the least I'll be able to keep her out of harm's way." She looked toward Rin. "Unless you think we can kill it, or kill the girl."

"Decide quick because I can't hold this bridge together for very long." As if accenting his point, the entire bridge groaned and pieces of concrete crumbled to reveal the icy river below.

There were options but the difficulty scaled. Escape had its own complications. Would they be able to break the bounded field before the creature cornered them? Killing the monster would obviously be difficult and she didn't need to consider why. Perhaps killing Lectra was the easiest, though even that route had a problem. She has claimed the creature to be out of her control so it was possible it had grown self-sufficient somehow.

The gems.

Glancing back, she spotted the amalgamation of crystals within the monster's front.

Killing Lectra would be redundant. There was also the matter of her unknown defensive abilities. She had easily blocked Caster's lightning so she could be just as hard to kill as that big creation of hers.

So they were back to two options, run or fight. Even running away, if the bridge collapsed there was no guarantee they'd be able to make it to the other side.

Thinking on her feet, the girl weighed their options and the possibilities in a fraction of a second. "Caster, can your runes allow us to walk on air?"

The man looked at her in incredulity for a moment before smirking through a strained grimace. Bazett spoke up before him. "You can't be serious, you want to stay and fight?"

Rin explained her logic as Gray assembled nearby. "Whether we stay or run, the bridge is going to fall if Caster releases the spell. We might as well prepare for that if nothing else."

The Enforcer grumbled into an annoyed groan. "Fine, sure, I can do that. It'll take some time and it won't last any more than ten minutes though."

Caster shouted with more anger than expected before the group could discuss. "Just get the hell on with it!"

Bazett stiffened and immediately reached into her suit to withdraw a small pin. As she did, Rin caught the disappearance of stars above and realized the creature was attacking again. Shouting it out, she wondered how Caster would protect himself if he had to stand still.

Trying to ponder how he could manage two things at once, Gray leapt upwards off the road's surface with shield in hand. Rin's confusion over the act turned to realization as the woman collided with the near-invisible beast and both stopped dead in the air.

A flash of white accompanied a hollow dong that travelled throughout the entire creature. It was hard, but Rin could see the outline warble and lighten to give her a more accurate scale of the beast.

Saying it was just large would be like saying the ocean held water. Not only did it tower over the bridge, it could easily swallow the bridge in its entirety. After all she had seen, Rin was quickly concluding that all of her expectations were useless to hold. Lectra's magecraft vastly exceeded everything she knew and Gray continually surprised her.

Settling with that thought, it became easy to accept things. Easy to accept when Gray's shield rapidly expanded, eclipsed the girl and continued growing further. The creature rebounded off the weapon and the colour-blanched girl fell back to the ground. Landing, the shield embedded itself in the pavement and hummed appreciatively. "Full power from a single attack, how about that! That thing is quite the stockpile of mana!"

Rin wasn't able to watch much longer as Bazett gripped her ankle and began etching runes into the sides of her shoes. Awkwardly trying to keep still, she finished within a minute and moved on to the next foot.

While they prepared, Gray continued halting the attacks of the monolithic creature and Caster worked keeping them all on stable ground as long as he could. The bridge was creaking and groaning with growing frequency each passing moment and some of the road material was falling off into the water.

Rin felt her foot land back onto pavement and Bazett stood upright beside her. Without any greater courtesy, the Enforcer bent down to work on her own boots.

Gray deflected another strike, but a nagging at the back of her mind made Rin look in Caster's direction. From the opposite side of the creature itself, consuming the railing, was another digitless arm that sought out Caster.

Fumbling for a gem, she withdrew the first that came to hand — a purple sword-shaped one — and threw it while warning Caster in the same motion.

Everything happened faster than she could even conceive of it.

Caster moved, bringing his spear with it. The gem exploded against the creature and covered a large swath of the bridge in ice.

The bridge itself shifted and started to fully collapse underneath the weight of the creature and the lack of foundation. Pieces of it began to fall freely to the chilling water below but halted jarringly as Caster struggled to maintain his spell.

Bazett was knocked off balance and instead of steadying herself, she lunged from a crouch toward Caren. Catching the priestess, the two fell through a rapidly expanding hole that appeared where the creature first attacked.

Gray was next. Unable to stand she fell to one side and slid off the collapsing bridge following the Enforcer.

Expecting to chase them down, Rin felt as if she stood upon solid ground. Looking down, her feet were emitting pale blue disks.

Remembering Caster, she looked in his direction to find him floating upon his own staff as if it were some sort of surfboard. Exchanging looks, the two both came to similar conclusions but only Caster voiced it. "Looks like it's just you and me, little lady. Guess we gotta take on that thing while the others swim away."

"I've got an idea," she began. There was no point using any of her attacks beyond her trump card against such an overwhelming force. "How accurate is your lightning?"

The creature shifted and refocused on the two hovering in the air. "Hopefully enough for whatever you have planned, just do it!"

Rin tried to operate on a strict policy of not having to be told twice. Reaching into her pocket, she palmed every gem she had left and began freely dumping all the mana she had into them. "Just hit the gems when they get close!"

Even trying to discern where the creature was proved difficult. Against the black night, she could only guess by the lack of stars. That was, until she caught the faintest glimmer of reflected moonlight off the gems encrusted in its body. Throwing the entire fistful at where she believed the center of the beast lied, Rin hoped Caster had better eyes than her.

When the servant pointed his spear, she knew he was on the right track. The tip flashed and an arc of lightning travelled toward the gems. Before they met, the Tohsaka briefly considered that she had never used this attack with so many gems. With one of her lesser gems it had nearly levelled the Emiya estate, so what would eight high power gems do?

The lightning struck the first gem and her vision was eclipsed in a bright white flash. A hot wave of air impacted her entire body and forced the air out of her lungs. She could feel herself moving backwards through the air and a metallic gong as her head impacted metal.

The only reason she wasn't knocked unconscious or outright killed was because of her reinforcement and even then it was only barely on both counts. With her feet no longer vertical, she began to fall but the blurriness of her vision and sheer lack of coordination left her unable to react.

She knew she was falling. Through the dark of night and her swirling vision, she could just catch sight of the water's swirling surface below. In seconds she would hit the top wake and in her state, there was a high chance she would drown.

Be it the fear of death or sheer determination, Rin was able to throw her body backwards so she could shift vertical. Righting herself, the runes on her feet activated again but the impulse from the fall broke the magecraft, though it did slow her considerably.

Instead of belly-flopping onto the water, she gently slipped beneath the surface and the cold shocked her body into place. Struggling to stay afloat and tread water, she looked up as the Fuyuki bridge twisted under its own weight and collapsed into the Mion River.

The largest wake wasn't produced by the falling steel, though. Instead, the rapidly decomposing remains of the giant creature falling over backwards did. The weight and size displaced a great deal of water, throwing up a six-foot-high wave that crashed and toiled toward her.

Sucking in a breath, the Tohsaka dropped herself beneath the surface before she could be crushed. Opening her eyes beneath the water, she could see the crest pass over her and resurfaced shortly after. Inhaling sharply as she found oxygen, the girl looked around the dark water for the others, finding Gray and Caren somehow floating upon a large metal sheet. She didn't care to question how metal seemed to float in water but chalked it up to magecraft of some sort. Bazett and Caster were notably absent. It wasn't of great concern to her, Caster would protect her if she were in danger after all.

Overhead, the remnants of the bridge continued to groan and collapse, scattering varied chunks of infrastructure into the water around Rin. Above the occasional noise, a frantic splashing and struggling noise reached her attention, drawing her to a woman a short distance away as she struggled to keep her head above the water.

It was obvious that she was incapable of swimming. Despite surviving the entire bridge collapsing and the fall accompanying such a thing, she would drown if nobody helped her.

Which left the Tohsaka to make a decision. Did she rescue someone who had tried, and nearly succeeded, in killing her or did she swim to the shore and let her lie in the very watery bed she had made?

In the midst of considering her actions, Lectra slipped beneath the water and did not resurface. Watching her form slip away, Rin grumbled beneath her breath.

"Damnit."

… … …

… … …

His throat felt as if it were lined with sandpaper.

Swallowing thickly, Shirou continued looking up toward the bleaching sun with closed eyes.

It was his own personal hell and he was slowly being baked for all of his failures.

Lacking so much as an idle breeze, the air only seemed to grow in temperature the longer he sat in his ashen land.

Seated upon a chair made of sharpened blades, he didn't even mind the feeling as they sliced his skin through his clothes. In fact, his blood was blissfully chilling compared to the air.

How long had he been here?

Opening his eyes and looking down, he watched weapons rise and sink into the ground around him. Only a miniature collection of them remained upright, markers of the blood that stained his hands.

There was so much.

It had gotten to him at first, but he had justified himself and listened to the teachings his father had given. When he had first been taught, it had never made sense and he had forgotten about it. Even once he needed it, he had never actively recalled the information. It had been purely subconscious, drilled into him.

The old man's words almost flowed on a sudden breeze. "Don't forget: You're responsible to protect her once I'm gone. Before making a decision, think about how it will affect her. Once it's over, remember that everything you did was for her safety and you won't ever second-guess yourself."

Shirou released a broken chuckle and lowered his head further to rest in his hand. Why was he always so late to the draw?

"It's because you can't see past your father's instructions," a male voice chided him. Lifting his head, he spotted two people standing ahead of him.

Kiera and Archer, two ghosts persistent in their haunting in the worst moments. "From what I've seen, you've got it spot on." Crossing her arms over her chest, the woman appeared bored. It was odd to see her stand before him, considering that she always spoke to him prior as a disembodied voice. Had he been killed? "He wants to make it through without killing anyone but he takes his plans and tactics from one of the bloodiest assassins in current time. It would be funny if it weren't so sad."

Shirou stood upright and clenched his hands at his sides. "You've both got so much to say about what I should do but never actually help. You just complain about it all afterwards."

Kiera shook her head. "Advice from the dead really isn't any better than advice from losers." She shrugged. "Besides, I think you're forgetting why I'm here. It's not to offer help, murderer."

Archer landed his hand on the woman's head. "The sadistic mental stowaway has a point. You continue to make the same mistakes because you fail to change your ways, though I doubt you need ghosts to explain such a thing." The servant lifted his hand off Kiera, who appeared a half-second away from biting the same appendage off.

"But-"

"I agree," Archer cut him off. The man nodded softly as if he could hear Shirou's own thoughts. Then again, inside his mind, maybe he could. "The Magus Killer offers the most effective and visually appealing end to most situations." Crossing his own arms over his chest, Archer narrowed his eyes. "However, you neglected to take into account that his plans require loss."

Confused for the first moment he heard the statement, Shirou rapidly understood the meaning. "He always makes or accounts for a sacrifice," he mumbled to himself.

Archer merely scoffed, perhaps clueing in to his next thought. "You've already walked this path too far to go back now. The die has been cast and considering that, you might as well follow through."

Shirou lifted a hand to the bridge of his nose. Of course, how could he not have seen? It had been a fool's errand to try and aright a plan that was askew from the start. The piece furthest from his reach would always fall from the board if he used a plan born of the Magus Killer. Then again, would he have seen the folly if he hadn't made the mistake at all?

"Don't let it break you now. Just let it soften the blow once it falls later. You have bigger problems at the current moment anyway." Archer was right. The milk was spilt, so he might as well see the War to its conclusion with his current plan and make his future decisions on his own.

Kiera pursed her lips disinterestedly. "Yeah, that no breathing thing is definitely a problem."

"Right, so stop playing with ghosts and wake up!"

The voice seemed to strike him like a truck and his eyes snapped shut, opening to an entirely different hell.

Gasping in a deep breath, his lungs heaved in a desperate cry for oxygen. The mere act of inhaling sent firing pains through his entire body and hitched his diaphragm as it simultaneously demanded more and less. He realized his struggle was all the more difficult as he took note of a crack in his vision. Tearing off the gas mask he had projected, fresh air filled his air passages and the scent of hot earth came with it.

Bolting upright was a decidedly poor decision as the pain intensified and his vision filled with blackened, blotchy clumps. Clenching one eye and gritting his teeth, he could still see the aftermath. Ahead of him, the landscape was destroyed. What remained of the ground after his weapon struck was more than ten feet lower than the dead grass he sat upon. Below, illuminating the area rather well, was a conflagration of magma and rocky chunks that churned as the ambient air-cooled the surface. The cavity was forty feet across, but he hadn't put in near as much mana as he could have.

Looking down at himself, the boy noted that much of his armour had been broken or burned away. The clothing singed into his body was little more than enough to keep him from being embarrassed. Had his own attack hurt him as well?

In the distance, louder than the crackle of cooling molten rock was the sound of blaring car alarms and the wailing siren of emergency vehicles.

Across the crater, hanging halfway off the ledge, was Saber with her blade stuck into the dirt like a piton. Just like him, her armour had been heavily damaged and it seemed unable to repair itself as it had before. The two locked eyes and both shared their nonverbal thoughts of incredulity.

"I was certain you had died. You were caught in your own blast."

Grimacing as his own heartbeat sent rhythmic waves of pain through his core, Shirou tried to see about standing upright. "With how I feel I'd rather I had died, honestly."

Saber started to haul herself out of the crater. "Have you seen Rider?"

Turning over onto his hands and knees, the boy took a few deep breaths in preparation to start standing on his legs. "Haven't yet, but I did kill those other servants so that's something."

"I take it that was a weapon from Archer's past?"

Shirou coughed as his body tried to adjust to how hard he was pushing it. "Whatever it was. A sword designed to be fired like an arrow."

Pushing himself up, he came to the realization that his right leg was only working half of the time. During the other half, it went totally limp and forced him to rely on one leg and his sense of balance.

Managing to steady himself after quite a while, he turned toward Saber to see how she was doing. The woman had lifted herself back up onto solid ground and was trying to do the same thing he was: find Rider.

Large as it might have been, the woman had been outside the blast radius. She had either been free to move and had taken the chance or she had been buried beneath the rubble. Either way, he didn't expect her to flee the fight entirely so a copy of blades appeared in his hands while he scanned the perimeter.

"Shirou, something is wrong with me." Normal as it might have been to hear in his own head, it was rather odd that it had come from Saber. "My body feels…sluggish. It's like I'm trying to move underwater."

Then the smell hit him.

It had been muted beneath the scent of hot earth and fire but it tickled the end of his nose then.

The smell of wine.

Projecting another gas mask, the boy turned around and faced his own servant. "You need to run away, now before it's too late. Rider's noble phantasm is still affecting you and soon enough you'll be trying to fight me."

"You want me to-"

"Yes, right now. I wouldn't be able to handle you both but I can take Rider alone."

A giggle echoed across the empty park. Turning his head, Shirou spotted a patch of dirt that shifted as something unearthed from below. "You can't expect the leading lady to fall so easily, can you? Especially not when things are growing to be so interesting!" The servant brushed most of the dirt off, shook her head and planted one hand on her hip before looking at Shirou directly. "Looks like your servant is a little more manly than you might have thought."

With Rider alone, he expected Saber to lunge after her in attack. When she didn't, he recognized the strangeness and held himself back. Had he made an error? Did Rider's noble phantasm also affect women?

"I love that look of horror when they finally realize what's going on." The pink servant flicked out her hand and through the air flew flecks of sparkling fluid. Landing on Saber's face, her expression contorted into an indecipherable mix of emotion.

It seemed to be an unconscious reflex when Saber used her tongue to catch a drop that trailed down her face. "My body, it's-"

He already knew. "Under her control, which means we've lost this fight."

As difficult as it was to admit, he had to face facts. If Rider's noble phantasm was even capable of keeping Saber from attacking, the battle was over. Tactically, using so much mana to kill Assassin had been a blunder. He had been reliant on Saber to deal with Rider, a fact he honestly regretted. Had he simply dealt with the other servant as quickly as possible, he would have had more than enough mana to activate his reality marble. Hindsight was what they said it was, and he wasn't so proud as to claim he hadn't been swept up by his own emotions.

Though, if Saber's body was actively against him now, would his reality marble be enough to keep her at bay? He could curse himself for not reigning back his anger later. For the moment, he needed to work out a plan that would get him away with his head attached to his body.

Rider approached Saber with a sickly grin, offering her a renewed bottle from which to drink. Unexpectedly, the blonde could control herself enough to make a swing at Rider. Leaping back, the other servant had to sacrifice her bottle in lieu of her hand. Pouting, she remarked, "Whoops, seems like it wasn't as effective as I thought." Prancing backwards a few steps, Rider refocused on Shirou. "At least it's enough to stop her from distracting me from the main course."

He might not have been a proper magus according to Rin, but even he could tell that Rider was about to do something big. Mana swelled within and around her while she ominously formed a riding crop in one outstretched hand.

"As interesting as you might be, my masters don't want you around anymore." Her face saddened some. "Sorry about that."

Lifting her riding crop, the sky above crackled with energy and a thick mist formed behind the servant. Expecting more blood servants, Shirou was surprised to see a chariot drawn by bulls crawl their way up from the earth. Dragging themselves level, Rider leapt backward and gracefully landed upon the hauled throne while the mounts still moved onward.

There was no second-guessing, it was Rider's noble phantasm. She might have used others before but this was her ultimate ace. Was there a way he would be capable of countering it? What sort of weapon in Archer's arsenal would be capable of taking it head-on? The sword he used prior, Caladbolg, would take too long to charge up and he lacked the mana to use Time Alter for an extended time or in an attack.

He was out of options. A simple barrage was the only one he had and it wouldn't be near enough to deal with a servant.

Still, he'd use everything he had until his circuits and veins ran dry.

Someone was shouting behind him, but the noise of the bulls meant he couldn't hear the words. His eyes barely conceived a blur of blue and red.

Shirou blinked and by the time his eyes reopened the streak had vanished. Left behind was a stationary chariot with Rider leaning forward, sitting motionless in her throne. Blood had already begun to pool in her lap from an unseen wound. Struggling to process the event, none other than Caster landed ahead of him, with his spear still glowing from whatever attack had been made.

"Always wanted to run that bitch through." Spitting on the ground, the man's face turned to a snide smirk. "Guess I got my wish early." Twirling the spear so it could rest over his shoulders, the servant stretched his back. "You can thank me later, kiddo."

The worry left his body in one movement and a held breath left his mouth. "Thanks," he let out. "Took you quite a while to get here though."

The man shrugged and from behind him stepped forth a drenched Bazett. Still sopping wet, the miserable woman trudged alongside and flicked her arms to try and dry herself. "Use your command seals to teleport, he says, then leaves me to run while he flies off in spirit form." Glowering at the man with a look that could defur a cat, Bazett stood straight and clenched her hands into fists. "Who said chivalry was dead?"

Saber's voice spoke out to him in his mind, drawing him away from Bazett and Caster. "Shirou, I don't mean to detract from this victory but I still am unable to move."

It was odd, he would have expected the effects of Rider's noble phantasm to end with her death. Then again, it might have been a chemical effect of some sort that lingered beyond the servant itself. Turning around again, he tried to discern whether Rider was truly dead.

Why hadn't she faded away if she had been killed?

Why was the air around her still charged with so much mana?

"She's not dead," he murmured, throwing out an arm and taking a step back. Swords appeared within the air and fired as quickly as the boy could get them to actualize.

As each left their perch in the air, Caster let out a confused "what?"

The woman herself produced a giggle and twisted in her throne, shifting and dodging both blades before staring back at the group with a sickeningly sweet smile. On her left shoulder sat a large gash that was freely bleeding down the rest of her body. Even at a glance, Shirou knew the site to be far from mortal beyond blood loss but servants didn't have to deal with such a thing.

"Oh my adoring Cú, did you forget that fate adores me far more than you?" Rising fully, the wound upon her shoulder pulsed crimson, revealing scattered lines of the same colour beneath the rest of her skin. "I thought your death would have taught you that much. Oh well, now I can deal with you both at once."

Extending her hand, a set of reigns appeared in the very air. Grabbing hold, the servant snapped them forward and the bulls bellowed into a full sprint.

Shirou mentally cursed. All Caster had done was delay their doom and throw himself into the mix as well. Even though he had tried to end it, it still hadn't been enough.

"Now, Caster!" The barking order from Bazett called out over his shoulder. Before he could look, something heavy made a solid thunk upon the Earth.

It was back to square one, where he'd put everything into a final attack. If it worked, he'd fall with Rider. If it didn't then it hardly mattered, he'd die either way. Preparing his overheated circuits, the boy prepared to pull out every stop and try something experimental he had yet to field test.

Kneeling and pressing one hand to the ground, he shut his eyes and murmured "trace on" to begin the process.

Before he could do much more, his eyes were open and he was standing again yet instead of being before a pair of stampeding bulls, he stood before a toppled chariot, two dead bulls and the servant who commanded them in a state of shock.

What had happened?

His memories were intact and he knew with all certainty that he hadn't been moved. Oddly enough, the sensation felt familiar. Had he moved through time? Was such a thing even possible?

Reeling from the instantaneous shift, Shirou hesitated before projecting his bow with another copy of Caladbolg II. Drawing the string, the boy stressed his circuits beyond what he considered safe, beyond his own limits. Murmuring its name, another name echoed out from behind him as he released the bowstring.

A streak of blue and a streak of red cut the air they passed through. With his human eyes, it appeared as if both struck their mark simultaneously though he couldn't see the effectiveness as she was eclipsed by another explosion that rent the ground as it had before. With less mana and more control, he was able to keep his allies and himself from being caught in the blast, unlike the first time.

This time, nothing remained when the smoke and dust from the explosion dissipated. With no trace of Rider, Saber started moving freely and notified him through his mind.

Ensuring that she was truly gone, Shirou was distracted by a hand clamping down onto his shoulder. "Can't tell who got that one," Lancer remarked. "Would you mind if I claimed it for myself? The fact that it wasn't me who killed her has been an afterlife-long regret of mine." Turning his head, Shirou briefly noted the servant's satisfied smirk. "Hell, I'll owe you."

Was it finally over? Rider marked the last servant he needed to remove and she was certainly gone now. Although, he was staring at an enemy servant and their master, two people who had wanted him dead days prior. It had been a theory but would the Grail realize his wish while they were still alive?

Judging by Caster's sudden change of emotion, the servant could see the gears churning in Shirou's mind. Before he could speak, his eyes darted over the boy's shoulder. Far beyond his reactions, the servant shot his spear upwards, sinking it into his armpit. Half expecting to be punctured, Shirou was surprised when he only felt the rounded shaft.

The crackle of lightning sounded from the tip behind him and an electrifying sensation coursed through his entire body. Shortly after, the wave and sound of an explosion washed over his back. Staring into Caster's eyes, all sense of humour or joy left his voice and features. "Guess we're even." Tugging his spear back, the man stepped back, twirled his spear and stabbed it into the ground. "Looks like someone else wants your attention."

"Shirou, its-"

He didn't even need to look. "Luvia, former master of Rider, isn't it?"

Getting back a short affirmative, the boy let his gaze linger upon Caster for a moment longer before turning.

Ahead of him some sixty feet was a familiar woman with an unfamiliar look of pure rage and bitter hatred upon her face. With clenched fists, she looked moments away from combusting on the spot. When she spoke, the inflection in her words was much the same. Contained but bubbling to the surface and about to break.

"Of course it's you. Of all the people it could possibly be, it had to be you; Shirou Emiya, or do you prefer Blade?" He stood silent before her, narrowing his eyes as she reached into her dress and pulled the pockets inside out. "Hindsight is always twenty-twenty and it's only now that I realize how stupid we all were, how easily you played everyone around you. Was all of that puppeteering intentional or was it just something you naturally did through your worm-like existence?"

She knew. Perhaps not everything, but she knew enough that she had become a liability. If she left Fuyuki, she would detail his actions to the Mage's Association and he would be hunted by every contract killer the world over. Taking a deep breath, Shirou shut his eyes. "You weren't supposed to come to Fuyuki, to join the Grail War. If you hadn't followed your leads-"

"Then you'd be able to claim the Grail all for yourself, is that it? Keep harbouring the Magus Killer, take his place and live life without ever having your secrets uncovered by the world?"

Of all the possible things she was still focused on the Grail? Shirou felt as if he had bit a lemon and undoubtedly his face would have shown as much. He doubted it would do much, but perhaps things would be easier if she realized all her efforts were futile. "You think I'm going to use the Grail for my own wish? The Grail is a disgusting lie whose sole existence is to bring about human suffering." Grimacing, the boy extended one hand to his side. "If you want evidence all you need to do is look around you."

"All I see is an excuse of a master and a magus trying to deny me what I've fought so hard for." Her words were baffling, Shirou was at a loss of words until he noticed a strange glint in the woman's eyes. "If you have any sense of respect or decency you'll fight me as a master, without anything beyond the magecraft at your disposal. We'll determine who deserves the Grail as true mages."

Narrowing his eyes, the boy clenched both hands into fists at his side's. "You already know how this will end. It's no different to how it was in the tournament."

"You underestimate the new tricks I've learned," the girl proclaimed pompously. "Now let us begin, unless you're too scared to commit to this fight."

Greed.

Her own greed, her desire to achieve an omnipotent wish.

She had succumbed to the vilest driving force in human history and three was no drawing her back to face reality, to understand reason.

The outcome for Luviagelita Edelfelt was already decided.

Giving his head a shake, Shirou lifted both hands up to his chest in a prepared stance while Luvia unceremoniously tore the sleeves off her dress and threw them to the ground.

She had been watching the battle the entire time it seemed, which meant she likely knew he was out of mana. After speaking of respect and honour there was no way he could simply order Saber to kill the woman and move on, which meant he had to deal with the woman personally.

The woman extended one hand where black and crimson orbs appeared at the end of each fingertip. Before they even fired, Shirou ducked his head and began sprinting toward the woman to close the distance.

The last scraps of his mana went to reinforcing his body and activating the defensive runes on his hands. With the latter, he was able to punch or block the incoming gandr projectiles and keep up his straight bolt toward her.

By the widening of her eyes, it was clear she hadn't expected him to be so fast. Considering he had been taking it easy on her during the tournament, it wasn't a surprise.

Out from behind her back, her second hand revealed itself, glimmering in the night from the gemstones landed between her fingers. Her first hand dropped to brace the second and even a clueless magus like Shirou could tell the attack was her trump card.

There was no way to dodge it, he was far too close. That proximity gave him an arguably better option. Opening his fist, he struck her wrist upwards with his palm just as the gems flashed brightly.

Before he could tell if he was out of the way, a bright multicoloured flash took over his vision and a wave of heat washed over his forehead. Taking a half step back, his hand was snagged by something unseen. Stiffening and yanking back reflexively, something else slipped underneath his arm.

The light faded but his eyes were left adjusting. Still, he could see the outline of Luvia draping his arm over her shoulder moments before his feet were lifted from the ground. Surprised at the speed and unexpectedness of it all, Shirou couldn't even brace himself as he hit the ground.

Air rushed out of his lungs in a sharp wheeze upon impact. Despite this, he ordered his body to roll regardless. Barely getting up on his side, he felt a fist brush past the hair on the back of his head. He swung his leg to get the rest of his body over and onto his stomach. Pushing himself upwards, he was struck at the side and forced into his back again.

It was on reflexes alone that his hand moved up to guard his face. With a solid whack, he grabbed Luvia's fist before it could crush his face.

Gripping tight, he shakily moved it away so he could stare up at her. It wasn't difficult to see what she was doing. If he was on the ground stuck in a grapple, she believed she held the advantage, that he couldn't fight back.

Luvia was unaware of just how extensive the training in his life had been. It was a simple mount position.

Forcing her hand inwards against her abdomen, his foot kicked up to wrap around hers. With a twist of his entire body, the two rolled along the grass with their positions reversed. Now Shirou towered above Luvia and after releasing his fist, he raised one of his own and slammed it square into her nose.

Immediately he felt her body recoil and limpen from the blow but gradually her resolve returned. In a half-daze, she threw an inaccurate punch that struck the side of his neck. It left behind a stinging pain but otherwise did little more than prompt him to strike her again in the same spot.

Again she fought back, striking him in the chin and clacking his teeth together, causing stars to bloom in his vision. Annoyed, he almost subconsciously fired back another punch of his own.

When she tried again to retaliate, he grew angry. Why was she still fighting? His fist recoiled off her face, blood pouring freely from a deep split in her nose. Why did she continue despite knowing all the odds were against her? Her closed fist lifted up to bat weakly at his chest. His next punch produced an audible crunch. Still, her body remained tightened against him. Shutting his eyes in frustration, he continued his attacks, pausing each moment until he noted she was still struggling against him and holding firm.

Had she lost her mind? It made no sense and the lack of thought infuriated him. Why would anyone sacrifice themself for nothing? With nothing to gain and everything to lose, her actions made no sense!

Rearing back and tightening his fist, the boy grit his teeth and put all of his weight behind the next punch. Rather than a solid whack, a wet slap resounded over the rapidly nearing sirens.

Finally, her body released its tension. It was only then Shirou realized how heavy he was breathing and how warm his hands felt. Opening his eyes and looking down, the face he knew had been rendered unrecognizable. Most of her facial structure, including her teeth, had been caved in.

Over his own exhausted panting, he could just make out the strangled gurgle of the woman's last few breaths. She was choking to death, that much was obvious, but he hadn't realized just how much damage he had inflicted.

Looking down at his hands he found them coated in a thick layer of blood that dripped onto the ground as he struggled to stand upright.

Staring down at the body beneath him, his mind went vacant. What had he done? Brutally killed someone he had at one point considered a good friend?

It had all happened so fast, which made him question when she had stopped putting up a fight. Could he even remember? Her body had been tensed against him, but there was a very high chance that it was simply a reaction to the pain.

Stumbling onto his feet, he rather unceremoniously flicked his hands to try and fling off most of the blood. When little came off, he grew frustrated and tried wiping but that only smeared it along.

Anger building, he was quickly brought out of his concern by a hand that tugged back on his shoulder. "That's enough, kid." Squeezing and pulling firmer, he was turned to face Bazett. Her features were deadened, but from that distinct lack of emotion, he could read quite a lot. "I don't think I need to say it, I think you already know," she murmured. She was definitely right. He knew that he had taken it too far. "You didn't put up a bounded field and I don't feel like explaining things to a bunch of cops."

He nodded absently then caught sight of familiar faces over the enforcer's shoulder. Rin and Caren stood some distance away, totally soaked through with the former carrying a limp body on her shoulder. Across the Tohsaka's face was a mix of horror, disgust and disappointment. Bazett turned to walk away, then also spotted the soaked trio and stepped aside to clear the space.

With a clearing opened, Shirou and Rin stared at one another at a loss for words until the girl caved. She blinked, adopted a stern disposition and then walked toward him. There were a hundred things he expected her to say or do. Most unexpected of all was a silent hand-off of the unconscious body into his arms. Up close, he recognized the features to be Lectra's. Expecting her to be injured in some capacity, he was surprised when he discovered that she was totally fine. Cold and wet though entirely unharmed. He had a number of questions but none of them were truly pertinent. What mattered was that everyone was unharmed and they were able to complete the next step.

After offering the unconscious woman, Rin turned, took a few steps away and crossed her arms over her chest. Quietly she stated, "The Grail isn't here."

Carrying Lectra while trying not to smear blood on her, Rin's words seemed to spark a realization inside him. If the Grail hadn't formed at the park, there was only one more place it could have been. He started to speak, but his voice caught in his throat and forced him to try again. "It leaves only one possibility. We have to go back to that cave."

A moment of silence followed, during which Shirou could tell that Bazett and Caster had no idea which cave was being referred to. Such a thing hardly mattered, considering they would be well-informed once they arrived. Then again, maybe it was a stunned silence. Either way, it grew increasingly disconcerting until Rin replied. "What is it you expect to find?"

Confused by her question, he shifted to be more comfortable holding Lectra. "The Grail-"

"Sakura."

The statement was final, spoken as if she were a mourner before a memorial. Swallowing thickly, the boy was forced to fully consider what he was saying, what he planned to do.

It was one thing to say he would claim the Grail but that didn't consider what the Grail truly was. Rin was right, he was looking for Sakura.

Or, rather, what was left of her.

It was a grim conclusion he had been actively avoiding drawing but he couldn't avoid reality when he was about to face it so soon. Sakura was the Grail and in order to achieve his wish, he had no choice but to end her life. Coming to terms with the fact brought on a lingering sense of dread. Would he even be able to go through with it?

"The Holy Grail War needs to be ended," he decided. "It's not a decision I want to make but I can't see any other way around it."

The Tohsaka turned to face him with a look that tried to be blank but obviously hid her true emotion. "I agree with you." It was such a simple sentence but it set him at ease, at least somewhat. "I just wanted to see if your head was in the right place."

At the side of his vision, flashing lights caught his attention. "Can we all have this nice talk while we're leaving?" Bazett asked again, getting a few silent nods as everyone began moving.

With some motions and incantations, Rin hastily crafted a bounded field that would hide signs of their deeds from a distant observer and give them time to leave the area. Half expecting to hear Saber chastise him in his head, he was rather surprised when she remained silent the entire walk.

Something about the silence unnerved him, though. Was she silently upset with him over his deeds or had that fight been chivalrous enough for her. She had been an enemy master who directly challenged him to a fight.

With a deep inhale, he tried to clear his mind. If he let himself dwell on depressing possibilities or the thoughts of others, it would only drive him insane.

… … …

… … …

Along the way, the two teams filled one another in on the situation. Shirou had tried to convince Gray and Caren to return to his house where they could remain safely, taking Lectra along with them. Unfortunately, everyone seemed interested in witnessing the end of the War with their own eyes. It didn't even seem to matter to them that Lectra was unconscious and possibly injured. Begrudgingly, he had allowed them to do so under the stipulation that Gray carry and protect Lectra.

Standing before the mouth of the cave, Shirou felt as if he were standing against an immovable wall. Despite nothing stopping him, he couldn't move any further inside.

He knew what awaited him at the end of that cavern. He knew what he had to do if his goal was to be achieved. He understood the sacrifice that would need to be made.

Was he capable of doing what needed to be done? Or would he hesitate at the last moment?

Saber stepped up beside him, peering at the side of his face and opening her mouth to speak. "You're certain the Grail lies within?"

Without taking his eyes off the darkened, rubble-filled cave mouth, the boy nodded. "Certain," he deadpanned. "The Grail seems hellbent on making me suffer. Where better to end things than where my family was taken from me?" The second Assassin, the Magus Killer incarnate, had been a machination of the Grail. After all his thinking he was certain of it.

The lacking master, an eighth servant, an over-energized Grail, a servant designed to slay mages that also happened to be in the image of a loved one.

Stack all of that atop the fact the Grail held a corrupted, malicious consciousness and there was no other explanation.

"If that's not enough, this is a leyline and the Grail will guide its vessel to the most suitable one." It hurt to speak it, hurt to admit it, but he had to face reality. "Since this is where Sakura spent a lot of time, it would be easy for the Grail to convince her to return here."

His servant produced another question. "Do you have a plan?"

He started to nod, but half shrugged instead. "I'm not sure exactly what we're going to find. If it's just a cup then that's easy. But if it's something else…" He trailed on as memories of lives that weren't his own flickered behind his eyes. In a previous life that wasn't his, Archer had fought an inky black shadow he had labelled the Grail. Shirou could only hope that wouldn't be what lay in wait for them. "We'll just have to see," he finished.

Taking the first step forward, the boy passed his mental wall and the threshold of the cavern. Behind him, the others followed along the winding, trailing path downwards toward the end. Along the way, Shirou couldn't help but feel a sense of finality to it all. The Grail War would end tonight and all the suffering would be put behind him.

Some time into their walk, Caster spoke aloud. "Back at the bridge, are we really sure that it was this girl that made that big creature by herself?"

Considering that he wasn't there, Shirou held his tongue and decided to listen instead. Bazett drew out a slow response as she examined their surroundings. "Who else would have?"

The sound of their voices echoed several times down the passage. "I didn't see anyone," Caster admitted. "But that creature was far beyond your modern capabilities. Size aside, it thought and acted independently of its master. Typically creations like that still require orders and that girl was fading in and out of consciousness the entire fight."

Gray offered a question. "Is this really what we should be talking about right now?"

Even without seeing the man, Shirou could hear and feel the shrug produced. "The way I see it, there's no point talking about the War because it's about to be finished. Might as well talk about something, bonus if it's something that could help you kids out after I'm gone."

It seemed that Rin was relieved to talk about something else because she leapt at the opportunity to distract herself. "I've never seen anything on that scale before, though I've definitely heard of autonomous familiars and constructs."

"The material they're made of is strange too," Caster added. "It's like clay but-"

"-it's raw magical energy," Gray finished.

"Come to think of it, I've heard of something like that before," Caster hummed thoughtfully. "I think it was the Throne that told me though it's a little fuzzy now."

The path was well travelled to Shirou now. The mental map made before sped up the walk and already brought them to the second-last twist in the cavern. Even from such a distance, Shirou could see an ominous, pulsing crimson glow ahead.

Rin's voice held a margin of shock. "You can't mean-"

Shirou interrupted her with a hushed tone. "Quiet, we're getting close." If something was waiting for them down there, being able to surprise it would be helpful. Slowing down so his footsteps wouldn't make as much noise, the boy crept around the corner and cautiously peeked within the main cavern.

Even from the antechamber, he could see everything he needed to. The violent crimson light which bathed everything originated from a large plateau on the left. Specifically, it came from an inky black spire that actively seemed to draw Shirou's eyes toward it like some great beacon.

Everytime he looked upon the thing, though, his head swam and a wave of nausea struck his stomach. It was the Grail, specifically the Greater Grail. It had already formed and by appearance alone, it even looked complete. The fact it was visible at all meant the ritual was moments away from completion, moments away from unleashing Angra Manyu upon the world.

Scanning the rest of the cave, he couldn't find Sakura anywhere. Had she somehow gotten up on the plateau or was she hidden out of sight somewhere else?

Pulling back into the antechamber, he bumped into Bazett who had been peering over his shoulder. In a deadly serious whisper, she said, "That's what the Grail is? How the hell are we supposed to break that down?"

"That's what we need to find out," Shirou stated bluntly. "Before we can, we still have to deal with Sakura. If she's still alive somewhere in there, that is." He waited a moment for anyone to make a suggestion but it seemed nobody had any beyond the obvious one. "Gray, Caren, it's too dangerous from this point for you both. You can watch, but you need to stay back here so you're safe, especially with Lectra." The two girls seemed reluctant but obliged him regardless. Gray set the unconscious Lectra upon the ground. Sighing in reluctance, the boy committed himself to the inevitable. "Let's figure out how to end this War."

Turning and stepping forward into the main chamber, Shirou felt a sense of dread as he was bathed in the Grail's crimson light. Raw mana swirled around his body, saturating the very air he was breathing. What stood before him would be his beginning, middle, and end. It had been the cause of the Great Fire, it was what he had trained his entire life to defeat and in the end it had taken everything from him.

Atop a grand plateau stood a swirling, twisted tower of blatant corruption. Formed of black tentacles, its surface surged, shifted and softly undulated toward the peak as if sending mana through its motions. The tentacles ended three-quarters of the way up the spire where it turned to a strange, fragmented black material. Three claw-like talons extended from the tower, seemingly suspending an orb of pure nothingness within the cavern. Despite his own inner curiosity, he decided not to bother with tracing the anomaly.

The culmination of his life so far was before him and he felt small. What could he possibly do before such an incredible force? Was there anything he could do? Looking back at the others, he wondered if they were feeling anything similar.

He couldn't find anything similar on their features. What he did see was Saber, far closer than he expected.

Slamming into him, it felt as if he was struck by a freight train. Toppled off his feet, air rushed from his lungs once, then twice as he landed and rolled along the stone floor. Spreading out his arms, he stopped himself from tumbling too much only to shoot back an angered look toward his servant. Had she suddenly turned against him now of all times?

Only, he didn't see her where they had collided. Instead, she was a short distance away, or what was left of her. Being tugged by a black and crimson ribbon, her body was being consumed. It was steadily vanishing into the surface of the ribbon that wound around her. He would have called out to her, had he not known it was already too late. She had already been killed, their connection had already been broken. Excalibur, still cloaked in Invisible Air, clattered noisily to the ground. On his hand, a searing sensation certified the fact he was no longer a master.

What he was feeling was indescribable. She had sacrificed herself for him, even after all he had done and with how poor their relationship had grown, she had still saved him. He almost felt a sense of regret and for the briefest moment, he wondered what her last thoughts were.

There was a cry of "No!" off to the side. Following it, he found a familiar, curled-up figure on the ground. It was Sakura, clutching onto the side of her head with tears running down her face. The ribbon was connected to her, connected to her body.

At her cry of distress, the ribbon slowed and seemed to calm but it did not stop consuming what it had already caught.

"Sakura!" Shirou called out. "What happened, are you alright?"

Locking eyes, tears streamed freely from the woman who shook her head violently and tried her best to hide from sight. "I-I don't know," she stammered. "Leave, Senpai. Leave so I don't hurt you!"

Sparing a glance toward the rest of the group, he found them retreating back toward Gray and Caren. He wasn't sure who had made the decision, but he was thankful that they did. He didn't want anyone else to be at risk, especially without Saber. She had been his only real backup, the last line of defence.

Watching Sakura for a moment, Shirou eventually pushed himself up and onto his feet. She was in pain, terrified and on the brink of death. Would it be a murder or a mercy killing?

"You won't hurt me," Shirou spoke back, taking a step forward.

Just as quickly, the woman shouted back. "I will! I can't control myself, you'll only get yourself killed!"

He took another step and blinked. As he did, something rushed past his face over his shoulder beyond his reactions. Blinking a few times, he felt a minor stinging in his face and reached up to touch.

Along the top of his cheek was a long cut that trickled blood down the side of his face. The look of abject horror upon Sakura's face told him that the attack had been meant to kill him. That, had she not done something, it would have killed him.

Instead of reacting, the boy put on a smile. "See? It didn't kill me, just grazed me." Holding his expression, he took a few more steps forward while she was dazed.

Holding up his arms, he tried to appear as defenseless as possible. Perhaps if he did, the shadow thing wouldn't attack him and would let him get close. After a few more steps, the girl shook her head again, repeating something along the same line as before. He slowed to a stop then, worried that whatever the ribbon had been would lash out again with more accuracy.

Whether he wanted to or not, he needed to get closer. There were still a dozen feet separating them and the only way what he had planned would work would be if he could get close enough to touch her.

Keeping his voice as soft as possible, he shuffled his feet forward, trying to subtly make progress. "Sakura, just try to stay calm. I know that probably doesn't help, but I know something that might if you'll listen to me." Pausing and flaring out his arms a little to try and pacify her, he continued after verifying he had her whole attention. "Close your eyes and focus on listening to my voice." Inching closer as she did so, he tried to get a better grasp of her condition.

It was difficult to see with the overbearing crimson light bathing every surface, but he was able to see cracks upon her face. Dark and spreading along her neck and below, the affected skin looked like laminated glass — broken but held in place.

Trying to trace the cracks or the ribbon sent a sharp pain to the front of his head. It didn't come about via an overload of information, rather, the pain came alongside a distinct lack of information. It was as if he stared upon the embodiment of nothing itself and his simple human cerebrum couldn't comprehend the concept.

"Everything is going to work out, Sakura," he began. "I have a plan that's going to fix everything, I just need you to let me get a little closer, alright?"

He asked the question, without expecting an answer, and shuffled forward a few inches as he did. Hinging on his words as he wanted, the girl nodded nervously along. Slowly but surely, he was moving closer. Nearing six feet away, he was growing increasingly nervous that Sakura would open her eyes and the ribbon would attack. "Just keep your eyes closed, I'm almost there."

It was arduous, but he continued slowly inching onward and offering words of consolation until he was before her. After dropping into the ground, he quickly wrapped the girl into a tight embrace, minding the ribbon that originated from her lower back.

In his arms, the girl broke down into uncontrollable sobbing. Her arms wrapped around him and her nails dug into his back, as if trying to root herself against him and prevent him from leaving. She was incoherently murmuring against his ear but it went missed as his mind locked on to what was said somewhere within her rambling: "I'm pregnant."

He froze.

More questions cluttered his mind. Was it his? Why had she waited so long to tell him? He didn't know how she knew, could such a thing even be determined in such a short time? The merest prospect turned his stomach and made him feel sick.

It felt wrong because he knew it couldn't be true.

Clutching the girl tight, he watched in terror as the ribbon shifted behind the girl as if it were a snake eyeing him as an easy meal. "I'm so happy," he murmured while closing his eyes.

All of the battles and techniques he had used drained his mana stores to nothing. Even his holdout reserves had been used to reinforce his body against Luvia. He could only scrape enough to make one thing. Tears welled up in his own eyes and dripped off his face. He knew what needed to be done, despite his reluctance. It was an ultimatum he didn't want to consider, though it was one he would have answered the same every time.

The blueprint of a nameless sword steadily filled with the bare-bottom scrapings of his mana.

Pulling away from the embrace, he gripped the girl's shoulders and lightly pushed her away so he could look her in the eye. As grey met twinkling purple, Shirou moved his hands to the sides of her head, tilting the woman's face ever so slightly. Tears welled up in her eyes again as she gently rested her hands on his wrists. She tried to speak but the emotion going through her degraded her words to a bumbling mess.

Eventually, he stopped her. "Sakura, it's alright now. I'm here and you won't need to worry about anything else." The best facsimile of a smile he could muster was undoubtedly pitiful. He could feel his composure breaking, his time was running out. "I love you, Sakura."

Above her, his projection materialized within the world and fired in an instance. Still holding her head firm, the angle lined up everything how he intended. With a visceral noise, the blade entered her skull, severed the thalamus and medulla oblongata before continuing through to pierce her heart.

It was instant, irreversible death as painless as he could make it. It would have felt like a sharp pinch before nothing at all. Shirou forced his eyes to stay open through it all, then caught the girl as her body slumped backward. Carefully, he let Sakura down onto the stone as if she were made of glass.

It was yet another sin, another mistake he had to bear. Maybe if he had planned ahead a little more. Maybe if he had thought for himself instead of allowing his father to guide his hand. A thousand more maybe-s and would be-s crossed his mind, cementing his own sense of lamentation. In the end, he had failed her and there was nobody to blame but himself. Uncoiling his hands from her, he closed her lifeless eyes and sat back on his own legs.

With nothing left to support it, the shadow faded into the darkness between the pulses of crimson light, the final statement that his deed was permanent.

He felt drained. He was only a few moments away from putting an end to this horrid experience but the thought of even standing upright seemed as easy as jumping straight to Mars. All he could do was dwell. Reeling as his mind couldn't escape the thoughts of all he had suddenly lost, he went unaware of how much time passed before someone gripped onto his shoulder.

Unconsciously twisting his head to look, he found Rin as she finished wiping her face with her sleeve. Sniffing audibly, she extended the same hand for him to grip onto. Voice hitching as she started speaking, she did her best to blink the forming tears away. "Come on, we've got to finish this." Nodding to herself, she motioned her hand again. "For Sakura, Illya and Kiritsugu."

Flickering between the girl's hand and eyes, he momentarily wondered if she resented him for killing her sister right before her. He couldn't find the answer on her face, though if she did, why would she be trying to support him now?

Gripping onto her hand, he was tugged up onto his feet before he could think much more. Once standing, she continued holding him while examining his face. "We've gone this far and we're so close now," she paused, looking over his shoulder toward the tower. "We'll focus on one thing at a time, alright?"

Her eyes landed back on him and in that moment he realized what was going on. She was as close to breaking down mentally as he was. Together, they were the only thing keeping the other from falling apart, even though it was nothing more than a makeshift patch.

But even a patch would hold for a small time.

Squeezing her hand firmly, he responded with a silent nod and turned to face the Grail. From behind, Caster and Bazett approached, offering their condolences for the loss of Saber. "It all happened so fast I don't even know what to say," the Irishman admitted. "I just hope you offer your gratitude to her when you can, kid. She didn't even hesitate in sacrificing herself for you." Throwing a sideways glance as he walked past, Caster casually speared his lance into the stone floor. Stopping shortly after and extending his hands, his druidic staff appeared. Following a few movements, the ground ahead of him shifted and segments rose upwards to form a rudimentary staircase up toward the top of the plateau.

Stepping off to the side, the servant let out a deep sigh. "If you don't mind, I'd like to stay down here away from whatever that thing is supposed to be. If that's what we've supposedly been fighting for, I'm definitely not interested in it."

Shirou would have spoken, had Bazett not beat him to the punch. "I'll keep you company. I've never really been all that good with formalcraft so I wouldn't be much help either."

Stepping forward, Shirou offered his thanks to both Bazett and Caster, for all the help they had given. Once that was done, he stared back toward the corrupt Grail. "So it's just the two of us then," Rin murmured.

Squeezing her hand, Shirou nodded to Caster and began climbing the staircase. Passing by the last servant, he could have sworn he heard, "Wish Saber had stuck around. Been aching for a real good fight since I was summoned," from Caster.

The two walked hand in hand up the staircase to the top of the plateau. From there, it was easy to discover that it wasn't a flat landing. It was a basin, wherein the tower rested at its lowest point, meaning it was larger than Shirou had previously thought.

In the hollowed dish, surrounding the spire, was a lake of all-too-familiar blackened mud. It was the same substance that had caused the Great Fire all those years ago, which meant they were running out of time. Mind racing, his hand was squeezed firmly. "How do we even stop this?"

Looking to her, then back toward the tower, Shirou considered the options then went with what he truly believed. "I don't know if we can."

Blurting out a confused "what?" Rin stared at him as if he'd lost his mind.

The boy shook his head. "It's already been filled with the energy of seven servants, the Lesser Grail can't form without a proper vessel and this cursed mud is already seeping through the cracks." Inhaling sharply, he peered upwards toward the top of the tower where the ball of nothing stared back at him. "We're out of time. If we dismantle the Grail system, all of this mana will be forced to go somewhere. The Great Fire resulted from the Grail being forcefully destroyed with the energy of only five servants."

Thinking for herself, the girl noted another conclusion. "We can't even redirect the mana back into the leylines on account of it all being cursed." Rin seemed more concerned than anything. "How do you know so much about this?"

"The old man's journal," he stated succinctly. "He was the one who rescued me from the Great Fire and he was the one closest to the cause. He also devoted a lot of his time studying the Grail War and its system to try and get rid of it for good, just like we're trying to do."

"If he spent all that time, why didn't he find anything out?"

"He did," Shirou quickly answered. "Just like everything he did, he discovered a crude way of breaking down the entire system. All he had to do was plant explosives along Fuyuki's leylines and wait for the moment where they were at peak capacity. The specific placement would not only bump the leyline, but would trigger a devastating earthquake as well. Fuyuki as a city would be decimated, but it would be spared from total destruction by the Grail."

Tohsaka picked up the pieces in her own mind. "But he believed you could end it yourself, is that right?"

He nodded. "I still don't know where he got the idea, but that was what he spent all his time training me for. Use the Grail to destroy the Grail, or so was the plan. With its own power, a wish could theoretically destroy Fuyuki's leylines without devastating the land." It had been what Kiritsugu ultimately intended, but Shirou had his own doubts.

Besides, his own plans had changed.

Shifting to stand in front of her, he gripped both of her hands softly in his and stared down into her eyes. Behind him, just out of reach of his heels, the cursed mud bubbled in search of his body. "Do you trust me, Rin?"

Blinking twice, her concern shifted to confusion. "Of course I do, why would I be here if I didn't?"

He smiled then and a wash of genuine relief coated him from head to toe. "I couldn't have gotten this far without you-"

"Stop making it sound like you're going to die," she interrupted. "We'll figure this out together like we always do."

Smiling a bit wider, he only hoped his next action didn't make her hate him. "Some things have to be done alone." Further perplexed, he cemented her confusion deeper. "I'll see you on the other side."

It was one, swift motion. He slipped his hands out of hers and gave the girl a sharp shove at the shoulders. Not enough to send her sprawling but enough to send her stumbling backward.

It gave him time to throw his arms out and let his body fall backward without risk of being caught.

Shutting his eyes, the boy slowly exhaled in preparation for whatever happened next. In terms of probability, the odds were stacked against him living. Such a risk was worth the potential reward, however, and in the end, he had always said he would sacrifice himself.

Hell, it was even part of his reality marble chant.

It was time he made good on that formerly false promise.

His body struck something. It was hot, searingly so. Far worse than the heaviest magical endurance training he had undergone and twice as painful at that. Even with his eyes closed, a haze of red dominated the inside of his eyelids.

Had he made a mistake?

Technically, he wasn't a master, though he had been one, and all seven servants had been consumed.

As he began questioning himself, the heat began fading and all he could feel was a sense of cold. He couldn't even feel his own body anymore, but he could hear something.

The lapping of ocean waves?

Opening his eyes, he was no longer in a dark, crimson-coated cavern. Instead, he was laying upon cool, soft white sand. He knew where he was, but had no idea or recollection of how he got there.

It was — albeit vertical to him — the beach of Fuyuki, though there were definitely some differences. For starters, the stars in the night sky were brilliant and colorful, far more of either than he had ever experienced in his life, even when there had been a blackout one cold winter's night.

Stranger and more distinct was a persistent, whisper-quiet rain. It perturbed him. Not only because it made little sound. Instead, the fact that it appeared black and that it failed to land upon his skin or the ground was what truly mystified him.

Lifting up his head, the vertical beach turned horizontal. Surprisingly, he felt perfectly fine. The lingering body-wide pain of over-exerting his mana reserves was no longer present and the sensation of sand underfoot notified him that his spine had fully regenerated.

Looking around himself, he couldn't see any of his friends or comrades. Behind him, the city looked as he remembered it. Things weren't adding up, but for the life of him he couldn't quite figure out why.

Looking up toward the stars, it came as a shocking realization. Looming above in the sky, forming the black rain that fell upon him, was a crimson ring filled with nothingness. The sight of it took his breath away and instilled a chilling sense of terror. He was staring into the abyss and for some unshakeable reason, he believed the abyss was staring back at him.

"The Holy Grail," a waifish voice informed him.

Snapping his head downward to look ahead where the voice originated, he found a strange face standing before him. Simultaneously familiar and foreign, it was as if Illya had aged ten years in the blink of an eye. "Illya?"

The woman closed her eyes softly and shook her head softly before re-opening them. Even such a simple movement betrayed a sense of elegant grace. Each movement seemed articulated to the last detail, even the ends of her hair. "Illyasviel is my daughter. I can understand your confusion." Placing a hand upon her chest, the frail-looking woman seemed to summon the authority of a powerful king. "My name is Irisviel von Einzbern, and I've been waiting for you to reach me."

He knew the name well, it was Kiritsugu's wife, his adoptive mother. Such a thing made no sense. She was dead and had been for ten years. At the end of the last War, she had become the vessel for the Lesser Grail. She was dead, there was no denying that. So what exactly was it that stood before him? The boy furrowed his brow. "Waiting for me? What do you mean?"

The woman smiled warmly, like a proud mother fawning over their child's accomplishment. "I've been watching your progress as a master in the Holy Grail War. Through the ups and downs, you were the one who reached me." The smile widened and the edges of her lips curled to make it much more malicious. "And before you waste your time, I'm quite aware of your former plans to dismantle the system. Whether you renounced them in order to obtain your deepest desires or if it was all a front to persuade the other contestants doesn't matter now that you're here."

Disoriented, the boy struggled to stand. Planting both hands in the sand as support, he eventually hauled himself onto his feet. "Right, you've been watching since the start." Steadying himself, he faced the woman. "Planning everything that led me to this point, right?"

The woman was ecstatic. "That's right!"

"So then I can blame you for killing Illya and Kiritsugu." With all the burning hatred he could muster, he glared at her. "I can blame you for taking my family away from me."

Whether it was his tone or the accusation, the woman stiffened and appeared outwardly perturbed. "I'm merely an observer of the War, I have no hand in directing it," she excused. The speed at which she renounced her own words was incredible on its own.

Staring at her for a moment, the boy scoffed and straightened. "Whatever, so who grants my wish?"

He blinked.

Instead of the beach, he was sitting before his own dining table in his house. Taken by surprise at the sudden scenery change, the boy looked around himself, trying to find whoever he had been speaking to.

The house was quiet, eerily so. He couldn't detect it immediately, but the atmosphere alone disturbed him for reasons he couldn't describe. In the weird space, only tinnitus accompanied him. That was, until the television noisily turned on to a news broadcast.

Based on the sand, raging flames and muted gunfire, the boy guessed the content to be about some skirmish somewhere overseas, a sentiment confirmed by the scrolling headlines which read, "War erupts due to political disagreement."

"-being dubbed the Gaza War, the events divided political superpowers and have created minor conflicts worldwide."

The image flickered to a different news broadcast with a female reporter. "-negotiations have broken down between the major factions and threats of nuclear attack have been made."

The channel changed again to a significantly more panicked reporter behind a desk. "Calls from across the country-"

Again, to a different station. "-reporting bright flashes and loud noises."

Another channel. "Major cities across the globe have gone unresponsive, the government has yet to release any official statement."

The house shuddered violently and the television turned off along with all the lights in the house. The ground trembled and light seeped through the thin walls.

In the moment he shouted "that's enough!" and time followed his order. Motionless, the silence returned for a moment. A moment was as long as it lasted, as his next blink placed him elsewhere.

The area around him seemed fuzzy, blurred. He could see colour, but nothing of definition. The only thing that remained clear was a man standing just ahead. It was rather impersonal to consider them as just a man, considering it was Archer.

The servant spoke immediately upon being noticed. "If you're disturbed by what you've seen, know that it's merely a possible future caused by nothing more than innate human evil."

"I'm not disturbed," he barked back. "I know this is all just smoke and mirrors to convince me into making a wish."

Archer huffed through the nose, then crossed his arms over his chest. "Is it now? Have you considered for a moment that it's an attempt to open your eyes to something you've known all along?"

It was a mistake to blink. He was somewhere else now, or maybe the blurriness from before had cleared away. Regardless, he was standing at the edge of a park, a very familiar park at that. It was the one nearest his home, one he used to visit frequently when he was younger. It looked just as he remembered it, even the size of the equipment. Was it really that large?

He wasn't able to question it for long, as a loud slap accompanied by a noise of pain took his attention. Off to the side of the playground, a larger child towered over a crumpled form. It only took him a moment to recognize Sakura.

Without thinking, he was already sprinting, shouting out her name. As his feet tried to move forward, one foot snagged and he tripped onto his face. Scrambling to stand, he watched the larger child deliver another slap. "You've witnessed humanity's cruelty first hand," Archer calmly stated from his side. "And ironically, you've been the source of cruelty yourself."

Instantly, he was kneeling, holding onto something. This time he hadn't even blinked yet everything around him had changed. The jarring shift left him reeling, which meant he didn't immediately catch on to what he was holding.

It was Sakura, impaled by his own creation. Her vacant eyes stared at him with a permanently affixed look of horror and shock.

He couldn't move. He couldn't think. What had he done?

The time he spent trapped in his own haunted self-reflection seemed like an eternity though, simultaneously, he couldn't recall a second of it before something touched his shoulder.

He was curled over forwards, holding nothing but grains of sand in his balled fists. A warmth radiated from what he assumed to be a hand on his shoulder and a gradual turn of the head revealed Irisviel. "Is it not clear to see? Humanity and its cruelty cannot be stopped." Slowly, gracefully, the woman kneeled and gripped both of his shoulders to try and sit him straighter. "But you can solve everything with the Grail's help." Sitting upright, she moved to sit upon her knees ahead of him. "An end to cruelty, no more tears or sadness." Losing himself in the woman's soothing crimson eyes, he found himself considering the proposition.

"Everyone can be happy?"

Her smile widened. "There'll be no more suffering." Her soothing turned to a sudden pitch and the gleam of compassion in her eyes turned to anticipation. "Use the Grail and wish for a world without sadness."

He considered his words for a considerable amount of time. Perhaps she, the Grail, was right after all? "I wish…" He paused for a moment so that he could stand upright on his own two feet. Staring the Grail dead in the face, he made his choice. "I wish for my sister back."

In a fraction of a second, the false personification experienced all seven stages of grief. "What?"

He spoke with greater conviction, growing certain the path he had chosen was the correct one. "Illyasviel von Einzbern, my sister. She was killed in the War by a servant you summoned specifically to toy with me."

The woman took a step back, appearing offended. "How could you claim such a thing?"

"An eighth servant, a second Assassin. A servant taking after Kiritsugu that actively hunts him and his family." The boy shook his head. "There's no other explanation I can come up with."

The Grail appeared appalled at the accusation but when he remained accusatory, its formerly motherly expression soured. "Your wish cannot be granted by means which you yourself are unaware of."

"That's what I was counting on," he countered immediately. "Illya was supposed to be the Grail's vessel, which means you copied everything she was to use as your own like you've done with Irisviel."

He was spoken over by the woman, who appeared downright infuriated. "This is what you'll waste your wish upon?"

Regardless of her words, the boy continued. "So bring her back to me in a puppet's body!"

The Grail's face was twisted in a malicious snarl. On someone wearing a face so perfectly formed to fit the image of beauty, it was rather unsightly. "Truly a waste," she eventually scoffed. The long hair framing her face drooped as if it had begun to melt, and suddenly parts of her extremities were liquifying into black mud which dripped onto the ground. "Wasting all of this time and energy to accomplish nothing in the end." The Grail's false body began shrinking, melting into the ground.

Something from above him made a wet noise, drawing his attention over his own head. He couldn't see the cause, as an icy cold blob of gelatinous fluid landed on his face.

… … …

… … …

He could hear birds.

He could smell cool, dewed grass and dirt.

He could feel a lingering, pulsing pain through his lower back and a heavy warmth upon his front.

He was back, outside the Grail. Opening his eyes, his unaccustomed sight was flooded with light. Squinting to try and see, his vision was obscured on another layer by strands of what he assumed to be hair. Was someone sitting on him?

Grunting in discomfort over the unnecessary effort it took to breathe, the weight on top of him moved with a gasp. By weight, he had assumed the person to be Rin, but his eyes revealed something else entirely.

Sitting on him was an average-sized woman with hip-length white hair. It was the exact same woman he saw in the Grail, Irisviel. Unlike moments ago, her cheeks and nose were flushed and the underside of her eyes were swollen. She had been crying, and as the two stared at one another, it seemed as if she would start again.

Realizing she was still atop him, the woman stood on her own feet with numerous bubbling apologies. Amidst her words, something of note stood out to him. "I'm not used to being this heavy."

His brain clicked immediately and he was certain the surprise transmitted to his face as he looked up to the woman. "Is that you, Illya?"

Nodding several times, she looked down at herself. "You used the Grail, right? I still don't know why-"

"It was all the Grail had," Shirou began, turning onto his side so he could start to stand up. The knowledge gifted to him by Archer had been invaluable. Everything he needed to bring his sister back. The plethora of weaponry was nothing compared to that alone. "The Grail is capable of granting wishes, but only when the method to achieving the wish is known." A set of hands from behind helped him upright. Looking to see who it was, he found Rin with the others — Bazett, Caren, Caster, Lectra and Gray — a bit further behind her. Facing forward, he was assailed by Illya as she wrapped him into a tight embrace. "We can go into it more later, I'm just glad it worked." Landing his hands upon Illya's back, he turned with the woman attached to him to face the others.

They were outside of the cave, and enough time had passed for dawn's sunlight to streak the night sky. Silently, he wondered who had pulled him all the way up to the surface but his question was answered by Caster's subtle nod. The servant spoke first, though Shirou couldn't help but notice that the ends of his limbs were gradually becoming transparent. "Thanks for hauling me out of there, but how are you still around without the Grail to support you?"

"My master here," he paused to land a hand on the top of Bazett's head, "has been funneling mana like it's going out of style just to preserve my physical form. She wanted us to say goodbye and I wanted to stick around to see this reunion." Specks and particles of his body began to chip away as if the mana he spoke about was running out or had been turned off. "For a minute I thought you weren't going to wake up before I had to go, but it worked out after all."

Shirou smiled softly. After all that had happened, he felt odd. The Fifth Grail War was over and the relief he was feeling felt so distant and foreign. It was something he hadn't felt in a long time after all. "I'm sorry you couldn't get your chance to fight another servant one-on-one."

The servant waved a hand that wasn't quite all there. "I wouldn't worry about it too much. I helped you kids out and in the end that was worth it to me." Noticing that he was fading away, he looked through his then-nonexistent hand in curiosity and murmured, "I'd do it all again if I could."

Whether it was Bazett running out of mana or something else, it seemed as if his time had been cut short. With only moments to spare as parts of his body began disappearing into the air, Shirou asked for one last request. "Caster," he began. "If you ever see Saber, tell her that I'm sorry." Hindsight was always twenty-twenty, and while he couldn't say he would be a better master next time, he had definitely learned from her. "And tell her that she was a great servant to the end, even with a master like me."

With a flashing grin, the servant's appendages fully succumbed to the disappearing effect. "I'll make sure to let her know, kid." Sending his last glance in Bazett's direction, the smile turned warmer. "Thanks, master. Even though I didn't get the chance to fight all that much, I enjoyed being summoned."

With a singular chuckle, the Enforcer returned a bitter-sweet smile. "Didn't enjoy it enough to call me by name, you dope?"

The confident grin momentarily faded to a mix of embarrassment and surprise before returning to a pleasant smile without the typical cocky fang-flashing. It was the first time Shirou had witnessed such a genuine state of joy in the man. "Thanks for summoning me, Bazett." As quickly as it had arrived, the lower portion of his face was already being whisked away by the wind and his body fully dematerialized. Without a mouth to vocalize it, his parting words turned to an echo that filled the air. "Summon me as a Lancer next time."

Servant out of sight, Bazett watched as the command seals burned their way off the back of her hand. Watching the Enforcer for a moment, Shirou spared a glance down at Illya, who still held tight against him. Looking back up, he found Rin, who was coaxing a sheepish-looking Lectra forward.

The girl, shrinking into her oversized clothing, hesitantly glanced up at him as she spoke. "I'm sorry, Blade." Even such a brief apology seemed as if it were insurmountable to the girl. Aiming to goad her own, Rin nudged her from behind. "I-I'm sorry for attacking you and your friends," she paused to fumble with her hands within the front pouch of her hoodie. When she resumed, her voice was much more reserved. "Though we were rival masters after all. So it's only fair, I suppose." Another nudge sent the girl startlingly upright. "N-not to excuse what I did." Locking eyes, her voice caught in her throat for a moment before she finally went with, "Please don't kill me."

Leering at her blandly for some time, he eventually broke his facade into amusement. "I'm not going to kill you, and you can call me Shirou instead of Blade." Hearing his words, a wave of relief washed over her entire body. "So long as you don't have plans now, we'll consider it all part of the Grail War."

She shook her head violently while worry crossed her features again. "Of course not, I didn't even want to fight you during the War but Luvia…" She trailed off, mind looping over who she just referenced. "I heard you had to kill her, that you couldn't get her to end things peacefully?" The end of her sentence held a questioning edge to it and the woman looked up to him seeking confirmation.

Behind the woman, Rin nodded softly as if standing in as his teleprompter. Thinking about his words for a second, his jaw instinctively tightened. "She wouldn't stop," he murmured eventually, trying to find a way to express himself.

Before he could, Lectra shook her head and graciously spoke for him. "I get it, you don't need to say anything more." Inhaling deeply, it was clear to Shirou that she was trying to keep herself reserved. "She was a mercenary, it wouldn't be like her to back down from something, especially when it came to the Grail." Looking back down toward the ground, she blinked a few times, then turned to one side. "Just, let me stew on this for a minute, alright?"

Unceremoniously, the girl detached herself from the conversation by slipping out between Rin and himself. Just like with Bazett, he couldn't console the girl as someone else took his attention.

Specifically, a very irate-looking Tohsaka. "We couldn't use the Grail because it would end humanity, but you used it to bring Illya back from the dead and humanity is still here." Hearing her name, his sister lifted herself away from him and shifted herself to hold onto him from the side. "I don't know whether to be happy for you or pissed off that you lied to me. How long were you sitting on this plan? Did you ever even want to destroy the Grail?" The signs of true rage inched their way onto her face. "Did you lie about it being cursed too?"

He went on the defensive. "No of course not! The Grail is still corrupt and it still has the capacity to destroy humanity if someone uses it improperly."

"Oh that's great, so you think I would have used it improperly?"

"That's not what I meant and you know it!"

"There has to be a reason you made it seem that nobody could use it, that we were all working toward some noble goal to save the world." Both Shirou and Rin were raising their voices and it was beginning to draw the attention of the others.

"We were," he stated firmly. Inhaling deeply, he decided to let everything out, then and there. "I didn't plan on using the Grail, but after Illya died I couldn't let the possibility of bringing her back slip by." He looked down at his sister, who seemed conflicted. On the one hand, she had wanted to stop the cursed Grail as well. On the other, she wouldn't have been present had it not been used. "It was selfish," he admitted - more to himself than anything. "I know it was selfish," he repeated. "But would you have done anything different?"

He knew it all. He had murdered Sakura, Rin's sister, and immediately claimed the one possible chance to bring her back to resurrect his own. It was horrible to stump Tohsaka with a question like that when he had been so deceitful, but it had forced her to think in his shoes at the very least. The hesitation that spread across her features was enough to give him an answer without her speaking a word.

There was still no exonerating his deeds, but he wasn't seeking forgiveness and he didn't regret his decision either. In the end, after all he had done, it was still more than possible to stop the Holy Grail War. Even if Rin couldn't determine how through formalcraft, he could still use Kiritsugu's method.

The fact that the War was over began to hit his body all at once and a wave of exhaustion swept him up. A yawn sporadically came to him and a look at the others told him a similar story.

"Let's just head back to the house and get some rest. We could all use some."

… … …

… … …

… … …

It had been a week.

Seven days since the end of the Holy Grail War before life seemed to be slowing down and returning to something considered normal.

Immediately the day after the end, he had finally explained everything to those who remained, starting ten years ago with Kiritsugu's premonitions. It was difficult for the others to comprehend how he held Archer's memories but that was alright. Even he didn't truly understand it.

Either way, the servant's memories had been an invaluable asset that had revealed itself over time. The sheer volume of information had gone directly over his head at first, and it had been time that had allowed his mind to sift through it all. That had been his explanation to the others and himself.

The others received the information and his actions differently, though something shared was an expected sense of betrayal. Lectra, Gray and Caren were neutral, Bazett condoned his actions, Rin begrudgingly accepted his outcome as logical but nothing more and Illya, obviously, idolized him.

The relationship between him and Rin had been damaged, but it would heal in time. She even stopped for a visit the day prior to check up on Illya. She wasn't sick or injured, it was more of a precaution to ensure the Grail hadn't left any lingering side effects.

As for Illya herself, she was getting accustomed to her new body. Beyond being taller, her magic circuits and crest had returned in a limited capacity with certain newfound complications. She was able to conduct magecraft, but was unable to use it without understanding the fundamentals. She hadn't regained her crest, but thankfully the Origin Round hadn't caused any damage. Shirou still had a hard time when he considered that she was using her mother's body but Illya assured him it was fine. Allegedly, all Einzbern homunculi held a connection to one another, so it was something she was strangely familiar with.

Caren resumed her duties as priestess, starting with rebuilding the church. While the basement was unaffected, there was significant damage to the overall structure. Estimates for completion were somewhere within two or three months. In the meantime, while her home was repaired, Shirou offered her a room in his house, which the priestess accepted immediately.

One of the other free rooms had been claimed by an Irish Enforcer as well. Following the War, Kiritsugu's will brought to light a contract opportunity that would employ Bazett under Shirou for half a year. During the time she would act however the boy needed, just as she had for Kiritsugu. After the term ended, Shirou would have the chance to either renew the contract or let her go. Bazett took a few days to decide and examine the contract's terms before deciding to accept the offer. She claimed that she only did it because, "It's more consistent than Enforcer work," and left it at that.

The remainder of Kiritsugu's will left everything to Illya and Shirou, including all of his overseas assets. In total, the alleged valuation was over three hundred million yen, a surprising sum. The list included property in various countries - likely safehouses or storehouses - and their contents, stored vehicles, keys to safety deposit boxes and of course all of the cash in his bank accounts. Needless to say, money had become the last of Shirou's concerns.

The number of named objects in the estate might have seemed lacking but Shirou knew most of the man's possessions weren't legally acquired and couldn't be written into a will.

Missy returned to the house the day following the end of the War. She claimed to have gotten caught up investigating a lead into her past and apologized for all her supposed shortcomings as Kiritsugu's apprentice. Shirou was unable to fault her, both because he wanted her to return to her past life and because she would have been unable to help regardless. Had she tried she would have followed the old man, so it was better that she hadn't. Prior to Bazett's decision, Missy employed herself under him as a freelance mercenary. It was a decision made out of lack of purpose, at least that's what Shirou gathered.

The two foreigners, Lectra and Gray, both returned to the Clock Tower in London where they informed the Edelfelt family of what had transpired. As far as Shirou knew, there was work being done to transport her body to Britain for a funeral in her home country. Before she departed, Shirou spoke to Lectra in private and urged her to enter tutelage under Waver. He would have the skills and knowledge to train her in her magecraft. Considering that he and Gray would recommend her, she was certain to be accepted. It meant the decision was entirely up to her. At the same time, he would recommend Rin for an endorsement by the teacher.

Concerning funerals, Illya had forced Shirou to relieve his memories once more by holding a small parting ceremony for Kiritsugu and herself. It was one thing to stand before the grave of another and grieve but standing before one's own grave was likely quite the odd experience. As a marker of the graves, the two stacked a collection of stones atop the freshly turned dirt and lined the outside with lily seeds. It was far outside Japanese burial tradition, but neither Kiritsugu nor Illya were very religious. Perhaps because of the fact, the outcome was rather fitting.

A funeral was also held for Sakura as well, something both Shirou and Rin had wished to hold for her. Unfortunately, her body had been consumed by the Grail so a simple memorial stood in place of genuine remains. It was then, to both Rin and Sakura that he apologized for his actions and mistakes.

It went without saying that, had he the ability to turn back time, he would have definitely made different choices in an effort to save everyone.

By the seventh day, life was gradually returning to something similar to normal. It made him feel better when he thought of it as being no different than Kiritsugu being away on a business trip. With all the legal paperwork combined with the school work that had piled up as well, Shirou didn't get many moments to deliberate and he was fine with that. Having something to focus on and keep him occupied made the grieving process manageable.

Unfortunately, he could only occupy himself for so long before he had to face facts. It had been on his schedule for a while, but the boy decided to make one last trip to his father's armoury.

Taking any of the weapons inside wasn't his plan, in fact that was the last thing he wanted to do. If he needed a weapon that badly, he could simply project them after all. The goal of the visit was actually to store a weapon and make note of what his father had taken in his final visit, simply to preserve an inventory for the future.

Going through the tedious process of entering the extraordinarily trapped storehouse, Shirou opened the final door and reached beneath Kiritsugu's backup coat to withdraw the Thompson Contender. Running his thumb over the side, he looked up to the countertop lining the wall and located the still opened case that would house the weapon.

Approaching, he noted a small black leather book inside the foam cutout. Curious, Shirou set the Contender aside and opened up the book. Before he could read anything, a piece of folded paper fell out from the inside and landed on the ground. Bending to retrieve it, the boy opened up the new article to find a handwritten note.

In true Kiritsugu fashion, it bluntly told Shirou what he already knew - that he was dead. It also offered an apology for his actions in both his assumed death and in Shirou's upbringing. The last point of note explained the book itself. It was, ironically, a little black book. A collection of contacts, resources and information that aided or provided the old man in life. It was a final parting gift, the last information the man held that could be of use to another.

Thanking his departed father, Shirou tucked the book into his back pocket, removed the coat and wrapped the Contender within it. Stuffing the article-wrapped weapon in its spot, the boy closed the case and latched it shut.

The sense of finality wasn't missed. After all, the weapon was the final step in burying the Magus Killer.

The boy slid the case off the table and began to walk toward the entrance.

Burial wasn't a bad option at all.

Returning home, Shirou carefully dug a smaller hole at the foot of his father's grave and buried the box. He had contemplated burning it to prevent anyone from ever using such a thing, but there was something symbolic in keeping the man and his tools together.

Patting the dirt down and hiding the seeds he had planted, Shirou brushed off his hands and stood upright.

For the first and only time, the Magus Killer had been buried and would never return.

For the first and only time, Shirou could say he honestly felt directionless.

If only for a moment.


These post-notes are always so awkward for me to write, what do I say, talk about what you've already read? I can tell you I definitely had a lot of problems writing this due to a strange mix of writer's block, no time and problems simply forming words overall. After coming back to things though I feel that things are going easier and I know the sentiment of that is lost but I'll show you all one day!

I'd like to take a large section of this note though to thank all of you readers. I always, ALWAYS appreciate the time you all take to leave reviews. I read each and every single one and it strikes me a little in the heart every time to see you guys to desperately want for the next chapter. I know it must be a pain to wait for something you never know if it might be coming but like I always say: I'm never leaving this without informing you before I do. I'll keep putting out new content until either I'm done with the entire fanfiction or I'm dead, no in-between.

The Fifth Holy Grail War is finally over and I wouldn't say that I'm sad to see it go. More like, I'm at peace with the finale. For those who might have missed or forgotten it, Shirou's goals have been more of a dynamic thing than a static thing. He definitely had a very strong driving force after Illya, so his decisions were very fitting.

Enough of that, don't go off thinking that this is all over now. Heh, not by a long shot. I have many, many more plans after this, so keep a tight hold on your seat because it's going to get unique. I still have goals of blowing the 1 million word count and you better believe I'm going to surpass that. Only thing is it might be a bit slower than I thought with these delays.


As always, remember to favourite, thank Talndir for all his great beta-work, follow and leave a loving review! Here's to what lies ahead and the journey we'll have!