Chapter 191

……

【A long while later, after treating Yukino's wounds, a magnificent radiance illuminated the mansion, shining out through the windows and casting a glow under the night sky.】

【Brother Luo Shu walked out, exhausted, and sat on the floor at the entrance, looking up at the starry sky.】

【Until the night grew deep.】

【This Holy Grail War… Kaguya's voice echoed in his mind.】

【"Nii-chan~."】

【"Nii-chan~."】

【A timid little girl with black hair called out to him softly.】

【She was just that tiny, shy and fearful, as if filled with anxiety about everything around her.】

【Later, he learned that this little girl, named Shinomiya Kaguya, who had become his sister, had been tormented by illness since the age of four—an illness known as multiple personality disorder.】

【In that tiny head, over thirty-seven personalities had already been discovered.】

【There was a cold queen, a gentle big sister, a lively child, a cold-blooded mage, an archer with peerless skill, a sword saint with powerful swordsmanship…】

【There was a time when mages from the Zhong Ta hoped to pay a high price to purchase her as a research subject.】

【One must know that a mortal like Kaguya, who lacked talent for magecraft, could not fetch a high price on her own.】

【Under his intervention, this did not succeed.】

【Since she had called him Nii-chan, he had personally taken care of Kaguya ever since their foster mother passed away, letting her enjoy her childhood like an ordinary child.】

【But the previous events had caused great harm to the young Kaguya, causing her to close off her heart even more.】

【Slowly, Kaguya grew up, becoming an ordinary, beautiful young girl… a dignified young lady, a considerate sister, a mischievous friend; the repetitive personality changes of the past seemed like a distant dream.】

【But now......】

【"The dream has awakened, hasn't it...."】

【Brother Luo Shu looked up at the sky; the stars were invisible, the moon was also obscured, and the night was dim, with not a glimmer of light to be seen.】

【That was the result of the decisive battle between Saber and Heracles, which caused a massive amount of dust to enter the stratosphere, obscuring the beautiful starlight and moonlight.】

【"Master."】

【Medusa emerged from her spirit form: "The Einzbern homunculi have arrived."】

【Brother Luo Shu waved his hand, "Let them find a place to stay themselves; sit down, Medusa."】

【The tall figure sat down beside him.】

【Brother Luo Shu leaned back onto her soft legs: "Sorry, I'm a bit tired now; a lap pillow is fine, right, Medusa?"】

【"You really are cunning, Master, asking only after sitting down."】

【"Ah, yes, I have always been such a cunning person."】

【Brother Luo Shu rubbed against Medusa's abdomen, muttering to himself, and drifted into sleep.】

【Medusa stroked the protagonist's hair, her gaze gentle.】

【No matter how powerful, even if he were a hero of the present age who would step onto the path even when facing hell, he was still just a seventeen-year-old child.】

"Eh eh eh……?!"

In reality, Shinomiya Kaguya was stunned; weren't these so-called multiple personalities just her own "internal theater"?

Ice Kaguya, Derp Kaguya, Little Kaguya, Judge Kaguya…

So the version of herself in the parallel world became a schizophrenic patient, is that it?

"R is so gentle."

Hayasaka Ai said softly, looking at the sky screen with a sense of longing.

It has the scent of a mother.

……

【A dream....】

【An irrepressible dream.】

【A frail young girl mistakenly enters the Holy Grail War, facing death time and time again.】

【Fortunately, with King Arthur and that man protecting her, she survived again and again.】

【With no one to teach her skills, she lived arduously, harboring the fragile yet beautiful ideal of being a "partner of justice."】

【She witnessed the great swordsman who slew the dragon pour his heart and blood into killing the witch of myth.】

【She witnessed the King in golden armor bind and kill the hulking Hercules with the Chains of Heaven.】

【Walking along the path, she witnessed too much, far too much…】

【She had thought that by relying on effort, and with trusted friends and the person she loved, she could reach the end.】

【Until…】

【At the final stage of the stage, a dramatic plot unfolded, as if fate were mockingly jeering.】

【Her best friend Kaguya transformed into the All the World's Evils, launching a requiem to destroy the world.】

【"Do it!" In the burning city, the shattered earth, and the endless floating rocks, on a throne intertwined with what looked like pitch-black branches extending into the firmament, the man named Shinomiya Brother Luo Shu roared.】

【Covered in blood, his heart pierced, and even one eye missing, the man still held the frail girl in his arms in a death grip.】

【"I told you to do it!!! Kill me along with her; don't make me look down on you, Yukinoshita Yukino!!"】

【The slender girl's once-determined blade now hung limply, her face covered in tears, screaming in a breakdown: "I can't do it, I really can't do it!!"】

【To kill her most important friend and the person she loved together.......】

【She had nothing left; this was her everything.】

【However, the cruel words exploded once more.】

【"Do it, you won't have nothing; you still have your ideals. Come, kill us, end all of this, and step onto the path that belongs to you!"】

【Under his disheveled hair, the man closed his dragon-snake eyes, which radiated divine majesty.】

【He knew how vicious his words were.】

【That was pushing the girl before him into hell!】

【But.....】

【As long as she lives…】

【As long as she lives.】

【Amidst the questions and the guidance.】

【Holding a straight longsword in both hands, she slowly walked behind the two; the girl's eyes were hollow, as if her soul had died.】

【A long while later.】

【The longsword swung down violently.】

【Swish!】

【The line of sight flew away, falling from the throne, rolling for a long, long time.】

【Finally, as if it were a joke by the heavens.】

【Meeting the gaze of the woman named Shinomiya Kaguya, his sister, he slowly entered the darkness.】

【Before he died completely, he had only one question.】

【Kaguya.】

【........ was she smiling?】

【Not long after, empty, delirious whispers echoed.】

【"I still have ideals, I still have ideals, my ideals......"】

【That walking corpse, having lost everything and with a dead soul, left the ruins of the city and headed toward the path leading to its ideals.】

【No matter how great the suffering, it would eventually be buried by time; as the present world and the Zhong Ta-led secret world negotiated peace, everything was constantly being deleted and buried.】

【Only the conflicts, struggles, and slaughter between humans remained eternal.】

【And the woman who longed for justice and tried to become the blade of justice possessed nothing but the blade in her hand.】

【Slaughter.】

【Slaughter.】

【Constantly taking away one living life after another.】

【Numb, hollow.】

【But that was all she had.】

【When her body grew weak and reality no longer permitted her to continue walking on the path of justice.】

【Then, sign it.】