Such a person should have been flawless no matter where she was.
Yet she still died. She handed the button that decided her life and death to the adoptive son she trusted most—the one who wished to become a champion of justice.
The moment the rocket launcher blasted the passenger plane apart, Kiritsugu Emiya heard the sound of his heart shattering. His mentor, his adoptive mother, had died, sleeping forever alongside the filthy Dead Apostles.
He sacrificed his adoptive mother to save the residents near the landing site from the Dead Apostles' harm.
He remembered the confusion in his father's eyes and the warmth of the gun barrel after he pulled the trigger. He also remembered the years he spent with his adoptive mother, and the blaze after the rocket launcher destroyed the passenger plane.
Before long, Irisviel would become the vessel for the Holy Grail's descent, and he would lose a loved one once again.
Sacrificing the few to save the many. That was how Kiritsugu Emiya lived, and the meaning of his existence. He never cared about the price of justice, because he had already paid everything he had as an individual.
"Why are you going to the church, Saber?" Kiritsugu Emiya raised his hand, the Three Lines Command Spells shining with magical light. If Saber intended to leave on her own, Kiritsugu Emiya would use a Command Spell to make her settle down completely.
He had to obtain the Holy Grail, both to eliminate all the evils of this world and to avoid losing his last remaining loved one at some point.
"A king must protect her subjects. It is both honor and duty!" Saber growled. "Kiritsugu, stop trying to stop me."
Waves of wind swirled before Saber's tightly clenched hand. It was the Noble Phantasm known as the Wind King Barrier. Its effect was to wrap several layers of wind around the sword, altering light's refraction to conceal the blade. The sword hidden beneath that wind was the renowned Sword of Rupture.
What a joke! In any era, the battlefield was an undeniable hell. There was no hope on the battlefield, only worthless despair. There was only the sin called victory, built upon the despair of the defeated.
All because fools acted on impulse and refused to admit that bloodshed and sacrifice were evil in themselves.
"But this isn't Britain, Saber." Kiritsugu Emiya did not show his disgust for Saber, merely saying coldly, "Britain was destroyed long ago. Your people are not here. If you want to save your country, you must obtain the Holy Grail."
Saber fell silent. Her grip on her sword loosened slightly, and a trace of confusion spread through her eyes.
Saber had come to save Britain. She needed the Holy Grail. If obtaining the Holy Grail was the ultimate goal, then Kiritsugu's plan had a higher chance of success.
But if she followed Kiritsugu Emiya's plan, she would be utterly trampling on a knight's character.
I swear to bravely stand against **; I swear to fight all wrongdoing; I swear to fight for the unarmed; I swear to help anyone who asks for my aid...
The vows of old echoed in her ears. A pained expression flashed across Saber's face. Her country had already fallen, her people had been scattered, and barbaric foreigners had established a new nation upon her land.
She needed the Holy Grail. She needed to find a king more outstanding than herself to save Britain.
Did reviving Britain truly require her to let the Sea Monster run rampant?
"Could everyone listen to a word from me?" At that moment, a turning point appeared. A clear voice came from outside the castle.
Pale blue butterflies flew in through the window, gathering before everyone and forming the shape of a young man. The effect was exceptionally flashy.
Saber's delicate brows furrowed slightly. The young man's handsome appearance and gaudy magecraft reminded her of some large, half-mammalian, half-phantasmal beast that belonged in the non-burnable trash.
For once, Kiritsugu Emiya and Saber reached a consensus. He glared darkly at the uninvited young man, the Magic Crest on his back resonating with something on the youth's body.
There was no doubt about it. This bastard was the one who had made him take the blame.
If he could, Kiritsugu Emiya wanted to beat him into a concrete pile and throw him into a land reclamation construction site.
"I have a solution. Would you all like to hear it?" The young man smiled brilliantly.
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P.S. I didn't write at all today, but I somehow still had this mysterious confidence that everything would be fine. (@_@;)
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