With a dull thud, Hansen completely ripped a golden cup-like object out of Irisviel's chest.
Having lost her core, Irisviel's body instantly went limp, her final breath dissipated, and her heart stopped beating.
The woman, as exquisite as a doll, had completely turned into a cold corpse.
"Iri!" Saber's pupils contracted violently as she cried out subconsciously.
"What are you panicking for?"
Hansen casually tossed the lesser grail onto the carpet like trash, without even giving it a second glance.
He pressed his left hand against Irisviel's hollow chest, and a massive amount of life energy poured down like a waterfall.
[Authority of Life and Death]!
Buzz—!
A brilliant white-gold light instantly enveloped the doll wife's broken body.
The originally gruesome wound healed at a speed visible to the naked eye, the shattered internal organs reorganized, and the stopped heart, under the pacing of divine power, gave its first powerful beat.
Thump.
Then came the second, the third... Thump, thump, thump.
When Irisviel opened her eyes again, her pair of eyes, originally as warm as rubies, were filled with confusion... "I... I'm alive?"
Coming back to her senses, Irisviel touched her perfectly intact chest in disbelief.
"Of course."
Hansen took the square handkerchief Saber handed him and wiped the arm that had just performed surgical surgery: "I said I would protect your safety."
Irisviel remained dazed for a long time.
She looked at the Holy Grail core at Hansen's feet, then at Saber, who stood nearby with a look of concern.
Suddenly, as if she had made some kind of decision.
The young lady, who had always lived a pampered life, rolled out of bed, and regardless of her torn clothes revealing her skin, she knelt down before Hansen.
"Ruler... I beg you! Please, I beg you to save Illya!"
As if seeing the cycle of fate, Irisviel gripped Hansen's pant leg tightly: "I don't want Illya to repeat my fate... That child, she shouldn't become a sacrifice for such a thing..."
Having experienced the great terror between life and death, she saw through many things.
As long as the mechanism of the Holy Grail War remained, and as long as the Einzbern Family's obsession persisted.
Her daughter would still be unable to escape the fate of becoming a vessel.
The terrifying experience of having multiple massive amounts of magical power stuffed into her body until it burst—she didn't want her daughter to endure that again.
Hansen looked down at the mother pleading humbly at his feet, then glanced at the exceptionally well-behaved golden Holy Grail on the floor.
So you're the one called the Omnipotent Wish-Granting Machine?
Heh, tui—!
If you really want a wish fulfilled, you have to come to me!
Under the ink-like night, he reached out to help the pleading woman up: "Your wish is granted."
...Ten minutes later, in the castle hall.
Three little girls, as delicate as carved jade, were sitting in a row on the sofa, each with a different expression.
Illya was hugging a giant white bear plushie, curiously sizing up the big sister in the white dress who seemed to have become much livelier.
Wearing a sailor uniform and black over-the-knee socks, Tohsaka Rin had her arms crossed, shaking her leg with a tsundere expression. Although she tried hard to act like an adult, her eyes would occasionally steal glances toward the stairs.
Sakura, dressed identically to her sister but with the colors reversed, was as quiet as ever, obediently keeping her head down.
"Um... why hasn't that big brother come down yet?" Illya asked in a milky voice, swinging her short little legs.
"Who knows what that brute is up to," Rin huffed, but her ears were perked up straight.
As the future head of the Tohsaka Family, even if she was temporarily a prisoner, she had to remain vigilant at all times.
Just then, footsteps were heard on the stairs.
Hansen, who had changed into a black trench coat, walked down, followed by a refreshed Saber and Irisviel.
"Mama!" Illya's eyes lit up, and she threw down her plushie to pounce over.
Irisviel caught her daughter and held her tightly in her arms, feeling that warm body temperature; her tears almost fell again.
"Illya, that's wonderful..."
Clap, clap—
Hansen clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention.
He walked up to the three little girls, flashing a 'kind' smile that, in Rin's eyes, was practically that of a Great Demon King.
"Children, it's getting a bit late, but..."
Hansen snapped his fingers.
"Big brother is going to take you on a special field trip."
"Huh?" Rin's eyes widened. "Now? What time is it! Ah..."
Hansen's hand-blade chop left the tsundere young lady teary-eyed: "This is a notification, not a discussion."
Then, without further explanation, he gave a large wave of his hand.
Buzz—!
The space behind him shattered like a mirror, revealing a dimension passage shimmering with starlight.
[Authority of Dimension]—Open!
"Let's go," Hansen was the first to step into the passage, his voice coming from the void, "to witness the end of an era."
Since she had already acknowledged the man before her, Saber lifted her skirt and followed without hesitation.
Irisviel led Illya by the hand and gently patted the heads of the other two girls: "Don't be afraid, follow me closely."
Rin and Sakura looked at each other. Although both sisters were completely confused, the desire for an unknown adventure still drove them to take that step... Fuyuki City Civic Center, underground cavern.
The air here was so turbid it was suffocating, with bullet holes and charred marks everywhere.
Kirei Kotomine leaned against the wall, his black priest's robe soaked with blood. His abdomen had been hit by an Origin Bullet, and his magic circuits were completely destroyed, but in those hollow eyes, a flame of unprecedented pleasure burned.
Ten-odd meters across from him, Kiritsugu Emiya lay on the ground, vomiting blood in large gulps.
Seven or eight of his ribs were broken, his internal organs were ruptured, and the submachine gun in his hand had long since run out of bullets.
Both men were at the end of their ropes.
"Cough... it seems... I've won." Kirei Kotomine painfully raised his hand, clutching a final Black Key between his fingers. "Kiritsugu Emiya, even in the end, you can't save anything."
Kiritsugu Emiya tried to reach for the gun that had fallen in the distance, but his fingers no longer obeyed him.
Right at this moment where life and death were decided.
Zzt—!
The air between the two suddenly split open with a neat slit, as if an invisible giant hand had forcibly peeled back the curtain of reality.
A foot wearing brand-name sneakers stepped out extremely abruptly, treading onto the dust-and-blood-stained floor.
"Yo, it's quite lively here."
A flippant voice echoed in the deathly silent underground cavern.
Kirei Kotomine and Kiritsugu Emiya were both stunned, turning their heads stiffly to look.
Seeing Ruler and Saber appear, Kirei Kotomine's movements froze.
Like tasting a hint of bitterness in honey, his extreme pleasure rippled slightly; heartless as he was, it was hard for him to describe his current feelings.
But there was no doubt... the outcome was decided.
On the other side, Kiritsugu Emiya's lifeless pupils contracted sharply.
"Irisviel...? Illya...?"
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