Day 9 Shirou — Heaven's Feel / Hollow Ataraxia

Shirou stood in front of the kneeling corpse of Kotomine, an undefinable mix of emotions warring in his heart. Kotomine had said that the two of them were alike. It would be easy to disregard the words of an enemy, to dismiss them as a mere ploy to psychologically undermine him during the battle; but Shirou could not deny the chord that the priest's words had struck within him. The two of them were both empty people, incapable of normal happiness; both had wondered about the purpose of their lives, and the answer as to how they should live. Kotomine had found what he'd believed to be his answer, and had followed it with unwavering conviction to the very end – and now Shirou had to be prepared to do the same. It was only chance that he happened to be working to save rather than to destroy; the two walked the same road in opposite directions. Shirou could not help but feel a kindred companionship with the spirit of this fallen man.

"Thanks, kid." Lancer said, breaking the moment with his incongruously cheery voice. "I've been wanting to do that for a while now. It was his idea to keep up the pretense I was dead so that I'd be able to backstab you at the end, so I guess this is karmic justice or something. Man, I can't believe I had to sit out so much of the War. Talk about E-rank Luck."

"From what Bazett said, you were pretty lucky to survive the wound you took at Ryuudou Temple." Shirou said.

"Hey, if I died that easily, I never would have become a Heroic Spirit in the first place." Lancer said.

Despite Lancer's casual tone, Shirou knew that he was drastically understating the severity of the injury. From what Bazett said, the False Assassin's knife had pierced his heart, causing it to stop beating and actually killing him in a technical sense. Most Servants would have crumbled to dust at that point, but Lancer possessed the Battle Continuation personal ability, which meant that even after having his heart destroyed he could still remain active for several minutes before disappearing. Sensing that her Servant had sustained a mortal wound, Bazett had used the second of her three Command Spells to instantly recall Lancer to her location. She had then used healing magecraft to repair and restart his heart, barely managing to revive him before the time limit ran out. Bazett had confessed that even she hadn't been expecting it to work — since the False Assassin had been able to destroy Gae Bolg with a single stroke of her knife, Bazett had naturally assumed that it had to be a potent Noble Phantasm that inflicted wounds which mortal magecraft wouldn't be able to heal. But to her surprise and relief, the healing had worked. According to Lancer, this was because the knife itself was only an ordinary tool, not a Noble Phantasm; it was something about the False Assassin's technique rather than her weapon which had allowed her to sunder Gae Bolg.

"Anyway, it looks like he was the last one standing in your way." Lancer said, gesturing at Kotomine's body. "I should get back to my Master; she may act tough, but she's actually pretty hopeless without me. Go do what you came to and save the girls."

"Right." Shirou said.

He forced his pain-wracked body to move. Avalon would keep repairing his physical form no matter how much damage he took, but there was a limit to what his spirit could endure. The pain of having his body repeatedly smashed, the alien sensation of his Reality Marble overwriting his flesh with inorganic material, the strain on his magic circuits of having done more powerful magecraft than ever before in his life... he was surely approaching his limit. However, he couldn't stop and rest now. A little bit further... he had to push forwards just a little bit further, so that the world would be saved.

Limping unsteadily, Shirou approached the two Avenger where they were stalemated in combat: two perfectly evenly matched Servants, both unable to gain even an inch of advantage over the other. Placing a hand on his chest, on the small crystal dagger which hung like a pendant around his neck, Shirou began the incantation.

"Trace, on."

The two Servants fighting futilely before him were not his enemies. His only enemy was himself: his own limitations, his inability to be a hero who could save everyone. That was the opponent which needed to be overcome. So he cast the spell not to change the world, but to change himself. To alter the world within his mind, the endless battlefield where he warred against himself.

"Trigger, off."

His structural grasp magecraft reached into the crystal pendant. A gift given for the sake of memory, it carried memory of its owner within it. Shirou focused on a particular moment in time: a battle in the temple on top of the mountain, when a Caster in purple robes had struck at a Rider in a wolf fur cloak with an unusual ceremonial dagger.

"Bullet, rollout; clear."

Shirou could see it clearly in his mind; every aspect of its structure and nature, both physical and magical. And as soon as he had comprehended it, it became a part of him. Beneath a sky of grinding gears, atop a hill of swords, a copy of the dagger appeared within the world that reflected his soul. It was nothing more than a fake, an imitation; but it would be enough to save the world.

"I am the bone of my sword!"

He inverted the world-egg, externalized his inner world, imposed his unyielding ideal upon the reality that would not permit it to exist. Extending one hand, he drew forth the dagger from his Reality Marble — and then he extended his other hand and did so again. Therein lay the greatest power of Unlimited Blade Works: there could be only one original, but it is possible to produce any number of imitations. With his multiple forgeries, he could do something that the unique and singular original could not. The identical twin daggers gleamed in his hands, awaiting the word that would unleash their power.

"Rule Breaker!"

Destroyer of All Marks. It was an Anti-Magic Noble Phantasm which could sever any binding. The summoning which connected a Rider to her mount. The Command Spells which bound Servants to their Masters. And even the multi-millennia old curses which had forced two innocent souls to bear all the evils of their worlds.

"Here is my answer, Kirie Kotomine!" Shirou shouted to the Grails above. "You accept and suffer all evils of this world; I will accept and rejoice all that is good in this life!"

Locked in stalemated combat with one another, neither Avenger was able to react as Shirou leapt between them and thrust his Projected daggers directly into the centers of their chests. There was a moment of silence, then a great explosion of light. White and pure, it shone from within the bodies of the two Servants. Then, in that beautiful purifying light, their curses began to fade. The savage tattoos that had been carved into the body of True Avenger erased themselves, leaving his flesh unmarred; and the chains that spread like a web from False Avenger crumbled to ash, leaving her body unbound. The nameless man who had been cursed with the role of Angra Mainyu, and Akito Sohma who had been cursed with the role of God of the Zodiac, were at last free of their burdens.

But even as they radiated bliss, the cavern was filled with two hideous roars of such ferocious strength that they seemed to shake the very ground beneath Shirou's feet. The two Great Grails churned and roiled in a nauseating manner, their auras of darkness flaring and expanding as they screamed their rage. Having been nurtured for uncounted ages by the spite and malice of all humans who refused responsibility for their own actions and instead cast blame on gods and devils, they yearned to be born into the world so that they could commit in truth all the sins that they were blamed for. It did not matter that they had lost the connection to the Servant bodies that represented the original bearers of the curses, for they had never been anything but random scapegoats: a convenient whipping boy and girl to be lashed in place of the intangible Evil which could not be touched. They were no longer necessary now that Evil itself was about to manifest in true, pure form made real by the unlimited wish-granting power of the Grail. But while the curses no longer needed vessels, they did need conduits: connections to the physical world. The Lesser Grails were supposed to serve this purpose, serving as keys which would unlock the Great Grails upon receiving the souls of enough Servants. But now the carriers of the Vessels, Sakura Matou and Ilyasviel von Einzbern, had been freed from Akito's control. Though they'd fallen to the ground when the chains supporting them broke, a great mound of dust created by the disintegration of the False Avenger's throne had cushioned their fall. Ilya, who had been created specifically as a key to open the Great Grail, was now using all her strength to turn her power in the opposite direction and keep it closed. She grasped Sakura's hands, helping the less-experienced magus do the same to the reconstructed Vessel implanted within her. Without the Vessels to act as keys, the curses remained trapped in within the Great Grail. And so they screamed their fury.

The black suns throbbed and pulsed as the curses thrashed within. Too long had the Heaven's Feel gone uncompleted; too many centuries had passed without the ritual fulfilling its function. Already in the previous War the Cup of Heaven had begun to overflow, no longer able to contain the forces that had built up within it. The curses would not wait patiently for their next chance in the next War years in the future; they would seize this moment to tear their way free of the wombs that imprisoned them and unleash themselves on the world that had wished for them. Already, thick, burning, blood-like mud was beginning to drip from the Grails as the curses began to force their way out. Only moments remained to stop them, or the whole world would become the burning hell that Shirou had experienced ten years ago.

"Come on, Tohsaka!" Shirou shouted. "You always said I was just a half-baked incompetent magus, right? Now's your time to prove it! Show me some True Magic!"

==Interlude: Rin Tohsaka==

While Luvia tended to Bazett's wounds, Rin kept her eyes fixed on the two Grails. She gripped the Jewel Sword Zelretch tightly in her hands. A Mystic Code designed by the Sorcerer Kischur Zeretch Schweinorg, the sword's original function had been to use the Second Magic to draw mana from parallel worlds, and so provide the user with a limitless supply of magical energy. Zouken, twisting it to his own ends, had altered the sword's design so as to pull not merely energy but an entire alternate Grail from the multiverse. The sword was no longer a weapon, but a key: turning it one way had brought the False Grail to this world, and turning it back the other would send it back. Using that key was the responsibility that had been entrusted to Rin. Based on the Tohsaka family's previous study of the blueprints Zelretch had provided them generations ago, Rin believed she had enough of a grasp on the sword's magical foundation to use it. However, the False Grail was currently too firmly anchored to the world by its connection to the False Avenger to be moved. The curse contained within the Grail, eager to be born, would not release its grasp unless that connection could be severed. So Rin was forced to wait...

Then a tremor passed through the cavern, and the massive sprawl of chains that filled it began to break apart. As the large throne the False Avenger had raised in the middle of the space collapsed into dust, Rin felt the energy of the sword in her hands change: a blockage had been cleared, a resistance removed. Somehow, unbelievably, Emiya had done it. Now it was her turn to deliver. Focusing her mind, she poured all of her will into the glimmering crystal blade.

The Kaleidoscope turned. A cracked mirror became whole. Two reflections merged into one. Dimensions that had been made to overlap now snapped apart. The distortion was mended, foreign matter and energy returning to their proper places. The world was made right again.

Rin lowered the sword. She had succeeded in wielding the Second True Magic, using Sorcery to undo what Zouken Matou had wrought and return everything that had been taken from an alternate universe back to where it should be. However, that still left this world's original corrupted Grail. Dark and bloated, it still hung in the air above the center of the cavern, now looking less like a burning black sun and more like a festering boil about to burst.

Rin fell to her knees, her strength exhausted, but did not let her gaze waver from that hideous sphere of darkness. She needed to see, with her own eyes, the final end of the Holy Grail.

==Interlude Out==

Shirou raised his hand as he imagined Kiritsugu must once have done, closed his eyes, and focused on his last remaining Command Spell.

"Saber." he said in a soft and level tone, confident that the magic would convey his order. "By my third Command Spell, I hereby give you my final order: use Excalibur to destroy the Holy Grail."

==Interlude: True Saber==

Last War, Saber had only seen the Grail Vessel, the beautiful golden cup which had been carried within the body of Irisviel von Einzbern. Gazing upon it, it had been easy to believe that it was the true Cup of Heaven, the cherished treasure for which she had pledged her service to the World as a Counter-Guardian. But now, gazing upon the Grail's true form, it was plain to see that it was no such thing. This was no sacred chalice of divine miracle; it was the Inverse Moon, Heaven's Fall, the womb which would birth All Evils of This World.

Gazing up at that hideous roiling mass of darkness, Saber wanted nothing more than to cleave it asunder with her holy sword and let Excalibur's light burn away the darkness festering within. However, she needed to wait until she was certain she had the magical backup necessary to end it with a single strike. The fight against Herakles had left her exhausted, and failure to completely obliterate the Grail's contents would result in a repeat of ten years ago, when a portion of the curse had spilled forth and burned the city.

Then Saber felt the magic of her Master's Command Spell pour into her. Shirou had issued his final order; the same order Kiritsugu had given ten years ago. At that time, she'd fought the command with every fiber of her being, unable to understand why Kiritsugu would force her to destroy with her own hands the prize that they'd both sacrificed so much for. Now, knowing the Grail's true nature, Saber embraced the command and let it give her strength. Excalibur's golden light flared with renewed vigor as prana flowed into it from Shirou's Command Spell.

By using her Noble Phantasm, Saber was sealing her own fate. With this act, the Grail War would end. She existed as a Servant only by the right of the contact she'd made with the World as she lay dying on the battlefield of Camlann, to become a Counter-Guardian in exchange for the Holy Grail. Giving up on obtaining the Grail meant accepting her fate and returning to face her death. It was an acceptable ending for King Arthur, the perfect king who would not hesitate to martyr himself for others. But while she had acted out that persona for so long, there still existed within her the girl Arturia, who wished she'd never pulled the sword from the stone, and who wept tears of regret that she must once more sacrifice the possibility of an ordinary life with people who she had come to love.

But there was no time for doubts or regrets. Only a single path remained to her. Lifting the blazing Sword of Promised Victory above her head as though to challenge the heavens themselves, she spoke the sacred name which unleashed its power.

"EX-CALIBUR!"

Golden light poured forth from the sword and pierced into the heart of the Grail. Everything was enveloped by that pure, shining radiance; the accumulated darkness of centuries burning away before unyielding light. An inhuman scream rang out as the shadow within the Grail's heart was torn apart; then the Grail shattered, and all was consumed by annihilating light.

==Interlude Out==

The roar of Excalibur's blast shook the cavern. Shirou pulled Rho Aias from the hill of swords and held it over the heads of himself, Sakura, and Ilya as chunks of broken rock fell from the ceiling. For a few moments, Shirou worried that the entire mountain was going to collapse on their heads. However, Saber had apparently aimed her strike well, pouring the majority of the energy directly into the Grail itself, because the rain of falling stone quickly came to an end. The pressure of the evil energy that had been pouring from the Grail had lifted, like a massive weight being removed from his body, and the sinister crimson glow that had pervaded the cavern was fading as the magical formula underlying the Heaven's Feel ritual began to shut down. Using what remained of the dimming light, Shirou checked the condition of the girls he had saved.

Both were lying limp, having exhausted their strength in their efforts to prevent the Lesser Grails implanted within them from opening the Great Grails. Even so, Sakura's condition was showing a remarkable improvement compared to the time she'd spent under the False Avenger's thrall: the web of cursed darkness that had spread under her skin had vanished, and a bit of color had begun to return to her deathly pale complexion. Her breathing was deep and regular; and though Shirou wanted to get her medical attention, his own judgement was that she was out of immediate danger.

Ilya, by contrast, lay limp like a discarded doll. Her skin, already unusually pale, had gone a bloodless white; her chest barely moved with breath; and her forehead burned with fever.

"Ilyasviel!" Shirou knelt down and cradled her. "What's wrong?"

"Sorry, Shirou." Ilya said weakly. "But I was created for the purpose of being the Grail's vessel. And, there was no need for me to retain my functionality as a human being afterwards. So, this end was inevitable for me. There's nothing to be done..."

"Ilya, you idiot!" Shirou shouted. "I came all this way to save you! You think I'd give up now? Just watch me! Because I am – a hero!"

Shirou turned his structural grasp magecraft inwards, reaching into the depths of his own body. There, he found it: a shining golden light. Avalon, the sheath of Excalibur, a Noble Phantasm which granted its holder immortality. The concept of the ever-distant utopia crystallized within that treasure would protect against not only injury and disease, but even the advance of time. Even if Ilya's declining condition was a natural consequence of her existence as a homunculus, Shirou was certain that Avalon would be able to save her – just as it had saved him, after that long-ago fire.

"Trace, on."

Shirou had a perfect image of Avalon in his mind. With the actual Noble Phantasm itself embedded within his body, he could grasp every detail of its composition, structure, and nature. However, after his fight with Kotomine, he barely had any strength or magical energy left. He had abused his body, pushing it far beyond its limits, and was now paying the price. There was no way he could successfully Project such a powerful Noble Phantasm in his current condition. But even so, he wouldn't give up on saving Ilya. If a person was suffering before his eyes, he had to help them, no matter the cost.

And so Shirou did the only thing he could do. He drew forth Avalon itself, pulling from his chest the very object that had saved his life so many times in this War. As the pain of his injuries threatened to overwhelm him, he used the last of his strength to press it into the body of the small, frail girl lying before him.

Then, deprived of the light that had been supporting him, his consciousness spiraled down into darkness.

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