Chapter 348

【She brought the pure him onto the battlefield by fighting Reverse Reverse Reverse Reverse Side-by-Reverse Reverse Reverse Reverse Side. Although she denied him entering the battlefield several times, she never refused to be with him.】

【If she really wanted what was best for him, if she really thought for him, even if it would hurt him, she shouldn't have been with him—】

【"Jeanne, you know it, right? No, you just pretended not to know, and didn't try to understand."】

【Gilles spoke again, just as he had guided Jeanne on the battlefield in the past.】

【"Saint, your revelation ordered you to bring this homunculus to this battlefield, but were you told that if you didn't do so, he wouldn't get a happy ending? It is true, this boy was 'born to die here'; that is his happiness."】

【Jeanne: "No... wrong..."】

【She still wanted to find words to refute, but at this moment, her ability as a Ruler allowed her to receive a message.】

【Red Lancer, Karna, confirmed to have exited.】

【Black Saber, Siegfried, confirmed to have exited.】

【"... ead?"】

【Jeanne couldn't believe it for a moment.】

【Shakespeare's Noble Phantasm effect is 'only allows people to watch'; it cannot interfere with her abilities yet.】

【So, this is real.】

【Siegfried exited, which also means—Sieg, killed in action!】

【"Ahhhhhhhhh!"】

Rin Tohsaka: "Hmm? Sieg is dead?"】

Waver: "No, Jeanne was completely misled. The other party implanted the statement 'you will die if you use up your Command Spells' into her cognition from the beginning, making her think this is 'certain'."】

Rin Tohsaka: "I see. It's not that Sieg is dead, but that his Command Spells are used up."】

Rin Tohsaka: "It really is a trick, but it just happened to catch up."】

【Shakespeare watched this scene, opened his arms, and said loudly, "Alright, the type of this stage play is decided! It's a comedy! I say, Saint! Welcome to the world of murder! I didn't expect that you, who never dirtied your hands even once, would choose the boy you admire from the bottom of your heart as your first victim!"】

【"I killed him!"】

【"I killed him. I chose him with these hands, instigated him with these words, and killed him!"】

【"You are a murderer. Why didn't you make up your mind, even if he hated you, even if he would be sad, to stop him at all costs!"】

【"Liar, liar, liar! I should have known he would die! Should have known things would turn out like this, would walk toward this result..."】

【The world collapsed, and everything returned to reality, but Jeanne was too weak to fight anymore, curling up and crying bitterly.】

【She relived her whole life in Shakespeare's Noble Phantasm, but in reality, only ten minutes had passed.】

Sieg: "Miss Jeanne..."】

Jeanne: "..."】

Tokiomi Tohsaka: "Lost. I didn't expect to be defeated by the other party in this way."】

Emiya Kiritsugu: "Attacking the heart? I didn't expect Heroic Spirits to fight in this way either."】

Shakespeare: "Thanks for the compliment."】

Waver: "No one is complimenting you."】

Feng Xi: "This kind of trick of yours will get you hung on a lamppost."】

【Meanwhile, above, in Semiramis's throne room.】

【Sieg and the others finally arrived here and saw the corpse of Kairi Sisigou.】

【"... et's go, there's nothing left here."】

【Looking at the mess around them and not seeing Mordred's figure, they understood what had happened and could only shake their heads, preparing to leave.】

【The fact that this Hanging Garden was still operating proved that Semiramis was still alive.】

【Astolfo: "Although you say we should move forward, where are we going from here—"】

【Suddenly, his 'Trap of Argalia' began to operate at high speed, rushing toward Sieg.】

【Astolfo then noticed that a black vortex had appeared behind Sieg at some point.】

【"Watch out!"】

Astolfo rushed forward quickly, pushed Sieg aside, and used his own gauntlet to block the flying chains.

But the next moment, the chains wrapped around his wrists and slammed him heavily against the wall.

"Master, run! Its target is you!"

Enduring the intense pain in his body, Astolfo controlled "Trap of Argalia" to protect Sieg and pointed the way for him.

"Follow it! That one over there too!"

Sieg: "Understood. Rider, you must follow immediately as well!"

Astolfo: "Mm! Of course!"

"Trap of Argalia" made a sharp turn, smashed through the wall, and opened a hidden passage; Sieg and Caules rushed inside quickly.

Rin Tohsaka: "Semiramis, this guy actually still won't give up."

Waver: "One should say, I thought she had fled, but who would have expected her to return?"

Mordred: "To think there's only one chain, and you don't even dare to show your body; it seems you were heavily wounded by that sword strike of mine."

Fiore: "Her spirit core was damaged; it's impossible to heal. She is likely just holding on by force now."

Empress: "Hmph."

Seeing they were safe, Astolfo could finally face the enemy with peace of mind.

He exerted force to tear the chains off his hands, but did not expect another one to emerge and wrap around him immediately.

"So annoying!"

Astolfo frowned in displeasure, then as if he had realized something, he beamed with joy and shouted loudly: "So that's how it is, I get it now! Red Assassin, you suffered a fatal wound, right! Only being able to summon these unglamorous chains is the best proof! If you were serious, you should have been able to kill me and Master easily at that time! But now you can't even do that, which means you are injured and unable to protect your master! And compared to your master, my hippogriff is stronger! In other words! If I am allowed to go inside, it will be bad for you!"

Astolfo wanted to enter the passage to catch up with Sieg, but was blocked firmly by the opponent.

He had mocked her so much, yet Semiramis still did not appear, proving his guess was correct.

Rin Tohsaka: "I didn't expect you to be smart for once."

Astolfo: "The 'for once' is unnecessary."

The gaze returned to the Grail Hall below.

The originally vibrating Greater Grail suddenly fell silent, and the floor began to tremble slightly.

Shakespeare: "The time for tricks ends here; salvation is prepared—next will be the second coming of my lord, Amakusa Emiya Emiya Shirou Tokisada."

"Realize! Let our dreams be realized here!"

A figure slowly tore through the spherical Greater Grail and emerged; it was indeed Amakusa Emiya Emiya Shirou, who had changed back into his Japanese-style attire from his lifetime.

He came out unscathed, which meant he had successfully taken control of the Greater Grail.

Shakespeare: "My lord, how is the situation?"

Amakusa Emiya Emiya Shirou: "Everything is realized. It is currently in the warm-up phase. Before long, this Greater Grail will become the Cup of Heaven, and while replenishing magical energy from the ley lines, it will grant true immortality to all humanity."

Waver: "To think, it really succeeded!"

Amakusa Emiya Emiya Shirou: "Is that so? It seems the me of another world fulfilled the long-cherished wish."

Damn it, if not for Xiang Junior Feng Xi's interference and meddling, his dream would have already been achieved.

Shakespeare: "I'm afraid not."

Amakusa Emiya Emiya Shirou: "Hm? What do you mean?"

Shakespeare: "Haven't you noticed yet, Priest? This Great Holy Grail War, from beginning to end, has developed like a novel. And you are the villain in the novel."

Shakespeare: "Have you ever seen a story where the villain wins?"

Amakusa Emiya Emiya Shirou: "... eality is different from novels. I believe in myself."

Watching Jeanne still weeping there, Amakusa Emiya Emiya Shirou asked a question he already knew the answer to: "Did you win?"

Shakespeare stroked his beard triumphantly and said: "Mm, all the characters who appeared, except for us, have misunderstood. Master, including you."

Amakusa Emiya Emiya Shirou: "Misunderstood what?"

Shakespeare: "She is just a little girl. Although she acts like a saint, she is still just an ordinary young girl. Because she acted too much like a saint, she abandoned herself. Sigh, this is also unavoidable; to be summoned as a Heroic Spirit, what is needed is not the seventeen years of living at home, but the two years spent running about as a hero of her homeland."

Amakusa Emiya Emiya Shirou: "... ow pitiful."

Regarding this point, Amakusa Emiya Emiya Shirou actually had deep personal experience.

The price of acting like a saint is that one must abandon the past.

Amakusa Emiya Emiya Shirou: "A saint, hah."

Amakusa Emiya Emiya Shirou: "The world treats us as saints, but only we ourselves know that we are just ordinary people."

Jeanne: "..."