"To save all humanity..."
Shirou gazed quietly at Kotomine Shirou without revealing any emotion. He didn't know how to respond to such an overwhelming wish.
"Well? Have you decided, Master of the King of Knights?"
Kotomine Shirou's face displayed a genuinely pure smile, his gaze directly meeting Emiya Shirou's eyes.
The two stood silently, facing each other in the darkened room.
"Your wish…is incredibly noble. Noble enough to earn my sincere admiration."
Shirou did not hide his heartfelt respect as he spoke these words to Kotomine.
A wish of such scale, paired with the willingness to sacrifice oneself to achieve it—Shirou deeply admired it from the bottom of his heart.
To have such ideals and to truly act upon them was worthy of being called a saint.
To save others, to bring them salvation—this was something Emiya Shirou himself had always done. But there was a subtle difference between him and Kotomine Shirou: Emiya tried to save people individually, one by one, while Kotomine sought to save humanity itself as a species.
Kotomine Shirou smiled warmly upon hearing Emiya's sincere admiration, and extended his hand once more.
However, this time, Emiya did not grasp it.
"But…I refuse."
Kotomine Shirou's hand paused mid-air, his gentle smile frozen at the corners of his mouth.
"Does humanity truly need saving?"
Shirou didn't know how Kotomine planned to save humanity, nor what the world would look like afterward.
He wanted to know—and yet, he also did not.
Shirou didn't sense anything suspicious in Kotomine's words or behavior, nor had he received any mysterious premonitions that Kotomine's wish was somehow twisted.
He simply questioned from the bottom of his heart whether "saving" was truly the right word for humanity. Had humanity really reached a point where it needed salvation?
"Why wouldn't humanity need saving? War, crime, power struggles—humans slaughter their own kind without hesitation for their selfish goals. There is so much evil rooted deeply in humanity, causing countless people suffering. Why shouldn't humanity be saved? Why must this evil remain in the world?"
Kotomine Shirou's voice grew agitated as he stared at the person who should have understood him yet rejected him outright.
We're the same, aren't we? So why—why can't you understand? Why can't you comprehend what I'm trying to do?
During the Shimabara Rebellion, he had clearly witnessed how vile, cruel, and despicable humanity could become. They could even act like this toward their own kin—if it was a different race or culture, how much further could human cruelty escalate?
In the six decades since, Kotomine had come to understand humanity's nature more thoroughly, deepening his disgust toward humans as much as it deepened his love for them.
"But isn't it precisely humanity's darkness and evil that allows it to persist?"
Humans were beings of duality: feeling fear when encountering danger, anger when treated unfairly, greed when encountering something desirable.
Even Shirou himself couldn't resist such impulses. He still disliked umekonbu tea, no matter what. And whenever he was in a bad mood, he'd find himself high-jumping, practicing archery, or immersing himself in tasks that consumed his attention completely, losing track of time—wasn't that also a form of greed?
These contradictory impulses, both good and bad, made up who he was now. Evil, by existing, highlighted the nobility of goodness. If one lost all their evil impulses, would they still be themselves? Would they still retain their individuality?
These questions had no answers.
In the Empire, Shirou had witnessed countless atrocities. He had once thought that eliminating all evil would make the world better.
But he had realized it was impossible. Esdeath, an Imperial general who loved torturing enemies, treated her own subordinates and people with unexpected gentleness and kindness.
Leone, fighting against the Empire's corruption, had deceived a naïve young man who had just left his village—simply because Night Raid lacked money. Had they not coincidentally saved him afterward, that boy would have died tragically, never avenging his friend.
Humanity's desires sparked internal struggles, yet those same desires had propelled humanity forward, advancing civilization to this day.
"If humanity lost its evil, would it stop advancing? Would humanity be unable to continue?"
"I don't know."
Shirou shook his head—not answering Kotomine's question, but rather admitting that he genuinely did not know the answer.
He couldn't imagine whether humanity could continue without evil. Shirou had never seen such a world. He could not know if a world without evil would truly bring happiness to humanity, especially since Shirou himself had always struggled to understand human happiness.
He looked Kotomine directly in the eyes again.
"I won't argue against your wish, because I don't know if a world without evil would truly become better, or if humanity would genuinely find happiness."
"But have you considered—what if, by removing evil, humanity ceases to be human? What if humanity itself perishes? What would you do then? No one has ever achieved this—how can you be certain that humanity will definitely be happy once evil is removed?"
If Kotomine Shirou succeeded in eradicating evil and humanity became happier, everything would end well. But if he failed, humanity without evil would cease being humanity entirely.
If that happened, Shirou would deeply regret not stopping him.
Perhaps salvation could lead to destruction—but salvation itself was not inherently wrong.
Shirou would never think Kotomine Shirou's wish was mistaken. His intentions were rooted in justice. Yet Shirou couldn't gamble humanity's entire future on his wish. He simply couldn't.
Moreover, Shirou didn't believe humanity had truly reached the point of needing salvation yet.
"It's not that I think your wish is impossible—it's just that I cannot risk humanity's entire future on it!"
In Shirou's hand appeared a sword formed from interlocking chains.
"Then, from now on…we are enemies!"
Kotomine Shirou's voice carried a faint sadness, yet his eyes shone brightly with resolve.
As soon as he finished speaking—
BOOM—!
A thunderous roar erupted, and the room began shaking violently.
No—not just the room, but the entirety of Millennia Castle trembled.
"This is...!"
Shirou's eyes narrowed in alarm.
Kotomine Shirou merely opened his arms wide, smiling gently as he announced, "Our conversation ends here."
"It's finally begun."
"The Great Holy Grail War."
---
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