Unlimited Ambition

Chapter Thirty-Four: The Holy Grail Appears

"No! No, no, no, no!!!"

Sitting in the passenger seat, as we got closer to the Einzbern family's castle, I felt increasingly uneasy—after saying "no" five times in a row, that familiar feeling finally came back to me. Although there were slight changes, overall it was exactly the same.

"What's wrong?" Kiritsugu Emiya, who was driving recklessly at a speed of 120 kilometers per hour, turned around and asked.

I took a deep breath and said in a slightly discouraged voice, "The Holy Grail has appeared."

When Kiritsugu Emiya heard me say that, his hand trembled so badly he almost had a car accident. He understood that the birth of the Holy Grail meant the death of another Heroic Spirit—and also meant that his wife, Irisviel, had completely disappeared from this world.

After that, the atmosphere became extremely heavy, and no one spoke. They drove all the way to the gates of the Einzbern family castle. Once they got out of the car, they realized something was wrong.

Wherever the Black Knight went, chaos followed. The main gate, which had just been repaired a few days ago, was now in a terrible state of disarray. Looking inside, the entire hall was also a mess; the crystal chandelier had been knocked down and was shattered on the floor, its wires still crackling and sputtering.

Immediately afterwards, Kiritsugu Emiya and I rushed inside.

"Yuki, go outside and see if there's any movement around!"

I gave these instructions to Yuki as I ran. In my heart, I thought, no matter who caused such a huge commotion—the situation had definitely changed, and our previous plans were no longer valid. Perhaps another Heroic Spirit had also caught wind of this and was watching the situation from the outside.

"Understood." Yuki stretched out her bone wings and rose into the air. Her eyes clearly saw two figures not far away. One of them she had only met a few times, but the other left a deep impression on her.

"Gilgamesh." Yuki scoffed, inwardly contemplating whether to seize the opportunity to chop Gilgamesh to pieces. But then she thought better of it. What if I asked her about it later? Yuki isn't one to lie. That would be terrible.

At that moment, Kiritsugu Emiya and I separated. He ran towards his wife's bedroom, while I headed towards Sakura's room, thinking to myself, "She's still the child I took in. She's practically my apprentice. I can't let her die like this."

What I meant by "died in vain" was that pile of graphic, disturbingly disfigured body parts on the ground. Judging from the fabric of the clothes and the amount of flesh, this guy was most likely Hisayu Maiya. I never expected this quiet female assassin to die here—I knew from the start that she and Emiya Kiritsugu had a rather ambiguous relationship. This time, Emiya Kiritsugu lost both his wife and his concubine overnight; he must be incredibly heartbroken.

And I was also at fault in this matter. If I hadn't insisted on dragging him to drink... then this wouldn't have happened today.

hateful.

With such thoughts swirling in my mind, my mood was naturally not good. When I arrived at Sakura's room, I found the door locked and couldn't open it, which made me even more anxious—although the locked door might mean that Sakura had already sensed that something was wrong—of course, I've read some detective novels about locked-room murders when I'm bored—in fact, I've seen quite a few in real life, some of which I even committed myself…

"Damn it—Sakura! Can you hear me, Sakura?! Open the door if you can hear me!!"

I knocked on the door and shouted this into the room.

However, there was no sound from inside.

Meanwhile, Kiritsugu Emiya, unable to conceal his sorrow, stumbled towards Irisviel's bedroom. He then entered through the opening created by the Black Knight.

The Holy Grail is within reach.

Simultaneously.

Although Yuki had no intention of causing trouble for Gilgamesh, Her Majesty the Queen possessed a very strong sense of pride. Seeing the enormous bird-man in the sky, she snorted coldly, brandished her Ea sword, and charged forward.

As Yuki watched her opponent charge aggressively towards her, she knew she wasn't one to suffer losses. In terms of strength, Yuki, a high-ranking god, was far superior to Gilgamesh. There was absolutely no need for her to give in.

So, Yuki raised his blade and charged forward.

At this moment, inside the Holy Grail, Kiritsugu Emiya was filled with doubt and uncertainty. He looked at the woman before him who looked exactly like his wife, yet whose temperament was completely different. He reached for his gun, but his hand grasped only empty air...

"Sakura?! Sakura?!"

After calling out so many times without getting a response, I couldn't take it anymore. I pulled out a strand of hair, stuck it in the keyhole, and locked the door open. Thank goodness, it wasn't the kind of R-rated scene I'd imagined.

"who are you?"

“I am Irisviel, your wife, Kiritsugu.”

"Don't lie to me!!!"

"What do you mean, are you lying to me, Kiritsugu? The Holy Grail is Irisviel, and Irisviel is the Holy Grail."

The woman, both familiar and unfamiliar, embraced Kiritsugu Emiya and said this.

"Damn it! I'll kill you!!"

Outside, the battle between Gilgamesh and Yuki raged fiercely. Gilgamesh, relying on the formidable sharpness of his Ea, launched a relentless assault. Yuki, however, was more agile than Gilgamesh and avoided direct confrontation, fighting and retreating. At first, Gilgamesh paid no attention, but after a while, she sensed something was amiss—Nagato Yuki was dragging her relentlessly towards the Einzbern family's castle! A castle alone wouldn't have been a problem. But her nemesis was inside, and Gilgamesh simply couldn't bear to face her this time. Hesitating for a moment, her attacks slowed…

At that moment, I entered Sakura's room and saw the little girl sitting at the foot of the bed, her body curled up and trembling. I was immediately filled with tenderness and went over to gently hug Sakura's soft body.

"Don't be afraid, it's alright."

Sakura was stunned for a moment, then her mouth opened wide, and she hugged my neck with her little hands and burst into tears.

"Mother……"

……

I'm a man.

At this very moment, inside the Holy Grail, Kiritsugu Emiya was drenched in cold sweat, trembling uncontrollably as if he were gravely ill. Meanwhile, Irisviel before him wore a beaming smile.

"Well? Kiritsugu, do you understand now? Humans are not worthy of salvation. All they can bear is indiscriminate judgment. Chaos is the final answer."

"Speaking nonsense!!!"

Chapter Thirty-Five: The War Ends

"Just now, for a short while," the woman who looked remarkably like Kiritsugu Emiya's wife asked.

"If Kiritsugu were on a ship at sea—a ship with three hundred passengers—and the ship is about to sink due to a malfunction, and there is another ship next to you that is also about to sink with four hundred passengers, and you are capable of fixing the malfunctioning ship—but because of time constraints, you can only fix one ship, then which ship should you fix?"

At the same time, a balance scale appeared in the woman's hand, with four hundred gold coins on one side and three hundred on the other. The side with four hundred gold coins was sinking downwards.

Of course, the one with more people is the better choice.

Kiritsugu Emiya has made countless choices. All lives are of equal value. If saving one group comes at the cost of another, then let the numbers speak for themselves.

"But the people on those three hundred ships will absolutely not let you leave. They want to live too. They demand that you repair your own ship first. What should you do then?"

Just kill him. We're all going to die anyway. Living a few more minutes or a few less doesn't make much difference.

So, the three hundred gold coins fell to the ground with a clatter.

"So, the boat with four hundred people was rescued and continued onward—at this point, the people split into two groups: one with three hundred people and another with one hundred people. After that, the same thing happened again."

Hey—what do you mean by this?!

Kiritsugu Emiya seemed to sense that something was amiss.

"Then, the same thing happened again. Kiritsugu Emiya, wielding a submachine gun, went on a killing spree, wiping out all one hundred people. In return, he saved three hundred—but now, four hundred people are dead. Why is that?"

Kiritsugu Emiya felt his body was completely out of his control—if it weren't for that, he would have rushed forward and punched the guy who was smiling like a fox.

However, it is impossible.

"After that, the three hundred people were split into two groups of two hundred and one group of one hundred..."

"Damn it—"

……

Finally, only three gold coins remained on the scales.

"So, this gold coin represents yourself, Kiritsugu. By committing suicide, you can save two lives. Kiritsugu, what should you do?"

The woman asked this question—at the same time, Kiritsugu's sidearm, which had disappeared, reappeared in his hand at some point.

"Can suicide really save two lives?" Kiritsugu Emiya suddenly knelt down—recalling everything he had done. What about saving the world? What about saving everyone? In the end, couldn't he even save the woman he loved most?

So... I'm really not cut out to be a hero.

Kiritsugu Emiya thought dejectedly.

Meanwhile, Gilgamesh was already considering retreating, his eyes darting around as if he wanted to create an opening to escape. However, Yuki had no intention of letting her go at this moment, clinging to him tightly. Gilgamesh carefully calculated seven or eight times; if she were to forcibly escape, the final result would be 95% certainty that she would be killed by this emotionless man.

At that moment, I had comforted Sakura and was preparing to leave—after all, the Holy Grail was still waiting for me—but Sakura clung tightly to my clothes, looking at me pitifully. It seemed she didn't want me to leave.

……

Forget it.

I picked Sakura up in my arms and ran towards Irisviel's bedroom.

"The Holy Grail?!"

Seeing the gleaming Holy Grail before me, and Kiritsugu Emiya kneeling on the ground, clearly in some strange state and somewhat confused, I didn't hesitate at all and walked straight toward the Holy Grail.

Just as I was about to pick up the large trophy that symbolized victory, Kiritsugu Emiya, who had seemed like a dead man just moments before, suddenly spoke.

"...Saber, destroy the Holy Grail!"

"what?!"

I was stunned for a moment—then all three Command Seals in Kiritsugu Emiya's hand disappeared at the same time—in that instant of my daze! Because of the Command Seals, I subconsciously drew my sword—the emerald green Voodoo Sword sliced ​​the Holy Grail in two with a single strike.

"you?!"

The next moment, I broke free from the Command Seals, watching my life's work crumble before my eyes. My eyes instantly turned red. I turned around, brandishing my longsword, aiming it at Kiritsugu Emiya.

Emiya Kiritsugu, however, offered no explanation and simply stared at me silently.

"Fine, fine." I stamped my foot. "That way, neither of us owes the other anything."

After I finished speaking, I turned and left—and at that moment, the filthy black sludge carrying the evil of this world gushed out from the broken Holy Grail and instantly engulfed Kiritsugu Emiya.

I did not turn back—at this moment, the contract between me and Kiritsugu Emiya remains unbroken. Therefore, this minor injury will at most render Kiritsugu Emiya a cripple, but it will not take his life.

Meanwhile, outside, Yuki had completely suppressed Gilgamesh. No matter how much Her Majesty the Queen roared or struggled, she couldn't break free from the net woven by Yuki's two blades of light. In her desperation, Yuki even managed to exploit an opening, nearly severing an arm from her.

"Damn it." Gilgamesh was secretly furious at this moment—however, at this very moment, with the destruction of the Holy Grail, all the power in Gilgamesh's body seemed to have been drained. Seeing the Yuki Blade of Light slicing towards his neck, he thought of blocking, but his movements were a beat too slow, and he finally collapsed powerlessly.

"How could this be?!"

As she watched her blade strike and take Gilgamesh's life, Nagato Yuki froze. Gilgamesh's corpse then fell from mid-air into the rolling mud.

"……Owner?"

I never expected such a huge change to occur after the Holy Grail was destroyed. Fortunately, this level of "evil" isn't much of a threat to me—but Sakura in my arms is just an ordinary person now. So it's better to get out sooner rather than later. And just then, I witnessed this scene.

"...No, it's none of your business."

I naturally know quite a bit about the relationship between the Holy Grail and Heroic Spirits. Therefore, I don't feel much resentment towards Yuki.

“But… young master…” Yuki still seemed to be bothered by the matter.

"It's really nothing..."

As I spoke, I watched the entire Einzbern family castle crumble to dust. A sense of melancholy washed over me. But then, just then, I saw Kiritsugu Emiya emerge from the black mud, looking utterly bewildered. He seemed to have lost his soul…