Where did I go wrong?

Atop the hill, he dozed off while gazing aimlessly at the cog-filled sky of his mind. The countless swords, both mundane and fantastical, that surrounded him somehow brought him a sense of peace.

It was dark. Unreasonably enormous, interlocking gears in the sky of his reality marble blocked all but the tiniest slivers of light. To put it bluntly, it darkened his world even further. The heavy fog and black smoky wisps from the iron forgings contributed to the gloomy atmosphere.

His spirit appeared to be trapped in a state of perpetual twilight.

'Ar… cher… Form a contract with me again.'

The words echoed in his mind, unbidden. They belonged to a time already passed; a fractured moment etched into his memory.

I wonder when I started to despise these ideals of mine.

He spent his time lost in thought. Self-reflection had become more than a habit; it was a curse, a chain forged by his momentary insanity after his ideal had crumbled under its own weight.

'I cannot do that. I do not know if you will keep your contract with Saber, but I am not qualified for that. And I do not have a goal anymore. My battle ends here.'

'…But! But… You. W-won't be saved!'

But he had no remorse whatsoever.

Even if things had turned out differently, he would never have let another Shirou Emiya make the same mistakes he had. He'd already seen everything it had to offer, and since he, too, had once been a person with the same name, desires, past, and God-forsaken ideal... Hero of Justice.

For him, there was no reason to think that the presence of "Shirou Emiya" would result in a different outcome.

'Rin. Please take care of me. I think you know, but I am unreliable. Please support me.'

But he was wrong.

In countless Fifth Holy Grail Wars, he had been involved. He met an impossibility, an iteration of him, that wasn't even supposed to exist. This Shirou Emiya was an outlier.

Even though he knew what would happen to him, this Shirou Emiya never gave up the desire to become the "hero of justice." Or perhaps he believed that this Emiya Shirou could do what he could not. Among the several timeframes he had worked with, this was an impossible occurrence.

And yet, here he was.

'Yeah, I know. I'll do my best. I'll do my best so that he won't become a twisted jerk like you. I'll do my best so that he will be able to like himself!'

There was no reason to let someone else go through what he had been through.

'I found my answer. It's fine, Rin. I'll do my best from now on as well.'

Maybe I could have done that too.

Memories were a difficult thing to grasp, especially for someone who had practically existed for what a normal human being would consider an eternity. The length of time he'd been alive was already beyond anyone's ability to guess.

He could recall certain events from when he was still mortal, which he would most likely never forget, even if he lost his mind, body, and soul.

Kiritsugu's smile, his death, parts of his childhood, summoning Saber, parts of the Grail War, receiving the Holy Shroud that he now wears, and finally, the moment he forged his contract…

I truly am hopeless.

He had been foolish, believing that the contract with Alaya he had forged would allow him to continue following his ideal even after his death. He smiled when he was taken in by the world, and his spirit was realized as a Counter Guardian.

He lost that smile as he became burdened, disillusioned, and crushed by his ideals for every life he took to "save humanity."

He killed and killed, killed and killed, killed and killed.

It didn't matter who or what it was. For as long as they were involved, they had to be killed.

Regardless of age, gender, or race, he would kill them to save humanity from destroying itself.

He had probably killed more than any weapon and any hero of legend that sat on the Throne of Heroes. He had perhaps murdered more than any serial killer, mass murderer, or dictator that ever existed in any given world combined.

He was forced to kill until his polite and gentle words were replaced with scorn.

He was forced to kill until his view was jaded with cynicism.

He was forced to kill until he could only blame the idiotic ideals that had brought him to this fate in the first place.

He was forced to kill until the only hope he had left was to rely on an idiotic plan that would never work, no matter how badly he wished it to.

It was stupid. He felt stupid just thinking back on it.

Stupid for coming up with it, stupid for going through with it, stupid for even believing that it had a chance of working, and stupid because it actually allowed him to realize one thing.

It wasn't wrong… I wasn't wrong.

After everything had come to pass and come to an end, the insane plan he had thought up and acted on had led him to that one answer.

Even though his ideals were unreasonable,

Even though his ideals were impossible,

Even though his ideals made him distorted beyond repair.

No matter where his ideals had taken him, no matter what had become of him from following them…

They weren't wrong.

He wasn't wrong in believing in them.

He wasn't wrong in pursuing them.

Even if it's like this, even as a Counter Guardian…

He was beyond saving. He couldn't escape his fate. For the rest of eternity, he would serve as a glorified puppet and Counter Guardian. He would need to continue killing in order to save humanity until it no longer existed.

He was an agent without his own will.

But… If a shitty, equally delusional version of him could stay true to his ideals even after seeing the hell he was supposed to face, then maybe he could do it too, right?

Hero of Justice.

Those who hold the concept of being a Hero of Justice will fight for the concepts of benevolence, justice, loyalty, and love in which they believe.

He knew that he couldn't be one anymore—not with his newfound mindset—but ironically, that didn't mean he would give up.

Heroes of Justice are those willing to sacrifice anything and everything for the sake of helping or protecting as many people as possible.

And EMIYA was far too much of a lost cause to put others above himself at this point.

That's why he would become a Hero of Justice on his own terms.

I am the blade of this world.

The first words came out of his mouth with quiet intensity, a renewed resolve stirring inside him. The sensation was strange but comforting, almost like an old memory coming to life. Yet, he couldn't ignore the shift around him. The density of magical energy in his reality marble surged, oppressive and heavy.

The blades that defined his world began to shake, their hum growing louder, almost deafening.

There could only be one explanation.

"What are you doing, my dear hero? ~"

It was a voice—the one he made the deal with—a voice that made him stain his hands and his blades with blood for the sake of humanity.

He grimaced for a moment but quickly shook his head.

"I am freeing myself from you; to save humanity, I first need to save myself."

The concept rejects the master.

It began immediately. He felt his existence disappearing, as though the fabric of his being was tearing itself apart. His reality marble trembled violently, and the blades around him groaned as though in protest. In an instant, webs of magical restraints sprang up, binding him and draining his power.

"Funny~ How can I let my dear hero leave me? Do you really think you can escape me, just because you changed your ideals?"

And the master rejects the concept.

He smiled. It was a genuine smile. One he hadn't had in a very long time.

"I am not running from you. No span of time, not even an eternity, would ever be enough to truly escape. But if I can redeem myself, if I can change, then the very foundation of our pact will crumble—no longer binding me to you."

Emiya shared an unbreakable bond with the entity Alaya: "For an eternity of power, your existence will be bound to my will, for eternity."

This was the pact he made with Alaya; he sold his very existence for power to be a hero. This was a curse, or a metaphysical link that cannot be easily severed, even over an impossibly long duration like an eternity.

If anything remained of his being, it belonged to Alaya; his will, power, and existence were not his own. The only thing that remained his was his rotting ideal. Emiya sold himself literally for "nothing."

A truly pitiful deal was made by an equally pitiful loser.

He was a failure, caught in a paradox, endlessly witnessing his past selves repeating the same mistakes.

But in this paradox, there was a loophole.

Two diverging ideals merge into a single paradox stream.

The last remnants of strength surged through him. A connection had formed in him with a place that was more of a feeling than a concrete physical location.

The last remnants of his strength surged. A connection had formed—not to a place, but to something beyond comprehension. It was more a feeling than anything physical, yet it resonated with undeniable certainty.

Never touching,

Yet forever crossing.

He sensed a change, as though an unstoppable "force" had broken something within him and awakened something from deep within.

It was no doubt, even for a third-rate magus like him, and his senses as Counter Guardian confirmed this more than anything—it was… Akasha.

The Akasha, also known as "The Swirl of Root," or more commonly: Root. Root is the "force" that exists at the top of all theories in every dimension, as well as the source of all events and phenomena in the multiverse.

But he didn't have much time to think about it… As the Root's own unadulterated magical energy began to flow freely into him, the ties that had bound him began to loosen.

He was no longer a Counter Guardian.

He was no longer a wretch constrained by his past transgressions.

He was no longer a dog on a leash.

What was he? He didn't know.

Even if he did know, it wasn't like he cared in the first place.

His existence had become a paradox—a man who was never meant to be. An anomaly, an outlier. To Akasha, he was an inconceivable new datum—an archive, a possibility emerging from the nothingness.

But this was impossible, for Akasha itself was nothingness, and thus the situation became a "chaotic" irony beyond comprehension.

I have seen the end of the world, but I still strive for tomorrow.

"You! I will not allow that! You are mine! I won't allow you to leave like this!"

But it was already too late.

I have no regrets. This is all I know.

"You can no longer hold me. Eternity is instantaneous, and an instant is eternal. I have been voided of both concepts; goodbye—I quit!"

My entire being is Ȕ̵̡̯̺͙͖̗̣̗͊́͗́̏̿̄̽̿́̋̊̓̐N̷̦͚̱̳͉̎̈Ļ̷̨͖̺̦̯̹̩̻̈̓̌͊̿̽̓̐͠ͅĪ̵̛̘̱̜̑̓́̇̀͐͋͂͛̄̌͝Ṃ̊̒̃̑͑͊̀̓̉̀͌̂͘͝͠I̵̜̱̝̝̭̲̞͋̒̓́̓͝ͅT̴̨͈̝̙̭̮̝̩͕̟̜̭̠̝̪̍E̴̟̼̞͇͆͐̈́́̽̓̈́̇̅̍͛̔̃͠͝D̢͓̘̩̋D̴̢̨̢̜̜͙̩̖̞̠̹̜͇̀̔͛͐͑̒̂̾̎͋͘̚͝V̴̺͎́̀̇̇̿͊̕͠Õ̶̡̡̧͖͙̱̻̩̀͒̃̂͒̓͘I̴͖͈̦͈̻̊͆́̍̒̊́̆͗̕Ş̵̧̛̹̠̠̮̤͕̥͔̗̩͉̂͌̂̏̋͒̊͒͜Ȯ̴̢͖̰͉͇̟̗̯͕̦͇̞̳̋̈́̄̀͗̐͐͝͝R̶̝̣̲̖̯̈́͗̍͋̈͊͘K̷̯̺̫͓̜̠̭̘̲̫͚̬̗̓͗Ẃ̶̡̡̜̖̤̻̯̪͉̠̣͊̈.


Instantaneously, a powerful light devoured him.

For a minute, Shirou Emiya was perplexed; he had assumed that he had been freed, but it appears that he has been summoned once more.

He realized he was in a stone-carved cave as his gaze wandered around. He stretches out his neck and peered around for his summoner, narrowing his eyes slightly when he found the person he assumed to be his master.

Power.

Enormous, soaring, boundless, and unparalleled, the overwhelming force was beyond any sensation he had ever known. This was enough that it even surpassed the almost infinite magical power of his prior contractor.

What he was addressing was a girl.

It was a little girl, who had pitch-black hair and was dressed provocatively in a frilly purple outfit.

A you a true magic user?

"Are you, my master?" he questioned in a sophisticated manner.

The girl looked at him intently, her black eyes full of curiosity and need.

"Shirou! Bring me food!"

Did she summon me because she was hungry?

Only if he had known it marked the dawn of an entirely new saga,

This marks the beginning of the final chapter in his eternally long journey.