Green light faded and Waver was on a new battlefield with his Berserker at his side. A bamboo forest within Fuyuki's bounds was the setting of Waver's face off with a man who looked identical to Berserker, Caster Iskandar Alter.
There he was. Instead of the attire of a warrior king worn by the Rider Iskandar that Waver loved, nor the armor of one who was purely a butcher like Berserker, Caster wore the raiments of a monarch. Dressed in purple, white, and black, the magus Iskandar was phlegmatic in a way that was so divorced from the image of Rider in Waver's head that it made the Lord question for the briefest moment if they were truly the same individual. This man was so grim, his face so sour it reminded Waver of himself. It made the Lord's heart hurt in a way he had predicted would happen. This was the final confirmation that there was no saving the king. The plan Ms. McRemitz was going to use to save her Lancer wouldn't work in this situation given Berserker Iskandar didn't have the mental faculties necessary to reject the Grail's mud. The only hope was for there to already be a spark of the old Iskandar remaining in Caster, but that asinine dream was now debunked. Just looking in Caster's eyes was all the Lord needed to know that the king was a hollowed out husk of his former self. The Grail would pay for besmirching the image of the King of Conquerors.
"Hello, boy." There was no life in Caster's words.
"Hello, Caster." Waver pulled out a cigar and lit it. "I'm surprised you recognize me given I look so different."
"You started smoking?"
"That should be rather apparent. Why do you ask?" Waver held his cigar between his teeth, letting himself naturally breathe in the smoke.
"You've grown up."
"I have. It's thanks to the old you."
"I'd ask whether you'd be willing to join the Grail's side and help us conquer the World, but I suppose your will cannot be shaken at this point." Caster closed his eyes briefly before reopening them. "I commend you on your plan to isolate us. Your allies even managed to separate me from the river of Grail mud I brought with me."
"I'm honored to be praised by the king of conquerors. It's strange but I think I'd be less honored to hear that same praise from the old you. I suppose I see that Iskandar as less of an idol and more of an intimate companion, so kindness from him feels different than when it comes from you." Waver smiled.
"You work hard to differentiate me from the Iskandar from the Fourth War, but we are the same Heroic Spirit and even possess the same manifestation of our Saint Graph. I am the Iskandar that you fought with and came to love."
"I know." Waver sighed and removed the cigar from his mouth. "You are the same, but only in a technical sense. Your personality and ideology has been drastically modified from what it once was, to the point that it's debatable whether you still count as the same person. The Ship of Theseus and all that."
"I'm not that different from the man you knew, I simply lack as many limiting principles."
"A man needs principles to keep himself civil and human."
"Principles keep a man tamed. They are a collar that must be removed if one wishes to acquire all their dreams." The Caster spread his arms out as if he was passionately preaching to a congregation.
"The fact that you can say such things is a sign of how divorced you truly are from Rider." Waver gripped his cigar a little more tightly. "The true Iskandar would be disgusted with you and would probably try to kill you. That actually helps. Now I can kill you without reservation."
This wasn't Waver reuniting with the man he loved, this was Waver putting the past to rest. He participated in this war for a chance to see Iskandar again, because he hadn't achieved closure in the last war. Waver was desperate to recreate those halcyon days of the Fourth War, but it became quickly apparent that the past was dead and gone. There was no recreating it, it was something to remember fondly while never getting lost in what had disappeared. Perhaps it was better that Waver didn't summon Rider Iskandar again, that would only feed into Waver's inability to move on. As agonizing as meeting two corrupted Iskandar's had been, it was what the Lord needed to mourn and stop gazing backward.
"We've wasted enough time on words." Caster gathered lightning in his hand, but that electricity was ripped away and into the surrounding bamboo shoots. "Well now. I should have known you'd have more to your plan."
"I've nullified electricity based abilities." Waver put his cigar between his teeth again. Within many of the bamboo shoots were Primeval Batteries which Waver had expropriated from Atrum Galliasta post his death. The batteries were boosted with Primordial Runes and made to act as lightning rods to all forms of electricity, whether it's made from magecraft, a Noble Phantasm, or anything else. The electricity gets distributed among all the batteries to weaken it before then channeling it into the ground and down to the Fuyuki Leyline to revert the charge to magical energy.
"To create an area that could so thoroughly counter electrical techniques, it likely has to be non-discriminatory." Caster rubbed his neck. "It will also nullify your Iskandar's lighting, but that isn't a problem since he has the physical strength to kill me. Clever."
"Let's skip right to our trump cards instead of dragging this fight out." Waver put away his cigar to finish it later.
"Ionioi Doúlos!"
A Reality Marble burst out of Berserker's body; a desert filled with humans in manacles, heads bowed to the conqueror. The rewritten reality receded and was absorbed into Berserker, his body acquiring the physical abilities of all those the tyrant had dominated. Black armor broke apart and muscles expanded as Berserker became gigantic with chains of electricity coming from his back. In his hand was a multi-branched bolt of lightning that resembled a langxian. In this form, Berserker's power was too tremendous to be affected by the lightning rods.
"You assume I also have a trump card that won't be stopped by your lightning rods. Other people would have assumed they had cornered me and would let their guards down, but you're too cautious for that. Laudable. Megálos Zeus Funder."
A bolt of lightning came down from the heavens and struck Caster, completely unaffected by the numerous lightning rods. The magus Iskandar's hair became even darker and increased in length slightly. His eyes turned electric blue and released trails of static while his whole body was surrounded in an aura of lightning that caused him to levitate off the ground. This power was divine. Everything clicked into place. Waver never understood what qualified Iskandar for the Caster class given he wasn't a true magus. When Iskandar was a Caster, he harnessed his own claims that his father was Zeus and that he was thus a demigod. It wasn't lightning magecraft he used, but divine lightning that had now been strengthened beyond what the Primeval Batteries could handle.
Thunder boomed as Caster fired dozens of lightning bolts at the Berserker twice his size. The giant stopped all the electric streams with his forearm alone while he ran at Caster and thrust at him with his branched weapon. The false magus dashed backwards, his body sliding slightly above the ground through electromagnetism. More lightning was shot at Berserker, thundering so rapidly from all the concurrent blasts that it sounded like there was a war going on that was being fought with cannons alone. Berserker just kept charging through dozens of bamboo stalks, only putting up his arms to defend his vitals as the bolts barely reddened his skin. The giant thrust his weapon again with speed far too great for Caster to avoid.
"Megálos Zeus Funder!" Caster was hit with another bolt from the sky. His Divinity increased further as his hair lengthened again and became pitch black. His muscle mass increased and his lightning aura grew larger while he dodged the numerous branches of lightning heading his way before flying into the sky. The false magus swung his arms down and a downpour of lighting bolts hit the giant. The hits were doing more damage, though it still wasn't enough to stop Berserker.
"Megálos Zeus Funder!" Another boost to Caster's power as his hair continued to lengthen and his aura became so bright that it made it hard to even look in his direction. His attacks were starting to leave burns on Berserker's flesh, though they healed almost instantly. Berserker shouted and from his throat came a beam of electricity that Caster narrowly dodged by pouring as much energy as he could into his flight speed.
Caster was activating his Noble Phantasm over and over, increasing his Divinity further and making him closer to a Divine Spirit. If this power was something he could use repeatedly, then the question was why Caster wasn't using it in rapid succession from the onset of the battle to become as strong as possible. The obvious answer was that it had limitations. It could perhaps require a lot of magical energy to activate, but that shouldn't matter due to the power the Grail was giving Caster. Using the Noble Phantasm too often within a certain span of time might have consequences. The constant alterations to his Saint Graph might degrade it or cause it to 'overheat,' thus requiring a wait period between uses. That was possible. There was also the fact that this Noble Phantasm was slowly turning Iskandar into a Divine Spirit which had an obvious problem. Divine Spirits couldn't normally be summoned, requiring a vessel to stay for extended lengths of time like in the case of Gray and the Lion King. If Iskandar used his Noble Phantasm too much, he would become too powerful for his container as a Servant to hold and he'd quickly return to the Throne of Heroes. It was similar to how Ionioi Doúlos was taxing on Berserker's Spirit Core and would eventually kill him if he used it for too long.
If Berserker didn't hit with a killing blow soon, then this fight would devolve into a test to see which Iskandar had greater spiritual endurance. In that case, Berserker would lose given his Saint Graph was under constant strain from his transformation while Caster was only putting gradually increasing increments of pressure on his own Saint Graph.
Berserker did not relent in his attempts to vaporize Caster, tearing down more of the bamboo as he fought, but the false magus continued to successfully evade, especially as he used his Noble Phantasm two more times which increased his agility. Caster kept releasing streams of electricity in retaliation that were starting to actually do meaningful damage to the giant and flashed rapidly enough that Waver was thankful he wasn't prone to seizures. At this rate, Caster wouldn't need to use his Noble Phantasm again, because he could just hold out for a while until Berserker self-destructed.
That said, Caster was fast enough to consistently dodge Berserker who's physical abilities were currently beyond the normal maximum Servants could achieve. To be that fast meant Caster was also at a level that was exceeding his limits, overclocking himself like a computer. If his continually Divine ascensions had already made him that strong, then it would likely take only one or two more uses of his Noble Phantasm to become too powerful to remain as a Servant and get unsummoned. Caster would never intentionally use his Noble Phantasm again though because he understood the repercussions. Thus, it was up to Waver to force the demigod to use it.
Waver claimed earlier that he wanted to jump right to using their trump cards and proceeded to have Berserker use his Noble Phantasm. That was purposefully phrased to make Caster think that Ionioi Doúlos was Waver's trump card. That was a lie on Waver's part to disguise his true trump card.
"Reines." Waver telepathically called his adoptive sister.
"Yes, brother?"
"Can you spare Trimmau? I need her."
"Sure. Caren can protect me for a bit. How's the fight going?"
"You should know how it's going given I'm asking you for Trimmau."
"I meant emotionally. How are you doing?"
"My mind is clear, as is my goal. I am going to put the man I love to rest."
"Love? I've never heard you be so open about your feelings."
"Are you going to mock me?"
"Brother, even I have the tact necessary to know when not to mock someone. I'm going to teleport Trimmau over, get ready."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome. Good luck."
Trimmau appeared in a blink of green and Waver took control of her. The mercury golem looked up at Caster and began running calculations, strings of numbers appearing in the air and coming together to form complex equations. Threads of mercury formed from Trimmau's hair and weaved into a magical circle that floated above her. The golem was struggling to analyze her target with the small amount of energy Waver could provide, especially while he was also feeding power into Berserker. Two of the Command Spells on the back of Waver's hand lit up before disappearing, their magical energy funneling into Trimmau to power her calculations.
The maid was not only a tool for combat, but a computational device. Before getting involved in the Holy Grail War, Waver had his student Flat help him give Trimmau an upgrade. Flat specialized in hacking magecraft and mysteries to control or nullify them. Since such an ability was fundamentally one of calculation, Flat's ability could be programmed into Trimmau so she could achieve the same effects. When Flat heard about Waver's idea, he started yapping on as he often did, referring to Waver with way too many nicknames. The Lord didn't want to be called a ridiculous name like Professor Charisma ever again. At least Flat agreed to help and did so with enthusiasm.
The ability to hack the spiritual granted Trimmau many new capabilities, including taking control of familiars. That obviously included Servants, but such a feat would normally be impossible given the amount of power that would be necessary to analyze all the facets of a Heroic Spirit's Saint Graph, and to then still have enough magical energy to actually hack into the Servant and program orders into it was even more unlikely. That's why Waver had to use two Command Spells to give Trimmau the necessary fuel to anatomize Caster and build a link to his Saint Graph. That still wouldn't be enough to control him, but through the link created directly into the coding of his Saint Graph, Waver could use a third Command Spell on Caster as if he was the Lord's Servant. Waver would force Caster to use his Noble Phantasm three times in a row and thus cause him to return to the Throne of Heroes. Waver would have tried to order Caster to end his own life, but such an order might be met with more resistance and thus might not work when using such a roundabout form of Command Spell.
The only flaw with this plan was that running the necessary calculations would take time, and Berserker only had a little bit more time until he died under the weight of his own power. Waver couldn't return Berserker to his normal state since he'd just get killed instantly by the powered up Caster. Waver just had to hope that Berserker would be able to hold out until Trimmau finished her analysis.
Trimmau immediately caught Caster's eye and though it was unlikely he knew what she was doing, he was astute enough to know the maid was part of some plan Waver was initiating. The near god changed target from Berserker to Trimmau and Waver. Caster's array of lighting bolts resembled a net as they approached his targets, Berserker running in the way and taking the full brunt of the electric lattice. At the same time, Caster called down more lighting from the sky which headed for Trimmau and Waver from the opposite side of them from where Berserker was. The giant dived over the pair and took the new bolts. Berserker twisted his head and screamed another beam of electricity from his throat towards Caster. The false magus dodged, but Berserker tossed the branching lightning bolt he held at Caster, leading the shot to where the near god was about to go. Caster turned as hard as he could, barely skirting past the makeshift javelin, only for that branching bolt to split into multiple smaller streams of electricity right after it passed the false magus. All the lighting homed in on Caster who formed a barrier made out of electricity around himself. The lighting hit the shield and Caster grunted as he tried to maintain it. This struggle was made more intense as Berserker fired another beam from his mouth at the barrier. Grunts became groans as Caster forced his barrier to hold strong against all the electricity. As soon as the shield stopped enduring attacks, Caster dispersed and reformed the electricity that formed it into a ball that grew to three times the near god's size. The sphere was thrown at Berserker who caught it with outstretched arms, the orb exploding and shaking the bamboo forest so much that Waver couldn't stay standing. By the time the Lord hit the dirt, the detonation had finished and the majority of the forest was gone, only a few shoots still standing at the edges of the battlefield. Waver and Trimmau were fine since Berserker had once again acted as a human shield, his skin badly burned.
The back and forth continued like this, Caster trying to take out Trimmau and Waver while Berserker played defense using his own body, counter attacking when he could. The mercury maid's analysis was coming along nicely, but Berserker was barreling towards death's door; this fight was nearing its end. If Trimmau managed to finish before Berserker died, it would be by milliseconds.
Waver was sweating as he got back to his feet, his eyes glued to the fight while the maid's progress remained in the corner of his vision. The formulas in the air were going ungodly slow, at least from the Lord's perspective tinted in anxiety.
Berserker created more branching lighting bolts which he kept on throwing at Caster to force him to defend with his barrier rather than attack. That was less than successful given Caster had started keeping up his barrier while also shooting out lightning. This meant his shield wasn't as strong as it could be, but that wasn't a problem since many of Berserker's bolts were getting stopped by Caster's own lighting meaning the barrier wasn't under as much strain. The false magus' lighting streams that weren't stuck matching Berserker's were instead heading for the giant. The bolts kept on striking Berserker to wear away at him. His body was red and raw, the outer layers of his skin having long since turned to ash. The lighting just kept on eroding away the giant's form, all while Berserker used his own attacks which only served to further his own deterioration.
It wasn't a surprise when Berserker finally hit his limit. The giant's body and Saint Graph could no longer contain his power. His flesh began to split open, lighting seeping out instead of blood while his muscles were like water as they shifted in waves from a series of expansions and contractions. Berserker's Spirit Core was undergoing the equivalent of a nuclear meltdown. The breaking body was going to erupt and leave all of Fuyuki as nothing more than a pit to the planet's core.
This was Caster's chance to finally take out his real targets. The near god took down his shield and gathered electricity between his hands to create another fulgurant ball. Like the last, the sphere began to expand, but then it condensed down. The power of the spell was being focused down to a marble sized ball.
While Waver initially ordered his mind to search for a solution to the current problem, that mind stopped when Berserker looked back over his shoulder at the Lord. Waver and the dying giant looked each other in the eye and for the first time, reason could be seen in Berserker's gaze. There wasn't just a single desire piloting the giant. There was something inside Berserker that Waver had managed to connect to in their time together. Waver hadn't even realized, he just thought Berserker was a puppet of Iskandar's wish to conquer. Waver regretted not trying harder to break through the shell of madness around the Berserker Iskandar's mind.
The giant turned back towards the Caster right as the false magus thrust their arms and the sphere they held forward, the condensed lightning becoming a beam that was so large and fast that it wouldn't even take a second to turn Fuyuki into less than atoms.
Berserker roared, expunging all the magical energy in his body. He even turned his dying Saint Graph into mana to further strengthen the tidal wave of electricity that left Berserker's mouth and swept upward towards Caster's beam. It was a collision of two attacks that were equivalent to Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasms. Earth rose upwards while air ran away from the dueling lightning. A great clap of thunder bellowed and just kept on going, rising in pitch without an upper limit. Berserker was winning, his wave inching closer to Caster, pushing back the false magus' beam. The problem was that the giant was disappearing and, at the rate he was going, he would be completely gone before his lightning could reach Caster. Berserker's arms were gone and his torso was but a thinning stalk. His legs were almost gone and the sides of his head were following suit. It was then that the very Spirit Core that was the center of Berserker's being was converted to mana and acted as one final push, the wave of electricity rushing through Caster's beam. The false magus had no choice but to stop firing his attack and fly out of the way. Berserker's whole body turned to magical energy and joined his beam as it shot to the Okeanos of stars above, looking like a new star in the sky before it finally disappeared from view.
"Goodbye, Berserker." Waver said.
The near god was panting after firing that last beam, having used up so much of his magical energy, but he had no time to waste. He flew towards Waver and Trimmau to take them out, his hand readying a bolt of lighting to incinerate them.
"Analysis complete." Trimmau said.
"Activate the spell!"
The maid did as she was commanded while Waver put a hand on her back. The magical circle above the mercury puppet illuminated red, as did a seal on the back Waver's hand.
Caster went wide eyed as he felt the connection establish. The electricity in his hand heated up as he was about to fire it.
"By my Command Spell, use Megálos Zeus Funder three times!"
The near god stopped in his tracks, floating in the air with a creased face as he tried to resist the order. As the despoiler of countries did all he could to remain in control, his magical energy intensified in preparation for using his Noble Phantasm.
"Megálos Zeus Funder." The Caster growled as he was struck by lightning that made his hair lengthen into a great mane and his veins glow white through his skin. The near god clutched at himself, hands squeezing his biceps tight as he continued trying to regain control. "Megálos Zeus Funder." Another lightning strike. Caster's clothes were all but completely burned away at the same time that his hands and forearms changed, their skin having changed to be made of solidified electricity. The near god was just a step away from his apotheosis. Caster's teeth clenched and his luminous veins pressed tight against his flesh. He was giving his whole heart and soul in resistance to the Command Spell, but it wasn't enough. "Megálos Zeus Funder." One last bolt came down and struck Iskandar Alter. A crown of electricity floated around the tyrant's brow as his aura shaped into a disk that floated behind Caster's head, a halo that declared the completion of his ascension to godhood. He was a true Divine Spirit.
The plan had succeeded. Iskandar Alter had become a Divine Spirit and would inevitably disappear.
Eventually.
Caster was still there. He hadn't disappeared.
How? There was no way a fully fledged Divine Spirit could survive in the container of a normal Servant. He had to disappear eventually.
But nothing said he would disappear immediately. It was possible that he could maintain himself for a little while. Oh no.
The deity looked down at Waver with his brow pinched downward and teeth clenched. The wrathful god raised an arm and from his hand came a release of lightning that started as one bolt before branching out into tens, then hundreds, then thousands that all rose past the clouds and into the heavens like a World Tree that sat in Caster's palm. He was destined to disappear, but that didn't mean he couldn't get revenge upon Waver. As long as the Grail's plan succeeded, then Caster would have the spiritual victory as his actions would help the World be conquered by curses. All he had to do was bring his hand down and the great bolt Caster held would come down upon the World and raze a large portion of the very Texture that mankind lived on.
Waver couldn't think of anything. There was no solution to this. It was over. The Grail had won. Caster had won. Waver was a fool who had doomed humanity.
The radiant eyes of Caster met Waver's. The Lord could feel the fathomless wrath within the deity. He could also feel that wrath attenuating as eye contact was maintained. The tree of lightning thinned and lost branches as Caster's expression was drained of its strength, creases disappearing as the conqueror calmed. The lightning bolt disappeared and the new god floated down to earth, feet firmly planting as his eyes never dared leave Waver's. He walked over to the Lord, his stiff posture and breathing slow. He stopped right in front of Waver, his chest puffed out.
"Why did you stop?" Waver had no right to complain, but he was confused as to why Caster had given up. "Your victory was just in reach."
"It would have only been a spiritual victory and that wouldn't have been worth it." The god's voice was quiet.
"It wouldn't have been worth what?"
"Killing you."
Waver tried to say something, but nothing came out.
"I still hold the old Iskandar's memories, and with those memories comes affection. I love you. I love my dream more, but not so much that I'd sacrifice you for a meager victory of spite." Iskandar's voice gained some life to it that made Waver nostalgic.
"Really?" Waver felt his mouth unintentionally form into a smile. He moved a hand to cover it as soon as it came into his notice, but Iskandar grabbed the hand and moved it out of the way.
"I must say boy, you grew to have such a sour expression. It makes your elusive smile all the more worthy of observing." Iskandar was smiling too now.
"I-this-I-I can't-" Waver got choked up as he began to cry. He looked down at the soil to hide his face. "Life is so cruel. I finally get to reunite with you, and it's only right before you're going to disappear again."
"And that's all the more reason we have to savor this moment." Iskandar's hand reached under Waver's chin and lifted it up so they were looking in each other's eyes again. Waver was enchanted looking into his love's eyes and what came next was only natural. The two men kissed. Waver clenched his fists as he was overcome with so much bittersweet elation. This was something he had been anticipating for a decade, and yet it wasn't to last. That was all the more reason Waver had to savor this, to burn every last detail into his mind, every motion of their bodies, every wave of warmth that pulsed through them, all of it.
Their lips separated and Waver immediately felt a pang in his chest. Iskandar's body was starting to dissipate into particles of magical energy. He was leaving.
"Not yet." Waver whimpered.
"I'm sorry, boy. All journeys end eventually, but yours isn't over. Make sure to enjoy the rest of your adventure for me."
"But-" Waver was interrupted by a flick to his head that knocked him over.
"It is how it is! I don't want to hear any complaints!" Iskandar yelled like he used to in the Fourth War whenever he was angry or annoyed. "The man I came to love isn't so weak as to crumble after one heartbreak!"
Waver looked up at his king and remembered what he loved about him. Waver wiped away his tears and smiled, standing up on his own and facing Iskandar with his head held high.
"You're right. I still have so many dimwit students to teach. My conquest is far from over."
"Good, now get to conquering!" Iskandar's body was about to finish fading. The king smiled that big toothy smile of his. "Farewell, Waver."
"Farewell, Iskandar."
The King of Conquerors disappeared and Waver was left alone with Trimmau.
"I should send you back." Waver pulled out a green rune and it flashed, sending the maid back to Reines. "It's done. I did it. I did it."
Tears left the Lord's eyes again as he lit a cigar.
It was done.