"Why?"
Akatsuki looked at Saber with some impatience. She had already been patient enough to try and travel to the Fate/kaleid liner worldline with minimal casualties, yet Saber's stubbornness remained absolute.
Seemingly sensing the change in Akatsuki's mood, Matou Sakura, who was in her arms, looked up at Akatsuki's profile with concern. That beautiful face gradually stiffened, then completely darkened.
"Kiritsugu Emiya, transfer control of Saber to me."
Placing her hand on Matou Sakura's head, Akatsuki's face wore a smile once more, though that smile gave everyone present a bad premonition... By the time she snapped back to her senses, Artoria was already standing before the sword in the stone. In the distance, knights were engaged in mounted combat, and beside her stood the court Magician—Merlin.
Where was Irisviel? Where was Kiritsugu Emiya? Where was Akatsuki?
Her memory stopped at the moment Akatsuki demanded the command spells from Kiritsugu Emiya. Artoria looked at her surroundings in a daze.
"What's wrong? Are you hesitating?"
Merlin seemed to have seen through Artoria's thoughts and continued, "You don't necessarily have to pull out the sword in the stone. Although you are the destined king of Britain, who can truly say for sure about things like fate?"
"But, before you make a choice..."
Before Merlin could finish his sentence, Artoria left directly. As if she had rehearsed it in her heart countless times, she turned around with a fluid and decisive motion, leaving without looking back.
"Wait?! You're not pulling it out again?!"
Merlin looked at the sword in the stone beside him in confusion, then at the departing Artoria. "No, hey, wait..."
Suddenly, Merlin felt a wave of dizziness.
"Did I... fall asleep? Was all that just a dream?"
Inside the stone tower of Avalon, Merlin, lying on the floor, looked around in confusion. This was already the second time. He didn't understand why he would suddenly fall unconscious, and more importantly, after falling unconscious, he had actually vaguely dreamed of a scene where Artoria had never pulled out the sword in the stone.
"Have I stayed here for so long that my mind is starting to have problems?"
On the other side.
After Artoria gave up on pulling out the sword in the stone, the scenery in her eyes quickly changed. Her vision was no longer confined within a human body, but instead presented a sort of bird's-eye view.
She could feel that she could clearly survey everything within the borders of Britain and could intervene in all of Britain.
Wasn't this the content of the deal she had made with the counter force?
Select a new king, and after death, become the guardian of Britain.
「Did we win?」
Confusion.
「The Holy Grail War has ended, did Kiritsugu Emiya win the Grail?」
Confusion.
「What happened... why don't I have memories of that time?」
Confusion.
Despite countless doubts, Artoria did not plan to pursue them further, because her wish had been fulfilled. She only needed to serve as the guardian of Britain and protect her motherland.
However, the development of events did not seem to be what she had imagined.
Even after a new king was born, the suicidal internal strife did not stop. Foreign invasions, Heathens invasions, and suicidal infighting continued.
Everything was pushing Britain toward the abyss of destruction.
Artoria was anxious and tried to use her power to stop it all. But she found that even if she blocked foreign enemies and Heathens outside of Britain, the suicidal internal strife still failed to stop.
There were hundreds of kings, large and small, within Britain. No one wanted to bow their head to another; everyone wanted to become the King of Britain and rule the entire land.
Yet, no one had the ability to make everyone truly submit.
Because the Knights of the Round Table were never formed and Camelot was never established, Britain took a completely different path. In an era where mystery was declining, Morgan, as the Lord of the Island, integrated the whole of Britain through extremely bloody and violent means.
She developed the so-called "Mystery Preservation System—command spells."
By implanting the so-called Command Spell system into all Magicians in Britain, she concentrated all their mystery into herself to resist the decline of mystery.
However, the speed of the mystery's decline far exceeded Morgan's plans, so Morgan turned her gaze beyond Britain.
In an instant, the whole world turned into a hell.
Artoria, who wanted to protect Britain as its guardian, naturally could not allow foreign invaders to destroy Britain. However, under Morgan's leadership, the situation became increasingly uncontrollable.
As the guardian, Artoria killed all the enemies who invaded Britain, while Morgan, as the Lord of the Island, mobilized all the people of Britain to expand her territory.
「This kind of ending is not what I expected...」
"Then what were you expecting?"
Akatsuki's voice caused Saber to wake up instantly. The others had already left, the sky outside was dark, and Matou Sakura had fallen asleep in Akatsuki's arms. Meanwhile, she was currently being suspended in the middle of the hotel room by Akatsuki with silver chains.
"This indecent way of binding..."
After Akatsuki placed Matou Sakura back on the bed, she walked up to Saber.
Akatsuki gently lifted Saber's chin, a playful smile curling at the corner of her mouth. "Saber, I believe you are already clear about what realizing your wish will lead to."
"What happened?"
"Nothing much, I just asked for you from Kiritsugu Emiya."
As she spoke, the armor on Saber's body began to dissolve, and a pure white backless wedding dress was fitted onto Saber's petite body.
"What?!"
"Don't be so surprised. Rigid armor is truly a bit unsuitable for a young girl like you. Since you possess a pure body that knows no filth and is full of pride, at a time like this, you should be adorned in a pure white wedding dress."
Akatsuki spoke in a style identical to Caster from the Fifth Holy Grail War without blushing or skipping a beat.
"What is the meaning of this!"
Akatsuki ignored the chain-bound Saber, her hands wandering over her body of their own accord.
"To be honest, at first I didn't understand the feelings of Gilgamesh and Caster, but since I turned Sakura into my own private property, I've begun to understand that this kind of thing isn't so bad after all."
Her fingers brushed past Saber's sensitive areas, causing her to glare fixedly at Akatsuki.
"Shh!"
Akatsuki held a finger up to her lips. "Don't make too much noise. It wouldn't be good to wake Sakura. The noble king of knights wouldn't want to leave such bad memories for a young girl like that, would she?"
"You wicked woman!"
Saber gritted her teeth hard, desperately suppressing her body's urge to make shameful sounds.
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