"How could this be… Why is this happening? Why… is the Holy Grail like this?!"
"Oh, that's right. So hurry up and make your wish," came the tempting voice again, suddenly turning into the playful tone of a child, teasingly urging Kiritsugu Emiya.
"How could this be… How could such a Grail possibly grant my miracle?" Kiritsugu muttered in disbelief.
"Naturally, it will be granted in the way you would grant it, Kiritsugu Emiya."
The voice echoed once more—and then, the world was engulfed in darkness.
Two ships drifted across the sea.
One held three hundred people, the other two hundred. A total of five hundred passengers and crew—plus Kiritsugu Emiya. Hypothetically, these five hundred and one were the last remaining humans in the world.
Now… it was time for Kiritsugu Emiya to play out a scenario based on this premise.
◇
Yoru slowly opened his eyes. He felt his body drifting as though submerged in water.
But soon, he realized—this wasn't water surrounding him. It was black mud. Murky, filthy, and impure black mud.
A sinister black aura swirled within it, binding Yoru's body, as if countless black ropes were tightly coiling around him.
He closed his eyes. What exactly had happened—he could no longer remember. All he recalled was Archer activating his strongest Noble Phantasm, and then—blinding light that filled everything.
What happened…?
Where are Fran and Artoria? What about Archer? What happened to the Holy Grail War?! How is Irisviel? And where am I? What is this place?!
Sin! Sin! Sin! You are guilty! You should die! Kill you! Bastard! Die! Die! Die! Die!
Curses echoed in his ears, yet Yoru's expression remained utterly unchanged. It was as if his soul had vanished, as he drifted aimlessly within the mud, slowly sinking deeper into its depths.
Ah… I feel it. Irisviel… are you here? Is this your embrace? No wonder… it feels so warm, so comforting.
"Yes… I'm right here. I'm always right here. This is the Holy Grail, my dear. I promised I'd bring the Holy Grail to you. Come now… make your wish."
That tender, intoxicating voice echoed from the depths of the mud. A familiar young girl's figure slowly emerged from the darkness, and Yoru embraced her tightly, as if he were holding the entire world in his arms.
"Don't leave me… never leave me again, Irisviel. This… this is my wish."
"Is that really okay? With that wish… what about the one you love? How will you return to your original world?"
Irisviel was taken aback by Yoru's wish. Then, gently smiling, she began stroking his head with affection.
"All I want now is to protect what I have before me. So please… don't leave me, Irisviel. That's… my true wish!"
"Ah… I see. So that's… your wish."
Irisviel whispered those words slowly, but then—her beautiful face twisted into a grotesque expression.
The Holy Grail was indeed a wish-granting machine. But now corrupted by the evils of this world, while its power remained, the manner in which it granted wishes was soaked in malice.
A wish of never being separated again, when granted by a vessel filled with pure evil and hostility—no one could predict what that might look like.
And the moment the Grail accepted Yoru's wish and began to activate, an overwhelming and terrifying icy power exploded once more from within Yoru's body. In the next instant, he lost consciousness again, vanishing completely from the impure mud of the world's sin.
◇
The black mud churned into a vortex.
Sin—evil—swirled, amplified, linked together, transforming within that whirlpool.
Curses echoed and spiraled. Something that should not exist was present here. In the midst of that rejection and cursing, a voice suddenly declared loudly: "Correct!"
Impossible. In this vortex of resentment and curses, there should be no "rightness," no affirmation. All creation had declared everything here to be ugly, to be hateful—so such a word should never have appeared.
Yet that voice once again clearly declared: Indeed.
Indeed—the world was always like this. If the truth is already laid bare, then why lament? Why act surprised?
The voices of curses questioned back.
What is "right"?
Who affirms it?
Who allows it?
Who bears the burden of sin?
Faced with this onslaught of darkness, a bold laugh responded.
Foolish questions.
There's no need to ask.
The King shall affirm it.
The King shall allow it.
The King shall shoulder the sins of the world.
The mud asked, What is this King?
But in asking, it realized it had contradicted itself.
In this place where individuality should be impossible, the mud sensed that there was still someone else within it. Something that should not be present—an anomaly that had appeared.
That anomaly was—the King.
The absolute ruler.
A unique existence.
His name was—the Hero King, Gilgamesh.
"That's right—me!"
With a spray of filth, the black mud burst apart. The invincible anomaly that even the accumulated curses of the world could not consume—emerged.
Amid the burning ruins, he once again stood upon solid ground.
His body, perfectly proportioned like a golden statue, was no longer the spiritual form of a Servant—but a real, physical body. The mud that rejected all life had crystallized the impurities it could not digest—and as a result, one particular Heroic Spirit had obtained a corporeal form and returned to the living world.
Even standing in the center of a blazing hell, the majesty radiating from the King's body was so overwhelming that the flames dared not touch him. Gilgamesh stood proudly, baring his sculpted form, and his blood-red eyes gleamed with killing intent and amusement.
"Ahh… how exhilarating.
The feeling of defeat…
The sensation of my head being severed…
It's so addictive—it's like a drug."
"Yoru, was it…?
You are a mighty king—one I, Gilgamesh, respect and even fear!
But next time we meet, I will never lose to you again!"
Reborn anew, Gilgamesh stood upon the desolate earth and declared this oath—an oath filled with both the pride of a king and deep respect.
Yoru was the first in this world to make the proud Gilgamesh bow his head in defeat. Not even the gods of old had been treated this way by him.
"So next time we meet…
I will personally—
Kill you."
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