Gilgamesh did not make a move.
He simply watched Asuka in silence, then glanced at the cavernous hole continuously pouring out foul black mud, an expression of utter disgust crossing his face.
"Are you ordering me?" he asked.
"No, I am inviting you," Asuka replied.
Asuka raised his long tachi, pointing the tip straight at the sky. "Inviting you to join us in sweeping that garbage—the very same garbage that disgusted you and disgusted all of us—straight into the trash where it belongs."
"This is a rare opportunity for revenge, King of Heroes."
"Revenge, you say?"
Gilgamesh muttered the word, the fury in his eyes flaring up once more.
Indeed.
That lowly mongrel, that filthy black mud, had actually dared to defile his supreme body.
It was a desecration of the king, an insult to his divinity.
Merely killing that parasite was nowhere near enough to quell his rage.
Only by completely obliterating the source of this malice, by erasing this long-rotted and foul-smelling Heaven's Feel, could he wash away the stain upon himself.
"Hahaha!" Gilgamesh suddenly burst into laughter, his voice carrying that familiar arrogance along with a cathartic brutality.
"Good! Very good!"
"Since you have the nerve, I shall make an exception and play along with you until the final curtain of this farce!"
He waved his hand sharply, and the space behind him trembled violently.
A uniquely shaped, cylindrical weapon, engraved with ancient inscriptions from the dawn of creation, slowly materialized in his grasp.
It was the primordial sword that severed the world and split heaven and earth.
"How could tearing a hole in the world be done without my Ea!"
"Weep with gratitude! Witnessing me pass judgment with this sword is the greatest honor of your lives!"
Gilgamesh raised Ea high. A violent crimson wind pressure began to gather around him, causing the very space nearby to wail under its sheer power.
"King of Knights," Asuka called out.
Asuka turned to look at Artoria. "You heard him, right? The most difficult guy here is ready to make a move. Don't hesitate anymore."
Artoria took a deep breath, her emerald eyes regaining their firm resolve.
She looked at Kiritsugu, her gaze now filled with determination.
"Master, please give the order."
"Not to kill Irisviel, but to... save her, and save this world."
Kiritsugu looked at Artoria's clear eyes.
He then looked at the King of Heroes, who was gathering his strength, and the Avenger, who was wreathed in golden-red flames.
His heart, long frozen by countless slaughters, actually felt a long-lost beat in this moment.
There was no need to sacrifice the few to save the many.
There was no need to make that cruel choice.
'That's right, I am... an ally of justice.'
'I just need to defeat evil, don't I?'
"All right," Kiritsugu said.
Raising his hand once more, a smile finally broke through the icy expression on his face.
"Saber."
He held up his Command Spells, his voice hoarse but brimming with power.
"By the power of this Command Spell, I order you—"
"Unleash your Noble Phantasm! Completely shatter that curse in the sky!!"
"Understood!!"
Artoria responded loudly, the Sword of Promised Victory in her hands once again blooming with dazzling golden light.
The radiance of the planet gathered on the blade, a light of hope carrying the dreams of all heroes past and present.
"Good, then it's settled," Asuka said.
Asuka nodded, the Reiryoku within his body boiling once more.
He gripped his Zanpakuto with both hands. The flaming wolf head materialized behind him again, unleashing a soul-shaking roar.
At this moment, the three Heroic Spirits reached a unified consensus.
They had only one target—
The Heaven's Feel.
"However... there is still one problem."
Just as everyone was gathering their strength, Kiritsugu Emiya suddenly spoke up, interrupting them.
He turned his head, looking at Tokiomi Tohsaka, who stood to the side at a loss, and Zouken Matou, who was preparing to slip away unnoticed.
"If we just blow up that great cavern, won't the spiritual leylines below be destroyed along with it?"
Asuka's brow twitched; this was indeed a problem he hadn't considered.
"Iri told me that the core of the Greater Grail isn't actually in the sky, but underground beneath Mount Enzou, right here," Kiritsugu said in a deep voice.
The Greater Grail was connected to Fuyuki City's spiritual leylines. If the top exploded, the bottom would definitely be affected.
When that happened, all of Fuyuki City would likely be reduced to ruins.
"That is indeed the case."
Tokiomi Tohsaka wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, barely maintaining his gentlemanly demeanor. "After a century of accumulation, the Greater Grail has long since merged with the spiritual leylines of Mount Enzou. If it is forcibly destroyed, the resulting magical energy backflow will be enough to detonate the entire mountain range."
"When that happens, let alone Ryuudou Temple, everything within a dozen kilometers will be turned to scorched earth."
"Then what do we do?" Sumire Kamado asked anxiously from the side.
She had just woken up from the nightmare and was still shaken. Hearing that her home was going to blow up made her small face turn deathly pale.
"It's simple."
Kiritsugu pointed at the ground beneath their feet. "Since the top is going to blow, we just need to sever the connection at the bottom."
He looked at Tokiomi and Zouken, his gaze turning sharp.
"The ones who built this system in the first place were your Three Founding Families. Naturally, this task falls to you."
"We will go to the great cavern beneath Ryuudou Temple, dismantle the Greater Grail's spell formula, and sever its connection to the spiritual leylines."
"What?!"
Tokiomi and Zouken exclaimed at the same time.
"How... how is that even possible?!" Tokiomi looked troubled. "Dismantling the Greater Grail system in such a short amount of time requires an enormous amount of calculations and magical energy..."
"You have to do it even if you can't."
Kiritsugu pointed decisively behind Tokiomi. "Unless you want to watch this city, along with your daughter and wife, get blown sky-high."
Tokiomi glanced at Rin, who was looking at him with eyes full of fear and reliance.
The cold, mechanical touch of the parts from the nightmare still lingered on his fingertips, making him shudder.
'Yes, isn't she my most cherished treasure as well?'
If he didn't do something, the nightmare would become reality.
"I understand."
Tokiomi took a deep breath, straightened his slightly messy collar, and picked up his ruby-tipped cane once more.
The Holy Grail had been corrupted; that was a fact.
Even if it was just for Rin, for the future of the Tohsaka Family, he had to put his life on the line.
"I will do my best. As the manager of this land, I have a responsibility to clean up this mess."
"Good."
Kiritsugu nodded in satisfaction, then turned his gaze to the other side.
"What about you, Matou?"
Zouken Matou was shrinking back into the shadows, his cloudy old eyes flickering with unpredictable light.
Hearing Kiritsugu Emiya call him out, he let out a harsh, eerie cackle.
"Hehehe... Dismantle the Greater Grail? Are you insane?"
Leaning on his cane, Zouken backed away step by step. "That is the culmination of centuries of my blood, sweat, and tears! It is my only hope for eternal life! And you want to destroy it?!"
"Keep dreaming! I will never help you do something so foolish!"
"Even if it's a corrupted Holy Grail, even if it's a quagmire filled with malice... as long as it lets me live, as long as it lets me reach that world, I don't care what happens to this city!!"
To think that even a nightmare like that couldn't change this old man's mind.
A hideous expression appeared on his face, and his previously hunched body suddenly straightened.
Countless black worms surged from beneath his clothes, forming a black barrier around him.
"Since you want to destroy it, then I will be waiting down below!"
"Let's see if you destroy the Holy Grail first, or if I manage to escape through that hole to the world of the Soul Reapers first!!"