Chapter 66: C66
Waver was consumed by guilt. He blamed himself for Iskandar's defeat at the hands of Caster and Berserker, as well as the destruction of the Gordius Wheel.
"If only I had been more useful," he thought. "Maybe the outcome would have been different."
Despite his feelings of self-blame and guilt, Waver refused to apologize. He deemed it too shameful to do so, especially to the uncivilized and unrefined person who had caused all of this.
As he nibbled on the biscuits sent by his gracious hosts, Waver's heart felt heavy. Without an apology, he felt uneasy and was unable to move on.
"Crunch, crunch," he chewed, trying to distract himself from his thoughts.
Waver's annoyance grew as he felt a rough, broad hand gently stroke his head. He turned his head to see Iskandar, who was reading a magazine next to him, and with embarrassment, he said, "Can you stop touching my head with your hands?"
"Oh, sorry," Iskandar replied absentmindedly, continuing to stroke Waver's head as he leaned sideways and flipped through the pages of the magazine.
Waver's forehead wrinkled in annoyance. 'This is why I don't want to apologize!' he grumbled to himself.
"Uh... Rider. Your chariot was destroyed. Is everything okay?" Waver asked, carefully choosing his words.
"No problem," Iskandar replied nonchalantly.
"It's just that..." Waver trailed off, unable to find the right words to express himself.
"Ah!" Iskandar placed his large hand on Waver's head. "Why are you still dwelling on the past? Leave the past in memories and look ahead with your eyes."
Waver gritted his teeth but couldn't resist Iskandar's comforting touch. 'See, this is why I have no intention of apologizing at all!' he thought to himself.
Wait a minute--!
Is this guy bisexual?
It's said that before he went on a conquest of Persia, he used to walk hand in hand with his mentor in the palace garden, reciting and singing poems by Dionysus the wine god, and even had a homosexual lover named Hephaestion.
Waver's skin crawled, and he moved away from Iskander a bit. "What's wrong?" Iskander asked.
"Nothing," Waver quickly replied, not wanting to say, "Don't try to look at my butt, you bastard..."
With a jumbled mess of thoughts, Waver fell asleep. Iskander took out his cloak and covered him, gazing at his face with a sense of nostalgia. But he didn't believe in reincarnation. He saw great aspirations in Waver but was confined by a narrow world in his heart.
A ruler must stir the hearts of his people with the thrill of dreams and show them the magnificence of the world with its mighty waves.
It's just...
It seems like...
"Rider... sorry... your... Master... is very useless..." Waver muttered in his sleep.
"You... have great potential. Don't belittle yourself, my little friend."
Iskandar leisurely perused the book while Waver clutched his cloak tightly around himself, yearning for comfort. The young mage was unable to shake off his sense of unease and found himself unconsciously leaning against the King for support.
This moment was serene.
Wouldn't it be lovely if they could remain in this tranquil moment forever?
However, life is harsh.
Suddenly, the tranquility was shattered by a loud boom that echoed across the city. The ground trembled beneath them.
Waver sprang to his feet like a startled animal, frantically searching his surroundings. "What happened? Is it an enemy assault? Who's attacking us?" he cried out in alarm.
Iskandar donned his cloak, his face somber. "It's time to gear up, young man. The challenges standing in the way of our expedition have finally arrived," he declared with gravity.
...
Shirou sprinted for his life.
A massive humanoid monster chased after him.
It stood nearly thirty meters tall, wielding a fifteen-meter-long greatsword. Its muscles rippled like stone.
This creature was beyond a match for any human.
In a scenario like this, one would expect the hero Ultraman to save the day.
But alas, the Giant of Light was nothing but fiction. The monstrous giant pursuing Shirou was all too real.
With each thunderous roar, the creature's black mud quaked beneath its feet. Its enormous sword sliced through the air, gleaming with an icy sheen that resembled moonlight. "Roar, Roar, Roar!" it bellowed once more.
"BANG, BANG, BANG..." A building was cleaved in two, collapsing to the ground with a crash.
"Oh my God!" gasped bystanders.
"What is that?"
"Too terrifying!"
The sound of panicked screams echoed throughout the surroundings as people fled in terror, shielding their heads. Shirou was no exception, sprinting as swiftly as he could. He was aware that he stood no chance against the pursuing monster. In fact, among all the Fate servants, only a few could contend with the creature.
So, Shirou kept running. However, the colossal warrior, the hero of the weak, pursued him relentlessly,
Its huge sword swung in a wide circle, decimating buildings with each sweep. The wind and waves generated by its dance were like mountains and seas, causing the glass to shatter in buildings miles away.
"Dammit! Dammit!" Shirou growled through gritted teeth as he continued to run.
"Godzilla!"
"Save me----!"
"Oh my God! What is that? What is that!?"
"Where's the SDF? The police? Oh my God! What is that monster aaaaaahhhhhh?!"
People were screaming as they rushed for cover.
Those who once bragged in the movie theater about how disaster films were nothing, were now shaking in fear as the real disaster hit. They were as delicate as a glass, ready to shatter at the first sign of danger.
Just as Ryuunosuke thought that people's sadness and fear of death, as depicted in works like novels, plays, and movies, were all fake and meaningless. Only through personal experience could one truly understand the feeling of being consumed by fear.
The supposed protectors of the weak had become the oppressors, destroying the weak's road to freedom.
"ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!"
The giant Spartacus let out a blood-curdling roar, his voice echoing like thunder as he swung his massive sword down with all his might, splitting the sky towards Shirou.
Shirou couldn't help but wonder if this was the end. He had always thought his last vision would be of Artoria's sword or Diarmuid's spear. But instead, as death loomed closer, his final image was of his own sword, projected and now contaminated by a dark and malevolent force, beyond his control and leading him to his self-destruction.
Just as the giant's sword was about to make contact, a woman's voice echoed in the darkness. She wielded an invisible holy sword, and her voice was strong and resolute.
The clash of the two swords was met with a deafening "Boom!", the sound echoing like a shockwave throughout the battlefield. The knight with the invisible sword was blown away, falling a dozen meters before getting back up shakily. Her clear blue-green eyes met Shirou's, and she shouted, "Hurry, run!"
The knight with the spear, who had been leaping across tall buildings was a blur of motion as he jumped high into the air, brandishing his red long spear that blazed like a meteor. He aimed straight for the giant's eyes.
But...
With a loud "bang", the giant's massive hand swung and the spear-wielding knight was swatted away like a fly.
"Boom!"
The knight's body fell like a shooting star, crashing into the building and disappearing into the rubble.
"Saber, are you alright? Let me heal you." Irisviel rushed over like a snow fairy.
"No need," Artoria replied. Her blue-green eyes shone with her idealistic but unattainable strength and honesty. But was she really alright as she claimed? Her hands were shaking and she was badly injured from the clash.
"That's Berserker, isn't it... What happened to him? He is destroying the world that this King is about to conquer!" The King of Conquerors stepped forward, frowning at the sight of Spartacus.
"King of Knights, let me bring him and you into my great world. Let us face him together," Iskandar offered.
"Agreed," She nodded, tightly gripping her sword. They couldn't afford to act recklessly any longer, or they'd risk repeating the tragedy of Camelot.
Just as they were about to launch an attack...
"No!" Shirou shouted.
Artoria and Iskandar both turned to him.
Shirou couldn't keep hiding.
If he did, he would die.
They would die.
The people in the city would die!
He clenched his hands tightly, feeling the internal struggle between his mind and heart. Suddenly, Shirou declared, "You must never use Ionioi Hetairoi along with Excalibur!"
"What?" the crowd gasped in surprise.
All eyes were on Shirou as he revealed his knowledge of their Noble Phantasms, leaving everyone bewildered.
"You couldn't be...," Iskandar muttered, squinting his eyes in suspicion.
"Yes, I am Caster," Shirou confirmed.
Artoria stared at Shirou as she muttered, "You, Caster? That's impossible. There's no trace of a Servant's aura on you..."
But before she could finish, Shirou's Servant aura blazed as he let out a sigh, "I'm just a child caught up in the Holy Grail War. I've only recently obtained a Servant's Saint Graph through an accident."
Artoria was stunned, her sword almost dropping from her hand, unable to speak as she processed this revelation.
The truth lies before them, undeniable and irrefutable. No longer a lie, nor another one of Caster's manipulations.
Artoria, known for her sense of justice and her integrity as the King of Knights, in this war, was actually pledging to kill a normal child caught up in the war in the name of her sword...
"Why... Why didn't you tell me earlier..." Artoria asked.
"If I had revealed the truth to you earlier, would your Master have let me go?"
Artoria had no response. She knew that, given her Master's unwavering sense of justice, he would have acted without hesitation, even if it meant killing Shirou.
"There's no use discussing my situation now," Shirou said, his tone determined. "Under no circumstances can you use Ionioi Hetairoi or Excalibur against Berserker."
"Do you want to protect Berserker?" Iskandar asked.
"No!" Shirou denies it vehemently, shaking his head. "Excalibur can kill Berserker, but his Noble Phantasm, Crying Warmonger, is self-destruction. Can't you feel it? He's got a massive amount of magical energy inside him, and if he explodes, we, the people of this city, will all be wiped out in an instant!"
"I can pull him into the Ionioi Hetairoi," Iskandar declared confidently. "In my grand world, the destruction of a city is but a small matter. And my army can attack him as well."
"That's exactly why your army can't be used!" Shirou countered, pointing to the black mud covering Spartacus. "Do you see that black mud? Once they touch it, including you, King Arthur, and your soldiers, they'll all turn into something like that!"
"That's a real problem," Iskandar frowned, turning to Shirou. "What is that?"
"That... that's the Grail," Shirou answered, his voice full of unease.
"What!?"
Everyone exclaimed in shock, especially Artoria, who looked in disbelief. "No... you... you're lying! That... that can't be the Grail!"
"The truth is right in front of you, why are you denying it, King Arthur?" Shirou challenged.
"If that truly is the Grail, why didn't you tell us earlier?" Artoria asked.
"Would you have believed me if I had told you?" Shirou replied.
"No! I will never believe that is the Grail! That is-! No! Even if it is, I... I will still get it for Camelot!" Artoria said.
"Then that's up to you," Shirou said with a shrug.
"One thing, I have a question, Caster," Irisviel interjected. "How can you prove that it's the Grail? All the Servants are still alive. And where did you get this information?"
"Caster has an EX-Rank innate skill called [Revelation] in his Saint Graph, which allows me to uncover the truth. Even your true names and Noble Phantasms can't be hidden from me," Shirou said calmly. "As for the Grail, you'll have to ask the Einzbern family about what they summoned during the Third Holy Grail War. Angra Mainyu, the entity known as 'All the World's Evil', that's the name, isn't it?"
Irisviel gasped in shock, "How do you know--?!"
"I have [Revelation], you can't keep it from me."
"Angra Mainyu was defeated in the Third Holy Grail War and his soul was consumed by the Greater Grail. This was due to his title as 'All the World's Evil' contaminating it and turning it into what it is now," Shirou explained briefly.
Iskander asked, "But if the truth about the Grail is like that, then how did it come to be?"
Shirou's face filled with anger and his eyes flickered with hatred. He gritted his teeth and said, "It was Archer, Gilgamesh!"
"Archer? Why did he do this?" Artoria asked, her brow furrowed.
"On the last feast... So, he was referring to this?" Iskandar frowned. "But, that person is even more proud than I am. Why would he lower himself like this?"
"Why he did it is no longer important! Heroes! Lend me your power! To survive, to let more people survive, let's temporarily stop fighting here. Lend me your power!" Shirou declared.
"Very well! I, Iskandar, agree! Use my power as you see fit!" Iskandar said.
"I don't trust your words, but before that monster is defeated, I will be your sword!" Artoria declared.
Diarmuid leaped forward, "And my spear as well. My lord has already agreed. Before that mysterious monster is defeated, I will be your ally!"
"Thank you all!" Shirou expressed his gratitude.
With his gaze fixed on the tyrannical giant, Shirou walked forward.
"Berserker, I will put an end to your suffering!"
He clenched his fists.
...
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