After finally shaking off the police chase, the pursuit wasn't over. In the end, the results of this car race were Irisviel in first place, Kishur in second, and Rider in third.
Inside the Great Underground Cavern.
Rin Tohsaka and Sakura Matou, who had just finished vomiting, looked terrible. They looked at Irisviel with eyes full of fear; they would likely resist taking a car or similar transport for a while.
"Speaking of which, it's been a long time since I've been here."
Kishur looked at the interior of the Great Underground Cavern and made idle conversation with Akatsuki. Perhaps because she looked like Crimson Moon and was also a True Ancestor, the Second Magus seemed to treat himself as Akatsuki's guardian.
However, Akatsuki didn't mind. While asking Kishur about the possibility of Fuyuki City's greater grail leading to the Root, she followed the group toward the core.
"Rider, are you going to disappear?"
"Ah, it seems so. Once the greater grail is dismantled, you'll have to take full responsibility for the mana I need to exist in this era. Unlike the True Ancestor over there, you're not a high-purity spirit, so it'll be hard for you to handle that level of mana consumption."
"I, I..."
"What's wrong? Why do you seem so hesitant today, kid? Did you eat something bad?"
"Idiot!"
"Saber, are you going back to your era too?"
After hearing the conversation between Rider and Weber, Irisviel looked at Saber and asked. Hearing this, Saber gave a bitter smile. It would be nice if things were as Irisviel said, but she felt that Akatsuki wouldn't let her go so easily.
"No, my current Master probably won't let me go easily. Her existence is similar to certain high-ranking, high-purity spirits. With her mana, keeping me in this era is quite simple."
"Is that so?"
Irisviel looked thoughtfully at Akatsuki walking side-by-side with Kishur. She could naturally see the change in the relationship between Akatsuki and Saber.
Combined with the somewhat ambiguous atmosphere between Saber and Akatsuki today, as a wife and mother, she could more or less guess what had happened between them. However, the nature of it was honestly a bit hard for her to accept.
Even if Saber looked like a young girl, she was still the legendary king of knights. Even excluding that factor, she was still a Servant, and they were both girls... "Irisviel?"
"No! It's nothing!"
"Oh~" Rider suddenly leaned over to look at Irisviel and said with a smile, "Did this lady notice it too?"
"King of Conquerors?"
Saber was somewhat confused.
But Irisviel nodded with a slight blush. "How should I put it... Today, whether in her dress or when she looks at that True Ancestor lady, Saber gives me the feeling of a young girl."
"The king of knights, who knew nothing of love, has finally awakened. Gender is not an issue, I support you!"
"W-What are you all talking about?!"
Saber's face instantly turned red.
"It's okay, Saber, I'll support you too!"
Seeing Rider and Irisviel on the same side, Weber looked at the three of them in confusion, still not knowing what was happening.
"Will you... still aim to save the world?"
Kirei Kotomine spoke up, which was rare. He had a premonition that once everything ended, the man named Kiritsugu Emiya would definitely not stay in Fuyuki City, making it even harder for him to see him.
"Yes. That True Ancestor promised me that once Illya is brought to Fuyuki City, she will help look after her. Want one?"
Kiritsugu Emiya handed a cigarette to Kirei Kotomine, and after a moment of thought, the latter accepted it.
"To be honest, when I first saw information about you, I felt fear."
"Oh? And now?"
"It's the same now."
Kiritsugu Emiya exhaled a puff of smoke and then stopped talking to Kirei Kotomine.
"Because we've reached our destination!"
Two hundred years ago, the Saint of Winter, Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern, voluntarily became a living sacrifice here, opening the curtain on the Fuyuki City Holy Grail War.
Two hundred years later.
The Einzbern Family, Tohsaka Family, and Matou Family gathered here once again.
"Grand Master, could this ceremony be performed by my daughter, Tohsaka Rin, representing the Tohsaka Family? As the next head of the Tohsaka Family, I believe this will benefit her future growth."
"The same on my side, Old Man. Let Sakura represent the Matou Family. After all, she is effectively the head of the Matou Family now, and since she and Rin are sisters, I'm sure they will cooperate well."
Tohsaka Tokiomi and Akatsuki made this request together.
While the actual dismantling of the greater grail would be done by Akatsuki, the procedure required the Three Founding Families of the Holy Grail War to declare the relevant oaths.
"Mm, let's do it that way."
"Shouldn't we go back to the Einzbern Family first and bring Illya over?"
Seeing the two little girls step forward together, Irisviel, who considered herself an adult, felt a bit out of place standing with them.
"Since the Einzbern, Tohsaka, and Matou families are all here, let's begin."
"The Holy Grail War that has lasted for two hundred years... I, Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, witness its end at this moment."
"The Tohsaka Family provides the spiritual land for laying out the Grail."
"To bind the Servants who become sacrifices, Matou is responsible for the command spells."
"The ancestor of the Einzbern Family, Hustiza, shall provide the magic circuits to realize the Third Magic."
"Witness and executor alike—King of Earth, King of True Ancestors, King of Sin—I, Akatsuki Brunestud, shall end the Holy Grail War, fulfill the hundred-year wish of the Einzbern Family, correct the Tohsaka Family's ideal of reaching the root via the Grail, and terminate the Matou Family's original ambition and their subsequent distorted obsession!"
Crimson patterns spread across the ground beneath everyone's feet, just like the moment Hustiza became a living sacrifice. Kishur took out a sword constructed of jewels from his clothes—the Jeweled Sword Zelretch, the task Kishur had left for the Tohsaka!
"I declare: the path to the root is hereby closed." — Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg
"I declare: the path to the root is hereby closed." — Irisviel von Einzbern, Tohsaka Rin, Matou Sakura.
"I declare: the path to the root is hereby closed." — Akatsuki Brunestud.
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