Please Play Fate/GO With Me

Shirou and the others smoothly entered the tower.

Inside the tower, the central area was empty with not much in the way of furnishings. In the corner, a narrow, winding staircase led upwards to the next floor.

After ascending to the second floor, the stairs leading to the third were on the opposite side. The floor's guardians stood in the middle, waiting for them.

King Lear, modified from a Palace Guardian; a Chimera, also modified; and the black-shadowed Servant, Macbeth? Only by defeating these guardians could they reach the tower's summit.

At that moment, a shadowy Servant appeared before them.

"My name is Macbeth, I am invincible, yet I fell beneath the wheels of fate."

"Macbeth?" Gudako looked at the shadowy figure with confusion.

"This guy's calling himself Macbeth? Is he out of his mind?" Da Vinci chuckled.

"Doesn't he look just like that Indian king who couldn't find his wife, even though they looked identical?" Mash quipped.

"I don't know who you're talking about, but this voice sounds familiar. It reminds me of someone. Either way, let's teach her a good lesson!" Artoria drew her Holy Sword.

"I am invincible!" the shadowy Saber shouted, raising her weapon.

The five of them surged forward simultaneously. Several minutes later, Macbeth vanished from this world.

Back at Chaldea, Mash and Da Vinci were making comments.

"He said he was invincible, but it seems he only managed to block a dozen attacks or so."

"Miss Artoria is terrifying. She didn't hold back with any of her strikes, hacking at his head more than ten times. She was even sneering while she did it..."

"Honestly, this is just a shoddy product from Shakespeare with obvious signs of rushed work."

"Defeated! After King Lear and Romeo and Juliet, we've met Macbeth again."

"That means we're only one tragedy short of the Four Great Tragedies. What a boring trick." Jeanne d'Arc said.

"Hoho... So the illiterate you now even knows about Shakespeare's plays?" Artoria glanced at the silver-haired girl with surprise, a mischievous smile on her lips.

Jeanne d'Arc crossed her arms and turned her head away. "Hmph, I've studied properly too. Of course, math is something I'm naturally bad at, so you can't blame me!" That's right, she had only glanced at them briefly to confirm the evidence for burning the great writer at the stake.

"Miss Jeanne d'Arc, you're mistaken. While Romeo and Juliet are very famous, Shakespeare's Four Great Tragedies are Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, and Othello," the honest child Mash corrected.

"Eh? Is that so!?" Gudako exclaimed in surprise.

"Ugh..." Jeanne d'Arc gnashed her teeth in frustration.

"Hmph." Artoria smiled.

"It's okay, it's okay. Most people don't bother reading such old works. Just like how many people can't clearly recall the Four Books and Five Classics of China," Shirou said comfortingly.

"Gudako-senpai, so you didn't know either! You were gifted Shakespeare's 155th sonnet, and the sender would be heartbroken if they heard that," Mash said with distress.

Chapter 103: Ending Moriarty

Da Vinci at Chaldea chimed in, "I don't think it matters. The overly optimistic and narcissistic Shakespeare will surely take it as tsundere behavior and record it as material for his writing. Ah... but if it were the opposite personality, Andersen, he might get discouraged and curse himself and the world to die."

"Why bother with all that! Just burn them!" Jeanne d'Arc impatiently raised her banner, unleashing several streams of magical flames that engulfed the three giant-like Palace Guardians, 'King Lear'.

"Hahahaha!!" The bearded old man continuously fired bullets and cannonballs, blocking the giants' line of sight.

Shirou and Artoria seized the opportunity to charge forward.

The Palace Guardian (Foot God) possessed a sturdy body. It swung its several-meter-long bronze pillar sword with immense power, and even more terrifying was its sudden kicking attack, which could be fatal to a Servant in a single blow.

Dealing with these fearsome monsters wasn't too difficult if one found the knack.

Artoria raised her Holy Sword and used Vassal's Iron Hammer, smashing it into the giant's foot and leaving a crack.

The giant swung its bronze pillar sword at the girl.

Artoria leaped back to dodge, while the boy on the other side had already circled around to the giant's feet.

"Ade, hammer!" Shirou shouted. The Box Artifact instantly deployed, this time transforming into a battering ram. The boy twisted his body, tensing the muscles in his waist. Magical flames erupted from behind the great hammer, acting as an assist for the attack, and he slammed it forcefully into the wound on the giant's foot.

The foot shattered with a loud bang like exploding dynamite and crushed stone, and the giant, raising its greatsword, lost its balance and fell backward, landing on its back.

Artoria raised her Holy Sword, aimed at the giant's weakest point, its neck, and struck down heavily.

The Palace Guardian's head fell off. After a few struggles, its body stopped moving.

The three giants were each stronger and tougher than the last. After a fierce battle, they finally defeated them all.

Having dealt with these monsters, they finally arrived at the very top floor of the tower.

Inside, there was a diamond-shaped crystal resembling butterfly wings. Standing below it was a middle-aged man with a beard, dressed in luxurious clothing, looking exactly like the Moriarty beside Gudako.

However, his demeanor was much more ferocious, his expression stern and cold, and his eyes sharp and cunning. Just a glance was enough to understand that this person before them was extremely dangerous.

"Evil Moriarty... sir?" Mash asked hesitantly.

"No need for honorifics," the Moriarty opposite them said.

"Ah... yes, you're right," Mash said, suddenly realizing.

"Mash, be quiet and stay put. You've ruined the rare tense atmosphere," Shirou and Gudako said in unison, looking at the pink-haired girl.

"..." Mash stood there aggrieved, silently zipping her own lips.

"Hmph, I thought it would be some kind of monster, but it's not that different," Artoria remarked.

"The difference is non-existent. A person's good or evil is merely a product of a single thought. Rather, it's unbelievable that a minuscule good intention split from me could survive to this day and then come here to oppose me," Moriarty said.

"Hahahaha!! Indeed! Even I am surprised by this kindness!" the bearded man beside Gudako roared with laughter.

"Hahahaha!" Gudako followed suit, laughing with her hands on her hips. She then looked at the evil Servant across from them and said very seriously, "Uncle is a good person!"

"Honestly, I'm also very surprised," Holmes said, looking at the two nemeses. He felt something strange in his heart, though Gudako herself was also quite strange.

Moriarty, seeing this, pondered for a moment and then declared, "Hmm... it seems I'm quite popular. However, that's no longer important. The only thing I care about is you, Chaldea's Master, Gudako! You were captured by me before, then rescued by Holmes, and now you appear before me again..."

"...These are by no means the work of fate, but the result of reaching this point through extreme calculation."

"You mean... our arrival here was inevitable?" Gudako asked, frowning.

"Precisely. As long as my calculations are correct, there will be no deviation in the outcome," Moriarty said.

"Chaldea's Master, Gudako! An asteroid is already flying towards us from the sky. With the power of my Phantom Devil Shooter, as long as I select it as a bullet, the meteor will be loaded into this gun's body, precisely! Although I don't want to die, destroying this place is more important than my own life!" Moriarty declared excitedly, spreading his arms.

"He's gone mad. Shirou, finish him quickly and end this!" Artoria said, gripping her Holy Sword and coldly watching the enemy.

"This is the only time I've had the same thought as that cold-blooded woman. Burn him," Jeanne d'Arc also said, raising her flag.

"Let the battle begin! There is only one unknown outcome: that you will be slain by me and perish with this world. Or that I will be defeated by you. Nothing more!" Moriarty raised the white coffin behind him, aiming the gun barrel at the young man and woman.

"This guy, I can handle him alone."

Shirou opened his Mystic Eyes and charged directly towards the gun barrel, swinging his scythe to the side, deflecting all the bullets as if he had known where they would be fired from the start.

"Shooting towards this side in the next moment." The instant the gun barrel aimed at him, Shirou agilely dodged to the other side and continued his charge.

"Hm?" Moriarty thought it was an illusion, raised his gun, and fired at the youth, retreating to create distance.

Under the enhancement of the scythe's magic, Shirou accelerated towards Moriarty.

In Moriarty's eyes, the youth's footsteps were rapid, unexpectedly rapid, almost like the moment Shinjuku·Assassin unleashed his Noble Phantasm.

"How can he be so fast?" Moriarty seriously aimed his gun. Since he couldn't hit him by aiming, he locked onto where the youth would appear next.

Shirou suddenly changed his direction of advance the second before, and in the next moment, where he had just advanced, machine-gun fire covered the area.

"What!" Moriarty, surprised, fired tracking magic missiles, trying to block the youth's continued advance.

But Shirou once again anticipated the opponent's actions, projecting two flying swords that exploded less than half a meter from the missiles.

Moriarty leaped back to avoid the explosion's impact, but the dust obscured his vision. The moment his feet touched the ground, he felt the sky darken.

The youth had already appeared above him, his raised scythe gleaming with a cold light, descending from the sky and slicing down instantly.

In that final moment, Moriarty finally understood. It wasn't the youth's speed that was fast, but rather that he himself had been slow from the beginning. His movements had been seen through before he even moved.

He had been half a second slow from the start, and that half-second was enough for the youth to easily secure victory.

Blood splattered, and the sound of a blade tearing through bone echoed from within the tower...

Chapter 104 Phantom Demon Appears

"Ugh... I didn't expect it? I lost so easily..." Moriarty's eyes widened in disbelief. His body was already cut by the scythe from the shoulder, all the way to his ribs.

"Although you were always suspicious, we fought alongside Uncle for several days. Your fighting style is exactly the same as his, so I saw through it long ago!" Shirou closed his Seven-Colored Mystic Eyes, resting the scythe on his shoulder, and said calmly.

"No matter how precise the calculation, if the process and the objective were already known to the opponent from the start, then it's all meaningless, Moriarty! This is your complete defeat!" Holmes declared.

"Defeated... In that case, your appearance disrupted my plan from the very beginning... Chaldea's Master is detestable, but Emiya Shirou is also detestable... Ugh." Moriarty disappeared from there.

"Defeated... He's a terrifying young man in many ways," the bearded man standing beside Gudako said with a sigh.

Mash looked at the detection data with a look of surprise. She unzipped her mouth and happily reported, "Evil Moriarty, confirmed eliminated! That's great! We succeeded! Gudako-senpai! Shirou-senpai!"

"Thank you, everyone! This is a victory achieved through everyone's efforts!" Gudako shouted happily.

"No... it's not over yet!" Holmes said with a vigilant expression. His feeling of unease was correct; his deduction seemed to have overlooked something.

"That's right! The Holy Grail...!" Shirou looked at the spot where Moriarty had disappeared under the scythe. There was no Holy Grail left behind.

"No Holy Grail? Then what is this power...?" Holmes found it difficult to deduce.

"Spiritron Dress confirmed! This pattern is... How can this be!" Mash exclaimed.

At this moment, the entire space suddenly darkened, and a distorted black hole suddenly revealed a humanoid demon, with rows of rhombic blood-red vertical pupils floating behind it.

"Hahahaha!

Hahahaha!

I remember! I remember!

Finally, I've waited for you! Detestable Chaldea's Master! Gudako!"

The orange-haired girl asked in surprise the moment she saw the demon, "Could it be Goetia?"

Da Vinci analyzed the data and said, "No, it's not! This is a Demon Pillar! It's taken on a humanoid form, but this Spiritron Dress pattern is correct!"

"Aren't all the Demon Pillars dead?" Gudako asked.

The demon looked at Gudako and said furiously, "Dead! Our race has long lost hope! Unable to revive, unable to return. The moment our plan from 3,000 years ago was ruined by you, everything ended! Even so, I endured humiliation and survived until now, all for this moment! All to take your life!!"

"That won't do. Even if you try again, I'll still take care of you," Shirou said, standing in front of Gudako.

Artoria walked to the youth's side, standing shoulder to shoulder, and said coldly, "Hmph! So you're a fugitive remnant. To still be bothering us now and claiming to take Gudako's life is truly shameless!"

Jeanne d'Arc said angrily, "You caused me so much trouble before, and it turns out you're a dog of a loser who, despite losing, still obsesses over revenge. It really makes me furious!"

"I know! It's humiliating, it's ugly! But there's a fire in my chest that's been tormenting me. It's not because my 3000-year plan was destroyed, not because of the Demon Pillars slaughtered by a multitude of Servants, nor because of the hateful Solomon. The plan was perfect, its progress flawless, but it was doomed to be dismantled from the very beginning. That's right! It's you! Gudako!" the Demon roared.

"Me?" Gudako pointed to herself in confusion.

"Yes, Master of Chaldea, I can only direct my hatred towards you! Why did it have to be you who reached that place! This planet, this era! Why did it have to be you! If you were a hero who surpassed humanity, I'd have nothing to say. If you were a monster more evil than a Demon God, I'd accept my fate."

"But why did someone as ordinary and mediocre as you have to ruin everything! My escape in disgrace, my survival until now, has had only one purpose: to kill you, even if it means destroying this world." The Demon let out a hysterical roar.

"I just wanted to survive!" Gudako said, meeting the Demon's gaze.

"Yes, Gudako did nothing wrong! Whether it's the Demon Pillars or the black mud Servants, they just showed up out of nowhere, talking about revenge. It's such a headache. Let me take care of him for you right now!" Shirou turned to the girl behind him and said with a smile.

"Okay! I'll support you! Shirou-senpai!" Gudako's spirits lifted, and she clenched her fist.

"Revenge brewed for 3000 years since escaping the Temple of Time?" Holmes remarked.

"Indeed! Great detective! What I gained over 3000 years is the technology to combine Heroic Spirits and phantom spirits. The dregs of history, those without faith, abandoned by humanity, they still hold immense value. Myths and legends! Fairy tales! Extinct beasts! A thirst for retribution, an obsession with revenge. This is what I, Demon Baal, have become today!"

"Then I have another question, what's your connection with Moriarty?" Holmes asked.

"As much as you want, my lifelong rival, Holmes," Moriarty said coldly from behind the detective.

A blade pierced Holmes's vital spot from behind.

"Moriarty... you... I see, you turned from the start. What a miscalculation. I never expected you to go this far for victory. Gudako, I'm sorry, my deduction was wrong. Shirou! Kill me quickly! It's not too late!"

"What's going on!" Shirou and the girls exclaimed in surprise.

"I won't let you pass," the Demon blocked the boy's path.

"Regrettably, your companions cannot keep up with your thoughts or decisive actions. I have won! Farewell! Fellow being, the world's greatest detective, allow me to borrow your strength to usher in victory!" Moriarty said as he absorbed Holmes into himself.

"Spiritron Dress... Holmes was fused by Moriarty!" Da Vinci exclaimed.