Under the night sky of Fuyuki City, by the banks of the Mion River, the abandoned factory district was thick with dust and the low hum of magical energy. Artoria stood alone in the center of a relatively open space, eyes closed in concentration. Her aura was like an undercurrent beneath a calm sea, with gold and black magical light flickering alternately on her body, forming a strange yet harmonious balance.
Suddenly, a golden ripple bloomed not far behind her. Gilgamesh's golden-shining figure stepped out, his crimson snake-like pupils scanning Artoria with his usual arrogance and a faint, undetectable gravity.
"Mongrel, still making futile struggles?" Gilgamesh's voice was mocking. "Facing an existence like Kanjuro, can you, the solitary king of knights, still not see the chasm in strength? Lay down your ridiculous pride and join hands with this King; perhaps there is still a slim chance of survival."
Artoria slowly opened her eyes, her emerald gaze clear and firm in the night. She didn't turn around, her voice calm and steady: "Gilgamesh, I appreciate your offer. But dealing with Kanjuro is a trial I must overcome alone. I do not need to join forces with anyone."
"Arrogance!" A flash of anger crossed Gilgamesh's eyes. "You have no idea what you're facing! That fellow's essence is far beyond your imagination! Do you think you can contend with your pathetic chivalry? Foolish!"
Before his voice faded, the blades of several Noble Phantasm had already emerged from the golden ripples, shooting straight at Artoria with a sharp whistling sound! He wanted to use strength to make this stubborn king of knights face reality!
Artoria's gaze sharpened, but she did not draw her sword. She simply raised her hand, her left palm gathering pure, holy light like a miniature avalon, while her right hand was entwined with deep dark magic, like an all-consuming abyss. The powers of gold and black interlaced before her, forming a shifting, strange barrier.
Boom—!
The Noble Phantasm struck the barrier. There was no violent explosion as expected; the holy light and darkness rotated slowly like a millstone, actually crushing, absorbing, and neutralizing those infinitely powerful Noble Phantasm, eventually returning them to nothingness without even a ripple of magical energy spreading.
Gilgamesh's pupils suddenly constricted, the arrogance on his face instantly replaced by shock. "You... you actually..." He clearly felt that Artoria wasn't simply resisting, but perfectly mastering and merging two completely opposite sources of power in a way he couldn't understand! That effortless control was worlds apart from when they had fought before!
Artoria dispelled the light-dark barrier in her hands, turned around, and looked at him calmly: "Now, do you understand? This is my path. I do not need to rely on anyone's power, especially... yours."
Gilgamesh's face became extremely unsightly. After the shock came overwhelming rage and the humiliation of being slighted. He stared intently at Artoria, finally squeezing out a sentence through gritted teeth: "Hmph! Ignorant mongrel! Go ahead and face true despair with your ridiculous power! This King wants to see how long you can struggle!"
With a flash of golden light, Gilgamesh's figure disappeared into the ripples, leaving on his own with a heart full of rage and a hint of... wariness that even he didn't want to admit.
Having driven away the uninvited "ally," Artoria did not relax at all. She turned and walked deeper into the shadows, where, with the help of the residual techniques of the Einzbern family and Ley line nodes, a miniature Heavens Feel system was slowly operating, drawing the massive magical energy flowing through the Ley lines of Fuyuki City.
She stood in the center of the faintly glowing technique, closing her eyes and feeling the flow of Ley line power rushing like a river. Her consciousness sank into it, guiding this vast magical energy to resonate with her new power that merged light and dark. What she had to do was gather all the power, all the beliefs, all the sacrifices and pain into a single point—
To unleash "The Everdistant Utopia" (avalon), the Noble Phantasm symbolizing her ultimate protection and belief, to its maximum power, exceeding its limits and capable of severing all karma and darkness!
In the distance, under the shadow of an abandoned water tower, Maiya Hisau blended into the darkness, clearly observing everything through a sniper scope. Her gaze was cold and loyal, without any fluctuation.
Irisviel quietly appeared behind her, her voice carrying a final warning and a hint of hope: "Maiya... turn back. Kanjuro is just using you; he can't give you anything real. Come back to our side and fight him together..."
Maiya didn't even turn her head, her voice as flat as if stating a truth: "Lady Irisviel, my life and my will have long belonged to my Master. I am his eternal servant; beyond that, I am nothing and need nothing." Her finger rested steadily on the trigger, her eyes behind the lens still locked on Artoria in the distance.
Artoria's voice, through magical energy, clearly reached the ears of Irisviel and Maiya, carrying a calm and resolve that saw through everything: "Iri, there's no need to persuade her further. Let her watch, let her listen, let her... go and report to Kanjuro."
The corner of her mouth even curled into a very faint arc, carrying a hint of sorrow and mockery.
"It just so happens, I also want Kanjuro to know..."
"I, Artoria Pendragon, am here, accumulating the final sword capable of severing all his schemes and darkness. Let him come."
Night in Fuyuki City does not always belong to the death matches of Magicians and Heroic Spirits. In the alleys of the old city district, far from the Ley line nodes where lights are sparse, there is the ordinary smoke of the human world and unknown undercurrents.
Fujimura Taiga, the granddaughter of the Fujimura Group's leader, a seemingly ordinary high school girl with a bit of the dashing spirit of the underworld, was carrying oden she had just bought from a convenience store, walking quickly on a shortcut home. She hummed an out-of-tune pop song, planning the kendo club's morning practice for tomorrow, never expecting to run into "trouble" that would change her daily life tonight.
Passing a dark alley entrance piled with abandoned furniture, a heavy smell of blood and a faint groan made her stop abruptly. Her alertness made her instinctively clench her fist (though she was still holding the oden) and peek into the alley.
By the faint light of a distant streetlamp, she saw a figure curled up next to a trash can. It was an adult male, in rags, covered in filth and dried, blackened blood. His hair was tangled, his beard was scruffy, and his face was covered in grime, but what made Taiga's heart tighten most were those eyes—hollow, unfocused, as if they had lost all focus, leaving only boundless fear and vacancy, much like a wild dog chased to a dead end, unable even to howl. His body was trembling involuntarily, and he made meaningless murmurs, occasionally interspersed with broken words like "Shirley... child... die..."
"Hey! Are you okay?" Taiga, forgetting her fear, hurried over and knelt down. The strong smell made her frown, but she didn't back away. She realized the wounds on this man were definitely not from an ordinary brawl, and his mental state was even worse.
The man—Emiya Kiritsugu—had no reaction to the calls from the outside world, only instinctively curling up tighter like a startled hedgehog.
Looking at his miserable appearance, the sense of Giri belonging to a Yakuza family and the girl's own kindness flared up simultaneously. She thought for a moment, put down the oden, and tried to support him: "Hey, Mister? Can you stand up? You can't stay here, you'll freeze to death! Come with me, I'll take you somewhere to get cleaned up!"
Kiritsugu still didn't respond, but when Taiga supported him with force, he didn't resist either, just like a puppet that had lost its strings, allowing her to half-drag and half-carry him away from that dirty alley.
The Fujimura Group Mansion wasn't luxurious, but it was spacious enough and heavily guarded. Taiga didn't alert too many people, especially avoiding her grandfather, and took Kiritsugu directly to a vacant guest room in her own courtyard. She called for a trusted, tight-lipped doctor from the group to treat the wounds on Kiritsugu's body that looked terrifying but were mostly no longer bleeding, and had the maids prepare hot water and clean clothes.
Throughout the process, Kiritsugu was like a walking corpse, cooperating with the washing, bandaging, and changing of clothes, but his gaze never regained clarity. It was only after the doctor's examination, when he privately shook his head at Taiga and said, "The physical wounds are fine, but the wound here... is very heavy and needs time," while pointing to his head, that Taiga truly realized she hadn't just picked up an injured homeless man, but a person with a shattered soul.
Over the next few days, Taiga visited Kiritsugu whenever she had time. She brought him food, though most of the time he just mechanically swallowed a few bites; she would chatter to him, telling him about interesting things at school, the idiots in the kendo club, and her always-serious grandfather, despite getting no response. She just felt that she couldn't let a person rot away silently like that, especially right under her nose.
Perhaps it was the relatively safe environment of the Fujimura Group Mansion, or Taiga's pure and direct care without any agenda, like a trickling stream, or perhaps the extreme exhaustion after madness, but Emiya Kiritsugu's shattered mental world finally had a very faint loosening.
One evening, when Taiga came in with food as usual, she found Kiritsugu, who had been sitting by the window, seemed to have his gaze linger on her for a moment. Although that gaze was still hollow, it was no longer complete void.
He very slowly and with great difficulty raised his head, and with a voice as raspy as sandpaper rubbing together, spat out the first clear, meaningful word since his collapse:
"...Thank you..."
The voice was very soft, almost masked by the sound of the wind outside the window.
But Taiga heard it.
She froze for a moment, then a smile as bright and dazzling as the sun blossomed on her face. She slammed the food onto the table, hands on her hips, with a bit of pride and her usual cheerfulness:
"Well! You can finally talk, mysterious Mister! No need for thanks! We in the Fujimura Group value loyalty most! Just stay here and recover; this young lady will look after you!"
Looking at Taiga's cloudless smile, feeling this warmth full of vitality—so different from the cold eeriness of Einzbern Castle and the cruel despair of the Holy Grail War—a tiny, imperceptible crack quietly spread deep within Emiya Kiritsugu's frozen and dead heart.
He was still deep in the embers of nightmares, still burdened with un-washable sins and madness, but in this unexpected haven built by a Yakuza girl, his completely broken soul seemed to have finally found a... chance to breathe. Although the road ahead was still pitch black. Kanjuro sat leisurely in a high-backed chair in Einzbern Castle, fiddling with a black crystal-like Communication Rune Stone in his fingertips. Jeanne d'Arc's figure, like a weightless ghost, appeared silently by his side and bowed slightly.
"Master," Jeanne d'Arc's voice was calm and steady, as if reporting the weather, "Emiya Kiritsugu's whereabouts have been found. He was taken in by a local high school girl named Fujimura Taiga and is currently hiding in the Fujimura Group Mansion. His mental state is extremely unstable, but his physical injuries are recovering."
The corner of Kanjuro's mouth curled into a playful smile. "Fujimura Taiga? That interesting little girl?" He seemed to know the various forces in Fuyuki City like the back of his hand. "It seems our 'Ally of Justice' doesn't have too bad luck, at least he met someone warm-hearted." He didn't immediately order anything, but instead seemed to have heard an interesting story. "Continue to observe, Jeanne d'Arc. I'm very curious to know if, wrapped in 'warmth,' his shattered soul will slowly mend or... suffer more in the contrast."
"Yes." Jeanne d'Arc took the order, her figure merging back into the shadows. Her perception, like an invisible spider web, extended once again toward the Fujimura Group Mansion... A few days later, at the Fujimura Group Mansion, in the guest room.
Under Fujimura Taiga's daily, unwavering food delivery, chatter, and energetic "harassment," although Emiya Kiritsugu remained taciturn and hollow-eyed, he at least no longer completely rejected her presence. Sometimes, he would even give a very slight nod when she put down the food.
This afternoon, sunlight streamed through the paper windows, casting warm spots of light on the tatami. Taiga was sitting cross-legged opposite Kiritsugu, peeling an apple and talking incessantly about how the math teacher made a fool of himself today. Kiritsugu listened quietly, his gaze falling on the light spots, appearing to have a very faint, almost peaceful trance.
However, at the very moment this sliver of weak peace was about to be maintained—
Kiritsugu's pupils suddenly contracted!
His body suddenly stiffened, as if drenched in invisible ice water. A cold sensation of being watched and targeted, like a maggot on a bone, instantly crawled up his spine! He was all too familiar with this feeling! It was Kanjuro! Or that female Saint under Kanjuro's command! (He didn't know Jeanne's name, but he remembered that cold, scrutinizing aura.)
He jerked his head up, his gaze scanning every corner of the room in terror before finally settling on the shadow of an ancient tree outside the window. Although there was nothing there, he was absolutely certain that a pair of eyes was piercing through space, coldly watching him—watching his brief, ridiculous "peace"!
"Ugh... ah..." Broken sounds of fear squeezed out of his throat. The sliver of calm on his face was instantly torn to shreds, replaced by a panic and breakdown even greater than before. He abruptly turned toward Fujimura Taiga, who was still peeling an apple and was completely unaware of his sudden change; his eyes were filled with extreme terror, as if she were not his savior, but an innocent person about to be dragged into the abyss.
"Go... go away!" he hissed hoarsely, his voice distorted by fear, his hands waving wildly as he tried to push away Taiga, who wasn't even close to him. "Stay away from me! Get out of here! Don't come near me!! You'll be discovered... you'll... you'll die!!"
His reaction was so intense and inexplicable that it startled the defenseless Taiga, causing both the apple and the knife in her hands to fall onto the tatami.
"Hey! Uncle! What's wrong?" Taiga looked at him in shock, trying to approach and comfort him. "Are you having a nightmare? It's safe here, no one will..."
"No! You don't understand!!" Kiritsugu was almost screaming, his body curling up as he backed away until his spine hit the cold wall, with nowhere left to run. He clutched his head with both hands, his whole body trembling, repeating incoherently, "He can see... he's always been watching... Go! Just go!! Leave me alone! I am... I am a calamity..."
Seeing Kiritsugu like a startled bird, even starting to drive her away, Fujimura Taiga was stunned. Looking at his face filled with fear and despair, she realized clearly for the first time that what this man carried was likely far more than just physical trauma, but some deeper darkness and terror that she couldn't comprehend. That darkness, with just a single look, could once again shatter the sliver of humanity he had just managed to gather.
She stood where she was, not leaving, but not approaching easily again. Her brow furrowed tightly, her heart filled with confusion, worry, and a stubborn refusal to give up.
In the shadows, Jeanne calmly withdrew her gaze, as if completing a routine recording, and quietly departed, bringing the scene of Emiya Kiritsugu falling back into the abyss of fear to her master, who was always looking forward to a "wonderful show."
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