001 - What Makes it Hard to Go Home ?

Saber swings Excalibur at Rei swiftly, but Rei appears completely unfazed. With ease, he moves his body slightly to the side to dodge the attack.

Saber then slashes right in front of Rei, her face showing surprise—she didn't expect him to dodge so quickly, even though she swung her sword while being right in front of him.

Without any delay, Rei places his palm on Saber's armor, specifically on her stomach area.

"Colossus: Sweltering Armor." His left hand turns red and begins emitting intense heat.

With a one-inch punch, he strikes Saber's armor.

"Agh!" Saber is sent flying due to his punch, amplified by the power of the Primal Beast Colossus.

Colossus is a Primal Beast known for having the strongest attack among other Primal Beasts and possesses the ability to slice through dimensions when it swings its sword.

"Saber!" Shirou yells in worry as he sees Saber being thrown back.

But Rin holds him back to prevent him from running toward Saber. "Emiya, don't go over there yet! It's too dangerous!"

However, Shirou easily frees himself from Rin's grip and runs toward Saber, who is lying on the ground, clutching her stomach.

When Shirou gets close to Saber, he can see smoke rising from the spot where her hand is covering her stomach.

"Shirou, can you heal me?" Saber immediately asks as her Master stands beside her.

"Ahh, no. I'm sorry, but I have no idea how any of this works."

"...It's fine, then. I can still fight." Saber tries to stand up from where she is, but suddenly they both hear Rei's voice.

"It's useless, Saber. You're far weaker than me. Even if you tried to unseal Excalibur, it still wouldn't be enough for me." Rei says, walking toward the two of them.

"And then what!? Just let you make fun of my wish?!" Saber shouts.

"No, I never made fun of your wish, but whatever... Let me give you two choices from here." Rei raises his index finger toward Saber.

"The first choice is that you attack me again, and I'll kill you. Then, I'll send you to the next Holy Grail War, where the Grail is no longer corrupted. There, you might win the Holy Grail War and get your wish."

Rei knows that Saber made a contract with "the world," and the content of the contract is "King Arthur must obtain the Grail while still alive." So, even if she dies here, she will appear somewhere else where a Holy Grail War is happening.

After all, Saber is still alive in her era, frozen due to that contract.

"And the other choice... let me show you what would happen if you managed to do that." Rei says, smiling at Saber and waiting for her answer.

Hearing that, Saber starts to think seriously about all of it.

If what he says is true and the Grail in this Holy Grail War is indeed corrupted, she won't be able to get her wish. She could ask this Foreigner to kill her in battle, and she could try again somewhere else.

"The second choice... What you show me—is it the truth? How will you show it to me?" Saber finally asks after some time.

"Is this a good idea, Rei?" Rin, standing beside Rei, asks him.

"It's fine, and everything I show you is the truth." Rei smiles at Saber and taps his foot on the ground.

"Hey, Alaya, Gaia, can you hear me? I'm going to use my power, so don't panic too much."

After a moment, Rei doesn't hear any response from them, so they might be busy. He decides to proceed anyway.

"Dream Atlas." After saying that, a blue light appears in front of him and starts forming into a book.

When the light fades away, they see a thick book floating in front of them.

[IMAGE]

"A book?" Rin is confused when she sees the book.

"Now, let's just start." Rei grabs the book and looks at Saber.

"Vision Chronicle."

After saying that, the book quickly responds and begins to glow.

The book opens up and quickly flips through numerous pages, as if searching for something.

Rin, Shirou, and Saber are watching the book with curiosity, but the longer they stare at it, they start to feel like they are being pulled toward it.

"Not you, Rin. You stay here." Rei says as he covers Rin's eyes, which are wide open as she looks at the book he's holding.

"Eh? What was I doing?" Rin said snapping out of it after her eyes are covered, appears confused.

But not Saber and Shirou; both of them immediately fall unconscious after staring at the rapidly flipping book for a few moments.

"What happened to them?!" Rin asks Rei when she sees her friend unconscious.

"They're just seeing another timeline." Rei replies, walking over to the two who have fainted and are lying side by side.

He then pulls them both over to the side and sets them down there without much concern.

"This book has the ability to connect someone to their other self from a different timeline through dreams. But you can't really interact with your other self; you can only watch from their perspective." Rei explains, showing the book he holds to Rin.

"You mean right now Saber is seeing where she manages to get her wish? But what about Emiya? What does he want to see?"

"Well... He's probably seeing his other self becoming a Hero of Justice..."

"Hero of Justice? He actually has a dream like that?"

"Yeah... It's Kiritsugu's influence, but it's actually bad for him to become that. But oh well, let's see what happens later." Rei says, then walks back to the edge where he leans on the barrier that separating this road and the sea, and enjoying the view in front of him—the sea and the edge of the city visible from here.

"Huh... I'm kinda curious about what I'm going to see if you didn't stop me." Rin says as she follows Rei and leans too next to him.

"Heh, you're probably going to see a dream where you become a magical girl and try to find Class Servant cards." Rei jokes to Rin.

After that, the two of them just continue chatting with each other while waiting for Saber and Shirou to finish their dreams. Rei says it won't take them too long because time moves faster in dreams compared to here.

"By the way, how do you know all of that? About the previous war and the Grail being corrupted?" Rin suddenly asks Rei.

Rei isn't sure if he should tell Rin the truth or not. He also can't say that it's because he watched the Fate anime before he suddenly appeared in the Sky Realm.

"Well, you don't need to tell me if you're uncomfortable with that." Rin says when she sees the troubled expression on Rei's face.

"You can just think of it as one of my abilities."

"Hmm?" But then he suddenly senses something happening that makes him turn around to where Saber and Shirou are.

"Oh, looks like one of them is done."

Rei then walks over to Saber, who looks like she's groaning in pain, her body covered in sweat, and she seems to be mumbling something.

"She looks like she's in pain." Rin says, noticing Saber's state.

"This feeling... I didn't expect it to be this bad. How many times did she try to save her Britain in her dream? Even making her change like this?" Rei murmurs when he senses something happening to Saber's body.

"Rin, get Shirou to safety!" Rei quickly shouts to Rin, but unfortunately, it's too late because Saber suddenly opens her eyes, revealing that they've changed color to golden.

Quickly, Rei uses his power to envelop Rin and Shirou, then gently throws them away to a place far from here.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" And then Saber starts screaming and immediately grabs her Excalibur, standing up and attacking anyone in front of her.

But Rei easily dodges Saber's attack and keeps his distance by jumping back.

"No! You lied, you lied, you lied, you lied, you lied, you lied, you lied, you lied, you lied, you lied, you lied, you lied, you lied, you lied, you lied, you lied, you lied, you lied, you lied, you lied, you lied, you lied, you lied, you lied!" Saber, with a terrifying expression on her face, starts shouting repeatedly at Rei.

"Transformation...?" Rei can see that Saber's body is starting to change little by little with each word she says.

Then, the color of her skin becomes pale, her armor turns jet black, and the hole where Rei attacked her previously begins to regenerate.

"I will make you pay for the lies you showed me!" Saber glares at Rei with intense hatred, and her Excalibur appears, no longer concealed by Invisible Air.