"This is actually the first time she's using her illusion on someone with high resistance you know? Even during her training she never tried that on Avalon" the kimono-wearing girl says while giggling softly like she is remembering a fond memory.
"Answer me who are you? You're not Reina because your personality is way different!" Saber yells while gripping her invisible sword even tighter.
Hearing that, the girl's smile completely disappears as her face goes right back to that perfectly neutral expression.
"You can call me whatever name you want, kimono girl, Reina, little girl, or anything else, but I prefer if you call me by my given name Void" she replies while looking directly into Saber's eyes.
"So Void... why are you here when this is supposed to be an illusion that Reina wanted to show me, and my instincts are telling me you're not just part of the spell!" Saber demands while taking a half-step forward.
"Because Reina's illusion already failed. I said it before but she never cast an illusion on someone with high resistance to magecraft like you have" Void explains while tilting her head slightly.
"So she can only manage to create this dark space, and even with this you can easily break the illusion if you want to Artoria Pendragon" Void continues while her voice remains completely calm and steady.
Saber's eyes widen in sheer shock the moment Void casually drops her real name, a deeply guarded secret that she has been hiding tightly for the entire duration of this Holy Grail War.
"How do you know that!?" Saber shouts, but before she can draw her blade, Void raises her right arm toward her to signal her to stop.
"Your Holy Grail and your wish have nothing to do with me, the reason I'm here is simply to help my little sister since she failed to show what she wanted to show you" Void says while slowly lowering her arm back to her side.
And then, with one simple tap of her small foot against the invisible ground, the entire dark space suddenly shifts and naturally rewrites itself.
Saber blinks just once, and the heavy black void is instantly gone, leaving her suddenly standing right in the middle of a massive civic auditorium instead of the empty darkness from a second ago.
"What is this!?" Saber gasps while quickly looking around the large room to figure out exactly where she is, right before her eyes lock onto something in the distance and completely freeze.
"The Grail!?" she whispers out loud while staring directly at the glowing golden cup that is floating right in the middle of the ruined stage.
She logically knows that this entire place is just an illusion, but for some reason, her physical senses and her body react as if everything around her is completely real.
Her heart starts beating incredibly fast in her chest as she stares at the very thing she desires most, the singular goal and the entire reason she made that desperate contract to the world in the first place.
Unconsciously, Saber walks forward as if trying to reach toward the glowing Grail, but before she can even take a single step, a sudden laugh breaks the heavy silence of the auditorium.
"Hahahaha, what do you think Saber? The Grail is my treasure, and I can gift this to you if you decide to become my treasure" a man laughs loudly making her immediately turn toward the sound.
Standing there is a man wearing gleaming golden armor, with blonde hair and striking crimson red eyes.
"What" Saber said in pure confusion, staring at someone who looks incredibly similar to Archer, yet entirely different.
This person is clearly male, while the Archer she usually sees in this war is female.
"Hmm? What is it Saber, are you mesmerized by my appearance? Then you just need to submit—" the golden-armored man boasts, but before he can finish his sentence, he suddenly evaporates into golden dust and completely disappears.
"Sorry about that, that guy is included in the memories from Reina, so he accidentally appeared here too" Void says while suddenly appearing in the exact spot, as if she just replaced the vanished man.
"What is this, and where am I" Saber demands while gripping her invisible sword tightly to brace for whatever trick this is.
"We're in your future... no, this is more like the possibility of your future" Void answers calmly.
"The possibility of my future?" Saber asks, her eyes widening slightly at the strange answer.
Instead of answering her directly, Void holds out both of her hands, slowly raising one finger on each side.
"Do you remember your choice when Merlin asked you" Void asks quietly.
Saber's eyes widen even further as memories from long before she became King, or even pulled Caliburn from the stone, suddenly rush into her mind.
During that fateful day, Merlin presented her with two distinct choices.
"Pull the Caliburn, fulfill the prophecy, and become King to rule Britain.
"Or take the other choice, give up everything, and return to a normal life where you can grow up, experience romance, and most importantly, keep your humanity."
Of course, at that time she wasn't Artoria Pendragon yet.
She was still just Artoria, and she naturally chose the first choice to bear the heavy burden of the King and end the suffering of the people.
But deep down, she knows that isn't entirely right.
The real reason she has denied her own humanity and her entire life is because Merlin had been telling her about her fate to become King ever since she was a small child.
And Sir Ector, her own mentor, trained her and pushed her body to its absolute limits every single day until she couldn't even move anymore, giving her nothing but a single piece of bread to survive on.
Basically, Artoria's entire life was made only for her to become King and serve her people, leaving absolutely nothing else for herself.
She never got the affection of parents from anyone.
Because she pulled Caliburn, her body couldn't grow up anymore, meaning she never got to feel what romance is like for a normal young woman, and she doesn't even know what a real family is.
Becoming King wasn't just the only path she saw, it was a role she had been completely forced into since the very beginning of her life.
So looking back at it now, she genuinely doesn't know if the two choices Merlin gave her that day were ever actually choices to begin with.
---
---
---
Suddenly, Saber grips her head with both hands and shakes it hard, desperately trying to throw those heavy thoughts out of her mind.
"No... stop it," Saber mutters while closing her eyes tightly.
Thinking like this is completely wrong. Yes, she knows she failed as a King in the end, and yes, her entire wish for the Holy Grail is to let someone else pull Caliburn so they can do a better job than her.
But admitting that she was forced into it? Admitting that she never really had a free choice to begin with?
If she accepts that, it feels like she is completely denying her own life and her own efforts.
It would mean that all the years of bleeding for her people, the deadly battles she fought alongside her knights, and the heavy pride she carried as the King of Knights were all just a fake.
Even if she wants to erase her rule now, she still desperately needs to believe that she chose to step up and save her country back then out of her own free will.
If she didn't even have that, then her entire existence was just a lie.
"Get out of my head! I chose to pull that sword because I wanted to save Britain!" Saber yells loudly while glaring straight at Void, her breathing turning heavy as she tries to stop her own mind from breaking.
"Umm, Saber, I didn't even start yet... you can save the breakdown for later after we finish" Void says with a completely blank expression, watching Saber panic before the illusion has even begun.
But Saber just keeps speaking to herself and gripping her head, so Void decides to just stay quiet and let her be until she finally calms down.
And so, half an hour passes inside the illusion world.
"Sorry about that, I suddenly realized something about my life so I kind of had a breakdown there" Saber says while letting out a fake cough, desperately trying to maintain her pride and go back to her usual serious self.
"No problem, I understand people sometimes have a life crisis, and time moves really slow in this world so you don't need to worry about your real body" Void replies calmly.
"Anyway, let's continue since this represents your choice" Void says while going back to raising both of her hands.
"You chose the left one to pull Caliburn, but there is a timeline where you deny your destiny, and it is this one" Void explains while slightly moving her right hand this time.
"I think showing you is better, so go on, make your wish to the Grail" Void says while pointing beside her where the golden cup is still floating in the air.
"Make my wish..." Saber murmurs while looking up at the cup, gulping nervously and preparing herself for what is about to happen.
"I wish to redo the selection of the King" Saber declares loudly.
Right after Saber speaks her wish, the golden cup floating in the air begins to vibrate slightly.
But instead of shining with a pure, holy golden light like she expects, the Grail emits a heavy, unsettling glow. Saber immediately notices how wrong the air feels, as the light coming from the cup is thick and suffocating.
Suddenly, a foul black sludge mixed with deep dark red streaks bubbles up from inside the cup.
The thick black mud spills over the golden rim like a waterfall and starts flowing directly toward Saber.
Her highly trained instincts immediately scream at her, warning her of the immense danger approaching.
Saber quickly tries to step back and dodge out of the way, but she realizes her feet are completely glued to the floor.
No matter how hard she tries to force her muscles to work, her body is completely frozen in place.
"During the previous Holy Grail War, the Einzbern family decided to cheat by summoning an extra class called Avenger" Void explains calmly while watching the terrifying mud slowly approach Saber.
"But unfortunately, that Avenger was basically the physical representation of all the evil in humanity. He was actually really weak, so weak that he died on the very first night of the war" Void continues without a single change in her blank expression.
Before Saber can even process the story, the black mud reaches her boots and immediately envelops her legs, slowly creeping up her thighs.
The very moment the sludge touches her skin, an unimaginable, crushing weight hits her entire being.
She can actually feel pure hatred, curses, and the darkest, most twisted thoughts of humanity directly entering her mind.
The feeling of all the world's evil is incredibly heavy and suffocating, making her feel like her very soul is being corrupted.
"Instead of returning to the Throne of Heroes when he died, that Avenger, Angra Mainyu, corrupted the system" Void explains further while the mud quickly climbs up Saber's waist.
"For years, he stayed inside and absorbed all the evils of the world, completely corrupting the Holy Grail into what you see right now."
Saber tries to scream or struggle against the horrifying sensation of the curses invading her mind, but the heavy black mud moves too fast.
It quickly climbs up her chest, covering her face and entirely enveloping her body until she is completely swallowed by the dark sludge.
"I hope you have a nice travel, Artoria Pendragon" Void says calmly, and that is the last thing Saber hears before she completely loses consciousness inside the dark mud.
For a moment, there is only a heavy, freezing darkness.
She feels like she is drowning deep underwater, her mind completely suffocated by the endless curses of the Grail.
But then, in the very next second, the freezing cold and the foul smell completely vanish.
The crushing weight disappears so suddenly that Saber violently gasps for air like she just woke up from a terrible nightmare.
Her eyes snap open, and instead of the black sludge, she is immediately blinded by bright sunlight and the loud noise of a massive crowd.
Because her mind still thinks she is trapped in the heavy mud, her legs completely give out beneath her.
She stumbles forward, her balance entirely gone as she starts falling toward the stone ground.
But before she can hit the floor, a strong pair of hands suddenly grabs her shoulders and catches her.
"Whoa, easy there! What's wrong with you, Artorius? Are you getting dizzy?" a familiar, slightly teasing voice asks loudly while pulling her back up to stand.
Saber quickly looks up, her breath hitching in her throat as her eyes widen in pure shock.
Standing right in front of her, holding her shoulders, is a young Sir Kay looking at her with a confused expression.
She quickly looks down at herself and realizes she isn't wearing her silver armor anymore.
Instead she's now wearing a rough clothes of a young male squire.
When she looks past Sir Kay, she finally realizes exactly where she is.
She is standing right in the middle of a massive church courtyard filled with hundreds of cheering knights and regular people.
And right in the center of the plaza, stuck deep inside a massive anvil and stone, is the holy sword Caliburn, with Merlin standing right next to it, waiting for the next person to step up.
She has been dropped right into the middle of the King Selection.