Author's Note: This is officially the shortest chapter of "Fate/Gender Reversal," at only around 1500 words, and I don't think the true ending, true epilogue, and good epilogue will even reach 2000 words each.

Not that I really mind. Like the saying goes: "Less is more." :)

Chapter 24: The Final Showdown, Part Two

Alone in the endless darkness, all Shira could do was scream.

Torture. Malice. Exile. Execution. Castration. Sadism. Theft. Robbery. Kidnapping. Rape. Arson. Bombing. Suicide. Homicide. Genocide. Manslaughter. Misdiagnosis. Concealment. Fraud. Greed. Murder.

All of this and more—curses created from every sin and every crime imaginable assaulted her senses, scorched her body, destroyed her mind. Nothing existed but this hell, nothing mattered but this pain, and the only reality was she would die.

Die, the curses seemed to be saying. Die, die, die, die, die, die, die, diediediediediediedieDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE—

Dad... The thought came feebly as Shira gritted her teeth in agony, unable to continue screaming. Is this...what you...had to endure...?

Of course he did; Kiritsugu had spent the last five years of his life burdened with the curse of the Holy Grail. He'd had all the evils of this world inflicted on him, been slowly sapped of his health, and then died, unable to fulfill his wish to save people.

But hadn't his daughter agreed to be a hero in his place?

"When I was younger, I used to want to become a Champion of Justice, too."

"Just leave it to me, Dad. I'm gonna make that dream of yours come true someday. I promise."

"Thank you, Shira. That's a relief."

Yes, she had. Where her father failed, she would succeed, which meant she couldn't let Kotomine beat her like this.

Shira screwed her eyes shut as determination rushed through her, her body tensing defensively against those curses. She had to get out, she had to get out, she had to get out—!

With a fresh scream tearing from her mouth, she burst out of the mud, her prison breaking apart like the cracking of an egg. Rubbing at her throat, she straightened up to glare at Kotomine, who seemed stunned.

"Impossible," he said. "Did you really break that curse?"

Shira ignored him, covertly pulling out the Azoth Dagger she had hidden inside her shirt.

Kotomine continued when she remained apparently motionless, his voice cool. "Well, this is disappointing. You broke through my curse so brilliantly, and now you do nothing? Have you run out of plans so soon?"

The redhead let out a short bark of sardonic laughter. "What plans?" she asked rhetorically. "I've been making it up as I go!"

She whipped out the dagger from behind her back and raced towards Kotomine. The priest once again stuck his hand into the mud coming from the black void, grabbing another glob of sludge and throwing it at Shira.

In seconds, another curse engulfed her. All the World's Evils threatened to devour her. The pain was just as excruciating as the first time.

But she did not scream. She did not cry out. She did not accept death.

Instead, she raised her arm and closed her eyes, having one more trick up her sleeve.

The golden light of Excalibur crashed against the red light of Ea. The wind blew about wildly as the power of the two blades collided with each other. Gilgamesh was laughing maniacally, so certain of his triumph, while Saber had his lips pressed together in a grim line, hoping against hope that the strength of the Sword of Promised Victory would be enough to defeat the Sword of Rupture.

It was for nothing; all too soon, Ea repelled Excalibur's light, and Saber let out a wordless yell as he was thrown back and slammed into the hard ground. As battered as he was, though, the knight forced himself to get up on his knees, turning around in time to see a smirking Gilgamesh holding Ea above his head, the three components of the blade spinning faster and faster.

Saber managed to stand, using Excalibur as a crutch. For several seconds, the two Servants stared each other down, the red glow surrounding Ea getting brighter as its mana increased. All Gilgamesh needed was to unleash his sword's power one last time, and the King of Knights would be annihilated. No matter how powerful Excalibur was, no matter how much magical energy Saber put into it, it was not capable of beating Ea.

"Enuma Elish!" Gilgamesh bellowed, Ea's red light charging towards Saber.

No, Excalibur was not capable of beating Ea.

But there was something else that could defend against it.

With the power of Ea coming straight for him, Saber took a step forward and thrust out his hand, uttering one single word:

"Avalon!"

Trace, on.

The hammer struck down in her head.

Her circuits overflowed with mana.

A bright golden light appeared above her, shaping itself into the scabbard she so needed.

The process only took an instant, bypassing all the steps required for projection. And why not? The scabbard called Avalon had been within Shira Emiya's body for ten years. It was only natural that projecting it would be as simple as breathing.

Without wasting any time, Shira grabbed for Avalon, and her fingertips had barely grazed it when golden light suddenly engulfed the scabbard and shattered the Grail's curse like it was nothing more than glass. She dimly heard Kotomine exclaim something; clearly, he was frozen in shock, and she used that to her advantage.

The Azoth Dagger in hand, she raced towards the priest, who still hadn't moved.

"It's over, Kotomine!" She closed the distance between her and her opponent at long last and promptly stabbed him in the chest.

Kotomine gasped out in pain, staggering back a little from the impact.

"Läβt." Shira's mana poured into the dagger, causing Kotomine's mouth to open in a silent scream.

And just like that, the battle had ended.

Excalibur's scabbard scattered into golden light as quickly as it had appeared in front of Saber, surrounding him with a barrier. Ea's red light crashed against the barrier, but to say that not even Gilgamesh's strongest Noble Phantasm could hurt Saber at this point would be the understatement of the century. Avalon did not merely give protection; it gave complete isolation by transporting the user to the paradise for which the scabbard was named.

That very paradise that Arthur Pendragon once saw in a dream—that eternal utopia existing outside of space and time that the King of Knights was said to go to after he died—was untouched by any filth or pollution. And just as Avalon could not be reached by the impurities of the physical world, Saber could not be harmed by any Noble Phantasm's power.

Therefore, the light of Ea washed over the barrier, and Saber pushed through the attack, charging forward towards a completely stunned Gilgamesh. With a great cry, the knight allowed his armor to dissolve into light, poured the resulting mana into his sword, and—

"EXCALIBUR!"

The blade was swung, and blinding white light burst forth and engulfed the golden king before he could even think to counterstrike, piercing through his armor and decimating the skin underneath.

The light faded, and there was a long moment of silence. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of Gilgamesh's blood as it spilled to the ground. Saber lifted his head, regarding his enemy coldly, while Gilgamesh stared back at him with a stony expression.

"Insolent child," Gilgamesh rasped sullenly. "You defied me to the bitter end, you and your Master."

"We are not objects for your amusement," Saber said flatly, "especially not Shira."

Gilgamesh's smile was humorless as his wounded body started to disappear. "I suppose the best possessions are the ones you cannot obtain. Farewell, Pendragon. It has indeed been fun."

With those last words, the King of Heroes faded away.

Kotomine stared in disbelief at the Azoth Dagger still in his chest. "How...how in the world did you get your hands on this dagger?"

"It doesn't belong to me," Shira informed him curtly. "It belongs to Tohsaka."

The priest continued staring at the dagger, a faraway gleam coming to his eyes. "I see. Long ago, just on a whim, I gave it to a certain young girl. That was ten years ago..." He paused. "It's no wonder that I've grown weak."

He suddenly seized up with a pained yell and fell backward, his body submerging in the Grail's mud. Shira waited a few seconds, but he did not get back up from the black sludge. Kirei Kotomine was dead, drowned in the very thing he summoned. She decided it was quite a fitting end for him.

Shira stepped back a little and faced the void in the sky, where the unconscious Ilya still hung from. She had barely a second to wonder how she could get the white-haired girl down when Ilya fell.

The redhead quickly held out her arms. "Trace, on." A blanket was projected into her hands and Ilya fell into it. Shira proceeded to wrap her in the blanket and took a moment to look at her face. Fortunately, Ilya didn't seem to be in any pain; in fact, she was smiling as peacefully as if she were sleeping in her room back at the estate.

Shira heard footsteps behind her, and she didn't need to turn around to know that it was Saber.

Well...we've won, she thought hollowly. The enemy Masters were dead, the rest of the Servants had disappeared, and no more innocent people could get hurt.

The final moment of the War had arrived: the destruction of the Grail.

And with it, Shira and Saber's parting.

Author's Note: Yes, I've chosen to end the chapter here, even if it does seem pretty abrupt. Stay tuned next time for the true ending, and if you get emotional easily, you better have some tissues on hand.

In summary, Shira gets in touch with her inner Indiana Jones, Kotomine and Gilgamesh get spectacularly PWNED, and Saber and Shira have won the Holy Grail War...yay?