[The first question is over. Now begins the second question.] [This is a multiple-choice question. Please watch the following video carefully, then answer the question.] [At midnight, two figures, one big and one small, sat at the edge of the yard, watching the bright full moon in the sky.] [Everyone recognized the bigger one. He was Kiritsugu Emiya.] [The smaller one was a red-haired boy.] [The boy's name was helpfully displayed beside him: Shirou Emiya.] ["Hey, hey, Dad?"] [Shirou Emiya spoke up as he looked at Kiritsugu Emiya, who had been motionless for quite a while.] ["Hmm?"] [Kiritsugu Emiya did not move, merely giving a quiet response.] [Shirou Emiya: "If you're going to sleep, go sleep in bed, Dad!"] [Kiritsugu Emiya: "No, it's fine. I'm fine."]
Kayneth: "Kiritsugu Emiya, so you have a son too."
Waver: "Professor Kayneth, that's a little..."
Kiritsugu Emiya: "..."
He was utterly bewildered, because he had absolutely no idea where the son in this video had come from.
Could it be that he and Irisviel had another child, a son, in the future?
If so, did that mean he won this Holy Grail War?
["When I was little, I once dreamed of becoming a Hero of Justice."] [After a long silence, Kiritsugu Emiya slowly spoke.] ["What's that supposed to mean?"] [Shirou Emiya asked curiously, "You said 'once.' Does that mean you've given up now?"] ["Yes. Unfortunately, I have given up."] [Kiritsugu Emiya said self-mockingly, "Heroes have an expiration date. Once you grow up, you no longer qualify as a hero. If only I'd realized that sooner."] ["I see. Then there's nothing you can do."] [Shirou Emiya spoke with only a vague understanding.] ["Yes, there really is nothing I can do."] [Kiritsugu Emiya looked up and sighed. "...What a beautiful moon."]
King of Heroes: "Ha! A Hero of Justice? That's hilarious."
Kayneth: "Who would have thought the so-called Magus Killer actually had such a laughable ideal?"
Artoria: "Kiritsugu, you..."
Even our king found it somewhat unbelievable.
To think that Kiritsugu Emiya, who would stop at nothing to achieve his goals, had a dream like this.
Priest Mapo: "..."
Kirei Kotomine also found it hard to believe.
The dream held by the man he regarded as a "kindred spirit" was actually so innocent and simple.
Kirei Kotomine had been emotionally deficient since childhood and had never known what happiness was.
To put it bluntly, he was an expressionless, emotionless, taciturn man.
As an adult, Kirei Kotomine threw himself wholeheartedly into studying whatever he encountered, because he was searching.
He wanted to find that so-called sense of happiness, but he could never experience the stirring called "pleasure."
Even his wife Claudia's suicide had failed to stir anything within him.
But Kirei Kotomine had not given up just like that.
He abandoned his daughter Caren and changed jobs all over the world, constantly seeking the meaning of his life.
Until, later on, he noticed Kiritsugu Emiya.
In her eyes, Kiritsugu Emiya carried out all kinds of assassination jobs without regard for his life, with rewards utterly disproportionate to the risks. What drove him to keep going like that?
A goal. Only a firm goal in life could make him keep fighting with such disregard for his life.
And so, Kirei Kotomine became convinced that Kiritsugu Emiya must be someone who could help him understand the meaning of life. He kept wanting to make contact with him, but never had the chance.
In the original story, Gilgamesh got there first and awakened Kirei Kotomine to the idea that "human nature is inherently evil," turning him into a depraved man just like Ryunosuke Uryu, who took pleasure in watching others suffer.
That was why, when Kirei Kotomine later learned that Kiritsugu Emiya's dream was actually to become a "Hero of Justice," he felt "betrayed" and hated him deeply.
And because of their differing beliefs, Kiritsugu Emiya also loathed Kirei Kotomine.
The two became complete opposites.
But now, Kirei Kotomine had yet to fall into that so-called "pleasure in evil," so discovering that Kiritsugu Emiya actually took joy in doing good only left him even more lost.
At that moment, Kirei Kotomine was at Tokiomi Tohsaka's house, together with Tokiomi Tohsaka and Gilgamesh.
Lost in thought, Kirei Kotomine did not notice that although Gilgamesh never stopped mocking Kiritsugu Emiya in the group chat, his gaze remained fixed on him, a malicious gleam flickering in his eyes.
Clearly, he had already begun entertaining that idea.
Feng Xi: "Hey, hey, are you done yet? Is wanting to become a Hero of Justice wrong?"
Watching Kayneth and Gilgamesh endlessly ridicule Kiritsugu Emiya in the group chat, Feng Xi, an upstanding young man, could no longer stand it and launched straight into a tirade.
He truly could not understand how those two thought. Was wanting to become a Hero of Justice really that ridiculous to them?
As far as Feng Xi remembered, every child had once had such an ideal.
Although reality wore everyone down as they grew up, what was wrong with preserving a little childhood innocence?
A man remained a boy until the day he died.
Feng Xi: "Gilgamesh, Kayneth, is someone's dream of becoming a righteous hero really that laughable to you?"
Feng Xi: "Or is your dream actually to become a villain everyone despises, and that's why you think this dream is so ridiculous?"
Chapter 21: So Kiritsugu Emiya's private life was this messy
(Maiya Hisau)
Kayneth: "..."
Director Kayneth was left speechless by Feng Xi's words.
Although he admitted he was no good person, he could hardly admit to being a villain.
Feng Xi: "And you, Gilgamesh. Why did you slay the Bull of Heaven back then?"
Feng Xi: "Was it to save the suffering people, or for the sake of your own pride?"
Feng Xi: "If you say it was for yourself, then I look down on you, because you've utterly failed Enkidu's sacrifice."
King of Heroes: "Mongrel! I've tolerated you long enough!"
Feng Xi's words had successfully struck Gilgamesh's sore spot.
Feng Xi: "Pah! I'm the one who's tolerated you long enough."
Feng Xi: "Honestly, Tokiomi Tohsaka, I really feel sorry for you."
Feng Xi: "You could have summoned Gilgamesh at any age, yet you summoned this rude Tyrant Gilgamesh."
The young Gilgamesh was indeed a rude brute. Otherwise, the gods would not have sent Enkidu to guide him and make him a proper king.
Tokiomi Tohsaka: "!!!"
Why did I get caught in the crossfire out of nowhere? Leave me out of your argument!
This brat is going to get me killed! Don't you know Gilgamesh is right beside me?
King of Heroes: "Aaaah! Feng Xi! You!"
King of Heroes: "Just you wait! I'll make sure you die a horrible death!"
Feng Xi: "Bring it on."
Although neither Zhang Jue nor Red Hare was a match for Gilgamesh one-on-one, they were not fighting alone.
Moreover, they had another advantage Gilgamesh lacked: bonuses.
Servants summoned by the Holy Grail could receive a homeland bonus and a fame bonus.
That was because a Heroic Spirit's abilities came entirely from humanity's knowledge of that Heroic Spirit-in other words, information.
Naturally, the place with the most information about a Heroic Spirit was their homeland.
If a Servant participating in the War of the Holy Grail fought on their native soil, they could receive a substantial additional bonus.
The most typical example was Vlad III, the Servant who appeared in "Fate/Apocrypha."