Part 250: Worsening bruise / Insect from hell

What is burned in
Shirou dreams about the fire in his childhood, then shares a slightly awkward breakfast with Taiga and Sakura.







"Sakura? You don't look well. Are you feeling sick again?"


"Huh…? No, I'm fine. How about you, Senpai? You looked awful this morning and, um, your bruise from yesterday might be worse."
Yesterday's bruise…?
Oh, that welt on my left hand.

"No, it didn't get any worse. It's just a welt, so it should heal in no time."


"……"
She must be worried about something as she continues to stare at me.

"Uh… it's fine. It's nothing, seriously."


"……"
"What? You've been acting awfully strange since yesterday. This is just a welt, right? Or what, did you step on my hand while I was asleep and you feel guilty about it?"




"S-Senpai, I'm not that heavy! I just…"
"Just what?"


"…Um, I just hope I'm wrong."

"…Huh?"
I don't understand her.
Sakura doesn't talk much, but she tends to say important things clearly.
She doesn't usually talk like this.



"Huh? Yeah, if it's something I can do."
"…Yes. I won't be able to come and help you until tomorrow night. Can you try to stay in your house during that time?"

"…? Are you telling me to skip work on Sunday?"


"Yes. I want you to stay in your house as much as possible. Um, I'll come and help once I'm done with my errand."

"I see… well, I guess I can take a rest for a day.
All right then. I'll relax during the weekend. Is that okay, Sakura?"


"Yes, that will help me out a lot."

I guess it's fine to relax once in a while.
I have some extra living expenses from working a lot recently, so I'll clean up all the junk this weekend.





Night of fate
Shirou stays at school late, cleaning up after Shinji. As he leaves, he runs into Archer and Lancer. Lancer chases him down and stabs him like the dog he is, but then his worthless life is saved by a mysterious benefactor.





One more time
Shirou mops up his own murder scene because it just wouldn't be right to spill blood all over the place and then not clean it up afterwards. He returns home and is once again attacked by Lancer. Finally, he retreats to his shed like a little girl and then summons one.





Promised Sign
Saber attacks Lancer, eventually taking Gae Bolg to the chest. She lives, Lancer runs off, and Saber runs off to confront the intruders outside the gate.





Tohsaka Rin (II)
Saber nearly beheads Archer, but Shirou stops her before she does the same to Rin. Rin invites herself inside, berates Shirou for his terrible magic skills, and suggests a visit to the church might clear things up.





Alter ego
Saber puts on a cutesy raincoat and engages in girl talk with Rin. Eventually they arrive at the church where Kotomine tries to inflict mental scarring on Shirou as though he were an altar boy.





Decision / The Strongest Enemy
Shirou decides to fight, then is immediately made to regret that decision. Saber is wounded during the battle, forcing Shirou to choose between escape and .





Distortion (I)
Naturally, Shirou chooses and his entrails are soon splattered on the sidewalk.







It's hard to determine if the sound is someone crying or something being dragged.
The sound is all there is.
There are only decaying things here.
The stone walls are fragile like rotten trees,
and the air is sweet like honey.
The living things on the floor are melted like ripe fruit, and even time is rotten and meaningless here.

This space is worn out after a long period of time.
This darkness is the grave of all that were not mourned for, because of the tenacity of a certain bloodline.



In the center of the decay wiggles the largest decay.
The sound of worms and the smell of rotten meat.
The master of this basement room is rotten but alive, and swarmed by the otherworldly worms.
The worms that crawl up his feet suck on the skin at the ankles and use their suckers to consume the meat and burrow into it.

There aren't merely a hundred or so of these swarming worms.
If a human were swarmed by this black carpet, they would not even last a minute.
A human would have all their meat and bones taken by the worms and would crumble as a boneless skin.

"Not enough. These worms need to be replaced soon."

But the thing does not crumble.
No, the more the worms enter his body through the ankles, the more complete his body becomes.
That thing is not being consumed by the worms.
The worms swarming the room are the ones being eaten.
The amount stored will last a hundred years.
If this is something that eats only worms, it means that much more life is already guaranteed.

"There are still more chances to come. It does not mean this is the last chance. If the conditions aren't perfect, I should restrict myself to just watching, but…"

"Well," says the figure with a smile.
The "place" this time is far from perfect.
The hole is opening less than ten years after the last battle.
The supervisor, the priest, has two Servants, and the Servant residing at the Ryudou Temple has summoned a Servant herself.
The conditions are not good.
The grail that would be filled in such an unstable battle would be far from perfect.
Even if the gate is opened, it would not be possible to reach inside it.

"Then I should just restrict myself to observing, but unfortunately, the pieces I have are well-suited."

The condition to fight for the Holy Grail is terrible.
But one thingthat "thing" created after a lot of work has been completed perfectly.
It shall reach it once it is open.
It shall definitely reach the Holy Grail if it makes no mistake in the procedure.
After all, it has had the content of the Holy Grail planted within it.
It is a cellular tool that has been contaminated by the Holy Grail for the past ten years.
So as things with the same origin, it is only natural they will attract each other.



That thing prepared as an experiment is so suitable you could call it perfect.
It was planned to be disposable, but if it can be used, it should be.
Either way, it is something that was planned to be disposed of.
Even if it is destroyed in battle, it does not change the fact that it will be disposed.

"Then, there is only one problem.
How I will motivate it."

The prepared "compatible work" hates conflict.
It would be simple if its mind could be taken over, but the work's mental barrier is stronger than expected.
Well, one with a strong Magic Circuit was what was wished for.
So it is only natural for it to be strong against a poison that tries to violate the self.
Should it be the obedient doll or the superior pupil?
As long as the latter is decided, controlling it is out of the question.

"Once is fine. If there is a small opening, it will seek the Holy Grail on its own, but…"

Creating that small opening is the hard part.
It does not have a mentality that will break down under external pressure.
If it did, it would have broken already eleven years ago.
That thing is the strongest fortress that has no blade to strike back.
Then, what will break it must come from within.
Its emotions will become the key to change it.



Footsteps echo through the darkness.
The appearing person walks to the worms in the middle of the decay, and…
"Do I have to kill every Master?"
And asks the anticipated question.

""

Of course, it does not need to answer such a question.
All Masters must be killed.
We must take away all Servants.
That is the idea swirling in this basement.
But pushing that aside…

"If you say so, it cannot be helped. Then I shall restrict myself to observation this time."

The thing says so.
A voice of relief and a relaxed air.
After giving a kind smile that has no intention of fighting,

"But it is a bit annoying if that is the case. Out of all the Masters, the daughter of Tohsaka is pretty well-made. If there is a winner, it will probably be her."

It murmurs disappointedly.
""
The slack air returns.
A small changea faint emotion of evil fills the room.
The one that disliked conflict was moved by that one word.
It is built on that small movement.
A small crack.
A small opening that should not be opened, which the thing itself does not notice.

"Kuh."





We are now officially on the Heaven's Feel path. There's no fancy opening video for this path, so I uploaded the videos for the anime instead. The first is another version of the song in the other two videos, THIS ILLUSION (Fate ver.), while the song in the second is different.

Video: Anime: Opening (mirror)

Video: Anime: Opening 2 (mirror)

Lastly, since I forgot to upload it earlier, here's the fight between Archer and Berserker from the Fate path. The reasons I didn't link it when it was relevant should be obvious, though I'd intended to link it around the end of UBW. It's by far the best part of the entire anime adaptation, and it even draws from all three paths - there are no HF spoilers, though you can understand a small part of it better if you're familiar with HF. The main reason I'm linking it now is because it could potentially kill my bandwidth if I link it during the plethora of videos I'll be releasing later (around Sparks Liner High). It's almost 15 minutes, and I can only compress it so much. Enjoy, and just imagine how much less awesome it would be if you weren't as familiar with F/SN as you are now.

Video: Anime: Archer's Battle (mirror)