Sakura Matou Rewrites Destiny

Caught off guard, the liberated Prydwen suddenly went berserk, directly flinging its "master" Mordred off.

Then, as if crossing dimensions, Prydwen, like an unbreakable shield and Artoria's final guardian, appeared right beside her, blocking the red lightning—Cruel Rebellion—that Mordred had unleashed.

With an apologetic glance at her old companion, now riddled with cracks and teetering from the clash with the red lightning, Artoria had no time for sentiment. She charged.

Yet... Artoria's target wasn't Mordred, who was fuming and desperately trying to recall her mount.

Instead, she aimed at the pair of blood-red eyes in the sky, like those of a Demon God, watching the battlefield like a lofty deity.

As Artoria stepped higher, leaping off gray-black rocks, the owner of those eyes covering the sky finally revealed itself to her.

Round Earth, Square Sky—the sky like a lid pressed down upon the earth... that ancient description of heaven and earth now perfectly fit what Artoria saw.

Above the circular plain, surrounded by jagged, bizarre gray-black rocks, a colossal tentacle-like Demon Pillar, covered in blood-red eyes, blotted out the sky, completely shrouding the battlefield. It was so vast and thick that, standing on the ground, people would see it as the sky itself.

But when Artoria climbed to nearly a hundred meters high, using the strange, rocky terrain, she finally made out the Demon Pillar's rough outline.

"So you're the one causing trouble?"

Not long ago, by getting close to Mordred, Artoria had seen the same blood-red eyes in Mordred's gaze as those of the Demon Pillar.

She had no real intention of asking the Demon Pillar anything.

As Artoria made one final, desperate leap to get as close to the Demon Pillar as possible, the holy sword, already charged and waiting to be unleashed, blazed with light.

"EX~calibur..."

A sacred radiance illuminated this eerie, dim space. The Demon Pillar, which had previously hidden everything but its countless blood-red eyes in darkness, now revealed its true form under this holy light.

Under the planet's light released by Excalibur, every inch of the Demon Pillar Paimon's skin texture was crystal clear, and its blood-red eyes... looked utterly bewildered.

Sure, among the seventy-two Demon Pillars, Paimon was indeed the dim-witted one.

But... that Servant down there had no sense of rules!

As a Demon Pillar of the Tower of Ivory, its daily duty was to manage every aspect of the Temple of Solomon alongside the other Demon Pillars of the same rank, and when the master's "guests" arrived, to accompany them and help them fulfill their "missions."

So what were Mordred and Artoria's missions?

Thrown here by Solomon, their so-called mission was naturally a "duel."

A duel needs a referee... and, per Solomon's orders, Paimon the referee had to play dirty, giving Mordred a little help.

So, thinking itself a real "referee," the foolish Paimon poured a massive amount of its own magic into Mordred, then faithfully carried out its "referee" duties—though it didn't even understand them.

It just crowded in, watching this so-called "duel" up close.

That's why Mordred became stronger but more frenzied after entering the Temple of Solomon.

Yet... this idiot and blockhead Paimon never considered—would these so-called "guests" Solomon designated actually accept it?

Clearly, Artoria wouldn't accept Solomon's random, offhand arrangement, nor would she accept this Demon Pillar, which seemed to be corrupting Mordred and looked like nothing good as a "referee."

And so, in Paimon's bewildered gaze, unable to understand why Artoria would attack the "referee,"

the golden torrent unleashed by Excalibur, like a giant's blade felling a sky-scraping tree, sliced Paimon clean in two.

As the unlucky Paimon, gravely wounded by Artoria, could no longer sustain the master's space, it could only watch helplessly as the two Servants, Artoria and Mordred, vanished before its eyes.

"My lord... I think I messed up."

To Solomon, standing in the garden of Einsbern Castle facing Zouken Matou, Leonidas, and "Xu Chu," Paimon's failure was no surprise at all.

Solomon's Clairvoyance had indeed temporarily failed, nearly unable to peer into the future or past.

But in just these few days, even if different choices had caused deviations from the future Solomon had observed, those deviations weren't large enough to cause a "butterfly storm."

Many events unfolding and playing out weren't far off from Solomon's earlier observations.

So, Artoria's escape from his "First" level Reality Marble didn't surprise Solomon at all.

Completely ignoring the two Servants and Zouken Matou's potential ambush, Solomon turned his head to look at the castle roof. Before him, Artoria and Mordred, who had just disappeared, appeared together in the garden.

On the roof, Kiritsugu Emiya, rifle aimed at Kischur Zelretch, finger tight on the trigger... fired.

46. Light Body, Soft Frame, Easy to Push Over...

"Old Man of the Mountain... the fight over there is so intense, I think we'd better not go..."

Time rolled back a little. Just as Kischur Zelretch and Kiritsugu Emiya began their formal clash atop Einsbern Castle, an old man, a Maiden, and a young girl stepped into the forest surrounding Einsbern Castle.

Gazing at the castle in the distance, where flames burst forth and fierce gunfire erupted, Sakura, who had initially planned to hide in the shadows and pull strings behind the scenes using the plot, was now forced into this madly spiraling Holy Grail War.

To be honest, Sakura didn't want to participate in this messed-up Grail War at all.

According to Sakura's earlier plan, only one Master among this group would ultimately leave Fuyuki City—Marisbury.

The rest would either retire in Fuyuki or die in this Holy Grail War.

But as this Holy Grail War spiraled completely out of control, everything became uncertain.

Still, the war's rampage wasn't entirely harmful to Sakura. For instance, Destiny Points had grown increasingly abundant lately as the chaos escalated.

Even so, Sakura still disliked this rampaging Holy Grail War and had no desire to get involved.

Why? She wasn't even six years old yet.

Though the fusion of two souls had matured her mental age well beyond that of a young girl.

But her body was undeniably that of a young girl.

What did being a young girl mean? Light, soft, easy to push over... That was Sakura's reality right now.

Running into a battlefield where Kiritsugu Emiya's bullets were flying was simply too much to ask of her.

Of course, that was just Sakura's view. In King Hassan's eyes, there was no such thing as light, soft, or easy to push over.

Back in his day, he'd had subordinates who started working at an even younger age than Sakura.

"You will face countless crises and endless malice in the future... You need to accumulate experience."

With a helpless sigh, facing King Hassan's resolute attitude and his apparent concern for her well-being, Sakura glanced at Kurumi, who looked pained but didn't stop the old man.

Without a word, Sakura pulled out her Magic Wand and cast Teleportation.

As Sakura dissolved into a cloud of black mist and sped away, King Hassan donned a set of fearsome Spiritron Dress, transforming from an old man into a peerless assassin before vanishing on the spot. Kurumi, a gentle smile curling at her lips, sank into her own shadow right behind him.

On the castle rooftop, a gunshot rang out. The Origin Bullet left the chamber, flying as if by fate toward Kischur Zelretch, who barely stood.

No time to dodge. No way to defend.

Even as Mage's Will reacted instantly, shaping part of itself into a Mercury Wall to block the incoming Origin Bullet.

But against the Origin Bullet's severing properties, the Mercury Wall couldn't stop its advance.

Just as Kischur was about to be hit and reduced to a complete invalid—

A crisp voice and a gentle, magnetic voice sounded simultaneously on the rooftop.

"Obstacles!"

"Astral Dress, trace along the orbit!"

An invisible wall of magic formed, and a ring of star orbits materialized around Kischur.

As Sakura's Obstacles was sliced through layer by layer by the Origin Bullet, slightly slowing its flight—

Marisbury's Geocentric Model unfolded the Astral Dress star orbits, generating a gravitational force strong enough to move Kischur, dragging him along the orbital path.

With that method, combined with Sakura's slight deceleration of the Origin Bullet—

Kischur actually escaped a certain-death situation.

Of course, already severely wounded and only standing through sheer pride—

The gravitational pull worsened his injuries.

For an ordinary person, the rest of their life in the ICU would be guaranteed. But Kischur wasn't ordinary. With a Magus's methods, about half a year of careful recovery would likely restore him.

Having casually saved Kischur from the Origin Bullet, Sakura—too preoccupied to count how many Destiny Points she'd earned—immediately raised her Magic Wand and attacked the gravely wounded Kiritsugu Emiya.

"Disarm your weapon!"

A red laser-like flash of magical light burst from the wand.

The struck Kiritsugu Emiya—his guns, his hidden weapons—all broke free from him and landed in Sakura's hands.

"Concise yet powerful... Miss Sakura Matou, your magecraft is truly eye-opening."

Marisbury clapped elegantly. Unlike the ever-arrogant Kischur, he seemed far more like a true noble whose emotions were inscrutable.

But... looking at Marisbury like this, Sakura felt her hair stand on end.

She'd intended to use the Yellow Court Scripture to calm herself and hit Kiritsugu with a Killing Curse to take him out.

Now she couldn't care less about the unarmed, immobile, severely wounded Kiritsugu.

Her gaze locked onto Marisbury immediately.

She knew clearly: if she'd attacked Kiritsugu first, Marisbury would have seized the chance to eliminate her as an enemy. She dared not relax even a little around this unfathomable 'old director.'

And... pursing her lips, Sakura roughly understood where Marisbury's hostility came from.

"Thanks for the praise... Your Majesty Marisbury, you've noticed?"

"Naturally. That vivid red Command Seal on your hand is quite eye-catching, Miss Sakura Matou."

"Uh... Sir Marisbury... if I said my joining was an accident, would you believe me?"

Like a neighborly girl, Marisbury smiled calmly, as if to tell Sakura he believed her.

But Sakura still saw hostility deep in his eyes. She wouldn't fall for that—clearly, Marisbury didn't buy her story.

As the pressure from Marisbury grew heavier, nearly pushing Sakura to act on instinct—

In the courtyard below the castle, a red lightning bolt and a golden torrent crashed together with a thunderous roar, forming a pillar of light spiraling with gold and crimson.

And silhouetted against that pillar, Solomon, Kurumi, and King Hassan... appeared together on the rooftop.

47. A Gathering of Heroes...

If Einsbern Castle had a mind of its own, the moment it saw this gathering of heroes perched atop its head, two words would surely flash through its thoughts—doomed.

In truth, if the castle hadn't been built with such meticulous material selection, it wouldn't have needed to wait for this assembly; even that single blast from its master's husband earlier would have been enough to rattle its foundations.

As the two Grands faced off warily, and the Time Spirit and the Clock Tower Lord glared daggers at each other, Sakura suddenly felt a wave of relief.

"You've arrived just in time, Your Majesty Solomon. Please help me explain to Lord Marisbury—I truly have no interest in the Holy Grail."

She cast a sidelong glance at her Servant. If Solomon actually spoke up for her now, Marisbury might well lower his guard. After all, if Sakura wasn't competing with him for the Grail, a seasoned political player like Marisbury would have no reason to make an enemy of someone with boundless potential.

While silently waiting for Solomon to speak, Marisbury secretly used magical energy to pull Kischur Zelretch away from the battlefield. He soon received Solomon's reply.

Watching Sakura idly toy with her own braid, occasionally brushing her fingers against the ring on her hand, Solomon knew exactly what she meant. He smiled and nodded.

"Master, Miss Sakura is indeed not our 'enemy' in this Holy Grail War."

'In this Holy Grail War...'