Emiya Kiritsugu was smoking a cigarette in his car. He had once quit for Irisviel, but during this Holy Grail War, it was an exception. It was a ritual to return to his old self, the cold machine. As he inhaled the smoke, his whole body became cold.
Of course, he was considerate of Irisviel and didn't smoke inside the house. He made sure to smoke in the mobile car parked near the mansion. Maiya was guarding Irisviel in place of Saber, who was useless at the moment.
"..."
Kiritsugu stared into the void, reflecting on the contents of the earlier meeting.
(I had such a pointless argument for once. Anyway, I have to think of a way to defeat Archer...)
He extinguished the butt of his cigarette in the ashtray inside the car and put a new one in his mouth.
"Hm?"
Kiritsugu felt something he had kicked with his foot. It wasn't a big thing, but it bothered him somehow. He got out of the car and turned on the light to check what it was.
"Is this... a shell casing?"
There was nothing particularly strange about it. It was a shell casing from his own gun. That's all. And yet, he had a strange premonition.
Grasps!
"Gah!!"
Suddenly, someone grabbed his ankle. The strength was incredible. He could feel the will to never let go. But something was strange.
(Grabbing my ankle while I'm standing on the ground?! )
No one could do that without using a special ability or crawling on the ground. And the hand holding his ankle was extended from under the car. There was a person in the narrow gap between the car and the ground.
However, a big question arose.
(Why would this person use an ability to do this? If they were an enemy, they could have dealt a fatal blow with this surprise attack... I don't want to think I've deteriorated that much, but did I fail to notice a prank by some neighborhood kid? )
Kiritsugu was surprised for a moment, but he quickly regained his composure and tried to deal with the situation.
"Let go of my hand now. Otherwise—"
"Kiri."
"—...wha, what...?"
This time, Emiya Kiritsugu's movement stopped. The voice that vibrated his eardrums was definitely one he had heard before. It was exactly the same as the one from the girl in his faint memories from his childhood. A voice he should never be able to hear again.
"Why..."
"Why did you come to our island? Why did you appear before me? If you hadn't come, we would have been able to live in peace forever—!!"
A girl's body emerged from under the car. Her face was half-covered in blood, as if her skin had been scraped on the ground. That face overlapped with the one from the time he killed this girl in the past.
"Shirley...! Is this a hallucination! Who is behind this!"
He let out a scream like never before, blowing away the anxiety that had been clinging to him. Judging that his beloved gun was out of reach, he readied his knife.
"You can't do that. You're holding back. I never taught you that stance."
"Ah, a—"
A second woman's voice. A hand was placed around Kiritsugu's neck. He had been flanked without even realizing it. He remembered this woman's voice as well. His legs trembled, and a cold sweat dripped with every whisper in his ear.
"You killed me, and yet you're trying to be happy by yourself? You even made a wife and a daughter."
"Natalia...!!"
She was Kiritsugu's mentor, and one of the few people Kiritsugu had discarded during a certain incident.
Kiritsugu no longer had the will to fight. Everything he had discarded up until now came crashing down on him at once. He couldn't possibly win against something like that.
"Kiritsugu."
This was the final blow.
"F-father...!"
"Did you kill me? Even though I loved you."
Emiya Kiritsugu's heart had completely broken.
---------
"Sakura-chan! Throw away that doll—!!"
"Huh?"
The warning was too late. The stuffed animal in her hand lost its shape and covered Sakura-chan. Sakura-chan was wrapped in a thin cocoon. The expression she wore through the cocoon didn't seem to be that painful.
"Sakura-chan, are you okay?"
"I don't know... my body feels heavy. It doesn't hurt, though..."
"Your body feels heavy? What is this... what kind of attack is it?"
The fact that the magic alarm wasn't going off probably meant it was a Stand attack. Can I do something with my Tusk?
And then, I remembered that there was one more person nearby. Saber, who was resting in the room to heal her wounds. If it was the Knight King's intuition, she should have woken up immediately if she was attacked. The fact that she didn't meant—
"Saber, are you okay!?"
I entered the room without hesitation. It was a completely ordinary room—it should have been.
The room was filled with people, squeezed in like sardines. It was a wonder they hadn't been overflowing before. I was supposed to have spread a futon in the center of the room, but not only was the futon gone, there was no sign of Saber sleeping.
Among the people packed in the room, some were injured, and some were emaciated. Some were even wearing armor. There was no uniformity at all.
"Saber, where are you! Where are you!!"
Even though I couldn't see her, I instinctively understood that this overwhelming number of people was targeting Saber. This was bad. The fact that this room was in such a state meant that Saber had to be somewhere nearby.
I didn't know if the current Saber could handle this situation. I had to join up with her as soon as possible. Normally, I would have handled this more calmly, but I must still be affected by the shock from the last battle. I couldn't get my thoughts straight.
But then, Sakura-chan muttered.
"Brother... don't you think all these people are facing the same direction? Like sunflowers facing the sun..."
"That's it! That's the best 'realization' you could have made!!"
If these guys are targeting Saber, then it's no mistake that they are currently trying to move toward and target Saber. Then Saber must be ahead of them!
And all the ghouls in the room were looking in the same direction, toward the corner of the room!
"Is that it?! You're there, Saber! Tusk!!"
I fired my nail bullets at the ghouls without hesitation. I judged that the possibility of these being controlled civilians was extremely low, given the clothes they were wearing. People wearing armor wouldn't just be walking around out there.
I emptied the nail bullets from both my hands, creating a path. As I had expected, Saber was there, crouched down in a small ball. She didn't look like the brave Knight King at all. In a special effects show, she would be the one getting rescued by the hero.
I carried Sakura-chan on my back and ran towards Saber, on the path that was now as easy to pass as if a road roller had gone through it. Saber was scared and crying like a normal girl. Words of apology were pouring from her mouth, but I didn't know who she was apologizing to.
"Saber, snap out of it!"
"Hic! Ah, Irregula—"
"We're moving! Hold on!"
I said, forcefully picking her up. She was surprisingly unresistant. Her arms slid around my back. She buried her face in my chest, and I could only hear her sobbing.
"Oh King..."
"My King... why..."
"What did you say...?"
My King? Are some of these guys the Knights of the Round Table?!
The path we came from was already blocked. I activated Magia Erebea, the magic of darkness, and smashed through the wall. I rolled into the next room with the two of them in my arms.
But,
"There are some here, too..."
It seemed they didn't intend to let us escape so easily. And as a result, we were now trapped between them. At this rate, do I have to use Knockout Fighter to blow away the ghouls?
"You'd better not, Irregular."
A man appeared. Compared to the appearance I was familiar with, he looked quite young, as this was 10 years ago. But his eyes already held a firm will to be obedient to his own resolutions and desires.
"Kirei Kotomine."
"That's right. The uninvited Servant."
So he shows up now.
"Are you... a Stand user?"
"...I see. The fact that you know that word means that you are one as well. Hmph, so you're an unexpected Servant no matter how you look at it."
"Yeah, I know a lot. After all, I'm a Servant who came from the future. You, for example... you killed your own mentor and made a contract with Archer, right?"
At this moment, Kirei definitely had the advantage in this fight. Looking at this situation, it was better to assume that the entire mansion was under the effect of his Stand. Since I hadn't been able to explain about Stands due to various events, everyone else must be preoccupied with their own troubles. I couldn't expect any reinforcements.
I have to take the initiative in this conversation, even if just a little.
"Gah! You really are a troublesome Servant. Or do you have a Noble Phantasm for future sight?"
Kirei's level of caution had clearly gone up. But for a man facing a Servant, wasn't his level of caution way too low? Was this the first time he had acted normally?
I couldn't see Gilgamesh anywhere nearby. For a Heroic Spirit like him, I should be able to tell even if he had dematerialized.
Kirei might be strong, but I doubt he would enter an enemy base with multiple Servants on his own. Does he have some kind of backup plan?
"Stand... I obtained this power only a little while ago. But I have come to understand that this power is based on a peculiar law that is unthinkable in a normal battle. So, let's follow that law."
---A PERSON MOVES FORWARD BY ABANDONING SOMETHING
---OR DO THEY PICK IT UP AND GO BACK?
"Fairly. I swear to the God I believe in. The name of my Stand is Civil War. Irregular Servant, if you want to escape from this Stand, you must prepare some clean water."
"Civil War?! So that's what this is!"
Everything finally made sense.
The ability of Civil War is to summon things (people or objects) that the target has abandoned in the past as tangible illusions. The things that are summoned are, so to speak, symbols of the person's sins. Since they are summoned based on the person's own perception, anything can be summoned as long as there is a sense of guilt, even if it was an unavoidable situation.
In other words, it's a Stand that specializes in digging up trauma. It's not very effective against civilians, but in a place like the Holy Grail War, where there are many people with wounds in their hearts, it becomes a vicious Stand.
And that's not all. The true horror of this Stand lies beyond that. Because of that, I can't choose to defeat the main body. Was this why he was so confident?
However, for now, I have to somehow evade the attacks of these vengeful spirits. They will attack endlessly until I get out of their range. And Kirei won't allow me to escape.
"It seems you understand the ability, Irregular. Then what will you do?"
"What do you want, then? This way, neither of us can do anything. After all, the effect of Civil War applies to you, too."
"You don't need to worry. This is just a test run in the first place. Even if there are no results, it's not a problem. But if I break all of your hearts and make you unable to fight, we can do whatever we want. Although Archer told me not to kill Rider and Saber."
Rider for a final showdown, and Saber to make her his bride?
At this, Kirei's expression twisted in a different way. It wasn't disgust or joy. It was confusion.
"Why is the effect of Civil War not working on you...? Is that your Stand ability?"
"No. To be fair, my Stand ability is just to shoot nails like bullets. It doesn't have an effect like that."
It's a simple thing.
"It's just that I've never had a 'sense of guilt' that big."
A momentary silence.
"...What? That can't be. There's no way a person who would become a Servant would have lived such a life!"
It's a problem when you decide things like that.
"It is what it is, so what can I do? I might have screwed up a little, but as for a sense of guilt, I don't have any at all."
Besides, unlike other Heroic Spirits, I'm a living human. I'm a former civilian who just happened to wander into this world. That's probably another factor that threw his calculations off.
Okay, I think it's time. Go for it, Waver. I know you're there.
"Take thissssssssss!!!!!"
"Eh, whoa!!!!"
For some reason, Waver showed himself and used some kind of magic. The incredible light was like a stun grenade. He shouted loudly, but the power wasn't impressive. It was a terribly pathetic surprise attack. It did blind me, though.
The next moment, something passed in front of me and blew Kirei's body away... I heard a sound. It was probably Kayneth-san's decisive battle Mystic Code, Volumen Hydrargyrum. The liquid metal's tackle must have had the power of an average Servant's attack. That thing is really heavy.
"Tch!!"
I heard Kirei click his tongue. He probably hadn't expected them to be able to move this much. The fact that he hadn't had much time to use his Stand worked against him. He hadn't been able to understand how much power it had.
"Honestly. I guess when it comes down to it, I can only rely on my own magic."
Kayneth-san appeared with a dramatic line. It would have been perfect if there wasn't a vinyl-like thing stuck to his face from the effects of Civil War.
"Are you okay, Shou?! And your kids and Saber, too!"
Don't call them my kids, Waver. That's a misleading way to put it. And you've got some vinyl stuck on you, too.
"Are you guys okay, too?"
"It was rough. I remembered the time my mom got mad at me when I was little... shudders."
"I'm glad that's all it was. And you worked together with Kayneth-san perfectly."
"...That was just... it couldn't be helped in a situation like that. It was an emergency!"
I'll forgive you for blinding me, in exchange for that growth.
"It seems the culprit has run away. Hmph, a man who doesn't know the etiquette of a duel."
Kirei seemed to have understood when to retreat.
I'm exhausted, both physically and mentally. For now, I'd like to just rest slowly... but I can't say that. The fact that Archer became Kirei's Servant means we're in the final stage. The next battle will probably be the decisive one.
To fight, we need to truly unite.
--------------------------------------------
🚀 Want Early Access (80+Chapters ahead ) & Bonus Content?
"Loving this story so far? You can read ALL chapters RIGHT NOW by joining my P4tr3on!
✨ Unlock instant access to the full completed novel
✨ No waiting for daily updates
✨ Support your favorite degenerate author (that's me!)
Only $5.99 for the full experience!
🔗 Check my profile for the Link!!