"...Huh?"
Shirou's sudden question left Saber momentarily stunned.
Do you think you are King Arthur?
Yes. I do.
With a solemn expression, Saber answered:
"That is correct. My name is Artoria Pendragon, child of Uther Pendragon, King of Britain."
After stating her name, she fixed her gaze on Shirou.
There were countless things she wanted to ask this boy who had appeared out of nowhere.
Who are you?
Are you friend or foe?
Why did you help me and Irisviel?
But above all, what concerned her most was the inverted Holy Sword in his hand.
Why… is my Holy Sword of the Lake (Excalibur) in his possession?
And why has its nature changed, turning from a Holy Sword into a Demonic Sword?
"Demonic Sword User, since I have answered your question and revealed my true name, shouldn't you also follow proper etiquette and state your identity?"
Saber stared intently at the black Holy Sword and asked with clear anticipation.
"If I'm not mistaken, you too are a king from somewhere, just like me."
Because of the interference Magecraft cast by Lady Avalon, she could not read anything from him.
And yet, she still sensed something.
A presence unlike her own, unlike the King of Conquerors, unlike the King of Heroes.
A different kind of king.
However, the boy said nothing. He made no move to give his name. He simply raised his hand toward his mask.
Huh? Huh!? You're taking it off?
After hiding your face this whole time… are you really going to reveal it now?
Saber suddenly grew flustered, staring at him with a mix of tension, curiosity, and expectation.
Shirou, on the other hand, seemed completely indifferent.
Since coming to the Einzbern forest, he had already prepared himself to reveal his identity to Saber and her Master.
He removed the mask.
And Artoria saw—
Beneath the skeletal mask was the youthful face of an elementary school boy.
"So… so cute…"
Realizing what she had just said, Saber immediately shut her mouth.
That slipped out… how careless of me.
But… the one who had just fought alongside her…
...was actually a child this young?
If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she would never have believed it.
Just as she was about to speak—
"Shinji-kun, it really is you! Thank goodness you're safe!!!"
Irisviel suddenly cried out in delight, rushing forward and hugging Shirou from behind.
Saber: "Huh?"
Irisviel held him tightly, rubbing her cheek affectionately against his red hair.
"What is going on, Irisviel?"
Saber asked in confusion.
"You two already know each other?"
Irisviel nodded.
"Saber, do you remember?
He's that incredibly cute boy I told you about before, the one I met while shopping."
"Ah… you mean…"
Saber froze for a moment, then quickly understood. Her gaze toward Shirou immediately turned sharp with suspicion.
"So you are involved in the Holy Grail War as well?"
The warmth and ease on her face vanished instantly, replaced by her usual stern expression.
She had been briefly captivated by that inverted aurora.
But now she realized that beautiful light symbolized destruction and ruin.
Saber's voice turned firm.
"You approached Irisviel while I wasn't watching… What exactly is your purpose in getting close to us?"
"Saber, about that—"
"Wait, Saber, Shinji-kun is a good child! It's not what you think, this is a misunderstanding!"
Irisviel clung to Shirou protectively, but Artoria did not relax.
If anything, she grew even more tense.
"Irisviel, step away from him immediately! Get behind me!"
She tightened her grip on the wind-wreathed Holy Sword, making the atmosphere even more strained.
"No matter how cute he may look, he could very well be an enemy Servant!"
Irisviel: "See? Even Saber thinks he's cute, right?"
Saber: "That's not the point!"
These past few days, she had been blaming herself for getting separated from her Master.
That sense of guilt as a knight kept her constantly on edge, making her even stricter than usual.
"Saber, isn't that a bit rude? Shinji-kun is my lifesaver, you know. Please put your sword down.
The King of Knights' sword isn't meant to threaten a cute child, is it?"
Seeing that Saber refused to budge, Irisviel frowned slightly, her expression tinged with displeasure.
"No. He's far too suspicious…"
Irisviel tilted her head, studying Shirou's face.
"Really? What's suspicious about him?
All I see is a cute and well-behaved boy…
Wow… he really is just too cute! Shinji-kun, come back to Einzbern Castle with me right now!"
Shirou said, "Calm down, Saber. And you, especially you, Irisviel."
"I am perfectly calm!"
Irisviel and Saber spoke at the same time.
Shirou let out a sigh.
"I'll explain everything. Saber, put your sword down first."
The blonde girl snapped back, "Then give Master back to me first!"
"Nope not happening"
Hearing that, the silver-haired homunculus hugged Shirou even tighter. The soft pressure against his chest made it hard for him to breathe.
Seeing her Master cling so closely to Shirou, Saber's expression grew even more strained.
"…What exactly did you do to my Master? Some kind of advanced charm Magecraft?"
Shirou: "I didn't do anything!"
Saber: "Then how did it end up like this?"
Shirou: "Ask your Master! I'd like to know too!"
Irisviel: "Uuu… Shinji-kun is so cute♡"
Ahh… what a stable, as-always battlefield of chaos. As expected of Master~
Floating above them, Lady Avalon watched the scene unfold with delight.
I had a feeling it would turn out like this, but Master really did see through it at a glance… impressive.
It's a bit of a shame Master didn't mistake Saber for Morgan, but…
The meeting of two Arthurs is just as interesting. Coming along today was absolutely the right choice.
Their future developments are bound to be entertaining as well~
Just then, Lady Avalon suddenly sensed an abnormal surge of Mana.
This is—
"Master!!"
She hurriedly tried to warn him through telepathy, but it was already too late.
A crimson, bewitching glow erupted between Shirou and Irisviel.
"What… is this?"
Shirou looked down.
Something forced its way out from inside Irisviel's coat, bursting through her collar and shooting up into the air.
It was—
Caster's Noble Phantasm, Prelati's Spellbook.
"What's going on? Why is this Noble Phantasm still here?" Shirou asked, frowning.
Irisviel looked apologetic.
"I-I'm sorry… I thought you might like it, Shinji-kun, so I secretly kept it.
I was hoping to use it as a bedtime storybook and read it to you someday…"
Shirou couldn't keep up with her line of thinking at all.
"Didn't Caster already return to the Throne?"
Saber looked up at Prelati's Spellbook as its pages flipped rapidly in midair.
Gilles de Rais had completely disappeared.
Shirou's guess for why the Spellbook remained was that the Magecraft it had activated earlier had not yet ended.
Caster had opened a gate to another world in this forest to summon monsters. Even after his death, that gate wouldn't simply vanish. It would only close once its duration expired.
But now—the Spellbook was releasing far more Mana than before.
The countless severed limbs and chunks of flesh scattered across the ground all transformed back into otherworldly monsters in an instant.
Ignoring Shirou and Saber entirely, they stretched their tentacles toward the Spellbook in the air, quickly swallowing it whole.
The rate at which the tentacles multiplied was on an entirely different level than before.
Thousands of tentacles twisted and fused together, gradually forming a grotesque mound of writhing flesh.
Saber was stunned.
"Why? Who is supplying Mana to that Spellbook?
That level of magical energy… it shouldn't be possible. Caster is already gone!"
Shirou narrowed his eyes and spoke his conclusion.
"There's only one person who can ignore all conditions and forcibly activate Caster's Noble Phantasm."
Saber and Irisviel both froze, then widened their eyes in realization.
"Caster's Master… Ryuunosuke Uryuu!"
…
In the darkness.
The young man sat silently on the sofa.
He had maintained that posture for three full days.
If he were a normal human, his legs would likely have necrotized from poor circulation. But he was already a corpse, so such concerns did not exist.
No, Ryuunosuke Uryuu had long since lost even the capacity for something like "concern."
His brain was gone. His intellect was gone. His sense of self was gone.
At most, he could only respond to external stimuli with simple reflexes, no different from a dissected frog in a laboratory.
The young man known as Ryuunosuke Uryuu had died the day he encountered the red-haired boy. What remained here was nothing more than a lump of dead flesh wearing his face.
Just moments ago, Gilles de Rais had been killed.
Although the Servant had disappeared, Ryuunosuke Uryuu's Command Spells did not vanish. They still remained engraved on the back of his hand, defying the rules of the Holy Grail War.
Command Spells were originally binding curses added by Zouken Matou, a Magus skilled in sorcery, to control Servants.
As something artificial, they inevitably contained flaws. Even a genius old Magus was no exception.
He likely never considered this possibility—that a Servant's Master could be a corpse.
The natural affinity between necromancy and curses allowed the Command Spells to remain on Ryuunosuke Uryuu's body in a near-miraculous way.
And that was not the only coincidence.
Gilles de Rais had used his Spellbook to deploy a soul-sucking Barrier over Fuyuki City, transferring the life force taken from its citizens to his Master.
During that process, Ryuunosuke Uryuu also received Caster's life force.
Combined with the magical link that naturally connected Master and Servant, they achieved a form of shared existence.
The lump of flesh, Ryuunosuke Uryuu, became another Caster, Gilles de Rais.
This was the true reason Prelati's Spellbook did not disappear after Caster's death.
Ryuunosuke Uryuu, this "dead man," inherited Caster's life and Noble Phantasm, and in a sense, continued to exist.
And now, this cold, mindless mass of flesh did something completely contrary to the logic of a corpse.
"Ah… ah… Master…"
"So frustrating… ahh… Bluebeard-sama…"
With cloudy, unfocused eyes, the corpse stared into nothingness, muttering in broken fragments as the Command Spells on the back of his hand were consumed.
"Kill them… wipe them all out…"
One.
"Unforgivable… must… take revenge…"
Two.
"Master… let me see something even cooler… true art…"
Three.
Neither Magecraft nor science could explain what kind of will was driving this mass of flesh.
And yet, it happened.
If this were a fairy tale, one might call it a miracle born from love.
But unfortunately, Bluebeard was a story so dark and grotesque that it had been removed from Grimm's Fairy Tales.
After exhausting all his Command Spells, Ryuunosuke Uryuu's final trace of life faded away.
He changed from an animated corpse into nothing more than an ordinary corpse, finally bringing his sinful life to an end.
Even so—what had once been "Ryuunosuke Uryuu" still wore a deeply satisfied smile at the moment of death.
...
...
Normally, familiars controlled by Magus cannot easily approach another Magus's Barrier.
That was why Irisviel paid no attention to the familiars stationed outside the forest. They would not be able to gather any useful information anyway.
But what Caster did tonight went far beyond reason.
Not only did he openly enter the Einzbern forest in full view of numerous familiars, he also attempted a blood sacrifice ritual and opened a gate to another world.
At that point, no Master could afford to ignore it.
As every Master in the war turned their attention toward the Einzbern territory, they detected the Mana signature of a large-scale ritual Magecraft within the forest.
Kayneth and his Lancer Servant, the demonic warrior Diarmuid, happened to be scouting near Miyama Town, not far from the Einzbern forest.
Their primary target was Saber, who had defeated them once before at the warehouse district.
Now that something had happened on the Einzbern side, they had no reason to stand by. This was the perfect chance to take advantage of the situation.
"Can you see what's happening, Lancer?"
The spearman, clad in the hide of a demonic boar, gazed through the thick night fog.
"It's Caster. The one who barged into the Einzbern forest seems to be up to something.
…What overwhelming Mana. With that level, destroying the entire city would be no problem."
Kayneth frowned.
"Doesn't he realize the Church has already issued a warrant for him? He's become a target for all Servants."
"If a madman had that kind of awareness, he wouldn't be a madman."
Kayneth's familiar had just returned from Kotomine Risei with news from the Church.
A new rule had just been announced.
Caster had violated the secrecy of the Holy Grail War and committed numerous crimes around Fuyuki City, posing a threat to the continuation of the ritual.
Therefore, a temporary condition was added: any Master who eliminates Caster would be rewarded with an additional Command Spell.
The Einzbern side, busy dealing with Caster's assault all night, clearly had not received this information yet.
By the time they learned of it, the battle would likely already be over.
For Kayneth, this was a major advantage.
It meant he could claim the reward for himself.
With only one Command Spell remaining, he was determined to obtain another.
"Hmph. Let's go."
Kayneth headed toward the fog-shrouded outskirts.
"Tonight, they'll learn the price of making an enemy of El-Melloi… but before that."
With a cold smile, he asked,
"Answer me, Lancer.
Who is your enemy?
That evil, deranged Caster?
Or Saber, the one who defeated you and stained the name of Diarmuid with disgrace?"
"…A foolish question."
The black spearman glanced back at him once, deeply, then answered in a flat voice.
"There is only one target I need to kill.
Saber's Master, Irisviel von Einzbern."
For Lancer, for the demonic Diarmuid who had cast aside chivalry, the glory and joy of battle were already worthless.
More than that, even settling things with Saber had become meaningless.
Only one thing still held value.
To commit every evil and vile act by whatever means necessary, and in the end, carve out the result called victory.
...
...
"That is…"
Irisviel's eyes widened in disbelief.
Caster's remains continued to swell with unstoppable momentum, already growing to the size of a hill.
Without question, that was the true form of the otherworldly monstrosity summoned by Prelati's Spellbook.
Rising over the Einzbern forest against the backdrop of the night was a nightmare from the alien sea, the beast known as the Sea Demon.
Those endless waves of tentacled monsters from before were neither its kin nor its offspring. They had only been the very tip of its massive body.
Fortunately, this was the outskirts of Fuyuki, far from the city. So far, there had been no casualties.
But even in the suburbs, there was no way a creature of that size would go unnoticed.
Though it was nighttime in the outskirts, panicked shouting could already be heard in the distance.
Anyone who saw a scene like this, straight out of a monster film, would be shocked.
Fortunately, the ritual magecraft had also produced a dense fog, so people could not clearly make out the Sea Demon's full form.
But even so, the secrecy of the Holy Grail War had already been broken.
"Unbelievable… Caster was actually capable of controlling a monster like that?"
Irisviel's voice trembled with barely concealed fear.
Shirou shook his head.
"No. 'Control' isn't quite the right word. It was simply called here by that grimoire.
To put it simply, before this, only a small gate to the other world had been opened. But now, because of the three Command Spells, the grimoire has expanded that gate much further."
"What… will that monster do next?" Irisviel asked blankly.
"There's only one thing it can do. Think about why Caster wanted to use those children as living sacrifices."
Saber and Irisviel both went pale at once.
In a flat voice, Shirou said,
"Caster invited that creature into this world under the pretense of feeding it. So naturally, there is only one thing it intends to do next.
A monster of that scale wouldn't even need a whole night to devour an entire city."
The Sea Demon had not been summoned into this world to fight.
It had been summoned simply to eat.
As if to prove Shirou right, the fully formed Sea Demon ignored Shirou and the others despite how much closer they were, and began leaving the forest, moving toward the densely populated city.
"…"
Artoria's clenched fists trembled.
She could not allow a monster like that to rampage through a city where people lived.
In the midst of her anger, the girl forced herself back to calm.
That Sea Demon was indeed terrifying, far beyond anything modern society could comprehend. But in Britain, where traces of the Age of Gods had still lingered, Artoria had fought monsters of comparable size before.
With the Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm she possessed, destroying the Sea Demon in a single blow was entirely possible.
The problem was where it stood now.
Right behind it was Miyama Town.
The Sea Demon was so enormous that if Saber wanted to destroy it, she would need to widen the area of effect of her Noble Phantasm as much as possible. But if she did that, innocent civilians behind it might be caught in the blast as well.
She needed someone who could work with her and first lure the monster away from Miyama Town.
And at this scene, there was only one person who could do that.
After a brief silence, Saber turned toward the red-haired boy she had only just accused of harboring ill intent.
"I…"
"My name is Shirou."
Meeting Saber's gaze, Shirou calmly gave his name.
"Huh!? I thought your name was Shinji!"
"Iri, be quiet for now."
"Ah, okay. Sorry."
Irisviel obediently covered her mouth with both hands.
"Shirou…"
Saber softly repeated the name, her expression complicated, then lowered her head.
"I truly am sorry for earlier. I suspected your intentions before I even understood the situation."
Shirou replied, "So you've finally calmed down?"
Saber answered, "Yes."
"That's good. There's no need for you to apologize."
Shirou nodded in satisfaction, his expression calm.
Saber had just treated him like a suspicious criminal.
But that was hardly her fault.
After all, Shirou himself had almost mistaken Saber for someone else at first.
And besides, when he had first approached Irisviel, he really had been carrying ill intent, even murderous thoughts.
So that made them even.
"Aren't you going to hold my earlier offense against me?"
Saber asked in surprise.
Shirou's complete indifference, even after being falsely accused, made her admire the breadth of his character. At the same time, it stirred a deep, indescribable sense of shame within her.
So this is what it means to judge a noble person with a petty mind…
Even if it was to protect my Master, what I did was… truly disgraceful.
Just moments ago, I was fighting beside him, entrusting my back to him as a comrade. And yet, over something so trivial…
A king as inconsistent and indecisive as I am… perhaps it's only natural I met such a tragic end.
"......"
Suddenly, a nightmare from the past rose before Artoria's eyes.
It was the vision of despair the Magus had shown her when she was fifteen, on the day she drew the sword.
The twilight battlefield upon the Hill of Camlann, an endless expanse of corpses and rivers of blood.
More than a decade after she had drawn that sword, the Magus's prophecy had come to pass.
Former comrades turned against one another. The united kingdom fell apart.
And at the root of it all was her inability to understand the human heart.
"King Arthur shouldn't be wearing that kind of expression."
Shirou's voice cut through her painful memories.
Saber froze the moment she looked up.
Though he bore the face of a boy no older than eight, for some reason, she found herself imagining what he would look like ten years from now.
Recalling the beautiful, pitch-black aurora that had seized her heart, Artoria quietly thought:
He… Shirou… might be the "ideal king" I've always dreamed of.