I, Kurumi Tokisaki, Am a Wanderer

"Is this a dream?... Emiya Kiritsugu wondered, bewildered. A black vortex hung in the sky, an unfathomable darkness brimming with terrifying malice.

It craved to descend upon the world, harboring nothing but ill will.

The resplendent night sky appeared blood-red in Emiya Kiritsugu's eyes. That black vortex, that black sun, was like a 'hole' from which a filthy rain of mud poured down.

The pitch-black sun dominated the world, and around him, black mud filled with malice surged like an ocean, with mountains of corpses and seas of bones slowly sinking into it, dried out and despairing.

Curses...

Resentment...

Emiya Kiritsugu tightened his grip on the gun in his hand, a weapon resembling a medieval firearm, as though he were holding a short sword.

"Hell."

The man's voice was dry. This was no 'wish-granting machine' like the Holy Grail; this was clearly hell.

Kiritsugu raised the magic gun in his right hand, its murderous barrel aimed at the figure before him, the one who claimed to be his wife. From that identical, pure, childlike face, all he could see was a deep, terrifying malice.

She was the Holy Grail.

The Holy Grail had been tainted, and it would interpret his wish in the most malevolent way possible.

Five hundred people stood on the scales, three hundred on one side, two hundred on the other.

To save the three hundred, a storm of bullets would rain down and slaughter the two hundred.

The three hundred would then be placed on the scales once more, with two hundred on one side, and one hundred on the other.

In a blinding explosion, the hundred would be reduced to corpses and blood.

The game continued.

The scene made Emiya Kiritsugu feel nauseous. The mountain of corpses grew higher and higher, and his hands were stained red with the blood of the sacrifices.

Round after round, time and time again.

Finally, only his loved ones remained before him, but he could no longer control his own body. A being filled with malice was controlling him, pressing the gun's muzzle against Maiya's chin.

"No!" Emiya Kiritsugu screamed in despair.

"This is not my wish." His hands were stained red with blood. Nine years ago, when he heard that the Holy Grail was a 'wish-granting machine' capable of fulfilling any desire, he had entered the Einzbern family.

"This is your truth, the answer from the depths of Emiya Kiritsugu's heart, the wish that the Holy Grail, as a wish-granting machine, must fulfill." The face identical to Irisviel's was twisted with a malicious grin.

"What I hoped for... what I hoped for was a different way, a 'miracle'." The pain from the black mud's corruption was unbearable, but it couldn't compare to the pain in his heart.

His wish, shattered.

"A method you yourself cannot even conceive—how could it possibly be part of your wish?"

"Hurry up and make your wish, Kiritsugu." She urged him playfully, longing to be born into this world.

Emiya Kiritsugu's eyes were hollow; he had already foreseen the form his wish would take.

Everything on the planet would be destroyed, black mud swirling in a vortex.

All of humanity would be slaughtered, and the world would naturally become peaceful. No more disputes, no more entanglements, no more wars.

In his daughter's small room, only the three of them would remain. What a blissful existence.

Outside the window, the black mud fell like snowflakes.

The desperate wish soaked in blood nearly drove him insane.

"The Holy Grail... is something that should not exist..."

Kiritsugu gently stroked his beloved daughter's small head.

"Daddy loves Illya the most, I swear..." Scalding tears streamed from his eyes as he raised his right hand, and the ancient gun materialized.

"—Goodbye, Illya."

Bang—

Silver-white hair, sticky with hot blood, clung to his face. The Grail's malevolent consciousness, which had charged at him like a demon, only now truly resembled Irisviel.

"What are you doing!?"

The consciousness of Irisviel, which undoubtedly still existed within, was filled with despair and pain at the sight of her daughter's death, and the fact that the killer was her own husband made her—no, it—furious as she charged at Emiya Kiritsugu.

"I'm going to—save—the world." The man known as Emiya Kiritsugu was now just an empty shell, so hollow he couldn't even feel sorrow. All that remained was the belief that had always guided him.

Having sacrificed everything, having abandoned the miracle he had sought through the seven-day war, he had nothing left.

He snapped the neck of the collapsing woman.

"Emiya Kiritsugu... I curse you..."

The black mud seeped from her nails, deeply embedded in Kiritsugu's skin, infiltrating his flesh, coursing through his veins toward his heart, and permeating his soul.

"Well, whatever."

"But—I'll carry your curse."

Like a fleeting illusion, it all vanished, and Emiya Kiritsugu found himself staring at the ceiling of the grand props warehouse, where black mud was seeping out.

The ritual for the Holy Grail's descent was still ongoing.

There wasn't much time left; it had to be stopped.

Wading through the filthy black mud, he confirmed with his partner.

"Archer, can you... destroy the Holy Grail?"

Kurumi Tokisaki, manifested as Archer, was a perfect and like-minded partner. Now, only one final enemy stood in their way.

Saber—the oldest king—Gilgamesh.

"Oh my, oh my, you really are saying something extraordinary." A coquettish voice came from behind him, and the girl in the black and red Gothic dress appeared silently behind him. "So, what have you discovered?"

The expression on this man's face was all too familiar to her, like when she, once self-proclaimed as a hero of justice, realized that the monster she had slain with her own hands was her dearest friend.

"Ah... that thing might not be able to fulfill our desperate wish."

"Ah, miracles... they're nothing but illusions." Kurumi had long since lost hope in such things.

"Well then." The girl's fragrant breath seemed to brush against his earlobe. "As you wish."

She slowly sank into the shadows.

In the center of the empty music hall, the golden Holy Grail, shining brightly, floated amidst the flames.

This is the Holy Grail we desired.

Kurumi Tokisaki confirmed it.

"Your stubbornness is truly delightful." The golden Servant blocked her path, his ruby-red eyes full of arrogance. "Have you made up your mind? Be my wife."

"Hm?" A slender finger lightly tapped her enticing lips. "That sounds like a rather good suggestion."

Her beautiful eyes narrowed, yet there was a teasing glint in them.

"Your pretense only disgusts this king." The ruby-like three-segmented cylindrical sword twisted into a spiral shape. The bizarre weapon, which could barely be called a sword, pointed at Kurumi, and an overwhelming magical power surged.

That was the divine sword that split heaven and earth, the mythical weapon from ancient Mesopotamian mythology that cleaved the heavens and earth, giving them their proper form.

"Understand this, this king has no intention of asking for your consent."

To the oldest king, treasures were not just for display and collection; destroying them could bring just as much pleasure.

The girl shouted, "Come forth, Zafkiel!"

In an instant—a massive golden clock emerged from the shadow behind Kurumi.

The ancient dual pistols, of varying lengths, pointed at the oldest king, yet they only brought him joy. "Resist all you want, little kitten. The way you struggle is simply beautiful."

He stood before the Holy Grail, as if victory was already in his grasp.

And indeed, that was the truth. The spirit girl named Kurumi Tokisaki could hardly be called a true Servant; her stats were pitifully low.

Yet her mental strength and compatibility were a perfect match for Emiya Kiritsugu—both manipulators of time, both harboring the same desperate wish, both holding a sacred yet indifferent view of life.

In front of the oldest king, she was like a tiny boat struggling in a storm.

But who said a tiny boat couldn't brave the waves?

From the shadows, the girl's whisper echoed softly.

"Hehehehe, hahaha~"

She clutched her stomach, laughing out loud, her face full of ridicule and mockery. Destroy the Holy Grail? Emiya Kiritsugu, you really are someone I didn't misjudge.

"You mongrel, what are you laughing at?" The golden king seemed to be provoked, the bizarre weapon he called the Sword of Rupture raised high, divine winds swirling as if to recreate the great glory of splitting heaven and earth.

—Emiya Kiritsugu used a Command Seal to order Archer—

His voice was clear and resolute.

—Destroy the Holy Grail—

A mad grin spread across the girl's face.

"Are you trying to ruin this king's wedding, mongrel?" The golden sovereign, his blood-red eyes filled with extreme rage.

...

—Destroy the Holy Grail—

...

—Using the third Command Seal, repeat the order—

—Archer, destroy the Holy Grail!—

"Such abundant power." Kurumi Tokisakii's face was full of intoxication, the spiritual energy so plentiful that she even felt she could use the Twelfth Bullet.

"Pathetically weak." The oldest king no longer wished to entertain these ants.

The sky mourned, the earth roared.

The spiraling sword rotated.

"Enuma Elish!"

The fate of falling into the abyss seemed inevitable, as the howling winds tore apart the heavens and the earth, swallowing everything into the void.

But he failed to notice that the clock behind the girl had quietly vanished.

An identical girl appeared beside the Holy Grail, with three Command Seals' worth of magical energy brimming in the chamber.

Bang—

The Holy Grail shattered quietly.

...

The entire hall was split in two by the power of the heavens, revealing the desolate night sky.

The final black sun hung high in the sky.

Emiya Kiritsugu had made a fatal mistake—the 'vessel' within Irisviel's body was merely the key to opening that hole, and also served as a stabilizing device.

But he had destroyed it.

Although the hole in the sky was slowly closing, the torrent of black mud was pouring down like a waterfall.

'All the Evils of the World.' As if to burn everything to ashes, the deluge erupted, rushing toward the city, burning the people in their sleep.

He shouldn't have let Kurumi destroy the golden Holy Grail.

A nightmare had descended, the night sky painted with the grand flames of destruction, and nearly a hundred buildings were ablaze.

Supported by Kurumi, Emiya Kiritsugu witnessed it all as they fled the civic center.

Despair and helplessness.

The world was burning.

The war had ended, and Kurumi Tokisaki's body seemed to dissolve into countless particles, as she looked at Emiya Kiritsugu, the man who shared her desperate wish.

"If you could do it all over again, could you prevent this tragedy?"

"What?" The man, who had already lost all hope, raised his head. The girl who called herself the 'Spirit of Time' had helped him greatly with her time acceleration and stasis techniques.

So, was it possible that she could actually reverse time?

"Could you?" The girl's body was dissolving, and she waited for the man's answer.

"Maybe."

"Well then." She smiled, and the massive clock abruptly reappeared.

"Vav—Sixth Bullet."

"Good luck."