My Goddess - NO. 4 - Memory

Black mud writhed on the city streets, Flames burned, consuming every life they engulfed.

The once prosperous streets were now filled with ruins.

Where people once gathered in laughter, a sea of fire now raged.

This was the tragedy caused by the rampaging Black Holy Grail at the end of the Fourth Holy Grail War.

But this tragedy was now over, with a soaring golden light, like divine salvation.

The destructive Black Holy Grail slowly vanished with a thunderous roar...

Rain falling from the sky gradually extinguished the burning flames.

The black mud on the road slowly receded to the side.

The charred trees, the black corpses, the miserable screams of humans facing death, all gradually disappeared with the washing of the rain.

Along with their precious lives...

A girl holding a golden sword stood alone on a pile of ruined floors.

She let the cold rain from the sky drench her body.

Creak...

Footsteps sounded from behind the girl, and a man in a black trench coat appeared behind her.

His eyes, filled with exhaustion and regret, were quietly gazing at the girl before him.

The once strong gaze was gone, and her golden hair, which had been brilliant under the sun, was now dull and lusterless.

"Sab—" The man opened his mouth, intending to admonish the girl, but his throat, which had just made a sound, was already gripped by the girl's single hand and lifted high.

RUMBLE!!

With a loud bang, the man in the trench coat, his neck held by the girl, was slammed into the ground with a fierce blow.

"Kiritsugu Emiya!!!!" Like a provoked beast, the girl, her eyes bloodshot, roared and raged at the man. Her tightening hand almost directly snapped the neck of the man known as Kiritsugu Emiya.

"Why did you do this?! Why did you treat me and Xia like this?! Why did you so easily destroy the happiness and hope of others?! Why?!! Answer me!!! Kiritsugu Emiya!!!" The grieving girl was gradually losing her mind.

"I am the man who will always be by your side! As a future great king, please give me at least this much trust!"

"My name is Drake D. Xia! The man who will never betray you!"

"Artoria..., please don't be so sad. It makes me very upset..."

"To stand before you! To block all threats to you, this is the happiest and proudest thing in my life!"

"My goddess, even if I have to completely erase the sorrowful soul within this body, I will pass through the gates of time and space! And return to your side."

The young man's words, each expressing his feelings, echoed in the girl's mind, who was now heartbroken.

Unstoppable tears gushed from the girl's reddened eyes. The expression of anger and regret made her once beautiful face slightly distorted.

The happy times she had with the young man in the past kept replaying in her mind.

And the man being questioned could not answer, could not answer, because he no longer had time to do so...

The girl, completely driven mad by anger and sorrow, swung her golden sword with one hand, aiming for the man's neck and striking!

"Aargh!!!!"

A hoarse voice, an angry shout, and glimmers of tears hidden by her dull golden hair.

The blade of the golden sword had touched the man's skin. The cold, killing aura it exuded made the man, who was being held by the girl's single hand, close his eyes in despair.

{Hate me if you must, if it will make your heartbroken feelings any better...} the despairing man thought at the last moment of his life.

Crack!

Like a gear suddenly stopping, a sound was emitted.

The blade, which had already drawn a trickle of blood, bizarrely drew a perfect arc in the air, returning to its original trajectory as if time were flowing backward.

And it wasn't just the golden sword that seemed to reverse time.

Now, in this block, in this city, in this country, in this world! Time reversal events were happening on a large scale.

The Holy Sword that struck with golden light.

The city streets burning with fire. The castle covered in ice and snow. The arrogant king laughing in the sky. The young man who called out the name "Artoria" in a park forest. The young man who walked out of a magic circle wearing red armor.

Time was constantly rewinding! Rewinding! And rewinding!

The fact that he appeared as the ninth Heroic Spirit, the "Returner," the experience of countless reincarnations, his true inner thoughts, his anger because Artoria lost her memory.

And then...

There was the most precious thing in his memories...

"Xia will always be with me, right?" This was the girl relying on him.

"Xia is too overbearing! I've been seriously training!" This was the girl wanting to become stronger...

"Xia! Where did you go?!" This was the girl when she was afraid...

"Xia! Are you going to leave me?" This was the girl, worried.

As these countless memory fragments froze the beautiful girl in her heart, who expressed her different moods, all those expressions finally converged into a single picture.

The blue sky, the floating white clouds.

The golden-haired girl standing at the foot of the treetops, smiling as she extended her arms towards him, softly calling out, "Xiiiiia~~~"

Thump!

His heart pounding intensely, Xia felt his groggy consciousness slowly clearing.

His weak and powerless consciousness drifted out of a mysterious forest, passing through white clouds, passing through the blue sky, passing through the distant stars and the boundless universe.

Lying on the ground, Xia suddenly let out a golden light from his eyes!

"I remember... everything..." Xia mumbled to himself, causing the golden-haired girl standing before him to look at him strangely.

Xia, who instantly sprang up, suddenly reached out with one hand and embraced the slightly surprised golden-haired girl before him.

"I am! A man named Drake D. Xia! One who will always be by my King's side!!"