Unlimited Ambition

Chapter Thirty: Listen to what girls say in reverse.

The Chains of Heaven are, after all, a Noble Phantasm of considerable power, and breaking them with physical strength alone would be somewhat difficult. Furthermore, being bound by the Chains of Heaven caused waves of soreness and weakness in the body, much like the feeling of catching a cold after a very long time. One couldn't muster any strength.

This is a little troublesome.

Within my warp, I stood tall and fearless, looking at Queen Gilgamesh. Yet, I dared not make any further rash moves.

Just now, I dodged most of the torrential rain of Noble Phantasms that came down like hail. However, two swords, a spear, and two things that looked like spiked clubs still hit me. The spear, in particular, seemed to have some special effect, leaving my left arm a bloody mess that was completely incurable.

"...This...this...can win!!"

Seeing his Archer completely overwhelm me, Tokiomi Tohsaka, who had also been drawn into the situation, was extremely excited. He was already thinking about what to do after obtaining the Root.

"This is the perfect opportunity for the Tohsaka family to rise to power!"

Tokiomi Tohsaka clenched his fists, tilting his head back to stare intently at the battle in mid-air. He was overjoyed.

"Tsk." I curled my lip, slightly disapproving of Jill's tactics.

"Is it ready? Do you want to surrender?" Jill was in high spirits at this moment, her long golden hair moving without wind, which was quite beautiful.

"Are you kidding me? If I wanted to break free from this thing, it would only take a moment." I said to Gilgamesh.

“Arrogant,” Jill frowned, then cursed.

"...Seriously, if you don't believe me, there's nothing I can do." I chuckled softly, then called out, "Yuki!!!"

Immediately afterwards, Nagato Yuki, with her bone wings slightly spread, descended from the sky and blocked my way.

“Yes, Master.” Yuki nodded, then folded her wings and hugged me.

"you?!"

Although he knew the other party wasn't someone to be trifled with, and had heard somewhat about my relationship with Yuki, Gilgamesh never imagined I would be so intimate with another girl in front of her. Suddenly, a thread of reason snapped in the King of Heroes's brain—

"Heaven and Earth diverge! The Star of Creation!!"

Then, as if splitting the entire world in two, a golden light seemed capable of cleaving everything in its path. So dazzling was its intensity that Tokiomi Tohsaka couldn't help but close his eyes. Even so, the intense light still caused him immense damage…

Meanwhile, next to the central bridge, the battle between Kirei Kotomine and Kiritsugu Emiya was almost over.

Father Kirei Kotomine was far more cunning than the Magician Killer had imagined. He had already noticed something amiss with the gun hiding place from Kiritsugu Emiya's subtle movements.

Just as Kiritsugu Emiya was thinking that he was about to win this time, he turned to the side and stretched out his foot to try to hook Kirei Kotomine's arquebus—however, at that moment, Kirei Kotomine stepped forward first and kicked the arquebus dozens of meters away.

"Damn it!" Kiritsugu Emiya's heart skipped a beat, realizing that his plans had been discovered by his enemy without his knowledge. At the same time, the six black keys slashed towards his neck.

"...We lost."

Kiritsugu Emiya closed his eyes in resignation, but the next moment, he did not experience the chilling feeling of death.

"I have a few questions for you."

Kirei Kotomine's indifferent voice came over, making Kiritsugu Emiya feel somewhat incredulous.

at the same time.

"Go to hell! Go to hell! Go to hell! Go to hell! Go to hell!!!"

In his berserk state, Gilgamesh roared wildly, continuously swinging his sword and unleashing terrifying energy capable of splitting the heavens and earth.

At this moment, within the entire subspace, except for the area three feet around the Scarlet Devil Mansion which was enveloped by an invisible barrier, preventing the golden energy from entering, the rest of the area had already turned into a golden expanse.

After that, Gilgamesh stopped, panting heavily. Sweat poured down his forehead.

"Damn it..."

Gilgamesh felt a pang of regret at this moment—because just moments before, his Master, Tokiomi Tohsaka, hadn't even had time to react before being obliterated by what seemed like the umpteenth wave of Ea attacks. Although Gilgamesh was an A-rank Heroic Spirit capable of independent action, he hardly needed his Master's magical support.

However, that's "almost," not "completely."

Furthermore, Gilles's reckless use of her ultimate attack earlier had nearly depleted all her magical energy. Therefore, Gilles was weaker than ever before. Any random Heroic Spirit could easily take her down.

So, when she saw that I and Yuki were both safe and sound, but the Chains of Heaven had broken into several pieces, her expression turned extremely ugly.

Unlike the cheap items in Gate of Babylon, the Chains of Heaven was Gilgamesh's true Noble Phantasm. Seeing his own Noble Phantasm so damaged, Gilgamesh finally couldn't hold back anymore, his face turned red, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

"The bond between the Emperor and Empress?!" Gilgamesh saw the name of my and Yuki's attack through the Holy Grail System. Then, unable to hold back any longer, he spat out another mouthful of blood—if the previous spitting out of blood due to a sudden surge of anger could be somewhat better for his body, then this one had fundamentally damaged him.

“Jill…”

I felt a little reluctant, so I let go of Yuki's hand, stepped forward, and wanted to comfort Gil.

"You bastard! Don't come any closer!! From today onwards, it's either you or me!! If you follow me, I'll kill myself!!!"

Although her words were rambling and incoherent, she had conveyed the basic meaning—but upon further reflection, I realized that girls' words generally need to be interpreted in reverse. When she said not to follow, she actually meant for me to come. It would be foolish of me not to follow.

As for the so-called "I'll die to show you" nonsense. *shrug* What man doesn't know about the tactic of crying, making a scene, and threatening suicide? It shows absolutely no sincerity.

Then, the entire subspace vanished rapidly, and Gilgamesh, dragging his weary body, flew slowly into the distance. His silhouette looked utterly desolate.

"Yuki, you should go back for a bit... I, um, I'll go back later—and while I'm at it, I'll check on that guy Emiya Kiritsugu. He's got the reputation of a magician killer, but he hasn't even killed a single Master yet. What's wrong with him?"

Chapter Thirty-One: When Dreams Shatter

"I see."

Kirei Kotomine dejectedly retrieved the black key from his hand. Then he turned around and staggered away.

Perhaps if I shot him in the back right now, he wouldn't even flinch. Kiritsugu Emiya thought to himself, but ultimately he didn't do it.

After all, the other party had spared his life. More importantly, it seemed the other party had completely given up on the Holy Grail War—or perhaps this guy never took the Holy Grail War seriously in the first place. What drove him to fight so desperately was simply a misunderstanding.

Misunderstanding, he mistook Kiritsugu Emiya for someone like himself. He mistakenly believed Kiritsugu had found his purpose in life and desperately wanted to meet him to ask what he had achieved, hoping to learn from him and make his own life more fulfilling.

Unfortunately, all of this was just Kirei Kotomine's delusion. Completely different from that twisted psychopath, Kiritsugu Emiya was a selfless individual who was entirely devoted to others and could practically be considered a saint.

Disappointment, shame, and an extreme desire to escape as quickly as possible.

Kirei Kotomine then covered his face and ran away, leaving Kiritsugu Emiya feeling puzzled.

"Could this guy have some kind of bad habit?" Seeing the once-imposing priest suddenly transform into a runaway little girl, Kiritsugu Emiya felt a chill run down his spine. This possibility involuntarily crossed his mind.

"...How disgusting."

at the same time.

"Don't follow me! Didn't you hear me?! Are you really trying to drive me to my death?!"

I stopped somewhat awkwardly in the sky, about half a meter away from Gilgamesh, wanting to reach out and grab her arm, but ultimately did not.

We lost.

In this battle.

I gave a soft snort, watching Jill's increasingly dim figure gradually disappear into the distance, and couldn't help but feel a wave of discouragement. Speaking of which, the battlefield of love is like a battlefield; I've been a master strategist on the battlefield, and equally invincible in the realm of love. I haven't suffered many defeats like this.

Damn it, damn it. I'm going back.

I rolled my eyes. I thought to myself that Gillespie's strength was almost gone, and her own Master had been obliterated by her stray bullets. In that case, Gillespie would soon return to the Holy Grail.

After a brief moment of reflection, I returned to the Einzbern family mansion. Although tonight's battle had yielded some gains—one of my three remaining opponents was dead, and the other two were on the verge of death—I still felt uneasy. Seeing Kiritsugu Emiya approach with his deathly expression, I had no interest in greeting him and went straight to my room.

"Master...didn't they catch up?"

At this moment, Yuki sat on the bed, leaning against the edge, looking at a parchment scroll that appeared to be written in some kind of divine script by the light of the lamp. That was Yuki's strength. She always found time to study. It was precisely because of this diligence that her current strength was much greater than when I first transferred all my hellish and deathly power into her.

"Ah."

After meeting Yuki, I felt my anger dissipate a lot, and even Gil's final rejection didn't seem to bother me too much.

The next day, early in the morning.

Within the Holy Church, a desperate Kirei Kotomine murdered his father. He then seized all the Command Seals for himself. Gilgamesh, seemingly unharmed, stood by, watching this scene with a cold smile.

A new Archer duo has been formed.

night.

At this moment, I had lost all desire to act. In my mind, Gilgamesh was most likely waiting to die in some ditch. And Kariya Matou was definitely lying in his basement, receiving humiliation and training. Therefore, there were no more opponents worth paying attention to. Now, I just had to wait for the enemies to die on their own.

While victory is something to celebrate and pop champagne for me, it's a bittersweet experience for Kiritsugu Emiya.

I just went to check on Irisviel in her room, and she has lost all her bodily functions. She's stopped breathing and her heart has stopped beating. By normal standards, she would be declared dead.

The homunculus of the Holy Grail... Hmph.

I shook my head slightly, looking at the guy opposite me, and felt a little sorry for him.

"Alright, Kiritsugu, let's go out and have some fun today."

Then, I slammed my hand on the table and said this to Kiritsugu Emiya.

"Ok?"

Emiya Kiritsugu seemed somewhat surprised that I would speak like that, and didn't react for a moment.

"Let's just consider this an early celebration of our victory in the Holy Grail War. It's something to celebrate, isn't it? Stop wearing that deadpan expression, like everyone owes you millions." As I said this, I snapped my fingers. "Let's go, let's go out for a drink, and maybe see if there are any nice girls in the bar we can pick up."

"But...no, you go, I'm staying."

"Come on, take it easy. If Alice knew you looked like this, she would be heartbroken."

Perhaps it was my words that made Kiritsugu Emiya somewhat tempted. He considered it for a moment, then slowly nodded, agreeing to my proposal.

"That's more like it. A real man should be fearless like this." I chuckled, then saw Yuki standing next to me with a faint smile. My smile vanished instantly.

"...Um, Yuki, are you going too?"

……

silence.

"Yuki, you see, even though we've secured our victory, there are still two enemies operating outside. Could you please be patient and stay here to oversee things?"

……

silence.

"Okay, okay, I got it."

In the end, I left with Yuki because I felt guilty. As for Kiritsugu Emiya, he seemed to feel even less bothered because having a woman accompany him gave him an explanation to his wife. He then mumbled to himself by Irisviel's bedside for a good half hour before I, growing impatient, pulled him away.

So, after instructing Maiya to take good care of Irisviel—though there wasn't really anything else to take care of—the three of us left the Einzbern family mansion and drove towards Fuyuki city...