It's normal for an evil god to raise an Abyss.

Okita Souji was not surprised to be recognized by her real name. After changing into this outfit, she no longer had to hide herself.

"However, the so-called genius swordsman is just an empty title. The one standing here is nothing more than a murderer."

"Well, it's time for you to go in and face your own battles... You guys, don't fall faster than your companions~"

-------------------------------------

As Shirou Emiya and Rin Toosaka entered the Einzbern Castle, the castle gate slowly closed.

"So……"

Okita Souji tapped the hilt of his sword with his fingers, and the Kikuichimonji Norimune came out of its sheath half an inch, revealing a cold light of murderous intent.

"Let us have a pure fight between Servants—"

There was a crisp sound of iron chains colliding, and Medusa summoned a dagger wrapped in chains, ready for battle.

"Girl, I'll deal with the [murderer], and I'll leave the snake to you."

Lancer——Cu Chulainn said this to Mash.

"no problem!"

Mashu nodded and said.

Medusa and Okita Souji disappeared from the spot. No, it cannot be said that they disappeared, but the speed of the two of them was so fast.

In just a moment, the dagger hit the cross shield, and the red spear blocked the katana. Two shock waves spread out from the collision point, shaking the nearby trees.

-------------------------------------

When Emiya Shirou and Toosaka Rin stepped into the castle hall, they did not see Illya or Sakura as expected, only Saber whose magic power was running out.

"Saber, how are you!?"

Emiya Shirou ran towards Saber anxiously.

"Shirou, don't..."

Saber was only halfway through her words when the attack arrived faster than her words.

A sharp sword shot out from the shadows and rushed towards Shirou.

The sword did not hit Emiya Shirou. Saber, whose magic power was almost exhausted, managed to stand up and use her sword to chop the thrown blade away in mid-air.

The man with white hair and red clothes appeared from the shadows.

"Archer, now that Illya and the others have left, you don't have to act anymore!"

Toosaka Rin yelled at Archer.

"Illyasviel did take the initiative to cut off the connection between Saber and me, but so what? When did you get the illusion that I was acting? From the beginning to the end, my goal was only one - to kill Emiya Shirou."

"You guy-"

Toosaka Rin yelled angrily.

"Could you please get out of the way?"

Archer instantly projected dozens of swords that stabbed down from top to bottom, but accurately avoided Toosaka Rin, only forming a wall of blades around her to restrict Toosaka Rin's further actions.

"If you continue to use magic, the next sword will not be so gentle..."

"Unlike other Servants, even if I lose my Master, I can still survive in the human world for about two days. This period of time is enough for me to kill Shirou Emiya completely. Give up. You can't stop me with your current abilities."

Archer projected a sharp blade again, targeting Emiya Shirou again.

"?!"

Seeing this, Saber once again forced herself to swing her sword, but in her current state, even standing was difficult for her.

Shirou Emiya didn't think too much at this moment, so he pushed the staggering Saber aside and faced the flying sword alone.

"Trace On!"

Construct a white scimitar to break the sword in half.

Saber, who was pushed aside, was heading towards Toosaka Rin, who was surrounded by swords at this moment, suddenly thought of a way to break the deadlock.

"Saber!"

Toosaka Rin barely stretched out her hand towards Saber through the gap.

Saber instantly understood Toosaka Rin's purpose and also extended her hand to Toosaka Rin.

This whole process took less than three seconds. After their hands touched, there was a violent surge of magical power in the next breath. Unlike the half-baked Shirou Emiya, Toosaka Rin, an excellent magician, only needed a moment to sign a contract with Saber.

Saber, who had gained magic power, returned to her full state. No, she even had more magic power than ever before.

With just a light swing of the sword, he saved Toosaka Rin.

The current situation was reversed in an instant.

"The vague feeling at first became more and more certain, and I finally noticed that there couldn't be two of the necklaces. It was originally..."

Emiya Shirou looked up and spoke to Archer who was at the top of the stairs.

"That's right. That's what you kept with you for the rest of your life after you were rescued. It's the only thing in the world, the relic of Toosaka Rin's father..."

Without any hesitation, Archer directly confirmed Emiya Shirou's guess.

"Although summoning a Heroic Spirit requires a catalyst, you were not prepared, Rin, and therefore you were convinced that the Servant you summoned had no relationship with you. However, a Heroic Spirit cannot be summoned by chance. There must be some kind of connection between the summoner and the Heroic Spirit."

"The Throne of Heroes has no concept of time. All past and future Heroes are treated equally. In other words..."

Saber said so.

"That's right, so it's not impossible to summon future Heroic Spirits from the Throne of Heroes."

At this point, even the dullest person would understand what was going on, not to mention Emiya Shirou, Toosaka Rin, and Saber who had already vaguely sensed the truth.

Archer's real name is [Emiya Shirou], or to be more precise, the future Emiya Shirou.

Chapter 159 The End of an Ideal

"Tousaka, Saber, although my request may be a little self-willed, please do not interfere in this battle."

Emiya Shirou slowly took off his coat and threw it aside.

"..."

Surprisingly, Toosaka Rin did not object.

"Don't worry, I will protect this battle."

Saber said seriously.

"Protect me? I'm really grateful. If I've come this far and you guys still interfere, then there's no point in severing the contract with Rin."

Archer sighed.

"No matter what happens, we will not interfere in your fight with Shirou, but in return, I hope you can answer me, why do you have to kill Shirou?"

This was Saber's biggest question after confirming Archer's identity.

"There's no reason. Just like that guy doesn't agree with me, I can't agree with him either."

Archer's tone was flat.

"How is this possible?! Emiya Shirou's dream as a human was to become the Heroic Spirit you are today. Why would you deny your past self just because you have already fulfilled your ideal?!"

Saber questioned.

“Saber, I am different from you who became a Heroic Spirit simply by relying on your own brilliance. I became a Heroic Spirit by dedicating my afterlife. At best, I am just a guardian…”

"Guardian? I heard that guardians become a restraining force after death to protect humans; so even if their experiences are slightly different, they are still heroic spirits."

"Then you are mistaken, Saber. Guardians are not beings that protect humans. They are just... cleaners, tools that are easier to use than ordinary Heroic Spirits and can be used repeatedly..."

Archer's tone darkened.

"I have indeed become a hero. The man named Emiya Shirou has become the [Partner of Justice] as he wished. So, this is the reason. When I realized that the facts were not what I thought, that man's life had no value. If it were you, Saber, you would understand it too. You who are more eager than anyone to go back to the past, to overturn the established past and start over, you will definitely understand..."

“Saber?”

These were the puzzled voices of Shirou Emiya and Rin Toosaka. Indeed, since the start of the Holy Grail War, the two had not specifically asked about Saber's wish, and they didn't even know her real name.

"Hmph, didn't she tell you about her wish? The reason why she was willing to throw herself into this cruel slaughter in order to obtain the Holy Grail? Well, let me tell you, she..."

"Archer!"

Saber interrupted Archer and expressed her wish to Shirou Emiya and Rin Tōsaka.

"I want to use the Holy Grail, the almighty wish-granting machine, to undo a choice I made..."

In Saber's mind, from the moment she drew the Sword of the King's Choice to the choice she made before her death on Camlann Hill, her past life flashed by like a slide show.

"In order to make up for my mistakes and change Britain's fate of destruction, I cannot give up yet, so I hope to obtain the Holy Grail... I failed to realize my ideal, I should not become a king... But you are different--"

Saber looked at Archer.

"Now you have become the form of Emiya Shirou's ideal, right?"

"Hmph, I realized my ideal... Indeed, I followed my ideal and became a righteous partner, but in the end, I only regretted it. I signed a contract with the restraining force in my life and became a guardian after my death. As the restraining force of primates, I fought against those who destroyed the balance of the world. I obeyed orders and killed everything. I slaughtered human lives as if they were worthless, and used this to save people who were thousands times more dead than me. I repeated this endlessly—"

"——Of course, I wasn't fantasizing about a world without conflict. I just hoped that no one would cry in the world I knew... In the end, it dawned on me that the ideals held by Shirou Emiya were nothing but selfish idealism. It was impossible to save everyone. To save everyone meant sacrificing a small number of people. You've seen people like this before, right, Saber?"

"..."

Saber remained silent. She had indeed seen him before, and coincidentally, he was also [Emiya].

"The seats called happiness are limited, and those who cannot be happy must be quickly removed. This is what a hero does. This is the ideal that this man believes in, and what a partner of justice does. Saving the majority of people is a partner of justice, right? So, while praying that no one will die, I kill for the majority. I say that I don't want anyone to be sad anymore, but I make more people despair. That's me, the true identity of the Heroic Spirit Emiya—"

"——Don't you think it would be better for the world if such a man were to die now?"

"It's useless. You have become a guardian and have escaped from the wheel of time. Even if you kill the current Shirou, your existence will not disappear."

Saber rejected Archer's choice. In the final analysis, it was a "useless effort".

"But this is not impossible. If not only the body is destroyed, but also the belief, at least in this world, the mistake of [Partners of Justice] will not appear. Emiya Shirou, if you don't agree, you can just commit suicide here."

If Archer wanted to simply kill Shirou Emiya, he would have plenty of chances, but his goal was not just to destroy Shirou Emiya's body, but to refute and [kill] Shirou Emiya's beliefs.

"Archer, so you regret it?"

Emiya Shirou raised his head and looked directly at Archer.

"Ah."

The answer was affirmative.

"Then as expected, we are different people. No matter what happens, I will never regret it. Therefore, I will never agree with you. If you are my ideal, then such a wrong ideal will be destroyed by my own hands."

Shirou Emiya suddenly smiled with relief.

"Humph... Such thoughts are the culprit. One day, you will understand how I feel, but the prerequisite is that you have to get out of here unscathed."

Archer walked down the stairs slowly.

At this point, the two of them reached a consensus that they absolutely did not agree with each other, so there was only one thing left to do.

"【Trace On】!"

Chapter 160: Three Stages of Wuming

"【Trace On】!"

The two men performed magic at the same time, holding fake double swords called "Gan Jiang Mo Ye" and rushed towards each other.

Both Emiya Shirou and Archer clearly understood that they were the same person, but not the same person.

When the [past] and the [future] cannot be reconciled, then - the only thing left is fighting.

The four blades collided with each other, creating sparks.

-------------------------------------

Outside Einzbern Castle.

At this moment, outside the castle, a large area of ​​vegetation has disappeared, some trees have been roughly broken, and some trees have even been uprooted. Of course, this is not because someone deliberately has any opinions about these trees. This phenomenon is simply caused by the aftermath of the battle between Servants.