Everything happened so quickly, as if time had stopped in a moment of frozen horror. At the center of the agony was a young man, his eyes wide open in a gesture of surprise and anguish. His body was paralyzed by shock as blood gushed from his mouth, staining his lips a dark red that violently contrasted with the pale whiteness of his skin.
A sword, sharp and lethal, pierced his body from behind, emerging through his chest with cruel and ruthless precision. The blade gleamed in the light, a serpent of steel imbued with the sacrifice of youth. The young man, with trembling hands, tried to cling to life, but he knew deep down that it was already too late.
His gaze, filled with despair and helplessness, turned towards a third person who watched the scene impassively from a distance. There was no hint of emotion on their face, only an unyielding coldness that contrasted with the chaos and tragedy unfolding before their eyes.
Yet, despite the physical and emotional torment, his eyes did not waver from the impassive figure nearby. The wounded young man's gaze met that of the silent witness, who observed the scene with unbreakable coldness. In that exchange of glances, silent messages of surprise, betrayal, and a profound sense of injustice were conveyed.
The horrible sound of the sword exiting his chest echoed throughout the area as the person responsible for stabbing him with the sword withdrew their weapon in a swift motion, realizing with wide eyes that they had done so involuntarily, under the orders of the third person who gave them little or no chance to react in order to assist the young man. This young man had accompanied them to this point, risking his life several times to protect the man he saw as a father, who had now betrayed him in the worst possible way.
"For my third command spell, I command you again, Saber, destroy the Grail."
Walking amidst the seats of the building where the Grail had been summoned, he kept his right hand raised towards Saber, using his last command spell to give his order to his servant, who was struggling to resist such an order to destroy the object for which she had fought with such fervor in this Fourth Holy Grail War.
"Why, Kiritsugu? Of all people, you... Why?!"
"Damn you... How dare you interrupt my wedding ceremony, insect?"
Kiritsugu's attack had been unleashed without hesitation. The attack sped towards the Grail at full speed, taking less than two seconds to impact it, raising a large cloud of dust that covered the eyes of everyone present for a few seconds until it dispersed, revealing that the attack had accomplished its purpose but at a high price. It unleashed the corruption of the Grail that had been accumulating since the beginning of the Third Holy Grail War throughout Fuyuki.
What initially formed as a viscous mass of corruption in a ball in the sky for a few seconds ended up exploding, releasing all that mass onto the individuals who were still below where the Holy Grail had previously been. The first to be covered by that substance was the arrogant King Gilgamesh, who had been summoned as the Archer class in this war. Following him, the body of the young man lying on the ground, bleeding from the fatal wound in his chest, was covered by that mass, still clinging to life, holding on to his last breaths.
He could recall the discussion forming among the three of them about how the bastard who betrayed him was doing the same with Saber, forcing her to destroy the only way she could have avoided becoming the Queen of Britain by going back in time and changing her past. Something he had laughed at because it was a rather foolish desire in his opinion, as it would erase his own history, affecting too many people just because she didn't feel worthy of being a king. But now, that didn't matter. He was dying because of that same person he had laughed at. Did he hold a grudge? Of course not. He saw in a painful way how she was forced to carry out such an order by the bastard's command spells that killed him and didn't have the courage to do it himself.
But somehow, he should have seen it coming. He had lived long enough with the man to know what kind of person he was. After all, he was his master, taking him in as his apprentice when he was ten years old, training him to fulfill some purpose, and apparently, he had fulfilled it in the war, helping him reach the Grail.
Was he careless? Of course, he was. Since he was young, the man had taught him not to get attached to anything because as soon as you loved something, it could be gone just as quickly. But how could he not get attached to the man who had given him a home when he had a shitty life before meeting him? He was going to be sold as human trafficking, but Kiritsugu, on one of his many missions of justice around the world, had found him in a shipment full of people resigned to their fate of being sold like cattle. Something that, despite being only ten years old at the time, he had resigned himself to being treated like cattle. So when Kiritsugu freed them, he asked him to train him.
Of course, he had initially rejected it, but after being insisted upon and followed everywhere, he finally accepted him as his apprentice. Kiritsugu taught him all kinds of weapon handling because, even though he was known as the Mage Killer, he preferred to use firearms over the spells established by the magi. This made him stand out as the greatest mage killer in the current era and earned him a feared reputation among the magi.
He also became involved in hunting down the magi that Kiritsugu told him to kill to gain experience and, incidentally, to purge the corrupt magi who practiced magic against humanity. He wouldn't lie saying he didn't enjoy hunting down the magi he encountered because it would be hypocritical of him to say so. There was a strange pleasure in seeing their faces of despair when they realized they had no way out.
Perhaps he enjoyed instilling fear in the corrupt magi because, like them, he had almost been sold as livestock by a corrupt magus in the past. It was the greatest possibility, but that was already a thing of the past. He was dying, and he was sure it wouldn't be long before his soul went to hell to suffer for all the atrocities he had committed in his short life. Did he regret the things he did?
No, he didn't. He did all those things with the purpose of purging the corrupt magi. But if that was his purpose, he wondered why now, in the breath of death, he felt unsatisfied? Upset? Irritated? He didn't know, but somehow he felt like he did when he was ten years old.
If he remembered it now, that feeling that was coursing through him at the moment was the same feeling he felt when he completed his first assassination mission against a magus who had caused him quite a few problems due to lack of experience. He remembered returning wounded to the Einzbern castle, where they had settled because his master had established a base with Irisviel von Einzbern to the point of marrying that woman. He hoped that after two months of not seeing his master because he was hunting his target, he would be congratulated for completing his mission, but all he received was a cold look and a "Well done."
He watched from afar as the man he saw as his only father figure over the months only assigned him missions while he stayed with that woman until the day the woman gave birth to their daughter, a spitting image of herself. They presented her to him with the name Illyasviel von Einzbern, not much different from her mother's because she had inherited most of her traits.
That time had been the first time he had seen his master smile in the five years he had known him since he took him as his apprentice. Seeing him with that kind of happiness should have made him happy, but he didn't feel that way. Rather, he felt... annoyed? Yes, it was annoyance at seeing him smile while he spent his time taking away the magi who were chasing him with the pretext of gaining experience.
He ignored that feeling at first, but over the years, it grew until in his eleventh or twelfth assassination mission, he simply stopped caring. In the center of this grim scenario, he maintained an upright and defiant posture, his indifferent and cold gaze like the steel that pierced his essence. His eyes, deep and penetrating, observed the scene with unshakable serenity, as if he were oblivious to the chaos around him. There was no trace of emotion on his impassive face, just a icy calmness that contrasted with the horror that surrounded him.
His imposing presence dominated the space, as if destined to be the last survivor amidst a ruthless slaughter. Around him, the air was imbued with the metallic scent of blood and the dull echo of agonizing moans slowly fading into the air.
However, the figure remained unmoved by the spectacle of destruction unfolding around him. His features remained unchanged, without a single hint of compassion or remorse. There were no tears in his eyes, no trace of humanity in his demeanor, only a cold and calculated determination that kept him unyielding amidst the chaos.
Although the lifeless bodies lay as evidence of the unleashed violence, the solitary figure showed not a hint of concern for the lives lost. To him, they were just pawns in a deadly game, necessary sacrifices for a greater purpose that only he knew.
"I don't care anymore... I don't care about anything."
He couldn't help but let out a laugh at such irony because now those words were contradicting themselves. Of course, there was something that mattered to him—he himself lived to help his master who, at the end of the day, betrayed him by throwing him away like a disposable weapon after fulfilling his purpose. That not only filled him with anger but also with clarity—why live for others when, at the end of the day, they all end up betraying you at some point?
That's why now he not only refused to die because of his master's betrayal, but also from now on, he would only live for his own pleasure, doing what he did best and the only thing his master trained him for: hunting, killing, and instilling fear among the magi who made most of his life miserable.
As best he could, he forced his body to return to the earthly world, feeling his body heavy but nothing he couldn't bear. Pressing his arms against the ground, he forced his body to rise from the ground, feeling the cold air on his body. He directed his gaze towards his body, seeing that it was different. His arms were smaller, and he looked younger.
Looking around to see the destruction all around him, he didn't know what had happened, but he could deduce that all that disaster, which surely took several lives, had been caused by the destruction of the Grail. Undoubtedly impressive, but that didn't matter to him now. What mattered to him now was why his body was younger and how he had survived being pierced through by Saber's sword. But now that could wait. First, he would have to leave that area and find a safe place.
Turning around, he began to walk out of the destroyed city to find a safe place to stay and find out what had happened to his body.
And end of the chapter. Questions, doubts, pairings—I'll take them all into account, mate.