Disclaimer: FATE does not belong to me, all its history and characters belong to Type-Moon.


Chapter 15, The Seal of Atlas and the Lunar Shield.

Toc; Toc;

Lord El-Melloi stood opposite Lord Animusphere's stateroom.

"Hey! What are you doing!?" Marie yelled from the other side of the door, "We're supposed to stay inside until Einnashe is killed!"

However, Altrouge opened the door revealing the Lord on the other side.

"I can pass?" Waver asked.

Disregarding the girl's screams, Altrouge let the Lord inside, followed by his apprentice.

"Lord Animusphere, may I speak with you?" Waver asked.

"If you want to discuss the murder, you don't need to. Karabo is obviously the murderer."

"Excuse me, but I still don't believe it." Then, he knelt in front of the girl. "Besides, this time, the one responsible is my enemy."

"This time? Do you mean the one who murdered Trisha? Or the one who stole your relic?" Marie got up. "To the Master of the servant?"

"I think they are, beyond any doubt, the same person," Waver replied.

This surprised Lord Animusphere.

"I want you to help me..."

This made Marie angry; for a moment, she thought about slapping Lord El-Melloi; she thought about yelling at him about how much she hated him for not needing anyone's recognition since she sought acceptance from the rest of her family in an attempt to be recognized as a Lord on the level of her father. But she, more than anything else, wanted to tell him how much she hated him for probably being part of the reason Trisha died. However, she held back, she was Lord Animusphere, and she had to live up to her position; she had to live twice as hard for her and Trisha, and she couldn't let everything they had managed to build fall apart as nothing happened.

She couldn't do anything about her friend's death, Trisha wouldn't be back, but she could take care of her killer: she couldn't let it go free. Yes, she had to focus on that.

"I really don't like you, Lord El-Melloi, and I hate the Law Department; they only see us as pawns."

"I know, but even so, I will face whoever is behind this."

"I know, that's why I'm going to help you…"

"Lord…"

"But!" Marie interrupted, "if you really were part of the reason Trisha was killed, I hope you're prepared for the consequences."

Waver nodded and smiled, "You are strong, Lord Animusphere. I wish I had that strength years ago…"

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"I'll tell you a story," Waver lit a cigarette. "I also stole the relic that was stolen from me. I stole the relic from my professor, trying to get him to recognize me instead of facing him with my own strength. I… didn't have enough strength to reveal what I felt to the adults; the only thing I did was survive..."

"Sir…" Gray exclaimed.

He turned to Marie, "If I'd had the strength you have, then I might have been able to do more. But this time, I want to win." Waver stood up, "If the one responsible for this incident is my enemy, I can't lose this time. You want to win too, don't you, Olga Marie? You want to show that you won't just grieve over the loss of your servant, right?"

Marie nodded determinedly, "Yes, but remember, this is a deal."

Waver nodded, "There is also something else you should know."

"What?"

"Trisha was researching the Holy Grail War, and she did it to find out why your father had decided to go into it, even knowing the dangers of it and why he abandoned you in the process. Probably, in addition to her mystic eye, the murderer tried to stop her investigations."

Marie lowered her gaze, "Why is everyone clinging to a reflection of the past?"

Waver thought about it for a minute, then smiled, "That's right, it's just a reflection; I expected no less from the heiress of the Animusphere family." Then, he turned to Altrouge, "There is also something I want to ask you: why did you let him go?"

The Princess sighed, "Because he asked me to."

"Did he ask you to let him face a murderous forest?" asked the incredulous Lord.

Altrouge nodded, "He decided to follow a dangerous path. In the future, he will most likely face more dangerous things, even more dangerous than Einnashe itself. For him, this is a test; it's a test to see if he can continue on the path he chose."

Gray looked down. "He is following his own path…" Once again, those words echoed in her head.

"Can he win? Does he have any chance of doing it?" asked the Lord.

"Only one, probably." Altrouge turned to the forest, "He hasn't reached the core yet, but he will arrive shortly."

Toc; toc.

Gray went to the door and opened it, and through it, both Rin and Melvin entered.

"I'm sorry, Waver, but I couldn't get them to delay the auction; it's going to be done in a few minutes," Melvin said.

"Then we must hurry." Waver turned to Rin, "Did Reines hand you the investigation reports from Sisigou and Luvia?"

Rin nodded, "Everything points in one direction… It's not complete yet, though."

Waver took the papers, "Almost all the pieces fit together, but even so, how was he able to move so freely…?"

"By the way, Professor, you remember our deal, right?" Rin asked.

Waver nodded, "I'll give you lessons once the trip ends."

Rin smiled, "I hope I can learn as much as Yvette."

"Yvette? What do you mean?"

Rin was surprised, "Weren't you the one who recommended Yvette to receive Spiritual Evocation classes?"

"Spirit Evocation? Yvette's magecraft is based on her artificial mystic eye, and she has never asked me for any letters of recommendation to study…." And, for a moment, Waver paused, then smiled, "I see, so he did. " He then turned to Rin, "When will the rest of the report arrive?"

"It will take several minutes. Einnashe's influence is coming back and slowing down the transcription. On the other hand, that gorilla added extra information that may be useful against the assassin."

This puzzled the Lord even more, "Luvia? I didn't think she would do something without asking for something in return."

Rin nodded, "Maybe she did ask for something in return, but she didn't ask you, Professor. Apparently, Shirou asked her to investigate Trisha Fellows, and one thing led to another."

"I figured it would be something like that…" Then, he turned to Lord Animusphere, "Lord, do you own one of those maps the Astromancy Faculty lends to General Fundamentals classes?"

"The prototypes?"

Waver nodded.

Marie walked to a suitcase she had in the room, and from there, she took out a prototype, "Bright," she said, and the map of the world was displayed as if it were a hologram, "It's not the final model, is it enough?"

Lord El-Melloi nodded, "Yes, it is a very accurate map with the spirit lines." Waver touched the map, and the spirit lines lit up green; however, it also showed various points, or stretches, where the lines glowed red. One of these was on the location of Fuyuki.

"I see; this is more worrisome than I thought."

"What do you mean, Sir?" asked the confused gravekeeper.

"At first, I thought my enemy had copied the ritual by connecting it to the Fuyuki lines, but this proves otherwise. The other thing that occurs to me is that he was able to win a fake war and maintain the servant on his own account; however, fake wars are often carnage, and it takes an extremely gifted magus to be able to maintain a Heroic Spirit without the aid of the grail," Waver turned to the Princess, "Was it the Magus Marshal who sent you both? "

Altrouge nodded.

"I see. That confirms everything, but there is still one last piece to fit. Miss Adashino must have hidden it. Besides Trisha's head, there was probably something else in that pocket of imaginary numbers…"

"Hmn… Is this what you're looking for?" asked the Princess showing a small figure with two people intertwined, "Shirou gave it to me in the morning; he told me to give it to you in case it was important."

"Yes! That was the figure I saw," Gray exclaimed before looking away.

Waver took it in his hands, "I knew it. Adashino left it out of her hypothesis because it didn't fit her puzzle."

"Is it the key to finding the culprit?" Marie asked.

Lord El-Melloi nodded, "Yes, this does overturn the theory of Legislation."

"We will proceed to start the mystic eyes auction. Please, everyone, head towards the Pandemonium warehouse." Loudspeakers blared inside the train.

"We have time against us; we better hurry." Waver turned to Rin, "Wait for the rest of the report and bring it to me as soon as you can, then come with Yvette to the auction; you'll find her in her room, and make sure you bring her. And…"

Waver whispered something into the girl's ear, and although somewhat confused, Rin nodded.

"We'll try to buy as much time as we can during the auction, but we must catch him before we leave Einnashe, or we won't be able to catch him."

And having said this, Lord El-Melloi left the room, heading towards the auction.

"Hey, wait, Waver!" Melvin yelled, following him.

Sighing, Rin and Marie followed them out. Finally, only Altrouge and Gray remained.

"Is something wrong, Rouge?" she asked when she saw the Princess's look.

She shook her head, "No, it's just not long now."

"Shirou…?"

The Princess nodded.

Almost in a whisper, Gray asked, "His path… what is his path?"

"Hmm?" Altrouge turned and saw how the girl looked at her expectantly, "That is not something that can simply be put into words. When I refer to his path, it is the same as saying what he has done with his life and what he plans to do in the future. For example, I said that his path is dangerous, right?"

Gray nodded.

"It means that he has decided to go through many dangers to make his wish come true. The path you decide to take, that is, the life you currently have and the life you will have, depends on the decisions you make, and, many times, those decisions are made because people have longings, goals, and desires."

Gray looked down, "What if I don't have…?"

"Hmm?"

"I mean, what if I don't have a wish?"

Altrouge walked ahead of her, "Everyone has a wish; even just not wanting to die out of fear is a valid reason to stay alive. If what you mean is that you don't have a clear goal, that's not a problem either because part of life is finding that goal."

"Is... really so?"

Altrouge nodded, "For humans, life is very short, so it's not worth wasting your time wondering what to do. Just live as you want…"

Having said this, Altrouge left the room, and shortly after, she was followed by Gray.


In the wagon where the auction was taking place…

"Twenty million!"

"Thirty million!"

"Forty million!"

The sound of the hammer echoed through the room, "Awarded at forty million."

Yvette smiled as she made a peace gesture with one of her hands.

"The family known for mystic eyes; they can't resist a good one."

Leandra smiled as she placed the next container of mystic eyes in front of the counter, "Our next specimen is a mystic eye of precognition; its magic circuits have been decently preserved; however, it is not at full capacity, so compatibility is a much more factor to consider with this eye than with others. Let's start the auction with 15 million."

"Twenty million."

"Thirty million."

"Seventy million." The one who made this offer was none other than Galvarosso Scladio

"Eighty million," another yelled.

"One hundred and twenty million," Galvarosso replied.

"No more offers?" Seeing that no one bid, Leandra gave way to the hammer, "Awarded for 100 million. You can find the tricks and the correct way to use them in the manual given before the start of the auction."

Old Galvarosso smiled as he smoked a cigar.

"Okay, now, today's star: the Jewel Rank Transient Mystic Eye; its magic circuits are in perfect condition, so there should be no problem as long as the authority of the eye is not inferior to that of its user."

Several of those present smiled upon seeing the eye.

"Let's start the auction at thirty million dollars."

"Forty million."

"Fifty."

"Sixty."

"Seventy"

"Eighty," Marie said, then turned to Altrouge with a smile, "Even if you're my bodyguard, nothing is stopping you from bidding. Weren't you going to participate?"

Altrouge smiled, "I already participated."

"What?"

"Don't worry, you'll understand soon…"

"Ninety," Melvin offered.

"A hundred million," Yvette said.

This surprised Gray, who looked at her classmate impressed.

"A Picasso would cost about that. A bejeweled rank mystic eye will accomplish much more," Waver said.

"One hundred and thirty million," Adashino offered.

"You're kidding, miss from the Legislation department," Yvette said.

"I'm very serious," Adashino replied.

El-Melloi's student grunted in response.

"One hundred and forty," Melvin offered.

"One hundred and fifty," Marie countered.

"One hundred and sixty," Adashino continued.

Yvette growled louder and yelled, "Two hundred million!"

"Two hundred and thirty," Adashino said calmly.

The girl growled again.

"Anyone gives more?" Leandra asked, "Nobody?"

"Two hundred and forty." Waver raised his hand.

They all stared at him.

"What's wrong? I said two hundred and forty million." Gray gave him a concerned look, "Go ahead with the auction."

Leandra smiled, "Good."

Melvin stood up, "We're getting too excited. Can we take a break?"

"Proposal accepted."

Melvin got up and followed Waver closely as they left the warehouse, then they entered a stateroom, and when he was sure there were no other mages nearby, he pinned Waver against a wall.

"What does this mean, Waver? There's no way you can get that much money!"

"And you!? You were planning to stop at two hundred and thirty!"

He shrugged, "Well, two hundred and thirty is quite a bit of money." Melvin smiled, "I think Yvette's wallet is starting to sweat too."

"So how much money can Legislation pay?" Gray asked, concerned.

"They don't care about the price."

"Huh?"

"Because that mystic eye is under their control," Melvin said as he moved across the room, "The payment will go to Legislation, not Mr. Karabo."

"Will they pay hundreds of millions that will come back to them!?"

Waver pushed away from the wall, "Yes, though, of course, Adashino must have a limit on how much she's allowed to spend, and they won't get all the money back. A move worthy of someone without scruples."

"And what do you want to achieve, Waver? Are you going to compete against the Legislation budget?" Melvin asked.

"We have to make time until we have the complete report; besides, the enemy would not expect this price increase, so it will be forced to concentrate on the auction."

He smiled, "That's an expensive diversionary strategy. You could buy a stealth plane with that." Melvin laughed heartily, "I'll ask you again, Waver. Can you promise it'll be fun?" Melvin spoke face to face to the Lord, "Can you say the ruin of a friend is worth gambling for?"

Waver smiled, "I promise. I'm sure you'll like it."

"Perfect! In that case…." Melvin took his cell phone, "Yeah, it's me. Do you remember the tuner you wanted? I won't give it to you, but how much could I insure it for? Thirty million? No way! It should come at seventy."

Gray watched in surprise as Melvin negotiated.

"I don't have time; let's cut it to fifty. Yes, yes, very good."

Waver smiled.

Melvin hung up the phone, "You've got a hundred and thirty million more. They'll be useful for the battle, won't they?"

Waver nodded, "By the way, Gray, Reines gave you a card, right?"

"Yes, here it is," she said as she pulled a card from her coat.

Waver took the card almost as if afraid of it, "I'd rather not increase my debt, but this gives us 30 million more."

"We can also add my savings in the bank and the ones I have in secret." Melvin smiled, "Okay, how far will we go? This is getting interesting."

Suddenly, Rin opened the door, "Professor, the rest of the report."

Waver took the papers that Rin offered him.

"About the other thing you asked for..."

Waver nodded, following Rin out of the room, leaving Melvin and Gray alone.

"Why are you offering so much money?"

"Well, I'm a soulless person who enjoys the misfortunes of others." Melvin wiped the blood from his mouth with a handkerchief, "I've been like this since long before I found out I can't be a normal magus."

This surprised the girl.

"But even heartless have their pride. I'd risk my life or my parents' lives not to miss a single detail of what I find funny. Because if I were in a safe position, then I wouldn't be heartless," Melvin looked at Gray with a proud smile, "I would lower myself to a mere coward."

After a few minutes, the auction continued.

"We resume the bid at two hundred and forty million," Leandra spoke.

"Two hundred and fifty million," Adashino offered.

"270," Waver offered.

"280," Yvette went on.

"300," Adashino continued.

"320," Waver continued.

"340."

"350."

All the mages watched in astonishment as the bidding increased more and more.

"360."

"370," Adashino stated.

"400," Waver offered.

"410," Yvette countered.

At that moment, Adashino lowered her hand and stopped bidding.

"Anyone gives more?" Leandra asked.

Grinding his teeth and trembling slightly, Waver declared, "420."

"430," Yvette went on.

"460."

"500."

Waver grunted as he looked at his cigarette case, which had a small symbol that was slightly glowing.

"Let's stop for a moment…"

"There won't be a second pause."

"It's not about that. I want to reveal something about the death of Trisha Fellows."

"What is it, Lord El-Melloi? Did you not like my deduction?" Adashino said, getting up with Yvette next to her.

"Even if your logic was flawed, your deductions were correct. That is precisely why I want you to see this."

With that said, Rin entered the room carrying Trisha's head.

Marie turned her gaze to avoid seeing her.

"Unbelievable…" Adashino said sarcastically.

"It's needed to solve this case, so I allowed myself the luxury of bringing it."

"Let's hear the great detective's deduction, then…"

Waver stood in the center of the room, "Let's start by reviewing the murders from 10 years ago. All the victims were decapitated, and their heads disappeared. What can we take from all this? It's simple: they were dead."

"Huh?" Yvette exclaimed.

"Hey, Waver, it's clear that people die when they lose their minds!"

"And why did Trisha Fellows hide her head?"

Yvette raised her hand, "To leave a message, right?"

"Thirty points, Yvette Lehrman."

The girl was disappointed.

"She possessed a mystical eye…"

Yvette raised her hand again, "Did the killer want to steal it?"

"But only this train is capable of extracting a mystic eye from a dead person," said Fernando, who was on the other side of Yvette.

"It wasn't for that. The victims who had their heads stolen were not dead. Thinking they would die from losing their minds is a preconceived idea."

This surprised Marie, "Trisha's head was still alive?"

Waver nodded, "That's right. You only need to keep the head alive to use the mystic eyes, which a skilled magus can do. In short, the assassin just needed to steal the head."

This surprised Gray, "So, Sir, are you suggesting that those mystic eyes were stolen for use ten years ago?"

"That is my theory," the Lord replied.

"So… why kill Trisha?" Marie asked.

"She was investigating the murders from 10 years ago, and if someone got the eyes of the victims, this person could help her get information about the holy grail war. To get that information, she tried to contact me and Karabo."

"You don't deny that Karabo Frampton was the culprit ten years ago?" Adashino asked.

"Miss Adashino, do you know what this is?" the Lord said as he held up the figurine. The sight of it surprised Adashino, "Trisha Fellows hid it in the pocket of imaginary numbers along with her head. The sight was the first mystic eye, and from there arose infinite ways to block them." Waver showed the figurine to the rest of those present, "For example, looking away from an object that represents an obscene image. If you look closely enough, you can even repel it."

Having said this, Gray, who was looking at the figurine, averted her gaze in embarrassment.

"A mystic eye repellent, I didn't consider that possibility. That's how you can manipulate an out-of-control mystic eye," Fernando said.

"Since this was hidden, we didn't think of that possibility," Waver stated.

"Are you suggesting that Trisha was manipulating Karabo?" Adashino asked.

"You're getting too far ahead of yourself. I'm saying your theory didn't consider that a third party could influence Karabo's mystical eye."

"I see. The mastermind may not have acted directly," Melvin said, "what else do you have to say?"

Waver opened his cigarette case and said, "Trisha must have seen that she would meet Karabo in the future and got on the train to get the truth about what happened ten years ago."

"And...?" asked the legislation envoy.

"That's where she went wrong since her vision of the future couldn't foresee a cut from the past. And she passed away…"

"You mean the person responsible manipulated Karabo into committing all those murders?" Yvette asked.

Waver lit the cigarette and proceeded to smoke, "Yes. There is an individual with a motive who could have done it."

"Hmm? Who?"

"This is what I mean..."

In that instant, Adashino raised her hand towards Yvette, and her familiar rushed towards her, quickly surrounding the girl and restraining her. Afterward, she placed her fingers trying to form an oval, and purple circles were also placed around the girl.

"Huh? What does this mean, Professor?" asked Yvette, a little nervous.

"It's what you see. You're the one who manipulated Karabo into killing Trisha Fellows."

"B-But, Sir…" Gray said.

"There's no evidence, and I don't have a motive."

"Yvette certainly has no reason to do so, does she?" Waver looked towards the corridor that connected the room.

"Ha ha ha, I guess we couldn't fool you, Professor..." Yvette said, entering through it.

"Two Yvettes?" Gray asked, confused.

Melvin clapped his hands, "Amazing Waver! What's going on?"

The supposed Yvette smiled, "When did you realize? I thought I had replicated Yvette perfectly."

"Personality-wise, your acting was perfect. But you failed to replicate her magecraft."

She sighed, "It would have been irresponsible of me to let a student into the Einnashe Forest. On the other hand, Lehrman magecraft is hard to replicate, even more so with my own mystical eyes."

"But Yvette used her mystic eye on me, didn't she?" Gray asked.

Waver nodded, "They both exchanged each other during the train ride. Aren't you, Yvette?"

The real Yvette smiled awkwardly, "He promised to let me analyze the mystic eyes he bought."

Waver sighed, "That's why I asked Miss Adashino to collaborate with me."

The fake Yvette smiled, "I see. You two did all this to buy time."

"Who are you?"

"Don't you already know?"

Waver nodded, "Yes, although I would like you to reveal yourself. Still, it's nice to meet you, former Dean of modern magecraft…"

After this, a blackish mist covered the false Yvette, and she transformed into a man. He was tall, with pale skin and reddish hair, which had long, and eyes of the same color.

"Doctor Heartless," Waver finished saying.

"Dr. Heartless, the man whose heart was stolen by the fairies," Adashino said.

Heartless smiled.

"You are the only one capable of offering Yvette enough capital to compete in the auction and also the only one capable of opening the safe at the Faculty of Modern Magic."

"Indeed, I wanted to see you, Lord El-Melloi II."

"But that's not all," Waver interrupted.

"It is not?" asked Heartless.

"Your transformation resembles Gurdoa Davenant's spells. As Davenant's patron, you also invested in the Marbury Workshop and tried to use the spirit lines for something. In short, you left a lot of traces behind. Like a tutor protecting his worst students ..."

"I see; you still have more deductions, don't you? Tell me, according to you, why I did it."

"Your goal... must have been the holy grail war, right?"

Heartless nodded.

"Is Heartless related to the war!?" Adashino asked in astonishment.

Waver took out the report from his suit, "Luvia did an excellent job of investigating. In theory, you had suddenly disappeared, but really you were investigating together with Lord Animusphere."

"My father asked this man for help?" Marie asked.

Waver nodded, "Ten years ago, you secretly collaborated with Astromancy and committed serial murders by manipulating Karabo. You stole the heads with the mystic eyes and used them to monopolize information about the war."

"Great, really great. But those are circumstantial evidence and theories, so you can't accuse based solely on that."

"The grail was corrupted, it wasn't able to grant wishes, and that certainty plunged Lord Animusphere into despair, and that's why he secretly went to meet with one of the founding families, isn't it?" Waver said.

Heartless nodded again, "Lord Animusphere secretly met with the Einzbern family; he did it to ask them why they would perform a ritual that was destined to fail."

"Then!? Why did my father participate in the war!?" Marie asked.

"The response from the Einzbern family was as follows: We have implemented a security system within the ritual, a new class that will purge corruption so that the ritual can proceed as planned, the extra class, Ruler. The Ruler class is a means of defending the grail in case it notices something overstepping or trespassing its authority that could jeopardize the concept of holy grail warfare." Then the man sighed, "However, the summoned servant was an aberration, but not in the sense of being corrupted, but in the sense that it was a servant who did not meet the class requirements to be a Ruler. It was a servant who wished to use the holy grail, and the main requirement for the Ruler class is to have no interest in using the grail." Then Doctor Heartless turned to Marie, "That is why, despite all the dangers, your father decided to participate in the ritual."

"You've already achieved your goal, haven't you? It was not the war itself but the summoning ritual. Heartless, somehow, you generated a grail."

"Excellent!"

"However, I don't know how the hell you did it, at first I thought that, through the Rail Zeppelin and the Einnashe's forest, you would create a distortion that would generate some sub-grail, but... still, that would not be enough, you would have to intervene, for example: by connecting the leylines with the lines of Japan, but that is impossible."

"Because Japan's ley lines have weakened so much that it wouldn't work, would it?" said Heartless.

Waver nodded. "If my deductions are true, to summon something belonging to this new class, Faker, one would need to imitate both the ritual and someone who has participated as a Master before, right? A fake war would qualify to fake the ritual, but it would be too flashy and risky, and, on the other hand, you would still need a Master to fake. I have no idea how you did it, but you somehow found a way to summon Faker and used me to become a master of imitation."

"Correct. The holy grail war interests me since it's basically a fable even to magi, which appealed to me even more."

"Trisha's murder was just a security measure; killing her would remove the mystic eye of precognition that could identify you, and hopefully, you'd get that too."

"Along with Sr. Karabo's eye," Heartless said, cheerfully.

"But she foresaw her murder and hid her head."

Marie bit her lips.

"Her decision was what led me here."

"It's touching," Heartless said.

"If I understand correctly, you are the one who attacked and manipulated the train into the Predator Forest, right?" Leandra asked.

"In the case of attacking the train, you lose the right to participate in the auction."

With a smile, Heartless replied, "My, my, that's too bad. I wanted the charade to last until the end of the auction; I managed to find out that you're going to auction a legendary rainbow rank eye."

This caught the attention of all the magi present.

"Very sorry, the transient eye is the last to be auctioned today. Although we originally planned to auction the rainbow range eye, we had to remove said eye from the auction options due to your actions."

"Thanks to me?" asked Heartless, somewhat confused.

Leandra nodded, "The eye will belong to Mrs.…Crimson, right?"

Altrouge nodded.

"This eye, along with another of her choice, was used as payment to perform a contract where both she and mister Emiya agreed to kill the Seventh Apostle to free the Rail Zeppelin."

"What!?" The first to jump was Marie, who quickly looked at Altrouge, waiting for confirmation.

The Princess smiled, "Do you know something, Olga Marie, tell me, what are the best battles?"

"The best battles?"

Altrouge nodded, "I'll save you the effort: the best battles are the ones you win; without having to compete. As I told you, I already participated in the auction."

"You..." Marie turned her gaze and tried to take it with the supposed dignity she should possess, "I'll... keep it in mind..."

"GGGGGGROOOOOOOWWWWWWWW!"

"That is!?" Rin asked.

Altrouge nodded, "By now, Shirou must have reached the core of the forest…"

"Murder Einnashe?" Heartless frowned, "If he succeeds it will be troublesome for me."

"Adashino!" Waver yelled.

"With my command spell I command you, come to me!"

A red light invaded the room, and once it was gone, Faker appeared out of nowhere and, very quickly, pushed Adashino, causing her to crash into the wall and become unconscious.

Falling unconscious, the bindings and magic circles holding Heartless back disappeared.

"Finally, you call me master."

"The Lord's deductions were so interesting that I kept listening."

"What is this?" Marie asked.

"A heroic spirit," Gray replied.

"I've been doing more research on who you are," Waver said.

Faker turned to him, "I thought you already knew…"

"I'm not just talking about that. I'm talking about your class, a fake grail, a fake master, and fake command seals. Usually, the ritual wouldn't work this way."

"It means that…?" Gray said.

Waver nodded, "Faker is certainly the perfect name for this class, one that symbolizes imitation. This should be used to summon imitation heroic spirits or, in other words, fakes and body doubles of true heroic spirits."

"Indeed, that's why I named this new class, Faker," Heartless confirmed.

"Which means that Faker, you are Iskandar's double, aren't you?"

This surprised Altrouge, "Huh? Wasn't Iskandar a gigantic man with red hair? How could this be his double?"

Though puzzled that the girl knew Iskandar's appearance, Waver nodded, "But in some legends, he is described as small, black-haired, and heterochromatic-eyed, with one eye black as night and the other blue as the sky. Faker, who falsified her gender, appearance, and identity to protect the king, a magical double, a reflection of the conqueror, in short, his shadow."

"That's right, magus, but I've had enough of listening to you," the servant replied.

"I don't mind fighting here. But that would entail sacrificing several Mystic Eyes, so could it open the Pandemonium?"

"Okay…" Rodin said.

After this, the roof of the wagon opened.

"What are you going to do, Yvette?"

"I'm going to accept my punishment, I don't want to live running away," she said, refusing to take his hand.

"Wow, you rejected me. In that case," Faker grabbed Heartless and jumped out of the wagon.

"You won't escape!" Gray said as she left the wagon to, along with Waver and Rin, face Faker and Heartless...

...

...

Meanwhile, inside the forest...

It was official: the forest had assimilated every one of the characteristics of a dead apostle.

Shirou ran around Einnashe's Throne as the gigantic tree threw its branches at him. He was being attacked from all directions; the branches attacked him from the front, and the roots attacked him from below, and if he got close to the rest of the forest, the trees that made it up would attack him from behind.

Simply staying in one place for too long would mean death for him. The branches attacked him again, and Shirou dodged them. Then the roots sprouted from the ground, and he jumped to the side and rolled on the ground; he couldn't stop and had to keep going since the branches were not common: a simple touch with them was more than enough to hurt him. At this moment, he was really grateful for studying runes, so to increase his defenses, he used Algiz; fear has its place in every heart, and courage is only an answer. This rune is related to the Valkyries, who surround him with their power and protect him, weakening enemy attacks.

And yet, even so, the power of the forest was too much for him.

From one moment to the next, he was covered by the branches, even with his Reinforcement, added to his Temporal Manipulation Magecraft, and the Raidho rune to increase his speed. Merem had told him that they could cover one of his creatures, which apparently measured around 200 meters, in a matter of a few minutes; the fact that there was a small clearing around the gigantic tree was a blessing to him, and yet it wasn't enough. The branches shot from all directions at him, and hastily, the boy used the two runes Manaka had taught him about Vorpal: Yr and CWeorþ.

Shirou plunged the sword into the ground, and the weakening effect of Vorpal was transmitted to the ground more easily thanks to Yr, further weakening the authority of the Throne of Einnashe and, on the other hand, CWeorþ's flames were transmitted through the blade burning the earth and the branches that tried to impale him, as well as the trees around him.

Generally, CWEORÞ should be much more powerful; however, because his mastery over runes was not that advanced, as well as because this was an elemental rune, after activating its effect, it was more difficult for him to control it than the rest, so the rune didn't come close to being able to unleash its full power and yet, from one moment to the next, the entire clearing was completely engulfed in flames. Furthermore, the boy was surprised by its mana consumption, which was above the others, so he also voluntarily restricted it.

However, and to his misfortune, the boy watched as the forest began to regenerate at high speed. Eight hundred years had passed since the forest had absorbed the blood of the true Einnashe, and with this, the tree had obtained the Curse of Restoration from the dead apostles. Furthermore, this was a living mystery that was over eight hundred years old; it was not like the sons of Louvre, who were barely a hundred years old, nor was it a magus like Louvre and his sons before they were transformed and, more importantly, the phases of the moon were not on his side either, in short, the Origin's Bullets, or failing that, the Phantom Punishment, were useless against it.

So he only had one option: destroy the original tree from its roots to its highest branches. So Shirou took Vorpal, then dashed off in a zigzag pattern as he dodged the branches and roots of the tree. He had to attack point blank or, otherwise, the gigantic tree was likely to be able to survive.

Sensing the flames burning it and the enemy approaching, the gigantic tree roared and unleashed an immense blizzard that hit the boy, sending him flying backward and extinguishing the fire.

Shirou was forced to withdraw momentarily and didn't notice a gigantic branch that came towards him sending him flying to the side. The redhead rolled across the snowy field, but he didn't stop, as soon as he stopped rolling, he got up and kept running; however, the branches attacked him faster and more ferociously, so the boy had to increase his speed even more to be able to deal with them, "Time Alter, Triple Accel!" Although he had to move faster, he also moved more cautiously since the blizzard was so strong that he didn't know where he was going, and if he wasn't careful, he could turn his back on his enemy and run towards the forest.

Suddenly, the boy was terrified to see how the air, in addition to being covered by mist, began to be covered with something else, a kind of gas, and suddenly, the air was turning poisonous; Shirou held his breath and tried to get away as fast as he could, and yet the gas expanded much quicker than he could get away. When he reached the limit of his stamina and was about to breathe the gas, the protection obtained by combining Berkano and Raidho dissipated the mist and gas, showing him a path to his destination, the original tree.

The branches attacked him, and Shirou dodged them again; knowing that he couldn't stop to charge his sword attack, he decided to do it while running. He held Vorpal with his teet to ensure that it maintained its effect, and at the same time, he grabbed Neocaliburn.

The young man ran as fast as he could. The branches came from in front, and Shirou dodged them by skidding forward or destroying them with Ascalon. This was his only chance; he had expended too much energy having his reinforcement, time manipulation magecraft, and runes active. When he was close, he looked at the enormous tree, which exuded blood like sap, and all its branches shot towards him. To face them, Shirou dematerialized Ascalon and grabbed Neocaliburn with both hands. When he was as close as possible, he thought of that prayer that resonated in his head every time he released the light that could burn everything it touched. Forcefully, he swung the sword in an upward slash...

The holy light shot from its edge and advanced relentlessly incinerating all the branches that came against it; it quickly advanced to the trunk of the tree and, although this did everything possible to protect itself, covering itself with its branches, raising its roots to create a shield, none of it had any effect, the light burned everything and rose towards the heavens…

...

Back on the Rail Zeppelin...

"I think the best thing would be to say goodbye here," Heartless said along with Faker. At this moment, they were both on the roof of the train.

"You still haven't returned the relic to me!" Waver replied.

"Oh! I see..." After saying this, he rolled the cloth into a ball and tossed it to him, "There you have it."

Waver took it in midair, and after wrapping it in other cloth, he kept it inside his coat.

"Bye." Heartless then turned around and began to leave along with Faker.

"Wait!"

Hearing the Lord, the two turned around.

"Faker, I have a question for you."

"I already said that I got tired of listening to you," she replied.

"You don't have a name, do you?" asked the Lord: "Since you are a magical double..."

Faker laughed, "Yes, that's right, I don't have a name. I was born Hephaestion's twin and given to the gods."

"Without a name, you could draw upon yourself the curses that were cast against Iskandar. It is an advanced application of anaphora," Waver explained.

"The King tried to give me a name several times, but I refused each time. That is all, magus."

"Then I have another question: why don't you show up with the King's army?"

This question caused Faker's expression to contort in sheer irritation, "Shut up!" Faker rushed over to attack Waver, but Gray got in her way.

"Add."

The mystic code adopted its shield version and stopped the Servant's short sword.

"Thank you, Gray."

"You say what you want to say, Sir!" the girl replied.

"Wretch!" Faker kicked the shield and pushed Gray back.

"Faker, I ordered you to stand down."

"When I cut off his head!"

Faker surrounded her body with magical power.

"Is it magecraft?" Waver asked in amazement since Faker was a magical double, and Iskandar had never used magecraft during the fourth holy grail war.

"Add, eat it!" Gray said.

"I'm on it. Come on, it's an all-you-can-eat, baby!" Faker's magical power was absorbed by the scythe, "Hmm... so much power!" he exclaimed with delight.

"What a nuisance…" the heroic spirit growled.

"You said that the King tried to give you a name. That meant he did not accept your situation. He would not tolerate treating you like a nameless object! You are not in his army because you disown it yourself! Isn't that right!?"

"Unfortunate!" Faker ran towards the Lord, and Gray tried to stop her, but the servant roughly pushed her away.

Faker was about to attack him but was forced to dodge several curses that flew at her.

"Again you!" the servant yelled as she saw Rin climb onto the roof.

"Professor, the auctioneer told me to be careful because Einnashe's influence is getting out of control!" the girl said as she stepped between Faker and Waver.

"What?"

Gray took the opportunity to get up and tried to attack Faker from behind, but she dodged it by jumping.

A light came from deep within the forest and lit up the night in the distance, "GGGGGGROOOOOOOWWWWWWWW!" The forest roared, but this time, there was no anger like last time, but agony and pain. The roots and branches of the woods went wild and forcefully seized all the train cars.

Doctor Heartless gave a strange smile and looked uncomfortable, "It was entertaining to see the resolution of Faker's riddle."

"Thank you," the Lord replied with slight indifference.

"Tell me, Lord El-Melloi, even if you don't know how I mimicked the ritual, you should be able to figure out why I'm here. Why did I put the train inside Einnashe?"

"There's only one thing I can think of. You're being chased, aren't you?"

"Bravo. I worked for an organization for a while, but they didn't particularly like my idea of summoning a servant, so I've been on the run for months now."

"Who are they?"

Heartless didn't answer, "I wanted to change the Magecraft World, to destroy the old system, so I worked with Lord Animusphere and other organizations. However, their ideas about changing the world weren't going in the same direction as mine."

"And now they're after you..."

"Even with all the knowledge and skills I've obtained through time, I can't oppose them. That's why I've been running for months now…"

"So what's all this about? If you wanted to use Einnashe as protection, you could have done it without involving us."

Heartless smiled, "That's right, for these months, I've been looking for a way to deal with them, and although I was able to find a method and start the procedures to achieve it, I realized it was unlikely that I would survive long enough to see it done, and I don't trust my new coworkers."

"You were looking for someone else..."

"That's right, I remembered you then. You are my successor as Dean of Modern Magecraft, and you have already had experience with the holy grail wars; furthermore, despite understanding the logic of the magi, you do not follow it to the letter. After analyzing you, I decided to entrust it to you… You have to untrain everything, Lord El-Melloi! I have already given you the necessary clues…" After saying this, Heartless turned around to leave.

"Stop, Heartless, your experiment ends here!" Waver yelled.

"Probably, but in that case, allow me to resist." Heartless closed his eyes, placed a hand over his heart, and chanted, "Turn around, my heart."

The place where his heart should be lit up in a greenish color, and suddenly, a great portal opened up in the heavens. From within, a tree emerged similar to the one at the center of Einnashe but smaller.

"That is…!"

"Yes, it is one of Einnashe's sons. I took advantage of the fact that it was nearby to transport it here."

"Do you intend to devour the train?"

"This comedy ends now," said Faker, who had jumped onto one of the Einnashe branches rooted to the train.

"Sir!" Gray jumped up and placed herself in front of Waver and Rin.

"The earth is round, and the sea is not infinite. He said he resisted after finding out. Vassals look like the king," Waver sighed.

"His empire towards the ocean collapsed, and his dreams were lost," the servant said hatefully. "The result couldn't be more pathetic."

Waver laughed.

"What are you laughing about!?"

Waver replied smiling: "It's typical of him; he never finished anything. Maybe he didn't have talent…"

"Sir…?" Gray asked upon hearing his words.

"What are you saying?" Faker asked.

"I've been thinking about the same thing for almost a decade. What could I do to reach his back... if I told him that I defeated his other self, I'm sure he would laugh out loud."

Faker smirked, "Do you think you can beat me?"

"Gray, Rin, will you help me?"

"Yes! Leave it to me!" the gravekeeper said before jumping at Faker.

"I guess I have no other options..." Rin walked towards where Einnashe's son had manifested, "Einnashe is seizing the train, so they can't use the projector, so I'll have to take care of that thing; leave it to me."

Waver nodded.

Between the tree branches, Faker and Gray began exchanging attacks.

"Forgive me, master, I thought to be loyal to you, but…"

Heartless sighed, "What a nuisance; you managed to provoke her. I guess there was a reason you survived the holy grail war."

"It's rare for a master and servant to work well together," the Lord replied, "I'm sorry, but I'll stop you here."

Heartless smirked, "You say you're going to stop me?"

"No, that's my job."

A black key was about to impale Heartless, and he had to jump back to avoid it.

"Karabo Frampton? And with his mystic eyes, too," said the doctor.

Karabo walked on top of the train, "I got them back after the last eye auction sale was canceled."

The Church agent jumped into the tree branches and positioned himself between Gray and Faker.

"Karabo!" Gray exclaimed.

"You should have died," Faker said before lunging at the Church agent.

Karabo's black keys danced against Faker's short sword with quick movements, both trying to create an opening that would allow them to hurt each other; however, Karabo was careful not to face her directly for too long, knowing how dangerous the servant could be. However, this exchange was short-lived because Karabo's mystic eyes gleamed, and a cut from the past was reflected in the present, cleaving the servant's short sword in two.

"This is…" Faker's suit was also cut, causing a slight injury to her arm.

"If a cut comes from the past, no physical or spiritual body can block it," the Lord said as he watched the fight.

Numerous cuts from the past began to hit Faker one after another. This forced the servant to withdraw from the man's field of vision.

"You will pay for manipulating me, Heartless!"

Heartless smiled, "Oh…"

Karabo lunged to attack the magus, but Einnashe's crazed branches began to attack him, cutting him off.

"What will you do against all those branches?"

"On our own, there's little we can do…" Waver declared, but to Heartless's confusion, he was smiling.

While the entire battle was taking place, Rin dodged the forest branches while getting as close as possible to where the portal was through which Heartless summoned the son of the woods.

Hurry up, Olga Marie. I need a little time to load it. She thought as she took out of her bag a sword similar to the prototype tested a few weeks ago...

On the roof of another of the wagons...

"Are you sure you shouldn't have gone with him?" Altrouge asked, her gaze flickering between the battle taking place a few wagons away and Einnashe Forest in the distance.

"Fou…"

"Even PM agrees with me. Letting him go alone was very dangerous," the apostle continued while holding Muramasa.

"There must be trust..." the spirit replied.

"Hmm?"

"There must be trust between the student and the teacher. The student must have confidence in the teacher's teachings and knowledge, as well as in his decisions and, reciprocally, the teacher must have confidence in the student's abilities and decisions." The spirit sighed, "If there is no trust, then the teaching will fail. Furthermore, the teacher has to let the student face the obstacles on his own or, otherwise, he will not grow."

"Was that why you forbade him to take you with him?"

"Yes, he must fight a few battles on his own. He must figure out how to deal with different enemies, know the limits of his capabilities, and learn firsthand how difficult the path he chose is. He won't be able to if I'm taking care of him all the time."

...

Inside the train...

Olga Marie, that girl with the crow, Fernando, Yvette, and Adashino were forming a circle.

Marie began to say the aria, "The shape of the stars... The shape of the sky... The shape of God..." Marie raised her arms as a sphere formed above her head, which glowed purple. I don't understand… What did you want to achieve by finding out the reasons why my father decided to abandon me? Did you want me to be angry? To stop chasing his shadow? Trisha, I… I am the new Lord Animusphere. I can get angry when I have to be angry, and that's why I'm angry right now. If you had told me, maybe then… but… I get it; now it's my turn, and now it's me who should stand up! Having made up her mind, Olga Maie finished the aria, "Gods, animus, antrum, unbirth, anima, Animusphere!"

The sphere turned into a magic circle, and above the train, numerous small meteorites fell from the sky like green flashes, hitting and burning the branches along with the trees, which were all around the train.

"It's Olga Marie's magecraft!" Gray said as she watched how, beautifully, the meteorites fell and incinerated the branches of the woods.

"Just as I expected," Waver said.

"What a surprise; did you have it planned?" asked Heartless.

"It was an elementary deduction…" Waver turned and watched as Rin raised a sword he had never seen before to the heavens, "It seems the second arrow is ready as well."

A magic circle incomprehensible to everyone present, except for Rin herself, emerged from it, engulfed her, and etched itself into the ground. Suddenly, an absurd amount of magical energy began to emanate from it and concentrated on the blade of the sword.

I hope this time it works... Rin got into position, separated her feet, and strengthened her body as much as she could, and then she grabbed the sword with both hands, stretched her arms back, and pushed them forward, performing a lunge.

Energy shot in a flashing bolt from the blade of the sword at the son of Einnashe, and like its father, it cried out in pain, its branches burning, its trunk broke, and it fell from the top of the portal moaning in agony and suffering.

"GGGGGGROOOOOOOWWWWWWWW!"

The energy stopped being shot, and Rin could barely keep from being pushed back. She looked at the blade; she had been forced to minimize both the energy draw and energy output so that the magic circle wouldn't overload and the sword wouldn't explode; however, the magic circle overheated, and the sword cracked, rendering it unusable. At this time, the sword was a single-use tool far inferior to the original.

Rin sighed, "Well, at least this time it didn't explode…" She comforted herself.

...

On the other hand…

"How awful… You really do have some pretty promising students... though... It's also pretty disappointing. We're leaving, Faker!" He said as he turned around.

"No! Not yet!" Faker surrounded her body with magical energy.

"I won't allow it!" Gray pointed her scythe at the servant, and Add absorbed her magical energy.

Taking advantage of the opening, Karabo threw his black keys at Faker, but she dodged them and used her mystic eyes of compulsion to take control of the two; however, Karabo used his to reflect the cut left by his keys and thus causing a wound to the servant's face.

"I'll start with you," Faker lunged at Karabo and, with a strong kick, sent him flying.

Taking advantage of the effect of her eye, Faker rushed towards Gray to finish her off. For her part, Gray used all of her willpower to raise her scythe and try to counter Faker's blow, but she was barely able to lift it over her head.

Faker jumped up and was about to deliver the last blow to Gray, but, at that moment, a small object caught her vision. It was the figurine Trisha used to deflect the mystic eyes; this one allowed the eyes' effect to be nullified, and on sheer impulse, Gray's scythe slashed down at the servant.

Faker recoiled in dismay as a large gash opened on her chest, causing profuse bleeding. "D-Did you wait for me to use my mystic eye?"

"Yes," replied Waver, who had thrown the statuette, "although we wouldn't have made it in time without Karabo."

Waver jumped off the train and approached Faker, "Glory awaits in the distance, and we fight because we aspire to something we don't have. We take a combative path because of the vassals behind us; that's what he told me."

Those words had a great impact on his students, who listened attentively.

"You only spent half a month with him... Don't you dare talk about my King like you know him!" Faker yelled as she clutched her chest.

"You, King's shadow, even if you are removed from history, that doesn't mean you lose your sense. That's why I'm here right now!"

"In that case, try to survive!" Raising her hands to the sky, Faker summoned her noble phantasm. And the chariot drawn by the skeletal wyverns descended with red lightning.

Although a smile was visible on his face, Heartless's words were cold and precise, "Faker, get this over with; we don't have time."

Falling to his knees, the Lord said, "Gray, I leave it in your hands."

"Sir!"

The Lord's glasses shattered, "Now I... am frozen too..." Waver turned and said with a resigned smile, "My life is in your hands."

Gray nodded and prepared to finish off Faker once and for all.

"My allegiance is to the King! Lend me the name of lightning to face my enemy!" said the servant as lightning surrounded the chariot, "If you really mean to keep your word, hit me with everything you have, brat!"

"Gray… Rave… Crave…" Numerous spheres of light began to surround the girl, but even so, she was trembling, "D-Deprave… Grave… me…"

At that time, she felt a hand rest on her shoulder, "That spear is full of prayers, prayers compacted into thirteen shapes. Prick up your ears to hear their voices; listen to the prayers of distant times," Karabo said as he held his chest, which was bloody because Faker's kick had been strong enough to almost go through it.

"The prayers, he says… But all you did was cower in the corner of the room, Gray!" The one who yelled was none other than Add, "But it's time to listen to you; what do you want to do? If you don't say it, no one will know!"

"I... I want to protect the Sir and the others. I want to walk my own path and find out what I really want!"

"That's more than enough, indecisive Gray!" Suddenly, Add's voice lost all emotion, "Artificial personality suspended, magic power agglutination minimum value exceeded. Initiating second level limit release, thirteen seals, initializing decision…"

The light took the form of thirteen people, and each one began to speak:

"The enemy must not be an elemental, I consent."

"The enemy must be more powerful than oneself, I consent."

"The battle must be to live, I consent."

"The battle must be for truth, I consent."

"The battle must not be against Humanity, I consent."

"One's comrades-in-arms must be courageous, I consent."

"The battle must not be inhumane, I consent."

"The battle must not be against one pure of heart, I consent."

"Initiating the release of the third level cap," Add finished saying.

"Grave for you… Ancient mystery reaches your death, sweet riddle... return to nothing!" The light took the shape of a spear over Gray.

"Forward! My Hecatic Wheel!" The battle chariot was surrounded by Zeus's lightning bolts, which were empowered by the Lightning Conqueror's ability. Once again, Faker seemed to be the storm itself, and, between thunderous bolts of lightning, she descended like a thunderstorm as she imbued the chariot with her own magical energy, "VIA EXPUGNATIO!"

"Holy spear, raise the anchor! RHONGO... MYNIADDDD!"

The light shot up into the heavens like a tower and, despite how imposing the Hecatic Wheel seemed to be, falling with extreme fierceness, it was barely able to face and resist for a few seconds the pure power of the spear that shone to the ends of the world; thus, the spear of light collided with the Hecatic Wheel, and the storm was crossed in a matter of a few moments.

Faker was stunned by the power of the holy spear, and not even her screams could be heard after being hit by its light.

"Turn around, my heart..."

Once it was gone, there was nothing left but the clear sky.

"GGGGGGROOOOOOOWWWWWWWW!"

The forest roared once more, but that didn't matter, and with a smile, Heartless clapped his hands, "Bravo, who'd have thought to be able to see yet another legendary treasure unfold."

"You lose your servant and still behave as if nothing happened?" Karabo asked, stunned.

"Lost, what are you talking about? Faker is right here."

Although, with her skin burned and severely injured, Faker materialized in front of Heartless.

Waver snarled, "You saved her exactly as you teleported Einnashe's son..."

The doctor nodded, "I'm so sorry, I have to say goodbye, I've already wasted a lot of time."

"Stop right there, Heartless, this must end here!" Karabo yelled as he tried to get up.

"No, this won't end yet. We're leaving, Fak-"

However, Heartless was unable to finish his sentence because a sword pierced through his chest.

"No, the man is right; this ends now, Doctor." The sword cut the man from chest to shoulder, and he fell forward. Before he could do anything, the hand that held his command seals was mutilated.

"Mas-…!" Faker tried to scream but was riddled with various weapons from various spectral beings, and despite being injured, she managed to dodge and repel some of them and move away taking Heartless away from the attacker.

"What are those things?!" Gray asked.

Just as surprised as his student, Waver replied, "N-No, I don't know."

"Shadow servants," Heartless said before turning to face his attacker.

She wore a tight black suit that covered her entire body and was covered by red lines from her feet to her neck. On top of it was a form-fitting black metal armor that resembled an extremely short mini-dress. She also wore black gloves and boots, a garter on her right thigh, a vast cross-shaped shield, and a sword that she had impaled him with. The only thing visible was her short black hair with bluish tints and her fair skin, and on the other hand, the upper part of her face was covered by a black visor in a similar style to the rest of her armor. She also seemed to be young, 16 or 17 years old.

Heartless gave her a resigned smile, "You came fast this time, envoy from the Moon."

"I've been keeping an eye on you since long before, but I needed to wait for a suitable moment when Faker was caught off guard, and thanks to this, I was able to attack you without her being able to use the Blessing of the Nameless to protect you, thanks to her recent fight, the timing was perfect." The shadow servants turned their gazes to the doctor, waiting for the order to attack again, "Doctor Heartless, for the crimes you have committed against the Moon Cell, I have been sent to deal with you, and this time, you have no escape. Give up on once," said the girl.

"I-I'm afraid that's not possible for me, Shielder. I can't stop after coming this far..."

"Your goal is not possible. This world will not change no matter how hard you try."

As if he had regained some of the human feelings he seemed never to express, at least beyond his strange smile, Heartless resisted, "I refuse."


Several minutes before, in the center of the forest…

Shirou struggled to his feet, the force of his attack sending him back several meters.

"Was it enough...?" The snowfall was no longer heavy enough to prevent him from seeing his surroundings, but the place where Einnashe's throne should have been was covered in smoke.

Carefully, and holding a sword in each hand, Shirou approached the place where the tree should be, and by that time, he had almost run out of energy, thus being unable to keep the Reinforcement and protection active.

"I don't see anything... It's too much smoke… I-" But the boy couldn't finish his sentence as roots sprouted from the ground and hit him in his arms with such force that they made him throw his swords, and an enormous branch appeared in front of him, piercing his stomach and throwing him several meters away.

Cof… Cof…

Shirou coughed up blood. He got up, but roots came out from the ground again, digging into his feet, and, from the trees behind him, branches came out and attacked him, digging into the bare part of his back. He would already be dead if it weren't for Avalon and the blades that emerged from within his body to seal his gravest wounds.

Retained by the branches and roots, the boy saw how Neocaliburn had destroyed 50% of the tree, but the other 50% was still safe.

"Shit…" Shirou couldn't move, and Neocaliburn and Vorpal were thrown into the distance, so Einnashe's effect returned. He couldn't project anything or free himself from the roots and branches of the forest, and he watched as the lopsided tree prepared to devour him by opening what was left of its mouth and stretching its branches, while it began to regenerate slowly.

What do I do!? I have to break free somehow! But, without my weapons and my magecraft, that is impossible. W-Wait, I still… I still have something! With his strength sapped from all he had to fight and from being badly injured, Shirou unbuckled the weapon he was carrying on his back.

The few remaining branches of the tree shot at high speed toward him, and as fast as he could, Shirou shot with the Black Barrel to destroy them. Luckily, the bullets from the gun were powerful enough to destroy the branches and stop its advance. Unfortunately, this was not enough to defeat it; his only option is to kill the tree before it regenerates.

Hoping that, in its weakened state, the bullets would be enough to wound it, Shirou aimed the weapon at what appeared to be the heart of Einnashe's throne.

"It is all or nothing!"

Shirou aimed the big rifle at the phantasmal species, and at that moment, something happened. The black rifle began to glow with a reddish light, and a voice came from deep within it.

"The seal of Atlas is being unlocked. The conditions have been given: An immortal being shrouded in high amounts of mystery has been targeted, and the bearer is a human being. The true function of the weapon will be activated: Imposition of natural life on beings that do not possess it."

"What?" the boy exclaimed. Something had happened, and Einnashe's dominance had been momentarily interrupted.

...

At the same time as this was happening, Heartless was getting up as best she could to face the mysterious enemy alongside Faker.

For the first time since the Lord had met him, he saw him frown, removing his always enigmatic smile, "I refuse to accept the fate of the world. It's bad enough that the system doesn't change and all magecraft falls into decay, but its utter demise… I refuse to accept it! If so, a regression is the best course."

...

At the same time, with Shirou, the robotic-sounding voice continued to speak, "Paradox effect in progress, starting the countdown."

The rifle glowed with a reddish light, and an enormous amount of energy was building up around the barrel and in the muzzle.

"The enemy has been detected 130 meters away. Shaping the Black Barrel... Converting the paradox and giving way to the real theory. User, stabilize the weapon!"

Due to his current state, the boy's hand was shaking, but the warning from the gun brought him back to his senses, "Y-Yes!" replied the boy while he took care that the shot was accurate.

At the same time, with Heartless...

"I already told you, Doctor, that that is impossible. This world is destined to become a world designated for its elimination, a world far from the correct history of humanity that will later be erased since it began to separate from it a long time ago, and, little by little, it has begun to become more and more unrecognizable, at this point, the only value and objective it possesses is only one: to die. This world must die so other worlds don't part the way this one did, that's all," the girl replied.

...

In unison, with Shirou…

"Energy at the limit, maximizing offensive capacity, weapon body ready."

The branches began to regenerate once more and charged at the boy, and seeing this, and with Einnashe's dominance interrupted, he used his reality marble to not only seal his most serious wounds but also to cause numerous leaves to come out from inside, cutting and protecting him from the branches.

Shirou gritted his teeth and swallowed the pain as the steel blades shot out from his body, impaling him from the inside out. Although he had used them strategically so they wouldn't cause irreparable damage, that didn't mean the pain of being stabbed several times didn't affect him, "Quick! Quick! Quick! QUICK!"

"Sync Range: 30%... 50%... 70%... 80%... 100%"

...

At the same time, in the vicinity of the Rail...

Heartless smiled once more, but this time, it wasn't a fake smile or one without human feelings, and, instead, it was a genuine smile, the first he had done in a long time, "Lord El-Melloi, it seems that you are right, my experiment ends here. I already gave you all the clues so that you can continue on your own." He then turned to Shielder, "However, I'm going to contradict you: I'm sure what you say won't happen. In a world with so many people, it is impossible for there not to be one who stands up against it."

"Someone who will rise?" the girl asked.

Heartless nodded, "Those people must exist. People who rise against fate, who will overcome the dangers and high walls they will face and press on until they triumph."

"Even if they exist, none of that will matter. Even statistics can't help you here because fate bends everything to its will," the girl replied.

At the same time, in what was left of the clearing...

The roots regenerated and launched against the redhead.

"Camera is entering a critical point."

"SHOOT AT ONCE!" the desperate boy yelled.

"Black Barrel, full trance. Proceed to fire!"

"FIRE!" Shirou pulled the trigger.

The bullet shot out as a small black sphere enveloped by the reddish energy like a gigantic reddish-black lightning bolt. The black lightning struck the tree and destroyed all the branches, and then, once the bullet hit the phantasmal species, it exploded from the inside out into a thousand pieces with no chance to regenerate in any way. On the other hand, the lightning continued its trajectory, rising through the skies.

...

And finally, with Heartless...

"M-Master…" Faker said as she did her best to get up in front of the doctor.

Heartless smiled resignedly, "I guess the Lord is right... It's rare for master and servant to agree. I no longer have my command seals, but this is my last order to you, Faker: take all that is left of my magical energy and eliminate Shielder!"

Despite her current state, Faker smiled, "Understood, Master!" Once again, a reddish ray descended from the heavens. Since her Hecatic Wheel had been destroyed by Gray, and with the small amount of magical energy she had left, the most she could manifest was a single wyvern. Faker didn't hesitate and mounted the wyvern, then rode against the girl with the shield and her shadow servants.

"Everyone, attack her," she ordered, almost emotionless.

The shadow servants between Faker and the girl followed her order automatically and pounced on the servant; however, using her ability for combat where many enemies are mobilized, she was able to evade or push away most of the shadow servants in her path, several attacking her with what appeared to be debased and much less powerful versions of noble phantasms, and even so, she did not hesitate and, for a moment, a certain Lord in the distance could see, the shadow of that same servant he had summoned almost a decade ago overlapping with Faker's silhouette. Crimson lightning covered the wyvern, and Conqueror of Lightning increased its power. The shadow servants' attacks rained down on her, and those she couldn't dodge hit her squarely as she kept moving forward, protecting her spiritual core above anything else; her enemies got in her way, and they were overwhelmed by the wyvern...

The girl did not move from her position at any time; she did not try to run away or dodge the servant's tackle. She raised her large shield with icy firmness at the servant's desperate attack, and a large amount of blinding magical energy engulfed them.

When the light produced by the crash dissipated, Faker was gone, and all that was left was the shield and the servant firmly planted in the same place, and the land in front of her was totally obliterated. The shadow servants surrounded the people near the train so that no one interrupted the girl, who approached the magus, "Goodbye, Doctor, I wish his words could come true."

She didn't even give him time to respond and prepared to decapitate the magus, but not before he saw how the shot from the Black Barrel rose to the heavens. After this, he was killed, his neck was severed, and his head was severed from his body, falling to the ground right next to it.

"Even with the extra time provided by your temporal paradox, you couldn't stop fate; how do you expect someone of this time to be able to pull it off?" However, she raised her gaze to the sky and saw how the reddish ray rose to create the illusion of touching the moon.

She was entranced when she saw the scene. Then, she looked at those present: a young man, a girl close to her age, a man who seemed close to drawing his last breath, and a woman several meters away, but seeing that none of them had anything to do with Heartless, she turned and walked away from the place without a word. Her servants followed her, and they all disappeared in a pillar of light.

The others could not do anything, as they were outmatched in every way, and the only thing they could do was witness Heartless's murder. Even after the girl left, they didn't dare move from the place until several minutes later. The shock and fear were too great, and they knew that if they moved, their fate would be no different from their enemy's.

The one exception was Altrouge, who couldn't care less about the situation; however, there was one thing that did catch her attention, "PM, please bring it to me," she said as she watched with a smile as the Einnashe forest disappeared and gave way to an ordinary forest, she left the train and prepared to go inside it.

...

With Shirou…

Several minutes passed, and he couldn't move. Fortunately, Avalon managed to heal his most serious wounds, though the others had only been patched by the effect of his reality marble, and in both cases, the pain remained. Every move he made hurt him enormously, and honestly, he regretted not letting Gray come with him because Avalon had worn off its effect, and until he reunited with her, it wouldn't work again.

He was lucky the tree had exploded in the opposite direction that he shot, otherwise, not even Avalon would have saved him from the blast. With much effort, he put away the rifle, which had returned to its normal appearance. He placed it on his back and proceeded to pick up Neocaliburn and Vorpal, and carefully, and at an extremely slow pace, the boy approached the place. There was nothing left but a large hole, but at the bottom of it, there was something...

"That's it, a fruit?"

A fruit... this one was on the highest branch, and probably, the tree must have moved it to protect it. He grabbed the fruit, which was huge, and prepared to take it with him, as it might have some use for Altrouge. Once with this, Shirou proceeded to leave the forest. He had nothing to do here anymore, and it was possible that the train would leave without him.

The redhead paid no attention to Merem, who had been silent throughout the entire fight but was still watching him closely. He just slowly walked to the train, tired, near fainting, and near death; he didn't get very far before collapsing, but he couldn't stay there either, and he knew he would die if he didn't get medical attention quickly. He did everything he could to remain conscious, but he couldn't move; his body no longer obeyed him, the exhaustion from the use of his Od, the multiple blows and stabs from the branches and roots, his own swords stabbing him from the inside out, overwhelmed his senses. He no longer felt pain because he had exceeded that threshold by far, but the sensation of being beaten and impaled from the inside out and vice versa remained; it was like thousands of needles being inserted into his flesh. In the end, before exhaustion defeated him, the last thing he saw before losing consciousness were beautiful crimson eyes and a cute smile...


Author's Notes:

Hi people, here you have the new chapter. This has been a long and difficult one to translate, but I have tried my best to do the best I can.

The following chapters will be longer, so they will take longer to come out.

Umbrakinetic: Thank you very much. I'm glad you liked it so much. I've done the same with fics in English, so I understand how annoying it can be to read them like this.

CoconutGoSkrrt: I'm glad you liked it.

13thsephiroth: I'm glad you liked it, and about the black barrel, yes, in Notes it's called it that.

Without more to say, it is but that you enjoyed the chapter. For those who want to support the translation, you can follow me on P_treon where I upload the translation in parts and the chapters with images. And see you in the next one.