flightworks | [Fate/ninth heaven] Vagrant Grail Cadenza; ARIA (high speed ver.) [route III, day 17]

Masterlist and readme are here.

ARIA (high speed ver.)

And the date changes.

I dress my body in clean clothes and look around the room.
There’s nothing more to be said or done here.

When I reach the ground floor, Gulcasa and Meria are waiting at the entrance.
Roswell and Yggdra are not here.
There is a light on deeper into the house.
…But their choice not to come join us is very much deliberate.
Even if we came face to face at this time, we wouldn’t have anything of real meaning to say to each other.
“—”
So I look over my shoulder at the house, and then rest my hand on the doorknob.
As I pull the door open.
I bow my head slightly in gratitude for this place that has served as my shelter for the past several days.

—And so I step into the night.
“This feeling… is—”

I can feel the heartbeat of the earth through the soles of my feat.
The land of Fuyuki, anticipating the great ritual’s release, is hushed and waiting.
There’s a great pulse underneath the soil like the fluttering of wings.
It beats in my feet and my hands, and the Servants ordered inside my body are sharp points of heat, like there are five hot water bottles pressed directly to my skin.
“—”
The places where the others should go sting slightly.
It’s like a warning.
As if—the land and my body too are informing me that I cannot go back.

I tilt my head back and look at the sky.
The clouds are moving fast in the wind, and the white moon peeks out from behind them.
My breath isn’t warm enough to trail in the air like white smoke.
But I can feel the impending change in the world sharply.

So.
…I start walking.
With Gulcasa and Meria trailing me at my sides, I begin to walk.
We will reach the Tohsaka workshop before even an hour has passed.
All there is left is to cross the great bridge, navigate the Western district of Miyama, and go to the house on the hill.
There are no words that still wait to be said.
I will simply go forth into battle, and end all of this—

And we run through the night.
The closer that we come to the hill, the thicker the mana in the air.
The atmosphere is thin but sharp, as if a star is about to be born.
The foreign bodies inside me throb, knots of prana clustered tightly like lumps of flesh.
Reacting to the presence of life as if clamoring to be born.
But, the pressure is not as intense as it was previously, inside the deep womb of the mountain.
The dream I had in the womb—the guidance of the grails that came before me has ordered my body, if only temporarily.
Because of that, the ether of the dead Servants is not running wild throughout my body and stealing my ability to move or think.
When I open the gate, it may well overwhelm my mind.
But there is so much left to do before the gate opens.
…I will—accept one more Servant before the night is over.
And before the night breaks—with the grail near completion, I will open it.

The foreign energy in my body hums.
The road up to the Tohsaka residence is gentle compared to the mountain path, but it feels steep, perhaps because of our pace.

The colorless energy draws me forward as the earth underneath us swirls with potential.
I lengthen my stride and shut out the traces I sense of my enemy’s bloody aura.

“—”
The Tohsaka mansion stands.
The boundary field that should protect this place still exists, but it’s thin like a membrane.
When we cross it, I feel the bloody bubble press against my mouth and nose as if to suffocate me for just a moment, but immediately afterward it relaxes as if we have been accepted in.

“—”
The mansion is an empty shell.
The grounds are vast, but there is no human presence aboveground.
…By this point, the boundary field should only suffice to direct mundanes away, as it has no energy to keep other magi out.
The only presence comes from within the earth under our feet.
“…The basement.”
Like I had known beforehand, it seems that the ritual this time will be held in the underground workshop of the Tohsaka.
The compass point of the Grand Grail calls to me.
Like an anchor underneath my skin.

“—”
Gulcasa and Meria both follow me as I navigate the grounds.
The entrance should be outside of the house itself, and under the study there will be the great underground amphitheater.
All that’s left is to break in and fight for the right to perform the labor on my own terms.

In the tense air, we circle the rich courtyard.
Like an old storm shelter, the gate to the basement is hidden along the side of the mansion.

My senses are overwhelmed by the intense presence in the air.
So it’s not until Meria lets out an intent to kill and tilts her face upward that I notice it.

……Standing atop the roof of the house is the figure of a golden angel.

There’s no one else.
The mansion is an empty shell deserted by its master, who is currently in a faraway country.
My enemy is waiting deep under the earth.
The only person here aside from myself and my two Servants is Caster, looking down on us from her high perch like a sentinel.

“—”
Like an executioner, she looks down at us.

“—Marietta.”
Meria sinks down, bending her legs and lowering her hips as she takes out her sword.
The lovely face of the knight in black is creased into a snarl.
The unbridled hostility in her is a clear sign that she will charge forward if her enemy makes the slightest move.

But that’s not a good idea.
…I already know that she isn’t the best opponent for dealing with this enemy.
Caster will be better matched by Gulcasa, and both my Servants can only use their strongest Noble Phantasms a limited number of times.
…In that case.

“—Gulcasa.
“I want you to remain here and deal with her, and catch up to us when you’re done.”
“Wh—”
Both of them stare at me.
Gulcasa’s hair is stained deep violet in the night, and his eyes pierce through the darkness.
His expression is tinged with surprise, but all the same he seems to have an inkling of what I want to accomplish.
“—”
It’s Meria that I’m most worried about.
This woman is her enemy, the foe that she has been preparing to face since the death that earned her a place as a Heroic Spirit.
I can’t be sure that she will be willing to obey this order.

“—Tch.”
But she makes an annoyed noise and straightens up.

“So I’m the sword you choose for your final battle?
“—That’s a pretty interesting decision, there, wanting to entrust me with your back.”
Meria smiles bitterly.
But her eyes hold only a well of trust.

From above.
Caster holds her staff and looks down on us.
“—If you desire to gain entrance to the underground sanctum, then you must first defeat me.”
Scorning us from the high perch.

In response—
I reach out and spread the folds of my skirt, and offer Caster my best smile and a shallow curtsy.
“—So sorry for my rudeness, but I’m in a hurry.
“You will have to excuse me.”

And.
On that signal—

I put all my power into my legs, and grasp Meria’s hand.
As Caster raises her staff.
Gulcasa explodes from the ground in a high leap, running along the side of the mansion with enough force that his footfalls dent the wall.
And Meria runs for the entrance to the basement, pulling me along—

It’s locked with that man’s power.
But before we can even skid to a stop, I reach out and blast the entrance open with one bolt of lightning.
“—”

On the rooftop.
Gulcasa is already confronting the enemy.
But we have no time to wait for the conclusion of that battle, and so side by side with my black knight, I run into the darkness of the Tohsaka workshop.

The study is dark.
Various objects filled with prana litter the area, and the ceiling above us shakes with the sounds of battle from above.
But regardless.
We run for the hidden stairway, and charge side by side into the deep amphitheater carved into the earth—

And my vision opens up.
It’s light.
The hidden chamber is carved out underneath the courtyard, and the land is wide, like an extravagant ballroom.
The land is empty.
A flat floor of smooth stone or concrete.
The air is filled with golden magical energy, soft filaments spinning in little fractal patterns through empty space.

“—”
My whole body throbs.
At the far end of the chamber there is a dais like an altar.
There is a translucent pillar of light there.
Thin lines like the cables of a large computer line the floor in a great magic circle around the area, and I’m reminded of the cliff face and great crater of the Grand Holy Grail underneath the mountain.
…This is one of the cardinal sites.
Therefore, preparations have been laid for just such a thing and the area is a proper mimicry of the original site of the ritual.

A thin colorless line hovers in the air near the ceiling.
It’s narrow like the pupil of a cat’s eye.
My whole body throbs and my flesh contracts just looking at it.
“—”
Even if I don’t open it.
Just being here means that the gate will likely start to dilate on its own.

But the air tastes like bloody mucus.
In the hallowed country, one single spot of taint—
A man in a midnight-colored robe and hood is standing near the dais.

“—”
Just seeing him there, my resolve falters.
My legs feel weak, like they’re going to buckle and fold.
I have too many memories of that man holding me down.
I couldn’t even do so much as push him away when he raped me.
When he experimented on me, killed me slowly and vivisected me to use my organs in his research, I was always crushed beneath his might.
This is not his workshop.
The very air will not obey him in this place.
But at the same time, instinct and experience tell me that I cannot win against this man.

I try to swallow down the bile.
But I’m shaking, and my skin is covered in a soft film of sweat.
He turns towards me.
Hector turns towards me, and even though I cannot make out his expression from this distance, the pale smudge of his face contorts in a welcoming smile.
I can’t progress.
I back up half a step before I realize what I’m doing.

“—”
Beside me.
Meria squeezes my hand.

…That’s right.
I couldn’t defeat this person alone.
But I am not alone.
Gulcasa is fighting for my sake outside.
…And I have Meria at my side now.

…It’s time to break the shackles.
The two of us walk down the stairway and alight upon the ballroom floor.

“—Welcome to the final stage.”
Hector spreads his hands wide as if grandstanding, or as if giving a sermon.
The expression on his face is a broad smile, and his eyes are colorless and complacent under the hood.
…This is no good.
I’m still shaking, and the only reason I am able to move forward is Meria’s hand in mine.

“I see you have brought all the necessary tools.
“—Excellent.
“I will fill you with the white mud of your own Servants, saturate the Holy Grail with nine souls, and fulfill my desires.
“—Your only use from now on will be as a doll for my pleasure.
“Isn’t that a happy death for such an insignificant life form?”

Disgusting, arrogant words like slime.
They mar the air with impurity.
…Damn it.
If another person were to spew the same hubris in front of me, I would only laugh.
But as outrageous as the things Hector says are—he means them.
He will follow through on them if given the chance.
I know this from experience.

It feels as though thick, congealing liquid is being forced down my trachea and esophagus.
I will smother in this sweet and bitter poison and die.

“—Huh.”
In my place.
Meria lifts her sword and points it at Hector, placing herself between the two of us.
She faces down the enemy she can’t hope to match and raises her chin in defiance.
“That’s quite a line.
“—You’re just as bad as all those screwloose magi who put this ritual in place.
“In fact, you’re even worse. They tried to use the Heroic Spirits as convenient tools, but you’re petulant enough to think that all living beings are nothing but toys.
“—But you shouldn’t talk like that unless you’ve already won, you solipsist piece of shit.”

“—”
I catch my breath.
…It’s so like her that I can’t help but want to smile.
Even faced with the man who rules over her kind as he does mine, she simply turns up her nose and speaks as if she doesn’t know how to do anything but be impossibly rude.

“Hmm.”
Faced with that defiance.
Hector breathes through his nose in a long hum and smirks at us.
“—Indeed.
“Living beings are little more than objects to amuse myself with.
“That is how it has been for all of my life.
“Even when I was mortal, I was a shining star above the rest of my peers, and that is why I was chosen.
“—And now, in this era without gods, there is no one else suitable to sit upon the empty throne.”

In response.
Meria just snorts and shakes her head so that her hair sweeps back.
“Hmph.
“—That’s a throne that’s always been better empty.
“So of course there’s no way that we’ll just roll over and let a bastard like you lay claim to it.
“You know, for all that you’re hiding behind the Noble Phantasm of the gods and looking down on everything else—you’ll still bleed red blood if I slice you open.
“You’re not gonna grow another cock if I chop yours off, and your internal organs are as squishy and pink and defenseless as anybody else’s.
“In case you’ve forgotten that—then why don’t we just prove it to you?”

Hector shows no ire at her irreverence.
His bent lips are exactly the same expression.

“—Then try, fools.
“No angel or devil can hope to match me as I am now.
“…Aries.
“You will swallow the souls of your own Servants.
“You will birth for me the grail befitting for me to drink from, and you will know only an endless despair in my new era.”

…He is only one ordinary-looking figure.
But the air around him warps and bends as if filled with heat haze, the mark of gathering prana so vivid that it is visible to the naked eye.

Meria squeezes my hand.
As if to reassure me.
As if to make a promise that she will remain by my side, and that we can still secure a victory if we don’t surrender—

(interlude 17-1)

On the top of the mansion, a distance from which it seems possible to pluck the stars from the sky like diamonds—
An angel and a demon cross blades again and again.
Caster’s movements are light, and she is illuminated by the moonlight like a fallen star.
She is a bastion made of gold and silver, all attacks towards her partially dampened by the “barrier” created by her armor.

Gulcasa holds his body low to the tiles of the roof.
His charges are heavy, as are his attacks.
But against Caster’s barrier, the amount of headway he can make is limited.
The problem is the terrain.
The roof of the building is jagged and the shingles are slippery, making it difficult to gain and hold purchase while attacking.
If he were to fall from the roof, she could simply shoot him down with her magic from the high ground, and he would have to make his way back up the slope while avoiding her attacks.
…But he cannot use his ultimate Noble Phantasm from here.
The incantation is longer than that of a single-action chant like calling out the name of a weapon, and he needs to be able to concentrate.
Furthermore, if he is shot down while chanting the aria, there will be no meaning.

So—the object of Gulcasa’s battle is to knock Caster from her perch instead.
But he is impatient.
Every attack Caster lands on his body chips away at his vitality, speed, and strength.
These are all precious attributes that must be kept in reserve for when this battle is over.
…Once this fight is done, he must run to Nessiah’s aid.
So Gulcasa snarls as he weaves in between Caster’s lightning and bursts of prana.

But Caster is a solid wall.
Not for nothing is she the most powerful defensive Servant of this war.
All she needs is to remain still and keep attacking.
What the A.S. Shield will not block, her armor and rate of regeneration will be able to handle.
…There will simply be no end to the onslaught.

Therefore.
This is not actually a situation in which Gulcasa can afford to hold anything back.

“—”

Heavily.
He lands on the edge of the roof, coughs up a mouthful of blood, and digs his heels into the shingles, causing them to crack.
He spits out the blood, and crouches down so that his body is coiled and ready.

Caster gazes down on him impassively and strokes a hand through her long hair.
She is dazzling and beautiful.
She lifts up her staff, as if determined to finish him off before he can even begin to think of any kind of counterattack.

“—”
He takes a deep breath.
Her casting speed is very fast.
Even if he evades the first blow, he likely won’t remain unscathed.
…But.
That’s fine.
This is an attack to “drag the heavens down”.

“Revellion—”
At the same moment that she speaks.
At the same moment that the first lightning bolt rends the clear sky and strikes the place where Gulcasa had been, he uncoils his legs and propels his body forward.
As if she has grasped his plan, she sinks back, but it is too late.
Like a shot fired from a cannon, Gulcasa charges.
An advance bearing all his weight, all the strength of his muscles, and a large burst of prana.
He swings his scythe up, calls out—

“—Prominence—!”
In a wave of fire.
Caster—the archangel is blown off the roof and alights in the courtyard.
Buoyed forward by momentum, Gulcasa swings his body and snaps tree branches on the way to a jaw-rattling landing.

“Do not think you will get your way!”
But as she struggles upwards and shakes out her hair and staff with a look of cold anger on her features.

He’s already standing, haft of his scythe held in both hands like a prayer.

“—From the abysses of the earth, the dragon wakes—
Mad crimson flames become my blood—!!”

The world explodes.
Brongaa’s furnace rewrites reality, painting the Tohsaka courtyard into a barren wasteland.

“—”
Caster grits her teeth in loathing as her barrier vanishes.
Gulcasa staggers, raises his head, and launches his burning body towards her.
But—

Caster lets out a shout and extends her hands.
She has lost her defense, but somehow she still fires bolts of powerful magic like small, deadly missiles.
Gulcasa is bowled over in the dust, snarling like a beast—

…Yes.
In the world of the Reality Marble, Caster loses her Noble Phantasms.
But her high-class sorcery is all single-action magic, which falls under the level of simple attacks that Brongaa’s world permits.
This will not go as it did with Lancer.
Caster still has fangs with which to bite.

…Then the answer is to push himself.
He is not so weak as to lose to her here.
“Gih—”
He rises from the dead burning earth, spits out blood, and tears across the naked ground towards her—

Caster is wise.
She is wily, and she bends the lightning to strike for him again and again, turning the earth into scorch marks and glass.
Though the fire does not burn Gulcasa’s body, her holy magic leaves scorch marks against his face, and blood is running from beneath his armor.
But he rolls and dodges and does not retreat, and makes his way steadily towards her, swinging his scythe like a dervish—

He cannot speak.
He is a creature of instinct and heart here, a demon like a beast.
So he roars.
He lets out a voice and cuts through the lightning.
Sparks ring as Caster parries his attacks, and Gulcasa bears strikes down upon her with all his weight and force.

Like a scream.
The muscles in his arms are tearing, but he puts all of his strength into one blow and—

The Reality Marble is blown away.
Gulcasa breathes harshly, supporting himself with feet planted wide and his weight distributed onto his weapon.
The last strike cleaved through Caster’s body.
The archangel closes her eyes and disappears, her body blowing apart into clusters of ether like bits of stardust.

“Ga—agh.”
The battle is won.
Gulcasa sinks to his knees and breathes.

His body has been badly burnt by his opponent’s magic, and the upper layer of muscle in his arms is torn.
…So he must remain here for several minutes until his body heals.
But.
He has managed to make it so that the enemy will not charge into the basement and attack Nessiah and Meria from behind.

“—Please let them be all right.”
In a cracked voice.
The red Servant closes his eyes and prays to the night.

(17-1 interlude out.)

“—”
Energy crashes down.
A wave of colorless, white power cascades around me like the spray of a waterfall.
The shock is so intense that the ground rumbles, and I can barely stay on my feet.
I have to shield my face with both arms to keep from being temporarily blinded, and I lose track of the spell I was trying to cast.

But the attack doesn’t hit me.
That’s because—

“Exhaust Note—!!”

A thin black beam splits the current, and Meria shields me with her sword.

“Come on, you’ve got to keep it together—”
I can barely hear her over the rush of ether.
But she says things in encouragement and runs forward again.

Hector stands on the steps to the dais.
He holds out both hands, and continues to cast endlessly.
Meria draws his fire and tries to cut her way through the magical barrage to land a blow on his body, and I—
I’m supposed to be serving as her backup, but the long-standing fear meddles with my concentration, and Hector’s sheer power rocks the amphitheater of the earth too violently for me to gather my nerves.

“—Tch, you’re persistent.”

Hector clucks his tongue as if mildly annoyed.

Meria jumps back so that she’s standing before me, shielding me directly again.
Her shoulders are moving heavily as she breathes, and it seems that her respiration is intensely pained.

“—Hey, listen.”
She turns.
The black knight turns, holding me in her peripheral vision while still pointing her sword at the enemy.
“Nessiah. Do you remember that day when the three of us got to have a conversation for the first time?”
…And she asks me something out-of-place.

“—Eh?”
“You suddenly started talking about what it’s like to be kept in a cage.
“You talked about how to resist, and how to protect your heart and mind so that you can strike back one day.
“…Well, you need to remember that now.
“You can’t just cower in fear at a time like this.
“Don’t think about what he’ll do to you.
“Think about what he did to you. Think about how unfair it was, and how much you hate him—think about how many times you’ve wanted to kill this guy, all the millennia of your life.
“You’ve gotta remember, before he makes you too afraid to bare your fangs and bite.”

…Ah.
I did—say something like that.

Meria lifts her sword and her painful body.
“—I’m not gonna let him get away.
“You have to back me up, or we won’t be able to buy time for you, and your trump card.
“I’m sure that Gulcasa will be down here soon.
“As soon as you get the prana…”

…She’s right.
This isn’t the time to run away.

Hector is alone and does not even have a Servant.
…In terms of raw skill, he and I are not actually so far apart.
He simply has the benefit of being in far better health, and having many amplifiers.
So.
In order to win this contest.
…Either I have to cut a path for my Servant to strike him down.
Or I have to prepare something to even the gap between us and strike him down myself—

The battlefield rocks.
From Hector’s hands extend a thousand feelers of light.
No matter how many of them Meria cuts down with her Noble Phantasm, there will always be more, reaching to hold her down and rip apart her body.

“—Tch.”
She rolls.
She stands, shakes her body off, and holds out her sword.
“Nessiah, do something about this for a minute!”
“—Ah, all right—”

Don’t even look at Hector.
All that I need to do is destroy the tentacles made of prana.
I hold out my hands, sing the aria at hyper-compressed time, and shoot them down with bullets made of lightning.
Meria is curled into herself, gathering all her power for her strongest possible attack.
…Therefore.
All I have to do is keep him away from her while she’s getting ready…!

“—There!!”
And she is airborne.
Violet wings, the color of an evening sky turning into night, erupt from her back.
When she swings her sword, a sweeping wave of shadow magical energy is released, beating back the light.
The energy is released over and over again, exhausting even Hector’s thousand lasers.

When Meria’s wings burst.
When the air is scattered with purple feathers, and her body falls.
Her skin is covered in beaded sweat and her breath is rasping, but in the distance Hector is gritting his teeth in frustration—

It’s one of his most versatile attacks.
Based on the theory of the Second Magic, that man would pull stored energy from a kaleidoscope of dimensions and release it in wide-scale barrage attacks.
It is not the true Second Magic, and so it is not an “infinite” attack.
Hector’s stores are in Asgard and in the phantasmal half-dimension stratum he has created as a personal gateway to human worlds.
He cannot reach into alternate worlds, and so the supply is not “limitless”, and in fact he can only use it a few times before exhausting the supply completely for several years.
For such a long-lived being, that is not such a concern.
He will be able to regenerate that energy in what would seem like the blink of an eye and use it to crush the next enemy.
…But if he is worn out now, then that powerful attack will no longer be a viable fallback.
He’s strong, but he’s not invincible—

“Ah.”

Then.
A pillar of white heat enters my body, boiling right at the center of my collarbones.

“Ah, ah—”

It feels like stars have ignited on the inside of my body.
Inside of the pelvis, navel, diaphragm, base of the ribcage, solar plexus, clavicle.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the prana of the Servants is making my body glow from the inside.

My mind is .
My rationality is being erased.
Death is painful, but it isn’t frightening.
But this—the floodgates threatening to pound my intelligence into nothingness.
It’s scary.
It’s scarier than anything.

“Ah—guh.”
…I think I’m going to throw up.
My body clenches like a fist, and—

The sound of a heartbeat.
Echoing throughout the chamber, loud enough to press against my eardrums painfully, threatening to make them explode.
The gate that was only a slit begins to widen, inch by inch.

…Probably, anyone else wouldn’t be able to perceive it.
But it’s my body, and I can feel the gate inside me dilating.

…No.
It’s too early.
If I collapse and begin the birth now—then I won’t be able to stand up and fight.
I will be erased, and my wish won’t be granted—

“Nessiah—!
“Nessiah, get a hold of yourself!”

Meria’s yelling.
I think that in the distance, Hector is regaining his feet and beginning to charge another, much stronger spell.
…She won’t make it.
I won’t be able to gather myself in time to counterattack.
The burst of ether will melt my flesh from my bones, and I will fall here—

“—Prominence—!”

Then.
With a hoarse yell.
The powerful ether is wiped away with a powerful fire.

“…Gulcasa.”
He is here.
In the time that the dust from the attack cleared and the world stopped shaking.
He descended from the entrance, and he stands shoulder to shoulder with Meria, shielding me from Hector.

But the two of them are emptied out.
Meria has used a large amount of her magical energy in order to dispel Hector’s attack, and defeating Marietta must have taken its toll on Gulcasa.
Both of them stand proud in my defense, but they are ragged and I know that they cannot stand for very long.

“We can keep him away from you long enough.
“So—”

I take a deep breath.
I take a deep breath and stand up, clenching my fists.
…That’s right.
I can’t just—keep hiding forever.
Unless I step forward, nothing will be able to end—

“—Don’t get arrogant.
“You inferior creatures are nothing more than toys!
“Behave like puppets should, and dance on the strings of my play!”

…The things that he’s saying.
The filth coming out of Hector’s mouth bears a small resemblance to justifications that I once used, when I was young.
The only capabilities of living creatures are to harm and use each other.
So—it is not such a sin to make use of their cruelty to give myself enough power to end it all.
If they’d be doing it anyway, then it doesn’t matter if I manipulate events a bit.

…But as an adult, I know.
That line of thinking is horribly twisted.
I acted out of fear and disillusionment where Hector speaks simply out of hubris, but the fact that it’s twisted doesn’t change.

There is so much more that people are capable of.
The man and the woman who stand at my side and face down this enemy who is so far beyond their ability level are proof of that.
Love and trust aren’t fictions or fairytales.
They’re the salvation of people.

I’ve come this far carrying many heavy sins.
I have no way of atoning for them.
Even now, I’m selfishly fighting as though I still deserve a place in the sun.
Just living—is all that I can do now.

So.
To take responsibility.
To take hold of everything that I was never given.

I will—face this.

“Agh, just shut up!”
Meria holds out her sword.

“—You were the root of injustice I searched for.”
Gulcasa lifts his scythe.

And.
As Hector attacks them both.
They fight and scatter and cut away the spells so that they will not reach me.

Quickly.
Quickly.
I fold my body in, extend my hand, and close my eyes.
I open the unused circuit.

“—Trace—on.”

I remember the shape.
I remember the sensation of creation.
I remember the pain.

“Trigger off.
“All cut, clear zero—”

But the illusion slips out of my hands.
The traced sword is not solid, and flakes apart like ashes.

Damn, that’s not good enough—
Closer.
I need to recreate it with closer and closer accuracy—

Come now.
…Try to remember.
What was it like?
What form did the sword that was the child of my body have—?

“Trace, on.
“Roll out—”

…Gh.
I cough up blood.
Electric currents run down the nerve.
When I open my eyes, only half of my field of vision becomes available.
There’s a stinging pain in one side of my face.
Sticky fluid is running down my cheek, and my mid-range ability to judge distances is shot.
…Damn.
Damn, damn, damn.
Doesn’t matter. Can’t let it get distracting.
Victory is there.
Victory is there, if I can reach out and take it.
I’ll never have to be afraid at night again.
I’ll never have to tell myself that I’m a doll again.
It’s right there, so I won’t let my piece of shit body hinder me.
I’m more than this flesh and blood vessel can contain and keep up with.
So—I can just ruthlessly break through my physical limits and not worry about the consequences—

“Bullet, clear!
“—Freeze, out!
“Sword barrel—full open!”

I close my fist.
I close my fist on the hilt of the sword and swing it above my head.

“Ahhh—!”

I let out a voice.
I swing my weapon down and release its power.

“Nmu—?!”
The blast of energy that cuts through Hector’s defenses seems to baffle him.
…Just in time.
Meria is on her knees, and Gulcasa is shielding her with blood running heavily from his mouth and from underneath his hair and armor.

“—I’m your opponent.
“It’s time for you to answer for everything, Hector—!!”

I don’t waste time thinking.
First of all, if I waste time to think I’ll simply be shooting myself in the foot.

My body is about to give out on me from the beginning of the ritual of birth, I have no depth perception, and if I pay too much attention to the weapon I’m wielding I will deny it.
So—all I can do is keep swinging it and attack using brute force…!!

Hector’s eyes narrow.
His hands move.
Manipulating the air, the currents of the air, the mana and the ether, he sends blades of raw power singing through the air to carve my body apart.

But I swing my sword and deflect them all.

“—Hm.”

We don’t have anything to say to each other.
I simply grasp the sword and run forward.
…Before it disappears.
…Before my body collapses and my chance of victory is denied.
…I will cut through all my own hesitation and fear and win, because—

As I pass my Servant, it burns in my heart.

Because—I have to live!

“Ahhhhh—!!!!!”

Something breaks.
…Blood spurts from me.
Blood hits the ground and runs down my face, and splatters against the enemy in front of me.
But—I can still move forward.
And my sword moves instantly to deflect the magic Hector flings at me.
This sword—the Gran Centurio is a part of my own self.
The blade that I poured all my hatred and my sorrow into.
The great reservoir built of my sin and the sin of humankind.
A great artifact for which I sacrificed my sight.
In order to break the chains that kept me bound to my powerless past—

“Ahh—!”

Hector shouts out spells.
I can’t hear him over the sound of my own voice.
I can’t use any more magic.
My prana stores are stretched too tight.
The only aria I can chant is the reinforcement of my body, so that it won’t fall apart despite how frantically I’m pushing it.
I keep carving my way through Hector’s onslaught of power.
Twisting from side to side like a pirouette.
The beautiful spray of thaumaturgy across the giant blade sends fireworks all throughout the cavern, and I advance.

My body is already collapsing.
I can’t use one of my eyes anymore and I’m already about to fall.
…But.
Even though I don’t have any depth perception anymore.
The advantage of swinging such a large weapon that can fire energy blasts is that I don’t need to be perfectly accurate…!

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh……!!”

I put everything into the scream and thrust my blade forward.

“—”
“—”
We stare at each other.
From not even six inches apart, we stare at each other.
The look on Hector’s face is blank, as if mildly annoyed.
His eyes narrow in something like a scowl.

Then the projection breaks.
The sword run through his body is gone, and bereft of any support, he topples backwards.
The corpse of my nightmare hits the floor with a mundane thud, just like any other dead body, human and anticlimax.

“—”

And at that moment.
“Oh.”
Like a blessing, or a kiss.
Heat gathers at my forehead like a gunshot wound.

“—, —”

I hear a gasp from behind me.
My body is no longer covered in my own clothes stained in sweat and blood.
I am wrapped in stiff cloth that feels as though it has been woven from metal.
A crown is set upon my head.
The Mystic Code, the Dress of Heaven.
She—the daughter of winter and her forbears passed it down to me when I was at the mouth of the opening.
It seems to have taken shape immediately to keep the seven Servants from overwhelming me body and mind.

…Assassin. Archer. Rider. Rider. Lancer. Caster.
And—Saber.
Even with the aid of the Mystic Code, my body is messy with them and cannot possibly contain them any longer.

I don’t have any feeling in my body.
The gate has dilated to its full extent, a fat round coin like a full moon.
With legs that don’t feel human, I mount the steps.

“Nessiah—”
Gulcasa is calling me.
But I can’t even spare the energy to turn around.

I lift my arms up to the heavens.
I lift my arms up, and my body rises.

And my body opens up.
My flesh pushes the foreign bodies out, prana explodes in a great rush, and my mind disappears under the weight of the Heaven’s Feel—