[Saber stood at the entrance of the church and Shirou continued.]
Gray noticed El Melloi II uneasy and asked,"Is everything all right, shishou?"
"Yes. I just felt this chill come over me all of a sudden."
"Perhaps you're sick?" She immediately became worried. As much as she respected her teacher, sometimes he didn't notice his own limits.
[Inside the church, Shirou didn't find Kirei Kotomine waiting for him near the altar like the last time; who was there was a man with golden hair.]
"No, Gray, I'm not sick." El Melloi II sighed. "The reason why I'm tense is right there."
Artoria looked shocked. "Why is he already here?"
["Is Father Kotomine here!?" Shirou had Mitsuzuri in his arms.
Gilgamesh looked at Shirou and stood up. He calmly walked towards the boy, but even being such a simple gesture made Shirou freeze where he was.
The blonde man raised his arm reaching out for Shirou's neck.]
"What are you doing, you bastard!?" Ishtar screamed in the man's ear, floating beside him. "You always doing something stupid!"
[But before something could happen, Gilgamesh stopped and smiled.
"Interesting. You are spellbound by something evil."]
It was the first time Emiya had seen Gilgamesh in his entire existence refer to Shirou Emiya in a non-hostile or aggressive way. In fact, he seemed to be entertained with the boy and Emiya didn't know if that was better or not.
If he had to be honest, it was perhaps the most intriguing thing about the movie so far.
Emiya suddenly wondered if this Shirou Emiya was going to deviate from their usual path. But he abandoned the possibility in a matter of seconds. It was impossible for Shirou Emiya to give up being a hero of justice.
[Gilgamesh then stepped back and announced that he will call Kirei.]
Ishtar sighed in relief. For a moment, she thought that Shirou would be killed there.
[After taking care of the girl, Kotomine came back.
"Kotomine. How is she doing?"
"She survived, but the rest is up to her. If you were an hour later, I would've had to see her as a priest."]
Reines laughed. "That's a good one."
I don't think this was a joke, Reines... Gray should not have been surprised by that, but her friend's sense of humor was too peculiar sometimes.
"It seems that we can not explore the rest of the church," Ishtar said. "I tried to follow that blonde idiot, but he just disappeared inside this place and the door blocked me from continuing."
"Does he live here?" Ereshkigal could not imagine that smart-ass king living in such a place.
["I see. I'm sorry I troubled you... um, I'm glad you were awake."
"You're thanking me? Are you sick? I will listen if something is worrying you."]
"He really is a priest?" Robin said. "I kinda surprise to be honest."
"He reminds me of our school nurse," Illya replied. "She was Fuyuki's supervisor as well. From the church and everything."
"Was she really a nurse?"
"Sometimes, yes. She didn't like working though."
"I'm pretty sure that weirdo took pleasure in seeing students suffering." Kuro growled.
"Seems like an interesting woman." Musashi chuckled.
[Shirou tried to resist, but ended up talking about what was on his mind. "A guy I know turned out to be a Master."
"So, of course you defeat the Master, right?"]
"What the hell. He taking this serious." Ritsuka really did not expected to see Kirei hearing Shirou's problems without smiling like a devil, whispering words of provocation to torment the boy. The priest was serious and spoke as if he was genuinely wanting to help. The rest of the answer only served to make the girl more surprised:
["Then do not regret it. People cannot change the past. All we can do is to accept our own actions.
If you still wish to be burdened with your sins, let it show in your future actions. It is your choice how to perceive something that has already happened."]
"..."
["I'm going home. Please take care of her."
"You look worse than her..." Kirei decided to check Shirou too and lifted his coat, noticing his injury because of the bloody clothes, but there was nothing there.
"I-I'm healed already!"
Shirou tried to leave, but Kirei called him.
"In the battle ten years ago, I faced a man who kept standing before me even after suffering fatal wounds, just like you. That man was the last one whom I fought, and the man who became the winner of the previous Holy Grail War. His name was Kiritsugu Emiya."]
The idea of Shirou discovering about Artoria's first war made her a bit nervous and she didn't even know why.
["I was asking him about Kiritsugu. About dad."
"Master. There is something I must talk to you about."]
Thinking about what they would talk now, Artoria noticed that she never had this conversation with her Shirou, nor had revealed her identity as King Arthur. Perhaps we weren't as close as I thought.
"I wish I could have talked to him more..."
"You said enough for that idiot to consider you a friend." Emiya noticed pretty quickly that she was getting sad. "If you had said more, the war would have another course."
"You think?"
"I don't just think, I know. I lived the outcome."
["That man Kiritsugu Emiya, in a word, was an assassin. He was a mage-killer, who made a living specializing in assassinating mages. All mages are outlaws who have strayed from the path of virtue, but even among them, he was quite an anomaly.]
"He was more than that!" said Irisviel's expression, but her mouth didn't open.
["I was beckoned to this era last time, as well, and I fought as a servant for Einzbern. Back then, my master's name was Kiritsugu Emiya. However..." Saber told.]
The servants were in the entrance of the church. If they looked inside, they would hear Shirou and Kirei's conversation. If they looked outside, they would heard Saber and Shirou. Even if the two conversations were happening at different times.
["Truly one with no blood nor tears. He justified any method if it meant victory, and annihilated any Master, even those who begged for their lives."]
"Don't cry. Our father had his past too." Kuro scolded Illya, tired of seeing her crying. "This fragment will only get worse. You need to stop crying."
Illya clenched her fists and sniffled, holding back the best she could. "I know..."
[Outside the church:
"Among them all, Kiritsugu found that priest to be the greatest foe."
And inside the church:
"He and I had a complicated relationship. I guess you could say we only had the option of killing each other."]
Sieg's image took shape in Amakusa's mind involuntarily.
["He and I challenged ourselves to the Holy Grail War, and were victorious until the very end. However..."]
El-Melloi II was confused. If Kiritsugu had been victorious, how the hell was Gilgamesh there?
["Kiritsugu Emiya betrayed the Holy Grail at the very, very end!"]
"What?" Mordred blurted. "That's a first. Never heard anyone doin' this kinda shit. Is this guy crazy?"
Gawain then noticed that his King told her knights about the corrupted Grail when she and Mordred had not yet made peace. She don't know about this. But that's actually good. I am sure Mordred would spoil this at some point and make Master mad again.
["He ordered me to destroy it," Saber said.]
This made a lot servants confused about Kiritsugu's decision.
Mash glared at Ritsuka's confused face and wondered if her friend had already forgotten about this. Emiya told them himself, though he never explained how the Grail became corrupted or why.
["He killed one to let ten live. He was an incorrigible saint."]
Kiritsugu Emiya appeared surrounded by flames and destruction. His cold eyes looked straight into their eyes. A menacing presence even to servants.
With everything that was shown and how was delivered, the impression the servants had from Kiritsugu Emiya was of a cruel man. But no one there judged him for it. Doing good things and looking for a positive outcome while walking in the blood of enemies and innocents was no different from the life many had there.
"The end justifies the means..." Jekyll quoted that old and so much used phrase.
"Shit..." Frustrated, Mordred looked at her father. Artoria had participated in two wars to achieve her wish. All this in search of redemption for her mistakes. At least the King of Knights had found the answer before she did something stupid.
Mordred thoughts wandered from her father to Emiya and stayed with him; the Knight of Treachery recalled the statement his father had made to her, when they were talking about their experience with their respective masters. Artoria said that her former master and Archer helped her in finding an answer. And that was the main reason why Mordred decided to treat Archer with respect instead of just antagonizing him like in the beginning.
Artoria recalled her moments with Kiritsugu. In the end, they were different sides of the same coin, utilizing everything in their path to a possible victory at the end of the war. Maybe that was one of the reasons, besides her own honor, why she never cut his head off. Who was she to judged the man so harshly when King Arthur sacrificed entire villages and destroyed the lives of countless innocents for a greater reason.
And looking at it with today's knowledge, she found that the man, so cold and inhuman sometimes, probably suffered the same way she did when ordering those atrocities.
"This is what an idiot will find following his childhood dreams," Jeanne Alter said. Anyone who heard the words would identify a mixture of disgust and regret.
She could only find ironic how the movie depicted Kiritsugu's image and Shirou suffering in a world of flames, both alone. The fact she also fought alongside Archer and saw his Reality Marble just prove to her again where suicidal ideals lead.
"What a bunch of idiots..."
[Shirou remembered a night full of fireflies. Kiritsugu carried a small Shirou on his back, the man looked like he was in pain but had a small smile on his face.]
Irisviel had to fight against tears again. And Kuro — seeing Illya doing the same — noticed how mother and daughter were so similar in being cry babies.
["Still... If it's the Kiritsugu I know, he wouldn't abandon anyone who's fallen victim to the Holy Grail War. He's the kind of hero of justice I've looked up to."]
Dawn finally came, illuminating the place little by little. The servants approached the duo as the bit in the church was already over.
["So that's why I'm going to fight."]
The conclusion of Kiritsugu Emiya's short tale put smiles on many heroes' faces.
Illya finally felt a little relief after so much time being exhausted watching that fragment. She had a new perspective about the Kiritsugu from that world after seeing Shirou being so positive about him. The man cleary had many mistakes and was cruel many times, but he fought for something good at least.
He gave Shirou a second chance and for Illya that was enough.
Irisviel thanked the Throne of Heroes for giving her the opportunity to appear in Chaldea and discover that Kiritsugu could smile even after losing everything. Irisviel was so relieved that she didn't know whether to cry of sadness or joy. She decided to do neither.
Maybe that Kiritsugu was not the man she loved, she didn't even know if Artoria was really the one who fight by her side, but Irisviel had the certainty within her that the man who taught her how to live found Shirou and had his last years of hapiness along the boy.
Miyu had complicated feelings. In Fuyuki City, she easily managed to separate her brother from Illya's brother, so she thought the same would happen in that fragment, but he was almost an exact copy of the boy who fought so hard for her.
Since all Miyu's memories about Kiritsugu were hazy, she could only hope that he found peace in death. She didn't consider the man a father, but she would not thought bad about him either, it was undeniable that it was him and Shirou who gave her the opportunity to be beside Illya.
Following a similar line of thought to Miyu, Artoria still had a lot of grudges towards Kiritsugu, but she was grateful to him now and would be for the last of her life. The fact he raised a wonderful son like Shirou gave him that right.
Taiga deserves credit too, of course, she smiled remembering Shirou's big sister.
"Damn, that's a good daddy and son for you." Cú Chulainn smiled the same way that others did. It was impossible not to be at least a little moved by that scene. "It's easy to understand why he loves his father so much. If I had lived through that hell and someone saved me, I would look up to him for the rest of my life too."
"Yeah. Even if a father has his faults, he is still a hero in his son's eyes," Robin replied.
Raikou understood so well the situation that Shirou had been through that not even the Berserker class mind-barriers could stop her empathy.
When she was but a child, the training in the temple was everything she had in life until the fateful day where a messenger told the girl about her father and his call for her presence in the capital. That day was one of the best, a memory she kept fondly, one of the happy few.
She respected Kiritsugu for saving an caring a child who had suffered as much as Shirou, she was also happy to see that this same child loved and admired him so intensely.
["I'm sorry I'm a bit late, but Saber, I want you to fight together with me."
There was no more hesitation in Shirou's words. And Saber felt that the boy in front of her, even with flaws, was her ideal master.
"No matter what happened in my past, the engraved Command Seal of yours binds me to you, my current Master."
Under the dawn, Shirou Emiya extended his hand towards Saber. "If you don't mind, please call me Shirou."
"Then, Shirou it is." Saber flashed a true and beautiful smile. "Yes. I prefer this way of saying it."]
Faced with that image, none of them opened their mouths. The other fragments were full of battles and action, full of moments of glory and epicness, but this one was like something straight out of a piece of art.
Lancelot had his issues with Shirou Emiya, but for once he would be grateful for letting him see his king smiling like that. Artoria did smile in Chaldea, but was a little different, the one in the fragment was more like the ones he saw her giving Guinevere when the two are together. How I wish you could see her now...
Ritsuka approached Artoria and Archer with a devil smile. "You two really are perfect for each other."
"Yes. It's a very beautiful scene." Artoria smiled, she was happy that the conversation ended well. It took her a few seconds to understand Ritsuka's comment. "W-What do you mean by this!?"
"If it weren't for the focus on Sakura, I'd say the movie is about the two of you!" Ishtar echoed Ritsuka's opinion.
"Even you!?"
"You're good with words when young, mother!" Mordred laughed. "I bet you had tons of ladies, right?"
"Stop calling him 'mother'!"
Artoria sighed and decided to ignore the chuckles behind her. How could I be afraid of what Shirou would think about me? It was obvious that they would have a good relationship no matter what reached the boy's ears. Her biggest fear was becoming an enemy in his eyes.
The knights had different feelings about it all. Lancelot was now irritated by Ritsuka's provocations; Gawain was jealous of the relationship between Emiya and his king because he felt the position of "big brother" was being stolen from him; Tristan was enjoying the movie's soundtrack; and Bedivere could not have been happier to see his king acting that way.
[The two decided to go home after a long and tiring night.]
Musashi patted Ereshkigal on the shoulder as they walked with Shirou and Saber to the Emiya household. "Beautiful, isn't it?"
"Yes." Ereshkigal looked at the sky appreciatively. Ritsuka didn't need to give her anything else to fight until the end, that alone was enough as payment.
Behind them was Nero who could no longer deny the fact that the fragment was gaining her little by little.
[Things got complicated when the moment to explain Saber's presence arrived.
"Oh, so you're an acquaintance of Kiritsugu's!" Taiga was accepting everything with more than the expected ease. "But what a tragedy that your luggage hasn't arrived!"]
"You look beautiful, Artoria!" Irisviel screamed like a little girl when she saw the King of Knights in a kimono.
"She's right! You look very pretty!" Mash admired too.
Artoria was embarrassed by so many compliments and looked away, finding Gray's face admiring her. There seemed to be no escape from all that appreciation. Artoria didn't find the kimono as pleasing as the rest, she honestly preferred the outfit Rin had given her the last time. Oh, we didn't make an alliance this time. Good thing Emiya is almost dead.
Artoria, who was no longer looking at Gray, lost the girl's admiration quickly turning into disgust.
"There are only girls here, Saber. You shouldn't be embarrassed." Reines appeared behind Artoria, resting her hands on the shoulders of the king. She brought her mouth close to the woman's ear and murmured: "I bet Emiya would be happy to see you like this more often..." When she felt the woman tense up, Reines opened a small smile and continued: "And I bet that Gilgamesh would also be happy to—"
Artoria slapped Reines' hands away from her and lost all emotion on her face.
She really hates him! Reines and Mash thought at the same time. Irisviel just laughed.
The last member of that group had almost choked seeing Artoria like that. Saber wearing a kimono was a damn good new view to Medea.
[While Taiga asked for stories from Kiritsugu and Saber looked embarrassed, Shirou walked over to Sakura who was alone in the kitchen.
"Sorry about this, Sakura. It was a sudden thing."]
Ritsuka wished Artoria had fallen with her so that she could continue teasing. Her lametations ended when she noticed something.
"They're calling her SABER!?" Ritsuka was incredulous. "ARE YOU KIDDING!?"
"What's the problem, master?" Gareth asked, confused.
Amakusa and Murasama smiled fiding funny.
"I don't understand either..." Musashi said.
"I mean, c'mon, why call her by the class name?" Ritsuka complained. "There's a master in the school, right? And Taiga is a teacher there. If she makes a comment like 'a foreigner named Saber showed up at my house yesterday!' and the enemy is around, they are screwed!"
"But hasn't the master already been discovered?" Gareth questioned. "It's Shinji, isn't it? So much so that the Bounded Field in that alley looked the same."
Ritsuka crossed her arms, still suspecting of something. Tamamo, who only watched the group interaction, understood the source of Master's suspicion.
[Shirou noticed something on Sakura's face. A bruise on her cheek. "Did Shinji do it?"]
"This guy..." Kama growled.
The feeling was shared by everyone, whatever group they were in.
"Melon head nasty lookin' bastard!" Mordred said. "Hey, guy in charge of the Singularity, if you let me kill this asshole just one time I'll let you have Bird Boy's head!"
"I would like to keep my head. Thank you," Tristan replied.
Ritsuka was shaking in anger. She could accept many things, but injustice wasn't one of them. She knew very well why Sakura had been hurted — the bastard had taken his failure out on her.
Parvati's group paid no attention to her, but if anyone had looked at the goddess they would find her smiling. Behind that smile, there were thoughts that would give even the worst torturer in the world nightmares.
[Shirou marched into the school emanating his lust for blood.]
"Beat his ass, Shirou!" Kuro got hyped when she saw her brother in rage for the first time.
"Come on!" Martha exclaimed in ecstasy. Noticing Jack's curious expression when she saw the saint acting like that, Martha chuckled uncomfortably.
Emiya snorted, doubting things would walk in that direction. It was easier for Shirou to run into Rin at school than to find Shinji and do something about the aggression.
["What nerve to come to school without your Servant. That's right, if you think too lightly of me-"
"For goodness' sake, Tohsaka, please give me some advice!"]
Emiya almost laughed.
["I see. Shinji was a Master, and Ayako got roped in. And Rider is now gone."
Shirou looked calmer now. Rin asked if he has anything else to say.
"Shinji has a little sister. Her name is Sakura."]
"Seems like we have more sisters," Euryale said.
"What you mean?" Stheno asked.
"Look at her face, is revealing enough."
Stheno studied Rin's expression and was surprised. "It's true, me. I'll pay more attention from now on."
["What about her?"
"Sakura might get involved in this! Shinji didn't seem like he'd given up yet. I don't know what to do."
"Then why don't you keep her safe at your place? That is, if you're saying she's an important person to you."]
"I really like Rin," Ritsuka spoke. "She is very cool."
"Right!?" Ishtar rejoiced.
[Sakura and Saber had a little interaction in the Emiya household, Taiga encouraged the Matou from afar.]
"I wish I had interacted more with Sakura in my war," Artoria said. "She seems like a nice girl."
[Shirou arrived at the residence with some bags and a suitcase that he claims is Saber's.
"Oh, so cute!" Taiga complimented the piece of clothing Saber pulls out of a bag.
Really! I keep owing Tohsaka favors!]
My clothes! Artoria's eyes flashed in recognition of these garments. Rin was really wonderful.
["Senpai? I understand you need sundries, but it seems you have quite a bit..."
"Oh, that's right. Fuji-nee, we should have Sakura sleep over at our place for a while starting today."
Sakura looked surprised to hear that. And surprise quickly turned to discomfort when Taiga accepted.
"I-I know! I'll go get Saber's room ready." Sakura hurried to her room and forgot to open the door, hitting her face.]
The groups were overcome with laughter.
[Saber went with her, but returned a few moments later, reporting that Sakura is sick.
When she finally woke up, it's already night and Shirou is beside her.
"I'll be here a while longer. I'll be monitoring you for 30 more minutes, so you stay quiet here."
"Sure. Well then, I trust you with the monitoring."]
Reines started giggling like a teenager reading a romance novel.
Mash stared at the screen, anxious about the romantic scene.
Artoria looked at the girls and smiled.
"That one is good with women." Cú Chulainn whistled. "It wasn't enough Rin, now it's going to be Sakura too."
"Wasn't enough Rin?" Bedivere repeated, confused.
"Ah, yes. In my war, Sakura never showed up, as Archer said before. So the kid's girlfriend was Rin. When I died, I think they had officially started dating."
"Jeez. What a guy." Robin had to admire the boy's charm.
Miyu wasn't enjoying hearing any of that. This version of my brother is a pervert...
["About what you said earlier... um, about how I can stay here... why is that? Are you worried about me?"
"Yeah. I'm worried about you, Sakura. That's why it would help me a lot if you could stay here."]
At that moment Sakura's room turned into one of the streets of Fuyuki City.
"Is it over already!?" Ritsuka cried.
Medea frowned, identifying where they were quickly.
The stairs leading up to Ryuudo Temple stared at the servants.
"We're together again," Sasaki pointed out. "Seems like it's our moment to appear."
The witch had a bad feeling. Every time they're reunited meant an important scene was coming and she didn't see any signal of Shirou or Saber there.
They all sensed that the next scene would take place on the top of the stairs. Jack and Nursery jumped on the steps trying to have fun in such boring task while the rest climbed in silence.
"Oh, look, Sasaki, it's you!" Musashi pointed towards the lone swordsman not far from where they were.
"Will we see you fighting?" Ritsuka asked.
"I hope so, master. I can guarantee that you're going to like if it happens," Sasaki replied with a smile.
"You are not wrong about this, a fight with you is something unique in a war like this," Artoria said. "I remember our fight being—"
The king stopped talking when she noticed the swordsman getting quiet and not walking anymore. His expression became dark and one of his hands went to his chest.
"Sasaki?" Martha called.
Jack and Nursery let out a squeal as Sasaki's katana bounced off on the stairs, passing through the girls and landing in the middle of the servants.
"What the hell!?" Medea flew towards the man from the fragment, intrigued.
But she was the only one who did that. The rest kept their attention on the Sasaki of Chaldea.
[I didn't expect something so abhorred... Sasaki's last words echoed in their heads before something exploded from inside his body.]
The children screamed not because of the violence, but the jumpscare. The servants finally looked at the other Sasaki. His blood flew everywhere, but didn't hit them.
[Screaming like a wild beast, the True Assassin was the "something" that had come out of Sasaki body. Covered in blood, he jumped to the roof above them, looking around.]
"Hassan of the Cursed Arm!" Ritsuka recognized him. "I didn't know he was in this war!"
None of the six servants who participated in the war managed to hide their complete surprises.
Artoria was speechless with such brutality, frightened by the sudden and cruel end of the honorable swordsman.
Emiya widened his eyes when he discovered that existed a possibility of having a ninth servant in that war. Even with the inevitable surprises that his summoning could cause, overall he was able to foresee most of the events when fighting as Archer because they all fit well with his memories.
Cú Chulainn cursed that damn war. He was surprised and upset by Sasaki's disrespectful death. The war that Astolfo fought had most servants dying in a cool way, but only his war had that kind of thing happening. Inside him, still hidden by revolt, excitement emerged knowing that he would have one more opponent to fight... at least that version of him.
Medusa was more horrified by Hassan's existence than Sasaki's death.
In that moment something hit the mind of some servants. El Melloi II, Tamamo, Gray, Martha, Chiron and Parvati fell to their knees.
"What is happening!?" Astolfo screamed in utter confusion.
"Koujiro!" Musashi exclaimed.
Martha barely had time to deal with what had entered her mind and found herself staring at a Sasaki disappearing. "Oh, lord."
When everyone turned towards their Sasaki Koujiro, they were surprised to see the man disappearing little by little, as if he was being consumed by something.
"Damn. I thought I'd show you people some moves before I die..." Sasaki shrugged, not really caring. His head was hit too so he looked at the man he considered the smartest in the group. "You felt too, right?"
El Melloi II ground his teeth. He didn't answer with words, but his face did. And that was enough for the swordsman. Sasaki felt relief knowing that he was not the only one who noticed the traitor in the group.
"Sasaki!" Ritsuka yelled running towards him, but when she reached him, Sasaki was already gone.
"What is happening!?" Jeanne exclaimed the question everyone had at that moment. "I thought the singularity was passive! Where did Sasaki go?"
El Melloi II recovered from the dizziness and screamed, "Master, check your connection with him!"
But Ritsuka didn't even have time to consider that possibility because something else happened.
"Medea!" Atalanta called out suddenly. "Don't go!"
But Medea did not listen to the huntress. She walked right past Sasaki's corpse without even looking at him. Her eyes and mind only cared to follow Assassin who flew towards the temple. No, no, no!
"Medea!" Ritsuka shouted. "Damn it! Let's follow her!"
The group climbed the rest of the stairs with an abysmal speed, but to everyone's surprise Ritsuka fell to the ground with her hands over her face, crying in pain.
While Mash knelt beside her master, worried, the rest of them checked the entrance.
"There's a invisible wall in the entrance!"
"Then we just have to jump over, you idiots!" Mordred jumped, but she hit her face the same way Ritsuka. "What the hell!?" And she tried again, but failed anyway. "What the hell is this!? There's a invisible wall here too?"
Robin tried to go into the forest, but there was an invisible wall there too. "I can't get off the damn stairs!" he warned.
"He's right!" Atalanta gritted her teeth.
Ereshkigal who watched all that in silence, suddenly screamed, drawing the attention of all of them, "Look!"
[A black layer with red veins that looked like some kind of liquid came out from between the floors and began to engulf Sasaki's body.]
Irisviel felt something terrible when witnessing that.
While Emiya felt familiar with that presence from his work as a Counter Guardian, Kama felt a familiarity that she had no idea where it came from.
"I don't understand anything anymore!" Ishtar placed her hands on her head.
The group's attention was stolen from that shadow when they heard explosions from inside the temple. Somehow, they knew that didn't came from the fragment. It was the Medea from Chaldea.
["Souichiro? Is something the matter?" Issei asked.
"Stay here with the others," Kuzuki ordered as he got up and walked out of the room.]
The only one to "witness" that particular scene was Medea and she roared throwing all type of attacks in Assassin's direction. Although she wasn't in the room, she could hear Issei's question and Kuzuki's answer. Please, don't come, don't come! She screamed in frustration as she saw the attacks causing debris and smoke, but not affecting either the place or the servant hidden in the darkness, waiting to ambush Kuzuki.
[Caster appeared at the temple entrance in her civilian clothes, looking for Assassin.
"Assassin!"
Like the Medea of Chaldea, Caster knew right away that something was very wrong.]
"We can pass now!" Musashi warned by running into the temple.
The rest did the same.
[Caster found True Assassin in one of the temple's rooms.
"Master... Souichiro... dear god..."]
Ritsuka and Mash were speechless as they were the first to arrive. Looking inside, they found the same as Caster: a trail of blood that ended on Kuzuki's dying body, while Assassin poked him curiously.
What Caster didn't see in that room that only Ritsuka and Mash could see was another presence. Dropped on her knees beside Kuzuki's body was their Medea. Her eyes were empty and puffy, the tears were falling non-stop.
"M-Medea!" Ritsuka called out to her, but the woman didn't hear her.
["This man, what is he? First, I cut his head. Then arms, legs... I cut them. Belly, I sliced open. But... he still moved."]
Atalanta stopped the kids from continuing, not just the two she'd been paying attention to since the beginning, but the trio of Magical Girls too. From Ritsuka's screams and the expressions of those in the entrance of that room, she knew the fragment would be showing something terrible.
"Medea...!"
["You're the True Assassin!?"
Before Medea could use a command on him, Hassan lifted Kuzuki's head, revealing that he was still alive. "Unleash me, witch."]
"Medea!" Ritsuka threw herself at the woman, blocking her view of the scene. "Someone help me get her out of here!"
Gawain and Lancelot rushed to their Master's aid, each taking one the woman's arms.
"Pause!" Ritsuka yelled. She would stop that fragment regardless of the outcome of that scene. "Pause!... Pause...?"
El-Melloi II's eyes widened when he noticed that Ritsuka's command was no longer effective.
The scene continued.
[Caster summoned Rule Breaker and hit herself with it.
"Are you satisfied now!?"
The poor woman barely finished speaking when a dagger pierced her throat.]
Gawain and Lancelot glanced at Medea as soon as they heard her coughing, as if she were in pain.
[Assassin didn't stop at the woman's throat. When Caster fell to the ground, stunned, the servant stabbed her in the back three times. And threw his dagger at Kuzuki's forehead, killing him.]
Medea roared in fury.
Gawain and Lancelot were thrown away, hitting opposite sides of the room. Ritsuka who was also nearby was thrown to the end of the room, hitting the wall and landing on her butt on the floor.
"Medea!" Artoria roared. "Control yourself! Nothing here is real!"
But Medea heard no pleas from her companions, she was mad like a Berserker servant. Screaming, she started getting out of control and a volley of rapidly fired beams of light flew in all directions, without a specific target.
"She's gone crazy!" Cú Chulainn summoned his spear and deflected the bolts of energy.
"Mash!"
"I know!"
Emiya grabbed the girl's arm and threw her with all his strength. The Shielder slipped under Medea while summoning her shield. She stopped the advance when her feet touched the wall on the opposite side of the room, without thinking twice she put herself in front of Ritsuka, shielding her master from any blows.
"Caster, control yourself!" Emiya invoked kanshou and bakuya, using them to counter the attacks just like Cú Chulainn did at the entrance to the room.
The other servants didn't know what to do and the few who had ideas would hurt the Caster servant a lot.
"Nobody touches her!" Ritsuka gritted her teeth in frustration as she got to her feet again. "I order you with this Command Spell. Medea, calm down!"
And like that the three red marks in Ritsuka's hand became two.
Lightning stopped and Medea fell to her knees on the ground. The woman was left lying there on the floor, no one in the room dared to open their mouth; the silence was only broken when Medea finally gave in to her grief and began to sniffle, trying to control her cry.
From outside the room Atalanta came running and knelt beside the woman. "Medea, talk to me. How are you?"
Servants outside the room could only wait.
"It's like a horror movie!" Illya said, shivering.
"I just wanted see young Uncle Emiya doing funny things..." Nursery complained.
"Medea!" Ritsuka's voice echoed through the temple.
The servants that were inside the room could barely pay attention to the movie and Caster's fate because their Medea raised her arm as she was slowly fading. Ritsuka's eyes were so wide they could had popped out of her head: Medea was fading just like Sasaki.
"Medea!"
The others around went into despair or confusion, trying to understand what was happening, but everything happened too fast. One moment Medea was crying and the next she was giving Ritsuka a carefree smile and was gone altogether. The girl barely had time to say something or think about doing something.
"Me... dea...?" Atalanta was in shock. Her hands groped the air where the woman had been before. "But..."