Chapter 621

The girl, bound by regret, heard an answer she hadn't expected.

In the very end, the King of Heroes acknowledged Tiné as his subject and entrusted her to Shirou, his successor.

"That's great, Tiné."

"Yes, yes... Thank you, Shirou..."

"Shall I lend you my chest?"

"Um... just... a little bit..."

Tiné pressed her forehead against Shirou's chest and sobbed, as he gently stroked her coiled black hair.

This was the first time Tiné had shed her disguise as Magecraft and clan leader, revealing the reactions befitting a girl her age.

"I really... Waaah... I'm so unwilling, Shirou..."

"Uh-huh."

"Ugh... If I were any stronger, Gilgamesh would definitely not have lost..."

"You'll still lose to me," Shirou asserted.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...!!!"

Tiné cried even harder.

"Get ready to rinse your hair, Shirou- sama."

Haruri brought over the showerhead. "Hey, Miss Tiné, how long are you going to keep whispering with Shirou... huh?"

Looking at the scene before her, a question mark slowly appeared above her head: What's going on?

Image: "~~~", Location: "Images/1769061058-100430532-114372941. jpg"

Volume 8: Tiné: My heart is set on Shirou!

Ishtar (Rin Tohsaka) isn't entirely a money-losing bastard who only betrays her own people.

In exchange for explaining Shirou's situation, she learned about Ishtar's (Filia's ) origins.

The Einzbern of this world is "over," literally.

The Homunculus suffered another defeat in the Fifth Holy Grail War, confirming the conclusion that "the Holy Grail War has no future."

Therefore, Ahadon, the humanoid terminal who was the eighth head of the Einzbern, announced the decision to abandon the Third Magic and for all the homunculi to self-destruct.

Deep within the Winter City, now sealed by a blizzard, all the homunculi of Einzbern remained frozen in prayer.

It's less static and more like abandoned.

From the perspective of the soul or data, calling it "deleted" is not an exaggeration.

Artificial Lifeform with beautiful appearances.

The external appearance is intact and has been preserved beautifully, but no data remains inside the body.

It was as if they were originally lifeless dolls.

The story of the Einzbern Clan should have ended here.

If it weren't for that accident several years ago.

Several years before the start of the Fifth Holy Grail War, an Artificial Lifeform escaped from Einzbern.

I want freedom, I want to live like an ordinary person.

The android named Filia escaped Winter City and infiltrated a human town.

As a result, although the townspeople accepted her, the Magecraft world could not tolerate the existence of androids.

The Clock Tower dispatched its most powerful assassins.

Although she was just a rookie on her first mission at the time, she quickly grew into the strongest Sealing Designation Enforcer of her time.

Filia was defeated in battle against the Sealing Designation Enforcer and her functions were forcibly shut down.

After that, she was taken back by the Einzbern family and sealed away in an underground warehouse.

She thought she would be abandoned along with the history of Einzbern, but because the Sealing Designation Enforcer damaged the system, the shutdown command could not be properly executed, making her the sole survivor of the Artificial Lifeform.

Later, Filia was discovered by the secret agents of the Holy Grail War who infiltrated the Winter City of Snowfield Holy Grail War, and was thus transformed into a vessel for the goddess.

"Is that so... the Einzbern of this world has perished."

After hearing Filia's story, Shirou felt somewhat conflicted.

Although they had long known that the situation where "everyone on their side lived a happy life" was an extremely rare exception, they never expected that those androids would be so obsessed.

"What's wrong?"

The goddess possessing Filia, her beautiful silver hair swaying, turned to look at Shirou.

Is she still alive?

The goddess blinked, then suddenly realized, "You mean the child inside me?"

"She's still alive, and I'm not a demon. As long as I have control over her body, there's no need to kill her too."

Leaving Shirou deep in thought behind, Ishtar (Filia) turned to Haruri beside her and asked a question.

"I've always wanted to ask, why does Humbaba manifest in 'that form'?"

In the heart of the forest, colossal mechanical dolls, as large as buildings, are being commanded by Ishtar (Rin Tohsaka) to...

To carry out work.

Around the mechanical doll—the berserker—float uniformly cut rock bricks, or clay bricks forged from its power.

These bricks seem to be under the control of magic, arranged neatly on the leveled ground in the manner of paving a stone path.

As evening fell, Shirou, along with Haruri and Tiné, followed the goddess out of the city and into the forest to check on the progress of the temple's construction.

Ishtar (Rin Tohsaka) is in charge of supervising Humbaba, as it concerns whether she can regain her original power, so she is very concerned.

After confirming the progress of the temple, Shirou and his group prepared to return to the city.

"Humbaba has mastered the properties of lightning. Did you use some strange catalyst when you summoned him?"

"Uh... yes, yes! I originally wanted to summon Edison of the Berserker class... so I used the Mazda Lamp as a catalyst..."

"Huh? Mazda is Ahura Mazda? Just because of that...? No, the summoning system shouldn't be that casual. So, it seems..."

The goddess narrowed her eyes, channeling magic into her pupils.

"Ah, I was right. Your holy light... has been adjusted to suit this era. It symbolizes that human civilization, having learned how to use electricity and gunpowder, is itself a... calamity."

"Adjustment...?"

"Humbaba is a concrete calamity for humanity."

Of course, she is currently confined to the framework of Servant and cannot unleash her full potential.

Once the temple is completed, I will be able to remove those troublesome shackles from her."

Just as the goddess was smugly recounting her ambitions—

"..."

The smile on her face vanished suddenly, and she glared at the sky in the other direction with extreme displeasure.

"So it really came, that piece of junk."

The first to sense it were not only the Goddess of Heaven present, but also Tiné, the former Master of the King of Heroes who had felt that aura up close.

"... Lancer!"

With a roar like a supersonic fighter jet, Enkidu, a lancer clad in white, stood in the sky.

"You actually expect me to look up to you? And you're as rude as ever, you piece of junk."

The silver-haired goddess's eyes seemed to spit fire as she stared at Enkidu.

Unlike Ishtar, who became gentle after merging with Rin Tohsaka, she, as a cursed being, harbored an almost hatred-like hostility towards Enkidu.

Enkidu's long green hair fluttered in the wind as he looked down expressionlessly at the group in the forest, finally settling on Tiné.

"Tsk... Ignore me?" Ishtar clicked her tongue in displeasure.

Enkidu stared intently at Tiné's face. "Did you betray Gil?"

"...!"

A flicker of hesitation crossed the girl's eyes.

It's understandable that she would be perceived this way, given that she's now acting alongside Shirou defeated Gilgamesh, and the goddess, who is the king's nemesis.

Tiné didn't know how to answer for a moment, Enkidu continued to press her for an answer.

"Answer my question—was it because of you that Gil lost?"

"No, that's not it."

After a moment of silence Tiné spoke up, "Lord Gilgamesh did not go easy on us, nor did he show any leniency..."

Wang gave it his all, fair and square, and then lost... Although I'm very unwilling, extremely unwilling, it's the truth.

Enkidu didn't show much surprise upon hearing his friend's Master's answer.

Although he was thousands of miles away, he still managed to sense the details of the battle through the earth's veins.

Gilgamesh was indeed serious at that time; although he drew Vortex Sword, he was still no match for the mysterious boy who suddenly appeared in the Holy Grail War.

Enkidu saw tears glistening in Tiné's eyes.

"Unwillingness to accept defeat" was not a lie the girl told, but rather a genuine expression of deep regret.

"... I see. Would you like to come with me?"

Ignoring everyone else around him, Enkidu extended an invitation to Tiné, who had once been Gilgamesh's Master.

But to his surprise, Tiné Chirk calmly shook her head.

"I have decided that I will follow Shirou from now on."

"He was clearly the enemy who defeated Gil?"

"That's right."

The 12-year-old girl met Enkidu's gaze directly and spoke with a firm expression.

Gilgamesh once asked me:

"Is your desire to reclaim the land from the Magecraft a path you chose based on your own will?"

Or should we give up our choices and simply drift along as puppets?

I regret not answering Wang's question properly back then.

Even now, I don't know the answer...

However, one thing is certain: at this moment, I have decided to continue following Shirou out of my own will.

This is absolutely not a betrayal of Lord Gilgamesh; I am mentally prepared to be punished by that king.

"... Is that so? Gil has found a fine Master (vassal)."

Enkidu silently turned his gaze to the red-haired boy, their Shirou meeting.

Is that him? The guy who defeated Gil...?

That feeling wasn't an illusion.

Face to face at such close range, Enkidu once again felt a sense of familiarity with Shirou.

Who exactly is he? Why did he attack Gil? And why was he acting alongside Ishtar?

Forget it, there's no point in worrying about this now.

For perhaps the first time in his life, Enkidu's "impulse" triumphed over his "reason."

The powerful figure who defeated Gil is right before my eyes; how could I possibly remain calm?

That was something no one but Gilgamesh had ever seen— Enkidu's awakening as a warrior.

The next moment, the green-haired lancer's magic surged, even transforming into a gale that swept through the forest.