Fuyuki City, Miyama Town.
Emiya Residence.
Ten o'clock at night.
In the living room of the Emiya Residence, Shirou Emiya, Rin Tohsaka, and Saber sat around the table.
Archer leaned against the wall by himself, arms folded and eyes closed. No one knew what he was thinking.
Sasuke sat at the table, looking at everyone present with an unconcerned expression.
"So."
"What did you call me here for?"
By now, only three teams of Masters and Servants remained in the Holy Grail War. Rin Tohsaka and Shirou Emiya were still working together.
Even if they found Lancer and defeated him, the two of them could still settle things between themselves afterward.
Though the Holy Grail had long since been cursed.
Whoever obtained it would meet a terrible end.
Gilgamesh had already revealed the Holy Grail's true nature yesterday, during his battle with Sasuke.
Sasuke had just explained it to them again in detail.
That was why everyone present was so silent.
Saber in particular seemed somewhat dazed after learning that only a mage could use the Holy Grail.
Shirou Emiya looked at Sasuke and spoke without the slightest hesitation.
"If the Holy Grail will only bring disaster, then I'll stop it, no matter what!"
Before anyone else could say anything, Archer, who had been standing silently against the wall, gave a quiet laugh.
"You have no power at all, yet you're always trying to save everything."
"Honestly..."
Before Archer could continue, Rin Tohsaka cut him off.
"Archer!"
"Emiya's not wrong."
"Or is it that you still have hopes for the Holy Grail, Archer?"
Archer's brows knit together at once, but a moment later, he relaxed and gave a cold laugh.
"Rin, I told you from the start that I have no wish I need to fulfill."
"And that evil box, which grants humanity's greed, is the last thing I need."
Rin frowned but said nothing. Archer had indeed told her that he had no wish he needed the Holy Grail to fulfill.
But she had never heard him say that second part.
She couldn't help feeling a little angry. Archer claimed to have lost his memory, yet everything pointed to him knowing a great deal.
Still, Rin didn't challenge him about it, because Archer hadn't finished speaking.
"Do you think all Servants take part in this war to have their wishes granted?"
"How could that possibly be true?"
"We simply ended up here because circumstances led us to it. We Servants have no freedom of thought."
Archer looked at Shirou Emiya, then shifted his gaze to Saber.
"Your Saber is the only one who answered her summoning of her own will."
Rin's frown deepened.
Shirou, meanwhile, stared at Saber in shock.
Artoria, once again descended into the world as Saber, looked at Archer with a grave expression.
"Archer, who are you?"
Archer didn't answer Saber's question. Instead, he continued.
"Ultimately, Servants are summoned by another's will, like tools that are thrown away once they've been used."
"How could Servants genuinely want to help humanity?"
"Servants are nothing more than devices. They're summoned when needed, then disappear once they've cleaned up the mess."
"Their consciousness is taken from them, and they become humanity's cleaners forever."
"That is what a Servant is—what they call a Counter Guardian."
Before anyone else could speak, Shirou Emiya challenged Archer, baffled.
"You're saying we're tools..."
"Saber is a person. She can refuse to do something she doesn't want to do."
"And you all have a choice in coming here too, don't you?"
Archer looked at Shirou without changing his expression.
"Perhaps."
"When a Heroic Spirit becomes a Servant, they regain the humanity they had in life and remember the obsessions and regrets they once carried."
"Imagine what it feels like for a Heroic Spirit who died without achieving their wish, only to be summoned and ordered around by humans after death."
Saber watched Archer as he spoke, then asked in confusion.
"Then why did you..."
At last, Archer turned his gaze to Saber.
"I'm not like you, someone who became a Heroic Spirit through the radiance of your own deeds."
"I offered up my future self after death to become a Heroic Spirit. At best, I'm merely a Counter Guardian."
Saber had certainly heard of Counter Guardians, and now she looked at Archer with even greater uncertainty.
"I've heard that Counter Guardians become part of the Counter Force after death to protect humanity."
"Then no matter how different your circumstances were, you're still a Heroic Spirit."
Archer's expression remained impassive.
"Then you've got it wrong, Saber. Counter Guardians don't protect humanity. They're just cleaners."
"But you really are different from other Heroic Spirits, Saber."
"Now that you know the truth about the Holy Grail, you must be more disappointed than anyone, aren't you?"
Today's meeting felt like a final confession.
Saber's expression was filled with confusion.
"Archer, who are you?"
Shirou Emiya looked at Saber. He had never heard her say anything like this before.
Archer looked at Shirou, who was staring blankly, and asked.
"What, she never told you?"
"Saber's wish—the reason she was willing to throw herself into this cruel slaughter to obtain the Holy Grail."
Rin, Shirou, and Saber all looked at Archer in confusion.
It was as if Archer knew everything.
Seeing that Archer seemed about to reveal her wish, Saber cut him off.
Rather than have someone else explain it, she would rather do so herself.
"Shirou, I wanted to use the Holy Grail, that omnipotent wish-granting device, to undo a choice I once made."
"To atone for my failure and change Britain's fate of destruction."
"I can't fall yet, so I hoped to obtain the Holy Grail."
"But now, it seems that's no longer possible."
For a moment, the entire living room fell silent once more.
Clearly, no one present had yet recovered from Archer's words.
But Sasuke was different.
He thought none of it mattered, and he had no desire to save humanity.
A cursed Holy Grail?
In the end, it was just something humans had made.
Sasuke didn't think its curse was all that powerful.
Sasuke slowly rose to his feet, as if preparing to leave.
"If you can't even agree among yourselves..."
"Then there's no need to call me."
This was something neither Shirou Emiya nor Rin Tohsaka could deny.
Whether it was the strange Archer or Saber, who had just learned the truth, Sasuke had come to the Emiya Residence as nothing more than a Shadow Clone. Seeing how things stood, he intended to dispel it.
But just then, Archer suddenly looked at Sasuke with a grave expression.
"Uchiha Sasuke."
"Where exactly did you come from?"
"From the very beginning, you didn't belong to this world, did you?"
"What exactly is your purpose?"
As soon as Archer said this, the atmosphere in the living room instantly turned icy.
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