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Act Three: Inversion Impulse

Moonlight (Music) /_cXJO6_qK0c

The white woman walks through the park where the fight happened only a day before. Humans fix broken things and put everything back into place. They recover so quickly. Pain washes over them easily as they move back to a normal life. An earthquake is a normal fact of life, as long as one does a human death, then it was all fine.

Except that no one died a human death. No one died from any earthquake. That was clear if you were willing to look. The people who had gone missing were gone the night before. They were swallowed by the night. A travelling calamity that they refuse to understand.

"Pfff." This was the point at which she would look down on them and move on. Humans were foolish and slow and they couldn't fly or anything extreme like she could. Her existence was separate from them, and her purpose did not include them at all. She could forget about it and continue on with her empty existence, assured at least of her own superiority.

That's how it had always been, but today Arcueid was feeling a pain that she could no longer ignore. The pain of knowing there is a path that could be taken to escape a fate that was set in stone. The issue lies within the fact that she neither knows what needs to change nor the solution that would change it. She only holds the knowledge that something is yet unknown, and that bothers her as if staring into the void. Interacting with Shirou had been like being stabbed from the start, but rather than becoming more comfortable with it the more she learned and understood him, it was the opposite. The more she could come to comprehend him, the more it felt like swords were impaling her from all around.

New sensations all at once without time to adjust would overwhelm anyone. She feels an empty feeling in her stomach and thinks of human food. She had had some of his leftovers in the morning, now it was the peak of dusk. Usually, she could go a few days without bothering with the action of eating, but now it was like her body actually wanted to... taste? Rather than just going through the routine of eating for the sake of it.

'I am... hungry?' She didn't quite have the word for it in the morning, but she was familiar with the idea. Such a mundane thought for a human was beyond terrifying to her. Unlike a Dead Apostle, she didn't need to drink blood to survive, so it was not even the same as the lust that blood brought out. This was a new emotion, which was something she had been thinking of a lot recently. Emotions that should be the providence of humans were starting to manifest inside her. It was the same as if a human suddenly began to crave the taste of blood. The vampiric essence corrupts a human, being a stronger agent than human genes. It is unfathomable that she, who was the purest vampire of all, would be corrupted in reverse.

The worst part was that it wasn't indiscriminate hunger. When she passed by a restaurant and saw food that was well-made she felt nothing even seeing humans enjoying fine dishes. Objectively, the food she saw at the restaurant was better prepared than what Shirou made for her; yet it was empty as if an entire colour was missing from its texture, making it seem completely off-putting and wholly inadequate.

It was the finalization of her own dread the day before, as she felt the inclinations of her soul altering her body against her will.

What power could cause this? 'I wish Arcueid could enjoy the happiness of tasting food.' Wishes like that remain in the sphere of fantasy. The rules of the world dictate that vampires taste only one thing. In that way, it should be impossible. It makes no sense, as the human taste is one built after millions of years of evolution and history that is completely separate from her own. Thus it should be impossible for her own body to attain, even if her soul has the ability to self-modify the form of the vessel it inhabited. That self-modification only works for those things she can understand in her soul. She can't give herself the ability to taste without first knowing what food should taste like, thus it should be an impossible step.

Even if she wished for it, it is impossible that she could attain that by her own means.

...That is where the most dangerous traps lay... Where something that is believed to be impossible, happens anyway. The fact is that the taste of Shirou's food filled up some part of her heart that was empty. Simple things like that can hold the most potent of magics. It was still likely not the same as what a human would feel from food, but that was only because she translated the same food into a different taste, one that suited her. Vampires did taste one thing after all... if it is in any way similar to that, then it was an ominous relation.

The apparent yet problematic answer was one that brought out that new sense of dread. Rather than Arcueid changing herself to match Shirou's wishes, it could be that Shirou changed Arcuied to match her own changing wish.

"That is beyond stupid!" She stomps so hard that a crack opens and splits a tree. Power that should be restrained inside herself radiates out barely contained. Anger was something she understood even before she met Shirou. However, there was a difference between the human and vampire experience of anger. It is far more difficult to bring out the outrage of a True Ancestor, yet astronomically more catastrophic when it does happen.

Such was the level to which she felt violated. Not that she had a rational reason behind it. Stepping back she can understand that objectively it is something that was perhaps too powerful. If it could change her, then that was reason enough to eliminate him as the threat he was. True Magic was the directly changing of something that should be a fixed, unchangeable truth. It was a threat to the world itself, thus they were the worst apostates in the vision of both Gaia and Alaya. But even that judgment is evaded by those who are troublesome enough to attain it.

Among the five True Magics found by humans, one was closest to Magecraft yet also hardest to truly master. The manifestation and alteration of the soul. The soul is the fixed fact that remained at the core of all beings. Magecraft of course could play with the soul and corrupt it with all manner of curses or even move it, but it couldn't truly change it or use it as the infinite power it is. 'He did say something about it but...' It was still unfathomable that he, of all people, would have some ability in it. He was genuinely clueless when it came to arcane matters. Maybe that was the point... it came as naturally to him as breathing, thus, it was easy to miss. He was either an insidious mastermind pulling the strings in a way that was frightening to even her, or he was a complete idiot getting by on complete luck. The truth was somewhere in the middle. 'I underestimated you, Shirou...'

And yet... all of that resulted only in the fact that she could taste food? Perhaps the gap between the effort required on his part to the result made her more agitated than anything. She had been created to clean up the contradictions that plagued the world. This one would not serve to be as eternal as the hunt for the serpent, but it matched it in its ability to make her mad.

Even realizing that all she gains is the knowledge of her own emptiness. 'This must be the worst curse...' Sure, it doesn't burn down a whole town or cause a forest to turn into a sentient monster or anything like that, but compared to this Arcueid would rather be in the forest where her enemy is something she can destroy. Shirou's curse turns you into your own worst enemy and forces your mind to eat itself alive. The problem was when this curse would break down the last barrier holding back the only other curse that matches his: her own.

It was certainly not a good situation.

That frustration is potent enough to drive anyone else insane. She alone can endure it, if barely. Her willpower is unmatched, as it has to be according to the curse she deals with. ...But perhaps there was one other now that she had come to know as holding a will equal to her own. Perhaps it would have been best if she had never come to understand that because now she can't help but want to know more.

Even if it only serves to make the pain worse, she seeks out the answers. She holds out no hope that she will find a cure to the contradiction hurting her, but she is unwilling to let go of at least knowing the truth regardless of the consequences. Why did I come? What am I even here for? Who called me? What is he to me?' The puzzle is an elusive one, and every time she thinks she has it, she finds new questions to be answered. Her investigation wasn't to figure him out and solve the puzzle, it was just her trying desperately to find any other answer but the clear truth. But lies like that only work when there is someone to tell them to. Had Shirou been by her side, she would have been able to lie to herself for a long time.

Now the lies are told only to herself, and each one is a sword trying to stab her heart.

Verg Avesta: the curse of shared pain. The fact that it was still actualizing even days after was unfortunate. It had weakened to the point that only a portion of the pain he was feeling transferred to her, but it was not so much the pain from the start that was the worst part. It was the understanding that came with it. Coming to understand another's pain: perhaps it is a crippling thing, not because it is uniquely horrible, but because it is simply different. For him, being torn apart by swords and swallowed by curses is still terrible suffering, yet so familiar it might even be ignored. For her to feel it without that familiarity debilitates even her.

They are incompatible beings. So much so that even his eyes, which fixate on truth, did not recognize her as a living being. But all things change, and as they came to understand each other, the growing pains began. If she feels like her body is being cut open, then she takes some solace that perhaps his eyes are burning him alive.

She knows she shouldn't desire pain on others, but for some reason, she can't help but think that perhaps if it is her hurting him, then that is not only fine, but desirable. As if his very existence was to receive her punishment. A convenient effigy meant to receive pain. She knows it is stupid. He knows it is stupid.

'So why...? Why could he sit there and accept it?'

For one to accept the unacceptable, that person must deviate entirely from the norm.

Even Arcueid, whose common sense was also warped, could not reconcile with it. Or perhaps the fact that she had held isolated beliefs for so long made it even worse. A single contradiction in her reasoning like that was like a threat to her existence as a whole.

He has no will of his own. He struggles, but not for himself. He is selfishly unselfish. He sacrifices himself needlessly and makes everyone worry, but can't help himself. He discerns truths that none else can know but misses the obvious that everyone else can see. It isn't a cry for help, and he seeks no attention, fame nor reward.

A solemn duty without an end, sworn to one that no longer exists.

He is―Shirou is―a being without a future.

"No-!" She yells out on the verge of tears. "A vampire doesn't cry..." Maybe her body didn't even have that capacity before she came here, but now there was water clouding her vision. It was the sadness of loss. The loss of something she had never had in the first place.

The emotion unlocked and tore her apart from the inside. It was being in Shirou's presence that caused it, like radiation that invisibly melts its surroundings. By the time she knew she had to deal with him immediately or else, she would be consumed, it was already too late. It was the eyes. As soon as she looks into his eyes, and felt primal fear for the first time, this was an inevitable result.

Arcueid had come to this distant cold country and found the source of the strange feeling that beckoned her here. When she saw it in his dark golden eyes, she found a rainbow shining in the dark.

Arcueid didn't know what it was, but she knew it was a terrible thing that none should know. Some could see the future, others the past, and others saw what makes up the character of every person they see. It was none of that, he was seeing something else entirely that is absolutely not meant to be seen by anyone, human or not.

That is all. But you know... there is no worse curse than that, because no matter how long he searches, and no matter how long he struggles he won't ever meet someone who can see from the same view. It was an ability that was one of a kind for good reason. Forever, he alone will know what is wrong and what is right and no one will ever listen. It wasn't his nature as a demon or human or whatever else that tied her stomach in a knot.

It was that familiarity.

Arcueid was tired by the time she arrived in this town as if it were all a dream from the start. There was only one reason she was supposed to wake up, and this was not it. The chains are beckoning her back. That part of her wants her to give up now. Shirou will die and humanity will sort itself out as it always has: by destroying itself needlessly.

As things are, she isn't sure that she could walk across town as the humans walk by her without ignoring her growing irritation. They move on with their lives and Shirou is left to clean up after them. She abandoned the red girl, not because she was useless, but because her red coat was beginning to honestly aggravate her. To continue is to walk straight into the source of that irritation and face the void head-on.

'Walk away from something that has nothing to do with you.' It would be easy to do that. The irritation would remain, but with distance and lost memories, Arcueid could continue to exist. ...But that is all. To walk away now and forsake something deemed 'extra' is lose any chance of ever doing anything more that 'existing'.

For as long as she can recall, Arcueid liked the 'what if' stories she could find in her dreams. There is no pain in it, even in the scary futures that could be. There is atonement in it, where reality was not kind.

She may not hold a mind of discernment as the Golden King did, but she was aware that choices could have rapidly intensifying consequences. Gilgamesh was obsessed with uncovering the truth, like an intellectual rapist, but Arcueid was most fascinated by fantasies that were built up by interesting lies.

There are three paths ahead.

She could retrieve Shirou and then throw him across the skies into her castle and give him the impartial judgement that humanity could never give. This would be logical, but for some reason she fears it the most.

She could walk away, and allow humanity to destroy itself. No matter what they do, they can't destroy the world itself. This would lead to ruin built out of her own cowardice.

She could drink his blood and they would both become demons that would be a scourge on the world. This would lead to ruin built out of her own madness.

The taste of blood was repressed under a labyrinth in her mind. It could also be said that she had never truly had it in its purest form. She has never feasted on the desires of one she truly desired.

There had never been such a person to draw her gaze...

However, if there is a single reprieve, it's that the impulses are very sudden. When True Ancestors are alone, they have manservants prepared for the time they become unable to withstand their urges. This is the origin of the creatures called Dead Apostles.

They're the dead disciples of a True Ancestor. They're like living painkillers for them. Such is the beginning of those vampires called Dead Apostles.

Arcueid had never had an underling who would sate her. ...Well, it's more like there wasn't a need until now.

For her, who was special even among True Ancestors, she alone could suppress those urges through sheer tyranny of will. However, she reached her limit last night. These impulses have no limit; they will never go away. This constant suppression of urges creates sediment, and before long, it overflows from its vessel. The longer they live, the stronger that urge grows. And when their own power isn't enough to stop those urges anymore―When those urges exceed their own abilities, their lives are ended by their fellow True Ancestors. Such is the end of an endless creature.

Humans and vampires are incompatible beings; coexisting in the same world leads them both towards their own self-destruction.

It's said that she was born in the 12th century. Even if her actual period of activity is a fraction of that, her period of existence remains unchanged. The impulse that has lurked inside her for a long time will soon tear a hole through her entire self. Rather, it's impressive that she's withstood it until now.

She is―Arcueid is―a being without a future.

A walking time bomb built long ago, about to pass by its promised time.

She doesn't continue for any reason. Not for the sake of mankind, and not for herself. And yet there are things she will not turn away from. She does it because it is her duty. She does so because that is how it has always been.

She existed purely as a weapon from the onset wielded by others who taught her never to think about anything else. So she was naive.

The True Ancestors, who were the monsters who preyed on men, feared her as a monster. They did everything to keep her from developing a will of her own. They treated her less as a family and more as owners. But they are long gone, and then she was alone with only herself.

A castle of chains...

Every experience, even the forgotten ones, was built into her soul slowly giving way to a living being. All that was required was a catalyst that would break down all the barriers to becoming this new stage of life. Lesser in spirit than she was in purity, yet greater in mind now that she was corrupted by her experiences.

Shirou was that catalyst. For what reason, she did not fully know... but she did feel she understood the answer.

Shirou was important to her before she set her eyes on him. His very essence was familiar, and his existence was so similar it hurt. In her dreams, endlessly seeking out the snake that grasps to life, she had felt something else entirely. A similar power to the snake, yet even odder. It was a smell of ash, sent by a wind of years past, one that carried emotions she had not known.

That was the first time she was interested in something. Opposites may attract, but so do those who are similar to the point of familiarity. It is said that those that remind you of yourself are the objects of greatest scorn. Arcueid hates Shirou.

She woke up. She took on the mission that she delivered to herself and investigated it. She sought out the contradiction in order to solve it. That was the cycle she has had for 800 years, without any openings for it to end.

Deep down, secretly, she did always wonder 'what if?' What if she simply gave in to the contradiction? What if she stopped caring about all the things that she had been made to care about? What if she tasted despair again?

It was harmless from the start because she didn't lust after blood on its own. She held no desire for any blood, because she barred herself from recognising another human being.

She immersed herself in nothing so that she could never wish for anything. There had never been something she enjoyed and liked before meeting him. There was just the emptiness of solitary imprisonment. The sole mission of a doomed existence, barred from acknowledging her own life. So when he showed up, it was like being presented with a silver platter of endless delicacies after 800 years of tasteless food. Vampires feed on human desire. He held an endless river of that darkness inside himself.

So just a taste...

"Haah..."

What a flavour that would be. The ultimate hedonistic act. As if feasting on every delicacy at once. Arcueid finds her breathing heavily as if sexually excited.

To drink the blood of one who is marked as a representation of humanity. To any vampire, Shirou's blood would represent something they must have. The final delicacy that would kill their final vestiges of humanity, and give them the answer they so desire. A poison pill that would swallow even a Dead Apostle Ancestor, yet grant their wish for eternity in the process. If anyone could relish in that full feast and survive, then it was the princess of all vampires.

Calming herself down is becoming harder and harder as time goes on.

There was a choice to make.

She looks down and sees an odd sight. There was a black cat at her feet. It had a stern and quiet face. "You're still here, are you, Len? If it is food you want, then I don't have any to give you... or... perhaps I do. I'm not sure. I'm sure that you can smell it, the great swirl of desire that is forming. Why not see it for yourself?" Len was her duty. She once served a Magus several centuries ago, and during that time, the magus helped Arcueid Brunestud defeating a top Dead Apostle by the name of Einnashe, and as a tradeoff for destroying Einnashe's Reality Marble, Arcueid promised to take care of Len after his death. Although she was under Arcueid's charge, they were unable to create a contract, because Arcueid can't make a contract with a spirit of nature, which is the same type as her, therefore Len is not considered Arcueid's familiar.

It was a customary deal to make to take care of a Magi's most precious possession after their death in exchange for help. When True Ancestors and humans once briefly coexisted on Earth, that was a traditional agreement that could be struck without even proper words to say it. Vampires are immortal, after all, thus they could look after something in a way similar yet not the same as a familiar-master agreement after the death of the magi. That was the only time that she took support from a human Magi-

"Ah...!" The realization struck Arucied hard. Faint pictures of broken memories. The puzzle pieces suddenly rearranged and a gleaming trth stuck in her head.

Whatever force that was compelling her to step away was swept aside. The right answer was found immediately, and the cat walked away as if pleased.

With that, she stands up and begins to walk where she knows is the proper destination.

Perhaps there was something growing inside Arcueid that the cat could feed on, but Arcueid had not yet given into that entirely. Not just quite...

What does she wish for? Can one who exists between life and death truly hope for something? Can desire grow where it has been repressed for 800 years? Can something truly be precious to her, or is it only an illusion?

What do... I? wish for?

I walk without purpose towards the temple on the hill. An odd smile won't leave my lips. Everything that remained was extra, but that is why I should smile and experience it to the fullest extent.

The End of Reminiscence (Music) /YJhC70dPN2Y

"A gas leak at Ryuudou temple caused mass unconsciousness today but due to the rapid response of the police and hospital staff, there have been no fatalities. Police have cordoned off the area and all residents have been told not to approach the temple until further notice. Yesterday's earthquake was marked as the likely cause and city government officials have assured that everything is under control and that it is an isolated incident... "

Rin turns off the TV. She knows she has to pull herself together and cover the human element. In Kirei's absence, Tohsaka has acted to conceal magic as a Church agent would. She has had to do what was an adult's job ever since those fateful days eight years ago when the Holy Grail was last active and her father never came home.

No one has been blessed since then.

Things are moving too quickly to stop what is in motion. The best she can do is contain the damage that is already happening. She won't dare to think about what the Association may do to her if even a sliver of what is happening reaches their ears. She wasn't that worried about it, as for better or worse, Japan was outside the limits of their supervision. The Holy Grail must be kept safe from the hands of the dead. As Second Owner, she swears to abide by her principles to the very end.

The stage is set. It seems that at least Gilgamesh has the mind to remove the people at the temple. Perhaps to remove any reason for those who he will force to come out for him to hold back.

As for her... Rin does not try to know what she thinks.

Rin knows she can't hold back on anything. Everything she can find in the workshop is scrounged out and thrown together. Every last scrap of stored magical energy. It may kill her on the inside for my savings to be taken out like that, but there are moments when they need to be available. She relents that she will only use it all if the world is about to end... That is the only justification for trading my minimum financial security. There's the great treasure sword under the care of Tohsaka and a few old Mystic Codes but nothing that grants any salvation. "Hmm..."

'If only there was a way to use it...' But it is only an old item that has lost its Mystery.

'Projection Magecraft...' The limits of that remain unknown, but without access to the one who could use it, there is no point to that thought. There is no ally this time, as it happens that he is the one being fought over.

'I don't know what he is thinking. It is extremely aggravating but it is out of my control. I'm a very calm and collected individual, after all...' She was not calm and was already thinking of the subtle torture and service she could put him through once he was back. She refuses to think in terms of 'if'. Shirou will be taken back and that is non-negotiable in her view.

This was the very moment she would consult him and be able to calm down. Tohsaka had become reliant in a way different from Sakura. Shirou was an irreplaceable partner and friend. That fact crept up on her a long time ago, and she stopped resisting once she made the calculation that he was worth more to keep than to throw away... even if sticking by him was full of trouble like having a vampire princess show up in town, or the oldest hero in history kidnapping him... or having his Mom kidnap her and keep her hostage for a while.

Sakura was reliant to the point of dependency, as she formed her entire mental state upon her relationship with Shirou. Rin never pitied Sakura. She always, conveniently, wanted her to be happy. But happiness as Tohsaka understood it was not at all as Sakura would, nor most people. The events of the last five years, tracing back to the days that they were reacquainted were a long story of silent rising tension. In the end, neither of them understood the other, and neither of them said what they truly felt. But that is how it is with many siblings, it is just that it usually doesn't escalate to the point that the two will fight to the death with the fate of the world at stake.

'I won't lose. I won't let it happen again.'

It was already a long journey. Having it end early would be a waste.

The last remaining question that matter is if she can handle that?

'Of course, I can. I never needed him.' It was just that life is much more palatable with him there.

She smiles smugly. It was never in question. "Fine, I'll do it myself." She has another knife that her boot, and some tricks up her sleeve. It is all a matter of calculating the proper approach and executing it without mercy. That has been Tohsaka's path for eight years... it will not stop now, for anything, or anyone.

The moment she allied with Arcueid, she felt stronger than ever, as if the world itself was giving her something of a pass for being a Magus. If Tohsaka was receiving outrageous backup like that, then she has no excuse for what is possible and impossible. There is no question in Tohsaka's mind she has the ability to kill Sakura all on her own. Regardless of the difference in power, she is sure of such a fact.

So she should be completely calm.

'There is no reason why I would not be calm, right? I'm totally calm...'

She combs her hair so that I will be presentable. 'Father didn't make it to his grave. Mother's body lived on even after her mind was lost. I don't want to look out of sorts if that happens. I will be Tohsaka Rin until the end.' Tohsaka Rin accepts death. To wrap herself in magic and become one with heresy is to walk right into hell along with the monsters.

Leaving for the temple, Tohsaka only makes it halfway down the hill to the intersection before sensing something wrong. Very very wrong. The house is cold, and it feels like the dead of winter. No one is out and about anymore, even if it is only evening.

Tresspassing (Music) /nXnRjzVzB4c

The Matou residence is empty of all magic. Its boundary field has been stripped and its spirit is barren as if devoured. Nothing can be felt coming from within. The door is ajar as if to beckon Rin into that void. Against the beating of her heart and the better judgment of her mind, she enters. Being alone, her nerves try to test me but she dispels them by being impulsive.

The dark house is grimmer even than her own. As if the lights have long been left to disrepair, everything is seemingly darker than even the twilight outside. Except for a door in the dining room. 'A door?' It stood out not because of the light, but instead because of the noise. It seemed like a thin doorway... down. As if it could normally be hidden behind a clock.

The noise was simple. It was the dripping of water.

Don't come down... Don't come down...

Every alarm in her head is blaring and screaming to walk away and never come again. But she is no coward, no matter if that is a good or bad thing.

"I mean... how bad could it be...?" Tohsaka Rin was always too curious for her own good. Even the things she knows will only hurt her... she refuses to back down from.

The sight she finds is as horrible as perhaps she knew she would find.

There he is... in a pile of blood and vomit, and what can only be described as rotten flesh. Vomit almost burns Tohsaka's throat, but she is too shocked to even have that happen. Her eyes are hazy, but she can tell he is alive.

The rising mass in the middle is Matou Shinji, who can only be described as being covered in worms. This time acid rises as high as her mouth, yet she forces herself to swallow it back down but she falls to her butt. Then she realizes it... "Ahhhh!" Tohsaka screams a truly scared scream. Not as a Magus, but as a girl. Then, as if frightened by the noise, worms begin falling from the ceiling along with the dripping of blood down onto her. Tohsaka Rin blacks out, and unleashes her magic.

In a rage, a few minutes pass and the room is turned into a conflagration as Tohsaka Rin becomes a demon-possessed using fire magic to try and make the image burn away. The room is alighted by flames burning away everything.

In the midst of it, she saves the one other human left.

The worms are all, without exception, dead. They were dead from the start. As if all their energy was drained and devoured equally until their tiny lives were lost. That didn't matter to Rin, though, and now all that remained of the Matou catacomb was a burnt husk. Tohsaka unleashed some magic that she almost never used because it was too uncontrollably destructive, but doesn't regret it for a moment.

It takes a few minutes for Tohsaka's human brain to return as it tries to reconcile the horror. She could run away from this, but she doesn't. She holds some sense of responsibility to a fellow human. Perhaps it was something Emiya shed on to her. But she can't help but make sure Shinji is alive.

"Shinji, snap out of it!" She flashes smelling salts on his face, and that wakes him up quickly. But he is panicking as if under attack. She holds him down strongly. "Calm down already...! Geez...! Ahem, calm down." She realizes yelling is probably not going to help with this. Diplomacy with irrational people was never her strong suit.

Eventually, she gets tired of playing nice. 'I need to be less mercifully anyway, I can't have anyone thinking that I am a nice person.'

"Du wirst zuhören und du wirst antworten!" That freezes him and I take control of his figurative heart in my mind. It is like a Geis, but without the consent part. This spell only works for the magically weak like Shinji, it wouldn't work on even a novice like Shirou. It's rarely used since it can't remove memories, so using it would usually be breaking the laws of the Association. Unfortunately for Shinji, he already knows too much so I can do whatever I want to him. It may not be pretty but it can get me what I want: answers. "I will ask you a few questions, and you will answer truthfully, do I make myself clear?"

"I-I will...! N-no more..."

Whatever was done to him, the fear of that is equal even to this spell that enchants one to be truthful with pure fear. Tohsaka does not want to think of what was done.

"Good. Now... what is this room? Did Sakura make this place...?" As some sort of horrible workshop? I knew she was actively studying Magecraft, but I did not think she would go so far. However, Rin did not want to think of what else this place was.

"Eh...Ehh! Sakura was...!" He had jumbled words. "Sakura? Hahahahahahaha! She didn't make this place! This is where they put her... This is her room...! Why!? I wanted to have that power...! The power is mine...! It's mine, don't you understand!? She shouldn't have it! Oh, but... I didn't understand... It hurt... It hurt...! I didn't know what it was! She came back and showed me what it was!" He writhes in pain. He ravs like a lunatic, but some parts of what he says are troubling.

"Tell me, Matou-kun. What happened?"

"No...! Please don't ask! Just forget about it...! Just forget, that is all I need to do!" He makes it as if to crush his own skull but Rin stops his attempts at self-harm with compulsion magic. She uses it to force the truth out of him.

He fights against the magic to the point his nose bleeds. He doesn't want to look. He doesn't want to remember. But in the end the magic forces his mouth to form the words.

"Tell me. Just put your thoughts into words. You are not Matou Shinji. It didn't happen to you." Like a puppet, he loses his sense of self and becomes half-asleep.

"First they let the worms have her... The worms! They eat the men and infest the women... He wasn't even a person... They raped her, they poisoned her... Whaever she was was carved away and turned all different! So it's fine...! She wasn't human anymore, so I didn't have to do anything! I couldn't have done anything if I tried...! It was her fault for taking my place, I would have done it without all that... It was her fault not mine...! Not mine not mine not mine not mine not mine. I didn't know... I didn't know... I didn't know... She made me look. She made me understand...! She came here and...! And! I-I want to forget, please...! Please take it away again!"

"I see." That is how it was then. Perhaps it would have surprised or broken someone else, but all she felt was a deep chill. "Emiya must have known everything from the start." She says under my breath. But one word whispered sets Shinji off.

"Emiya!? Hahahahahahaha...! Ahhhhhhhh...!" He laughed and screamed. "Emiya is a monster...! He is a monster like Ojii-sama was... And he killed that monster. He killed Grandfather, and now he has come back to finish me too... No...! Please anything but that! Not that again! The devil came, a woman in black...! She was supposed to take ita lt away...!" The terror of Emiya was greater than what was there before with Sakura. Whatever Shirou did to him was punishing to the point that his mind teetered at the brink. He was a sobbing mess begging for someone to save him from the truth of his own life. "Just let me wake up... It's a dream... all a dream... not real... just make it go away again... please make it go away..."

Shirou killed Zouken, and a woman in black was born? That was a day not easy to forget. She had always assumed Irisviel had killed him.

It was pathetic to see Shinji in such a state. She preferred even his usual slimy self to this infantile regression. Irisviel took the memories away once, didn't she? She granted Shinji this gift of forgetting and Sakura was the one who said that she didn't want him to suffer. And yet now it was Sakura herself who changed her mind and tortured him with the memories that he willfully forgot. She made him take on the same torture that... she faced.

Something taken away, then given back again can not be intervened upon any further. Memory magic is a very tricky thing. 'Irisviel showed me some of the basics, but I don't think even she could do anything now.' His memories are now like string cheese being pulled to its limit already. These are deep and old memories that make up a part of who he is. Removing them could unravel him entirely, leaving only a husk... A fate worse than death.

"Too many alterations to one's memory and you will be permanently mentally crippled." There is no salvation in that. "You will simply have to push through to the other side. You will have to live on... as we all have."

"No... But... please..." Shinji begs in despair. "Just take it away! I don't care! Don't make me remember...! How can I live like this...! I'm not like Sakura...! I'm a human!"

To live with the pain of life, or to die with a broken, yet painless mind. People shouldn't ever be forced to live on when their minds have gone away. Her fist tightens. The pain in life is what makes one an individual. To live without it is to cease to exist as a person. 'I would never do that to a person. The best thing to do is to be fair and do the least amount of effort to prevent them from falling off by themselves.'

"Schlafen, ohne Träume." She turns his mind off.

A temporary fix, no different than trying to sleep through a stab wound. His body is alive, but his spirit...

"..."

He may never recover. It's not my fault, nor my responsibility... right? I have so many things I must do to put myself in a winning position, and this is not one of them.

'Ugh...' Some bad feeling makes me get involved. The corruptive influence of someone who would help anyone in need. "Damn it..." She knows she should move out now to make it to the temple. That would be the right thing for Tohsaka Rin to do. 'For some reason, I just feel cold.' But she knows this is a chill not something her coat can cover.

'Yes... Sakura is no longer human.'

'It's not that I am cornered. If anything I'm making it more complex than it needs to be.' She takes him to the nearest bed and plop him down unceremoniously and makes sure he won't die at least in the time it takes for her to fix all this. 'That is all taking for granted that this town won't be destroyed in the next few hours, which isn't so guaranteed. There isn't much point in worrying about such things...'

One thing at a time.

A shadow rises within the room. Even though the light of the sun setting had kept the room alight, it suddenly turned near pitch black. Being a disciple of Irisviel, I also knew the idea of transferring one's mind across great distances, but it required great power closing in on high-level magecraft nearing Magic.

She is no longer here (Music) /igTnDKMGF9k

This is the true power of the cursed Magecraft Sakura has linked herself to. 'Just because it is something that comes from Shirou, doesn't make it right. This is exactly what he was fighting to keep contained. Not that reason is worth saying anymore.' She is not surprised to see the shape of a girl form where the light does not reach.

"Welcome to my house, Nee-san. I never thought you would come here, you missed me as I came to see Nii-san. Ah. I see you saved his life... Did you find the worms? They feed on men and eat them alive, did you know that? Nii-san screamed so much when I threw him in. Haha...! But they were long since dead. I didn't even have to put him through the true process of becoming the Matou heir before he broke, isn't that sad? Isn't it unfair that he can break while I have to suffer on?"

"...I'm surprised, you didn't have the will to kill him, or perhaps you gave him a fate worse than death?" My voice is cold. I shouldn't be surprised by this.

Giving in to Shirou's curse, Sakura is stealing his power to make it her own and connecting to the Holy Grail, allowing her to connect directly to the leylines of this land with near-infinite energy at her back. 'Though, I shouldn't say anything. The degree to how much she understands her own power is unknown, and I don't want to give her any bad ideas.' The best advantage Rin has is that Sakura underestimates her own ideas.

"You don't understand, you never did! It was as simple as making him remember. You wouldn't know it, but did you know it was Shirou who killed the Matou family? He was not so forgiving back then. He avenged against Nii-san by giving him all the same pain I felt every day of my life. It was a fitting curse that he deserved! But... I was a weak girl back then. I forgave Nii-san and hoped he would change, and let Irisviel take it away. But she never offered me the same treatment. She told me I had to remember what they did to me every single day! Is that fair, Nee-san? There is no one left that will chide me, so I will do as I wish! I killed the weak girl from back then. Senpai never liked her anyway, he wanted this. He wanted me to be strong, so look! I'm strong now! Matou Sakura is dead... Hehehehe... I'm powerful, so I am done forgiving people. That is for the weak who can't take revenge." Sakura was angry, and every word felt like it was either on the verge of tears or a full-on rage. Tohsaka saved Shinji's life, but stayed her hand when it came to Sakura.

"Shirou never gave up hope for you, but it seems you give up immediately at the first sign of trouble. If all it took was him going out of action for a minute for you to become this, then it was only a matter of time. You can't fix someone who never wished to be fixed, and now wants to pretend as if they are a different person entirely."

"Don't you dare say his name...! You are the one who hurt him! Now I am protecting him from himself and from you. He will understand why this needs to happen. I will fix everything... he doesn't have to save anyone anymore if I can remove everyone who needs saving...! That is the only way he will stop... I'm doing this for him!"

She has convinced herself she has to do this from every angle. Sakura hated herself for crumbling when conflict came for her. Her will had once been turned into stone, and she let herself die first in mind so that she wouldn't have to face the things she had done to her. She had convinced herself she had moved on so as not to worry Shirou, but Sakura never could move on at all. She tried, but the more effort she put into things, the more she was left vulnerable to the pain she had once been able to bury. She may convince herself now that she is now taking control of herself, but in truth, she is just crumbling to a new pressure: that of the curse Gilgamesh immersed her in. Her affinity for it was such that

It was not as it was with Shirou and Gilgamesh, in which Angra Mainyu recognises them as individuals even in the face of the destruction of personality. Rather it was that Sakura was hollow and indistinguishable from the void that Angra Manyu was, thus allowing her to become truly one with it.

"Whatever happened to this being out of your control? Every other word contradicts the other, when will you figure out that trying to justify yourself is meaningless if power is all that truly matters."

Sakura wants to have her cake and eat it too. She wishes to be pitied while seizing the power that she is being forced to attain so she can do anything she wishes? It is all incoherent.

"It is out of my control! Don't you see!? This is your fault! ...Why!? Why are you like this even after I showed you the basement! That is my room! They raped me every day and had the worms squirm inside of me. Every day was hell! Do you not understand what I had to go through!? How can this be my fault!? If you can see that then why can't you be on my side, for once! Even if you would just care enough to chide me, to bring me out of this...! Only I can save Shirou...! I can stop him from becoming a devil like that man wants...!"

All it would take was Tohsaka to step down and acknowledge her sister... but...

"...I don't understand, Sakura." Rin is honest, at heart. She does not lie out of malice, nor out of love. She simply states the truth.

Sakura clenches her teeth in hostility. Even as a shadow, the raw emotion was overwhelming. "Then come, the longer you make me wait, the more I can't help but take out my anger on the things you hold dear!" Sakura's anger grew to the point she couldn't even project her shadow anymore. It disappeared and all was quiet as light returned to the dank house.

Rin leaves into the night. All that remained was to put an end to a decade-long mistake. She could see the miasma growing on the mountain. She runs towards the promise of doom clenching her teeth so hard they might break.

The sky was a deep orange turning almost red, most aptly it could be called vermillion. The moon had reached its zenith in both its daily and monthly cycle. The night was bright enough that just the moonlight gave a strange aura to the town. People were inside hiding in their homes, they knew enough to understand not to become involved in this moonlit world that swallows those who look into it.

Arcueid wears a dress, but it is more like the figure her vessel takes in changing to become suited to the battle ahead. She can take more punishment than any Servant of Alaya and sustain herself in heat nearing the inner core of the earth.

The Golden King waits at the top of the steps, and the darkened sister awaits above a muddy pond. The players and pieces are all set, and their confrontation is now unavoidable. It was uncertain who would come out the victor, but whatever the result, it was unlikely that the scars that this mountain will take on will ever leave.

Arriving first is the one whose visage under the moon had turned from white to red in a single night. Arcueid reaches the top step of the main gate. She had walked briskly, but with some difficulty, as if avoiding her own responsibility in coming here. When the thing that has to be done overlaps with the thing that one wishes to avoid most of all, the mind is left to take all the backlash.

Hunting Wolves in Sheep's Clothing (Music) /i9DbomnMNnU

"Welcome, this land shall serve as our battleground. The location in which my victory is realized, I do hope you will serve to be some entertainment. Oh, but even if you fall all too easily, there is some other tragedy to see. Siblings that destroy one another. It is a tale as old as I. Allow them to kill themselves over the boy, it will be some entertainment for later."

"..."

If Arcueid was the most spiritually potent being in the world, then the King in front of her was second. Arcueid is close enough to feel the power that is surging behind the Heroic Spirit. The energy there is greater than even the thing in front of her. Whatever Shirou was becoming now was bloating to something beyond even them.

The feeling of the temple was not unlike that of a vampire's den. The energy was warping and flowing into one place. 'The center of that swirl would be where he is' She thinks. She begins to go straight there.

Gilgamesh becomes quickly discontent with Arcueid's dismissal of him. Swords stop her way. "What is your rush? I have graced you with my presence, and yet you scorn me. Is the object of your desire so great that you no longer see anything else?" Shirou and this man were both nasty in similar ways. As if they were tearing your soul apart just by looking at you. The difference was in the motivation behind it. Gilgamesh cared only to break others for his own amusement, while Shirou wished to break down others to build them back up again.

"What would know of that, Golden King?"

"Haha. Willing to speak? It seems the corruption has reached even you. Have you ever given up on rectifying your miserable failures? Or have you willingly forgotten your own responsibility? I enjoy seeing women lose themselves, but all that I feel now is a disappointment. Where is the fun if you don't even try to uphold your ideals until I force them out of you?"

Arcueid does not care. "...Where is Shirou?"

He laughs as if speaking to a petulant child. "Pff. Let us not stand on ceremony, child of Gaia. A child like yourself is all that remains of those gods that once ruled this world. Do you understand your own long defeat? You lost a long time ago, before the thought of creating you was even conceived. Your mission was a hopeless one from the start."

Out of a golden gate, Gilgamesh takes hold of an odd object. Holding up what can only be considered an eye, or at least an effigy of one, he makes use of an old artefact that even he is wary of. Said to be the lost eye of a god, it is normally stone yet with a little magical energy applied it begins to shine gold and red as if it too were demonic. Even Arcueid's speed can not outpace the time its light takes to swallow her. It doesn't freeze or paralyze her or even hinder her body in any way. Such things would not work on Arcueid, so he made use of something that would function on her.

An artefact that shines a golden image directly at the eyes of its target, showing that person's greatest fears and vulnerabilities.

"...!"

So even though Arcueid is not psychically frozen, and she could rouse herself immediately if she were attacked, she can't look away. She can't possibly look away from the things that she tried desperately to forget. It wasn't too far in the visualization from the television she had watched with Shirou only the other day. The words are ones she well understands, but it is true. She is like a child. She is like a child because the alternative is being something truly terrifying.

The difference came in the subject, telling a story of failure and hopeless attempts to control the unavoidable march of change.

After Gilgamesh turned on the gods and allied with humanity in dominating nature, times of chaos ruled the earth as the gods struggled to retain and take back the control that they were unavoidably losing. The end of the Age of the Gods would be some millennium later, and eventually, those gods left the world behind entirely along with all the other things that would be ruled fantastical by humanity. But of course, Gaia wasn't gone or even weak by any indicator. It was just that humanity was taking hold as a separate entity, and was no longer one with the Earth that had given birth to it. Human desires are boundless, relentless, and unrestrained. Dark and hideous, yet limitless. Gaia did not hold the ability to eliminate it all on its own, as its nature was one defined by its creation of life.

The Earth turned to its closest ally, the moon for help where it had failed, and so the vampire race arrived on Earth just as the gods were leaving it.

For a time the True Ancestors succeeded, and even with the loss of the divine control keeping man in check, there was a new counterbalance to the growing civilizations of man. But such a thing was not meant to be. From the start, the True Ancestors of the vampire race were cursed with having a certain taste. They fought against it, but in the end, any vampire who learned that desire fell into a worse calamity than the humans they were meant to contain. The True Ancestors gave in to their own needless thirst and birthed the Dead Apostle Ancestors, who would come to replace the ones they once were thralls to.

The protectors of the Earth, thus turned into its worst enemy. Humanity was contained, but at a cost so great it was not worth it. If anything, it accelerated that which the world and mankind wished to avoid. Eventually, she was alone and chained to the lost castle as the final remnant of that failure. The last chance the world had to rectify its path was lost and that was the last time it could be said that things were certain. Nature was no longer too strong for humans to handle, and the humans had become confused with their own potential, losing sight of the shining future that they could hold.

A human could never come to the same singular and unchanging viewpoint that the planet does. So to communicate between the two, there would have to be one who could fill in the gaps. Gilgamesh was made by the world to reconcile with humanity... but what if... one was made by humanity to mediate with the world?

To search for the answer to something humanity could not fathom all on their own, they looked up to the skies and made their own god: a god of 'evil'. All it was, in truth, was a cry for help and understanding. A lament towards God as to why there was hatred, death and suffering in the world. They wanted to punish themselves and others, so they fashioned a God who they would hate rather than revere. Such a thing would become invisible as time passed and all would forget there was once no evil spirit at all. It would not only be a spirit of humanity, but also of the world itself.

The nature of the corruption was simply that message. It is only natural that as vampires would corrupt humans, that humans could corrupt vampires as well. Realizing that, Arcueid begins to hear an odd yet intensely familiar melody. She heard it only once before, in the memory of her worst moment. It was much louder than back then. It was almost soothing, but it caused a rage that could be seen as crimson demonic energy surging inside of her. She had failed when it counted... The corruption she was supposed to overcome... ended up swallowing her most of all. So she can't let him share the same fate. Even if she does not care for mankind, she won't allow the boy to share the same fate. Breaking the grasp of fate required Arcueid first to break her chains, and let her desires run red.

Blood Princess Dance (Music) /ZM8zfU5i9iw

"...What is this...?" The Golden King exclaims, but she doesn't listen. The only message she needs to hear is the one that is sent by the boy. A quiet song that only ever wanted someone to listen to it. It was white noise that made no sense unless you already knew what it should be saying. "What is this negative energy...!?" As if the air itself is being sucked into her, a dark red aura begins to shine off her skin.

To fight the man in front of her was a battle that would shake the entire world. By most rights, it was best avoided. Arcueid had long since forgotten the distinction between right and wrong. All she could think of was the pleasant song in her head, and its message was maddening in all the right ways.

'Everything you do is right. I accept you for whatever you become.'

Humans were swallowed alive by it, but for her... it was like the enticing aroma of the most fabulous meal in all the world. Someone would tell her that anything she does is right, that her desires are acceptable. Such a simple thing was all it took to break down whatever remained of the white Arcueid who had entered this town searching for something perhaps left unfound.

Her mission... her mission...? That was all that mattered? Wasn't coming this far already a direct contradiction to that mission? Allow humanity to destroy itself and the boy to end with that result. Without humans, there would be no more Dead Apostles, and the world would revert to its original natural state. ...But why was it that the thought of his death turned her heart on fire? There was an incredible fear.

If that was what the mission suggested, then it didn't seem appetizing anymore. She couldn't tolerate it for another second.

There was a desire inside of Arcueid, and even she was aware of it now.

'I want to understand him. I want him to be on my side.'

Acquiring him was more important than killing him.

Crack

The realization was akin to a mirror breaking in her head. Something clicked into place. A certain button in her head altered her way of thinking. She knew what was right and what was wrong now. The pain was insufferable, so she found herself immersed in thoughts that would make the contradiction go away. She began to feel her mouth and her teeth crave something. There was a future that seemed appealing, and that was enough to mobilize untold energy. She just wanted a small taste of it. That tiny desire was all that was required to break the entire dam. From thenceforth, the swords inside didn't hurt anymore. The humans didn't register anymore. Her mission didn't matter anymore. All that occupied her mind was a single desire and the elimination of the obstacles to attaining it.

Pity the obstacles that

The golden light that was keeping her still breaks, and the eye in Gilgamesh's hand shatters.

"Grrrr! Aggggg!" She screams. Not so much in pain, but in some primal fever.

Gilgamesh succeeded in pushing Arcueid even further down into madness, but rarely did he think if he should be doing such things. "Hahaha...! Interesting! So you have chosen to fall willingly then? Haha-".

Gilgamesh stopped laughing.

...Because before he even realized it, she was in striking distance.

Crackk

The sound of metal exploding reverberates across the temple, and everything, even the Holy Grail seems to pause. A golden blade had been fired towards her core and been deflected with a swiping of her claws, the sword shattered.

Two swords fired forwards, but were deflected off and hit the walls so hard that they created holes of light in the roof. She was smiling and her red eyes glowed with malice. Her smile was red, and all she could see now was red. The white purity Shirou treasured was gone now. Where before the red was the disease being contained, now it was the white that was locked away. The demonic energy that Gilgamesh had held in his hands before paled in comparison now to that of Arcueid's own eyes. If not for the powerful enchantments to his armour and the shields that surround him, Gilgamesh would be completely enchanted by the golden aura of Arcueid uncontained.

"Yes! You fail to match the light of the King of Knights, but you hold a worthy darkness inside of yourself!"

Arcueid inverted into her other self. From Moon Princess to Blood Princess. "You judge me against someone you knew, human." She pounces, and thirty Noble Phantasms come to meet her from all around her. She smiles as if to corner her prey. Gilgamesh's defence has proved insurmountable, being backed up by the firepower of five servants. The problem is that Arcueid in this state has the defensive ability of five servants, making it an even match. Neither had become serious, however. "But no human can ever match me. No human can ever be above me. Not you, not Shirou, not this king of knights... and certainly not the one who failed before me, Enkidu was it?"

"You dare...!" Insulting Gilgamesh was one thing, but insulting Enkidu to his face was one way to make him suddenly lose some composure. He might be in a state in which his worst inclinations are confirmed, and even his friendship is once suppressed, but the simple fact was that no matter what Gilgamesh emerges in any time or universe, he will not take disrespect that one other person lightly.

Swords are fired from all directions, yet she is like the moon's reflection on water. As much as one can try to destroy that shining light, it will always reassert itself. All he can do is keep that light from coming too close.

A distance of four meters or more is kept as he stops her in her tracks multiple times, giving her no time to dodge. Yet even when she is hit by a blade which can pierce even the greatest of enemies, somehow it seems only to graze her. As if gravity itself is warping around her skin, pushing away projectiles at the last second.

It will have to be a death of a thousand cuts, but if she would even go down after a thousand is uncertain. The normal Gilgamesh strategy of overwhelming an opponent with numerous blades is unlikely to work. Gilgamesh's clairvoyance tells him that to treat her lightly means immediate death. There is no playing around. It is perhaps exactly that which holds him back from going all out just yet. His pride demands that he wins without even trying, despite knowing it is irrational.

No matter what, he can not stop for even a moment. His greatest advantage is in distance.

From the beginning, Gilgamesh has never been a swordsman. These Noble Phantasms are produced in the air and become bullets at their master's command. That is why he is called Archer. This Servant is an archer with the strongest arrows.

Claws swipe and deflect steel. Noble Phantasms from E to A, the greatest weapons of man attempt to kill the greatest remaining non-human. Yet even the conceptual attributes of all but the most potent can not pierce the peerless guard of the Red Princess.

She is continuously growing faster as the fight increases in intensity. Begrudgingly he has to escalate the fight to keep up.

'If a thousand cuts are required, then I shall give them to her.' Firing a low number at a time will take too long, so he decides to use overwhelming firepower.

"Do your best to avoid them. If you do well, you shall only be stabbed in the limbs!"

"...!"

With one command, the godspeed rain of swords begins. Each one fires with fatal velocity, but only some hold the power to pierce her natural immunity. Each volley must be avoided, or else it will slow her down to be hit by all of them at once.

"Agh...!"

She eludes every one of them like a falling leaf! She is floating through the air with gravity pushing her and the weapons that seek to pierce her apart. A sword from the front, a spear from the left, a polearm from below and above, a three-edged sword arcing and attacking from behind, a swing from a hammer bigger than she is. She blocks, repels, dodges, and twists her body away from the last attack...!

"Kuguh…!" She jumps full force. Many Noble Phantasms stab into the ground as not to let her escape. Every meter is a deathtrap.

They scrape her skin as if it is metal against metal. She may have a body tougher than any blade, and no single sword can even break her skin now, but it slows her down. Her shoulder cracks under the pressure of a large polearm, yet it regenerates without her even noticing. Even if Arcueid's vessel was destroyed in this moment, she would continue to struggle as a spirit.

She rips across the crumbling ground and jumps from crater to crater.

She makes it within 2 meters of her target.

Gilgamesh will find himself torn apart at this rate, yet still, he wishes to end her with only the weapons that he does not consider his most prized. To bring out his greatest weaponry is to admit she is on the same level as Enkidu was.

Another massive hammer finds her back, but even as she falls and flips, she dodges the blades that would kill her. Her knee is hit by a rapier that slices a piece off. Her neck was slashed by a long knife. Her back was torn by a scythe. Her arm was cut by a short spear. Arcueid's body was hurt by the force that impaled her. But still, it wasn't as bad as the curse she had taken on by Shirou. The pain that he felt in every moment of every day was worse than the pain of death. In a way, this was the answer she had needed all along. It didn't even register anymore.

It wasn't that the pain was any less potent as ever. It was just that the pain was placed in a greater context. If a mortal like Shirou could take pain like that and live, then she had no excuse at all.

Standing out from the smoke, after being hit by fifteen Noble Phantasms, Arcueid rises covered in her own blood. "Hehehehe... hehehe! Ahh, that felt great! Like that feeling you get standing under a blue sky after deflecting a missile, you know? Not that I've ever done anything like that before, mind you."

"Mongrel, you dare to defile my treasury with my blood! Die!"

Again, blades attack her from every side but her body reacts and recognises the threats and dodges them. She is immediately exhausted, but she must continue. It is a battle of attrition as both of them hold back their greatest weapon. If it is to be used, then the timing is paramount.

She makes it about two meters closer. At this rate, however, he would defeat her. The rate of attrition on both of them would favour him. The energy he was taking in from Shirou being used as a battery was allowing him to go all out and not worry about running out. Arcueid on the other hand... She had been exhausted since she had to rebuild her body after it was broken the night before, and before that she was already under the influence of a nasty lingering curse sharing pain between her and Shirou.

Even letting go of her inhibitions only led to her burning out even faster. She had resisted the bloodlust for so long that it exhausted her.

Still... she will not give in. Not until she takes the things she wants by force. This status quo is taking too long. If Gilgamesh's goal was to use the Holy Grail to bloat Shirou with magical energy to the point he will explode along with whatever lies inside of him, then it was only a matter of time. It didn't matter how strong Shirou was, there are reasonable limits to what a human can tolerate.

She is a bit faster at every turn, but he makes up for it by the volley of blades that support his every attack. It cages her in and makes it an even matchup even in the short-range. It is a testament to her superiority that she can match up to it. Arcueid's backup is at the disadvantage... it can only make her stronger than her opponent. But fighting Gilgamesh is much more than just the speed and strength of a man. It is fairer to say that she is matching up against the entirety of Gilgamesh's endless treasury.

It was three minutes to midnight.

The scariest part was that she was managing to match him with quality where he used pure quantity. The cycle of the two being held in a draw can not be broken while they limit themselves to this level of ability.

The first phase of the battle ends without a winner, and both are annoyed that they can't finish off the other. A result both understood from the start, yet they did hold pride and neither was willing to escalate to the next level without trying to gain an effortless and overwhelming victory. A level which would begin to bring the world itself crashing down arround them.

"Did you think that the same strategy will work forever? I admit, perhaps you had something in that first fight. I was... preoccupied, but now? I know your tricks, hero. Shall we move on to the point I kill you?"

Perhaps since he had once fought his only friend, he is forced to lower himself into direct combat. He starts to laugh a low laugh. "Tricks? As if I were a faker as that boy? You are sorely mistaken if you believe his fakes can ever match the originals. Let me demonstrate my superiority in a way you can understand!" A golden gate forms and a weapon comes to his hands. A massive blade that was as tall as three Gilgameshes appeared in his hand. A Divine Construct. This was not something easily dealt with in the weakened state she is in. Before the bright-colored brandishing of the sword, right and wrong, whatever was the enemy ― They are equally molten inside the daybreak.

"Sul-sagana!" The blade conceptualizes the end of the sea and sky, where the day breaks.

A conflagration springs out from it and turns Arcueid into liquified magma. The fire rings around the entire temple as if a demon has come to earth. It burns with temperatures that burn even the air, causing small explosions to sound out constantly. And yet... despite being hit directly by that, as if unaffected, a white figure fires so fast from the fire that Gilgamesh can not react in time. Gilgamesh's miscalculation was in thinking something as trivial as being scorched alive would stop Arcueid.

"Ah...!" Gilgamesh can only dodge with his hands at the last possible moment, a moment of victory turned into sure defeat.

Claws extending out, there is nothing but white noise in her head and the smell of blood. The air becomes a zone of promised death. She rips through the burning air and lands slashing Gilgamesh with a blow with the power of a cannon. The golden armour that defends against even the most potent magic and Noble Phantasms is cleanly cut through. Gilgamesh suffers a deep slash to his chest. Bloodied, and with armour cracking off, he fights her with the rugged swordsmanship he has not used a single time in the eight years he has been summoned.

Defending the rest of his form from the blows Arcueid was able to get, the armour of Gilgamesh, the pinnacle of all defensive abilities attained by heroes, is shredded. It is a testament to what that defence was capable of, that even without a weapon, he survived blows directly from the woman in front of him.

And so without that defence, Gilgamesh is forced into a hopeless close-range fight. The battle continues in a brutal melee, Gilgamesh using blades that tear the sky and earth. Thunderous blows fire across the mountain where the two meet in combat that can no longer be seen by the human conception. Arcuied moves at a speed more akin to lightning than a human, whereas Gilgamesh is forced to use clairvoyance to predict and match the infinite attack with absolute firepower.

At some point, neither of them was even standing on the earth. Each was flying through the air forgetting about the rules of gravity. Each blow is like a bomb going off and the temple that had stood there had long since become a place of torn shrapnel and cracking wood. Reality itself was warping around the blows between the two beings that could be called closest to the gods.

A battle between two natural disasters. All humans that will come witness to it could only see something completely incomprehensible.

The pond could be seen from the area now that the building that had been in between was completely gone. There were two sisters locked in a battle of their own, but it was a different scene entirely. The boy winces asleep, as an ignored black cat nudges him.

The battle reaches its decisive moment.

Even without reaching Shirou, Arcueid and Gilgamesh would continue until Japan was covered in a cyclone of destruction. A fitting first act to the end of the world, but that was not what Arcueid was here for. The battle must end. All she wanted was the save the boy, and then finally gain that understanding that she so desired. She desired him so badly she would face off the king of heroes without holding back at all. Her bloodlust now was a source of strength rather than the thing keeping her contained.

The world begins the warp to a redder and redder colour, as the moon grows in the sky. A crimson moon burns in the sky, and a white castle suddenly appears from nowhere. By now, across the world, the Church and Association would have noticed something was terribly wrong, but they would never be able to track the source of the foreboding miasma that travels across the entire world.

"Hehehe... Hahahahaha! Yes! Give me your all! Show me the despair and rage of the Earth as it falls!" Wind rages. Blood pools on the ground and replaces the green grass with vermillion red. It was like another world was being overlayed into this one. Although he could sense it, Gilgamesh could not see it. Only those who can see the unseen truth could.

Arcueid jumps back, creating a great rift that should give her opponent the advantage. As if to take hold of some unseen part of the world, her claws turn towards the air in front of her.

The two ancient beings stand off as if almost in rest... but it is only because they know the next clash is the last.

The air is on fire. His precognition tells him that he has to use his greatest weapon now, or he will die. It is a feeling he hasn't had since the days of his legend, and it is something he did not believe he would ever feel again.

Marble Phantasm (Music) /3xBiNKBJlI

Blood pours down his shoulder.

"...You're right. I have been corrupted." 'But that's okay', she declares silently. She takes a steadying breath, as though confirming once again in her heart that she doesn't regret it one bit. "...Begone. Only I am allowed to kill my Shirou."

The world is transformed.

The broken temple is gone, replaced by an unfamiliar landscape. A land where the fairies of the moon once resided. Everything is inverted, and even Noble Phantasms would struggle to work in this changing environment. Like forming a sudden vacuum in the world where the rules are whatever she wishes them to be. The other side of the same ability that the boy she is trying to attain possesses.

"So you hold the authority over the ether, do you? Then it would be remiss of me to hold back either!"

Arcueid solemnly raises her hand. The degree to which she has fallen is great enough that sucking in and using this power could also bring an end to herself. But... from the start, she held some things as far more important than her own being. Even if the boy is quiet and can not bear witness to this scene, she won't let the story end.

"I see―so this is your Celestial Body! The final god on Earth, hiding within such an unassuming vessel!" Even under the crushing weight of despair, Gilgamesh is almost excited to see the shining light of divinity once again. A wicked grin spreads across his face. Elation and derision mix together. "It's showtime, Ea." Obeying its master, the Sword of Rupture roars to life. This itself is the origin of all lands of the dead, the first memory of life. Before heaven and earth split, this land was made from lava and gas, a hell of both scorching heat and intense cold. This savagery was never recorded in the history that was passed on, but it was written in the genes unseen ...that's right. Hell is where all life is not tolerated, the original form of this magnanimous planet!

"Enuma Elish!"

With a look of pure contempt... She eradicates the man as though swatting an insect. A marble is torn apart, and the world turns into a rain of boiling blood as sharp as razors.

...However. The battle is not so easily won. Enuma Elish spins and creates a divine wind assailing the very world itself.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" Two Gilgamesh appear. One which was torn apart by a rain of boiling blood... and another that fights tooth and nail to escape the altered reality. As if he had altered reality himself to counter the phantasm that had manifested on top of him. He countered the changing of the air into razers by turning it all into the void. The creation of a vacuum on Earth was as loud as a bomb going off on the mountain, and the sky shattered all the clouds with a ring of hot air until all that was left was the unaffected moon.

Arcueid, exhausted now beyond the limit of even standing straight should have dealt the killing blow. Reality demanded that Gilgamesh be destroyed down the very atom...

So...

She is tired. She hesitates. The last flicker of white purity inside her... freezes her body at the decisive moment. "What..." A chain flies through the air past the barrier and ties around Arcueid's arm before she can understand what has occurred.

"You truly are the lord of the mysterious. A fine creature that matches up to those gods that once roamed the world." The voice speaks out from where Gilgamesh's body should have been destroyed. As if to scrape out from another dimension, he pushes out from the darkness and into the light. "But the gods were obsolete even in those times, they could never match the infinite potential of man. So I was entrusted with the one weapon that could keep both gods and man in check."

Gilgamesh is near death, being cut up to a spiritual level of nearly no return. It took all the magical energy in his being to survive the world itself turning against him. But... the battle is certainly decided. In a battle of attrition, it is the one who exhausts themself first that loses. He barely edges her out. His essence is stripped down to the basic spiritual origin, yet survives. The Gilgamesh that tears out of the marble that is trying to assert his death is unlike the one before. This Gilgamesh is angry, yet wounded. Forced to use his greatest weapon only to save himself if barely, his pride has been stained. His clairvoyance has become clouded, and his divine side has been almost completely forgotten. This is his loss, regardless of the end.

(Music Stop)

Chains emerge to wrap arround her arms, legs and feet. Arcueid returns to the state she has always known, chained to an inevitable fate.

"It's meaningless. It's been meaningless from the start. Your journey has been purposeless from the beginning. You were created to clean this world of a mistake that you could only make worse. Indeed, you are only a weapon which could never achieve its formed goal. A failure, but do not despair. Your mission was doomed from the outset. ...Though, it would be a shame to see you end without worth. I shall bend you and break to my liking until you fit neatly amongst my most prized treasures. You will fit well next to the boy who could nothing but makes others suffer. Hahaha!"

After the world had exploded with such force as to shine the entire sky momentarily... it ended with a whimper.

The sky was dark. The air was still dreadfully hot, and there was the fire from earlier raging all arround. So much so that whatever was happening in the lake where the boy was being turned into a Beast of Man was unseen and unknown.

"..." Arcueid mutters something.

"What is it, woman? Let your sorrow be heard! Haha!" He laughs, but he himself is not satisfied with this end. Covered in red tattoos, he begins to resemble more of a natural disaster than a man. As if he had been stripped of his pride down to the man who laid underneath.

"Even if it won't mean anything. Even if this is the end. Even if it was meaningless. Even if I am alone... ...I won't back down. I won't leave him be...!" She uses the last of her energy in expressing her own unfinished pain. Her voice is small, yet resolute. "Did you never try to break free of your fate...? ...Did you not have a friend?"

"What...?" Gilgamesh pauses. How she knew to ask that question was unknown. It was clear that she and Shirou shared a connection that was beyond even the sight of Gilgamesh.

Arcueid tries to struggle, but even that is too much. Arcueid is a candle that has reached its last light.

Gilgamesh becomes inexplicably angry. "I will not take you. No- you would serve only to be a rebellious treasure for all time. You will never gain the chance to speak to that boy or find whatever it is you are looking for. I remember now that you are a creation of Gaia. I will return you to the clay to which you belong, there is no way that you can be anything more than that. I can no longer tolerate your existence in this world I will remake!"

Arcueid never stops fighting. The chains that hold her buckle and threaten to even break. Her last wind grants great, yet ultimately meaningless strength. She can not escape fate staring at her. Gilgamesh, humanity's ugliness will kill her and break Shirou and make him into the demon that will shepherd the end of the world. Even so... if it was her desire that betrayed her to this, she can not lament the path that led to this terrible end.

Gilgamesh moves to kill Arcueid. "Enuma Elis-" The fully charged weapon that cuts heaven and Earth that will fire across the entire sky burning Arcueid's very soul.

She is afraid. She doesn't want to die now that she has just started to live. "...!" Arcueid is not a god. But the chains work by cutting off the source of power. Although she struggles to tear down the binds to her arm, there is no way she can escape in time.

...

...

...

If he hadn't done such a long and arrogant speech, then the timing would haven't been so perfect. But that is the fate of a hero. They are felled not by their enemy, but by their fatal flaw. The battle between the sisters ended a moment before, and the temple had suddenly inverted into a world of madness.

All the Evil's in the World (Music) /xe821OoYPUY

The thick air was like sulfur. The ground became muddy later with time. Walking up the hill was a trap, but nothing stopped Tohsaka as she climbed the back steps of the temple. She knew the temple had an odd magical quality barring spirits from entering anything but the front. Considering the two who would likely be found there, she knew better than to intervene.

...There was only one battle she could do anything about. It depended on a little gambit, but the odds of victory were not zero and so there was no use in regretting it before it even begins.

There were the bodies of policemen on the way, but they were alive, if barely. Those who did not have active spiritual barriers will be swallowed simply by being in this miasma. Tohsaka had no time to do anything about that. Perhaps Sakura had killed some, or perhaps not. Either way, she had already begun a path that could not be forgiven. She was pushing herself towards armageddon and bringing everyone else with her.

A person who can no longer coexist with human society... can no longer be considered human.

The air was strange, and looking up, it was as if the full moon was tinted blood red. She breathes a long breath out and jumps quickly up the stairs. Blaringly loud crashing sounds can be heard coming from the front entrance, but she ignores it. Rin reaches the final step.

A dark girl melded into the mud that is permeating above the lake.

Rin retreats a little, overwhelmed by the pressure. "...!"

…The girl has been transfigured further than Rin expected. Angra Manyu is an essence without form. It's only a shadow that takes form using people's wishes. But whatever it once was, was supposed to be gone. To rebuild it in this terrible form would require one who could understand and hold the same wish as the original.

Someone who could comprehend something that was the antithesis of humanity. That is Sakura.

The power she has seized and has been forced into is only what she feels deep in her heart. Even now she is powerless, drowning in the dark impulses she has kept deep inside her heart for so long, no longer able to deny reality. No longer able to deny the vicious hate that had dwelled in her heart for years. The warmth that she was given in her new home only made it worse, as it all turned into kindling in front of her.

Placed into a corner, she no longer blames herself for this. The people she blames most are the ones that she loved most. He had been shouldering the curse for so long, and now she was ripping it out of him and using it for her darkest wishes without even being able to control it.

Now he was being used as the battery to fuel Sakura's madness.

Not that it was against his will perse, as this sort of idiotic extreme self-sacrifice was exactly his type of idea. There was nothing more natural to him than accepting hate and trying hopelessly to turn it into something good. Even if Shirou had control, it was uncertain if he would have the will to put a stop to Sakura taking power for herself, even if it means his own death.

"Hahh..." Another deep breath. 'At least I won't have to argue with him about it...' Rin rationalizes.

A mass that appears as a devil. Shirou lies looking like a sacrifice next to her. Sakura mourns the clearly alive boy. It is a bad scene from a movie, but it is the undeniable truth in front of her.

"...Crap. If Kirei were here, I bet he'd call it a messenger from God." Rin looks up at Sakura, who has turned into a bottomless well of magical energy.

Here was the gambit...

One that was built only by the fact that there was a power greater even than the Holy Grail on her side. The World itself. The Counter Force of humanity can do nothing against Angra Mainyu, for it is a dark part of itself: an anti-hero. Humanity at large would only have the will to intervene long after it is too late. Instead, Rin had the natural force of the world that protects the planet flowing through her. It was the other side of the same coin, and it almost never intervenes. Without Arcueid being her for whatever reason, it would likely have done nothing to stop the scouring of humanity.

But even now, Rin did not feel forsaken. Even if Arcueid left her, it seemed that they were still on the same side. As if the entire world's energy was ready to support her. The world itself is on her side was something that gave her some hope. It also removed any excuse as to winning this fight.

Rin finds a spell Sakura won't notice to test out the limit of this blessing.

"Teile deine Augen mit meinen!"

A spell that shares perception to another. Worth a try to be the only one I have ever shared Magical Energy with. It is a spell requiring implicit consent, like a Geis. It is said that even asleep, it is possible to make this spell work. But not for those who are dead.

For a few moments, nothing... then...

She feels her eyes tingle, as another's enters them. 'His perception is gone, as if in a coma, but if I share my own with him... Could that do anything? Unlikely, but still... He is alive. Shirou is not dead. His heart beats, and that is good.' She could feel his heartbeat, if slowly. Theoretically, he could perhaps see with her eyes if he had the mind to look.

The air is thick as if ready to combust. The mana I used in the air is replaced instantly as if the planet itself is decreeing that its energy is free for me to use without restraint. The power coursing in Tohsaka's body is the same as ever, but the rate at which it recharges is beyond the level of the most potent Magi in existence. "Ahhhhh" It is an odd feeling that she needs to become accustomed to. As if she had suddenly won all the money in the world. But... there was an emptiness to it.

Tohsaka attains power... what she believed to be what was most important, and yet... nothing within her changes. She is the same as ever, or perhaps even a bit disappointed. What she wished for was not this. It was simply the action of living with this goal in mind, in order to be in accordance with what her father believed in. So she isn't corrupted by it.

She passes that test. There is only one weakness left now.

Still, even with the World on her side, Tohsaka Rin is only human.

It is a battle of conceptions. Rin feels the worth of her power, but Sakura still can only see herself as worthless.

No matter what it may be, nothing should be able to match Matou Sakura. The difference in their magical energy is too vast. Even the backup is limited by the area in which we do this. Can the energy be supported fast enough to match her? No matter what kind of magic it may be, Matou Sakura should be able to drive it back in one breath.

She is doing exactly what Shirou fought so hard not to do. Even flailing about, she could bring this mountain to flame.

Looking up at her at the center of the pond, Rin stands back. Their eyes had met a moment before. "...I'm glad, Nee-san. You came here instead of running away."

With the black sun behind her, Matou Sakura welcomes her older sister. She had seemed to be falling in pain a moment before, but at the sight of her older sister, she stands with a smile.

Rin gets a good look at her younger sister.

"...!"

Rin retreats a little, overwhelmed by the pressure. ...The girl has been transfigured further than expected.

"What's wrong, why are you trembling, Nee-san? …Fufu, don't tell me you've suddenly lost your nerve."

"Well said. Tell me, how much more do you think he can take? Perhaps, even if he does survive he will end up the same as your brother."

"..."

…The air freezes. Hostile tension mixes into the warm air in the cavern.

The black girl bites her lip and sighs.

"S-Senpai is no longer a-alive. So I will punish the world in his place." The exact thing he never wanted is now being done by Sakura in his name.

Tohsaka takes a few more steps before Sakura chides her.

"Stop. Don't think you can reach me. I won't let you near Senpai... you will die here, Nee-san. I will crush like an insect in my fingers if you move another step."

She threatens her sister not to come closer.

"..." Tohsaka Rin stops. She knows this is the limit of how far she can make it this freely. From here on out every step will require tyranny of will and body.

"...Geez. Nee-san, you're so insignificant, but you won't disappear from within me. You still torment me in my mind. I have everything now, so I can see how tiny you truly are. You make it all about yourself. So as long as you live, I can't be free." Her voice is a light singsong, but the words are heavy as slime. The contradiction proves her madness. The hostility is a rhapsody of superiority and awe. "You have no chance, and yet you continue to do this just for show...!"

Rin shrugs boredly. "But you know Sakura, this is what any normal person would do. I'm not crazy enough to care about saving the world, but it is my problem when you try to do it on my land." A human being can not stand by and allow their life to be destroyed. "Also, I never enter into a situation I know that I can not win. Having the world be indebted to me is a bonus."

"The world!? What do I care about this world!? Senpai is dead and they did nothing! They can just stand by and be useless, so who cares what happened to them. If Senpai will come back to me with this... then humanity can burn for all I care. If they are so hateful... then they should taste the retribution they deserve!"

Dead? Does she still think he is dead? "...Haha..." I laugh softly.

"You laugh at me even now!? Do you think this is a bluff? You don't know anything, Nee-san... The truth of this power is beyond any human."

'O' poor Sakura. She can't handle the laughter, she thinks it is all about her as well.' "You seriously think that he died, don't you? No... You know that he is alive, but you can't make excuses for yourself if you concede that. Fine, I did not come here to fix you. ...I came here to kill you, Sakura." Tohsaka says coldly.

The anger stopped in Sakura suddenly. The cold wind bites her skin even as the world is inverting into a burning madness.

Sakura feels so alone in a way she was always running away from.

"Everything that has happened... It isn't my fault. It was you... You made father give me away... You pushed Senpai to his death. You had everything and yet took it from me at every turn. But now I understand. You were strong and that girl was weak. It is only right to trample on the powerless, isn't it? It is a pleasure like no other... killing people who can do nothing... If you are strong and no one can stop you, then everything you do is right... After everything you did, it is only fair to do it back in return...!" She nods as if to affirm this in her mind. It is a thin glue of justification for what she has become. Her trauma and hate rationalized into a system of retribution.

A magecraft that would bring her and Senpai into a world without pain, where they could be together. That had become the only thing Sakura believed was possible now as her brain was cornered and could not find a way out. She believed it was too late, so this was all that there was left to do. The curse of Angra Mainyu is silent. Yet still, she falls and takes hold of it, rebuilding it with her own whirling mind.

"...Wait. Do you really mean that twisted logic?"

"It's not twisted logic. I'm not wrong. It's different because I've gotten strong. I'm strong, so I'm different now. I-I'm strong." Her voice faltered. "Everything's forgiven if you're strong. …Yes. If I'm strong and no one can beat me, everything I've done will be forgiven. If I'm not myself, everything I do couldn't be helped…! When you are strong, logic is whatever you want it to be...!" A scream of rage. It's the complaint of a petulant child who can't escape unless she believes in it. "Do you understand, Nee-san? That's what I'm going to become. That's why I can kill anyone. It's natural for me."

"It seems you have truly fallen, Sakura. I knew you were stupid, but I didn't think you were this stupid. You let yourself be swallowed, and you've already stopped being human." A voice filled with clear hostility.

As the supervisor of this land, Tohsaka Rin acknowledges her own sister as "evil". Something that reason will not reach.

"You're envious of this great power, right? You're jealous, right? That's why you came to kill me even though you can't. …Yes. You're going to take him away from me so you can keep the happiness! You would have me planting trees every spring...!" The dream she had in the past was close now. But had she forgotten her own warning? Fate was a tricky thing. In attempting to avoid it, you may find that you played directly into its hands.

"Then you wish for everything to end...? You are going to kill everyone because you think he is dead. He's not your boyfriend or your brother, you know?" Sakura's eyes twitch with anger. Sakura's most-wished-for fantasy was that he would choose her on his own. Yet that never occurred. He only granted the wishes she had towards him as if it was the natural thing to do. As Sakura shakes so does the entire mountain.

"You wouldn't understand. You never could understand him, always trying to make it all about yourself! Your wishes... can not exist with my own. ...I am done with you, Nee-san." The anger boils over into Magecraft that used that hatred.

Sakura is using Shirou like a battery to fuel her selfish tantrum. She herself is killing him.

The shadows stand up. A magic of absorption, a bundle of magical energy that matches a Servant's Noble Phantasm. In the form of her familiar, Sakura can finally give rise to the form of demons she always believed were there with her.

Many rise up to attack. "I won't give him to you. This is my power. All I'm going to give you is regret and despair. I'll slowly show you what I mean." There are four figures. They reach out for the small person beneath them like giants protecting the girl. "...I'll show you the difference in our powers, Nee-san. Nobody's going to come to help you this time. You will drown in me like a bug in a lake."

The towering shadows attack her.

THIS ILLUSION (inst. Music) /ptblgobdvX

The black wave closes in.

Spreading its arms to block its prey's escape, it attacks as a tidal surge.

"Erde. Wasser. Luft. Feuer. Äther...!" But the golden flash of light forbids the giant's existence.

They are all swept away by a turn of the very air into magical energy and moulding against the pure power of Sakura. Something only available to her, as she holds all five of the basic elements as attributes. Earth, Fire, Water, Wind and the invisible element. Allowing that to naturally attune to her without effort, the World itself begins to feel connected to her circuit without resistance at all, as if to become one with it.

'This must be how a Nature Spirit feels' No wonder they are the free type. This is the absence of the normal rules resisting against you, and it is totally liberating.

Six already.

Rin has cut down the endless barrage of dark curses.

"Wha...?" The surprised one is Matou Sakura, the master of the shadows. It's a natural reaction. Each of the black giants is a match for the Noble Phantasms wielded by Servants. For Tohsaka Rin, even one giant should be an avatar of inescapable death. But she has struck down six already. She killed every one of them with a single blow.

And running up the long way to the centre of the lake now, she eliminates the seventh with one stroke of her dagger.

"No way..."

"Mein Schatten nimmt Sie...!" Rin rolls forwards, then twists back like a dancer. "You're too persistent...! Gebhr, zweihaunder...!"

Rins hands are burning with golden light. Like a conductor she is manipulating the world directly. A sort of diluted, gifted form of the same divine power that runs in Arcueid's spirit is gifted to Tohsaka. No, more accurately, it could be said that Tohsaka has temporarily been identified as being a part of Arcueid by the world and has been granted the same support.

The colourless energy combines into almost a kaleidoscope of energy.

"Fixierung, Eilesalve...!" Surging with power, It bathes the mountain in bright golden light...! "Hah...!"

Destroying the last of the shadows in her way, Tohsaka Rin reaches the middle of the pond built up as a writhing mass.

Matou Sakura stands before her. The black girl stares with surprise at her older sister's arrival. "No way―it's not possible." ...At the sound of her voice, numerous shadows rise up. Their number is incomparable to before.

Is it Sakura's impatience, or did the things behind her sense the risk to their master? The magical energy emitted against the mere human called Tohsaka Rin is over a hundred million in numerical value.

"...You're not holding back. The people of the Association would faint if they were here. They could keep a department running for a hundred years with that much magical energy."

It was a drop in the pond for the spiritual energy that was stored in the dimension of souls.

"...And what are you, cutting them down? I'm pulling out magical energy thousands of times your capacity. You don't have enough strength to even kill one of my shadows, so why...?"

"We're just having a pure contest of power. I can't dispel a curse. I'm merely using my magical energy to eliminate your magical energy that's creating the shadow. Can't you tell?"

"I'm saying that's impossible…! You don't have such magical energy. This power is like...!"

It is like True Magic. The power held only by gods and heroes and those few magicians. Rin matches her sister even when Sakura believed she had surpassed her.

Matou Sakura is frightened and confused. She doesn't understand how her sister can reach her when she has unlimited magical reserves.

That's why she doesn't notice. The sweat on Tohsaka Rin's forehead. The high cost of using this single magic, which shreds the muscles in her body with each breath. Light purges the attacking shadows. But their powers are not equal. Tohsaka Rin and Matou Sakura. The difference in their power is still the same. For Tohsaka it is only an illusion of power that will end when her body gives out.

Matou Sakura's stock of magical energy reaches a trillion. She is making use of the Holy Grail, Shirou and herself as a holy trinity. It is easy for her, And hard on him. She is so lost and confused she can't realize or acknowledge that. It is a self-perpetuating machine. A partial realisation of the third magic that is fulfilling the prophecy of turning Shirou into a Beast of Man who has lost everything but the hatred inside of him.

As her teacher was Irisviel, the one who was closest to being the third Magician, this was the thesis she came up with. It was the tragedy that in the end, it was being used for the exact opposite of what it was imagined to do. She thought that this would give her the power to become follow Shirou and protect what was important to her and prove her strength. Instead, it had inverted into magic with the only purpose of dragging him down with her in a path of self-destruction that only proved her own weakness in self-control. Although knowing Irisviel, she likely knew this was a strong possibility yet permitted it regardless.

It was pure power made manifest. It was the shortcut Sakura always secretly wished for. All the power she wanted. She truly believed, or really wanted to believe that power would justify everything. As she couldn't find out an alternative path to her desires, she let herself fall into this horrible plan for the future presented by the King of Heroes even if she hated it.

"Really? Then let's try. Come on, Sakura. You won't reach me, no matter what you do. It's a drastic treatment, but consider it a fee for your lesson. I'll make sure you regret doing whatever you wanted just because you got a bit stronger."

"I'm saying that's impossible…! You don't have such magical energy. Why...!? I'm stronger than anyone. Nobody can scold me. So how can you catch up to me like it's nothing...!? Someone at your level can't do anything but get swallowed...!"

"That's where you got it wrong. Even if you have a large supply, it's the caster that uses it. Do you get it? No matter how much water you have, the amount that comes out depends on the size of the faucet. The Magic Circuit called Matou Sakura can only instantaneously release about a thousand. Then we both have the same release rate, no matter how much you may have in your stock…!"

Shing!

The shredding air, earth, fire, wind and the very ether itself shredded the shades that Sakura summoned to fight for her. A primal magecraft built out of Rin's status holds all five elements within herself. But it did not come without cost. She shredded herself as well.

"Kya...!" She does it again, blasting another shadow. This is what the original Magic must have been like. Built out of her one's own being, turned into a conceptual power greater than herself. The awakening of her own Origin. "So! I don't need to prepare a supply as large as yours! I merely need a thousand magical energy each time...!"

Such a large supply of magical energy is just a waste. This was simply the natural state of things being siphoned through the vessel known as Tohsaka Rin. At that moment, she became like an avatar of the world, like a god wielding the world at her fingertips. The adverse effect of that on the human body did not need to be said.

...Another rumbling echoes through space. Rin's magic not only destroys the shadows. Its excessive force slowly brings the world towards collapse. The Earth is colliding itself against the machine known as the Holy Grail, and every pressure is being applied to that altar. Where the boy sleeps. What he must feel is the weight of a planet starting to crush him from every direction.

She must finally understand the origin of her enemy's power. Gasping for breath, Sakura glares at her older sister. "No matter how many times you try, the result will be the same. That's all that your power can manage. Have you cooled your head now?"

"Don't be ridiculous! This is unfair! Why, Nee-san, why are you always the one!?"

The battle continues. Matou Sakura keeps screaming, even though she knows it's useless and that she's pushing herself into a corner. Along with… The grudge she kept inside for a long, long time.

The entire lake threatens to buckle and destroy the cavern below. When that happens, Shirou and the Great Holy Grail below will be destroyed as well. The boy who accepted her and the woman who saved her would be destroyed by her own two hands.

Matou Sakura will lose if she continues fighting. Even if she attacks until Tohsaka Rin tires, everything will fall into itself not long after. "That's right...! I was jealous of you...! You stayed at the Tohsaka's house and were always brilliant. I hate you for never knowing any trouble. That's why I want to win. I wanted you to praise me, just once…! Why can't you let me have a little thing like that…!? I would have eradicated that man easily, and even that vampire would have been forced away! I would have solved all this on my own...! This was my moment...!"

"..."

...The older sister slashes away the oncoming shadow. Gritting her teeth, she catches a glimpse of her sister's mind.

"Why!? It was different for me. We were sisters, we were born to the same family, but I had nothing! I was trapped in the room with worms and was treated as an object! I never led a human life, and nobody said anything kind to me…! There was nothing! Just the dark void...!"

"..."

The hatred. The hatred is not directed at her older sister, but... "I almost died every day. I always looked at myself in the mirror, wanting to die. But I was scared of dying, and I didn't want to disappear by myself...! Because I heard that I had an older sister. I'm a child of the Tohsaka family, so I always believed that my older sister would come save me...! But you never came. You just kept smiling, having no idea. You took no notice of the miserable girl and lived happily in the Tohsaka household. Why...!? We're sisters and we're both human, so how come you're the only one smiling like that...!?"

"..."

It's a blind plea to herself and the world. "I quit being human...!? Of course! I haven't been treated like one for a long time. My eyes and hair were changed, and every cell in my body was changed so I could become the magus of Makiri...! The Makiri didn't train me. They didn't expect anything from my mind. They taught my body and made me into a mere tool that uses magic. I was just a doll... They'd laugh that I'd become a better tool the more pain they gave me. They started putting poison in my food, so even eating became a terrifying agony. Once they put me with the worms, I had to ask for Grandfather's permission even to breathe...! You weren't there! You didn't drown in darkness every day and night...!"

"..." She's crying. But Rin slashes away the shadows without a word.

"...Aha, I know I'm crazy. But it hurts, and the more I begged them to stop, the more delighted they became and the more they tampered with my body. So I'm not smart like you. I could never learn the hard things from Irisviel... It's not like I can do everything like you. All I can do is to take my pain out on others. I tried my best but I never gained anything but this hate. ...But is that my fault? The ones who made me like this are Grandfather, and my father that sold me to the Matou family, and Nee-san who didn't come to save me...! I didn't become this monster because I wanted to...! I was forced to become one because everyone cornered me...!"

The final lament and scream of the younger sister. Her pain is made into words that heat up and burn the air.

But.

"...Oh. What of it? Shirou saved you, didn't he?" She doesn't feel for her at all. Not a single word of sympathy.

"Wha..."

"Things like that happen. It's not like crying will change anything, and besides, being a monster doesn't sound so bad. It doesn't hurt now, right? He gave you the choice, and this is what you wanted, so it can't be so bad. Having a boy try so hard for your sake isn't something you can complain about." Cruel approval. Not far from the affirmation that the Golden king gave to her.

...The girl's cries did go a bit too far, but they were just asking for warmth. But Rin denied it. She says it's right to be a monster. Saying it's because she was weak. Her always-perfect sister tells her the hard truth.

"Nee-san... It's all because you're like that...! It would all have been avoided if you just...!"

The shadows boil up. The girl, who only seconds ago was about to abandon the fight under pressure from her sister, gives form to her curse and her despair.

"I see. Then let me tell you something. I never thought it was painful. I could turn aside most problems, and there was nothing I couldn't do. So I've never been cornered like you, and I was never interested in what the cornered people thought. That's how I am. I don't understand other people's pain. To be honest, I don't know how much pain you've suffered or what cruel treatment you've received. I'm sorry, but I'm not even going to try to understand." Concise words. She's not lying. She just tells her younger sister the truth. "But Sakura. Even as insensitive as I am... I never thought I was blessed." She looks straight at her.

She stares back at Matou Sakura, with all emotion contained in her words.

"Huh...?" Sakura cannot understand. "What...?" Hatred dyes her brain red. She must be fooling around, saying such convenient things now.

...Shut up.

"..."

"Now you tell me you weren't blessed?"

She's about to lose her mind. She's about to break down. Her sister has never looked at her. She showed off her great talent and happiness. She sapped everything she ever attained away from her as if it was natural. Her sister told her after she cooked her first meal, something she did through her own effort: 'it would be best if we were our own people.' Is that normal? To treat your own sister as if she is a stranger when all the adults that ripped them apart were dead? There was no pain in reaching out. There were no more rules or adults in the way. Shirou tried hard to bring the two sisters together, but a rift can't be bridged if one side does not wish for it.

She never cared.

...Shut up.

"How can you say that...?"

She never liked or hated me, who wanted everything from her but received nothing, and says she's still pure and clean...!

...Shut up, Nee-san!

I won't forgive you. "That's not good enough...! I don't want to hear such things! I'm not going to listen to your excuses! Nee-san, I-I!" 'Don't need you anymore.' The girl screams as if denying her inner darkness.

"..."

...That's the last resistance Tohsaka Rin could manage. She makes the decision she's been postponing. She starts to whisper to herself, holding the Azoth blade as a catalyst in her hands and eight fully stored gems in her fingers.

"Von der Ersten bis zur Achten. Sequenz-Aktivierung.-"

She wanted to wait for Emiya Shirou to wake up and fix everything as long as she could, but she can't postpone it any longer. It had all been a faint dream anyways, for many years.

"Erstens, Frühlingsdonner... Wirbel. Zweitens, heftiger Donner... rasen. Drittens, Donnerschläge... tanzen."

It was as if Shirou had been sleeping for many years now since his family died. He had only been sleep-walking with a single-minded sense of duty. If he is going to wake up to reality, it is going to require more than just a slap. But... most likely is that they will never speak again, and all that was left unsaid will remain that way.

"Viertens, tosender Donner... Lauf. Fünfte, hundert Donnerschläge. Sechster, schwerer Donner... umzingeln."

First of all, it was a mistake to entrust Shirou with their problem. It's Tohsaka Rin's weakness against Matou Sakura. For years, she had given up the responsibility to him when in truth it was her own issue to solve. All that remains is ending that weakness.

"Siebter, Himmelsdonner... Wut. Achter, göttlicher Donner..."

And so the spell reaches its zenith.

"Sakura."

"...Eh?"

Rin calls out to her calmly, as if saying hello.

At that instant. Tohsaka Rin finishes the battle. She points her knife at her sister. All that remains is the muddy water of the pond on the way to vault over.

She calls out and throws all eight gems.

Her strongest conceptual spell requires a focused eight count and eight element-infused gems. It was only attainable due to Irisveil teaching it to her on a whim, being a Magecraft close to alchemy inscribing an entire circuit like a cannon into the air using the gems like magnets to accelerate magical energy.

"Zeige deine Vorsehung! Feuer frei! Mjǫllnir!"

Named for Thor's hammer, it conducts energy with the same power as a lightning bolt. It creates a circuit in the air that multiplies the energy put into it by eight to create a beam of energy. As Rin can use her entire reserves at once, it results in a blast of over 16000 units of magical energy!

The whole night sky is filled with light. It coincides with the same time as another loud crack and explosion occur on the other side of the temple. All of Fuyuki wouldn't be able to sleep well that night. Explosion. In the act of its own destruction, the miraculous rainbow at night erases all shadows.

She runs.

She runs straight at Matou Sakura. Sakura can't move, wincing from the light. No matter how much power she has, she's still inexperienced in battle.

Tohsaka Rin quickly closes in. As she runs, she grasps another dagger hidden in her boot.

"..." Sakura stares blankly at her sister. Sakura can't react. It seems she's realized she's going to be killed, but it's too late.

...She's got her.

She thrusts the dagger to finish her off,

...

...

'Oh, I can't.' And realizes her own defeat.

...

'...I'm dead.' Sakura understands that the dagger will pierce her heart before she can dodge it. Her body tries to counterattack, but it won't make it in time. '...I'm going to be killed.'

There's no fear. She's used to being hurt by others. So much so that she doesn't even flinch. And she thinks it's natural that Rin is the one doing it. But she doesn't like getting hurt and dying scares her, so she closes her eyes. Her day of victory could never come, there was no universe in which Sakura, Rin and Shirou could live happily with one another. One of them was always going to have to be sacrificed, and it was natural to be her. She was the weak one, the one who froze when trouble came, the one who had lost her whole life.

She sighs with relief; after all, once she dies, the pain will end. She will watch on with Irisviel, Kiritsugu, Angra Mainyu and all the others who passed on what lays beyond

"...?" But there's no pain, and the end doesn't come.

Warmth fills her instead. The instant she realizes what it is... Matou Sakura regains her sight.

...There's blood. Warm, human blood, flowing from the stomach. The blood's flowing out of her older sister, whose arms are firmly wrapped around her.

"...Nee-san?" The girl asks why.

Rin was definitely faster. She could've killed her, but she stopped her dagger at the last second.

"...Geez. I can't be complaining about Shirou." A faint voice. It's the voice she's always dreamed of. The voice of Tohsaka Rin that's relentless, but warm and kind. Rin thinks to herself. ...It's nothing special. She just realized when it counted the most. Right when she saw Sakura up close, she realized she couldn't kill her. "...Geez. I'm stupid."

She was infected by that curse a long time ago, she realized. Shirou had deeply corrupted her with bad notions that broke her in the most decisive time.

...She's dumbfounded. Her foolishness must be absolute if she doesn't realize it until the very last moment. She should've realized it earlier. ...But Rin's convinced that it can't be helped. "...Yeah, it can't be helped. I can't ignore a slouch. I like orderly schemes, and it irritates me when people aren't repaid for their efforts." ...And first of all... "I like you, Sakura. I've always watched you, and I wanted you to smile. ...Yeah. I wanted to believe that you had it better the more I suffered. I was so preoccupied with that, so I didn't even have time to think about if it was painful or not. I believed that the best thing I could do for you was to become the best person myself..." An inherently selfish idea, but one that had been pure. "I was selfish to think that competition was the most significant form of..."

She embraces Sakura with love. As if to say 'I love you.' The words lost by time and tragedy. A once-in-a-lifetime embrace between sisters. She softly embraces her sister, who pierced her stomach, and holds her there like a treasure.

"Nee...san...?"

...Her warmth fades. There's no complaint.

Tohsaka Rin regrets, not her death, but her inability to save her sister. "I'm sorry I'm a selfish sister. ...And thanks. I'm glad you always wore that ribbon." She crumples to the altar like a ruined red rose. Her older sister vanishes along with the warmth. Tohsaka falls into the dark, endless mud and passes out of this world.

"...Ah." The weight disappears. It only lasted for an instant.

'...But Sakura. Even as insensitive as I am... I never thought I was blessed...'

"...No."

What kind of loneliness is contained in Sakura's words? Her agony for her alone. Nobody else can understand or relieve her. There's no such hypocrisy. And at the same time... What if the girl she admired felt a loneliness nobody could understand?

"...No."

...What would happen then?

She was her ideal. Someone brimming with confidence, who had everything she wanted. What if her older sister were always bound by something, just like her?

"I..."

...Then... The one that's weak, the one at fault, isn't the world... But her, the coward who couldn't look up and realize it...

...And there were people who clumsily loved her. "But... I broke it." ...Where did she go wrong? A long time ago. She had everything. Everything she wanted was actually right there in front of her.

They loved her and embraced her so kindly. But she destroyed it all herself. And despite all that... never once did they hate her for it.

"...Ah. Ahh, ah, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...!"

Her hands are still frozen in place, trying to hug someone who's no longer there.

Sakura did exactly as she said she would do. She threw her sister into hell in a fit of childish rage. There was no one left for her to blame.

It was the most bitter taste in the world. A power that had given her nothing but sorrow.

There was no way out. No salvation. The thunderous sounds of the gods fighting nearby did not register to her. The girl, wet with her beloved sister's blood, starts to strongly curse herself. She does not move even as the world inverts and a ring of fire surrounds everything she can see, and all that remained was a world full of ash and smoke and crashing steel.

Authors notes:

Sorry for the wait... as I said in the last chapter I was busy with graduating college and then after I was done I was just not motivated to do much of anything. The good news is that the chapter is done and theoretically the next should not take as long. May was a break month, so let's just pretend we skipped those days.

Now to the chapter:

I would say this is only part one of Gilgamesh vs Arcueid. The second part is in a different place. Obviously, Arcueid is a jobber... but that is only because she literally cannot lose in battle and so the point is how far her opponent can push her rather than her abilities so much. She survives basically everything and I guess the only way to kill her is to absorb her energy or if she decides to let herself die. She is weak in this state and Gilgamesh very well may have won, but not without being injured and having to actually be serious. Things are different next chapter.

I don't do first person with Arcueid because its easier to do third with her and also she is a different lifeform entirely so its closer to her consciousness to be in the third person. The problem with Marble Phantasm is that she doesn't yell it. She's not yelling out Mareberu phantasmuru! as much as I wish she was.

As for Tohsaka, I can't say if she is dead or alive. Her story is not over, I won't pretend it is. Now that Sakura and Rin have confronted each other with their truths, it is time for them to confront themselves at the lowest of low.

Since this chapter was without Shirou, the next will match that by being full of him.

Review is always good.

Guest :Hey, this has nothing to do with the story, but what is your favourite Umineko character and why it's Erica?

Answer: Hmm... Erika was not my favourite character. She was good but perhaps too extreme. My favourite was probably... Maria?