Chapter Summaries

The Grand Duke heard Messmer declare that faith was evil and, driven into despair, seized the heavenly fire to remake the world through destruction. In Fuyuki City, Kiritsugu Emiya gained the upper hand against the transformed Kayneth and aimed his final pistol at him.

• The Grand Duke interpreted Messmer’s declaration as the Lord rejecting faith and realized his lifelong devotion had been in vain.
• The Grand Duke took the heavenly fire, embraced madness, and vowed to burn the world so it could rise from the ashes.
• Horace watched the Grand Duke’s transformation and wondered what Dove was planning.
• Kayneth attacked Kiritsugu Emiya with his Dead Apostle powers, but Kiritsugu evaded him and wore down his regeneration with mithril-tipped bullets.
• Kiritsugu approached the wounded Kayneth, acknowledged that he had destroyed everything Kayneth had, and aimed his last pistol at Kayneth’s head.

Sola saved Kayneth from Kiritsugu as the Great Hollow erupted in flames, and Messmer battled Gilgamesh while transforming into a true angel. Gilgamesh prepared to unleash Ea, leaving Tokiomi overwhelmed by the magical energy being drained from him.

• Sola interrupted Kiritsugu as he was about to shoot Kayneth, and she helped Kayneth escape while Kiritsugu withdrew from the ruins.
• Gilgamesh arrived above the Great Hollow on Vimana and clashed with Messmer, who repeatedly unleashed Pseudo-Destructio Sodomae.
• Messmer invoked Seraphim Brazen and transformed as scarlet flames spread through the Great Hollow.
• Gilgamesh's Chains of Heaven failed to bind Messmer, whose divinity was concealed by Horace's Great Runes.
• Gilgamesh summoned Ea and began charging his strongest Noble Phantasm, while Tokiomi convulsed as Gilgamesh drained his magical energy.

Gilgamesh drew the Uruk Great Cup as Messmer’s Noble Phantasm sent a burning serpent descending over the Great Hollow. Elsewhere, Kayneth accepted blood from Sola and headed toward the Hollow, where Waver confronted him and Kayneth challenged him to explain what he had proved by entering the war.

• Gilgamesh took the Uruk Great Cup from his treasury just as Messmer unleashed his Noble Phantasm and the Serpent of Fire began descending.
• Sola offered Kayneth her wrist, and he drank her blood to restore himself as a Dead Apostle.
• After Sola left, Kayneth sensed Angel and his father at the Great Hollow and set out toward them.
• Kayneth encountered Waver Velvet and told him to leave, but Waver ran after him and blocked his path.
• Kayneth pressed Waver about whether he pitied him and asked what he thought he had proved by stealing the Holy Relic and entering the Holy Grail War.

Kayneth adopted Waver as his heir, transferred the El-Melloi family legacy to him, and used his Command Spells to dismiss Lancer. The Grand Duke then made a new contract with Kirei Kotomine, while Risei Kotomine wept before the church altar as the flames spread.

• Kayneth urged Waver to fight for what he wanted, and Waver asked to inherit the El-Melloi family.
• Kayneth declared Waver his adopted son and heir, then transferred the family's legacy to him.
• Kayneth used all three Command Spells to order Lancer to leave the war.
• The Grand Duke's contract with Kayneth ended, destabilizing his Spirit Origin, so Kirei Kotomine offered him a new contract.
• Kirei Kotomine and the Grand Duke established a contract, and the Grand Duke reignited his flames.
• Risei Kotomine knelt before the altar and cried out that the Lord had forsaken them.

Caren took the overseer's remaining Command Spells, while Shirou used two of his own to transform Cú Chulainn into his strongest warrior form for the battle against the Grand Duke. As Cú Chulainn gained the advantage, Kirei Kotomine attacked Caren with Black Keys while King Hassan watched.

• Caren demanded and received the leftover Command Spells from Risei Kotomine, then left with King Hassan following her.
• Cú Chulainn entered the burning mountain to stop the Grand Duke, leaving Shirou behind with instructions to use his Command Spells if needed.
• Shirou spent two Command Spells to turn Cú Chulainn into a true warrior and let him fight in his strongest form.
• Cú Chulainn transformed into a Lancer, summoned Gáe Bolg, and pierced the Grand Duke's heart, then pressed the attack with Rune-powered strikes.
• King Hassan confronted Kirei Kotomine at the Great Hollow, and Kirei attacked Caren with Black Keys, pinning her to the ground.

Caren killed Kirei Kotomine with help from Hundred Faces, and King Hassan accepted a contract to serve her. As Kirei's death destabilized the Grand Duke, he and Cú Chulainn each burned their Spirit Origins for a final attack.

• Caren revealed that she had stabbed Kirei while a Hundred Faces substitute had taken her place, then struck him again with a poisoned dagger.
• Kirei died smiling after telling Caren she would remember killing her father, and King Hassan declared that he would be her Servant.
• The last fragments of Hundred Faces faded away after helping Caren survive and carry out the assassination.
• The Grand Duke sensed Kirei's death and began burning his Spirit Origin, while Cú Chulainn resolved to contain his suicidal attack away from Shirou.
• The Grand Duke unleashed Kazikli Bey Flare as Cú Chulainn burned his Spirit Origin and answered with Gae Bolg.

Cú Chulainn and the Grand Duke were eliminated, but Messmer’s ritual consumed the Grand Duke’s Spirit Origin and began overwriting reality. Gilgamesh’s attack failed, and Proto Saber and Kiritsugu Emiya could not stop Messmer, who gave the world six days before her domain spread everywhere.

• Cú Chulainn comforted Shirou before fading away, and the battle’s aftermath confirmed that Cú Chulainn, Caster, and Kirei Kotomine were dead while Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald’s fate was unknown.
• Messmer’s flames consumed the Grand Duke’s Spirit Origin and began encroaching upon reality, advancing the Seraphim’s advent.
• Gilgamesh attacked with Ea, but the flames judged his evil, burned him, and eliminated him despite the Gate of Babylon’s resistance.
• Kiritsugu Emiya fired spiritual-entity-killing bullets at Messmer, but they passed through her without effect.
• Proto Saber unleashed Excalibur after releasing the Thirteen Restraints, but the attack only halted Messmer’s flames for a moment.
• A voice from within the flames announced that Messmer’s domain would encompass the world in six days, leaving everyone to face an impending judgment.

With the world’s boundary eroding and only six days remaining before it is burned, Kiritsugu Emiya gathered the surviving Masters and began planning a response. Tokiomi Tohsaka summoned a childlike Gilgamesh, while Kayneth confirmed they were trapped and announced that he had a plan.

• The surviving Masters gathered outside the Great Hollow as Tokiomi Tohsaka explained that the deity had given them six days.
• Kiritsugu Emiya argued that the deity’s mention of a choice meant they still had a chance, then asked Kayneth to help make a plan.
• Tokiomi Tohsaka used Gilgamesh’s Holy Relic to summon him again, but Gilgamesh appeared in his childhood form and promised to help.
• Kiritsugu Emiya found that communication magecraft had failed, and Kayneth determined that erosion had sealed the boundary between worlds, preventing anyone from entering or leaving.
• Waver urged the group to strengthen their forces and defeat the enemy, and Kayneth said he had a plan.

Kayneth proposed using Kiritsugu Emiya's Time Alter and Young Gilgamesh's resources to perform Spirit Origin Ascension on Iskandar, and the group began preparing the ritual. As Kiritsugu watched Irisviel tend to Shirou and Caren, Proto Saber began explaining why she had answered the summons.

• Kayneth proposed elevating Iskandar's Spirit Origin by accelerating the ritual with Kiritsugu Emiya's Time Alter.
• Young Gilgamesh offered his magical energy, materials, and Noble Phantasms, on the condition that he could go first after the ritual.
• Kayneth assigned Tokiomi Tohsaka and Waver roles in preparing the ritual while Kiritsugu Emiya kept watch.
• Irisviel healed Shirou and Caren as Kiritsugu Emiya thought of Illya, whom he had left at Einzbern Castle.
• Proto Saber told Kiritsugu Emiya that she had come to the war because she had received a commission.

Proto Saber told Kiritsugu Emiya about another timeline in which he destroyed the corrupted Holy Grail, rescued Shirou, and died in despair, then urged him to keep going for Illya. Meanwhile, Shirou followed Caren’s directions to the Matou manor, where he found a frightened girl Master with a glowing book and its emerging Servant.

• Proto Saber recounted how another Kiritsugu Emiya rejected the corrupted Grail, rescued Shirou from the fire, and later died unable to reach Illya.
• Kiritsugu Emiya dismissed Proto Saber’s account but asked what would have happened if he had avoided the war, and she told him his family had lived happily in another timeline.
• Kayneth told Shirou to protect his last Command Spell and search for the Master of the other Servant.
• Caren pointed Shirou toward the girl, then secretly followed him as he crossed the ruined, strangely deserted city.
• Shirou reached the Matou manor and found a frightened girl clutching a glowing book, whose Servant emerged to reassure her.

Shirou tried to persuade Sakura to help save Messmer, but Caren attacked him when he stood between them. Sakura finally agreed to help, and Caren left the Matou Residence wondering why Shirou had endured the blows to protect a stranger.

• Shirou told Sakura that Messmer would disappear when the Holy Grail War ended and asked her to help prevent things from getting worse.
• Caren entered the room with a dagger and demanded that Shirou move aside, warning him that Sakura's Servant threatened the world.
• Shirou refused to let Caren hurt Sakura, and she repeatedly wounded and kicked him as he continued to block her path.
• Sakura stood up and agreed to help, asking Caren to stop hurting Shirou.
• Caren put away her dagger and left the Matou Residence, puzzled by Shirou's willingness to suffer for Sakura.

As the apocalypse engulfed Fuyuki, Kayneth completed the ritual that transformed Iskandar into a godlike king and summoned his Heroic Spirit army. Young Gilgamesh equipped the tens of thousands of warriors with Noble Phantasms, leaving them ready for one final battle.

• Kiritsugu Emiya watched the fiery sky as Kayneth announced that the ritual was complete.
• Iskandar ascended beyond the limits of a Heroic Spirit, inherited Zeus's power, and revealed tens of thousands of loyal Heroic Spirit soldiers.
• Iskandar comforted Waver and promised to conquer him the next time they met.
• Young Gilgamesh gave Iskandar several Holy Grails to sustain his army and opened the Gate of Babylon.
• At Iskandar's command, his warriors armed themselves with Noble Phantasms from Gilgamesh's treasury.

Kayneth and the Masters strengthened Iskandar and his army with their Command Spells before the army advanced into the Great Hollow to battle the six-winged seraph. Young Gilgamesh’s bombardment and a Persian general’s use of Indra’s Thunder destroyed the seraph’s two Divine Serpents, while the seraph remained within the flames.

• Kayneth told the Masters to use their Command Spells to enhance the fighters, and Waver spent all three to make Iskandar a true god, strengthen his army, and command his king to return alive.
• Iskandar led tens of thousands of Heroic Spirits toward the Great Hollow as Young Gilgamesh sent a barrage of Broken Phantasms to clear a path through the flames.
• The army confronted the six-winged seraph, and Iskandar ordered his fighters to attack the two Divine Serpents charging at them.
• Young Gilgamesh opened his treasury’s golden gates and fired ten thousand cannons loaded with Noble Phantasms at the Divine Serpents.
• A Persian general hurled Indra’s Thunder at the wounded Divine Serpents, using its advantage against dragons and serpents to make them dissipate.

Iskandar and his army charged the Seraphim through the flames of judgment, while the Seraphim summoned Famine and transformed into the Beast of Wrath. Iskandar challenged the Seraphim’s claim that humanity lacked agape, but it dismissed the bonds he described as limited personal love and vowed to burn them away.

• Iskandar ordered his army to advance, and tens of thousands of Heroic Spirits charged the Seraphim through flames that burned their Spirit Origins and legends.
• The Seraphim invoked divine judgment, and Famine emerged on a white horse to drain the magical energy of those it targeted.
• The Seraphim swallowed Famine, took its principle, and transformed into the Beast of Sodom, Beast 666, the Beast of Wrath.
• Wounded at the head of his army, Iskandar asked the Seraphim why his soldiers still followed him and why the boy had spent all three Command Spells to bring him back alive.
• The Seraphim called those bonds limited personal love and said humanity had to burn away its partiality and be reborn in the fire.

Iskandar, King Hassan, Sakura, Proto Saber, and their allies fought Angel’s Beast of Sodom in the Great Hollow, using a Command Spell and a combined assault to bring it down. Seraphim then declared that humanity’s choice had to be made by everyone together, leaving Proto Saber believing they had failed.

• Iskandar rejected Angel’s belief that burning everything would save humanity, and King Hassan appeared to confront the Beast of Solma.
• Sakura used her Command Spells to make Messmer stop and awaken, giving King Hassan the opening to strike Seraphim and bestow death upon the angel.
• Young Gilgamesh lent Proto Saber the holy-sword prototypes from the Gate of Babylon, and Proto Saber unleashed their combined power as Iskandar led the surviving army in a final charge.
• Their attacks destroyed the Beast of Sodom, but Seraphim returned and said that humanity’s choice had to be made by everyone together.
• Messmer and Seraphim reached an agreement, and Proto Saber knelt in despair, thinking they had failed.

After completing Fort Haight’s quest, the player reunited with the Duchess and accepted her offer to become his Witch, gaining a second steed and crafting notes. He headed for Stormveil Castle with her, then encountered the Tracker at the gate and received a gesture after repeatedly trying to start a conversation.

• The player killed the traitors and the knight captain at Fort Haight, then received Horace’s Badge from the Tracker outside the Church of Elleh.
• The Duchess offered to become the player’s Witch, and the player accepted before receiving her Twin Steed Whistle.
• Melina appeared at the Site of Grace, exchanged an awkward warning with the Duchess, and called herself the player’s temporary traveling companion.
• The Duchess gave the player her crafting notes, allowing him to make sleep arrows and a harpoon that defeated the Mechanical Shrimp without it attacking.
• The player reached Stormveil Castle Gate and repeatedly pressed E on the silent Tracker until he acquired the “What Do You Want?” gesture.

After the heroes failed to defeat Messmer, Shirou used his final Command Spell to try to summon Miquella, the saint Kayneth believed could exploit Messmer’s weakness. The spell appeared to fail, leaving Shirou alone with the glowing mark as the others watched from the ruins.

• Proto Saber and the exhausted survivors watched Iskandar’s army disperse as the flames in the Great Hollow began to die.
• Tokiomi, Kayneth, Waver, Irisviel, Shirou, Sakura, and Kiritsugu faced the likely defeat in despair.
• Kayneth told Shirou to use his final Command Spell to summon Miquella, whom he believed could defeat Messmer.
• Shirou walked to the edge of the ruins and called for Miquella three times using the Command Spell.
• Nothing appeared, and Shirou lowered his head, believing the summoning had failed.

Miquella appeared before Shirou after Shirou’s prayer succeeded where his Command Spell had failed. He explained that God had allowed humanity to cheat in an unfair test so they could discover that its rules could be challenged, leaving the Masters to consider how they might become independent of God’s protection.

• Miquella comforted Shirou and explained that his prayer, rather than the Command Spell, had brought him there because Shirou continued to believe.
• Miquella told the Masters they had chosen the right path, then revealed that God had allowed him to come and that cheating was permitted in the unfair exam.
• Miquella explained that testing all humanity through Fuyuki alone could never let the participants represent everyone, and that God wanted them to recognize the flaw in the rules.
• Miquella used Sakura’s answer about learning that fire burns to explain why people must discover truths for themselves.
• Miquella told the Masters that they could question, challenge, and rewrite God’s rules as they began to become independent.

Miquella put his plan to awaken humanity to the test by sending the world into dreams of their deepest desires. As the dreams began to burn and people neared awakening, Messmer attacked Miquella, while Trina feared she would suffer alongside him.

• Miquella argued that a few people awakening first could begin a change that everyone else might eventually carry forward.
• Miquella used the moon and Trina’s Noble Phantasm to put the world to sleep, giving each person a dream of the world they most longed for.
• Miquella judged the dream experiment successful and considered how connected dreams might support his plans for the Lands Between.
• Miquella provoked Messmer by calling her his sister, and she pinned him with her spear and engulfed him in flames.
• Miquella sent firelight into everyone’s dreams, causing their beautiful dreams to burn as he prepared to wake them.

After Melina and Duchess brought the Tarnished to Roundtable Hold, he explored the hub and met its residents. A Blood Glintstone led him to a Recusant’s request in Leyndell, and he revived Fia before she left.

• Melina and Duchess invited the Tarnished to Roundtable Hold, and he accepted.
• Sir Gideon Ofnir welcomed the newcomer but sent him to Moore, who gave him Spellproof Dried Liver and explained the Hold’s purpose and shop.
• The Tarnished explored Roundtable Hold, meeting its smith, the young master, D, and a Demi-Human tailor, while learning that two guarded doors required recognition.
• A Recusant recognized the Blood Glintstone and asked the Tarnished to steal another from Hassan of the Great Caravan in Leyndell.
• The Tarnished gave a Flask of Crimson Tears to Fia, who thanked him and staggered away.