The golden motes of light drifting through the sky finally vanished completely into the cold air of Fuyuki City, as if they had never existed.
Amid the ruins, only Gaio stood suspended in the air, his solitary figure stark against the backdrop of fractured clouds.
"This..." Shirou Emiya's mouth opened, his throat dry, unable to form a single coherent word.
What he witnessed was beyond his limited imagination.
A faint clang echoed—the sound of Archer (Heroic Spirit Emiya) dismissing his projected twin blades.
Taking a deep breath to quell the storm raging in his heart, Archer's low voice rumbled near Rin's ear. "Master! Gilgamesh is gone, but the Holy Grail War isn't over! There are still other Servants!"
Rin snapped out of the overwhelming shock of watching the King of Heroes obliterated. Cold sweat soaked her back in an instant. She instinctively turned to Archer, her brows furrowed, about to speak—
"Miss Tohsaka."
A clear voice rang in her ear, but it didn't come from Archer.
Rin froze, her heart nearly stopping.
Everyone—Saber, weakened and pale; Shirou, still reeling; and Archer, on high alert—snapped their heads toward the voice, looking up at Gaio in the sky.
At some point, Gaio had a figure in his grasp... a person?
He held them like a broken doll.
The figure was covered in bloodstains, their black priestly coat torn in large patches, revealing a blood-soaked shirt underneath. Their once meticulously combed hair hung messily, partially obscuring a pale face. Most striking was the cross necklace, swaying limply, stained with dark red blood.
It was Kirei Kotomine!
The overseer appointed by the Church for this Holy Grail War.
Gaio hovered in the air, casually holding the near-dead Kirei as if he were an insignificant object. His gaze fell on the stunned Rin below, and he asked clearly, "The Holy Grail? What's it good for?"
The question was straightforward, rooted in his understanding. To him, the so-called Holy Grail War was merely a grand ritual orchestrated by the Einzbern, Tohsaka, and Matou (Makiri) families to reach the "Root." He scoffed at the legend that the Grail could grant the victor's every wish. If it was so powerful, why not just wish to be the strongest forever, untouchable by anyone? To Gaio, the Holy Grail was nothing but a massive lie.
Rin froze at his question. She wanted to explain the legend of the Grail, but seeing the disdain in Gaio's eyes, she realized his words weren't a question—they were a statement. A dismissal of the Grail's worth.
She opened her mouth but couldn't speak.
Seeing her silence, Gaio flickered and appeared before her, tossing Kirei Kotomine at her feet.
The group finally registered the man Gaio had been holding.
Rin looked at him, confused. "This...?"
Gaio tilted his chin toward Kirei. "This is the other culprit I mentioned—the one who orchestrated your father's death. The Master of that golden guy just now."
Rin's pupils shrank, her fingers trembling uncontrollably.
Kirei Kotomine—her father's disciple—was the one who killed her father?
"No way..." Her voice caught in her throat, choked by something invisible.
Kirei let out a hoarse laugh, blood trickling from his mouth. "Tohsaka... Tokiomi's daughter... you finally know..."
Archer's projected sword instantly pressed against Kirei's throat. Shirou instinctively stepped back, and Saber gripped her sword tightly.
The ruins fell silent, broken only by Kirei's ragged breathing.
Rin's nails dug into her palms, blood dripping between her fingers.
Gaio frowned and tapped her shoulder. "Why get so worked up? He's nothing but a wreck now."
He unsheathed his Enma Blade and offered the hilt to Rin. "You want to do it, or should I?"
Rin stared at the hilt, then at the barely conscious Kirei on the ground. Hatred surged in her chest, but her hand didn't move.
Kirei's lips twisted into a warped, bloodstained smile—
Whoosh!
He vanished into thin air.
"Where'd he go?!" Shirou shouted.
Archer instantly shifted into a combat stance, dual blades at the ready. Saber scanned their surroundings warily.
Gaio sheathed his blade. "Dealt with."
Rin looked around, bewildered. "He escaped?"
"Escaped?" Gaio snorted. "He's floating in space."
Everyone froze.
"Exactly what I said." Gaio pointed upward. "He's probably a popsicle by now."
In the depths of space, Kirei Kotomine's body, torn apart by Gaio's slash, drifted in absolute zero. His expression was frozen in shock, his cross necklace shattering silently in the vacuum.
"The Holy Grail War should end now."
Gaio's words made everyone turn to him.
He stood high in the air, a dismissive smirk on his lips. "The Root? Boring."
His eyes closed, and an immense wave of perception, like an invisible tide, radiated from him. With a faint hum from the Enma Blade at his waist, it swept across Fuyuki City and plunged deep into the earth!
Buzz—!
The blade's hum grew sharp and urgent.
Gaio's eyes snapped open, blazing with light.
Clang!
The Enma Blade was drawn.
He swung it casually a few times in the air. No dazzling sword light, no ripples tearing through space—just a few simple strokes.
Silence.
Then—
Rin, Archer, and Saber's faces changed dramatically.
"The mana... it's fading?!" Rin gasped, a burning emptiness searing through her magical circuits.
Rumble...!
The ground beneath Fuyuki City began to tremble violently—not a destructive quake, but a deep, mournful rumble, as if some massive structure was collapsing underground.
Buildings swayed, and debris tumbled.
The source—the vast spiritual leyline network supporting Fuyuki City, the core of the Greater Holy Grail system—was letting out a dying wail. Its boundless torrent of mana was being forcibly severed and annihilated by a power beyond comprehension.
Gaio sheathed his blade with a crisp motion.
The earthquake intensified.
"What's happening?!" Shirou yelled, struggling to stay upright as the ground shook beneath him.
Gaio frowned, seemingly annoyed by the persistent tremors.
Whoosh!
He landed near Rin and the others, his right hand resting lightly on the hilt of his blade. With a casual tap—
Thud!
A dull sound, like a hammer striking the city's foundation, rang out.
The ground stilled instantly, the violent shaking ceasing.
Dead silence.
Everyone was stunned. They looked at Gaio, then at the now-stable ground, and finally up at the sky in confusion.
Shirou was dumbfounded. "What... just happened?"
At that moment, Saber's body began to glow faintly, flickering like a candle in the wind. She looked down at her increasingly translucent hands, a flicker of understanding in her green eyes, followed by calm acceptance.
With the Holy Grail system's foundation destroyed, her existence as a Servant tied to this world grew unstable.
Deep beneath the earth, the once-roaring leyline, like a beast drained of blood, fell silent and withered.
Fuyuki City's centuries-old spiritual leyline nexus, along with the Holy Grail system it nurtured, had been permanently severed from the concept of the "Root" with a few effortless swings of Gaio's blade.
He glanced at Saber, her form beginning to fade, and at Archer, tense and alert.
"Tch."
Without warning, the Enma Blade flashed out, its icy edge aimed at Shirou!
Too fast!
Rin's pupils constricted, and Archer roared, lunging to intercept—
Slash!
A blue arc of light passed, not striking Shirou's body but slicing precisely across the Command Seals on his hand—the vivid red cross-sword mark.
"Ah!" Shirou felt a cool sensation on his hand, but no pain.
Something bizarre happened: the Command Seal seemed to come alive, peeling away from Shirou's skin and floating in the air as a faintly glowing red rune.
With a wave of his hand, Gaio beckoned the rune.
Whoosh!
The red light darted like a homing bird, imprinting onto Gaio's right hand as a blood-red mark.
At the same time—
Buzz!
Saber, whose form had been flickering like a dying flame, was suddenly enveloped in a soft white glow. Her fading spiritual body solidified rapidly, becoming as real as flesh and blood. A vibrant, living aura radiated from her.
Saber stared at her now-tangible hands in disbelief, her green eyes wide.
Silence.
An absolute hush fell over the ruins.
Everyone was stunned, their gazes shifting from the now fully restored Saber to the blood-red Command Seal on Gaio's hand, then to Shirou, who stood dumbfounded, his hand bearing only a faint red scar.
Gaio glanced at the red mark on his hand, wiped it with his left hand, and it vanished as if it had never been there.
He looked up at Saber, now brimming with life, her presence stronger than ever.
The coldness in his expression melted away, replaced by a gentle smile unlike anything before.
"Saber," he said calmly, "it's time to come back."
Saber's body trembled slightly.
Deep in her soul, the bond tying her to Shirou as a Heroic Spirit was severed—and instantly transferred. A vast, unfathomable power forged a new connection between her and Gaio.
The contract's shift was unmistakable.
A sliver of Gaio's immense, bottomless power flowed into her, healing all her battle wounds instantly. Even her iconic blue dress and silver armor were restored, gleaming without a single scratch.
A complex emotion flickered in Saber's green eyes.
She glanced at Shirou, still in shock, her gaze carrying a hint of apology and resignation.
Then she turned to Gaio, his face lit with that gentle smile.
Without hesitation or need for words, she stepped forward, her movements steady, and stood before him.
She bent her knee slightly, placed her right fist over her chest, and knelt solemnly before Gaio—her new, incomprehensibly powerful Master.
"I answer your summons, Master. Henceforth, my sword shall be with you, and your fate shall be mine. The contract is complete."
Her voice, clear and resolute, echoed over the silent ruins.