Flowers in hand, wine raised, the world's wild passions came to grief

The outcome is decided!

A silver-haired, red-eyed Witch suddenly appeared in the middle of the Knight's arena, holding a sword with blue and white stripes in each hand, blocking two renowned holy swords.

Just as she had declared, the outcome of the duel was decided in the previous instant—but the two Knights, engrossed in their fight, could no longer distinguish between a contest and a battle, and, driven by their physical instincts, unleashed a desperate attack.

If the attacks of both people are truly effective, then although the outcome will not change, the winner may not have the energy to celebrate, and the fate of the loser is self-evident.

The outcome is decided.

The Witch repeated her declaration in a calm tone, finally bringing the duelists back to their senses. The two Knight quickly withdrew their grip and sheathed their swords.

"I apologize for my rudeness."

The Knight, clad in lake-blue armor, bowed slightly and apologized to his king and allies.

"Don't worry about it, my friend. I was just too engrossed in it."

The blond king nodded in understanding.

"I don't mind at all, you two continue."

After the Witch finished speaking, she disappeared from the two of them and appeared next to the little girl who was watching the battle.

"So, Lance..."

"My King..."

"I lost" *2

Kirei Kotomine jogged along, tearing his plane ticket into pieces and throwing them into a trash can he happened to be passing by.

He should have boarded that flight and left Fuyuki, and even Japan, ten minutes ago.

This was his master's arrangement, because doing so would secure an alliance with the Einzbern Family, a move that would be advantageous for victory, and also aligned with his father's original intention in sending him to Tokiomi.

But now he has disobeyed orders.

Having lost my Assassin status and my Master identity, I should be utterly worthless and have no connection to the Holy Grail War. So why are Command Seals reappearing on the back of my hand?

Does the Holy Grail still have expectations of me? Does the Holy Grail know my true desires?

Just as that golden Heroic Spirit said?

To find out the answer, I have no choice but to return to the Holy Grail War stage—if I miss this opportunity, the next one won't come for another sixty years, and I might not even be alive by then.

We must seize this opportunity.

But is betraying one's master and father really a good thing? Is it really okay to act on one's own without their knowledge?

Kirei Kotomine pondered this question, he didn't realize that a faint smile involuntarily curved the corners of his mouth when he thought about "betrayal," which could be considered an "evil" matter.

Flames surrounded Kariya Matou from all sides, the intense heat causing cracks in the ground and strange distortions in the air. However, the man at the very center of the flames appeared completely at ease, as if the surrounding flames did not exist.

"Speer!"

Like a vortex swirling around Yanye's wall of flames, countless protrusions appeared—these were spears made of flames, each tipped with a blue flame burning far more fiercely than the others, crackling with unsettling sounds, thrusting towards their target at their master's command.

From the outside, the scene looked just like the "sword through a living person" performances of Magecraft, except that the box used as Props was replaced by a cage of flames, and the sword was replaced by a fire spear.

"Is the Tohsaka Family only good at setting off fireworks?"

The mocking voice reached Tokiomi Tohsaka's ears, letting him know that his opponent had not been defeated—fire attacks were ineffective. Yanye had demonstrated a similar ability at the beginning of their fight, and subsequent tests had confirmed this. The large-scale fire spell just now completely made Tokiomi give up the idea of using fire again.

"I've long admired the Matou Family's Insect Manipulation, but it seems I won't have the chance to experience them today."

Despite being at a disadvantage on the field, Tokiomi couldn't afford to lose face. He extinguished the flames and retorted verbally.

"Hmph, that dirty technique..."

Yanye spat on the ground to express his disdain. Although Zouken poison was still there. All the memories and the suffering that Sakura had endured suddenly flooded his mind—this man knew nothing, yet he used this to mock me!

"If you've run out of moves, it's my turn!"

Yanye's eyes locked onto Tokiomi's location, then she lifted him up from his waist with both hands as if to cradle something.

A ball of pitch-black magic energy suddenly rose from the ground in front of Tokiomi. Although the dangerous aura it emitted did not hit him, it almost made Tokiomi fall to the ground.

"Tch, missed."

Yanye's hands returned to the previous position—was this the condition for activating the Magecraft? Tokiomi secretly analyzed this unfamiliar technique: black, like a shadow, could it be shadow-attribute Magecraft? But when did the Matou Family acquire this technology? Sakura is also shadow-attribute; could it have been specially developed or sought out for Sakura?

Another attack, this time much more accurate. Tokiomi hurriedly activated the protective barrier around him, barely managing to block it—this destructive power was no less than many complex Magecraft, yet it could be accomplished with just a simple movement, without even needing to chant an incantation. What was the underlying principle?

"Still have the energy to stand there? How arrogant!"

Kariya, who mistook Tokiomi's focused analysis for Yanye, felt insulted. Driven by anger, he unleashed three consecutive attacks, each more powerful than the previous one. Unfortunately, because he hadn't aimed, none of them hit their mark.

"It can be released quickly and continuously, and its power has room for improvement. It's more like corrosion or erosion than destruction, but its accuracy is lacking, perhaps due to the user's unfamiliarity with it."

Tokiomi now withdrew all his offensive Magecraft and focused his efforts on the Defensive Barrier — the Tohsaka Family, besides fire, were also first-rate masters of barrier magic, how could they be underestimated by a Half-Baked one—at the same time, he did not forget to analyze Yanye's Magecraft.

This is the difference between a Magecraft has received systematic training and Yanye, who is a self-taught magician. Tokiomi's skills and experience are far superior to Yanye's. Even if he is temporarily caught off guard by his opponent's unexpected moves, he will not panic or lose his composure. Instead, he will calmly observe the situation and plan his move carefully.

Although Yanye has gained immense power through some means, he clearly doesn't know how to use it—the precision and accuracy that Magecraft value most are completely absent in him, and he is easily swayed by his emotions, which will soon expose his weaknesses.

When facing an opponent like Tokiomi, even the slightest flaw is enough for him to turn the tide.

Yanye continued his strange initiation ritual, using shadows to launch a powerful attack on Tokiomi's defenses. The latter, through his exquisite manipulation, strived to defend with minimal expenditure of energy—even so, Yanye still managed to destroy most of the Defensive Barrier in the courtyard.

The key to this victory lies in whether Yanye breaks through all of Tokiomi's barriers first, or Tokiomi analyzes the principles of Yanye's Magecraft and finds a weakness first. Of course, the consumption of magic power is also important, but the Tohsaka Clan, who are skilled at converting and storing magic power, naturally have a large reserve of Gems in their home territory. As for Yanye, at least for now, there is no sign of his offensive faltering, so this point can be ignored for the time being.

Furthermore, while these two birds and clams were fighting, a fisherman was hiding on a nearby hill.

Just before Jizi intervened to stop the two Knights, the golden, flowing Holy Sword of Victory was about a body length ahead of the gleaming, indestructible Holy Sword of Silver. In other words, if neither of them stopped, Saber would kill Berserker first, but would also be hit immediately, and even if he didn't die, he would be seriously injured.

Of course, this wasn't a life-or-death battle, so logically speaking, the winner should be Saber.

However, she and her Knight unanimously admitted their defeat.

Berserker conceded defeat because he had truly lost, lost fair and square, lost to Saber in a serious, unadulterated duel, and was defeated by his own king. He had fulfilled his wish and was worthy of the sword in his hand and the dignity of a warrior.

Saber conceded defeat because she lost to the ideals her opponent represented—in that heartfelt duel, in the dialogue conveyed through the swords, she was persuaded by her own Knight will and realized the absurdity of her own desires.

She abandoned the idea of changing the past and resolved to break free from the shackles of playing the role of "perfect king" for so long, because the so-called changes for the sake of the country and its people were not what the country and its people hoped for—she saw a handsome Knight —nor what future generations hoped for—they saw a silver-haired Witch.

Perhaps I can't be a king who sings praises of desire like the King of Conquerors, but I can find a path to kingship that guides everyone while saving them...

Even if it's too late for me now, since this thought has already taken root, surely there will be one version of myself in countless parallel worlds who will be able to achieve it...

Of course, those are things to consider later; there are more important things to deal with right now.

The two Knight sheathed their swords and walked toward Jizi and Irisviel, who had somehow started chatting.

"Now that you know the truth about the Holy Grail War, isn't joining forces with me to purify it the best choice?"

"Isn't that truth also just your side of the story? How can I trust you?"

It seemed that Jizi had revealed the whole truth, and coupled with Irisviel's previous glimpse of Kiritsugu's documents and Jizi's claim that she was a "Heroic Spirit connected to the Holy Grail War and therefore knew everything about it," she was now seven or eight parts convinced. However, even so, she couldn't make a decision, because the truth was simply too horrifying.

"Hehe," Jizi suddenly leaned closer to Irisviel, until their two very similar faces were almost overlapping, and whispered something in her ear.

"To think they could go this far..."

"Now you'll trust me, right?"

"Yes, that's definitely enough."

P. S. 1. The protagonist's presence is consistently minimal, even less noticeable than when he's with Gu Ming...

P. S. 2. Anyway, it's nothing. The author originally wanted to write about the development of other characters in Fate under another possibility. The protagonist is just the trigger.

P. S. 3. Of course, you might think I messed up the writing, or that those characters wouldn't have done that in that situation, etc. But I really did try my best to analyze it (believe it or not), and I couldn't meet any higher expectations!

P. S.4. As for the chapter title, I think this song is perfect for Fate, so I used it.

PSP. This week's update is early. I'm going to participate in the March Learn from Lei Feng and do good deeds activity this weekend (I 'Director truly a good young person in contemporary society...), so I probably won't be free.

psv. Gu Mingjiang, you just updated it when you said I would update it, right? I won't tell you that I updated it because I wanted to see your follow-up!