"No! There have been enough deaths today! We... we'll hand him over to the mages or the Church! Yes, the Church!" Japanese MC trope decided to slightly amend his proposal.
*A pained laugh from Kirei rang out.*
And I involuntarily put my hand to my face—fuck, how does this happen. Just don't agree! I removed my hand and saw the girls actually pondering. No! Over my dead body! I won't let this plot error happen!
I apply Glamour. "Somewhere in a coffin right now, Emiya Kiritsugu is rolling over! And this piece of shit is his son—good thing he's only adoptive."
"This... his... son?" Through coughs came Kirei's question, and he burst into laughter.
"Yeah, the magus killer, the man who killed thousands of people for his goals and ideals, and this is his legacy. No brains, no magical power, no resolve. Honestly, I hoped this error of the universe wouldn't survive tonight's battle." But my dreams weren't meant to come true! Damn plot armor!
"Lies! Father wasn't like that, he wanted to be a Guardian of Justice!" Japanese MC trope reacted painfully to the truth.
"Fuck, who I have to work with." I couldn't hold back again and put my hand to my face.
*Kirei's laughter intensified.*
I get you, man—maybe this is some kind of maniac solidarity?
"There have been many deaths today! I'll protect him! We'll turn him over to the Church, and they'll judge him!" Japanese MC trope decided to repeat himself, but now more specifically.
*Kirei's laughter turned into a prolonged whimper.*
"Deaths? You mean the Servants?" I was even curious, and info wouldn't hurt—though I already guessed who died from the absences.
"Yes! Archer from Rin, Gilgamesh, and Lancer! I won't allow more deaths—because I'm the Defender of Justice!" Japanese MC trope tried to strike a dramatic pose.
"Oh Alaya, why?! Why are you doing this to me?! You're not serious?!" My hand hadn't left my face; it only got worse. "You, my alternatively gifted friend—maybe I'm about to reveal a great secret to you, but being a Defender or Guardian of Justice—whoever you want to be? Doesn't matter, so here's the thing: it doesn't contradict killing dangerous criminals, maniacs, and the like! It obligates you to do it!"
One thing cheers me up and a bit disappoints me—Gilgamesh and Archer (Shirou) died, but apparently in that black sphere—so no hearts for me. Annoying, but that's it. And yeah, the response to my perfectly sincere pleas to the collective unconscious was silence. And also the realization that Japanese MC trope is serious. Fuck, of course he's serious, it's Japanese MC trope! I don't even know what to say.
Japanese MC trope apparently had his own opinion and decided to voice it. "That's a lie!"
"Yeah, go cry over the Servants too...." I feel myself getting dumber.
"They were alive!" Japanese MC trope continued.
And involuntarily, what I really think slips out. "Idiot, what an uneducated idiot you are! Servants are just k... khm, never mind."
Almost spilled too much, or rather what I really think—that Servants are "heroic spirits," but given the Grail's mechanics where it feeds on the loser's Servant's soul, they're probably just copies of the original soul from the Throne of Heroes—otherwise it'd be too OP! And the Throne itself is something inter-worldly, or rather inter-real? The point is, what Servants show is beyond human capabilities!
In the sense they couldn't exist in reality! But if you gather souls of, say, the same Artoria from all dimensions and fuse them into a super-soul—then yeah, it gets closer to reality. Such a soul stops being human and becomes a demigod—and all these Servants are its avatars or, more precisely, copies, though something in between! And all these impossible abilities and techniques become somewhat explainable! At least due to the volume and amount of faith incoming from all dimensions!
True, this raises questions—will the "copy" get what it wishes if it wins the war? Take Artoria—go back to the past and win Britain's war for freedom, right? I don't believe in time travel on principle! Thanks to smart movies and at least anime, plus a basic grasp of physics—comes the realization of how much energy it'd take! As one great alchemist said—equivalent exchange, fuck! Though maybe not exactly.
But back to the process—seriously! If you think about the mechanics, it's not just rewinding time but also killing the people alive now and resurrecting those who lived before! And their souls could be anywhere by now—from reincarnation to full dissipation into nothingness!
No, in theory there might be some database with copies of all consciousnesses that lived—but that's straight-up sci-fi bullshit! And even then, they wouldn't be the original people! More like dolls with uploaded memories and maybe a blank soul. And the headaches of implementing even that—I won't even go there!
Another option is the classic portal relocation trick—well, that's more of a cheat given my poor understanding of the process and general ignorance! On the other hand—a parallel world where a different era is happening now, why not time travel? Shitty, of course, and knowing the process—it's not fixing the past, since it's a different world!
But for an uneducated, not-too-smart medieval girl—why not? Though they might return her to the moment she was taken from, or rather one of her variants before fusion on the Throne of Heroes. Don't know how realistic that is or how time flows in different worlds—but pausing the world or slowing it for one heroic spirit? Nonsense, too OP!
But even assuming the parallel world variant, just imagine Artoria—unkillable, super-strong with a magical sword unleashing energy attacks in some medieval era! Plus memories of this Grail War! Or rather, of a future world and some of its history!
History could veer off sharply! And I'm not even talking about conquering half the world with her power! Just introducing plumbing or a state reform, and the world changes irreversibly! Don't know how that'd affect the universe's mechanisms, but it clearly won't end well!
So I bet the max she gets is an illusion where her wish came true. Or more likely, they'll wipe her memory of winning the war and welcome to a new one! Which bums me out a bit, since I might get zilch from the Grail too. I've thought this through many times, so it flashed through my head instantly, and I forced myself to calm down and focus. Definitely shouldn't dump all THAT on them!
Better change the subject, yeah. "Forget the Servants—for Kirei, you do realize they'll probably just kill him anyway? And your actions are pointless. Plus, how do you plan to hold him until they arrive? With his power, it's nearly impossible—he was tossing you all around just now. And him escaping? No question—not from you, then from the church folks. Time to end this circus—Illya, have Berserker kill him, and I'll finally get out of here."
"Yes, Berserker—kill him!" Illya shouted it with some childish glee.
"No, Saber!" Japanese MC trope,
Artoria lunged to intercept Berserker but was thrown into the wall by a fist strike. Kirei tried to raise a hand in defense, but Berserker cleaved it with his sword, then the body a second later. And I finally breathed easy.
"No, you... you..." Japanese MC trope ran to Artoria lying against the wall.
"Good job, Illya. Shirou—maybe it hasn't sunk into your tiny brain yet, but Illya almost won this war—she just needs to kill Artoria and Rider. So I'd shut up and not provoke her if I were you—might live a bit longer." I paused to give Illya a light bow. "Congratulations on reaching the finals of this war and completing my goal here thanks to you. Want data on the last Servant and Master?"
"Yes." Illya composed herself.
***
Read the story months ahead of the public release — early chapters are available on my Patreon: Granulan