“It’s my turn next, I see.
The barrier is gone.
Keep your eyes closed for a while, Hakuno."
Gilgamesh's warning reaches me too late,
and my vision whites out.
A piercing light that seems to overwrite the world.
When I eventually open my eyes hesitantly―――-
This is.....the starlit sky from back then?
What happened to the path to the Near Side?
"Calm yourself.
This is an area far isolated even for Far Side...
the place where I had been sealed, 'beyond the
."
"Though the barrier has been destroyed,
it would be lacking in explanation to simply send you off like this."
“Surely you haven't forgotten?
You will be disposed of by the Moon Cell if you return to the Near Side without your Command Spells."
――――――That’s right.
The very act of returning to the Near Side itself is highly risky for me.
......But there's a solution to that.
Even without Command Spells, the Moon Cell would acknowledge me as a Master
so long as I'm contracted with a Servant.
Then―――
"Say no more.
Though it is not that I do not understand those sentiments,
if you voice them you will leave me with no choice but to eliminate you."
Why......?!
Gilgamesh had said in the beginning that he would leave the freedom of terminating the contract to me.
If so, then I will continue the contract.
No, I
want to continue the contract.
At that time I hadn't understood
who the Servant I'd contracted with was.
So I'd thought that I would terminate the contract the moment I returned to the Near Side.
I told myself that it was only on the Far Side that I would rely on such a dangerous Servant.
But that’s changed now.
I know Gilgamesh.
I know through our battles together
that he is someone I can trust and respect......!
“...................
Before that,
There is a statement of mine I must retract.”
“I'd said before that I fell into the Far Side of my own will,
but that is not the whole story.
I cannot leave the Far Side.”
――――――Huh?
Doesn’t that...doesn’t that mean that you were really sealed away by the Moon Cell......?!
Hadn’t you, like, said something along the lines of doing it the favor of coming here of your own free will or some such?!
“Hahaha, brush it aside with a laugh.
Even the King of Heroes has his rare moments of jest.
You will leave it at that.”
I-it certainly doesn’t seem to be rare for you to keep up appearances, King of Heroes!
“And thus I cannot follow you to the Near Side.
Though not impossible,
doing so will result in all manners of constraints placed upon me."
"I have no obligation to go to such lengths for you.
We part here.”
But――――――really?
Hold on. Hold on just a moment here.
After we’ve finally come to an understanding,
after I’ve finally, finally become a Master worthy of Gil,
we part here――――――?
In the first place, what's going to happen to him if I return to the Near Side?
Will he return to sleeping in the deserted Far Side?
In that darkness with no one to wake him, this time for good, for years and years?
No―――-he had slept for eternity to begin with.
And I'd interrupted that.
Waking someone who had no way of leaving here for my own selfish purposes,
borrowing his power, and returning by myself just because I’d no business with him anymore?
There’s no way that I can agree to that......!
“Why the hesitation?
It had been such a contract from the beginning.
This rule is not so easily broken."
"Your battle ends here.
Though all that remains is for me to snap these fingers―――
It’s true that it would be dull that way.”
"In this sky of beginnings,
it is a dialogue of life-or-death that most befits us."
"If the answer you give is satisfactory in the slightest,
I’ll simply send you off to the Near Side."
"However, should you reply with some empty answer,
it will prove you―――and I, who had bothered with you―――to be no more than that.
I’ll have you pay the price with your severed head."
W-what―――? More importantly, we should be saying our farewells right now――――――
“Prepare yourself and answer me this.
I ask of you.
What are you to me?”
――――――My pounding heart stopped dead.
Because even I, as inexperienced as I was, was able to sense
how much meaning that question held for him.
…...Thinking back, the relationship between us was complicated.
There’s no way I’m his master.
For a certain reason, it’s impossible for me to become his friend.
But neither was I a slave, nor an accomplice.
The Heroic Spirit who could never be reconciled with others.
Massacrer who indiscriminately slaughtered multitudes.
If that were truly all this Heroic Spirit was,
some third-rate magus like me would’ve been rust on his blade long ago.
I already knew all too well the reason why it hadn’t been so.
Gilgamesh, who, appearing more cold-blooded than anyone, never wavers from his identity as adjudicator.
Punition personified, unmeasurable by human values.
One who, even as he sentences humans, watches over humanity’s course.
So what was that reason?
It’s obvious.
>
To you, I am your ‘enjoyment.’
“――――――-.”
It doesn’t need to be said.
At his most fundamental, he loves human beings.
And that’s why ――― "I myself" am his reward.
The king who awaits humanity’s future, even as he laughs at its deeds.
In anticipation of humanity’s course one day forming a beautiful pattern,
he holds the throne of the adjudicator.
Crossing paths with none, taking none as vassal.
From the end of the world,
the King of Heroes gazes upon time spanning eternity with a cold smile.
“――――――Well done.
I had not thought that you, of all people,
would so plainly speak the most natural truth."
“That answer must be rewarded.
Though they are but dull trifles, take them.”
These are―――Command Spells?!
My Command Spells have all come back......!
“Fool.
Once used, Command Spells do not return.
Those are new."
"You, who do you think I am?
Of course I would have stock of a Command Spell or two.”
B-but how’s that for a Servant?!
If there’s a Servant who could replenish his Master’s Command Spells,
the entire premise of the Holy Grail War....
…....No, I see.
It’s because he was such a Heroic Spirit that he had sealed himself in this space.
Trusting one another, loathing one another, clashing with one another, regretting all the while.
Such deeds belonged to humans alone.
Having decided that he would not sully those with his power,
in this abyss that seemed someplace beyond the heavens
he had chosen merely to gaze skywards―――-
“It appears that the preparations on the other side have concluded.
Our ties end here also.”
But―――I still haven’t told him anything yet.
Not the words of complaint for all the times he’s insulted me,
Not the words of appreciation for all the times he's helped me,
not even the single word of “Thanks,”
I haven’t―――--
“Return to the world of humans.
Live out that unsightly life of yours,
and flourish in that dull world.”
"Upon the completion of that rite,
I shall terminate your contract with me."
“Go forth, mongrel.
No matter what path it may take,
any journey of yours is certain to make a worthy tale.”
I desperately reach out my hand, but manage to grasp only empty space.
I shout the name of the Servant who, crimson eyes narrowing against the brilliant light, looks up at me.
――――――My consciousness flickered, as though overcome by a dizzy spell, and vanished entirely, all too soon.
Originally Posted by BlackField
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