"Leon, I'm sorry. It wasn't me..."
Artoria hurriedly tried to explain, but Leon calmly reassured her.
"It's all right, Artoria. You did very well. Everything is proceeding exactly according to the plan."
"You bastard!!! Are you the true Saber?! You foolish woman! How dare you insult my Holy War like this?!"
Gilgamesh had not vanished immediately.
With a single thought, he controlled the Gate of Babylon, directing its entire arsenal toward Artoria, who was panicking and utterly bewildered by what she had just done.
However—
Before Gilgamesh could finish his furious tirade, a black fist slammed viciously into his face.
"PUH!!!!!!!"
Gilgamesh's entire face was distorted by the impact as he once again spewed blood.
The holy sword tore through his chest, sending his entire body flying like a golden-and-blood-red cannonball before he crashed violently into the shattered mountainside of Mount Enzō.
The reason was simple.
Artoria's sword had just happened to sever the Chains of Heaven binding Ultimate Kuuga Leon, freeing him from their restraints and allowing him to throw that devastating punch.
Then—
Ultimate Kuuga Leon slowly pulled the holy sword that was still embedded in his chest free.
As crimson blood poured from the wound, the terrifying gash that had nearly split his entire chest open rapidly regenerated before everyone's eyes.
His passive self-regeneration at the atomic level meant that, unless the mana within his Servant body was completely exhausted, Leon possessed no conventional vital weak point.
Even wounds that appeared grievous on the surface could heal within an extremely short period of time.
Compared with Avalon's passive healing ability when Artoria was not actively supplying it with mana, this was vastly more convenient.
And witnessing this scene caused Emiya Kiritsugu's heart to sink.
He had forcibly used his Command Seal to compel Artoria, intending to have her kill both Gilgamesh and Ultimate Kuuga Leon in a single attack.
Leon was far more troublesome than he had imagined.
If such an existence obtained the Holy Grail and was contaminated by All the World's Evil, humanity's end would arrive.
Therefore, he absolutely could not allow Leon to obtain the Holy Grail.
All the guilt.
All the infamy.
He would bear them alone.
This was the final "justice" of the "ally of justice" known as Emiya Kiritsugu.
"Mr. Leon!"
With Elle's clone guarding her every step of the way, Matou Sakura threw herself into Ultimate Kuuga Leon's arms and burst into tears.
At that instant, she had truly believed that her Leon Daddy was going to die!
"Sakura, aren't you afraid of me? Looking like this..."
In his Ultimate Kuuga form, Leon was surrounded by an overwhelmingly suffocating darkness.
Coupled with his already inhuman, terrifying black eyes, an ordinary child would probably have been frightened into silence the instant they saw him.
"Not scary at all! Mr. Leon looks super, super, super cool like this!"
Matou Sakura sobbed as she shook her head, speaking from the bottom of her heart.
"Hahaha. I'm very happy to hear you say that, Sakura."
Ultimate Kuuga Leon lifted the petite Matou Sakura into the air and spun her around twice.
This girl really does seem to have a natural talent for going dark, Leon thought to himself.
After the spinning stopped, Ultimate Kuuga Leon pulled the no-longer-crying Sakura back into his arms and took her tiny right hand.
All of her Command Seals had already been consumed.
"That last Command Seal was used very well. But now, Sakura is no longer my Master..."
"But Mr. Leon will always be my Mr. Leon! Forever!! Forever!!!"
As though she had sensed what was about to happen, tears once again shimmered in Matou Sakura's violet eyes.
Fearlessly, she grabbed both of the golden horn-like crowns atop Ultimate Kuuga Leon's head—the symbols of his ultimate form—and clung to them tightly, refusing to let go.
"Sakura..."
"No!"
"Sakura..."
"No!!"
"Sakura..."
"No!!!"
Matou Sakura shook her head violently through her tears.
"I know. Mr. Leon is a Servant, so sooner or later you'll have to leave me. But I still want to be with you forever. There has to be a way to keep a Servant in this world. There has to be! Waaaah..."
Having experienced a kind of favoritism, affection, concern, and love from Leon that she had never known before, Matou Sakura was terrified of returning to that gloomy warehouse filled with filthy worms.
Ever since Leon had rescued her from that warehouse, Sakura had come to value him above everyone else.
Above her so-called father.
Above her so-called mother.
Above her so-called sister.
Above her so-called grandfather.
Leon was more important to her than any of them.
"Sakura, I promise you."
Ultimate Kuuga Leon lowered the tearful Sakura from his arms and knelt before her on one knee like a knight.
As he reached out and gently wiped the tear stains from her face, the terrifying darkness began rapidly receding from his hand.
His human form emerged beneath the crimson blood covering his body.
The black claws transformed into gentle human fingers, touching Sakura's tender cheek without hurting her in the slightest.
"No matter where you are, as long as you call my name, I will—without fail—come to your side immediately."
"Really?"
Sakura gradually stopped crying and asked through her sobs.
"Really. More certain than diamonds and pearls. Let Gaia and the Root bear witness."
Leon's almost arrogant oath made Emiya Kiritsugu's brow twitch violently.
He had been silently watching Leon bid farewell to his Master.
Perhaps someone else might have said such words as a joke.
But Leon...
If those words were truly sincere, Kiritsugu did not even want to contemplate the implications.
Justice had replaced his brain.
A scabbard had replaced his ability to think.
"Then... it's a promise, okay? If Mr. Leon lies to me, then... then Sakura will never see you again..."
That was the harshest threat a young Sakura could think of.
"It won't happen. Leon and I will always be by your side."
Elle's clone also walked over and crouched beside them, gently caressing Sakura's delicate cheek.
Her ice-blue body formed a striking contrast with Leon, whose entire body was covered in crimson blood, yet somehow the two colors complemented one another.
A pillar of rainbow light suddenly shot into the heavens, transporting Matou Sakura back to Einzbern Castle.
At the same time, Elle's ice clone dissipated.
Leon turned and walked before Artoria.
With his somewhat roughened hand, he gently stroked the side of her face.
"Artoria, do you remember what I once told you at Einzbern Castle?"
"What are you talking about? I... I don't remember at all..."
The hand holding Artoria's sword was trembling.
How could she possibly have forgotten?
She remembered the day she had been reborn as a girl rather than as King Arthur.
"Leon, what wish do you want the Holy Grail to grant?"
"I have no wish that I absolutely must fulfill, because I have no regrets about my life."
"Alice told me that your wish was to make up for the regrets of your past and save the Britain you failed to protect."
"If that is the case, then for someone like me who has no dream, my dream is to fulfill your dream, Artoria."
"So—Artoria, tonight is the end of our fate. Go and turn this imperfect world into the world you wish it to be."
Leon pressed his bloodstained lips against Artoria's pure, immaculate beauty, staining it with his own color.
At the same time, he took hold of the hand with which Artoria was gripping her sword and slowly exerted force, pulling it toward himself.
"Don't..."
Artoria resisted with all her strength.
Even in her full-powered state, with the advantage of being fresh while Leon was exhausted, she managed to prevent him from succeeding for the moment.
Seeing this, Emiya Kiritsugu understood.
From the very beginning, Leon Stark Odinson had never regarded him as someone worth taking seriously.
Leon was a truly free god.
He had answered the call and descended into this world simply to do whatever he wanted.
He needed no grandiose justification.
As long as he was happy, that was all that mattered.
How wonderful...
Emiya Kiritsugu envied Leon.
He envied the freedom of someone who could live completely according to his own will.
Unlike himself...
From the very beginning, he had merely been a puppet manipulated by "fate."
It had always been this way.
It was still this way.
And there would be no future.
The man known as "Emiya Kiritsugu" clenched his fists in anger.
Yet he could only scream silently inside.
He had long since lost the strength and courage to resist.
He could not even raise his voice to curse and condemn that damned bitch called "Fate."
In the end—
Emiya Kiritsugu could only silently raise his right hand, the final Command Seal still upon it.
No longer able to suppress the truth within his heart, he grieved for Leon and Artoria, sincerely prayed for Maiya and Irisviel, and offered both pity and contempt toward himself.
Then he whispered:
"I, Emiya Kiritsugu, hereby command you with a Command Seal—
Saber, King Arthur, Artoria Pendragon, kill Berserker, God of Battle, Leon Stark Odinson...
"STOP!!!!!!!!"
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