Part 111: stay Night (II)

Music: Confrontation (Realta Nua)



""
The darkness was only for an instant.
But it is not darkness, but a swarm of grain-sized curses.
The darkness swept her body away and she regained consciousness from the unpleasant sensation.

"Oh"
She gasps.
The first thing she feels after consciousness returns is pain.
Skin that was protected by armor is burned, her body is pierced and slashed, and she is in a miserable state.
"I… seeI"





Gilgamesh approaches, without a scratch.

"……"
Still on the ground, Saber looks up at her enemy.
She cannot do anything right now.
The man can do whatever he wants with her.




"That light? You should be able to tell. It is a great curse.
Kotomine must have summoned it straight from the Holy Grail. I hear that Holy Grail holds something that could curse everything in this world.
The pollution you've seen up to now is just the remains of what came out of the Holy Grail.
The primary curse has been summoned. Your Master should no longer be alive."









"It is too late. Stay still, Saber.
The Holy Grail will overflow whatever you do. The events of ten years ago will reoccur. But this ritual is for your benefit, not mine."
Looking up at the red burning sky, the golden knight smiles.


"Rejoice, Saber. If you are showered with it, you will become like me. You will have a body in this world and be able to enjoy your second life.
Though, I am not sure you will be able to keep your sanity as I did."
"Wha"
Saber looks up at her enemy in amazement.







The Servant in front of her.
This knight called the oldest king of heroes… he was swallowed by that pollution ten years ago.
So
"Gilgamesh, you"



He has gone insane already


"Oh. You think so?"
Laughing, Gilgamesh looks down at Saber.
His face looks crazyand it suits him.


"Do not take me so lowly. How can I be a hero if I cannot swallow a curse such as this?
All evils of the world? Heh, bring at least three times as much as that if you want to stain me.
See, Saber. A hero is someone who carries with them everything they see.
I am already carrying everything in this world."
""



Saber gasps quietly at his words.

…She will never be able to come to terms with this heroic spirit.
His arrogant thinking, his selfishness to consider himself the greatest, and his merciless nature that never thinks of others.
This is different from the path of the king she chose. A set of beliefs that will never overlap with hers.
But this man still is a king.
She can say that with confidence.
Of all the Servants, this man is the only one who would be capable of keeping his sanity after being soaked in that vast curse.


"Hmm, yes. Making you swallow the mud is good, but it is no fun if you go crazy because of that. Well, let us hold our marriage now."

Music: Stop

"!"







"Gilgamesh, you!"
"What? Do you dislike being treated roughly?
Then get used to it. I do not hold myself back on women or food. I plunder and eat them at my leisure."
"!"
Held upside down, Saber glares at Gilgamesh.

"…Hm. So you honor your Master as a Servant, I see. Ridiculous. I cannot believe you gave him your body just because of the binds of the Command Spell."
"You are wrong. Do not misunderstand, Gilgamesh.
I do not obey anyone. My body has never had such freedom."

"…Oh. Then you will not be mine no matter what?"
His red eyes pierce Saber.
There's no human emotion.
He will kill if she disobeys. He will just kill her no matter how attached he was to her.
These are his true feelings, Gilgamesh's truth.

""
Saber stares back at Gilgamesh, not averting her gaze.

Video: Kingly Defiance (RN) (mirror)





Do not make me laugh, Saber. A country is just a possession. If he cannot rule everything, there is no need for a transcendental being like the king.
GeezKing Arthur, that is why your own country destroyed you."

The golden knight sneers at her immaturity.
""
…That brings back her determination.

Music: Into the Night















So there is only one thing that must be done.
Even if there is not the slightest chance of winning, she cannot stop here.
While the warmth is still in her heart.
She must run to her master as fast as possible.



"!"
""
About eight meters to Gilgamesh.
She places herself at the best range she found earlier.



…Her body will not move as she wishes.
Her legs do not have even a tenth of their original power and the arms holding her sword are weak.
She will fall without being able to block no matter what kind of a weak attack she receives.



Butthere are no openings in Saber's stance nor is there any hesitation.



Gilgamesh has to prepare himself seeing her like that.
The golden knight readies Ea and looks at his opponent.



Saber does not answer.
Her eyes show her determination.




"All right. I will not hold back in that case."
The air roars.
The sword of separation, Ea. A sword said in ancient Mesopotamia to have divided and created the world.







Gilgamesh's sword of separation roars to exterminate its enemy for sure this time.
The swirl of air and the magical energy within it far exceed Excalibur.



Saber raises her sword to match it.







""
""
Their gazes meet only for an instant.

"Enuma Elish"
Gilgamesh's sword is swung.
"Kuh!?"
But Saber's sword falls without power as she is unable to activate the Noble Phantasm.

Music: Stop





Video: Black Mud (RN) (mirror)





"Scorn from judgment and selfishness that takes away men's fortunes." death penalty penal servitude imprisonment custody fine penalty, crime from a grudge, crime from self-interest, unconscious crime, self-conscious crime, civil war, inducement, false statement, theft, robbery, kidnap, suicide, rape, arson, bombing, violation, negligent homicide, mass violence, death at work, overconfident accident,



misdiagnosis, concealment, violation for benefit, violation for self-protection, violation for love, violation for respect, selfish . Stealing fraudulent fraud concealment murder theft crime crime personal grudge attack attack attack attack dirty dirty dirty you are dirty atone atone atone atone every violence every crime every victim atone for everything "This world is ruled by something not human" Know the conscience to reform crimes.

Music: Breach



Know the penalty to reform crimes. People's kindness is here. There is so much it cannot be noticed. Know the violence to hide crimes. Know the power to hide crimes. People's malignance is here. It is so rare that it is noticed. A hundred kindnesses and one malignance. Malignance shines bright to keep the balance and exists as a great "evil" to compete with the masses of kindness. The starting penalty is five



for self for self for self for self for self for self for self for self for self for self for self for self for self for self for self inducement, false statement, theft, robbery, kidnap, suicide, rape, arson, infringement, dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty you are dirty atone atone atone atone atone atone every violence every crime every victim atone atone atone with death!!!!!!







The mud eating away at my body remains and steals my warmth mercilessly.
I am crushed by the thing seeping in through all five senses.
Darkness I cannot look at directly.
Ugliness I cannot acknowledge.
Crimes I want to run away from.
Every crime of the people in this world.
That is why I am going to die.
One trapped in this darkness will eat themselves to death from pain and hatred.

But.
Kotomine said…
That this curse killed Kiritsugu.
That fact knocks away every darkness.

Music: Stop



He said he wanted to become a superhero.
He ran around trying to help someone, but could not get anyone's permission for that. Yet, he still did what he could to pursue the ideals he had abandoned.
In the end, he was relieved by something a kid said and nodded to himself that everything was okay.

"Aghah, ah"
So I have to stand up.
I relieved Kiritsugu and promised that I'd become one.
If Emiya Shirou is really that superhero's son, then I can't let the bad guy beat me.

Tohsaka said…
I should win no matter what.
Saber said…
He is an enemy that I must defeat.
Even Kotomine said…
If I'm going to fight, I should put my life on the line.

They're right. What else can I bet if I won't bet my life?
From the beginning, I have nothing else to give.



Music: The Golden King







"Higigi, gii, ah"
I don't care.
Tears are welling up from anger.
I'm going to go crazy from anger before I go crazy from the curse.



"Impossible. You managed to shake that thing off!?"





"I am astonished. I thought you escaped that thing, but you have a simple mind. It seems you have run out of ideas"
"Shut up! I never had any plans in the first place…!"
I run.
Kotomine sticks his hand into the waterfall behind him and extracts another clump of darkness.



"Then you can follow your Servant. That previous light was Saber being defeated. You have no one to help you now."
""
All my hesitations disappear.
If I do reach Kotomine, I think his biggest mistake was that line.





Music: Stop





A great curse is released from Kotomine's hand.
…My body melts from my fingertips.



"!"
I won't look away.
If this is my rolethere is still something I can do!

Video: Noble Phantasms (RN) (mirror)



Music: Last Strength (Realta Nua)





With a flash of light and a roar of wind, the swirl of destruction is set loose from Ea.



With that in front of her, Saber could not even use her Noble Phantasm.
She lowers her sword and moves her body forward as if she's falling.







"!?"
The one surprised is not Saber, but the golden knight bearing Ea.
Ea is still emitting magical energy and bringing forth destruction.
But Saber steps forward into that tumbling storm of light.





"!"



Her armor screams out.
Cracks run through every wall of magical energy protecting her.
In the period shorter than a second that they endure the attack, Saber steps up to Gilgamesh and…



"EXCALIBUR!"







She opposes Ea's destruction with the greatest power she is permitted!









But just before that.
Saber's body jumps forward.
A small space created by Excalibur, a place where she can take one more step…
The instant she reaches it…

Music: Stop

Her Noble Phantasm appears.



"Ag!"
Body melts from the fingertips.
Legs moving forward step onto empty space, and arms reaching out are already invisible in the black mud.
Emiya Shirou will be eliminated from the outside.
Attacked by a feeling that his body is shrinking, Emiya Shirou still does not accept death.

"Haah, guh!"
Without looking away, he rejects it with all his might.
The darkness surrounding the body, the pain trying to melt the body, and the curse trying to melt the mind.
"! !"
But they are futile attempts.
There is no way for a mere human to resist the pollution.
The body is still moving.
The arm raised to grab something is still raised.

But the mind is already destroyed.
The mind is already painted in black, and the body should disappear into darkness as well.
In that moment…
'You were my…'
Why is that voice remembered?

Video: Avalon (RN) (mirror)





The instant the eyes realize the light is "that light", everything reverses.

Music: Emiya

""
The hammer comes knocking down.
The mind accelerates, crackles with sparks, and creates the shape with unbelievable speed.





…That is right. There was no need to reproduce it from scratch.
Because this shape was engraved in the body. It is perfect in memory as it was part of Emiya Shirou's body.



The arm reaching out still moves.
The weapon created without concentration or spellcasting is grabbed.









The world changes completely as the darkness is destroyed by a golden light andin Emiya Shirou's hand is the perfectly reproduced sheath of Saber.



And like that.
With Ea straight ahead of her, her Noble Phantasm is activated.







That which is released and scattered before her is the holy sword's sheath.

No one knows what kind of a divine mystery it is made from, but the sheath repels all light emitted by Ea.
No. It goes beyond the level of "defending".

It is complete isolation.
The barrier of fairyland that keeps out all filth from the outside lands. A complete world separate from this one that can never be reached.
As Saber is protected by the sheath of the holy sword, she is blocked off from all matter in this world.
The greatest protection in this world.
The greatest that cannot be infringed by anything not even by the five sorceries.



For that reason, the sheath is named Avalon, All is a Distant Utopia.
The place where King Arthur is said to have gone after his death. The utopia the king dreamed of that will never be reached.









"Guhhh…!! Damn, such a trick!"
""











Blue clothes run in.
There is no armor on Saber.
She has released the armor protecting her, put the magical energy gained into her sword, and









"EX"





"SABER!!!!!"

























"CALIBUR!!"













"What?"
This is no reason to be surprised.
The sheath of the holy sword protects its possessor.
The embodiment of the utopia she sought cannot lose to this dirty mud!



He runs.
At the moment he is released from the darkness, his speed is like that of a shooting star.
"Projection? Just who are you!?"
The one overestimating their ability, and the one who cannot even spare to think about such things.
The difference is only an instant, but an instant that decides the outcome.



"Kotomine Kirei!"
Still falling, Emiya Shirou runs on his hands as well.
In one hand is the dagger.
In a crouching position, running to the black priest…





"!"





The sword of retribution is stabbed into the priest's chest.



"!"
The priest turns slowly.
Before that…





Stopping himself with his feet, Emiya Shirou jumps back.
Wind comes down.
The priest turns to face the enemy who stabbed him.
At the same time, two impacts pierce Kotomine Kirei.



The spinning body and all the magical energy in his left hand.
He punches the dagger in the priest's chest and











"Läßt!"





The magical energy is poured into the Azoth sword along with the word of release.

Music: Stop





""
The sound of wind echoes through the compound.
The waves of light like a flood are no more.
The two knights share no words as they place themselves in a parting called the battle's end.

""
And the man sighs.
He raises his weak hand and touches the cheek of the knight in front of him as if making sure she exists.

"You are a hateful woman. You oppose me to the very end."
The golden armor starts to fade away.
The existence of the king of heroes is disappearing.



"But I shall forgive you. Some things are beautiful because they cannot be obtained."

His fingers slip.
His raised arm falls powerlessly to the ground.
"Hehand if that is the case, then it was inevitable that I would lose to you."

He says it sullenly.
And in his final moments…
"Goodbye, king of knights. It was indeed fun."
He smiles ironically and disappears.



""
He doesn't even look at me.
He is just looking down at the dagger in his chest in disbelief.





"I see. There indeed was a time when I gave it to some girl on a whim. I believe it was ten years ago.
I see. No wonder I have become weak."
He falls.
The body of the priest falls to the ground.

""
…I watch it all.
He has talked about himself like he was someone else until the very end.
And the priest sinks into that which he summoned, that which he wished for.







It has the ability to heal the wounds of its owner and stop their aging, but it can actually be called a "Moving fortress" centred on an individual. By producing the sheath and moving oneself into the land of the fairies, it shuts out all physical interactions. It can even defend against one of the sorceries, interation.