Illya frowned in her sleep, letting out a soft murmur.
Irisviel's hands were trembling.
Sealing the Lesser Grail's functions meant making Illya an "ordinary" child.
She would no longer be swept into the maelstrom of the Holy Grail War, but she would also lose the possibility of becoming a mage.
The mother kept reassuring herself, "This is fine... this is enough..."
The moment the sealing was complete, she could barely stand.
Proto Saber steadied her.
Irisviel asked, "What next? Are you going to give her Avalon?"
Proto Saber frowned. "No."
"Why? Avalon can protect her..."
"Avalon is my Noble Phantasm, and it's also the only thing I can use to protect you right now."
Proto Saber interrupted her. "If I give it to Illya, what about you?"
Irisviel knew her own fate and had long since accepted it.
Once the Holy Grail War began, the moment she stepped into the ritual grounds, her death would already be inevitable. Having Avalon or not was merely the difference between dying sooner and dying later.
"I don't matter, as long as Illya..."
Proto Saber rebuked her fiercely. "You do matter. You matter very much!"
"You're Illya's mother. If you die, even if Illya survives, she won't be happy."
He paused, then gave a confident smile. "Besides, I have a better way."
Avalon was taken out, its golden light shining in the darkness.
Proto Saber planted it in the ground, resonating with Merlin far away in Avalon.
The tip of the scabbard touched the ground, and light spread outward, tearing a rift in the air.
Beyond the rift lay another world.
Avalon, the utopia in the distant otherworld.
"Illya will go there. It's safe there. No one can hurt her."
Irisviel looked at the rift, at the dreamlike scenery faintly visible beyond it. "Will