22. Chapter 22

-GOOD END-

"I am the bone of my sword."

"Excalibur."

Saber and Shirou said at the same time as their weapon appeared in their hands. There were around 20 metres of distance between them and the man who they knew was their final and most dangerous enemy.

"Archer!" Saber exclaimed as saw the familiar face, the grip on her sword tighten and she immediatly went on a difensive pose.

Shirou noted Saber sudden reaction and the way he had just called the man... she knew him. After that he started to carefully watch the man, and as he watched him his instict told him that if they didn't kill the man there would be no future for any of them, there would be no future for all the people he loved. He had to make sure to kill him right here and now.

Gilgamesh stayed in complete silence as he watched Saber, he could tell it just by looking that Saber right now was in her perfect form. She was way stronger than the last time he had fought her... in fact, she was beatiful more than ever.

"Oh Saber, you don't even greet me and you're already showing me you little fangs..." The man said before laughing a bit. "But I've waited for 10 years Saber. I've waited 10 long years for your return. I will enjoy breaking you slowly this time."

"..."

"..."

Both Shirou and Saber said nothing and just kept watching him very intensly as they waited for a moment to attack.

"...Huh, who is that dog? Your Master?" Gilgamesh asked as he turned to watch Shirou. "...As much I hate to admit it I've have to thank him. If you're so beatiful now it's thanks to him, isn't it right?" He asked. "Oh well, he will die with the honor of having pleased the King Of Heroes. Now, begone." He said before closing his eyes and sanpping a finger.

In that moment a portal opened from behind him and a sword immediatly flew toward Shirou at impressive speed.

Gilgamesh then immeditaly opened his eyes when instead of the sound of flesh being teared apart there had been a soundly clang of metal hitting metal. He was incredibly surprised to see Saber standing in her same position, and to see that the one who parried the sword had been one of the floating swords that had suddenly appeared in fron to the boy.

"It's this his power? Will he shoot countless weapons from his portals?" Shirou asked. He now knew who the man was and what his abilities were, he just needed a confermation about his power since he was sure that he could counter it with his abilities.

"Yes. Do you have a plan?" Saber asked.

"Cut him down, I'll cover you." He just said.

"..." Gilgamesh was in complete silence. He didn't know if he should be incredibly insulted by the fact that the mongrel managed to deflect one of his treasures and just ordered Saber to kill him, or being impressed by it. Oh well, after all he was Saber's Master, he could not expect less from someone who had the great honor on having summoned a rebel like her... but he could forgive Saber for doing it, not him.

In that instant Saber started to dash toward Gilgamesh, but in that same instant Gilgamesh opened his portals and started to shoot his precious treasures to her.

But as his treasure started to fly toward her suddenly over 10 of them had been shotted down as soon they leaved their portal, Gilgamesh remained surprised. What just happened? As his portal kept shooting treasure to block Saber from advancing he looked down to see one of his swords on the ground... but near it there was an identical, broken and inferior copy of it...

Gilgamesh frowned and slowly turned to watch the boy who was behind Saber. No, the mongrel could be able to do or even dare something similar, right?! No one could be foolish enough to copy one of his treasures and use it against him... right?!

As soon he posed his eyes on him Gilgamesh started to feel a fury he hadn't felt for a long time.

He could see all around the mongrel inferior copies of his treasure, HIS TREASURE! The mongrel not only had the courage to copy them thanks to whatever ability he had, he was using those fakes to counter attack his treasures! He was using those fakes to hit and damage the inestimable originals treasures!

Gilgamesh right now would have turned all his attentions to the boy and butcher him for the grave crime and insult he just did, but he could not, Saber had started to get closer.

As soon Gilgamesh returned his attentions to his little king of knights he could not help but to remain fascinated, so much that in a single instant he had already forgotten the insulse mongrel that had offended him. Saber was moving with such speed, grace and beauty thant nothing could be compare to her, not even his treasures... It was exactly for this reason that he needed her to be part of his collection.

Right now Saber was slowly walking toward him as she deflected, parried and blocked all of the treasures that he was shotting her, and he could see that she was not having any sings of truble in doing it... he could say that she was not using all of her power.

He smiled at the sight and he opened even more portals, now around him there were 40 of them and they were incessantly shooting to Saber his treasures.

Many of his treasure were being shotted down as soon as they got out of their portal by the mongrel, but those who arrived towards Saber were somehow still able to slow her advance.

"I see that you're more beatiful than ever Saber, last time we saw eachother you were you were not so fascinating." Gilgamesh said happly as he watched Saber who was now around 11 metres from him. "I'll ask you once again Saber, would you like to become mine?"

Saber didn't respond. She was far too concentrated at deflecting the numerous weapons that rained on her than to give any attention to the man.

"How reckless you are, you don't even deign to answer me... but this is why I want you Saber. The more you refuse me, the more you defile me, the more I want to subdue you and make you my greatest treasure." Gilgamesh said with confidence and a big smile.

He right now would have liked to stay there and watch her, but the more second passed the more of his treasure were being shotted down before they could reach Saber, and that helped her at moving forward faster... the mongrel had started to become a big nuisance.

In that moment Gilgamesh pointed some of his treasures toward him and tried to get rid of the mongrel, but as soon he shooted his treasure the mongrel created copies of them and used them to protect himself. Also some swords that moved on their own blocked and deflected the few treasure that managed to reach him, they should not have been capable of doing it, but it seemed that they were somehow incredibly resistent.

After some moments Gilgamesh watched the scenary in front of him, and he could not help but smile a little. Saber was starting to get closer and closer while her Master supported her from afar, he could tell that they were an incredible duo. He could see in both of their eyes no trace of hesitation or doubt, they really belived that they could stop and kill him now.

'...Heh, it seemed that a worthy stage had been prepared once again.' Gilgamesh thought smiling.

As much Gilgamesh hated to admit it if he didn't do something Saber would soon reach him and cut him down, even without the help of the mongrel, he was just making things easier for her.

"I always knew that you were worthy of its power, and right now I've decided that it's time to use it aganist you, my dear." Gilgamesh said as a portal opened at his side and he took his most powerful treasure.

"Saber! Be..." Shirou started to exclaim before he stopped and fell on one of his knees. "B-Be c-c-careful!" Shirou then shouted as soon his conciusness returned.

Just... what had happened in that short moment?

Even if the man he was fighting was around 20 metres from him Shirou could copy all of his swords with a simple glance, but as soon he tried to analyze the thing the man was taking from his portal, even from such a distance, it had made him... cease everything. He stopped thinking, he stopped seeing, he stopped breathing, he... simply stopped doing anything.

What was that thing?! Why he could not analyze it?! Why it was so damn powerful?!

"Shirou?!" Saber shouted confused and concerned as she felt Shirou fainting for almost an instant while he stopped supporting her.

From that moment on Saber deflected all the weapons that rained on her by herself, and it slowed her incredibly from advancing. She could feel that Shirou now was incredibly confused, she didn't know why, but she knew that the warning he just gave her had to be taken seriously.

"It is time for you to subdue my dear Saber. My Sword of Rupture tears apart the world and the sky!" Gilgamesh said as he raised his sword and it started to spin. He had to limit a bit the power of Ea or he could kill Saber, she would never become his treasure if he killed her... but right now he was not sure about it, she was stronger than ever after all, maybe she could be able to stay alive after such hit.

Saber remained in silence while, at the same time, she both deflected all the weapons that Gilgamesh shooted her and watched the sword the man had in his hand emanating wave of energies... Shirou was right, she had to be careful.

The thing she was watching was not something she could deflect with her sword... It was not something she could deflect even by using the full power of Excalibur. Whatever thing the man was using it was clear that it was his greatest and most powerful treasure, she could tell that its destructive power was terryfing... but she too had her greatest treasure with herself.

As Shirou got back on his feet and returned to support her, Saber in that same moment closed her eyes and she started to meditate...

Saber opened her eyes and she was now in a giant garden... no, she was in a prairie. She didn't exactly remeber how much time ago it was, but after looking around and herself she could tell from her clothes she was wearing that not too much time had passsed from her incoronation. As she tried to recall what happened at the time she decided to turn around, and she saw that in front of her there was Merlin... and starngely, she was very happy to see him.

"Your highness. Which do you like better? The sword or the sheath?" The white haired mage suddenly asked.

Saber for a moment watched a bit dazed her so 'trusted' friend, adviser and teacher. What kind of question was he asking? The swords was the most obivious choice, but after she gave her answer to his question Merlin started to scold her.

"Please make no mistake here. The sword slashes the enemy, but the sheath protects you. As long as you have the sheath on you, you will spill no blood and take no wounds. You should truly value the sheath, not the sword." The mage said with a genuine smile, a smile that did not irritated her...

Saber really missed the old Merlin... sometimes.

After an instant Saber opened her eyes and watched Gilgamesh with invigorated determination and motivation.

It was now time to remind the entire world of why she was both the King of Kinghts, and King of Camelot: The Greatest Kingdom who has ever existed!

"Enuma Elish!" Gilgamesh said aloud before swinging his greatest treasure down to Saber.

Gilgamesh watched as the waves of energies destroy the road as they went direct to Saber, and as he did he hoped that it wouldn't have damaged her too much. After all he didn't want to destroy the beauty of such pretty flower, but he also would've loved seeing her wallow in her own blood.

But after not even an instant later Gilgamesh widened his eyes with surprise.

He expected everything to happen in those instant.

He expected to see Saber dead after she got hit, he expected her to stay on her feet after being hit despited the gave wounds, he expected her to somehow dodge the blow, he even expected to see her momentarily deflecting Ea blast with her sacred sword... He surely didn't expect to see a sheat appearing in front of her, moment before she deflected his own powerful blow back to him.

Panic invaded Gilgamesh and he quickly summoned his golden armor, ready to take on the blow that had been just deflected back to him, he had nor the time or the chance to use Ea once again to deflect the blow. Ea was a powerful weapon, yes, but it too it had some limits.

He now could not see anything but a giant wave of red energy that moved at incredible speed toward him, in fact not even an instant later the wave overwelmed him and damaged him for good... But while he was being overwhelmed by the wave he was a bit intrigued by the sensation he was feeling.

'So, this it wat it felt to be hit by Ea... even if very painful, it's not an extremely bad sensation.' He thought as he was being damaged.

After the red wave of energy finished to overwelm and push him back Gilgamesh returned to his senses, after all the wave had been fast and painful enough that it had made him lose his concentration just for a moment... but that short time frame had been more than enough for both of his adversaries.

What Gilgamesh then saw in front of himself was less than pleasing, and outright terryfing.

Two pairs of eyes closely watched him with strong murderous intent. It was clear that they wanted to put an end to him and everything here, and now. No hesitation was present in them.

He quickly tried to defend himself as he dashed back, but it was far too late, even if he was a good swordman he could not be compared to Saber. In fact as soon he tried to hit her with the sword of ropture Saber with a single swing cut off his right hand, disarming him from Ea, and with that same swing also cutted his chest almost in half.

Gilgamesh watched with the corner of his eye his right hand as it fell to the ground with his Ea, but an instant later his attention had been captured once again by Saber... no, it had been captured by the person who was now moving behind her.

The mongrel with red hairs in an instant surpassed Saber and swinged his pure white sword down toward his face, which hitted him deeply into the left side of his face, almost splitting open his head and making him lose his left eye.

Shirou realized that the hit had not killed the man instantly, so to remedy he quickly spinned around himself, and Gilgamesh could see that a second sword, who was pitch black like the night, was coming toward his neck and it was claming it... But he had enough.

In that single instant, before the black sword could claim his head, all around Shirou and Saber Gilgamesh opened as much portals he could, and all of them fired the greatest treasures that were in his treasury in a single instant, after that instant, explosions ensued.

After 20 seconds the giant cloud of smoke, dust, and debris that had been created by the explosions started to settle down and to clear up, but in it only two kneeled figures could be seen.

Some moments later the 2 two figures got up, turned around and started to walk back.

"I'm sorry Saber, he managed to escape." An unharmed Shirou said bitterly as he got out of the dust cloud. Just before the weapons from Gilgamesh portals could hit him, and he could behead the man, Saber with a lightning-fast movement grabbed him and used Avalon to protect both of them from all the weapons.

"It doesn't matter. He's gravely wounded and he cannot run away for too long, we'll soon find him." Saber said as she got out of the dust cloud as well.

"...Now the problem is how to find him." Shirou said as he shaked the dust off himself and started to look around himself.

"...Well, this sure is going to help us." Saber said after a long moment of silence.

Shirou turned around just to see Saber taking something from the ground, she then turned and he saw a bloody golden glove in her hands.

"...Caster, we need you help." Shirou said aloud as soon he understood what Saber meant. An instant later the copy of Caster appeared behind him.

*30 minutes later*

Shirou and Saber were now back in the living-room in the Emiya residence, and they were enjoying a nice cup of tea that Caster made them while they waited for her return.

Both of them were now waiting for Caster to come back in the living-room and inform them where Gilgamesh was now hiding, she was now using his cutted hand as somekind of catalyst to locate him.

"..."

"...About the cookies you said eariler, what flavour did you want them?" Shirou asked. He had forgotten about the flavours she wanted them to be.

"Vanilla and chocolate with some sprinklers on top... but put more chocolate than vanilla, thanks."

"Sure." Shirou said as he took some paper and a pen and started to write on it, he sure didn't want to forget what she wanted once again... after all he was sure those advices would be very useful.

"Anyway, Shirou what had happened during the battle? Why did you suddenly stop supporting me?" Saber asked as she recalled the moment Gilgamesh took out that weapon.

"...Right. Firts of all I'm sorry that it happened, but I could do nothing at the moment, I'm really sorry." Shirou said depply bowing his head. "Second, to answer your question, I just... stopped. After I tried to watch that weapon I don't know how or why, but everything stopped for me... I can say that whatever the weapon was, it's terribly powerful, not even your Excalibur can be compared to it... just... what it was?" Shirou then asked confused. Just the memory of the thing made him feel strange and unconfortable.

"It was an Anti-world Noble Phantasm, coming from a place only the gods knows." Caster answered as she appeared in the room. "There was not even the need to analyze it, I could sense the raw power of the weapon from here at home." She continued as she got closer to the table.

"An Anti-world Noble Pahntasm...?" Shirou muttered as he thought.

"Have you found his location?" Saber asked as she turned to face Caster.

"Not yet, but before I do and the two of you go, I have some questions to ask you." Caster said. "Who is he? And what is he?" She then asked.

"He is Gilgamesh." Shirou answered. "Ancient King of Uruk... and also Archer of the fourth Holy Grail War."

"Huh, quite a foe." Caster remarked as she recalled the man's legend and the things Saber told her about him. "So, if I reeber correctly the man has all the Noble Phantasm in the world, right? And he uses those portals to shoot them."

Shirou simply nodded.

"Ok, then? What is he? Why my copy, you, and Saber, were not able to percive his presence until it was too late?" She then asked.

"I've no idea." Saber answered. "I don't know how or why, but he is not a normal Servant anymore. It seems that he has reclaimed a real body somehow." Saber said. She recalled the times she had met the Golden Archer 10 years ago, and she could easily say that he now was more... physical?

"...That would've explained why I was not able to sense him. While I was looking for something like a dead apostle or a spirit I should've been looking for a 'normal' living being... oh well, matters not, he is soon going to die." Caster said before she throwed on the table the hand Shirou and Saber broughted to her. She had already took out all the blood, she surely didn't want to stain the table.

"Show us where you are." Caster then said at the hand.

After a moment and some spasms the hand took life and started to drag itself toward the map of Fuyuki near it, after around 10 seconds the hand stopped moving when the index finger pointed to the place where the church was located. The magic she had just used was a mix of divination and necromancy.

"..."

"..."

"..."

All the three people who were in the room remained in complete silence as they watched the place where the hand has just pointed.

"He has been under our noses all this time?" Shirou asked as he scratched his head.

"Huh, a twist to another twist." Saber said.

"I've always found stange the fact that I disliked being near the church." Caster commented.

"...So, how should we act?" Shirou then asked after another long moment of silence.

"...Just do the thing you wanted to do with the castle in the forest." Caster said. "If Gilgamesh is there it means two things: 1) That's his base and he had been working with the supervisor for all this time. 2) He just made that place his base and he has already killed the supervisor. In a way or the other for us there is not much else to do but destroy everything, sooner or later we would have gotten rid of the supervisor in a way or the other."

"Should he somehow survive what should we do? I guess that he will not be caught unprepared by Saber's Avalon deflecting back his attack once again." Shirou asked immediatly before he widned his eyes and reached an answer.

"That thing, Ea, is an unstoppable force, while my sheat, Avalon, is an unmovable object... you know the paradox, right?" Saber asked. "If we should fight seriously the two of us would remain remain in a dead point until one of the two is too tired or wounded to keep fighting. But we have the advantage here, he's gravely wounded and I'm not alone unlike him. He will take at least two good hours to heal, so we've have all the time we need to form a good plan to fight him." She then continued.

"...Why you should waste your time like this?" Caster asked after a moment. "You've butchered him as soon you found him and the chances that he will survive to your surprise attck are quite low... and remind me if I'm wrong, doesn't Shirou have an unstoppoble force as well?" Caster asked.

"What do you mean by that?" Saber asked.

Caster said nothing and just turned to watch Shirou. Saber did the same and saw Shirou, who was now watching a lead ball floating on his fist.

"...I've completely forgot that weapon." Saber said as she watched Fragarach. So, in the end they did managed to get it.

"An Anti-world Noble Phantasm has to be 100% his final ace, and since we already beaten him for good the next time we'll see him he will not hesitate to use it at its full power... it will be his own ruin." Shirou said as he watched the weapon capable of manipulating both time and fate.

"Yes, I'll attract his attention and you will use Fragarach to kill him, if he somehow will be able to survive to that as well I'll just finish him off personally." Saber said.

"..."

"..."

"Huh, we're good to go then." Saber said. This planning session had been very fast.

In that moment both she and Shirou got up, Caster bade them good luck, and they got out of the house and started to walk toward the church.

"...Well, that was easy." Caster thought aloud after watching Shirou and Saber leave.

Throught her copy she had seen the battle between Saber, Shirou and Gilgamesh, and for the majority of it she just saw Shirou and Gilgamesh shoothing legendary weapons stupidly fast at eachother while Saber was moving so fast that she could just be descibed a living blur.

Those three people were monsters among monster, but luckly 2 of those monsters were her allies.

She turned around and started to walk toward the living room to make herself a cup of tea, there was no need to be concerned, in less than an hour the war would finally end.

They had found the so called 'twist' that Archer had warned them about, and it was non other than the Archer class servant from the fouth Holy Grail War: Gilgamesh of Uruk. Just like she expected from someone ancient and powerful like him the King of Heroes he was almost invincible... but it was too bad that his enemies were Shirou and Saber.

First there was Saber, Artoria Pendragon, who was probably the strongest Saber class servant ever. Almost all her stats were A, she had an incredily powerful offensive Noble Phantasm and an outright invincible difensive one that boosted even more her already high stats. Something like almost a hundred of Noble Phanstasm raining on her was not something she could not handle, even without Avalon, and that spokes volume about her strenght, speed and precision.

Then there was Shirou, who was an Incarnation of Sword and had a Reality Marble that was capable of copying any weapon, in few words, he was the perfect counter to Gilgamesh and those portals of his. Thanks to her high level reinforcing Shirou had both the physical and mental abilities necessary to analyze, summon and shoot all the Noble Phantasm he saw at almost the same rate Gilgamesh was capable of shooting them. It wouldn't have been an easy feat for Shirou if he did it alone, but she was there... for him.

"...My cute little monsters." She then muttered happily.

"Tell me, oh great King, what has happened to you?" Kirei Kotomine asked with his usual neutral tone as he looked down on a bleeding Gilgamesh, who was on the septs of the entrace of the church. Just like he had predicted not too long ago the King would have been reminded of his mortality, but he had been unlucky enough to be present at his return.

"T-That mongrel... and even Saber!" Gilgamesh screamed before he started to mutter and curse under his breath.

"...I see." Kirei simply said before getting down and help the king to enter and seat on a bench.

"They had been the one who dared to do this to me! Do you realize Kirei?! My Saber cut off my arm and almost cutted me in half!"

"I understand you my king, but you've to calm down, the blood is getting everywhere." Kirei said as he watched down to the delarious king swinging around his cutted limb.

"I've would have no problem to die by her hand, but look what the mongrel dared to do to me!" He said as he pointed with his only hand the deep cut in his head.

"That's indeed a deep cut." Kirei simply commented as he could see some parts of the brain.

"No! I'm not going to stay here for too long, I have to hunt them and kill them as animals they are!"

"...Do I have to help you with your healing?" Kirei asked as he raised his arm sleeves where he had the command seals.

"Of course, and use this potions to do it." Gilgamesh simply ordered as on the bench a pair of potion appeared out of his portals.

Kirei said nothing, sighed, and started to use some of the strongest healing spells he knew to help heal the King. After an hour he was done, the cuts had been sealed and the hand had started to regenerate back, and as a bonus, the king had calmed down a bit, but just a little bit.

The priest sighed and walked to his altar, where a tissue awaited him. He started to clean his face from the sweat that had grown on his forhead since the procedure had been long and complicated, but as he did he noted that the sun had started to rise, since its golden rays had entered and illuminated the house of The Lord.

Kirei sighed in relif, since it was already day Gilgamesh would have to await the next night to enact his vengeance. It was a good thing since now he was far too angry to think normally, and going to face whatever enemy that leaved him in that state would be a suicide. But after a moment Kirei turned to his right where there was a clock, which said that now it was just past midnight.

'Huh, that's strange.' Kirei thought. He was sure of having already changed the battery of that clock. 'I'm pretty sure that's the sun rising and not an artificial light, just look how strong its light is, it's so strong that... Oh.'

And that's how Kirei Kotomine died, erased by an unexpected and sudden blast of Excalibur.

"That should have been powerful enough to kill him, right?" Shirou asked as he watched his left hand, on which now there were just 2 command seals.

"I think so, but it's the King Of Heroes we're talking about, we should expect anything from him." Saber commented as she lowered her Excalibur and watched the ruins where once stood a church.

As soon they reached the church Saber asked Shirou to use one of his command seal and make use her the full power of Excaibulr, now they just had to see if someone had survived the blast.

"..."

"..."

They remained in complete silence as they awaited for somekind of signal of life, they would wait around a minute before sending Caster's copy to analyze the ruins of the church.

But after not even a pair of seconds they saw that some of the ruins had started to move, and after some moments a wall of molten shields got up, from which a bloddy mess with a golden armor emerged from the wall of shield.

"SABER! HOW DARE YOU!?" Gilgamesh yelled with anger and bloodshot eyes as he threw aside the shields in his way. "I WILL DEFILE EVERY PART OF YOUR BODY UNTIL YOU ASK ME FORGIVNESS! YOU WILL BECOME MY SLAVE YOU DULL WOMAN!" He contined.

"Huh, he's still alive after all. We have to admit that he is an hard one to kill." Shirou said impressed as he opened his right hand and a lead ball appeared in it. Not even Berserker with his 6 lives had give them so many problems.

"Yes, yes, now focus on him." Saber said as she got in front of Shirou and prepared herself to use Avalon.

"YOU THINK THAT YOU WILL ABLE TO SURVIVE MY FURY?! FOOLS! ONLY DEATHS AWAITS THOSE LIKE YOU!" Gilgamesh screamed as he took out Ea. He was so mad that he could not think straight. To think that a woman and a mongrel had managed to wound him to that point made him mad with anger. He. Will. Erase. Everything.

Gilgamesh looked down on Saber and the mongrel and decided that their punishemt would be death.

He raised Ea and giant waves of destructive energy swarmed the sky.

"BEHOLD MY FURY! AND DIEEEEEEEE!" Gilgamesh screamed after Ea had charged and he swinged down the sword of ropture, with all of its terrible power.

Gilgamesh carefully watched the immense red energy waves as they destroyed everything and anything on their path.

Its power was so great, so powerful, and so terrible that it could almost be compared to his fury.

Those two mere insects had tried to kill him, and he will never forgive them, not even Saber. They had to die for the sins thay had commited!

In that moment Gilgamesh made his mind and raised Ea. He had decided that there was nothing worthy of his interest there anymore. He. Will. Erase. Everything.

"BEHOLD MY FURY! AND DIEEEEEEEE!" Gilgamesh screamed before he started to swing down the sword of ropture with all of its terrible power.

*zap*

Suddenly, for some strange and mysterious reason, Gilgamesh left arm suddely fell limp to his side, making Ea falling from his hand and nullifying all the devastating power it was about to free.

Gilgamesh turned and looked his left shoulder, which in it had a very small hole in it. Strange, what just hitted him? Somehow the thing that struk him managed to pierce his armor and made lose control of his arm.

In that moment Gilgamesh turned his head toward his two foes, as much he was irritated he was confused, he needed to know what had just happened, but the only thing he saw when he turned was his beatiful Saber and her holy sword, which an instant later behaded him.

Gilgamesh body remained standing for a pair of seconds before it fell to the ground and some moments later started to fade.

"So, it's over." Shirou said as soon he reached Saber and watched Gilgamesh's corpse dissapear. After Gilgamesh used Ea he activated Fragarach and its power, which hitted the King of Heroes before he could use Ea... it was a bit confusing. But still, as soon Saber saw that the man was still alive and an opening was open she with incredible speed killed the man.

"Yea... but I have to say that it was kinda anticlimactic..." Saber said, before she smiled proudly.

"What is it?" Shirou asked.

"Now we are even, Shirou." Saber said as she turned to watch him.

"...Even?" Shirou asked a bit confused.

"I've killed 2 Servants just like you did. I could not define and call myself as a Servant if my Master had more kills than me." She said before she puffed her chest proudly.

"Then I'm happy for you, Saber." Shirou said with a smile before shrugging a bit.

"...Well then, now what do we do?" She asked after watching Gilgamesh corpse disappear.

"...Let's just go home?"

"...Yea." Saber simply said.

They turned around and left the zone in complete silence.

In the past days they have expected everything and anything to happen to them, from an army of mages ready to invade the city to Dead Apostole Ancestors...

Well, the enemy they fought was something worse, but the two of them together had been able to kill the ancient King pretty quickly since they both were the perfect counter to him... the fight had been a bit of a let down, if not, it was out right dissapointing, really.

Well, it didn't meant that they were not happy, on the countrary, they were very joyful for the fact that they got rid of the final enemy without any problem and any innocent losing its life, but still, they expected a very bloody and hard final battle... a real final battle.

Caster had watched the scene from her crystal ball and she was a bit baffled, she expected the fight to last longer.

'That was stupidly easy.' Caster thought after she saw the so called 'fight'.

Even if it had been incredibly fast and the time and fate itself had been rewinded, she had managed to see what had happened when Shirou used Fragarch.

After Gilgamesh released the power of that monstrous weapon, Fragarach power had been activated, time and fate started to rewind and then before Ea power could have been realeased again Fragarach flew toward Gilgamesh, but the previous wave of energy (that had never been launched in the first place) had distorted the time and space around Gilgamesh to the point were it made Fragarach deviate and hit the man in the left shoulder instead of the heart... well, it just worked.

Still, despite everything the King of Uruk had been killed instantly by Shirou and Saber.

'...It's over.' Caster then thought as a smile appeared on her face.

They had won.

They had finally put an end to the war and now she could finally live a peaceful life, and not only that, she right now was even looking forward of living said life with someone... Could things get even better than this for her?

'Oh well, now that Shirou and Saber did their job it's time for me to do mine.' Caster thought as she remebered the Grail that had to be destroyed.

She got up and streched a bit, it was time to destroy that damn and cursed thing once and for all. Now that there were no more enemies she could finish her work on the powerful barrier around the Greater Grail in complete security, and then she will destroy the Grail once she will reach it.

It will take some hours to destroy the barrier since she had already made some progresses, but she was sure that for the morning she will be able to destroy the Grail once and for all.

For normal mages to destroy such relic it would require many years, and it would be incredibly dangerous. The Grail after all was a corrupted relic that ignored the laws of time and space. Not only it was capable of summoning Heroic Spirits from all the ages, the real and original pourpuse of this device was to make the winner of the war reach the Root.

But luckly she was a Servant, a Caster Servant, that luckly was one of the best mages who had ever lived, a Servant that luckly had a a mgical knife that broke anything of magical nature. So simply poking the Grail a numbers of times with Rule Breaker not only would be incredibly effective, but it was also a valid metod to destroy the thing.

'Hundreds, if not thousands of years of work are soon going to be destroyed... well, I better analyze that damn thing for good before I do it." Caster thought. Even if the Grail was corrupted it was still a powerful device, and knowing how it had been made could help her in the future. She was more than sure that with time and resurces she could create something even better... but there was no need to waste time like that.

As she prepared herself to go and destory the Grail she suddenly stopped, she remebered that if she did it, she would dissapear.

Right now even if she didn't had a Master her existence was being sustained by both the Grail and the powerful leylines in the zone, if she destroyed the Grail she would dissapear almost immediatly.

Right now her first priority was to make a contract with someone, if not she would dissapear. So, with who she had to form said contract?

After thinking for a moment she quickly reached her answer and remebered Illya, who as a powerful homunculus who could sustain her with no problem. The girl was able to sustain Berserker even without the aid of the Grail, so she would have no problem in sustaing her since she needed way less mana than the giant man. But after thinking about it for some moments she smiled and decided that it was better to wait for Saber's and Shirou's return.

Saber did swore to Shirou that she would have become the Illya's Servant and to protect her, so as Saber formed a contract with Illya she would have formed a contract with Shirou who could sustain her with the help of the leylines... heh.

With that Shirou would have no excuse from running away from her or going in dangerous places for a good while, since her very existence depended by him.

Yes, she could reclaim a real body even without the help of the Grail, but she needed to harvest a lot of power, find the objects and ingedients necessary for the ritual, and prepare said ritual. She estimated that it would take between 4-8 months to do it, but she will take her sweet and long time... she had no reason to haste things up, right?

She always liked to play the long game, and right now she had finally found someone intresting to play with.

'Oh Shirou, if you only knew the things I have in store for you...' Caster thought before she started to giggle a bit.

*3 weeks later*

"And this is the last case." Shirou said as he as he gave the last giant cases to Leyseritt. The homunculus simply nodded to thank him and just turned around to take the case to the car, with which she would soon depart with.

As Shirou watched the woman as she tried to put the cases in the car he started to think.

Even if the war had ended 3 weeks ago he in the past weeks had been very busy, and he had many things to do.

The first things that had his priority were the distruction of the Grail and hide from both the Clocktower and the Church the fact that 3 Servants still roamed around.

Luckly the Second Owner of this territory, Tohsaka Rin, demostrated to be incredibly able in the political field, and her assistance demostrated to be crucial to make everything that happened until that point possible. With Caster's help the young girl managed to make up a story on the events of the war that had sense and no holes or faults could be find in it. She just blamed almost everything on the priest called Kirei, who to their surprise turned out to be a partecipant of the fourth Holy Grail war.

In fact for the last 2 weeks both agents of the Church and the Clocktower explored the city and studied the place where the greater Grail once resided, and after said weeks passed both parties could not find anything strange in the territory.

under that temple there was no trace of the Grail, some at first suspected that its location may had been changed somewhere else or simply hidden, but the leylines of the territory were stronger than ever since now that were not being used to sustain the Grail. In fact, the magic now present in the air of the city was incredibly dense, so dense that it was almost intoxicating for the mages who had suddenly arrived.

After making some checks on both the temple and on the ruins of the church, were the so called 'heretic' Kotomine Kirei resided and 'plotted to take controll on the Grail for himself', both parties leaved the territory without making stories or writing negative feedback to their superiors or organization. The agents had been able to find just enough proof that sustained the story of the Second Owner, so after making certain adjustment both parties leaved the place. Now, since the Grail had been destroyed both the Church and the Clocktower had lost all their interest in the territory, and it was clear that they would never have any reason to return there if not to make some other research, that would still bring up nothing.

After watching the maid being somehow able to put those cases in the car Shirou snapped out of his thought, he then turned to watch Illya and Saber that were now behind him.

After the 2 weeks passed from when she had been first hypnotized Illya had recovered her memory, and Shirou was more than ready to take the fury of the girl on himself. After all he had killed her Servant, attacked her, kidnapped her, hypnotized/brainwashed her and threated of death her maids... but in the end, he was extremely surprised by how things had turned out.

While he expected Illya to be agressive, if not outright hostile, she instead had been cordial and respectful with him as soon she recovered her memories. A pairs of days later from when she had recovered her memories they had their private discussion and talked about the war, the Grail, their family, and their peculiar situation. They spoke almost all day long and they cleared all lies and misunderstanding between the two of them... they made peace, but they did not reunited as family, it was yet too soon.

After all Illya had passed over 10 years of her life wrongly hating the her brother. Yes, she now knew that all the things the Einzbern told her had been all lies and that she right now was alive thanks to him, but still, it was yet to soon to reunite... or more specifically, she had some very special things to do now.

The Einzbern really thought that she wold have never discovered the thruth. They thought they could manipulate her and making her kill her little brother like that? No, they were wrong, dead wrong, and soon they would be more dead than wrong. And right now she was about to make them pay with the help of the 'gift' her little brother gave to help her: Saber.

For some reason Shirou had made his Servant hers even before she recovered her memories, not that it mattered to her, she had no problem in sustaining her, and after all Saber was non other the same Servant her father summoned, the same Servant that had protected her mother. Illya was genuinely looking forward to talk and spend some time with the woman, and Saber was of the same opinion.

The two of them would officialy reunite as family after Illya would finish with her 'little and incovenient family dispute'.

After getting rid of Jubstacheit she would re-organize the chain of command and her family, and then she would come back to Fuyuki. In the past week she had spoken with the Servant Caster and the... woman told her that she could cure her. She told her that not only she could have a normal life span, there was also a good chance that her body would return to grow normally.

At first Illya was genuinely confused on why all this people who she would have not hesitated to kill had helped her this much, but she realized after a bit that they were just genuinely good people... well, kinda. She still didn't trust the Caster Servant, but all the other people she had met in the home could be trusted.

"Well," Shirou said as he kneeled on one knee. "I hope that you'll return as soon as possible Illya." He said with a smile. He would have liked to go in Germany and butcher Jubstacheit with the help of Saber, for all the things he had done, as Illya watched them, but now he could not leave Fuyuki because of his new contract with Caster.

"I hope too, Shirou." She said with a smile. Illya clearly remebered the 2 weeks she had passed with her little brother, and for the first time in a long time, she felt to be part of a family... she had really missed that sensation.

Illya got closer to him and hugged him, even if the hug was a bit akward it didn't mattered, they would soon know each other properly. After some moments they separated and Illya walked to the car, it was her time to go after all.

After looking Illya entering in the car Shirou turned and watched Saber who was now in front of him, his ex-Servant now served his sister. Saber right now was wearing a dark suit (which Caster had happly made on her request) and she was ready to follow her new Master.

"I trust her to you, Saber." Shirou said as he handed his arm to her.

"And I will not dissapoint you, Shirou." Saber said as she gripped Shirou's forearm and strongly shook his arm.

Shirou and Saber looked eachother in the eyes for a second before they gave eachother a confident simle. After that Saber walked to the car without looking back or saying another word, there was no need to say things like 'good bye' or 'good luck', they both knew she would soon return with Illya, it was just a matter of time.

Shirou then smiled and waved at the car before it departed. Now Saber and Illya would go at the nearest airport and fly to germany and reach the Einzbern castle, with that not only they would get their vengance on Jubstacheit, under the administration of Illya the Einzbern would never try to replicate the Heaven's feel with relics like the Grail ever again.

"It's such a shame that I will not be able to see Saber and Illya for who knows how much long." Caster said as she suddenly materilized behind Shirou.

"Oh, you've finally returned." Shirou said as he turned around.

"Yea, making that new bounded field around the Tohsaka mansion took much longer than I expected, and I could not see Saber before she went away." Caster said before she sighed. She would have really liked to see Saber with her new clothes she had made one last time.

"It's just a matter of weeks or months before thery return, there is no need of feeling down..." Shirou said with a smile as he tried to confort Caster.

"You're right." Caster said sighing before she turned and started to walk toward the home entrance.

Shirou followed Caster and they went into the living room, Shirou then went into the kitchen and he started to prepare some cups of tea. It was still morning and he had to wait some hours before they could start to prepare lunch, so for now the two of them would just relax.

"Huh, now that Saber, Illya, Sella and Leyseritt are gone this house sure feel more spacious." Caster commented as she watched the living-room that had housed almost 10 people in the past weeks.

"Yea, and now that Rider and Sakura had moved at Tohsaka's home it's just the two of us." Shirou said.

"...Yea, we are all alone right now, in this nice and quite place..." Caster said before a sly smile appeared on her face. "*Sigh* I can only hope that my new Master, which is a very young and hot-blooded man, doesn't get any strange ideas... like forcing the woman who is magically bonded to his will to do some very strange and naughty things..."

"J-Just stop it Caster!" Shirou snapped as a rampant blush invaded his face. Since they had formed a contract Caster kept teasing him by saying things like that.

"Heh, never." Caster said with a smug as she watched the blushing Shirou.

Shirou turned around and just muttered under his breath as he made the tea, Caster in the past weeks had started to have too much fun by teasing him.

In the meantime Caster watched Shirou with a smile before she looked up the ceiling and started to think.

She had finally obtained the happy ending that she always wanted, but she had not been the only one...

Illya now had someone to protect her and soon she would live happly with her family.

Saber was now with Illya and she had found another reason to live: Protect Illya and make sure that events like the Holy Grail War would never repeat.

Rider was now living a peaceful life with the people she loved, just like her.

Sakura now lived with a family that truily loved her and would take care of her, and she now had no memory of her past. In fact, Sakura herself had asked her to erase her memories, and Caster also managed to convince Shirou to not make her forget about him too.

Thanks to them all those poeple too had their happy endings... well, it's not that they had other choises, they had just forced on them their new and happy lives, but what they were going to do, complain?

And then there was Shirou...

Caster turned and watched Shirou as he was making the tea.

She would have liked to live peacefully with him in this home and find an excuse to make him never leave her, but she would have not disliked to follow him in his adventures and make sure that he didn't get himself killed... that, and she also had to make up for how she had changed him. No matter who he will go hunt down, she will stay with him and take care of him. After all it had been her fault if he now was like that, and she doubted that his now intense desire for retribution and justice will be easily taken care of... oh well, she now had an entire life to make it up for it, maybe even more.

'Huh, how would have ever thinked that one day I would have voluntarily followed an hero on his joureny... sure that I've changed quite a bit...' She thought.

She then snapped out of her thoughts when she saw Shirou getting out of the kitchen with 2 cups of tea.

"What are you thinking Caster?" Shirou asked, before having a vauge sense of deja-vu.

"...Well, we still had not talked about 'that' subject, didn't we?" Caster asked with a smile, hinting at what she wanted to talk about.

"R-Right." Shirou said as as he blushed a bit while giving Caster her cup of tea.

In the past weeks the both of them were a bit too occupied to talk about their relation since they had to first settle all issues about the war, and for this exact reason Caster started to grew impatient. So, one night, when she had nothing to do, Caster had paid Shirou a surprise visit just before he was going to sleep. Shirou, as usal, kindly greeted her and asked what she wanted at such late hour, in response, she simply took off her hood, smiled and told him 'you'. Seeing Shirou cute and paniked expression as he realized why she was there and what was about to happen had pleased her immensly, in fact, she started to tease him quite a bit as she got closer to him, while he walked back until he hit a wall behind him. After she got in front of him she she leaned on him and started to ask him why he was so embarrassed, and what he thought was about to happen, Shirou tried to answer, but he was stammering too much. At one point with both of her hands Caster took his face and watched him in the eyes for a long moment, before she started to lean in... and just right before she could kiss him in that moment Illya bursted in the room asking Shirou if he could tell her a story before she went to sleep, she then proceded to drag him out of the room.

Caster stood still in place as she realized what had just happened. She had never imagined that she would have gotten cockblocked by Illya, of all people.

She sighed as she remembered her failed attempt, but after she took her cup, took a sip from it, and calmed down, Medea then asked with a warm smile: "Well then, where do we want to start?"

-GOOD END-

Yey, I've finally finished the story! If you're reading this I thank you for reading, and I hope that you liked it from the start to the very the end!

...What? What do you mean that you expected more? Isn't this ending satysfing enough? ...No? Well, I can justify myself by saying that this is your fault, your expectations and standards are way too high for a first time writer. :)

Anyway, I hope that I have inspired some of you people to write more and better fanfiction on Caster with Shirou, even if they are very short or simple one-shot. There is a BIG lack of them and we need more, way more, Caster content. WE NEED MORE!

About Caster and Shirou, some of you (like 100% of those who are reading) surely will not have appreciated the fact that I've have not made them do the dirty deeds, but: 1) I don't know how to write those scene, and I'm pretty sure that if I tried to write them something extremely cringe would have come out... like those of the original visual novel. 2) I wanted them to have a more "wholsome" and "mature" relationship, one that didn't involved the two of them acting as horny teenagers that fucked with the excuse that they needed magic... yea, that's the excuse I went with. I'm a lazy guy, you know.

No one asked, but I'll tell you anyway, at first I would have liked to write this "Caster route" in a different way, but I did not liked the idea of making my story follow the original story too much, if not at all. I wanted Shirou to be the active type, and not the reactive person that waits just for the war to happens to act, if he can prevent it and save many people why he should wait?

So, the first version of the story went like this:

-Shirou saves Caster and brings her at the temple -Caster remains there and make it her base, but Shirou goes to visit her daily since he feels resposible for her and her health -Caster realize that Shirou is a mage, but she doesn't care, she thinks that he is just a simple and nice boy that doesn't know he is a mage -She start to get very interested in Shirou. (RIP Kuzuki.)

-Weeks pass and Shirou and Caster get closer and become very good friends, Shirou even invites her at his home for some cooking lessons since Caster demostrated to be very intrested in it -After a month or more the Grail war happens, Shirou get killed by Lancer and then summon Saber -Things keep going on normal at first -Tohsaka then tells him about the servant at temple, and she suspect that its responsible for what is happening to the city -Shirou storms to the temple with Saber fearing for Caster's life -Caster and Shirou meet at the temple entrace and both of them are like: BRUH -Caster shocked says something like: Of all the people this goddanm war could have chosen as a Master, why you? Why is fate must so cruel with me? -Then Shirou tries to talks things out with her and things happens.

I would be very interested in reading a story that goes something like this... really. Just look, this is already a good quarter of the story, right?

Anyway, that's all folks, thanks to have read this story, have a good day, and write more fanfic on Caster and Shirou!

...Jokes apart, if you have intention to write a story about Shirou and Caster I am even willing to to sponsor it, really, free and easy advertising. Just look at me, this is my first (and last) time writing a story ,and in less than a month I somehow reached over 500 follower (Thank you all anyway)! I'm pretty sure that a good number of the people who are reading this can do way better... SO JUST DO IT!

...There is a rule that says that I cannot sponsor other authors? If there is I don't know it! Io no hablo inglés! 何もない!

...

Oh yea, around next week I will publish the true ending. Yes, it was just a lie that I would have published only one ending. Why I lied? I'll explain in the next chapter.

Bye and stay safe.