Chapter 112. The Fate of the Parallel World: The Fool and the Bastard
The mastermind behind it all was actually Kaguya…
Only now, many people seemed to awaken from a dream, struggling to believe and accept this truth.
After the main group left, looking up at that towering mountain peak, there stood the young girl in white, carrying someone on her back, her eyes following their fading silhouettes.
Below, the fierce battle between Black Saber and Servant Yukino still raged on, yet those deep eyes did not glance that way even once.
Only that person… was worthy of even a single glance from her.
The pressure was suffocating!
Everyone was just a puppet in her hands.
Then…
...
["Boom…!!"]
[The savage roar of a dragon echoed again, black light from Excalibur swallowing up the sunlight.]
[Faintly, something could be heard shattering.]
["Goodbye, Archer."]
[Raku Sou sighed inwardly; beneath the vast blue sky, he turned his head to glance briefly at the distant battlefield, then turned around, holding the injured Yukino, riding Pegasus alongside Medusa and leaving.]
[Completely vanishing from Kaguya's perception.]
...
"Phew… they escaped."
Hinagiku Katsura let out a relieved breath; she had thought Kaguya still had some hidden trump card.
Or that Gilgamesh might ambush them.
...
[Not long after.]
[Returning to Fuyuki.]
[The city was now a pile of ruins.]
[Pegasus neighed, turning into specks of light and disappearing.]
[Fortunately, after the battle to eliminate the Goddess of Monster Gorgon, most of the residents had been evacuated.]
[Raku Sou, holding Yukino, his face cold, magical energy surging into his eyes, flickering with dark blue electric currents, activated hawk eye magecraft to search the city, finally locating a relatively intact house – with a generator and water.]
[The twin maid sisters scouted ahead, Medusa stayed vigilant at the rear.]
[Creak~.]
[The door was pushed open, dust everywhere.]
[Raku Sou coughed lightly, frowned, and carried Yukino inside.]
["Master, do you need my help?"]
[Watching Raku Sou place Yukino on the tatami mat and silently think of a treatment plan, Medusa softly asked.]
[Even knowing the mastermind was Master's younger sister, she still held no resentment.]
["No need, leave it to me."]
[He calmly replied, first taking out alcohol to roughly treat the bleeding wound on Yukino's severed arm, then placing Servant Yukino's arm back, aligning the two broken ends together.]
...
In reality, many medical students stared wide-eyed, dazedly looking at the surgical knife in their hands.
So this is how magus handle limb grafting?
Just align the two ends + chant an incantation = tada~ done!!
Goddamn it… then what were all these years of baldness-inducing study for?
...
[A while later, after treating Yukino's wounds, brilliant light filled the entire mansion, streaming through the windows and spilling outside, painting colors onto the night.]
[Raku Sou tiredly stepped out, sitting on the floor by the door, gazing up at the starry sky.]
[Until the night deepened further.]
[This time's Holy Grail War… Kaguya's voice echoed in his mind.]
["Onii-chan~."]
["Onii-chan~."]
[A little black-haired girl timidly called to him softly.]
[Smaller, timid, insecure, as if full of unease toward the surrounding world.]
[He later learned that the girl named Shinomiya Kaguya had become his younger sister, tormented by illness since the age of four, an illness called dissociative identity disorder.]
[Inside that tiny head, the number of discovered personalities had surpassed thirty-seven.]
[There was a cold queen, a gentle older sister, an energetic child, a cold-blooded magus, a master archer, a sword saint with mighty swordsmanship…]
[Once, magus from the Clock Tower had wanted to buy her for a huge sum as a research subject.]
[But thanks to his intervention, that didn't happen.]
[Even though he was called Onii-chan, ever since their adoptive mother passed away, he had always personally taken care of Kaguya, so she could enjoy her childhood like a normal child.]
[But the past wounds had severely hurt the young Kaguya, making her withdraw further into herself.]
[Gradually, Kaguya grew up too, becoming a normally beautiful young girl… a graceful lady, a thoughtful little sister, a kind friend, the shifts in personality repeating like a distant dream.]
[But now…]
["Awakening from the dream, huh…."]
[Raku Sou raised his head to the sky; no stars could be seen, the moon was obscured, the night was dark, without a single ray of light.]
[It was the battle between Saber and Heracles that had stirred up massive dust into the stratosphere, covering the once beautiful moonlight and starlight.]
["Master."]
[Medusa stepped out of spiritual form: "The Homunculi of Einzbern have arrived."]
[Raku Sou waved his hand: "Tell them to find their own lodging, come sit, Medusa."]
[The tall woman's figure sat down beside him.]
[Raku Sou leaned his head onto her soft thighs: "Sorry, I'm a bit tired now, do you mind being my pillow, Medusa?"]
["You're so sly, Master, already laying down before asking."]
["Ah, yeah, I've always been that kind of sly bastard."]
[Raku Sou buried his face against Medusa's stomach, murmured, and drifted into sleep.]
[Medusa gently stroked her Master's hair, her gaze tender.]
[No matter how strong, no matter if he was a present-day hero ready to march into hell — he was still just a seventeen-year-old child.]
…
"EH… EHHH?!"
In reality, Shinomiya Kaguya was stunned; weren't these so-called multiple personalities just the "little plays in her head"?
Ice Kaguya, Moron Kaguya, Child Kaguya, Judge Kaguya…
So her parallel world self was actually a schizophrenic patient?
"Medusa is so gentle."
Hayasaka Ai softly spoke, a hint of admiration in her voice as she looked up at the Celestial Curtain.
It felt like the scent of a mother.
...
[Dreams…]
[Dreams that couldn't be stopped.]
[A skinny young girl wandered into the Holy Grail War, again and again barely escaping death by a hair's breadth.]
[Fortunately, with King Arthur and that man protecting her, again and again she survived and came back.]
[No one taught her technique; she survived through hardships, clinging to a fragile yet beautiful ideal of being an "ally of justice."]
[She witnessed the great swordsman who had slain the dragon, desperately fighting to kill the legendary witch.]
[She saw the king in golden armor, using the Chains of Heaven to bind the mighty Hercules to death.]
[Along the way, she witnessed so, so much…]
[She believed that as long as she tried her best, with trustworthy friends and the one she loved, she could reach the end of the road.]
[Until…]
[The final stage, the dramatic twist arrived, as if fate was mocking her with cruel irony.]
[Her dearest friend — Kaguya — transformed into All the World's Evil, initiating the symphony of world destruction.]
["Do it!!" The city burned, the ground shattered, vast floating landmasses, one side like dark intertwined branches extending to a throne in the sky, the man named Raku Sou roared.]
[Head soaked in blood, heart pierced through, even one eye already lost, yet the man still clung tightly to the frail girl in his arms.]
["I told you to do it!!! Kill me and her together, don't let me look down on you, Yukinoshita Yukino!!"]
[The sword that once stayed firm in the slender girl's hand now drooped powerless; her tear-streaked face howled in despair: "I can't do it, I really can't do it!!"]
[To kill her most important friend, and the one she loved…]
[She had nothing left, this was everything to her.]
[And yet, those cruel words once again rang out like an explosion.]
["Do it, you can't have everything, you still have your ideals. Go, kill us, end it all, step onto the path that belongs to you!"]
[Under the messy hair, the man closed his dragon eyes radiating divinity and majesty.]
[He fully understood just how cruel his words were.]
[This was pushing the girl before him straight into hell!]
[But…]
[As long as she survives…]
[As long as she survives.]
[Amid the questioning, amid the urging voices.]
[The girl held the long, straight sword, slowly stepping behind the two of them, her eyes blank, as if her soul had already died.]
[A long, long time later.]
[The sword suddenly swung down fiercely.]
[Whoosh!]
[His vision flew away, falling from the throne, tumbling endlessly, endlessly for so long.]
[In the end, as if it were Heaven's cruel joke.]
[He saw the one named Shinomiya Kaguya, his little sister, standing there facing him — and only then slowly sank into darkness.]
[Before dying completely, he had just one question.]
[Kaguya…]
[…was she smiling?]
[Not long after, an empty whisper echoed.]
["I still have ideals, I still have ideals, my ideals…"]
[A body that had lost everything, a soul already dead, a walking corpse left the ruins of this city, stepping onto the path toward ideals.]
[No matter how painful, eventually it would be buried by time, and as the real world and the Clock Tower — representing the moonlight world — signed peace, everything gradually was erased, buried.]
[Only the conflicts among people, the struggles, the killing, would never change.]
[And the woman who thirsted for justice, striving to become the blade of justice, all she possessed was the sword in her hand.]
[Killing.]
[Killing.]
[Relentlessly taking away living lives.]
[Numb, empty.]
[But that was all she had left.]
[When the body was exhausted, and reality no longer allowed her to walk the path of justice.]
[Then sign it.]
[A contract with Alaya, step into the endless cycle of reincarnation…]
[But that price turned out to be a joke — only a few years later, she was betrayed by the very people she trusted, punished by the justice she believed in, dying on a path her comrades had set up.]
[Ah…]
[That's right.]
[Who would believe in someone who had stained her hands with countless lives, someone so cold-blooded and ruthless that she even dared to kill her own family and friends?]
…
"So, this is the lost memory of Archer's past, the most important piece that was missing."
Someone couldn't help but whisper, their eyes lighting up with admiration, staring intently at the Celestial Curtain.
The dragon-slaying swordsman, Gilgamesh facing off against Heracles…
Just hearing that was already top-tier!
Everyone could see — this was the life Servant Yukino had lived when she was alive.
But…
It was truly too tragic…
It made people instinctively hold their breath.
Carrying the burden of killing the one she loved and her dearest friend, stepping onto the path of justice.
That meant she was not allowed to give up, not allowed to fail, an endless loop, a despair with no way out.
No wonder she came back to kill Yukino.
As long as she killed Yukino, there would be no more choice to make.
Put bluntly, it was: do you want your lover, or do you want the world — she chose the world, and now, drowning in pain and regret, she wanted to kill herself so she wouldn't have to choose anymore.
Choose your damn head, sis already committed suicide!
"Raku in that timeline… seriously feels insanely badass…"
Someone, both shaken and carrying a bit of awe, held their cigarette, their hand trembling slightly.
That style totally flipped the script, no longer matching the image of the elegant young master!
Dominant, tyrannical, authoritarian.
That Raku didn't understand people's hearts!
"Probably because Yukino in that timeline was too weak, so Raku had to carry the whole team."
"If they didn't hold out to the end, there was only death waiting."
Someone muttered, flicking the ash from their cigarette.
The butterfly effect…
A butterfly flapping its wings lightly in Brazil might lead to a tornado in Texas a month later.
A Holy Grail War with Servant Yukino and one without Servant Yukino were two entirely different directions.
"So, this Kaguya… somehow went back to the past?"
Someone frowned, connecting the differences in Kaguya before and after… making a bold guess.
"No, I lean toward it being related to Second Magic."
Very quickly, a self-proclaimed expert stepped forward, calmly analyzing.
"As everyone knows, the ancestors of the Shinomiya family were once disciples of the Jewel Magician, Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg. And according to Mouri Kogoro's investigation, the Jewel Magician once left something behind within the Shinomiya family."
"If no external force intervened, it's highly likely that Kaguya used that to gain information about the Fifth War."
"Second Magic is magic concerning parallel worlds, so…"
"Assuming Kaguya obtained the memories from a parallel version of herself."
"Tssss!"
Everyone collectively sucked in a cold breath.
They suddenly remembered the scene in Raku Sou's dream, that moment right before death, when Kaguya gave a strange smile, the corner of her lips curling up, her mouth seeming to say…
"We'll meet again."
At this moment, many supernatural characters, even major figures among humanity, were all struck with fear.
No wonder Kaguya was so terrifying…
This was practically a rebirth-hacking cheat!
"So… the Kaguya we see now has already reincarnated at least once?"
On the Celestial Curtain, Kasumigaoka Utaha felt her scalp go numb.
"No… no one said Kaguya only received memories from a parallel world once, did they?"
Futaba Rio said coolly.
"It could be once, it could be twice… it could even be dozens of times, hundreds of times. Before she achieves some mysterious wish of hers, trying to gather as many memories as possible is completely plausible."
"Then… everything starts to make sense."
Yagami Light bowed his head in thought.
No wonder, even with Kaguya's combat power, she still had to turn the Servants into corrupted versions to assist her.
...
[Raku Sou woke up in warm arms.]
[He realized he was still lying in Medusa's embrace.]
["You were crying, master."]
["Yeah, I saw an irresponsible bastard, and a fool who got tricked like an idiot."]
[Raku Sou sat up, stretched, and immediately caught a deeply alluring scent.]
[What's this?]
["After Yukinoshita-sama woke up, she's been constantly tidying up the house."]
[The blue-haired maid, Rem, was full of admiration.]
[This was the admiration of a maid toward someone with EX-level housekeeping skills.]
["Yukino?" Raku curiously walked outside.]
["Almost done." The girl wearing an apron turned her head and smiled, radiant enough to light up the entire room.]
[The vibe of the perfect wife had reached its peak.]
[If using the Servant status board to describe her cooking skill, it would be EX level, every dish she touched became a delicacy of the mortal world.]
[Very quickly, the dining table was packed with delicious food.]
[If Artoria were here right now, she would definitely be excitedly scooping up several dozen bowls of white rice.]
…
"Damn it, dissing my king again."
In reality, Akizuki Airi complained, shaking her twin tails.
The viewers on the Observer Network looked at Yukino's newly regrown arm, both astonished and somehow finding it reasonable.
"She can cook already after just one night?!"
"Magus are basically mini-superhumans, nothing surprises me anymore."
"I had a feeling when Archer chopped off her arm, but can humans really graft a Servant's limb?"
"Actually, it kind of makes sense — grafting the limb of the same person wouldn't trigger rejection."
"Yukino is opening another hack again."
"Same category as Purge King, hacking by burning through life force."
"Nonsense, Purge King can use it multiple times, Yukino's trick looks like a one-time-only deal."
"I'm already smelling a BAD END coming."
"Anyway… is Yukino planning to wrap up and seal her 'Evil Arm' or not?"
"My Hand Is The Blade of My Sword… Unlimited Hand Works LOL."