Tia never thought Angra Mainyu, the Evil of This World, would somehow become tied to all the evil in the world. He was just something that appeared inside the Greater Holy Grail by accident. Once the Greater Holy Grail was dismantled, Angra Mainyu was supposed to disappear completely and return to the Throne of Heroes.
Why does killing him now mean all the world's evil is gone? If he dies, does that mean no one in the world will ever have evil thoughts again?
Didn't Gilgamesh say before that this world should have been pruned away seven years ago? So why is it now that getting rid of evil is what will make this world collapse and be pruned?
Right, Angra Mainyu did say this world was doomed to be pruned sooner or later. The arrival of the Fantasy Tree only delayed that fate. That also sort of proves what Gilgamesh said—that my birth and someone planting the Fantasy Tree in this world were connected.
Does that mean when Angra Mainyu said this world would be pruned sooner or later, he already knew he would die? And that once he died, all the evil in the world would vanish, and the whole world would end up being pruned?
If that's true, then as long as Angra Mainyu didn't die, this world with the Fantasy Tree could have gone on existing?
From what I knew in my past life, worlds that have a Fantasy Tree planted in them but are destined to be pruned all share one name: Lostbelt. And every Lostbelt has a King who keeps the Lostbelt world alive. So… was Angra Mainyu the King of this Lostbelt?
And by killing Angra Mainyu, did I basically doom this Lostbelt to destruction? Not even the Fantasy Tree can save it now?
If Angra Mainyu really was the Lostbelt King, then why? How could the Evil of This World become a Lostbelt King? Just because he became one of those human evils Gilgamesh mentioned, the kind that targets humanity, that somehow made him a king?
What happened in this world before that made it doomed to be pruned in the first place?
And what about me… what should I do now? Just let myself be destroyed along with this Lostbelt?
No way!
I finally found a reason to keep living, to live well. How can I go back to being like before, thinking "as long as I can see The King, it's fine even if I die"?
"My wish… so this is what happens when it really comes true?" Emiya Kiritsugu murmured, then slowly looked up at the unseen sky. "Iri… was I wrong?"
"Kiritsugu… your wish wasn't wrong. What's wrong is this world—or the people who turned it into this," Irisviel whispered softly into his ear.
"Is that so… but still…" Emiya Kiritsugu trailed off, hesitating.
"Your wish… was it really to make a world like this?" King Arthur was deeply shocked by Emiya Kiritsugu's words.
Back in the Fourth War, Emiya Kiritsugu hadn't even carried out his plan to kill Kayneth and his Servant yet, but Kayneth left early anyway. So King Arthur never really had the chance to see just how dark Emiya Kiritsugu truly was. Their relationship had always been bad, but not completely broken.
"So that's it… King Arthur's Master's wish was to create this kind of world," Alexander the Great said, his smile gone. "What a shame… a world like this has no future…"
"Sakura…" Tohsaka Tokiomi whispered softly, "I was wrong."
"Looks like… I should go back to the Clock Tower and admit my mistakes to my teacher," Waver added quietly.
"A world without evil? Isn't that supposed to be a good thing? Why does it have to mean the world will be destroyed because of it?" Kotomine Risei still didn't seem to understand anything.
Through it all, no one blamed Tia.
"Emiya Kiritsugu, why are you so depressed? Now that all of humanity has no evil thoughts, even feeling depressed could count as an evil against yourself. Right now, you shouldn't feel down," a voice suddenly spoke up.
Tia, who was still feeling low, turned her head when she heard that familiar voice—it was Kotomine Kirei.
"Just like Tia, who is a blacksmith, without evil thoughts in the world, none of us can have any kind of evil anymore. So why are you two—Emiya Kiritsugu and Tia—feeling so down?" Kotomine Kirei spoke like a righteous man, like a saint saving lost lambs.
"The end of evil, and the eternal existence of good—shouldn't that make us happy?" Kotomine Kirei added.
"Kirei, you're late," Gilgamesh turned and looked at Kotomine Kirei. "I went out of my way to find you, and you dare to show up late, you mongrel!"
"Hero King, your arrogance itself is a form of evil. Evil shouldn't and can't exist in our world of good. It's your existence that's wrong here," Kotomine Kirei replied firmly.
"Ahahaha! Kotomine Kirei! I have to admit, you've been affected by this lack of evil! The man who was supposed to have no emotions now actually talks about good! This is hilarious! Ahahaha!" Gilgamesh laughed instead of getting angry. "Too bad… you don't even know what evil is anymore, and yet you dare to talk to me about good!"
But then, Tia noticed something in Kotomine Kirei's words.
Emiya Kiritsugu didn't seem to be affected by the disappearance of evil thoughts at all.
From what everyone said just now, Tia could tell Tohsaka Tokiomi truly regretted what he did to Matou Sakura. Waver seemed to have gained the courage to go back and apologize to Kayneth. Kotomine Risei, whether he really understood or not, believed everything was fine. Even Kotomine Kirei was speaking like a righteous man.
But me and Emiya Kiritsugu… we're still sinking into this, not knowing what to do.
Could it be that Emiya Kiritsugu…
Just then, Irisviel quietly pulled up her sleeve, revealing her entire arm. And on the outer side, near her shoulder, was a Command Seal.
King Arthur's eyes widened in shock. He stared at Irisviel's Command Seal, then looked at Emiya Kiritsugu's hand, where there was still one mark left on his own Command Seal.
"Master! Don't tell me you're also…" King Arthur said to Emiya Kiritsugu.
"That's right. I'm not a Magus… I was summoned by Iri back at the Einzbern castle in Germany, more than ten years ago, under the head of the Einzbern family. I'm a pseudo-Servant, summoned by her Command Spells to handle this situation," Emiya Kiritsugu said.
"Because of an accident, I found out that in the future Kiritsugu would become a Servant. But the head of the family learned about this, and decided to use the Einzbern family's power to summon that future Servant—Emiya Kiritsugu—and fuse him with the current Kiritsugu," Irisviel explained.
"I know how everything was supposed to happen, but… things here have completely gone off track…"
(End of The Chapter)
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