Part 225: Unnamed great style

Music: Footsteps of Destruction





""
She takes a big breath.
She cannot afford to make a mistake.
If the mountain is a place of death, then she will draw all the risk to herself.
She wants the other two to make it out alive.

She cannot hold anything back.
She can only use her holy sword twice.
She understands that she will disappear the instant she activates the holy sword for the second time.

Well, glad that's clarified.

"I do not care. He is an enemy I cannot match unless I risk my life."
The king of heroes, Gilgamesh.
She cannot think of anything else but to use the holy sword against that man with a thousand Noble Phantasms.
'Go after thirty minutes, Saber.'
She recalls Rin's words.
It is only one more minute until the appointed time.
She breathes out and sets her condition.



Wind blows down from the mountaintop.
The instant the trees shiver against the evil wind, she starts up the stone steps.



…She cannot disobey her Master's order.
She started off after waiting thirty minutes, just as Rin ordered.
Even if she arrives at the temple before Rin expects her to, she is not going against Rin's order.
It is just that she will protect her master's life, and go against Rin's expectation as a result.

""
If the thing leaking out from the mountain is pollution, Saber is a raging wind that blows the pollution away.
It should not take her a minute to get to the top.
She will be five minutes faster than what Rin is expecting.
She can end her fight against Gilgamesh in that time.

"Haa!"
She runs, enduring the mountain's chill.
The silver armor shoots up to the temple like a bullet.

And when she finally reaches the mountain gate…

Music: Stop

"What?"
Her feet, which should not stop, come to an unexpected halt.
Sweat runs down her forehead.
She looks up at the mountain gate in astonishment.



An elegant voice echoes through the night.



Moonlight glints off the longsword.
On the stairs leading up to the mountain gate…
Stands an enemy who should not exist.

Music: Stop



"Assassin"
There is no elegance in Saber's voice.
An enemy that should not be there, an obstacle that should not exist.
She cannot be calm in the face of these surprises.

Music: Wandering Shadow



His pleased voice is calm and composed.
The swordsman is acting casually, even with the evil wind swirling about.

"…Impossible. Why are you here, Assassin…!? Caster summoned you. You cannot exist since Caster is gone…!"
"That should be the case for normal Servants. But I am a bit special. It is not a person, but this land that is binding me.
Masters are the hosts which keep you in this world. It is this mountain in my case."





The fox gave me about twenty days' worth of magical energy. You should be able to tell when my limit is."
Saying so, the swordsman raises his right hand.
Inside his elegant kimono…
His white arm is transparent like glass.



""
She looks up at the swordsman in astonishment.
Neither enmity nor murderous intent is emitted from his sword.
He just wishes for a fight.
He is demanding a meaningless battle.

"Then you have stayed just to fight against me, Assassin?"
"Do not let me say it, Saber. It will just turn into meaningless words if I say it."







Music: Stop

Nofirst of all, it was a mistake that I got summoned. Because I am not Sasaki Kojirou."

"!?"
Saber's confusion reaches its limit.
Sasaki Kojirou.
It should be the true identity of this Servant.
But Assassin himself said that he is a fake.

Music: Whirlpool of Fate



"I am sure a man named Sasaki Kojirou existed. I am also sure that there was a swordsman who used Monohoshizao.
But they are not the same person.
A swordsman with the name Sasaki Kojirou is a fictional character created to be his enemy's foil."

"You area fictional heroic spirit?"
"Yes, I am Sasaki Kojirou. It merely means that I am the best suited for this role.
I do not have a name. I do not know how to read or write, and I was not fortunate enough to be given one."

"I am a phantom that was summoned just because I could execute Sasaki Kojirou's secret technique.
As I am a false Servant, I cannot last long. Caster treated me as a disposable Servant because of that reason."





If there is a meaning in me, it is now.
If there is a wish for 'me' who died nameless…"
He must have…
…He must have dreamed of a match with a superior swordsman who he could not have been allowed to witness as a nameless swordsman.

"Assassin."
…She readies her sword.
She cannot convince her enemy.
The only way she can answer the swordsman who is prepared for his death is to fight him.







His longsword gets more fierce with each blow.
A fictional swordsman.
A swordsman who can match a heroic spirit without a Noble Phantasm.
She must settle her match with him right here and now

Music: Stop