"Exactly. As long as Holmes and I faced off, the result always ended with my defeat, as though something like the Counter Force or fate itself had interfered. So this time, I decided to absorb Holmes into my body and make him my companion. In other words, the only being who could defeat me has now become my companion. I am invincible now!" Moriarty said with a smile.
"When exactly did you decide to betray us?" Mash asked.
"If I had to say, just now." Moriarty smiled.
"What is going on?" Jeanne d'Arc asked.
Moriarty continued:
"The current Shinjuku is a fragment cut away from countless worlds. It no longer has anything to do with human history. As a result, this place became a city of fantasy, where the fusion of Phantom Spirits and Servants, or Phantom Spirits with other Phantom Spirits, would probably be impossible anywhere outside this world.
"But here, Demon Baal and I formed an alliance for our respective purposes. Baal wanted to kill you, Gudako, while I wanted to surpass Holmes. In the name of a purpose as nearly impossible as a 'phantom,' an alliance between me, a human, and Baal, a demon god! The Phantom Demon Alliance."
"So you had planned this from the beginning? And none of us noticed? How foolish!" Artoria said angrily.
"No, his Spirit Origin really was damaged at first. That much is true." Shirou had confirmed it with his Magic Eye.
"Yes. The reason I was able to deceive all of you, and deceive Holmes, was not because I had any remarkable acting skills. It was because I reset everything about myself. I discarded my memories and malice, allowing goodness to emerge. Baal likewise erased his memories and became who I had been before, the evil Moriarty. Meanwhile, I fought at your side and did everything I could to overcome hardships with you. So, Master, there is no need to grieve over failing to see through it all." Moriarty looked at Gudako.
"I'm just sad!" Gudako shook her head as she looked at Moriarty.
Moriarty looked at the girl with a complicated expression, then sighed. "Sorry... You are so kind. You are not saddened by my betrayal, but grieving because I have turned to evil once again..."
Demon Baal spoke. "Moriarty, shall we begin?"
"Though I would like to say this is futile, it is not entirely futile. Let this be our farewell! For the end of your revenge and the end of my sentiment! Let us fight!" Moriarty raised his mechanized coffin and shouted.
"Leave the Demon Pillar to me! Come to think of it, that black mud Heroic Spirit told me last time that this was my responsibility. I never thought this was what he meant..." Shirou said, raising the Scythe of the Grim Reaper.
"I'll help too! This is the thing that kicked me, right?! This time, I'll roast it into takoyaki!" Jeanne d'Arc said furiously.
"Hmph. Do not hold me back!" Artoria raised her holy sword.
"Gudako! I'll need your support!" Shirou said.
"Yes! Leave it to me, senpai!" Gudako raised her fist and shouted.
"Yeah!!!"
After merging with Holmes, Moriarty had become incredibly formidable. Behind him, the demon transformed into an enormous Demon Pillar, exuding a brutal aura. Countless red eyes opened across its tentacle-like cylindrical body.
Moriarty unleashed devastating attacks, sweeping them with machine-gun fire and firing cannons, while the Demon Pillar widened its eyes and released beams of magical energy.
Shirou and the girls swiftly evaded them. The tower's space had already been cramped, and facing such overwhelming firepower was truly difficult.
"Damn it—Excalibur Morgan!!"
"Roar, my fury!"
Artoria and Jeanne d'Arc launched their Noble Phantasms together in retaliation.
A black Beam Cannon and raging flames swept toward Moriarty and the Demon Pillar.
"Hmph!" The Demon Pillar took the attack for Moriarty, blocking all the damage. With a deep, thunderous voice, it shouted, "Hatred! Humiliation! Anger! How could an attack of this level compare to my three thousand years of resentment?!"
The Demon Pillar was about to unleash a "Burning Formula" corresponding to a Noble Phantasm. The rage, hatred, and humiliation it had accumulated over three thousand years seemed ready to erupt at this very moment. It absorbed and gathered the magical energy around the tower, and anyone could tell this would be a devastating strike.
"Shirou-senpai, danger! This is an unprecedentedly powerful magical energy reading!" Mash warned from Chaldea.
"I can feel it without being told. It is a violent energy that feels capable of destroying everything. To defeat a monster like this, I suppose I can only use that move! Add!" Shirou said.
"But the state of this world is somewhat delicate right now. Can the council proceed smoothly?" Add asked.
"Do not worry about that. I'll use my Magic Eye to open the passage!" Shirou said.
"Oh! Even though you are Shirou from another world, you are still just as dependable! Let's go!" Add shouted.
The Scythe of the Grim Reaper underwent another transformation. The Holy Lance Noble Phantasm Shirou had used when fighting the black mud Heroic Spirit had only been its second stage. This time, Shirou would reveal the third stage, releasing the Holy Lance's true power.
The spear body emitted a dazzling glow. At that moment, the Demon Pillar's absorption of magical energy was interrupted, and all the magical energy in the entire space, in all of Shinjuku, gathered here.
At that moment, the Youth's Magic Eye flashed with seven-colored rainbow light. The glow in his eyes seemed to break through the shackles of this world, connecting to another world and forcibly opening a passage. It linked to beings from another realm, beings this world that allowed only "evil" could not accept, allowing their wills to be transmitted here.
Before those eyes, nothing could become an obstacle. The Holy Lance connected with the will of another world.
Within a hall containing an enormous Round Table, besides Kay, who had always dwelled within the Holy Lance, four armored knights appeared.
A one-armed youth with a silver braid;
A young man who resembled Gawain, though younger and less mature;
The Round Table's stern-faced secretary, clad in black armor with black hair;
The chief knight with violet eyes and short violet hair;
[Seal Thirteen Released──Round Table Discussion Begins] [This battle is a battle for survival]───Approved, Kay. [This battle is a battle against one stronger than oneself]───Approved, Bedivere. [This battle is not a battle that defies humanity]───Approved, Gaharis. [This battle is a battle in pursuit of truth]───Approved, Agravain. [This battle is not a battle against faeries]───Approved, Lancelot.
And then there was...
Meteors Fall from the Sky
At this moment, Artoria stepped forward and placed her hand beside the Youth's, gripping the golden Holy Lance together. As King Arthur's counterpart from another world, the girl represented spirit and soul, while Shirou's current Spirit Origin had essentially been cultivated from King Arthur's body;
At that moment, their hearts connected, and their identical wills merged. Spirit, soul, and body became one, earning the Holy Lance's recognition.
The Youth and the girl stacked their hands together, raised the Holy Lance, and shouted in unison, "This battle is a battle to save the world!!"
[Holy Lance, unmoor] [The Spear That Shines at the Ends of the World, Rhongomyniad----!]
The six seals opened, and the Holy Lance transformed into dazzling golden light, striking the Demon Pillar and instantly engulfing its huge body.
If the Demon Pillar had spent three thousand years devising a way to destroy the world with the "spear body," then this light was the source of that spear body's design. It was merely a tiny fraction of the power of the "Anchor of Storms" used to secure the world, yet it displayed an unprecedented and incomparably magnificent might.
Magnificent, sacred golden light shot into the sky, instantly enveloping all of Shinjuku. Or rather, tiny Shinjuku simply could not contain such radiant golden light. At that moment, heaven and earth were left with only one color.
The light illuminated the dark earth, the pale faces of the people, and hearts long shrouded in gloom...
"Woof?" The white dog ran out of the hamburger shop.
"Th-this... is this the sun?" The residents of this place looked at the light and gasped.
"Ah, god, is this the light of hope?" Desperate thugs and mercenaries threw down their weapons, gazed at the sky, and fell to their knees.
The people who had barely survived by committing evil all shed tears at the sight of that radiance.
At that moment, people finally remembered that the world was not merely a silent expanse of black and gray. The sky had once been blue, the lake was blue as well, leaves were lush and green, and flowers could be so brilliantly colorful.
The dazzling light lingered high in the sky for a long time before transforming into snowflake-like motes of light that drifted down from the heavens.
This was the final proof of those supreme mysteries from ancient times ever appearing in the human world; it was also a ray cast upon this world by the Tower of Light standing at the end of the world.
Everything was over. Before the radiance of the world, the Demon Pillar that had sought to destroy the world naturally could not resist. Its enormous body had begun to collapse and dissipate.
Shirou and Artoria emerged together from the light.
At this moment, Shirou's body was also emitting a faint glow. His pseudo-Spirit Origin had reached its limit after delivering its final strike.
"Farewell, my younger sister. I hope you can find happiness in this world. Farewell, my partner in this world. Since that anomaly happened, I fell into slumber once more. I never expected to see your face again, Shirou..." Kay, the knight dwelling within the Holy Lance, said softly before returning to his original world with the light.
Inside the tower, the Demon Pillar trembled. Its enormous body cracked apart and gradually vanished from this world. Demon Baal, who had sustained his life for three thousand years through the hatred and other negative energies of Phantom Spirits, had finally reached his end.
"Ha ha ha ha! So I still lost. So I really am going to die! Gudako! I admit it, your power is far beyond ours! Humiliation, frustration, and rage—just as they have been for the past three thousand years, these are the only emotions I have felt. But! Your death has long been destined!"
"What did you say?" Gudako asked in astonishment.
"Ha ha ha hahahahaha..." The Demon Pillar vanished amid wild laughter.
The Demon Pillar that had survived from three thousand years ago met its death at this moment.
"Is it over..." Moriarty sighed softly.
"You are not done yet, bastard! How dare you betray us!" Jeanne d'Arc glared at him.
"No. The ones who are finished are all of you, and this planet." Moriarty said quietly.
"What do you mean?" Shirou asked.
"What?! A meteor has appeared above Shinjuku!" Da Vinci cried out in alarm as she saw the observation data.
High above, a meteor broke through the atmosphere, burning with searing flames as it plunged toward Shinjuku.
The Freeshooter: seven bullets forged by the devil. The first six would absolutely hit their targets, while the seventh was cursed by the devil. It would inevitably be fired, and would fly only toward the person the shooter loved most.
The seven bullets Moriarty had fired were the meteor in the sky. When it sensed that his life was in danger, it activated.
But even so, the devil's bullet would not fire according to Moriarty's intentions.
"This is too much... You really are evil to the bone. It is like you would harm even yourself just to commit evil. Are there really people in this world who would disregard everything just to do evil?" Once Shirou understood everything, he frowned at Moriarty.
"Yes, Youth, you really are perceptive. There are two kinds of bad people who commit evil in this world: those who harm others for their own benefit, and those who harm others and themselves. Though it is rather troubling, I belong to the latter." Moriarty gave a self-mocking smile.
"The first six bullets were not enough to propel the meteor. Only the seventh could use the devil's power to forcibly turn it into a bullet. But to ensure it struck its target, Demon Baal and I had no choice but to gamble everything. I erased my memories, gave rise to goodness, and fought at Master Gudako's side. All for that one minuscule possibility."
Shirou looked at Moriarty. "The you who lost his memories helped Gudako and risked his life to save her. So she gradually became the most important person to you. That is why the meteor is flying toward the spear body now. It is for no other reason than Gudako."
Moriarty spread his arms and shouted, "Precisely! Master is unquestionably outstanding, and your kindness and justice are truly beautiful! Even a great villain like me was moved by all of you. But just as one sometimes has to fight poison with poison to remove a toxin, to eradicate goodness, I shall use goodness to destroy goodness!"
"Wicked fiend!" Artoria felt profound anger. What meaning could such pointless revenge possibly have besides destroying everything?
"Exactly. A wicked path, a demonic path—the Napoleon of Crime. I am James Moriarty! There are now five minutes before the tower loads the magic bullet. As long as Sherlock Holmes does not interfere, my calculations cannot be wrong. Everything has ended!" Moriarty declared.
"Jeanne d'Arc, Gudako is in your care." Shirou spoke at that moment.
"Shirou? Do you intend to shatter that meteor? That is a magic bullet empowered by the devil! It is too much for you in your weakened state!" Jeanne d'Arc grabbed the Youth.
"It will be fine. When we made our contract, I promised you I would not deceive you, right? Believe in me. Once I deal with the meteor, I will return." Shirou looked at the silver-haired girl and smiled softly.
"Enough. Shut up, Assault Girl. Leave the meteor to us. Stay here and protect Gudako." Artoria interrupted, glaring at the silver-haired girl.
"Cold-blooded girl, I know without you telling me!" Jeanne d'Arc glared back.
"Gudako, I originally promised Mash that I would protect you in her place all the way through. But this is urgent, so Artoria and I will deal with the meteor using our holy swords. If anything happens here, you must find a way to overcome it yourself. Can you do that?" Shirou asked the girl.
The orange-haired girl agreed without the slightest hesitation. "Okay! We are counting on you! Shirou-senpai, Artoria."
"Good." Shirou approvingly patted the girl's head, then looked at the Bearded Uncle. "You are not planning to harm Gudako again, are you?"
"Of course not. At this point, there is no need for me to do such unnecessary things. Hmph, hahahahaha! If you want to struggle, Youth, then struggle as much as you please." Moriarty waved a hand and laughed.
"Yeah! Then I will show you how hard I can struggle!" Shirou said, turning toward the roof.
The meteor fell from the sky at tens of thousands of kilometers per hour. As it rubbed against the air in the atmosphere, white flashes burst around it. The rocks below burned red-hot, trailing gray smoke behind them in a streak thousands of meters long.
Shirou and the blonde girl walked onto the rooftop and approached the edge of the tower, looking up at the terrifying meteor.
It was said that sixty million years ago, during the late Cretaceous period, an enormous meteor had struck Earth and caused the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Of course, this meteor was much smaller, and the area it could affect would not be very large. But the problem was that this world only had a place as small as Shinjuku.
Moreover, it was not an ordinary meteor. It had been empowered by the devil, and shattering it would not be easy. Even if they broke it apart, the fragments falling down would still be enough to reduce Shinjuku to ruins.
"Senpai, there are one hundred seconds until the meteor strikes the top of the tower!" Mash counted down for the Youth through a holographic image from Chaldea.
"Is forced transfer still impossible?" Da Vinci asked tensely.
"We are working on it! The appearance of the magic bullet has made teleportation even more difficult!" a staff member said.
"Shirou, we only have one chance. Do not mess this up. You handle the explosion, and I will clear away the fragments." Artoria said as she looked up at the swiftly descending meteor.
"Yeah, leave it to me. If it were the old me, perhaps it would be too much. But for the me I am now, I will kill even a devil for you!" Shirou said.
To shatter this meteor, he needed the Magic Eye, magical energy, and the Inherent Domain. None of the three could be absent. But now that the Holy Grail was supplying him with magical energy, nothing was a problem anymore.
Standing atop the building, the Youth gazed at the sky with his back straight and firm, chanting:
"I am the bone of my sword..."
I am the bone of my sword.
This body is made of swords.
Steel is my body, and fire is my blood.
My blood is iron, my heart is glass.
Before you continue