Above the ruins, only the soft rustle of golden dust falling in silence could be heard.
The absolute silence was more suffocating than any of the noise that had come before.
Rin, Shirou, Artoria, and Archer had long since forgotten to run. Like statues frozen in place, they stared up at the golden rain that had shattered all their assumptions—and at the king at its center, stripped of every halo and fallen into the dust.
"You did well," Chen Tian said. His voice rang especially clear over the silent ruins, carrying a hint of patronizing praise. "You managed to give me a little entertainment."
Those words were the last straw. They ignited the remnants of the dignity inside Gilgamesh—the dignity of the Hero King! His boundless humiliation became a raging fury, instantly overwhelming the pain and weakness wracking his body!
"—!" He jerked his head up, his scarlet, serpentine eyes so consumed by rage they seemed ready to bleed!
His proud head would never bow to such an insult!
He would roar, curse this madman who had trampled everything he was with the vilest words imaginable!
"Hm?!" Gilgamesh's expression froze at the very instant his fury reached its peak.
His voice... wouldn't come out!
It was as if the hardest ice had sealed his throat. No matter how he stirred his magical energy or struggled, not even a wisp of air could pass through!
He instinctively raised his hand, trying to point at that lofty figure.
The movement left both him and Rin and the others watching from afar stunned.
It was his right arm.
But the instant he raised it, Gilgamesh stared in horror as the tip of his right index finger silently turned into a wisp of fine golden dust before everyone's eyes, scattering on the wind!
Then the second joint of his index finger... the edge of his palm... Like the edge of a sheet of paper catching fire, the golden dust spread upward, unstoppable!
It was total "decomposition"!
The fury, horror, and unwillingness on Gilgamesh's face—all those intense emotions—ebbed away like a tide.
He looked down at his right hand, crumbling into ash, then at his arm... his shoulder... He could even feel his torso disintegrating at the same time.
So... the blade of light that had severed all sensation, annihilated the Gate of Babylon, and shattered Ea... hadn't only cut down those things.
It had cut him, too!
From the instant that blade had swung, his destruction had already been decided.
Its power had simply been so absolute, so far beyond anything else, that even the process of his destruction had been delayed until now.
Gilgamesh slowly raised his head and looked at the man still hovering in the air before him, his gaze indifferent.
His remaining left arm hung limp as golden dust sifted from him.
Now, only an indescribable calm remained on his face.
Then the corner of his mouth slowly lifted on that pale yet still handsome face.
It wasn't mockery or anger. There wasn't even any unwillingness.
It was a pure smile.
There was the understanding of someone who had glimpsed a certain truth, the final pride of the Hero King, and... a strange curiosity toward something beyond his own comprehension.
The smile was like the last golden flower blooming over the ruins: brilliant, yet gone in an instant.
He closed the scarlet, serpentine eyes that had once looked down upon the world.
Time seemed to freeze in that moment.
Like a sandcastle collapsing.
The body of Gilgamesh, the Hero King, clad only in a torn shirt, disintegrated completely above the ruins, against a backdrop of Noble Phantasm dust that had yet to finish falling!
He became a cloud of golden light, purer and more radiant than the rain of treasures, yet imbued with endless annihilation and finality—
The wind blew silently past.
The golden light seemed almost alive as it spiraled and rose through the sky, then slowly faded above Fuyuki City.
It was as if it heralded the end of an era.
Above the ruins, only Chen Tian remained, hovering in the air.
He looked down at the slowly dispersing golden dust that marked the Hero King's final end. His expression remained utterly unchanged.
In the distance, Rin, Shirou, Artoria, and Archer stood frozen in place, as if all their strength had been drained away. They had even forgotten to breathe.
Gilgamesh, the Hero King, who had once been utterly arrogant, treated all things as grass, and wielded the power to destroy the world...
Just like that, without even leaving behind a final word, he had fallen to a single slash from this man...
Chapter 39: My Sword Shall Remain with You
The golden dust drifting through the sky finally vanished completely into Fuyuki City's cold air, as though it had never existed.
Above the ruins, Chen Tian hovered alone. Beneath the broken clouds, his figure seemed impossibly aloof.
"Th-this..." Emiya Shirou opened his mouth. His throat was dry, and he couldn't force out a single complete word.
Everything before him lay beyond his meager imagination.
A soft clang rang out as the twin swords Archer had projected faded away.
He took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the turmoil within him. His voice was low as he spoke beside Rin. "Master! Gilgamesh has been dealt with, but the Holy Grail War isn't over! There are still other Servants!"
Rin jolted out of the shock of witnessing the Hero King's complete annihilation, cold sweat instantly soaking her back. She reflexively turned to Archer, her brow furrowed, and was just about to speak—
"Miss Tohsaka."
A voice rang clearly in her ear, though it hadn't come from Archer's direction.
Rin went rigid, her heart nearly stopping!
Everyone—including the weakened Artoria, the shaken Shirou, and the wary Archer—jerked their heads up at the voice and looked toward Chen Tian in the sky.
They saw that Chen Tian was somehow holding... a person.
He held him like a broken doll.
The man was covered in blood, his black priest's robe (trench coat) torn open in several places, exposing the shirt beneath, also soaked in blood.
His once impeccably neat hair hung in disarray, partly covering his pale face.
Most striking was the cross necklace dangling against his chest, stained with dark red blood.
It was Kotomine Kirei!
The Church-appointed overseer of this Holy Grail War!
Chen Tian hovered in the air, casually holding the near-dead Kotomine as though he were an insignificant object.
His gaze fell on the astonished Tohsaka Rin below as he clearly asked, "The Holy Grail? What use is that thing?"
The reason Chen Tian asked was simple. Based on what he knew,
the so-called Holy Grail War was, in reality, a vast ritual system devised by the Einzbern Family, the Tohsaka Family, and the Makiri Family to reach the Root.
He had no interest in the legend that the Holy Grail could grant the victor any wish they desired.
If it were that powerful, wouldn't it be better to simply wish to remain the strongest forever, with no one able to surpass you?
So in Chen Tian's eyes, the so-called Holy Grail was nothing but one big lie.
Rin paused when she heard Chen Tian's question. She wanted to tell him the legends about the Holy Grail.
But when she saw his disdainful gaze, she understood: he wasn't asking a question. It was a statement—an assertion of his contempt for the Holy Grail.
She parted her lips but couldn't find the words.
When Chen Tian saw that Rin had nothing more to say, he flashed over to her and tossed Kotomine Kirei down in front of her.
Only then did the others notice the man Chen Tian had been holding.
Rin looked at Chen Tian, bewildered. "Th-this..."
Chen Tian nodded toward the man with his chin. "This is the other culprit I told you about—the mastermind behind your father's death, and the Master of that golden-haired guy from earlier."
Rin's pupils contracted sharply, and her fingertips trembled uncontrollably.
Kotomine Kirei—her father's student—was actually the murderer who had killed her father?
"Impossible..." Her voice caught in her throat, as if something had blocked it.
Kotomine Kirei suddenly let out a hoarse laugh. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. "Tohsaka... Tokiomi's daughter... You finally know..."
Archer's projected sword instantly pressed against Kotomine's throat. Shirou reflexively took half a step back, while Artoria gripped her sword hilt.
Silence fell over the ruins, broken only by Kotomine's ragged, intermittent breaths.
Rin's nails dug deep into her palm, and blood trickled between her fingers.
Chen Tian frowned and patted her shoulder. "Why are you getting worked up? He's nothing but a cripple now."
The Enma Sword slid from its sheath, and he held the hilt out to Rin.
"Do it yourself, or should I do it for you?"
Rin stared at the hilt, then looked at Kotomine, who lay on the ground, barely alive.
Hatred surged in her chest, but she still couldn't bring herself to move.
Kotomine's lips twisted into a crooked smile. His bloodstained mouth parted—
His figure vanished into thin air.
"Where'd he go?!" Shirou cried out.
Archer instantly shifted into a battle stance, twin swords in hand.
Artoria warily scanned their surroundings.
Chen Tian sheathed his sword. "It's taken care of."
Rin looked around in confusion. "Did he escape?"
"Escape?" Chen Tian scoffed. "He's floating in space."
"I mean that literally." Chen Tian pointed overhead. "He should be frozen solid by now."
In the depths of space, Kotomine Kirei's body, torn apart by Chen Tian's slash, drifted in Absolute Zero.
His expression was frozen in his final moment of shock, and his cross necklace silently shattered in the vacuum.
"The Holy Grail War should be over."
Chen Tian's words made everyone look sharply at him.
He had appeared in the sky without a sound. His lips curled into a disdainful smile. "The Root? Boring."
He closed his eyes. His powerful senses spread like an invisible tide, accompanied by the faint hum of the Enma Sword at his waist. In an instant, they covered all of Fuyuki City, then surged deep underground!
The sword's hum suddenly sharpened, growing urgent!
Chen Tian's eyes snapped open, brilliance bursting from them!
The Enma Sword left its sheath!
He swung it through the air a few times, seemingly at random.
There was no dazzling blade light, no ripple of space being torn apart. It was as though he had merely made a few strokes in the air.
But in the next instant—
Rin, Archer, and Artoria all turned pale!
"The magical energy... it's fading?!" Rin cried out. A burning emptiness rose from her Magic Circuits!
Rumble...!
The entire ground beneath Fuyuki City began to tremble violently!
It wasn't a devastating earthquake. Rather, it was a muffled rumble from deep underground, as if some enormous structure were collapsing and disintegrating!
Houses shook, and rubble tumbled down.
The source—the vast underground spiritual-energy core that sustained Fuyuki City's Ley Line and concealed the Greater Grail system—was letting out a death rattle!
The endless torrent of magical energy it contained was being forcibly "severed" and "annihilated" by a power beyond comprehension!
Before you continue