Chapter Three: It All Comes To The Same Conclusion
Another morning shined on the Emiya household, but the tension within Philip's heart couldn't be more heart wrenching. His mind was deeply lost in thought.
"It's not about what is true, but what is right, and you have to believe that til the very end."
That's what Emiya told him last night, and it's been reverberating through his mind ever since. Weren't they the same things: what's true and what's right? It was a confusing philosophy to him.
He wasn't even paying attention to what he was doing; there was soap on his toothbrush and toothpaste in his hands. As the toothbrush touched his tongue, he immediately gagged and wiped his face with his hand that was covered in toothpaste, making his face even dirtier than before. He took a step back and slipped on the towel laying on the floor. His entire body came crashing down, causing the cups on the sink to fall over as well, along with a towel on the towel racket, medicine on the counter, and a hairbrush that fell on his chest.
He groaned in pain as he sat back up and rubbed the back of his head, spreading more toothpaste all over himself. When he realized what he had done, he groaned even louder and stood up.
While looking at the mirror, he noticed a few things wrong with his outfit: his shirt was inside out, his shorts were unzipped and backwards, and he wasn't wearing a hat, but a pillowcase as a beanie.
"You know what? I give up," Philip muttered as he slapped the beanie off of himself and walked out of the restroom, looking like a complete mess; toothpaste hair and a messy attire.
He cursed repeatedly as he made his way towards the living room and grabbed his backpack from the couch. "I'm heading out now, Emiya," he called as he banged his head against the door, cursed loudly again, and tried to push open the door once more even though it was clearly a pull, not a push, door.
Emiya stared at him dumbfounded, the sink still running. He watched his "adopted son" struggle to open up a door. A full grown fifteen year old boy… struggling to open a door.
"Philip… you should probably skip school today and get some rest," Emiya suggested as he turned off the sink.
"What? No, I'm fine!" Philip said as he gave up on the door and slid open the window. "I got like the minimum. Pretty sure it's chill." He tossed his backpack outside and dive bombed after it. "I'll see you later Philip!" he called, but paused and thought about what he said. "Uhhhhhh, I meant Emiya. Anyways, goodbye, I'm going to go to school and do stuff." He picked up his bag and ran down the dirt pathway.
Emiya watched him disappear into the forest, still stunned at the sight he's seen. He sighed and walked over to the couch and sat down. "Somethings wrong," he muttered as he looked outside the window.
Philip ran down the dirt road, nearly tripping over his untied shoelaces till he reached the school and slowed down to a paced jog. He slid through the crowds of students as well, his peers staring at the back of his head that was covered in toothpaste, and as well as his face.
As he made his way up the stairs, he noticed a subtle difference with the students: it wasn't as crowded as before. It was strange that that was the only thing he sensed, not his friends or Valence, but the fact that the crowds felt more spacious than before. Multiple students had been absent due to being "sick", but for these many students to become absent was strange. Perhaps it was just a chain reaction.
Philip walked down the hallway towards his classroom, his palms sweaty and his grip on his backpack tightening. He was going to decide whether he was right or not today, the final decision that would affect his friendship between himself, Alyssa, and Maxwell—
He stopped in his tracks as a thin line of a spider web fell down right in front of him. It hovered there, waiting for him to touch it. Perfectly positioned, perfectly hidden, a masterpiece of a trap, but why was it only in front of him? Wouldn't the other students get it stuck to their faces?
Philip walked around it and resumed his way towards the classroom door and slid it open, expecting Valence to be standing there and looking down at him, or for her to slide open the door first.
The door opened… and nothing happened. He stood there in the empty doorway, expecting for somebody to be there and stared blankly into the classroom. "Oh," he whispered as he saw that no one was directly in front of him.
Valence, who was at the far front left of the classroom, looked at him with a slightly perplexed expression. She looked back at the teacher and raised her hand. "Excuse me. Can I use the restroom?" she asked the teacher, her posture not wavering.
The teacher nodded at her while looking through her papers. "Just hurry back quick," she said while stapling them together.
"Thank you." Valence stood up and walked to the doorway, Philip's and her shoulder brushing against each other.
Philip watched her walk away for a moment before looking back into the classroom.
Maxwell and Alyssa were absent.
A cold sense of dread filled his body. Something wasn't right; it felt very very wrong. All of his doubts dissolved into dust for a moment and his fear of being ridiculed for being paranoid turned into worry and anger. He slid the door closed and looked back to where Valence left, but she was already gone.
He bit his lip while his hand twitched. Without hesitation or with a care in the world, he ran down the hallway towards the girl's restroom. He couldn't care less of what everyone else would think of him if they saw him enter the girl's bathroom. His friend's safety was his main concern— that was all that mattered to him at the moment.
Philip took a sharp right and slid to a half in front of the girls restroom. He hesitated, gazing at the door with natural wariness— he was never one to waltz into a girls restroom after all, to be doing so all of a sudden was a bit... embarrassing, to say the least.
"Come on Philip, now's not the time to get embarrassed with these trivial things," he told himself as he reached out and pushed open the restroom door.
Taking a step inside, he took in a deep breath and braced himself for the worse.
Fortunately, the restroom was empty, spotless, and quite peaceful. The light-green tiled floor was well kept, the windows were clean and casted a warm light onto the floor. Four sinks with mirrors lined the left side of the restroom. Five light-green stalls lined the right side, each closed. A nice calming hum resonated through the restroom from the floor. Philip could feel it through his feet.
Crouching down, he slowly crept through the restroom with the best intentions of being silent. He peered underneath the stalls to make sure that nobody was there. There wasn't, they were all empty.
It was strange that they were all vacant. Didn't Valence ask to use the restroom? If not, where was she now?
Philip's ears picked up the unusual sound of… wind; a similar sound to a person breathing in, but it was constant, and it was faint. It sounded like a very quiet whistle played by an old man.
Philip stood back up and looked at the stall that was in the very far corner. The sound was coming from it.
He cautiously approached the stall and tried to push it open, but it was locked… even though no one was inside.
Bending down, he lowered himself to the ground and slid himself inside. Thin spider webbings collected on his shorts and shirt. He grunted as a few of them licked his face.
Once he was inside, he regained his composure and looked down at the toilet in front of him. Just like the outside, it was spotless and clean. There was nothing to look at except for the stainless toilet and the tiled floor that was slightly out of place…
Philip squinted at the tiles on the ground. Like a jacket with patterns, the tiles didn't connect properly. The unconnected tiles formed a line around the toilet. He could hear the whistling from there.
He got on his knees and placed his hands on the bottom of the toilet. Pushing up with his knees, he lifted up the toilet and shifted it to the right.
Underneath it was a huge dark pit. Not even the sunlight could illuminate the darkness. The stench was horrid, that of a dead animal.
Philip gagged and plugged his nose while staring down at the pit. At the bottom, a faint greenish-yellow light could be seen. It exposed the thick spider webs that wrapped the walls.
"I'm going to regret this," he muttered as he climbed down into it. His hands gripped the edges of the pit as he cautiously shoved his foot against the walls, but not finding a single foothold.
"Trace on," he quietly chanted and summoned his blade. He dropped down into the pit while stabbing his weapon into the wall, slowing his descent.
The fall was deeper than he anticipated. It took him roughly three seconds to reach the bottom and gently touch the ground with his feet. As he did, he immediately crouched down and unsummoned his weapon while looking down the dimly lit tunnel.
The tunnel was large enough for a person to walk through. It was at least six feet tall and six feet wide. The tunnel was built from old stained bricks that were covered in graffiti, feces, and spider webs.
There were hundreds upon hundreds of webs that covered the place. It covered the walls, floor, ceiling, and light; it was just everywhere.
Even worse, there were strange dark stains slobbered onto the floor that left a trail. It led straight through the tunnel and disappeared to the right.
Philip took a deep breath through his mouth and slowly made his way through the tunnel, each step echoing through the tight space. His breathing and heartbeat felt like they were drums and a vacuum played by a microphone. The sweat that dripped from his forehead slowly came down to his chin and fell to the floor.
He carefully placed his feet in between places where his feet weren't touching the webs.
Ever since he saw the spider web hang in front of his face from earlier morning, he had another gut feeling that it wasn't normal. Why would the spider web appear right there and then, and why wasn't it already whacked away from other students?
Being careful not to touch the webs, he peered over the corner of the tunnel.
The strange stain trail kept going till it reached the center of a four way diversion and stopped directly in the middle with drips of it falling from the ceiling, the sound of something like a fan whirling could be heard from the center. The humming he once heard from the restroom was now getting louder and deafening. Not only that, it was also mind numbing. He couldn't think properly with the constant loud blaring roaring through his ears.
He approached the dripping liquid while still keeping his body slightly low to the ground. The webbings were getting thicker and thicker; stealthily traveling through these tunnels became more challenging.
The intersection where the four other tunnels met, including the one Philip walked through, met together into a circle. Four lights lit up the circular room, showing him his options. The first tunnel he looked at led downwards to what sounded like water pouring into a drain. The second tunnel, directly straight, was blocked off by a thick wall of webbing. Not even a single ray of light could've pierced through it. Finally, to his right, a tunnel that led up towards a light.
He stood up and stared at the liquid on the floor. It was nearly black, like oil, but with a hint of…
Red.
The thick stench of iron filled his nostrils suddenly and his eyes widened from shock as he realized what was dripping onto the floor. He raised his head slowly and looked up at the ceiling.
Above him, a human-sized webbed cocoon hovered above him with blood dripping from the end of it. At the top of the cocoon was a person's head staring down at him, his mouth covered by thick spider webs. He struggled to yell at him. Tears flowed from his eyes down his cheeks.
"Oh my god… Charleston?" Philip asked as he squinted at his face.
Charleston's faint screams could barely be heard, but nodded his head with a horrified expression.
Don't worry, I'll get you out of here." His hands glowed as he summoned his blade. "Trace on."
Charleston was being suspended in the air by four thick columns of webbing, each slightly stained red.
"Hang on there Charleston!" Philip took a step back and exhaled. He bent his legs slightly and lowered his body to the floor. His foot pushed against the ground and he ran towards the walls. Jumping up, he pushed himself from the walls and up towards the columns while extending his arm out to grab it.
His hand grabbed onto the webbed column and stuck there, his body dangling from above. With his right hand, he started to slice away at the thick webbings, his blade swiftly and precisely sliced through it, making the job quick and easy, but no job comes without its quirks.
A red sticky substance poured all over Philip's arms as he sliced through the column. The liquid was warm and made his grip onto the webbing start to slip, but fortunately, slicing through that one support allowed the cocoon to fall and crash onto the ground with the other supports falling apart and spilling the same red substance.
Philip crashes onto the floor and grunted as Charleston, still in his cocoon, fell on top of him, the red liquid covering his face and clothes. He wiped it away from his eyes and coughed while he sat up.
His dagger disappeared as he reached out to rip off the webbing on Charleston's face.
Charleston gasped and coughed. His eyes were still pouring with tears. The words he shouted were indecipherable and spastic. His eyes darted all around, as if they were searching for something.
"Don't worry, I'll get you out of there," Philip assured as he sat Charleston against the wall and resummoned his blade. He placed his dagger against the cocoon, but paused before he sliced it open.
The situation seemed too perfect, the way he followed Valence into an isolated location with nobody nearby except for a hostage. There were no quick exits around and the area was quite a squeeze, limiting his fighting style. Nevertheless, he had to get Charleston out of there.
With a swift movement of his blade, he sliced open the cocoon and pulled it apart. "Are you hurt anywhere? We can call an ambulance—"
Splattering all over Philip's clothes was the red sticky substance; the same liquid that came from the column webbings. It splashed all over his shirt and face, leaving him in shock.
Charleston's face contorted with pain. His mouth opened and closed with soundless screams, his eyes wide and afraid as they rolled up and his head went limp, the thick smell of iron and the strong feel of mana residue left behind, as well as only his head.
Charleston's entire body was liquid, well, more of a red slime. All of their muscles and organs were no longer solid, but we're just different shades of red goo. His head somehow survived without his body being in a physical state, most likely from the mana being used to preserve his body, but since Philip sliced open the cocoon, a safe catalyst for the mana and Charleston's body, he unintentionally killed him.
Philip turned around and walked away. He leaned against the wall and barfed on the floor. He fell on his knees and gripped his stomach. Faint wisp of air escaped his lips as he tried to hold back his tears. Clenching his fist, he slowly stood back up and took a deep breath in.
"Oh? Is this the first time you're seeing someone killed before your very eyes?" a familiar voice asked from above.
Dangling from the ceiling was Valence, a thin web wrapped around her ankles, allowing her to stay in the air upside down. Her skirt crumpled as it slowly started to fall down, but her eyes were trained on him, and only him. Her cruel smile filled Philip with a rage he's never felt before, the feeling that if she were to die at that moment, he would feel an outrageous amount of joy.
"Why… Why are you doing this Valence?!" Philip yelled as he slammed his against the wall behind him.
Her web dropped lower till they were having direct eye contact. She pointed at him and her small smile turned into a large grin. "Because you are my mission, Philip," she answered. "It's my assignment to eliminate you now."
"Then why don't you just focus on me?! Don't harm my friends or classmates!" He gritted his teeth from anger and got into a fighting stance.
"I'm sorry about that Philip, but my assignment doesn't just limit me to you. This is war, Philip, and it's finally resuming." She grabbed her webbing and untangled her ankles while pulling herself up. Once she was free, she gracefully dropped herself onto the blood-stained stone floor, her eyes glowing a dark purple. "Be prepared, Philip Emiya, for you will face times just like these, where you have to face the reality and see the people you care about perish before your very own eyes."
"Not if I can help it!" With a powerful kick into the stone ground, he launched himself at Valence with his black dagger in hand. He swung it in an arc towards her.
Jumping back, her hand glowed a bright purple as a few dozen thin spider webs formed in her hand. They straightened into thick tiny darts that hovered above her palm. She pulled them back, as if she were drawing an invisible bow with the webs as arrows, and released them. The glowing projectiles flew through the air, going straight for Philip.
Philip slid to a stop and swung his sword downwards, thwarting the first wave of "arrows" from him. They crashed into the ground and scattered around, each one of them still glowing purple. Resuming his charge, he dashed towards Valence and thrusted his blade towards her neck, searching for a vital point to slice.
His backwards shirt ruffled and glowed. A patch of spider webs were on his shoulder glowed purple, just like Valence's arrows, and shot out webs towards the opposite wall. They pulled him upwards and twisted his arm in a painful maneuver.
Philip yelped in pain as he was dragged upward and slammed against the ceiling. He looked over at his shoulder that was being pulled. Reaching out, he grabbed the shoulder part of his shirt and forcefully ripped it off. He fell down onto the ground, hitting his knee. The air was knocked out of his lungs from the sudden jolt of pain and he rolled on the floor, hugging his leg, his blade vanished from the lack of concentration.
Valence took a step back and summoned another handful of threads. They straightened out, and once more she drew them back.
Philip winced as he stood up with the support of the wall. "Trace… on," he chanted, summoning another blade into his hand, this time, a white blade. "Valence… why are you doing this…?" he asked once more.
Valence tilted her head to the side, but her arrows were still pointed at him and ready to go. "I've already told you my answer. You're my mission—"
"Didn't any of the moments you spent at our school matter?!" Philip yelled. He stood up straight and limped forward with his good leg.
Her eyes furrowed and the glow in her arrows grew brighter. She stayed silent for a moment, still staring into his eyes. "It's none of your business," she finally answered. She released the arrows towards Philip, each projectile going their own way.
"You pulled my friends into this. It's all of my business!" Philip slammed his good foot into the ground and swung his blade towards the next set of arrows, knocking them all away from him. "And now it's my mission to save them!" He took his next step with his bad leg and winced, but he powered through and moved into a run, his dagger poised for the kill.
Valence jumped back and shot more spiderwebs from her palms. They flew up into the air and flew back down towards Philip.
In return, Philip twisted his body around while pushing himself up, barely avoiding the threads as they circled around him. While flipping through the air, he swung his sword around and sliced down Valence's shoulder, cutting it open.
Valence winced in pain as she stumbled back and shot out a single thread into Philip's shoulder. The thread stuck itself there and glowed brighter until it blinded Philip, forcing him to close his eyes and fall forward into the ground. He rolled over and groaned in pain.
Valence covered her wound with her hand and took a step back towards the tunnel that led upwards. "Well then, Philip, I will take my leave now—"
"Where are my friends?!" Philip shouted as he stood back up and removed the thread from his shoulder.
She sighed and shook her head. "Do you have no self-worth? No self preservation? You're such a selfless brat." She regained her composure and walked up the tunnel. "Fine then, I'll leave you with two choices, Philip. You can follow me into the deep forest where no one will see us. Your friends are over there—"
"Of course I'll go to them and save them!" Philip interrupted as he ran over to her, but tripped over his own footing and fell on the ground.
"Let me finish, will you? I did say that I'll leave you with a choice." She pointed towards the tunnel that was blocked off with a thick wall of webbings. "There's also a few dozen students in there. You can go and save them first, but if you choose to, your friends die. If you save your friends first, those students will die from the poisoning I gave them, the same poison I used on Charleston and on you," she pointed at his arm.
Philip looked at his shoulder and saw what she meant. His left shoulder was turning into a revolting hue of purple. Red puss shot out of his wound and his arm was swelling up.
"You have 30 minutes to make your decision Philip. Save your two friends and yourself, or save the greater number of people, just like your Servant Emiya did as a Guardian." She looked at him from over her shoulder one last time, her eyes staring straight into his. She stood there for a moment, as if thinking about what to do next.
Philip looked back into her eyes and tried to peer into her soul, to see the truth, but it was veiled by a curtain of sorrow.
Looking back up the tunnel, she continued her way to the surface.
Once she was gone from his sight, Philip coughed and rubbed his swollen shoulder. The pain wasn't intense, like a flame burning his flesh, but more of a numbing pain, that of a sleeping limb.
He slowly stood up and looked over at the webbed wall. The first thought that shot through his mind was, "What would Emiya do," and the answer was clear. Save the greater number, even if it cost his own life. A selfless act of heroism that was always praised, what society viewed to be the clear course of action, and that was what seemed true in his mind. He was going to save at least twelve students. It was the better choice than just saving two and himself. It was greedy, inhumane, and evil to society's eyes.
But that wasn't right in Philip's heart. Maybe that option of saving more than just two students and himself was the true option, the best, but it wasn't right. He couldn't just ditch his friends. They were important to him.
"Save your two friends and yourself, or save the greater number of people, just like your Servant Emiya did as a Guardian."
What would Emiya do?
Philip clenched his fist and looked at the ground. If Emiya was here, he could've saved both the students and his friends. He could've stopped Valence from the beginning and all of the students could've lived peacefully.
What would Emiya do?
But if he did ask Emiya for help, his dream of being a hero would be shattered, but if he chased his dream, people would suffer. Was this what Emiya meant when he said, "It's not just about saving people"? Was it also about watching the ones he couldn't save, suffer?
A tear dropped down his cheek onto the stone floor. He was powerless before an actual threat, useless. What could he do?
What would I do?
Philip wiped his tears and looked back at the webbed wall, then the tunnel that led to the surface.
He was his own person, not Emiya. If Emiya saved the greater number, but suffered, then he was going to do the opposite.
It may be selfish of him to choose his few friends over the greater amount of people, but he couldn't just throw away their history.
There were no "right" or "wrong" answers to this trivia anymore. It all relied on what his heart spoke, what his heart desired.
He took a shaky breath in and sighed. "I'm sorry," he muttered as he marched up the tunnel, leaving the other students behind.
His heart ached as the guilt of leaving so many people to die because of his selfish choice of saving his friends. It felt like the whole world was staring down at him, judging him for every action he made.
And this choice was what decided his fate.
The sun illuminated the exit of the tunnel. It was right over head. The birds were silent today, as if anticipating something. They waited in the trees and watched Philip with curiosity as he exited the tunnel.
His hands dragged through the dirt and grass as he clawed his way out and stood up. He walked over to a nearby tree and leaned against it. From the corners of his eyes, he could see the school in the distance.
He wasn't far from the school, but he was deep into the forest. The tunnel he came out of was well camouflaged and easy to forget. There were no easy to remember landmarks there to help him find it. It was well positioned for hiding.
Behind him, the rustling of leaves alerted the few birds in the trees, which also alerted him. He peered over the tree he was leaning against and viewed the commotion.
Wrapped in webbing cocoons were Maxwell and Alyssa tied to a tree, their eyes wide open from fear and their mouths covered in webs. Their eyes spotted him and they both yelled something inaudible.
"I see that you chose to be selfish," Valence said from the tops of the trees. She was sitting on the thick branches, her wound covered by red-stained webs. "I thought you were going to be the 'hero', Philip?"
"What did you do to them?" Philip interrupted.
Her brows furrowed and she clicked her tongue. "You're avoiding the question, Philip." She jumped down from the trees and landed in front of him. "And since you've chosen this path of saving your friends, the ones that you viewed as the best choice and pure…" she extended her arm to him. "Philip, please, join me in restarting this world."
Philip looks at her hand with disbelief. "What do you mean by 'restarting this world'?" Philip asked as he took a step back.
"People are cruel. Us as a collective species are the most destructive and sinful race. This world has already gone to hell, but now we're given another chance." She leaned against the tree and looked down at the ground. "I… don't want to fight you Philip, I don't want to hurt anybody, but nobody is good anymore. You're all my dear classmates and my dear friends."
Philip relaxed his shoulders and approached her cautiously. "If you don't want to hurt anybody, then why do this?"
"Because the world needs saving Philip. It'll kill itself if we don't intervene with its course… and sometimes, to save a life, you'll have to take one." She looked up at him with her pleading eyes, tears forming at the edges. "And I don't want to lose my friends, that's why I want you to join me."
Philip looked at her hand and up towards her chin. He threw his blade onto the ground, sticking it into the dirt, and clenched his fist. "I'm sorry Valence, but I won't join you," he said as he held his shoulder. "If you want to save the world through pain and war… then I don't want to help you. There may be bad people in the world, but think about the good as well." He pointed at his two friends that were tied to the trees. "Maxwell, Alyssa, and me. If the world tries to destroy itself, then we'll save it the right way, together."
Valence smiled at him and looked up at the sky. "Ah, you're so kind-hearted Philip. I can see why he wanted me to eliminate you first." She wiped her eyes and her hand glowed. "Maybe if I met you first… things could've been different."
"It can still change Valence. Join me instead! I can help you—"
"Enough, Philip. I've chosen my path, and you've chosen yours." Strings of webs shot out of her palm and hovered in the air. "Now show me Philip the hero you are, show me your through strength. Take my life, kill me, or else I'll take yours."
"No, I'll save you instead."
"Then you're an ignorant fool!" The strings shot up into the air and flew through the branches towards Philip.
With a swift swing of his foot, he kicked his dagger, that was stabbed into the ground, towards her. The blade flew through the air and sliced through her thigh and implanted into the dirt behind her. She grunted and fell on her knees while covering her wound with webs.
Philip jumped back as the strings circled through the air and surrounded him. "Trace on!" Mana blasted through the palm of his hand, the mana taking shape into his blade. He sliced through the webs in front of him and ran towards her.
Touching the ground with her palm, her body glowed and the dirt shook. Shooting out from underneath the dead leaves and grass, hundreds of strings shout out towards Philip, each glowing a bright purple.
"Trace on!" Another ball of mana shot from his hand and transformed into another dagger. He dug his foot into the dirt and swung his duel blades around his body. He sliced through most of the spider webs, but a few of them wrapped around his bare arm and threw him through the sky. His body crashed through the branches and landed into a bush.
Philip coughed and struggled to get up from the ground. His left shoulder was oozing pus and blood. The purple venom was making its way to his hand and up his neck.
"I warned you that I would kill you," Valence said from behind the trees. She walked out into the open towards him with hundreds of spider webs forming a small knife. Pushing him down onto the ground, she raised the knife to his throat. "We could've been friends, all of us—"
"We still can be!" He grabbed her wrist and struggled to keep the knife away from his neck. "There's other ways that we can save the world than just killing everybody!"
"No there isn't! No matter what we do, what peaceful acts we use, we'll always be evil!" Tears started to stream down her cheek as the blade came closer and closer to Philip's face. "We can never be pure. The only way is to reset and lead our own garden of Eden."
"Nobody's perfect Valence, not you, not me, and not even Maxwell or Alyssa. Even though we are sinful and evil by nature, there's still good people out there, and we can lead others to become better!"
"Philip, you don't understand!" Her blade dangled above his neck, not even inches away. One more push, and the blade would make contact. "No matter what path we take, what side we choose, good or evil, it'll all circle back to the same conclusion: death—"
The edge of an invisible blade thrusted out from her chest, blood dripping from its see through silhouette. She coughed out blood and stabbed her blade into the dirt beside Philip's face. Looking down at her chest, she saw the tip of the see-through dagger protruding from her chest. The blade removed itself from her chest, and standing above her was Philip's ghost, its hands dripping with blood.
Valence fell on her side beside Philip and dropped her dagger. The webs slowly dissolved into the air.
"Valence!" Philip sat up and dragged her into his arms.
Her eyes slowly drifted towards him. They were already losing their light. "I told you… it all circles back to the same conclusion…"
"No it doesn't. I can get you some help," Philip said as he took off his shirt and applied it to her wound, but it was useless. The shirt soaked up all of the blood instantaneously, but more blood kept pouring out.
"Philip, stop… I deserve this…" She turned her head to the side and sightlessly gazed towards Maxwell's direction.
"Nobody deserves to die Valence—"
"Murderers are assigned death sentences. It's no different."
"But you're not a…" Philip paused and sighed.
Valence weakly nodded. "Exactly…" She pointed at Maxwell with her bloodied finger. "... But I wish I wasn't. My feelings for Maxwell are true. I love him with all of my heart and soul. I loved every moment we spent together as classmates, as friends. I wanted to hang out with all of you more, go to the zoo with Maxwell, have Alyssa teach me how to sword fight… and have you be my best friend…" She started to choke on her tears as she extended her arm towards Maxwell. "I wish I could've met you all sooner… it could've been different…"
Her hand slowly dropped down onto the floor, her eyes slightly closed, blood still pooling onto Philip's shirt.
Philip sat there, speechless as he stared down at Valence's lifeless body. His ghost stood beside him, looking down at Philip and the warm corpse.
His hands tightened into a fist as he looked up at his ghost. "Why… Why did you have to kill her?!" he yelled.
The ghost provided no answer.
"I could've saved her! I could've done something!" His voice turned into a silent wale as a tear dropped from his eye. "... I could've done something to help…"
The ghost nodded and kneeled beside him. Its hand brushed away his tear as it slowly dissolved into the air, and so did the spiderwebs.
All of the webbings returned to the air, allowing Maxwell and Alyssa's body to fall onto the floor, unscathed. Philip's arm slowly returned to its original shade of color as the venom disappeared.
Deep in the forest, the sounds of footsteps stepping on branches and leaves could be heard. Stepping out from the trees was Emiya. He looked around until he finally spotted Philip holding Valence's body.
Philip looked back at him, his face still filled with shock. His expression softened as the uncontrollable urge to break down overflowed him. He screamed out in frustration and covered his face with his hands.
Emiya ran to him and crouched down. "Philip! Are you okay? What happened?" Emiya asked as he looked at his shoulder first, then the body that was on his lap.
"I tried Emiya!" Philip yelled as he clung onto Emiya's shirt and dug his face into it. "I really tried to save everyone! I tried!" His tears and snot stuck onto Emiya's clothings.
Emiya examined his surroundings and deduced the situation. He pieced it all together and pulled Philip into a hug. "I'm sorry you had to go through this Philip," he said as he caressed his head. "It must've been hard."
"It was!" Philip cried as his hands tightened on Emiya's shirt. "I chose to save myself and my two friends instead of saving the larger number… I tried to save my enemy, I tried to stop the chaos from growing… I'm so useless…"
"No, you're not Philip," Emiya assured. "You made the right choices, you did great."
"What do you mean I did great? I failed so many people and myself—"
"No, you didn't. You succeeded. You won this battle because you made a move. You didn't just sit there and do nothing. Even if you didn't choose to save the greater number, you still saved someone: yourself and your friends. I care more about your safety than anything else Philip."
From behind, coughing could be heard from Maxwell who was finally standing up. "Philip…" He looked down at Valence's body, then looked away. "I'm sorry for not believing you."
"Philip!" Alyssa ran and tackled him in a hug. "I should've believed you!"
Philip hugged her back and they both cried into each other's arms. "I'm just glad you're safe, Alyssa." He looked up at Maxwell and nodded at him. "You too, Maxwell."
"I'm sorry to interrupt this heart-warning endeavor, but I need you two to come with me," a voice called from the hill above them.
They all looked up at the grassy hill and viewed the man standing on top.
His long black hair draped down to his chest, as well as his red scarf. He wore a black suit that was covered by a black coat. His aged face looked down at them with a grave tone. The aura of authority was oozing out of him. Behind him, multiple black limos were lined up. Most of them opened up, and exiting the limos were dozens of men in black suits. They all ran into the forest with glowing hieroglyphics surrounding their bodies.
Emiya frowned at the man standing on top of the hill and placed his hand behind his back. "Waver Velvet," he mumbled.
The man presumably named Waved Velvet nodded at him. "Emiya, I see that you're living the dream life."
"And I see that you're an old grape. What do you want, Waver?" Emiya asked.
"I've already told you." He paused and took a deep breath. "The sixth Holy Grail War is resuming."
Emiya's eyes widened from shock and he took a step back, and so did Philip; his face was green from the sudden vivid memories that re-entered his mind. Most of his memories were buried deep within the back of his brain, but now they were resurfacing.
Maxwell and Alyssa looked at Philip with worry. "What's happening?" Alyssa asked first.
"I'm sorry, but we cannot reveal that information to you," Waver interrupted as he walked down the hill towards them. "We must hurry or else something worse may happen."
Emiya stepped in front of Philip and placed his hand across him. "You speak as if something terrible has already happened."
Waver stopped in front of him and stared him in the eyes. He was slightly shorter by emiya, but only about half a foot. "That's because something did happen, Emiya, and that's why I am here in the first place. We need to leave. Now," he ordered with a strict tone.
Philip stood up while wincing and held onto Emiya for support. "But what about the other students underground?" he asked.
"I have my men working on it right now. They'll take care of the students and give them proper medical help." Waver turned around, his jacket flapping behind him, and made his way back up the hill. "We are searching for the other Masters, and so far, we have found four more. Our first mission is to locate all of you and bring you to a safe 'haven'."
"And why's that?" Emiya asked.
Waver looked over his shoulder at Emiya. "Because one of the Masters has already been attacked, and we've come to the conclusion that the Eighth Master is finally making their move."
Philip swallowed and clung to Emiya tighter.
"Now, let's go—"
"Wait!" Maxwell called. "What about us? Me and Alyssa?"
"You're the victims of this attack, correct? We can also give you medical and therapeutic attention—"
"No, we want to come with you!"
Alyssa looked up at Maxwell with a confused expression. "But why?" she asked.
"Didn't you hear what she said? She was forced to attack us. We were her friends, and she loved us. She didn't want to attack us." He bit his lip and looked down at the ground. "I want to avenge her."
Waved folded his arms; his foot melodically tapped the ground. "Involving the public in Magecraft is against the 'Mage Code'."
"But we're already involved!" Maxwell shouted angrily. He looked up and pointed at him. "She was my girlfriend and I loved her, and she loved me too!"
Waved sighed and placed his hand on his forehead. He groaned silently and lifted up his head. "You'll be risking your life then. This is a war, not a field trip." He slid out a cigarette from his pocket and placed it between his lips.
"I'll be fine with that as long as I avenge Valence." Maxwell looked over at Philip and Alyssa. "You'll help too, right?"
"I have no choice but to join the war. I'm one of the Masters after all," Philip said as he showed him the back of his hand, showcasing the red marks of the Command Seals. "I'm not sure about Alyssa though."
"I'll help!" Alyssa said as she stood up as well. "I'll do whatever as well!"
Waver examined their small group while lighting the cigarette in his mouth. "Fine. Do as you will," he said as he finally reached the top and opened the car's door. "Get in."