Takatsuki and Durandal turned to look, and saw a white-haired young girl dressed in a formal gown, holding a ragdoll cat in her arms.
"..."
"An?"
Takatsuki asked tentatively, and the other party indeed nodded, but then shook her head, and handed the cat in her arms to Durandal.
"This is… Ai left it for you."
"Sumiyuki…"
Durandal hesitated for a moment, but still took the familiar cat. The moment she touched it, she was certain that this cat was the one she had raised for half a year in that dream.
Seeing An in front of her and Yuki in her arms, Durandal was a bit confused.
"Is this… the Third Magic!?"
Takatsuki was watching from the side at first, when suddenly a prompt flashed before his eyes.
[Sumiyuki: Creation of the Third Magic, the result of soul materialization]
Although he didn't know why the system suddenly popped up such a prompt, Takatsuki still thought of something and looked at An: "An-chan, An-chan, are you Angra!?"
In the dream, there were only false memories, so he hadn't realized it. Now Takatsuki remembered that An's appearance was very similar to Ilya in the Dress of Heaven.
But An shook her head: "I am the personality within the Holy Grail. I was once Angra, but I am not him now. I originally had no personality or form, and could only appear by borrowing others' personalities. Ai used her own power to condense this personality named Takatsuki An for me, and devoured all the magic power and malice within the Holy Grail, so I am not that Angra."
"Then… are you our daughter?"
Durandal, holding Sumiyuki, suddenly asked.
"No, if judged by human ethics, my parents should be the Holy Grail and Ai. The materials that constitute my body and soul originated from the Holy Grail, and it was Ai who created them."
An denied Durandal's question, leaving her confused: "Then… who exactly is Ai?"
Takatsuki also wanted to know this question, but even An, who seemed to answer everything, did not know the answer to this question.
"I don't know. My original instinct was to use the dream to make you wish for my birth. She suddenly appeared, took all control, and promised to bring me into existence, at the cost of stripping away all my power and malice."
An was silent for a moment, then looked at Durandal and suddenly said, "She… should be your true daughter."
"..."
Even so, Takatsuki and Durandal didn't know who Ai was, let alone a daughter.
How long had they known each other? Where would a daughter come from!
It couldn't be someone from the future, or a parallel world, could it?
"This… let's consider it later. What do you plan to do now?"
Having already planned to leave, Takatsuki felt he couldn't abandon this manifestation of the Greater Grail.
An shook her head. Takatsuki said, "Then come with us. I'll find a place to settle you."
Taking Durandal and An, who were still a bit dazed and hadn't fully understood what was happening, Takatsuki directly returned to the Matou Residence via spatial movement. The two asked An to wait outside for a while, then went back to their rooms to change clothes before coming out again.
Someone was already standing beside An.
"Takatsuki, you're back! Where's Kiritsugu!?"
Irisviel asked Takatsuki, somewhat anxiously.
Takatsuki merely shook his head, looked at Durandal who had changed clothes and walked out of the room, then turned to look at Irisviel: "I'm sorry, he… died, swallowed by the malice in the Holy Grail."
"Is that so…"
Upon hearing Takatsuki's words, Irisviel seemed to lose all strength and collapsed onto a chair.
After a moment of silence, she spoke: "Then, did you stop that Holy Grail?"
"Yes, the Holy Grail is gone. There will be no more Holy Grail Wars."
Takatsuki nodded and looked at An: "This child is the very will of the Holy Grail, shaped by the Third Magic, so we brought her out."
Takatsuki knew that one of Einzbern's tragic wishes was to recreate the complete Third Magic, the perfect Heaven's Feel.
But this was almost an impossible feat.
"The Third Magic…"
Looking at the young girl who was almost identical to her own daughter, Irisviel looked up at her: "What is your name?"
An looked at Takatsuki, then silently uttered a name: "An…"
The surname Takatsuki was because she had previously held the identity of Takatsuki's daughter, but clearly, the other party did not recognize this identity, and Takatsuki said nothing; he actually didn't want to acknowledge this daughter either.
He wasn't a bulldozer, liking everyone he saw. Although An was indeed very cute, she had no relation to him. Helping her out of convenience was fine, but asking him to take care of someone who was neither kin nor kith every day? Forget it.
He didn't owe her anything.
Speaking of owing something, Takatsuki actually felt he owed Irisviel a bit, after all, part of Kiritsugu's death was due to his reasons.
"That, Irisviel, actually, Emiya Kiritsugu had a wish before he died."
The name Kiritsugu immediately caught Irisviel's attention.
"He hoped that you and Ilya could live normal lives, but he couldn't do it anymore, and it would be difficult for you to get through the Einzbern barrier alone. So, as former comrades, I can help you bring Ilya out. How about it? As long as you agree to one condition."
Now that Kiritsugu was dead, Ilya was, one could say, Irisviel's everything.
Her birth was meant for her to die in the Holy Grail War, but now, she hadn't died, and the Holy Grail was gone.
Whether for Kiritsugu's last wish or for her own daughter.
She wanted to live.
"What condition?"
"I imagine you've met the girl from the Matou Family, the child even younger than Ilya, Matou Sakura, right?"
Irisviel nodded. During her time being settled here, she had naturally come into contact with this child, and even took care of Matou Sakura when there were no other adults in the Matou Family.
Matou Tsuruno had returned a few times; he said nothing when he saw her, just took some things and left.
Takatsuki unfurled his Haki to ensure no one else was eavesdropping before continuing.
"That child's father, and Kariya, also sacrificed themselves in this Holy Grail War. Matou Tsuruno is a pure ordinary person, so I hope you can take care of this child, and even… if possible, also look after An-chan. The Matou Family no longer has a magic Heritage, so Sakura can be said to be the Matou Family's only inheritor."
"Ah? That's not good, I am from the Einzbern Family after all. For me to come into contact with the Matou Family's magic…"
Irisviel hadn't expected Takatsuki to make such a request.
"There's nothing wrong with it. If no one helps, the Matou Family's magic will be completely lost. Their original bloodline no longer has any magical talent, but it's better for Matou Zouken's new worm magic to be lost. Moreover, if you want to take Ilya and escape from Einzbern, then the protection of a family is necessary, right? Even if the Matou Family has completely declined, they are still one of the big three, and can still make Einzbern hesitate, after all, this is Fuyuki City."
"This… I'll consider it."