Kiritsugu Emiya held a submachine gun, standing back-to-back with Gudako as they warily scanned the snowfield, while Martha carefully protected Gudako, guarding against any sneak attacks.
However, several minutes passed without the expected enemy appearing. Just as they let down their guard, thinking the attacker had retreated, the sound of gunfire rang out again.
Kiritsugu Emiya clutched his left hand, where a bullet had grazed a ping-pong ball-sized wound. He looked solemnly in the direction the shot came from, but there was nothing but the vast snowfield—not a soul in sight.
Gudako ran nervously to Kiritsugu Emiya's side, taking his hand and asking with concern.
"Kiritsugu, are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I'll just use some healing magic to recover in a bit. Fortunately, it's a low-temperature environment, so the bleeding should stop soon."
"Is that so? That's a relief!"
Suddenly, Kiritsugu Emiya frowned. He used his injured left hand to push Gudako away. Soon after, a bullet struck, hitting his outstretched left hand again—this time, it was a clean through-and-through.
Kiritsugu Emiya let out a muffled groan. Not stopping to stop the bleeding in his left hand again, he quickly grabbed Gudako with his right hand and began moving in an irregular pattern toward the elevator.
"Run! We can't stay here and be sitting ducks!"
Martha cast a frustrated glance at the vast snowfield, then guarded Gudako even more vigilantly as she ran alongside her.
At this moment, over ten kilometers away, Emiya set down his twin swords and turned his head, looking puzzled at Caren, who was wrapping herself in the shroud of thorns.
"Reason!"
"Didn't you say you wanted to know Rin's goal? If you kill them, Rin's plan will fail!"
"Wouldn't it be better if it failed?"
Saying this, Emiya instantly raised the twin swords toward Caren's forehead and pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Prepared, Caren nimbly tilted her head to dodge the incoming bullet and leaped backward. Simultaneously, she tightened the shroud of thorns in her hand, disrupting Emiya's balance.
Upon landing, Caren pulled out several black keys and threw them at Emiya, whose center of gravity was broken.
Emiya, with his balance disrupted, dodged the black keys in an awkward posture. He swung his twin swords to cut through the shroud of thorns, then raised both guns in automatic mode and began spraying a large number of bullets at Caren.
Caren smiled slightly and began spinning rapidly on the spot with the shroud of thorns, blocking all the bullets.
"Don't waste your effort! We've fought so many matches; neither of us can do anything to the other, can we?"
Emiya looked at the screen lighting up beside Caren and the crowd of Caren-lookalike NPCs appearing out of thin air. He lowered the twin swords in his hands, and a golden sphere emerged from within his body, which he crushed without hesitation.
"I'll be watching you all from the Throne of Gods!"
As Emiya crushed the Sovereign's Proof, the fourth layer, having lost its sovereign, began to collapse. Various natural disasters started appearing on the fourth floor, initiating a purge to recreate the fourth layer for the next sovereign.
Meanwhile, Gudako and Kiritsugu Emiya, who had fled all the way to the elevator, also noticed this. Not understanding what was happening, they exchanged a glance and quickly stepped into the elevator to head to the next floor.
As the elevator began to rise slowly, the collapse of the fourth layer reached its climax. Meteorites, tsunamis, and hurricanes appeared out of nowhere, ravaging the entire floor.
Caren pressed a hand down on her hat, which was nearly blown away by the hurricane. She smiled radiantly at the elevator rising toward the horizon, then reached out her empty hand toward Emiya beside her.
Emiya looked at the woman who had been entangled with him for 200 years. He also reached out and held her hand. Then, several meteorites fell, swallowing their figures.
"Foolish woman!"
"Hehe! Although I really like Shirou, you are definitely not within the scope of what I like!"
"Boom!"
---Divider---
Shirou Kotomine looked up at the blazing sun in the sky, took off his straw hat, and used the towel hanging around his neck to wipe the sweat from his head.
Then, Shirou Kotomine put on the straw hat and continued to swing his hoe under the blazing sun, turning over the soil.
Not far away, the door of a mud hut opened. Irisviel, dressed in the Dress of Heaven, flew out from the door carrying a small basket and came to Shirou Kotomine's side.
"Shirou, take a break and have some water!"
Saying this, Irisviel took a small water bottle from the basket and handed it to Shirou Kotomine. Then, watching him drink, she took out a towel and gently wiped the sweat for Shirou.
After drinking the water, Shirou Kotomine looked at the wasteland before him and shook his head at Irisviel.
"Iri, I can't. If we don't finish reclaiming this wasteland before autumn, we won't have enough food."
Irisviel asked, placing a finger on the corner of her mouth in confusion.
"Shirou, didn't we leave a lot of food before?"
"Iri! All of that has rotted with the arrival of summer; I only managed to dry some of it into vegetables."
Knowing the reason, Irisviel gave Shirou Kotomine a gentle smile and a hug. Then, she went to the shade of a nearby tree and watched Shirou Kotomine work in the fields.
At this time, Gudako and Kiritsugu Emiya, who had stepped out of the elevator, also arrived near the field. Kiritsugu Emiya's pupils contracted as he looked at the woman sitting in the shade of the tree in the distance.
Subsequently, a series of memories began to surface in Kiritsugu Emiya's mind.
At the same time, Gudako also seemed to sense something. Her eyes were vacant as she looked at Irisviel under the shade. Her breathing gradually quickened, and then her eyes turned blood-red. She let out a beastly roar and instantly broke the speed of sound, lunging toward Irisviel.
Kiritsugu Emiya, pulled out of his memories by Gudako's roar, hurriedly took out his submachine gun and aimed it at the beast-like Gudako, intending to draw her attention by firing.
However, Kiritsugu Emiya's action was completely stifled after Gudako glanced back at him. With just one look, Kiritsugu Emiya fell into a state of terror again, frozen in place, unable to move at all.
Shirou Kotomine, who noticed Gudako and was about to step forward to stop her, also fell into the same state as Kiritsugu Emiya. In the process of making eye contact with Gudako, he fell into a state of immense fear. It was like an instinct carved into human DNA; no human could resist even slightly when facing Gudako in this state.
Under the desperate gazes of Shirou Kotomine and Kiritsugu Emiya, Gudako had already rushed in front of Irisviel, roaring as she reached out her slender hand.
Kiritsugu Emiya watched this scene in despair. Having experienced it once, he naturally knew how terrifying Gudako was in this state. Those seemingly harmless small hands could probably tear through tank armor. 'Am I going to see Iri die before me again?'
Suddenly, a thunderous boom echoed in the sky. Rin dove down from high altitude at dozens of times the speed of sound, appearing before Gudako in an instant. She raised her jewel-like long leg and kicked Gudako in the face.
Gudako was like being hit by a rhinoceros, turning into a cannonball that crashed into the field, forming a giant crater several meters in diameter.
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