Part 102: Spiral ladder

Music: In the Sunlight



"…It's cloudy outside. No wonder I didn't wake up."
It seems my sleep-deprived body caught up on sleep, taking advantage of the darkness of the room.
It seems it's already past 1 o'clock.
Oversleeping this much can't just be called "sleeping in".

Oh my god, he woke up past 8am! The world is ending!

"Saber, are you awake…?"
""
There's no answer.
Saber is sleeping next to me, slightly curled.
I wake up when I'm not sleepy any more, but Saber has to recover her magical energy. Considering how long she's slept before, she probably won't wake up until dinner.



"……"
So I have to come up with a plan.
Putting Lancer aside, Gilgamesh will certainly come again tonight.
I don't even need to think about it considering his personality and the murderous intent he showed last night.

…But what should I do?
He has an infinite supply of Noble Phantasms, and one of them even exceeds Saber's Excalibur.
Berserker was a difficult enemy to defeat, but we still could fight him even though we were inferior.
We could look for a chance for a comeback even when he was pushing us.

But he's different.
It won't even be a fight right now.
If he uses that Noble Phantasm called Ea, we will all die.

"I have to find a way. There isn't long before sunset."
There's no solution if I think on my own.
If Saber, Tohsaka, and I can't think of a plan, then

"…The church. As supervisor, he might know."


He might know a way to overcome this situation.
King of heroes, Gilgamesh.
Kotomine Kirei said that he would find some measure against that survivor of the last Holy Grail War.
We can't find a counter-measure, but that priest might have already come up with a plan.

Music: Stop





Now that's a Nasu church.

"What am I talking about? That's not just a metaphor."
From the beginning, a church is a place where people die.
A hospital is a place where they try to prolong life, but at the same time, it is also a place where people face death.
A church is the same.
In those terms, no place has more deaths than here.

""
The wind is cold.
Fastening my collar, I go up the stairs to the church.

Music: Whirlpool of Fate 2



"Kotomine?"
Is he in the back again?
Walking between the chairs, I walk to the altar.

Pat, pat, pat, pat.
A dry sound echoes through the chapel.
It must be designed for echoes as one person's footsteps fill the room.

"…Kotomine? Are you not here?"
I call out in a soft voice.
…It's certainly strange.
I should be calling out in a loud voice if I'm calling for someone.
I know he's somewhere in the back, so I should be calling out in a loud voice.
But I advance keeping my voice quiet, my footsteps quiet, and suppressing my presence.

…Is it because the chapel is so magnificent?
I feel like as soon as I reveal my presence, something will surround me and cut my head off for disgracing God or something

Yes, we get it. Church are evil death horror.



""





""
The same words repeat in my head.
Go back. Go back. Go back. Go back.
Kotomine isn't here. So you don't have anything to do here. Go home since you're by yourself. Your decision is a mistake. Your actions are a mistake. Your chill is a mistake. Go back. Go back.
Go back. This isn't bad. There's nothing bad here. There is nothing here, so go home!

Music: Stop

"! Haa!"
I feel sick.
I feel nauseous.
At times like this, my chill is correct.
My sense for danger is good enough for an amateur magus.
That's why I can't stop.
Suppressing my pounding heart, I look for Kotomine's room.

And in that way, I run into the darkness.
"Underground…?"
I see stairs in the darkness.
In a small indent between the walls one would normally miss because of the shadows is a narrow staircase.

Music: Stop