At the Emiya Residence, the door—less than half of which remained—swayed in the wind, making a strange 'creaking' sound. The snow showed signs of gradually stopping.
In the room where they had eaten together not long ago, Ritsuka and Sakura sat across from each other at the kotatsu, both silent. The Assassin and Archer cards were placed between them.
"The Holy Grail War... utilizing the power of Heroic Spirits forged into cards to kill each other and seize victory. The families that created this magical ritual are known as the Three Great Families."
The power of Heroic Spirits—Ritsuka herself already possessed this, though there was a slight difference between the two.
The cards reflect power onto the body, borrowing the Heroic Spirit's abilities, whereas Ritsuka was burning herself, constantly replacing her inner self with the power of Heroic Spirits.
Having removed all her armaments and wearing a thick tracksuit, Ritsuka didn't look much different from the girl next door she used to be, except her eyes were slightly hollow, carrying a doll-like, eerie atmosphere.
Sakura naturally knew where the problem lay.
Ever since she received information from the Einzbern family that the vessel for the Holy Grail had been found, she knew everything.
"Is Sakura also here to deal with me?"
Have you been lying to me all this time?
Was everything a lie?
Such thoughts flashed through her mind for an instant but vanished immediately because Ritsuka noticed the incredibly sorrowful expression on Sakura's face. She couldn't help but feel a bit self-deprecating, almost to the point of laughing out loud.
The Matou Family was one of the three creators of the Holy Grail War. Kirei Kotomine had probably already hinted at this to her, but unfortunately, she hadn't been able to understand it sooner.
"Senpai, you're really mean."
Her face somewhat pale, the weak-looking Sakura smiled forlornly.
She raised the hand she had been clutching tightly and pushed the card on the table toward Ritsuka. "I'm counting on you, Senpai. You must save Miyu."
"Sakura..."
Ritsuka silently took the card. An absurd possibility suddenly flashed through her mind, but on second thought, it might actually be the case.
Pursuing her lips, Ritsuka said something that made Sakura's expression freeze—
"Sakura, actually, you knew Miyu's identity a long time ago, didn't you... her identity as the Divine Child."
"Your magical attainment is much higher than mine; you can even independently maintain an illusion-type boundary. Could it be that for all these years, you've actually been applying special spells to Miyu?"
Amidst the clear voice, Sakura lowered her head.
Hollow—the rare magical aptitude Matou Sakura was born with, defined as'something that might exist but does not exist in the material world,' also known as Imaginary Numbers.
It might be related to time and space, an extremely rare magical attribute in the world.
Based on this, combined with Matou Sakura's magical abilities that far exceeded Ritsuka's, it was not impossible to unknowingly add a layer of protection to Miyu. The butterflies Sakura could control were quite peculiar.
The reason it was exposed must be related to that girl named Erica; she carried a divine aura that was familiar to Alcides.
A Greek god.
"I don't mean to blame you, Sakura. I just wanted to say thank you, that's all."
Regardless of when Sakura discovered Miyu's identity, she had never harmed her or Miyu and had even provided a lot of help. In all fairness, this thanks was deserved.
Sakura gave a silly smile, her body instinctively sitting up straight, and her expression became serious. "Senpai, have you ever thought about... running away?"
Ritsuka was suddenly stunned.
Running away? So there was such an option; she hadn't even thought about it before.
She had carried all the burdens alone. Kiritsugu had ultimately chosen her will and stopped treating Miyu as a tool.
Losing, and losing again—from the beginning, there was nothing else around her, just like that room filled with the smell of disinfectant in her previous life, with white walls that were nauseating and stomach-turning.
An uncontrollably upturned corner of a mouth surfaced in the depths of her memory.
There was no one with her.
"..."
In the unspeakable silence, the girl with the surname Emiya suddenly gave a low laugh, and her expression became firm.
Even if she was hollow, even if she was imitating others and trying to learn, even if she was an absolute defect among artificial geniuses, she now had a wish of her own.
"I won't run away."
Ritsuka tightly held the two cards in her hand. One was an Assassin, and the other was an Archer, but the Archer side was blank—it was a dud card without the power of a Heroic Spirit.
In the next moment, in Ritsuka's vision, an image seemed to slowly emerge on it, and an incredibly familiar sense of déjà vu appeared.
Holding dual blades, a silver-haired, brown-skinned man stood upon a desolate hill of swords.
Archer · Emiya Shirou.
This was exactly the same as the scene when the crystal dice first started pulsing!
Another person is responding to her... Sakura looked at Ritsuka, whose gaze was firm and had finally returned to a state close to how she used to be. Sakura's pale face flushed slightly. "Even if... hell lies ahead?"
Ritsuka nodded firmly: "Yeah... even if it's hell, I have no choice but to walk through it now."
Stroking her chest, Sakura took a breath. As if experiencing a terminal lucidity, her spirit suddenly brightened.
Her gaze lingered on the Archer card in Ritsuka's hand, and Sakura spoke slowly.
"Senpai, although that card is a class card, it doesn't have the power of a Heroic Spirit. It's a useless card that the Einzbern gave me to deceive me."
"No, that's not right. I'm not doubting your strength, Senpai, it's just... the one you have to face this time is a most troublesome enemy."
"The strongest Heroic Spirit—the King of Heroes, Gilgamesh."
In Sakura's understanding, that Archer King of Heroes was undoubtedly the strongest. Having fought Ritsuka using the Assassin card, the only opponent Sakura would worry about for Ritsuka was Gilgamesh.
That is the greatest enemy in this Holy Grail War!
However, before Sakura had time to explain to Ritsuka just how strong the King of Heroes was, her expression suddenly changed.
!!
As if glass had suddenly shattered, the hypnosis and illusion magecraft Sakura had applied to herself suddenly failed, and the magical energy in her body was completely exhausted at this moment.
A hole appeared in her chest; Ritsuka could even see things behind her through the hole.
"Sakura?!"
Ritsuka stood up and hurriedly crossed the kotatsu to hold Sakura. The sense of abnormality that had been stimulating her Minds Eye was now dispelled.
Blood spurted continuously from her mouth and chest as Sakura collapsed into Ritsuka's arms.
The battle with the puppet Matou Shinji had ended in a one-sided crushing defeat under Sakura's outburst, but Sakura had also been wounded by Shinji before that.
At the moment before he died, Shinji activated his Noble Phantasm—the Noble Phantasm of Assassin.
C-rank Anti-Personnel Noble Phantasm: Zabaniya: Delusional Heartbeat!
A terrifying Noble Phantasm that applies a 'curse' to the enemy through a mutated demon's arm, subsequently destroying the enemy's heart within a certain range.
Sakura, who used illusions, was backlashed by her own magecraft. With her Mage Circuits and Magic Crests almost entirely paralyzed due to the excessive one-time use of magical energy, she had not noticed her own crisis.
Even Ritsuka had only felt an abnormality; she had been using the magecraft given by Kirei Kotomine to suppress the pain brought by the Hydra poison in her body.
That magecraft also had the side effect of causing hallucinations.