Chapter 220: Salvation and Sacrifice
Is this right? It's clearly not right, is it!
"What's wrong, Saber? Is there something problematic about what I said?" Emiya Shirou asked.
"...No, there is not."
No problems? How could there possibly be no problems!
It was just that, much like Saber's insistence on saving Britain—at the very least, as King Arthur, she had to try to save her homeland, even if she felt that this wish of hers seemed flawed—faced with Emiya Shirou, who was still trying to find a way for her even at this late stage and had actually provided a seemingly viable method, Saber found it difficult to speak up, even if she knew there was an issue.
After all, the Saber who manifested in the Fifth Holy Grail War was not the same naive, sweet version of herself from the Fourth Holy Grail War. To say she would do anything for victory might be a bit of an exaggeration, but as long as it did not touch upon issues of principle, Saber actually wouldn't mind. In fact, at the end of the Fate route, if Emiya Shirou had not sufficiently raised his affinity with her, Saber might have even killed Emiya Shirou with her own hands for the sake of the Holy Grail.
"Thank you, Shirou."
Therefore, upon hearing Emiya Shirou's words, Saber said sincerely: "It is truly a blessing that you could become my Master, Shirou."
This Holy Grail War was, essentially, won by Emiya Shirou. He had supported her until now, encouraged her to realize her wish, and furthermore, after learning the truth about the corruption of the Greater Grail, he had been the key. In the Holy Grail War of Fuyuki City, the winner was effectively locked in. Aside from those magi who manifested in the Caster class capable of clearing the Grail's corruption, most other Servants would lose their eligibility to make a wish even if they emerged victorious. Without Emiya Shirou, she likely would not have had this wish.
"That is a line that should be spoken by me, Saber," Emiya Shirou said. "Didn't I mention before? The reason I was able to survive back then was because of your [Avalon].
Perhaps if you hadn't had the desire to save me back then and chosen to implant [Avalon] into my body, the person who truly saved my life would have been Kiritsugu.
But [Avalon] also required your magical energy to initiate; only then could it exert its healing effects."
Why, after being betrayed by Emiya Kiritsugu, did Saber still leave behind a trace of magical energy on [Avalon]? Honestly, even Emiya Shirou, with his memories of a past life, could not comprehend this.
However, Emiya Shirou was indeed saved by the magical energy Saber had left behind. Unlike the others who experienced the great fire of Fuyuki City alongside him—those who were either lucky or unlucky enough to be abducted by Kotomine Kirei afterward to the basement of the Fuyuki Church to serve as human magical batteries—he had been saved. They were lucky to survive the fire caused by [All the World's Evils], but unlucky enough not to escape Kotomine Kirei's malicious adoption. Emiya Shirou, however, was already in a state of terminal near-death when discovered by Emiya Kiritsugu.
Although one could not say Emiya Shirou was doomed to die from the curse of [All the World's Evils] just like Emiya Kiritsugu, looking at Kiritsugu's magical skill—which was effectively pointed entirely toward the singular act of killing—if he could have saved Emiya Shirou using magecraft or the emergency medical skills learned on the battlefield, he wouldn't have had to give [Avalon] to Emiya Shirou for redemption while he himself was also suffering from the curse of [All the World's Evils].
To credit Saber entirely for Emiya Shirou's survival is biased, but Saber's contribution in this matter was only slightly less than Kiritsugu's, thanks to that inadvertently left-behind magical energy. Therefore, whenever he could help Saber, Emiya Shirou would undoubtedly choose to do so. Provided it didn't involve the world he currently resided in...
"So, Saber, have you made your decision?" Emiya Shirou looked at Saber and asked the most critical question of his proposed method: "Do you wish to save your Britain?"
"Or do you wish to confirm once again whether Britain is truly beyond saving? Even if the Britain you wish to save is the Britain of a different parallel world?"
To save a portion of people, one must inevitably sacrifice another portion. Especially in problems involving space-time travel. If Saber were to truly use the Holy Grail's power to return to the past and change history, would Emiya Shirou and everything he was familiar with in the original historical trajectory vanish as a result? Emiya Shirou did not know. Thus, he chose to use a different parallel world to fulfill Saber's wish.
However, looking at the bright side, based on the Grandfather Paradox and the particularities of the Type-Moon world, it was likely that at the moment Saber fulfilled her wish, a new parallel world would be created, rather than her traveling back to the past of the original world to change its history.
"Are you willing to bear the sin of altering history, even if you cannot necessarily save the people you are familiar with, but only save the people and the country in a parallel world that are identical to the ones you once knew?" Emiya Shirou confirmed once again with Saber.
"...Yes, I wish to make a wish to the Holy Grail." After a long silence, Saber nodded firmly: "Even if it is not the Britain I am familiar with, I still hope that Britain can continue to exist in some future.
Perhaps this idea of mine is wrong. Merlin once told me back then that what destroyed Britain was not the invasion of foreign enemies, but the planet's resistance to this land.
Natural disasters running rampant, crops unable to grow... In the face of the great trend of the decline of mystery, only by exterminating everything in Britain, including the people on this land, would the Counter Force accept a new Britain once again.
Thinking about it carefully, ever since I realized this, I have been fighting against fate, against the world, so that Britain would not be destroyed.
Because this is what I should do as King Arthur, what I am able to do as King Arthur, and what I must do."
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