23. Chapter 23

-TRUE ENDING-

*3 Weeks Later*

Caster woke up and noted that it was now morning.

After getting up from her futon she went into the bathroom to wash her face, and after she did she started to walk toward the kitchen where she would prepare breakfast for Shirou since he now was still wounded and he could not cook...

Two weeks had passed since the war had finally ended... two weeks had passed since the final battle... two weeks have passed from Saber's death.

As she thought about it, once again she realized how everything happened so fast that night.

The battle suddenly started when the last enemy appeared at Shirou's and Saber's back and then suddenly started to attack them. She didn't know what had happened during the battle since her copy had been immediately destroyed by the man's sudden attack... but she knew very well how it ended.

When she finally managed to arrive with Rider at their location, ready to give Shirou and Saber direct support, she saw how the place where the battle happened was a complete disaster... and she noted how there was no trace of the enemy...

As she started to look around her eyes had suddenly caught something that made her heart skip a beat. There was an unconscious and bleeding Shirou on the ground... and she then noted how Saber was nowhere to be found.

She still remembered how she quickly healed all of Shirou's wounds while she asked him where Saber was... but when he recovered his senses he just watched her in the eyes and told her that he was sorry.

For her the last 3 weeks had been somehow... confusing.

The war was over, so for this reason she had to take care of the last things, like hiding the fact from both the Clock Tower and the church that she and Rider were still alive. For this reason, she had brainwashed the supervisor of the war, and he, with the help of the Tohsaka girl, managed to hide from both the organizations that some Servants were still present. They have made some excuses on how because of its corruption the Grail was also defective, and that for some reason all the Servants had been suddenly recalled to the Throne of Heroes. They then declared that it was too dangerous to keep it around so they had decided to destroy it. She didn't know the other details or how they had even managed to convince both organizations to leave them alone and give them some time to fix the mess since she had to take care of Shirou and his wounds in these past weeks...

And as she thought about it she entered the living room... where she found a bandaged Shirou looking at the stoves in the kitchen.

"Shirou! What are you doing here! Why are you already awake?! I've told you to rest, you have to yet heal from all the wounds!" Caster immediately exclaimed as she scolded him.

Despite the fact that 3 weeks have passed since the final battle Shirou had yet to recover from all of his wounds, in fact, he still had a lot of difficulties moving his arms and grabbing objects... but at least he could move around.

At that moment Shirou flinched and turned to watch Caster.

"Oh, good morning Caster..." He said surprised as he watched her before he lowered his head in shame. "Yes I know, I'm sorry, it's just that... I can't-" He started to say as he raised his head.

"You're telling me that you can't listen to what I tell you?!" Caster said as she immediately got closer to him. "Shirou, if you are not careful you may hurt yourself! Again!" She continued with a concerned and worried tone, as she now faced Shirou and watched him right into his sad eyes.

"...I'm sorry..." Shirou said before he looked aside.

"*Sigh* I'm sorry too, Shirou, it's just that... you know that I'm worried about your health, so why don't you listen to me?" She asked him.

"..." Shirou kept looking at his side without saying anything.

"I know that... Saber's loss has been very difficult for you... but that doesn't mean that you have to hurt yourself by being reckless." She said.

"I know..." Shirou said sighing. "It's just that from when it happened... I... I swear that sometimes I can still hear her voice and see her as if she was still present... and I..." He didn't finish the phrase, instead, he looked at the stove.

Caster said nothing but she grimaced as she watched him, at that moment she really wanted to embrace him tightly as she never did before, but she decided that it was better not to do it. She turned around to put on an apron before she started to make breakfast, Shirou in the meantime had moved aside and got out of the little kitchen.

They remained in complete silence for a pair of minutes as she cooked, while Shirou watched her from behind the counter.

"...I have improved a lot thanks to you and your advice, have you noticed?" Caster asked. She still remembered all the cooking lessons she had with him, she would never forget all of those moments she had passed with him.

"Of course I did, the fact that you are not burning anything it's already good progress." Shirou simply commented.

Caster really wanted to smile at his answer, but she could not.

"...Tell me Shirou, do you think that the events of that night may have gone in a different way?" Caster then asked him at one point.

Every day since that night, almost every single moment, Caster had kept asking herself over and over if she had arrived in time things could have happened differently if she could've helped them before it was too late.

"I know that until now you tried your best... but I also know that there was nothing that you could have done, Caster." He answered.

"Are you really sure? Do you really think that nothing would have changed if I arrived earlier with Rider?" She asked as she turned to watch him.

"Yes, and even if you arrived earlier it would have been too late anyway." Shirou, who was now wearing his ruined suit that was covered in blood, calmly answered as he watched her with his cold and dead eyes.

"...I see." She simply sighed before she turned to keep cooking.

"I know how hard it's losing someone dear to you, it's something very hard to describe... and especially to accept. This is something that I never wanted anyone to experience, but there was no other choice." He said.

"...You have always been the kind of person to consider others instead of yourself... you dummy." Caster responded.

"I know that... and I also know how terrible is when a person you care about is suddenly gone from your life, before you could even give them a proper goodbye. You have to suddenly accept the fact that they are gone forever... you have to face the reality that there is no coming back."

"..." Caster remained silent as she kept making breakfast.

"...Do you know why I saved you that night, Caster?" He then asked her after a long silence.

"..." Caster said nothing. She already knew the answer, but for some reason, her eyes started to get watery.

"It's because I was tired of seeing people dying, no matter who they were." He said. "All this time long, since I was a child, I've been so tired. For years it disturbed and tormented me deeply even hearing the news about other people suffering and dying, with no one stepping in and trying to stop those senseless massacres and deaths. All I ever wanted was a simple wish, I just wanted to save people in need of help, I wanted to see them as they lived happy lives, I-"

"But because of me said desire had been distorted and has changed, isn't it right?" Caster asked interrupting him, as she brought her left hand to her chest.

"Of course not, what are you saying?" He asked her. "The only thing that has changed is that I realized that there was another way to help others live said happy lives." He then said.

"..." Caster remained silent.

"You made me realize that if I killed all of those who caused said problems in the first place no innocent would have suffered. For this reason, I killed and butchered all those who had come here to take part in the war... and look, I did it! Almost no one died! Now all of you can live the happy life that you always deserved! No one is ever going to hurt you again!" He said with a big smile.

"..." Caster said nothing, but she started to shed tears.

"What? ...Are you crying?" It asked her.

"...I ...I don't know." She said as she stopped cooking and dried her few tears.

"C'mon Medea, this is not like you. You are the same person that without any kind of hesitations slaughtered her own children as if they were pigs in front of Jason as he watched you horrified and scared. You then even laughed until your sides hurt when you saw him hanging himself out of guilt, and now you're crying? You're crying for a boy that you met just over 2 months ago?" It asked her.

"He was not just a boy... he was more than that... he was special." She said as she clenched the hand on her chest.

"We both know who he was, and we both know that he wouldn't like to see you act like this... you have to keep moving forward and accept reality. Just like he accepted the fact that he had to kill all of his enemies, you have to accept the fact that he is gone." It said.

"...It's not true." Caster muttered.

"*Sigh* Don't you see? You are delusional Medea, why can't you accept his death?"

"...The one to die had been Saber, stop saying such... senseless things." She said.

"We know very well who died, in reality, that night... you want the proof? Turn around."

"...Why I should turn around and distract myself now that I'm cooking? I would just see you, Shirou. "

"What makes you think that I am Shirou? Or that he is still here?" It asked her.

"..." Caster stopped doing anything.

"I'm not Shirou and you know it... the fact that we are having this conversation in the first place is proof of it."

"..." Caster remained silent as she kept staring at the cooking pan in front of her.

"Turn around." It ordered her.

"...I don't want to." Caster said.

"I've told you to turn around."

"...If I will... will you be there, Shirou?" She asked, as she closed shut her eyes.

...

...

...

No one answered her question.

"Please Shirou, answer me... don't leave me alone..." Caster begged, as she hoped with all of herself that when she turned around Shirou would be there.

...

...

...

"I'm sorry Shirou! I-!" Caster exclaimed as she opened her eyes and turned around, but after she did she noted that the living room was immersed in darkness... and that Saber, who was wearing her pajama, was watching her from the entrance door.

"...Caster, are you ok?" Saber asked her, as she watched her with a pitying look.

"...I..." Caster started to say after she blinked, as she watched around herself. She noted that outside it was still dark, in fact, she watched the clock on the wall in the living room and it told her that at the moment it was 3:00 in the morning. She then turned around, just to see that whatever she was cooking had burned.

"Yes, now I'm ok. I was just a bit... hungry. Thanks for the concern, Saber." Caster told her with a nod after she turned to face her again.

Saber told her nothing, she just slowly nodded before closed the door and left.

Caster stood still for a minute before she said sighing as she massaged her left temple: "Again..."

After that, she turned around, made herself a cup of tea, and put whatever she was cooking on a plate. She then posed the plate and her cup on the table in the living room before she sat down, and started to eat in the dark living room.

"...Huh, nothing." She commented after she had finished eating and drinking... she had really lost her sense of taste, she could not even feel the warmth of the food.

As Saber walked down the dark and now silent corridors of the house, while she was headed back to her room, she could not help but feel incredibly guilty for how Caster was now reacting to Shirou's death.

Once again she had been suddenly woken up in the middle of the night when she heard Caster talking with someone, for this reason, she walked to the living room where she found Caster talking with herself. She was not surprised by it since this was not the first time it had happened, but she had terrible pain in her heart as she watched Caster asking and answering questions to herself in the middle of the night, as she prepared what she guessed should have been breakfast for Shirou while she spoke with 'him'.

Caster herself had told her in this past week, after she regained her lucidity from those kinds of vivid delusions, that she always thought and imagined the one to die that night had been her and not Shirou.

Saber didn't know how to interpenetrate Caster's words, she didn't know if she was simply telling her the truth, or if she was indirectly telling her of how deep down she hated her for what she happened... maybe it was even something in between. Saber never had the chance to confront her on the subject, since from Shirou's death Caster had been more occupied to toil surreptitiously in rituals of every kind to beckon back his soul, and she saw her as she got more mad and desperate as each and every attempt failed. Caster once even begged to take Avalon from her, the same artifact that had created/cured his soul, she explained that she wanted to use it as some kind of catalyst to recall his soul, and she of course had no problem giving it to her... and as she thought about it, Saber clearly remembered Caster's expression of utter despair, anguish and defeat when after a week she gave her Sheath back.

Usually, for a mage coming from the Age Of The Gods, especially someone of the caliber of Caster, there would be no problems in bringing a person back to life, or if the body was far too ruined and it could not be restored, to recall back his soul and put it in a new body or a phylactery... but that was the problem, there was nothing left, not even a single piece.

She, in the final confrontation with Archer, used Excalibur, which erased from the face of the earth both the dying man and what remained of Shirou's body.

As she thought about those last instants she reached her room and opened the door, she then got back in her futon and closed her eyes... fully knowing that once again, she would dream of Shirou's finals moments.

*3 weeks before*

It was now morning and Shirou was walking through the backyard, and he was enjoying the sensations of the wind blowing on his face and the warm sun rays that warmed his skin while he was headed to the dojo, where today as well he would train with Saber, and if he managed to do it, surprise her once again. Since he had fought Archer some nights before he had 'inherited' part of his experiences, and this meant also his fighting styles. In fact, the morning before he had fought Saber with said ways of fighting, and he was more than pleased to see Saber surprised expression when after the training she realized that she had not been able to hit even once during the spar, since yesterday Saber didn't know if she should be surprised or indignant, and he was genuinely looking forward to seeing that confused expression again. As he thought he opened the door of the dojo and entered in it, where to his great surprise she found a sitting Saber who was reading a book.

"Huh, what is it, Saber? Are you reading a book that will reveal you a secret technique that will make you able to beat me, or you're about to beat me with the said book?" Shirou teased her with a smile.

"*Sigh* That arrogance of yours will lead you to your undoing, Shirou." Saber said after she raised her head and watched Shirou with an 'innocent' smile.

"Those sure are bold words for someone who was not able to hit me even once yesterday!" Shirou said with a proud smile. "Jokes apart, what are you reading?" He then asked before he started to get close to her. He knew that if he kept making fun of her like that Saber soon would really beat him to death with the book she now had in her hands.

"Oh, this? I found it in your library, it's 'The Book Of Five Rings', written by Miyamoto Musashi."

"Oh, that one." Shirou said a bit surprised. "So, what is your opinion about it? Do have you something to say?" He then asked curiously. It was not every day that one could talk about Japanese literature or books about martial arts with one of the best, if not the best, swordman who ever lived.

"Of course I have, but the first thing that I have to say is that I'm satisfied to see that no matter where you go, the way of the warrior is always the same." Saber said with a little smile.

"...Which is?" Shirou asked. He could not yet consider himself a warrior and much time had passed from the last time he had read the book, something that he sure would make up for it in the future, so right now he didn't know what exactly Saber meant.

"Shirou, someone like you should already know it, even if unconsciously..." Saber started to say with a serious tone and expression as she firmly watched him in the eyes. "...the Way of the Warrior is resolute acceptance of Death."

Shirou suddenly woke up on the ground and he gasped for air before he started to cough and vomit great quantities of blood.

As he immediately started to recover his senses, in those fraction of moments, panicked he started to ask himself a myriad of questions.

Where was he? Why did his head hurt? What had happened? Why he was on the ground? Why he was cold? Why he was bleeding? Why did he feel a part of himself missing? What was this excruciating and sharp pain in his abdomen? Why did he feel that he was about to break? ...What were those roars and explosions going off behind him?

After around half a minute, despite the terrible pain and the great confusion, he managed to calm down both himself and his panicked breath, after he did, he started to think.

'...Why am I here?' Shirou asked himself.

As he concentrated on thinking on an answer, on what was happening, on why he was now there, and on what he should do in a situation like that... he noted how his body was telling him... no, it was ordering him to get up and return to fight. There was no need to think or reason on a motive for someone like him, his body was reminding him on how he had something to end once and for all.

Confused about his body desire and will, Shirou, with the strength he had just started to recover, managed to turn himself and face the direction from which those loud sounds were coming from. He thought that maybe if he did he could finally understand what was happening, and in fact, after he did, once again his heart started to pump his blood who was now being filled with adrenaline in every single part of his body.

Right. Just how he could have forgotten? He was there to fight.

He watched the two Servants who were distant from him as they fought each other. He watched the familiar blond woman, who was covered in blood, as she deflected countless weapons coming from any direction possible while she tried to cut down the man in front of herself. He then watched the golden man, whose armor was dented and blood gushed from almost every joint of his armor for every movement he did, while he used his both portals and the different weapons he called in his hands as he defended himself from Saber who tried to kill him.

After he watched his Servant, and his enemy, the one he had been now reminded he had to kill to end the war, Shirou started to think once again. Was he now capable of fighting or even moving? Or he now had to support Saber by distance? Could he even do it from such a distance in the first place? Or he had to crawl until he had gotten close enough to them?

Shirou looked down to himself to see and examine how gravely wounded he was, he needed to know if he was in any condition to fight... but he remained speechless as he saw the big hole in the right side of his suit. He was not surprised to see the hole, instead, he was surprised to see what his side now was... made of. At the moment, Shirou had no idea of what happened to him, he really had no idea of how or why his side was now formed by countless metal scales. As he watched them for a long moment he started to note that for some strange reason they didn't look unnatural on him, instead, it seemed that they belonged there, as if they always have been part of himself...

Intrigued by this strange phenomenon Shirou lowered his right hand and dragged his fingers on his side that now was covered in metal, and as soon he did he immediately felt a sharp pain both on his fingers, and in his right side. Shirou then raised his hand to his face to observed it, and to his surprise, he saw that his fingers had been cut quite a bit.

'...Oh, so that's how it is.' Shirou thought amazed, as he finally realized the truth behind those swords.

Indeed, those were no mere metal scales, those were swords, those were the same swords that now made his body.

'How could I have forgotten? Until the very end, I am, and I'll always be a sword.' Shirou thought as he watched his side with some kind of strange satisfaction.

He guessed that something happened during the fight and at one point his side had been hit and destroyed by a weapon of the enemy, and now for some reason, these 'swords' were now somehow repairing or replacing the missing part of his body. Now not only his soul was a sword, his body too was turning into one. Shirou started to wonder if this was happening because of the Reality Marble that was present in him, or because of his nature... maybe it was because of both? Well, it didn't matter now.

'Could I even ask for something more perfect than this?' Shirou then asked himself with a smile.

This was the final proof he always wanted and needed, even without Avalon, he could not die like a normal human being... he was a sword, and like a sword, he could only break.

After that moment Shirou raised his head and watched Saber once again. Even if the woman was covered in her own blood and occasionally got slightly wounded by one of the countless weapons that rained on her, there was not even a single trace of said wounds on her body, since they closed after a mere instant. That was the proof that Avalon was working as intended, and until it did, Saber was an unstoppable force, no matter what the man threw at her or tried to use.

Shirou now had all the time he needed to recover his strength, heal, and think.

Shirou narrowed his eyes and started to examine himself, other than the horrible wound on his side, some fractured bones, and the blood loss, he was relatively fine. After that, he observed the conditions of his circuits and his mana reserves, and he could tell that at the moment he still had all the energies he needed to finish the fight, those 27 circuits of his that Caster improved on inhuman levels gave him the possibility to store and use all the mana he wanted... perfect for something like himself.

Shirou then fully closed his eyes and he concentrated on his connection with Saber. He could tell that with the energy she now had, not counting the mana he was giving her at the moment thanks to their connection, she could keep fighting the way she was doing now for many hours, maybe an entire day had to pass before she started to slow down.

Shirou then placed a hand on his chest, took a deep breath, and he started to synchronize himself with his own body. If he could recover from the wounds he had to do it as soon he could and return to support Saber, he had to trace once again a copy of the sacred Sheath so that he could heal himself... but after almost a minute, that seemed to last for an eternity, his heart skipped a bit.

'...Where... where it is?' Shirou asked to himself, a bit confused and dazed by the sudden discovery.

No matter how much deep, or how far, he searched for it, the image of Avalon in himself was nowhere to be found... it was now missing from him, from his mind, from his body, and from his soul. He frowned, with his closed eyes Shirou could swear that he was still capable of seeing its radiant and warm light in the distance... and after a moment, he realized that the light was coming from Saber's direction.

'...Shit.' Shirou then thought as he opened his eyes, and realized the truth.

Since he had given Avalon to Saber a pair of nights ago, he could now guess that in this short time that had passed his entire self had lost the complex image of the Fae artifact, he should have expected it since the Artifact was not something that could be comprehended by the human mind.

The only thing that truly understood the nature of the Sheath had been his body, and now that his body was missing Avalon he could not replicate it anymore... and he now could not trace and use the copy to heal all of his wound.

The Sword had lost its Sheath.

And now because of it, the sword was now chipped... but even if chipped, the sword could still be used!

Until it broke it could still be used until the very end!

Shirou immediately made up his mind.

He didn't know how he arrived at that point.

He didn't know what will soon happen to him.

He didn't know if he will get out alive from there.

Shirou just knew that he had one purpose only, and it was to fight!

At that moment Shirou grunted in pain as he turned and placed his back on the hard and cold ground, before he traced a normal dagger in his right hand, opened his suit, and lifted his shirt. He then posed the point of the blade on the left side of his chest and took a deep breath, right before he snaked the blade in his pectorals and started to deeply engrave symbols and runes of different kinds in his flesh. As he did, not only he started to feel that the power of the runes as they took effect, he even started to feel some little blades coming out of his wounds to stop the blood from going out... even if the sensation was a bit painful, it was not really terrible.

After engraving runes of every kind all over his chest, he smeared a healing potion and used some magic runes on his right side, as he tried to heal the so-called 'wound'. He really didn't know what to expect, at first he thought that the blades that now formed his body would simply disappear or turn into flesh, instead what had happened was that... the swords became his flesh? He was not sure about it, he just noted how the swords did not disappear, but when he tried to move his inside didn't hurt as much as before.

After the potion started to take effect and he made sure that he could move once again, Shirou slowly and silently got up before he started to summon as many magic swords around himself. After he made sure that he could move around his body with no problems and realized that of all the swords he summoned he could control and sustain only 20 of them, which was a big improvement from some nights ago, he dematerialized the others and he watched the two Servants fighting in the distance. He noted how both of them were fully concentrated on each other, he could clearly understand why, a single error could mean certain death for them.

First, there was Saber, on her were raining countless weapons of every kind, from sacred to demonic weapons, from blessed to cursed weapons, and if even one of them managed to wound her seriously and slow her down she could end up impaled and mutilated by all the other weapons who followed. Shirou knew that Avalon was able to heal wounds of every kind no matter the power of weapons that inflicted the wound, but he knew that Avalon was not able to regrown entire missing limbs and bring Saber back to life if she got killed.

Then there was Gilgamesh, the man was shooting and using all kinds of weapons that he possessed in his treasury in the hope of stopping Saber from cutting him down, but often he had to dash or jump back since Saber was getting far too close to him, despite all the weapons that were raining on her. As he watched him Shirou started to note that the man moved somehow in advance when Saber was getting close to him, it almost seemed that he knew where to move and where to attack her to make sure that Saber didn't reach him before he could back down.

After that moment Shirou started to slowly move behind the man's back. He had to hope that thanks to the magic runes he had engraved in his chest the man would not be able to sense him before he got too close, if he managed to take him by surprise from his back he was sure that with Saber's aid they would be able to slaughter him almost instantly.

'Finally, you have woken up, you sure took your time.' Saber thought as she felt Shirou getting up and starting to walk toward her and Archer.

Even if that had been the first thing she had thought, in reality, Saber was more than happy and surprised to see Shirou getting up, but it's not that she could show her happiness while she was deflecting all the weapons that rained on her and reveal to Archer that Shirou was still alive. They didn't need to communicate with each other to understand what one of them wanted to do, just by feeling how he was moving and how many swords he had summoned for her it was a clear sign that he wanted to attack Archer from behind while he was distracted to fight with her. Archer right now was wounded and he was being barely capable of escaping from her, if Shirou really managed to take him by surprise she was sure that they could finish him off instantly.

As she kept deflecting all the weapons that rained on her she was thinking, despite the fact that she had A+ in luck, since the start of this fight she had been quite unlucky. Not in the sense that she was now being beaten by the man just because he had the luck by his side, but because almost as soon the battle started both Shirou and Caster's copy had been hit by Archer's weapons. The man took them by surprise when immediately after greeting them he started to open a great number of portals and make his weapon rain on them, Shirou tried to counterattack the man's offensive as soon as he could by using his abilities and project the same weapons the man throwing at them, to the surprise of almost all the people present, it worked for a while. For this reason, Saber started to advance toward the man as Shirou covered her from a good number of weapons, but at one point, before she could reach Archer, she heard behind herself two weapons clashing mid-air and breaking... an instant later she heard the sound of flesh being torn apart.

In less than an instant Saber turned her head a bit just to see in the corner of her eye Shirou silently falling to the ground, as blood came out from his right side. She immediately realized that the two weapons she heard collide broke with so much force that the shrapnels of one of them flew toward Shirou and hit him. In that same instant, she saw Caster's copy appearing in front of Shirou and using both her magic barriers and her body to shield him from the powerful weapons that rained on them.

At that moment Saber turned her attention back on Archer and she could see that he was smiling at the sight... it irritated her incredibly. It seemed that the man was having fun, well, at that point she had enough. In that instant Saber, by using all of her strengths, with unimaginable speed dashed right in front of the man, and in that fraction of a second she closely saw the man flinching before weapons of every kind appeared all around her... the fool really thought that he could stop her now. In that instant not only she blocked and deflected all the weapons around her, she even managed to cut the man's chest before he was able to dash back and summon his golden armor.

From that moment on she kept moving and attacking him like that, the man would have no time to try and hit the now fallen Shirou, if he was far too occupied at not being killed by her. In fact, she kept attacking non-stop all this time long, and as a result of it not only she had bought enough time that Shirou had managed to wake up, she had wounded the man a pair of times. Yea, other than the cut on the chest she did at the start of the fight she didn't inflict wounds worse than that, but when her blade had managed to reach him that pairs of time she felt the man's bones fracturing and breaking under his armor after her sword managed to hit him.

As she was now occupied at deflecting the umpteenth wave of weapons Archer had suddenly taken a big leap behind himself and a portal opened to his right side.

"Saber, I now see that you are worthy of its power. I now decided that we shall end this once and for all!" He then said aloud before he took a red cylindrical weapon from his portal.

As he spoke those words Archer got in position and started to charge the cylindric sword he had in his hand, which had started to spin, while in the meantime he stopped his other weapons from raining onto her.

Saber said nothing and she simply dispelled the blessing of the wind on her Excalibur, before she raised the sword and prepared herself to end the fight.

"Enuma Elish!"

"Excalibur!"

They both yelled after a second as they brought down their weapons.

After an instant, both of them released the true power of their weapons, and the terrible waves of energies that had been released collided with each other.

After some moments, as Saber watched their power collide, she could say that the weapon Archer was using was on par with Excalibur since was able to fight back its energies... but an instant later she started to see that the red waves were overwhelming the blast of her Excalibur and getting closer to her.

'What?! How it is possible?!' Saber thought shocked.

During all of her life she had never met a weapon that was superior to her Excalibur, and she was even using all of her forces at the moment! But now she could not just stand there and wait for the weapons to hit her! She had to use her Sheath before it was too lat-

Gilgamesh right now was now observing Ea overwhelming the blast of Saber's sacred sword, and as he did he was very impressed since he had to use far more power than he expected... well, to say the truth he had been surprised since the very beginning of this fight.

The first thing that impressed him had been Saber's beauty. Just by seeing her he could easily say that she was now more beautiful and powerful than ever... the difference was so big that he almost didn't recognize her for a second, she seemed a totally different person from when he had last seen her at the end of the fourth war.

The second thing, that more than impressing him had surprised him and made him furious, was when after he attacked Saber and her Master, the boy, with some strange abilities that he possessed, suddenly started to copy his weapons and to shoot them back to him, and the originals that rained on them. Luckily he had managed to get rid of him before he became a problem when during the fight one of his weapons broke and its shrapnels ended up hitting the boy. He at first wanted to kill him for good so that he could concentrate on subduing Saber, but out of nowhere a cloaked woman appeared in front of the boy and used both some barriers and then her body as a shield to protect him before she disappeared.

The third thing that both surprised and impressed him had been once again Saber... more specifically, her strength and speed. As soon her Master fell she went all out on him, she had been in fact so fast that in an instant she got in front of him and even managed to wound him before he could summon his armor or any of his weapons could've hit her. He guessed that she did so because she hoped that by doing that he wouldn't have the time to finish off the boy... and to his great displeasure, it worked perfectly.

From that moment on Gilgamesh had to back down because no matter how many treasures he launched at her, Saber kept blocking and deflecting with incredible strength and speed all of the weapons that incessantly flew at her, as she tirelessly tried to kill him. As he fought her and used all of his greatest treasures, Gilgamesh could not help himself but to compare Saber with a modern tank, it almost seemed that he was trying to take down said tank with normal guns! No matter what he threw at her she dimply deflected all of his weapons without any effort, and if for some miracle one of his weapons managed to hit her she would just shrug off the miserable damage the weapon did, which after a moment would heal, and she would return on trying to cut him down!

It was strange at first, in a situation like that he should be more than furious and indignant, but he had started to have a bit of fun since much time had passed from when he had a good fight... than, until Saber managed to thrust her sword against his chest, denting his armor and breaking some of his right ribs. And after that, she even managed to hit him again, but she hit him on the shoulder pad, which shattered his left shoulder.

From that moment on he stopped underestimating Saber because as much he hated to admit it, she was strong... incredibly so. No matter with what or how he tried to fight her back, no matter if and how he managed to wound her, she didn't back down... she didn't stop... as if she could not be stopped...

As he watched her he could tell that she was giving all of herself in this fight, so he, as her worthy opponent and King Of Heroes, could not do less.

For this reason, he activated Sha Naqba Imuru, his clairvoyance. This ability of his didn't just give him the ability to gaze into the future, it did much more, in fact from now on thanks to it he will be able to make the perfect move every time it was necessary so that he could fight Saber equally...

Indeed, equally. As he gazed at both the moves he had to do and the future, an amazed smile appeared when he saw how until the very end of the fight, where he had to use his greatest treasure to defeat her, Saber still gave him a hard time! Not even a skill like his clairvoyance could give a person a proper advantage against his Saber in her strongest form! Once again he had been reminded why she had to become his, why she had to become his greatest treasure!

Gilgamesh snapped out of his thoughts when he saw Ea's blast disappearing and then a wounded Saber. He watched the woman, even if now she was bloodied and her armor had been broken after she had been hit by a powerful blast of Ea, she had yet to fall down. In fact, even if she had been pushed back a very good distance and she was now gravely wounded, she was on one knee while she used her sword as a support to not fall... at that moment Gilgamesh remained captivated by her beauty. Even if she had been wounded and her sacred sword had been defeated by the strongest weapon that had ever existed, the one that only the King Of Heroes could wield, she would not go down, she would still stand, fight, and reject him until the very end... even if she was unconscious. Yes, he could see her eyes, and by seeing how empty they were he could say that it would take a while for her to recover both her consciousness and her wounds... but she had already proven herself to be a strong one until the very end.

Gilgamesh was more than satisfied. Much time had passed since the last time he had been pushed back to the point he was forced to be serious and use all of his abilities, in fact, as he watched her he felt a bit happy, the sensation of fulfillment he was now feeling in his chest was very rare for him. It was a more than rare occasion if he had to work hard to obtain something, and right now he could see that his efforts had paid off, and he now had Saber all for himself.

"You have been a worthy opponent Saber, but as you have figured it out, our fight is over." Gilgamesh said before he snapped his fingers and a portal opened to his side, from which an instant later a weapon flew at incredible speed towards her left shoulder... just to be deflected.

"...What?" Gilgamesh said incredibly surprised, and a bit confused, after a moment.

...What had happened? Why his weapon had been deflected? By who or what it had been deflected? He had been watching Saber this entire time and she had not moved, so why didn't his weapon hit her?

After that moment of brief confusion, Gilgamesh started to observe Saber very carefully... and in fact, he started to note a golden aura around her... that, and he noted how she had already started to heal once again, even if this time they were being healed very slowly.

"...Avalon... so that's how it is." Gilgamesh noted aloud.

Thanks to his Sha Naqba Imuru he could see the True Nature of everything in his sight, and now that he was carefully observing her he finally discovered why and how Saber had become so strong since the last time they saw each other... in fact unlike the last time, not only she had a Master that could sustain her, she now had her greatest treasure on her side.

"You're wounded, bloodied, on your desperate stand to protect the life of your dying Master, and right now you're even unconscious... and yet you kept rejecting and defiling me... This is why you're nothing but amazing!" Gilgamesh said before a genuine smile appeared on his face. "I have to say that I have underestimated you once again, Saber. If the first time I underestimated your strength, this time I underestimated your indomitable will... I swear that you'll become my greatest treasure, and I'll gift you whatever you'll desire after the end of this fight." He continued as his smile got bigger.

After he finished speaking a little portal opened above his hand, from which he grabbed a powerful healing potion. He knew very well Saber's legend, until she had the Sacred Sheath with her the artifact would have healed all of her wounds and made her almost immortal. Just by watching the golden aura around her, he could tell that no matter what he threw at her or what treasure he used, even Ea, he wouldn't be able to even scratch her, let alone finish her off.

He drank the potion and immediately started to feel his wounds closing up and his bones healing. A bitter taste came to his mouth since he was now forced to heal himself, but considering both the facts that in some minutes Saber would be back on her feet ready to fight like before, as if nothing ever happened, and that he right now was still bleeding for the wound she inflicted him earlier, it seemed the right thing to do it.

Gilgamesh then closed his eyes and started to gaze into the future, he was doing so to know in how much time Saber would get up and to see if he could do something about the Sheath's abilities to protect and heal her owner... but what he saw was something else.

His headless body stood still in place as his head fell forward, before it got surrounded by floating swords who, spinning like propellers, started to incessantly hit his body, that until they started to hit the weak points in the joints of his armor until they started to mutilate and tear his body apart.

Everything that he saw, happened in a single instant. Gilgamesh then opened his eyes and realized what he had just seen, and as he guessed who had attacked him from behind since only one person, who he first thought to be out of the fight, was still present on the battlefield other than him and Saber, a rage he never felt before invaded him.

"How dare you sneak up on me you mongrel!" Gilgamesh shouted in anger and indignation as he turned around and opened his Gate of Babylon.

After he turned around, he saw him, and as his treasures started to rain on the boy that was now dashing toward him with the swords that surrounded him and acted like shields, Gilgamesh froze for a mere instant.

With Sha Naqba Imuru he could understand and discover the true nature of every individual and opponent that stood in front of him, and he didn't know what to think when instead of a person, he saw in front of himself a weapon... something that he never expected to happen again during all of his existence.

'...I never thought that I would have fought ever again someone of your kind, Enkidu...' Gilgamesh thought as a twinge came to his heart after he posed his eyes on the boy and frowned.

Unlike Enkidu, which was a sentient weapon of the gods, what now stood in front of him was a 'simple' weapon: a Sword... who to his great surprise even contained a world in itself.

'How bizarre.' Gilgamesh thought. In front of him stood a living sword that possessed a Reality Marble and was somehow even capable of copying Noble Phantasms. That was something that he had never heard before, he didn't even know that things like him could exist.

Anyway, he could see that not only the boy was a sword in his essence, but his body too was a sword... or in better words, it was kinda turning into one. He had noted the hole in his side, where he had been wounded, and instead of flesh he saw that some little swords were now replacing the missing part of his body.

Gilgamesh then snapped out of his thoughts when the majority of the swords around the boy suddenly took life and started to deflect and block the weapons he was throwing at him, and as he observed those weapons he saw that they were in some sense alive, since in them resided the copy of a soul.

He would have liked to examine and observe the being that now was dashing toward him, but instead, he called to his side a shield which blocked the sword that was coming from his right side, the one that was aiming to his neck, the one who had instantly beheaded him in his vision.

'So not only he managed to hide his presence, but even some of those swords of his.' He thought after he watched the sword who was full of magic runes falling to the ground before it suddenly took life again and tried to hit him again. Gilgamesh didn't even deign to look at it a second time or give it any more attention at the sword that failed to kill him, as he turned his head around some of his treasure had been shot toward it and utterly destroyed it.

Right now what Gilgamesh was focusing on was the boy, and he watching him and all of his swords who were now deflecting and blocking all of his treasures that rained on them while they advanced in his direction. In those moments, as he observed them, he realized that right now he was not fighting a single person, not a single sword, but an army of them... how amusing.

Not only he had discovered that Saber was stronger than ever and he had to fight with her using all of his abilities, right now there was another interesting opponent in front of him... an opponent of a very peculiar, and nostalgic, nature.

He right now would have liked to ask his name, but with his clairvoyance was warned him on how at any moment the boy would have dashed toward him and started to attack him, and that's exactly what happened.

Gilgamesh immediately called one of his swords and started to fend off the boy's incredibly heavy and fast slashes. This went on for over ten seconds, and after a while, it became clear to both of them that even if for a 'human' like him who was incredibly strong, fast, and able with the sword, for now, he couldn't do much against a Servant like Gilgamesh, who was quite strong and fast on his own, and right now was even using his clairvoyance. For this reason, Gilgamesh wasn't much surprised, since it was obvious and he had already predicted it when at one point the boy summoned 4 other swords on his sides who started to incessantly attack him too.

As he now backed and moved around to defend himself from his now numerous opponents, for a mere moment Gilgamesh looked around himself, and he noted that all around himself, even if he was trying to use his Gate Of Babylon on the boy, numerous of those magic swords that moved on their own were now deflecting and diverting his weapons, in case one of them broke he saw that the boy would just create another one. As he thought about it until now the closest a weapon had ever gotten to hit the boy had been around 5 meters. Gilgamesh also had to be careful and make sure to not hit himself, after he shot his treasures from his portals he could not control where they flew, and he was sure that if he was not careful enough the boy would try to use his own weapon, not the copies he was able to make, against him.

They then kept fighting, and the more time passed the more Gilgamesh didn't like how and where things were heading, in fact, as he gazed in the next future he saw how the boy with his other swords started to manage to hit him numerous times, since he was proving himself a better swordsman than him, and even had the advantage of numerical superiority. But luckily enough, unlike Saber, the boy didn't have a weapon or the necessary strength to damage him, he could see that his slashes in fact barely left a mark... but this was not the main problem.

The boy had started to prove himself to be a way bigger nuisance than he thought before, and right now as the two of them were fighting he could tell that Saber had started to regain consciousness... this meant that in not too much time she would be back on her feet... this meant that he would found himself blocked between Saber and the being in front of him!

This more than a fight had become a race against time itself.

'...These two ...are too strong!' Gilgamesh then admitted to himself as he managed to deflect and parry with his sword only 4 of the 5 strikes that arrived toward him, the black blade that the boy had in his left hand hit him in the stomach, but as he predicted and expected it was not even able to scratch his armor.

That didn't matter, the only thing that did was if the boy really managed to stall him until Saber was in condition to fight again, because if he was able to Gilgamesh could consider himself good as dead! He had to do something about it, but his clairvoyance at the moment was just showing him deplorable visions of Saber joining in the fight and finishing him off from behind...

Tch, this meant that he had to retreat.

While Saber and Gilgamesh were fighting each other Shirou was silently moving in the shadows, in the hope of not being noticed by the man as he got closer to them, that, until he saw both the man and Saber preparing themself to use their final weapons.

As Shirou watched them from behind a tree and observed the strange weapons the man was using he suddenly got a bad feeling, he didn't know why, but he could not even comprehend what weapon that thing was. Before he could process what he was watching or even advert Saber about the danger of that weapon, the two Servants brought down those weapons, and their power clashed.

After their blasts faded and he saw the result, his eyes widened in surprise and he gritted his teeth.

As soon Shirou saw the bleeding and unconscious Saber kneeling on the ground his heart stopped beating, and when the man even tried to attack her while she could not even defend herself a wave of anger and fury he had not felt for weeks suddenly invaded his heart and his mind. It was for this reason he immediately jumped out from behind the tree went for the kill while the man was still distracted... too bad the man had been somehow able to discover him before he could even launch his attack.

As Shirou was now attacking Gilgamesh he was thinking. Right now as he fought him, he had a strange feeling... but it was not one of rage anymore... not one of fear... but one of total calm. He right now knew very well what was happening and what was going on around him, he knew how mythical weapons of every kind rained mere metres all around him and destroyed almost everything in their path, yet he had no reason to panic. He felt that no matter what would happen, until the man died any kind of outcome would be acceptable.

Right now things were not going in a good direction, but neither they were going on a bad one.

On the good side for the moment he was being somehow able to fight the man and block his portals, if he will be able to keep going like that soon Saber would recover her forces and assist him to kill the man... but that was the problem, he didn't know how much time he will last since he now had less than a half of all of his mana.

Yes, his circuits were now of the inhuman kind, but they too had their limit. After the fight started, before he got wounded, to counter-attack the man's offensive he had to summon the same number of weapons the man shot at them, and their number was incredibly high since Gilgamesh had opened a great number of portals from the very start. He didn't remember the exact number, but he was pretty sure that in that during the initial part of the fight he had traced over a hundred of Noble Phantasm of every kind, and that had exhausted him and his circuits quite a bit... and even now things were not very promising.

After he had woken up he had used a good number of runes on himself both to hide his presence and heal his wounds, then he had summoned over 20 swords just to see how many he could utilize and sustain, and now he was reinforcing all of his body, his ruined, but still working, suit, and all of his swords just to fight the man and those portals of his. He now was also supplying with mana all the swords that were countering the man portals, luckily he didn't have to control their movement since they were in part conscious and they followed his orders to protect him, but he still had to supply them with mana so that they could move, and he also had to summon others in case they broke. Even if they were good swords who possessed incredible physical and magical resistance, they could not even be compared to a normal Noble Phantasm, so after deflecting and blocking a good number of weapons they would break.

Just how much longer could he now last?

"I'll have to admit it," The man suddenly said, making Shirou snap out of his thoughts. "the two of you are much stronger than I first expected, I've underestimated both of you... but I'll make sure to not repeat the same mistake twice. The next time we'll see each other will be the last, but I'll take the two of you seriously, so do not think you'll be able to survive again by pure luck, boy." The man continued as he coldly watched him in the eyes, while he defended himself from his attacks.

After the man spoke, on Shirou's face an expression of disbelief appeared.

Just... what was he talking about?

What kind of reasoning did the man just make to even think that he will be able to run away from him? Did he really think that he would be able to get out of there alive?

After all the thing they did to reach the point, after all the people he had slaughtered, after all the blood that had been spilled, the man was thinking to run away and prolong the war even more? Did he really think he had a choice to run? Had he any idea of all the things they had to do to arrive there? He right now should just butcher him for what he had done to Saber, and now he thought that he could just retreat?!

And where did he intended to retreat and fight them again?! Perhaps in a place full of civilians just to give himself an advantage against him and Saber?! Maybe he would even take some innocents as hostages or use them as shield?! Maybe he would give them some kind of ultimatum if they didn't surrender?!

'Bullshit.' Shirou thought as he frowned.

What the man didn't understand is that the war would end right here, and he would end right now.

In that brief instant, Shirou started to think.

He had to kill the man without Saber's help, before he could dash back and retreat, so what could he do? During their brief confrontation he had managed to hit him just once, but the armor the man had proved itself to be too much strong, he had hit him in the stomach and yet his sword barely left a mark... so what could he use against someone like him? What kind of weapon could pass through his armor?

As he thought, Shirou noted once again the dents into the man's armor... and in that single instant, he had his answer.

Would be able to do it? Maybe, but he was not too sure about it, Saber made him analyze her sword just once and he had never tried to trace it because he knew that it could be dangerous... but if he managed to trace it, would it worked?

...Of course it would.

Was this plan dangerous? Yes.

Would this plan get him killed? Probably.

Was it worth the price? Absolutely.

In that single moment, Kanshou and Bakuya disappeared from his hands, while the other 4 swords started attacking Gilgamesh way faster than before.

"I am the bone of my sword." Shirou chanted as he closed his eyes and grasped a yet non-existing hilt in front of himself, and after he did he saw the image of Excalibur on his hill of swords.

Unlike Avalon he still had the image of Excalibur in himself, yes, its image was complex... too complex to be comprehended... but even a fake and hollow copy of it would be enough... he just needs it to bring it forth... he just needed its power for some seconds.

As Gilgamesh was now deflecting the weapons that were attacking him faster than before, while he prepared himself to dash back and retreat, he was now watching the boy. Why did he suddenly stop attacking him? And what was he chanting?

As he asked himself those questions Gilgamesh kept parrying the swords in front of himself with incredibly fast movements, as his clairvoyance told him what to do and where to move, but before he could step back and start to retreat, his clairvoyance suddenly activated and a vision came to him.

'...What?' Gilgamesh thought simply confused and perplexed, as he now watched the vision of his now irreversible demise.

"EX-" Shirou started to yell, as a sword, which had to yet to fully take form, appeared in his hands.

"It can't be!" Gilgamesh exclaimed as he started to dash back. He had seen the vision, but for him it was impossible! No human should be able to do such things, it... oh, right, what stood in front of him was no human... but a unique weapon.

"CALIBUR!" Shirou then finished yelling after the golden sword took form in his hands and he dashed toward Gilgamesh.

As Gilgamesh dashed back about 15 meters Shirou got in front of him once again with the same speed of Saber, and he strongly thrust the sword toward his chest and hit him. Gilgamesh could feel just the tip of the sword penetrating his armor and his chest, but after that, he saw and felt the sword radiate a very strong light and heat, blinding him for some pairs seconds.

As he now stumbled back, Gilgamesh after a while recovered his sight, and the first thing he saw had been the now exhausted boy in front of him... he then lowered his head to watch himself, just to see a gaping hole present in his chest.

Shirou's arms, now heavy, fell down to his side, as the sword he had just held in his hands slipped to the ground and started to disappear.

His sight was now foggy and he was now breathing heavily, he had used ALL of his remaining forces to project and use the power of that fake copy of Excalibur... but as he raised his heavy eyes with the few strengths left in his body, he could see that he had done it... he had hit the man right in his magic core and heart.

'...Ah, I did it... I truly ended the war.' Shirou thought an almost invisible smile appeared on his face.

He had finally done it, with the final enemy killed, no more innocents would get involved in the war... no more innocents would die from now on...

'Is this it, Archer? Is this what a real hero should do?' Shirou then asked him.

Even if that night Archer had shown him where their talents truly resided, Shirou still didn't want to give up. Even if because of their nature they could save others just by fighting and killing, they could choose who to fight and who to kill... right? And if they killed the evil ones, no innocent would suffer in the first place... right?

Even if his sight was getting foggier and his head was getting somehow lighter at that moment Shirou noted how the world had suddenly started to spin, and even when his body strongly struck the ground, he didn't let out a single moan.

As his consciousness started to quickly fade, Shirou just realized that the war was finally over... but he realized that in that short time he now had he could not ask forgiveness for all the sins he had committed, even if they had been for a good cause... well, to say the truth, deep down he knew long ago that there would be no coming back.

Gilgamesh, after watching the giant hole now present in his chest, raised his head to watch in the eyes the boy who managed to slay him.

And as he was watching him he flinched when blood got splattered all over in his face, when some of his treasures who arrived from his portals, who now were not being obstructed anymore, suddenly tore the boy in front of him to pieces.

After the roar of his flying weapons disappeared and he watched what now remained of the boy falling to the ground, Gilgamesh noted that an immense silence had invaded the battlefield... but then it got briefly interrupted by the clattering of the numerous magic swords falling all around himself.

At that moment, Gilgamesh didn't know how to react or even what to say... he just knew that he was confused... and displeased.

Not only the mongrel... no, but the powerful being he had just fought was also much stronger than he had expected... it had even managed to kill him by achieving another impossible and mythical feat with the powers he possessed.

"...It is ...such a shame." Gilgamesh then managed to mutter, as he watched what remained of the boy's corpse while he shook his head.

What a fool that he had been, Saber made him figure it out earlier that he had to not underestimate his foes and fight seriously, and yet, he had done it again... and he may have ruined one of the greatest battle that could have ever happened on the face of this Earth. Just what kind of mythical tale could have been told to the future generations if the two of them had fought by using all of their forces and abilities? The being that he had fought, not only was already wounded, he had not even used the inner world that he possessed... just what would have happened if they had gone all out?

But this was not the only thing that Gilgamesh was displeased with, he right now was feeling some kind of pity for the one who fought and stood in front of him moments before.

The young man, or weapon, had managed to do something that had never been achieved in history, he had killed the King Of Heroes, something that not even the gods, their weapons, their powerful beasts, or other mythical heroes and demi-gods have ever managed to achieve.

...And now what remained of him?

At this very moment, the young man should have been covered with riches of any kind, his deeds should have been sung and glorified by every single inhabitant of this world, and for what he had just done his name should have been remembered for eternity... but now... would the rest of the world even know what had just happened? Would the world even know that he existed in the first place?

But even so... he was not feeling that sorry for him.

Before his weapons had made him into pieces Gilgamesh had watched him in right into his eyes, into his very essence and soul, and in them, he saw no traces of regrets. Gilgamesh could tell that the young man chased his dreams, whatever they had been, and he had devoted his heart to them until his bitter end, until he didn't even have the strength to defend himself from the last of his attacks.

Right now, the young man who had an entire life in front of himself, this warrior who was able to fight him head-on and managed to kill him, was now nothing but mere dead flesh... uncared for by no one and wept by none...

No matter how much he tried to look into it, even if the boy was satisfied by how it ended, for him this was such an unsatisfactory end...

In that instant a golden chalice filled with precious gemstones appeared in Gilgamesh's right hand, and he raised his arm in front of himself, a moment later a little portal opened above the chalice and the finest wine present in Gilgamesh treasury started to fill it.

"...I know that this isn't much... but there is nothing else I can do for someone like you, in the conditions I now found myself in..." Gilgamesh said before the chalice got filled with wine. "But I think that this will be more than enough for someone of your kind... A toast to you... oh nameless hero." He continued, before he drank all the wine present in the cup.

"Sh-... Shirou?" Gilgamesh then suddenly heard a voice saying.

"...Oh, right, you're still here Saber." Gilgamesh said before he turned his head to watch the woman he had completely forgotten about, who now was in pristine conditions as if nothing had ever happened to her, and now stood behind his right side. "...You just said Shirou, right? So, that was his name... Shirou... I'll try to remember it once I'll return to the Throne Of Heroes." He continued.

"What have you done to him?!" Saber snapped indignantly and furious as she grasped her sword in her hand.

"...What happened to him was unintentional... really." Gilgamesh admitted before he turned to face her. "...As you can see, you have lost the chance to assist at one of the greatest, even if brief, fights that have ever occurred. I would have liked to let him get away with it, after all not only he had managed to defeat me, but he had done it by somehow copying your blade, Saber." Gilgamesh continued as he pointed to her sword. "...But now... no one will ever be able to tell the tale of our brief encounter..." Gilgamesh said displeased before sighing, as a little river of blood came of his mouth.

"...Shirou ...why?" Saber said as she watched the few and almost unrecognizable remaining pieces of Shirou's corpse.

"Do not be sad for him Saber, instead you should rejoice and celebrate. He knew what his porpuse was, he knew what he was doing, and after he fulfilled his duty he accepted his fate without any kind of fear." Gilgamesh said. "Even if he was a weapon, I could tell that in him beated a human heart, in which he carried the strength and courage that only humans can. Until the very end, he honored his true nature, and showed me his unyielding iron will..." Gilgamesh said before he looked down at his right hand, which was starting to slowly fade, before he clenched it into a fist.

"Now tell me, Saber, how could I define myself as a King if I did less than one of my subjects?!" He asked as he frowned. "He fought until the very end, so as a King I can't do less. Now it's your time, Saber! Honor your Master! Honor his will! Honor his death! And let's truly put an end to this conflict!" He exclaimed as a portal opened on his right side and he grabbed once again Ea.

Saber said nothing and she simply frowned, she turned her attention back to the King Of Heroes, and she slowly raised once again her sword, which had started to radiate a strong light.

Gilgamesh got in position and started to charge his greatest treasure, but as he did, he started to notice how heavy his arms and legs now were... it reminded him of what it felt to be frail... to be mortal.

"Enuma Elish!"

"Excalibur!"

They then both yelled again before the power of their weapon clashed for a second time that night.

As their power clashed Gilgamesh immediately understood that this time the one to be overwhelmed will be him, he neither had the power and the time to use Ea at its fullest... but he couldn't complain. He had fought and got defeated by a beautiful, unique, and powerful couple. He got killed by the Master and now he would be finished off by the Servant.

As he watched the golden wave of energies getting closer and closer, he smiled, he too could say that he had no regrets.

After she watched the blast of Excalibur erase everything that stood in front of her, Saber remained silent. And as she silently watched the scenario now present in front of her, at one point, she posed the tip of her holy sword on the ground and put her hands on its hilt, before she sighed.

For her this was not the first time she had lost a comrade, or a companion, or a friend, or a pupil... and yet, she was feeling sadder than usual. Maybe it was due to the fact that the war had finally ended, everything was over... and yet Shirou died at the very last, after he somehow managed to slain Gilgamesh, the King Of Heroes, without her help.

"...You were a good warrior Shirou... one of the best that I ever met." Saber thought aloud, as she remained still in her place.

At the moment if Saber had to follow her code of honor she would just wait there until she spented all of her mana and disappeared, the war was over and she had lost her Master, there was no more reason for her to stay there... but she had made a promise to her Master, to Shirou. She had made him the promise to protect his sister no matter how, even at the cost of her life, and she will honor such promise until the very end.

"Saber... where is Shirou?" Saber then suddenly heard Caster's voice behind her.

She turned her head around, just to see Caster that was fanatically looking around, and Rider watching her.

After Caster turned her attention back to her, Saber firmly watched her into her eyes, before she simply said: "I'm sorry."

Caster remained silent, but after a moment she putted her hands into her hairs and crouched to the ground. "... Shirou... it can't be..." She then muttered.

END PART 1