This is the old version of chapter 63. I deleted the original due to being unsatisfied with it and you can go back to the previous chapter to read the canon new version. I decided to reupload the old version for anyone who liked it, even if it's no longer canon.
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It only took Illya a second to reach the Grail's chamber thanks to the winged sandals she wore. Illya and Mordred found a warped area, space itself full of cracks, holes, and bends that were gradually reverting to normal. There was a profoundly vile sphere floating high that made Illya want to vomit just from looking at it. That was the Greater Grail controlling her mama. All the exhaustion the homunculus felt was forgotten at the sight of her enemy. Below the sphere, on a plateau, was mama. She was a husk of her former self that showed no awareness of her surroundings. A little closer to the entrance was the Lion King who was lacking her armor and had splotches of black all over her skin. Right by the entrance was mom and Chloe, the latter being in tears while the former held her with her single arm.
"What happened?" Illya ran over to her mother and twin. "Are you both okay?"
"Where's Heracles, and where's the womb?" Mordred ran up too. "Is the fight over?"
"Heracles is gone." Chloe whispered. That answered why she was crying. "He died destroying the womb and all the enemies. He went out like a badass."
"I'm so sorry, Chloe." Illya wrapped an arm around her twin, mom letting the homunculus go.
"Mordred, come with me." The Lion King said. "If you and I use our strongest attacks together, we can destroy the Grail."
"I'll be right there." Mordred zipped right to the goddess thanks to his sandals.
"Once we destroy the Grail, we can try our plan to turn your mother back to normal." Artoria looked at mama.
It was then that mud began leaking out of the Grail and piling atop the plateau around mama. The cursed device excretion made it look like a weeping eye.
"It's still trying to fight back, we need to destroy it quickly!" The Lion King charged up a golden beam while Mordred held out his sword, about to call its True Name.
Projectiles shot out of the waterfall of mud. Bullets and arrows forced Mordred and the Lion King to dodge out of the way and stop their attacks.
Two figures appeared and joined mama in standing atop the growing pile of mud. One was a man with dark skin and white hair in a buzz cut. He held two handguns that had familiar bayonets, one red and the other white. Illya had to admit, those guns were the coolest things she had ever seen and it made her wish she was able to project modern weapons. Wait, she was able to trace them. Those were modified versions of Kanshou and Bakuya, so they still counted as swords. That meant they were fair game, Hell yeah! No, this wasn't the time to get hyped up. If those were Kanshou and Bakuya, then that was the Altered form of Emiya. He looked…different. His face was so cold, even colder than it used to be. There was no life in his expression, only focus sans passion.
The other figure was a man with red skin and a strip of cloth that hung over his head, covering his face. He held a bow in his hand and he had an aura about him that made it a struggle for Illya to move, instinctual fear paralyzing her. That had to be Heracles Alter. It was hard to get a read on him, but he was definitely the biggest threat in the room.
"Heracles?" Chloe whimpered.
"I am Alcides." The bowman summoned a sash that was saturated with Divinity, wrapping it around his arm. He summoned multiple arrows into his hand that he dunked into the mud, infusing them with their curses along with divine power from the sash. The red man fired a salvo of arrows that was met by a series of lasers from the Lion King, deafening booms resulting from the projectiles destroying each other. More arrows followed in an even greater quantity. The goddess tried to destroy them all, but there were too many and she was too exhausted by this point. Mordred destroyed the remaining arrows with slashes of her sword, but she needed to use Mana Burst every time in order to have the necessary offensive power. The arrows just kept coming so Mordred and the Lion King had to switch to dodging while deflecting any projectiles that they couldn't avoid. Mordred used their newfound speed and flight from the sandals to soar over to the trio on the hill of curses, thrusting Excalibur at the bowman. The sword pierced right into the veiled man's chest. It should have been instant death, but it seemed this version of Heracles had some kind of immortality Noble Phantasm as he survived and grabbed Mordred by the head. The knight was dunked into the mud. Mordred was an Alter so he was pretty much immune to the corrosive curses, but his sandals dissolved, returning him to his normal speed. The Lion King charged towards the mud hill to save Mordred, but multiple titans formed from the coagulated curses and got in her way. The submerged knight slashed at the hand holding his head, forcing the bowman to let go which let Mordred jump out of the mud. The goddess finished destroying the titans and both she and Mordred struck at Heracles, but he dodged and forced them back with more arrows.
"Mom!" Illya grabbed her mother's arm. "I have Mordred's Avalon inside me. Take it so you can heal up a bit and help fight."
"Yes." Mom put her hand on Illya's chest and pulled out the scabbard.
"Reincarnation Pandora."
The sheath disappeared from mom's hand. Illya looked around until she noticed Avalon was in the corrupted Heracles' grasp. He inserted the sheath into himself, the wound in his chest knitting closed.
"Fuck."
While the weakened Lion King and Mordred Alter continued engaging with Heracles Alter, Emiya Alter began shooting at Illya, mom, and Chloe. Illya grabbed her twin and mother before flying out of the chamber and back into the tunnels that led to it. Woefully, Illya's winged sandals didn't last much longer. They were Divine Constructs so maintaining projections of the footwear for long wasn't possible without a consistent amount of magical energy being pumped into them, something Illya couldn't do in her current condition.
The sandals disappeared and the trio face planted into the ground. They had made it a good ways into the mountain's tunnel system at least.
"God, I landed on my tits." Chloe groaned.
"The corrupted Emiya is following us. I can feel him." Mom tried to get to her feet, but couldn't.
"Shit fuck. Chloe!" Illya got up. "Make a contract with me."
"What? You're not a Servant."
"Yeah, but we can use our attribute of the flow and transfer of power so you can send your magical energy to me so I can fight. Mom is too hurt so even if you gave her extra magical energy, she wouldn't be able to heal fast enough. The only thing holding me back is a lack of magical energy since Avalon fixed up my physical wounds already and I can fight on the level of a Servant. C'mon, let's do this." Illya was talking so fast that her words blended together.
"I guess it's the best we got. Give me your hand." Chloe stood up and held out her arm. Illya clasped hands with her twin. Chloe began an incantation as Emiya got ever closer.
"Come on, come on." Illya bounced on her feet while Chloe continued the ritual.
Emiya appeared at the end of the tunnel the trio was in.
"Chloe!"
"It's done!"
Illya was filled with power that reinvigorated her. She went from barely conscious to so awake that she felt like she was hopped up on stimulants.
Emiya rapidly fired with his pistols.
"Time alter - square accel!" Illya's time dilated to make her faster while she began projecting two weapons. In her hands appeared perfect copies of the guns Emiya Alter was using. As soon as they appeared in her hands, Illya knew that these were the perfect weapon for her. Despite her Origin of sword, the homunculus would always be a marksman first and foremost. Guns were more her style so using pistols that still utilized her Sword Origin was the perfect combat method for her. Illya's fighting style had finally been completed.
A few pulls of the trigger were all that were necessary to shoot the incoming bullets out of the air. Illya projected multiple Origin Swords around her that she fired at Emiya who weaved around them whilst running at Illya and company. The homunculus kept on sending blades and bullets, but the Alter kept dodging the former and destroying the latter with his own shots. Once close enough, Emiya slashed with his bayonets. Illya blocked and slashed back. The fight became a mix of a sword fight and a close range gun fight, the pair attacking and defending using both blades and bullets.
"Argh!" Chloe got hit in the upper arm by a stray bullet.
"Chloe, mom, get out of here! I'll hold Emiya back!" Illya said. Chloe and mom ran further into the cave system, Illya's mother looking back for a moment before leaving sight.
Both Illya and Emiya began twirling their guns around their fingers while slashing with them and firing. Bullets went in just about every possible direction and the spinning made the firearms act like buzzsaws that created sparks with every collision. With such a hectic duel, it was amazing that Illya was able to keep up even with time alter. Thankfully, Emiya Alter wasn't very fast by Servant standards. Neither completely avoided every attack, as some bullets and slashes managed to hit their mark. Holes and cuts covered Illya, but they quickly healed thanks to Avalon. Not a single bullet got to Emiya as he had nigh unparalleled skill in avoiding and redirecting projectiles, but he ended up with some lacerations that couldn't heal as easily as Illya's.
Despite how comfortable using guns was for Illya, they weren't very useful against this opponent so she had to change fighting style. The homunculus' pistols fused together into a staff with curved blades resembling Kanshou and Bayuka at each end. Illya twirled her new weapon while swinging it repeatedly. Such a large weapon rotating at high speed caused it to have a large functional surface area that made it a good shield against bullets while it was being used to attack. Emiya's shots rebounded while he dodged around the staff. One time when Illya swung her weapon, she let it go, throwing it and thus extending its reach beyond what Emiya was prepared for. He barely got out of the way as the makeshift buzzsaw flew past him. While he was dodging, Illya projected an Origin Sword that she thrust at Emiya. The Alter dived out of the way and rolled, getting back on his feet a good few feet away.
"I am the bone of my sword." The Origin Sword disappeared from Illya's hands and a new one replaced it, a demonic sword of the Sun that rivaled Excalibur. Illya took a wide stance and pulled the blade back as it gained a blinding aura that resembled solar rays. Having such power in her hands made Illya feel unstoppable. She swung the sword and unleashed a giant laser. "Gram Image!"
Emiya projected an ax into his hand and swung, slicing open a hole in space that the beam flew into. Illya already knew what was happening.
"Av-" Illya stopped short of saying her scabbard's True Name as she was filled with intense pain. Using her Reality Marble, which was created with Avalon's power as its base, had some longer lasting side effects than it already seemed to. Even now that she was healed and reenergized, Illya could't use Avalon's true power and likely couldn't for the next few weeks. That was a problem considering a portal opened up behind Illya from which Gram's laser came out. "Rho Aias!"
Seven larkspur formed a multi-layered shield that stopped the great light. A layer broke and parts of Illya's arm ripped open. Another layer broke and more wounds formed on the limb. As the shield gradually caved to Gram's might, Illya formed a space-rending ax of her own, cutting open a gate to freedom that she jumped through and closed right as Rho Aias broke completely.
Illya landed on her feet in a spot safe from the laser, only to come under fire from Emiya Alter. Not only were bullets headed her way, but projected Origin Swords. Her own weapon was being used against her. She prioritized evading the blades, doing so at the cost of getting riddled with bullet holes that Avalon started repairing along with her mangled arm.
As she was about to launch a counterattack, the homunculus noticed that she couldn't find Emiya. He must have used his mantle that let him hide himself. There were no further attacks targeted at Illya.
Nothing.
Emiya wasn't attacking.
Was he still here?
Illya realized that she wasn't Emiya's main target. If he wanted to deal Illya's group the worst possible blow, then he should go after Chloe and mom. If Chloe died, Illya would lose her source of power.
"Fuck!" Illya ran in the direction of her mom and Chloe, and Emiya by extension.
There was no way to know how far Emiya had already gotten, and there was no good way to find him. Illya decided to use the brute force method to solve this. The homunculus projected a sword like a burning dragon's wing, Sul-sagana. It was so large that it filled the entire hall, its heat melting the surrounding stone, and Illya fired it deeper into the cave, steering it so it drove through the halls like water through a straw towards mom and Chloe. If Emiya was after them, then such a massive weapon would hit him eventually as long as it continued down the path he had to go to reach them. The only other option for him would be to burrow into the walls, but that would leave a trace that Illya could use to find him. He couldn't use the ax to create a portal to them since it wasn't capable of creating tears that led to specific places unless they were within line of sight.
Illya sensed a condensed clump of magical energy behind her. She swiveled and saw a single bullet headed her way. Upon tracing it, Illya saw that it was the Unlimited Blade Works Reality Marble that had been transmogrified into a bullet. Unlimited Lost Works. Emiya had tricked Illya into thinking he had run off in order to make her panic which would leave her unprepared for a surprise attack.
A weapon began projecting into Illya's hands as the bullet pierced her chest and became lodged deep within. The projectile's power began to bubble up. It was a step away from releasing the infinite swords inside it to make Illya burst apart. Illya finished creating Gáe Dearg, the homunculus stabbing herself with it. The tip of the magecraft canceling spear touched the bullet. Normally the spear couldn't nullify Reality Marbles due to their scale being too great, but having the alternate space be condensed down made it easy to touch it in its entirety and erase it.
There was more gunfire from Emiya, the homunculus pulling her spear out of her chest and deflecting the bullets. The shots came from different directions which meant Emiya was on the move to obfuscate his true position. Rather than try and find an invisible opponent, Illya just created multiple Gáe Deargs and launched them in different directions. Similarly to when Illya used Sul-sagana, the homunculus was just going to attack everything until she hit her target. As spears stabbed into and shattered the walls, floor, and ceiling, one happened to graze something, the cursed weapon causing a red cloaked man to flicker into view.
"There!" Illya projected multiple swords larger than her own body and launched them at the strobing man. The blades all missed, intentionally so as Illya knew Emiya could easily dodge them, but she wanted to instead use them to block all his escape routes as he returned to invisibility. The cage of armaments that formed around Emiya meant he could only move in one direction quickly, the direction Illya was shooting Origin Swords down. The hidden man created his own Origin Swords to counter and destroy the homunculus' while Chloe created an invisibility mantle she put on. She then projected an Origin Sword into one hand, and a Gáe Dearg into the other. After that she created more giant blades to form walls at both ends of the hall the fight was taking place in, preventing Emiya from being able to sneak off without detection. The blades around Emiya were broken simultaneously by multiple projected Noble Phantasms. Now both fighters were invisible and neither was sure of where exactly the other was. Any attempt to randomly bombard the area and hit the other could give away the attacker's location. It was a cold war.
Illya proceeded to step around the cave, each movement of her legs full of jitters and occasional retractions. She knew the only way this was going to end would be with her and Emiya bumping into each other. In that case, the one who struck first would win.
Illya took a step. She swallowed some spit.
Another step. A knot formed in the homunculus' stomach.
Another step.
Another step.
Another step.
Another step.
Another step.
Another step.
Bump.
The touch to Illya's shoulder made her instincts take over and she thrust her spear towards the sensation. Emiya came into view as Gáe Dearg pierced his mantle, though it missed his actual body. Another red spear stabbed through Illya's mantle and actually managed to impale her gut as it returned her to visibility. Blood rose up Illya's throat as she thrust her Origin Sword towards Emiya's solar plexus. The Alter projected a katana into his free hand; it was one of the weapons Gilgamesh fired from his treasury. The blade could reject and cut through concepts like causality, karma, and fate, so when its edge met the Origin Sword, it denied the power of Illya's weapon to cut and tie. The katana cut through Illya's blade as if it was made of air, Illya jumping back in an attempt to evade, but since the sword ignored causality, it wasn't limited by needing to actually make contact and thus have a cause for its effect to be inflicted upon the target. A diagonal gash went from Illya's right shoulder to her left hip.
Tsumukari Muramasa. That was the name of that katana. It was a sword forged in the future, but due to the nature of the Gate of Babylon granting Gilgamesh all the weapons of humanity, he had access to it. What was strange was that the sword was a fusion of all the swords in Unlimited Blade Works in a similar vein to Unlimited Lost Works. Did it belong to another version of Emiya? It would have been enough to kill Illya if it was used at full power, but Emiya Alter refrained from speaking its True Name and thus limited it since its full capacity was so great it would kill the user along with the target. Even the limited usage of such a sword was extremely taxing in terms of magical energy usage, but the Alter Servant didn't have to worry about that given he was being fueled by the Grail. Illya couldn't copy that blade given it was essentially infinite blades in one. It was too complicated.
Despite how hard she tried to stay on her feet, Illya fell to her knees. Emiya's slash ended up cutting through both the red mantles, turning them to scraps that languidly fell to the ground. The wound on Illya's chest was healing, but the Alter was about to swing his katana again.
Illya was going to die.
Hold up. Emiya Alter could have projected Tsumukari Muramasa or other Noble Phantasms of that level all he wanted without consequence thanks to the Grail giving him a functionally limitless amount of magical energy. Why did he wait until now? A version of Emiya that could spam his strongest projections all he wanted should have been a nightmare for the same reasons Gilgamesh was, yet he was holding back.
Why was Emiya holding back? He was never the type to show needless restraint, and there was certainly no need to use anything less than full power to slaughter the Grail's enemies.
Emiya wasn't acting in the Grail's best interest.
"Are you not completely under the Grail's control?"
The Alter jerked to a stop right as he began to swing his katana.
The only sound Illya could hear was her own breathing and the painful pounding of her heart. Both fighters stood still as stone. Illya tried to not let her mind wander to the metallic taste in her mouth or the burning throbbing she felt throughout her body. She was getting dizzy as her adrenaline high faded. It was hard for her to tell if she was bobbing her head or if her vertigo was that bad.
"I have a skill called Derisive Heart of Steel." Emiya spoke. "It embodies my devotion to the protection of the Human Order. As a Counter Guardian, I live only to eliminate threats to humankind. The Grail is such a threat, but it is the Grail's mud that gave me life. Its will is too great for me to completely resist. All my skill allows me to do is restrain myself to a degree. Only-"
Emiya couldn't stop himself anymore, his arm continuing its swing. Illya's mind focused and projected a new weapon. She had no time to swing whatever she made, so instead she made something that would serve as an attack by merely summoning it. Heracles' ax-sword formed, with the positioning of Illya's hands and the great size of the armament making it form inside Emiya due to his close proximity. The Alter figured out what Illya was planning and managed to sidestep, the ax-sword manifesting in his shoulder rather than his torso. The Guardian's arm, the one that held Tsumukari Muramasa, was severed. The homunculus slashed with her new weapon, Emiya evading it by backflipping. He projected his own copy of the ax-sword and both combatants stared each other down.
"You need to defeat me here." Emiya said. "You won't get another chance."
"Fine by me. I can't waste any more time here."
"Consider this your graduation test." Emiya raised his arm and his giant weapon with it. "Prove you were worthy to be my student."
"Don't go acting all sentimental on me now. I still hate you, so just shut up and come at me." Illya took a deep breath and raised her ax-sword as well.
Both warriors spoke simultaneously.
"Nine Lives Blade Works."
Illya and Emiya dashed towards each other. They channeled the experience and technique of Heracles, wielding their oversized weapons with immaculate precision that maximized their power and speed. This was a Noble Phantasm that adapted to any situation, becoming the ultimate martial arts offensive that could handle any situation. In the case of two people using it at once, each user would constantly be reacting and readjusting their most minute of movements in reaction to each other, both of them trying to get the slightest edge that would be the difference between victory and defeat. The first swings collided, the twin ax-swords creating a shockwave that caused the area of the cave the duo was in to break apart into pebbles, even the walls made of swords turning to shrapnel. The exchange was occurring so fast that not even a single grain of the destroyed ceiling had a chance to drop a micrometer, and they wouldn't until the battle was finished. Both weapons bounced backwards and the bones in Illya's arm cracked down to the marrow. Avalon healed her and she and Emiya slashed again, their weapons once again crashing into each other. Oscillations traveled through Illya's body, churning her insides. The swings of the ax-swords created vacuums that would pull in the surrounding air to fill themselves by the time the exchange of swings ended.
The third slashes hit each other again, but this time Emiya managed to hit Illya's ax-sword from the side, knocking it far off course and sending a wave of wind that burrowed a new tunnel in the wall. Thanks to having her weapon and the arm that held it pushed far out by Emiya's swing, it took her longer to ready herself for her fourth slash this time. By the time she was set to swing, the Alter was already mid attack. Illya held out her ax-sword with both hands and blocked Emiya's slash, the force of the hit transferring into Illya's arms and breaking them apart internally before they healed. As soon as her arms were in good enough shape, she pushed with both arms and slashed horizontally while Emiya was still pulling his own weapon back to ready his fifth swing. Illya took advantage of the dissonance between the two fighter's attack timings that Emiya created. Instead of trying to block or slash, Emiya pressed the side of his armament into the side of Illya's, pushing the homunculus' ax-sword upward while ducking. Illya's fourth swing missed because of this, but the redirect still caused Emiya's arm and the weapon it held to be flung out so he couldn't quickly counterattack. Both fighters had to pull their arms back in, so neither could attack while the other was unready and thus the staggering of the attack rate was undone.
Slashes five, six, and seven were all simple clashes of blades that continued pulverizing the surroundings with storms of dispersed air. Illya used both hands each time while Emiya still had to rely on his single remaining arm. Both fighters unleashed their eighth swings and when the ax-swords hit each other, one of them was broken in two. Illya's weapon had split thanks to Emiya having hit it in the exact same spot almost every previous time the two armaments clashed, all while he made sure his weapon was impacted at a different spot each time. Emiya had created a small weak point from the repeated strikes that he then used to break Illya's ax-sword and leave it with less than half its full length. Illya had already figured out that this was Emiya's plan and had initiated her own stratagem. She came up with it after she blocked Emiya's forth slash and she felt the majority of the blow's force enter her arms. While Emiya had been focusing the majority of the force of his swings on Illya's ax-sword to break it, Illya was angling her attacks to send the majority of the force into Emiya's single remaining arm. The homunculus was using two arms and had Avalon healing her, and Emiya wasn't targeting her arms, so she didn't have to worry about limbs breaking. Meanwhile, Emiya had only one arm that couldn't heal as fast, so it was no surprise when Illya's targeted attacks had worn away at it to the point that it ruptured. Skin and muscle tore open while blood and splinters of bone went flying. Only a couple strands kept the arm from falling off. The limb was no longer usable and its hand released Emiya's ax-sword. It seemed like the Alter was helpless as Illya was about to use her final swing, but Emiya caught the handle of his dropped weapon with the crook of his knee. Emiya swung his blade with his leg right after Illya did. Normally Illya would have the advantage since she swung first, but the surprise slash from an unexpected angle with a longer weapon made it so Illya's faster attack left her with less time and space to react. She would get hit with Emiya's blade if she tried to dodge and its greater weight made it so blocking would just lead to Illya's weapon getting cut through along with the homunculus herself. Since both those options weren't viable, Illya chose the third option, the most insane one. She kept running in while angling her body so she wouldn't get hit in the head. Emiya's ax-sword bisected Illya at the waist with a diagonal cut that caused the homunculi's organs to spill out while her body continued to fly forward thanks to her momentum. Illya lifted her broken sword high and before she brought it down on Emiya's head, she saw the corners of his mouth rise ever so slightly upward. The broken blade smashed the Alter's head in and continued downward until his body had been split down the middle.
The exchange ended and the sand that was all that remained of the area that hosted the duel was sucked towards Illya and the corpse thanks to the vacuums they created. Illya was hit with hundreds of tons of pulverized rock, the dissipating corpse of Emiya Alter, and her own severed legs and groin. The homunculus whited out for a second before regaining her bearings.
Illya was buried alive and she lacked the strength to dig herself out. It was a struggle just to stay awake given this was Illya's second big battle of the night. She sat underground, disassociating, her mind wandering to random topics. The Lion King and Mordred were still fighting Alcides. Hopefully they'd be okay. Illya believed in them. How was everyone outside doing? The sea demons should have all died since Gilles died. Hopefully none of the others were dead. Actually, Illya wouldn't mind if Fujimura was dead. Was it still nighttime? How close was it to sunrise? Illya was kinda hungry even though her stomach fell out. Phantom hunger? She was certainly feeling phantom pain. How long would it take for her legs to grow back? She had never lost a limb before so she didn't know how fast Avalon worked when it came to missing body parts.
A muffled sound hit Illya's ears. The weight on top of her decreased. The sand was cleared away from the homunculus' face and she opened her eyes, a few grains getting in them. Mom and Chloe had come back and were digging Illya out of the pile she was in.
"Illya, are you okay?" Artoria cupped her daughter's cheek.
"I'm-" Illya accidentally got some sand in her mouth that she began spitting out. "I'm alive. I don't have legs, but, y'know, Avalon. You two alright?"
"We're fine." Chloe picked up some strands of her twin's hair and tried in vain to brush off all the sand. "The real question now is whether we leave or if we're gonna go back to the Grail chamber again. None of us can actually help fight at this point, but I doubt that's gonna deter either of you."
"Actually, I think we should leave." Mom said.
"What? But we need to be there for mama." Illya grabbed her mom's wrist.
"Illya, what will happen if we get taken as hostages?" Mom's statement was met with no retort from Illya.
"Considering how the fight between Heracles and the Lion King against the Grail's forces went before, the Grail will definitely try to attack us to divert attention." Chloe added.
"But we need to be there to help reach mama."
"I understand how you feel, but we need to trust that Mordred and the Lion King can break through to your mother. They're both part of our family as well, so we need to have faith in them."
"I do have faith in them." Illya pulled her head back slightly as she was hit with embarrassment she couldn't explain.
"Then we need to show that we do." Mom sighed. "I've already done all I can to reach your mother. I doubt repeating the same points could budge her heart at this point. Is there anything you haven't already said that you think might reach your mother?"
"Not really."
"What do you mean by not really?"
"I mean no. I can't think of anything."
"We've done all we can to help. I bested Lancelot and allowed us to enter the mountain. Chloe gave Heracles the power to destroy most of the Grail's guards and even Avenger's womb which was honestly amazing." Mom smiled at Chloe who blushed and looked away in response. Illya became the focus of mom's attention again as she petted her daughter's head. "You not only helped to take down Gilgamesh, but even defeated the corrupted Emiya. Both you and Chloe have done more than enough. Let's leave the rest to Mordred, Add, and the Lion King. I think they'll be better able to help your mama, because they understand what it's like to lose yourself to the will of another. They'll save Iri."
"Okay." Illya closed her eyes. "Okay. You're right. I need to trust them. I do trust them."
"So we're leaving?" Chloe said.
"Yeah."
"Then I'll shoot over a telepathic message to the Lion King and Mordred so they know. I'll teleport us out after that. Just give me a sec."
While Chloe did that, Illya finally relaxed. She had done her part and put her faith in her siblings, and so she had nothing left to do other than rest. Sleep swept upon her like a thief in the night and took her to a dreamland filled with memories. The memories of her current Servant, her mom.
The woman king who made herself an icon stood upon a hill of corpses and swords, including the remains of her son. The tragedy Artoria Pendragon stood at the top of was one born from her own inability to trust Mordred, to accept him into her life. The king did not trust that her subjects could handle having anything less than a perfect king who was omnibenevolent, and in the end they rebelled in rejection of her inhuman rule. To trust her current family was to avoid those past mistakes.
Illya would trust her family too.