"Isn't that enough? This is my preference for you."
The various coins in Mikael's hand disappeared like bubbles, leaving only one shining golden coin.
"So, do you want to accept my preference?"
He placed his palm in front of Kotomine Kirei, and the coin reflected a strange light, just like the gold sleeping in the Nibelungs, beautiful, shining but dangerous.
Kotomine Kirei stared at the coin, looking like he was thinking, but also seemed not to be thinking about anything. After a long time, he slowly reached out and grabbed the coin.
Then, the scene in front of him changed drastically.
The collapsing sky, the eternal flames, the broken buildings are like the corpses of dead giants, and the rising black smoke even blocks the light of the sun, leaving only a bloody halo.
There were dead people under his feet, no matter men, women, old or young. Countless ways to die were displayed before his eyes. Occasionally, he could still see people who were still alive, wandering confusedly on the burned-out earth, numb.
Waiting for the end of the world.
Smelling the mixed rotten smell and listening to the screams carried by the wind, Kotomine Kirei's heart suddenly beat violently. He couldn't help but stretched out his hand to press his chest. He could feel that
Something is awakening.
He looked at his face in the pool of blood, and saw such a ferocious and twisted expression, it looked like he was smiling.
"Can destruction and sighing... make me happy in this kind of world?"
Although it was a rhetorical question, Kotomine Kirei could clearly feel the strong emotion bursting out from deep within his heart. This time he could no longer suppress it, and he finally understood the root cause of it.
The collapse of all things is so beautiful, the suffering people are so cute, the screams in the ears are so satisfying, and the charred remains are so ridiculous.
"Ha ha ha ha--!"
Unable to restrain his emotions reaching the boiling point, Kotomine Kirei laughed desperately.
No matter how much he deceives himself and others, when the veil of pretense is lifted, he can no longer ignore his sins. This is hell, and he is the most ferocious devil in hell.
"What the hell is this? Who am I?!"
Kotomine Kirei was almost crazy. The shaky persistence in his heart because of Gilgamesh completely collapsed. He had never felt that he was so truly alive.
"Why is it so twisted? Why is it so filthy? Am I really a descendant of Kotomine Rimasa? Hahahaha, impossible! This is impossible! What is this!? Can it be said that my father can actually give birth to a dog?!"
"How is it possible? Dogs cannot be born from humans."
"Hahaha, this joke is not funny."
Kotomine Kirei breathed heavily and tried hard to calm down his emotions. The twisted smile still remained on his face. He smiled and wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, almost laughing until he was exhausted.
"This is not a joke, you just haven't discovered the meaning of your existence yet."
Mikael stretched out his finger and pointed at Kotomine Kirei's chest.
"You are empty here, so you want to fill it up. You have to learn to understand yourself. As a villain, you are also qualified to be loved and loved by others."
"How can it be……"
"Shh-"
Mikael put his finger to his lips,
"Don't rush to object. You are born to be the incarnation of evil, but do you know what [evil] is? Worldly evil can make people feel happy, but it is just false satisfaction. You have to look for [evil]
The meaning of it, that is the thing that can truly fill your emptiness."
“Can evil also have meaning?”
Kotomine Kirei couldn't understand that this was contrary to the life he had firmly believed in for twenty years, praising the preciousness of kindness and praising the divine beauty, all turned into powder.
"Then it's up to you to explore on your own. Well, it's time for you to wake up from your dream."
With a crisp snap of his fingers, everything fell apart instantly. Kotomine Kirei wanted to say something, but was drowned by the endless pure white.
………
"Well……"
Kotomine Kirei opened his eyes, and it was already bright outside. He subconsciously touched his head. In his memory, his head should have been exploded by Emiya Kiritsugu.
The cassock on his body was also in tatters, but there were no scars on his body, as if everything that happened last night was like a dream, but the mess around him proved that he was not imagining it, but that it really happened.
With a familiar aroma lingering on the tip of his nose, Kotomine Kirei turned to look at the bench beside him, and saw a plate of steaming Mapo tofu and a gold coin, which shone with golden light under the early morning eyes.
………
………
“Finally home!”
Hasegawa Kaede opened the door and looked at the home she had been away from for a long time. Tears filled her eyes. She couldn't help but sit down on the sofa, not even paying attention to the floating dust on it.
"Is this where Hasegawa-san lives?"
Saori Sakurajima looked at the decorations in the house. This was the first time she came to another boy's home. She glanced around, and finally her eyes fell on the small butter picture album placed on the coffee table, her delicate brows slightly raised.
"Ah, this is me...this is what I use as a reference when writing novels."
Noticing Sakurajima Saori's gaze, Hasegawa Kaede sat up suddenly, stuffed the butter picture album under the coffee table, scratched his head, and said coquettishly.
"Do you think I'll believe it?"
Sakurajima Saori obviously didn't believe such a poor excuse.
"Whether you believe it or not, I believe it anyway."
Hasegawa Kaede quickly glanced around to see if there were any contraband items and muttered quietly.
"What did you say?"
"No, I'm saying this period is really bizarre."
He quickly changed his words.
"Yeah... it's really... unbelievable that our half-baked group could actually escape from the Holy Grail War."
Sakurajima Saori sighed softly, and then sat on the other side of the sofa.
When the man named Tokiomi Tosaka came to her door, she almost thought that there was going to be a life-and-death battle. Although the Tosaka family and the Sakurajima family were distant relatives, this insignificant blood relationship never mattered in the eyes of a magician.
It's nothing.
The final result of the negotiation was that they gave up their qualifications as Holy Grail War Masters. Of course, they did not give up in vain, but they exchanged a lot of things from the Tohsaka family.
"Do you regret following my decision?"
Sakurajima Saori looked at Hasegawa Kaede who was silent, and subconsciously clenched her hands on her legs.
"No, I can't even talk about regrets. It's just regrets at most."
Hasegawa Kaede stretched out greatly, and moved his body in the direction of Sakurajima Saori unintentionally.
"Although he failed to fight side by side with Siegfried to the end, he agreed to our giving up. That man named Tokiomi Tohsaka is also a magician, right? And he doesn't seem to be an easy guy to deal with."
"Um……"
Sakurajima Saori nodded.
"If that's the case, it's quite right for us to give up. After all, safety comes first, and everything else comes second."
"What about Hasegawa-san's ideals? Since you were chosen as the Master of the Holy Grail, you must have ideals that you want to realize."
Only then did Sakurajima Saori notice Hasegawa Kaede, who had come close to her at some point. The distance between them had almost exceeded the so-called safe distance.
"Hahaha, my wish has come true! I already have inspiration for the next book I want to write. It's basically about meeting offline with a beautiful girl I've known for a long time online, only to find out that the other person is the student council president of my school, and then
He also experienced bizarre adventures with legendary heroes and finally had a happy ending."
"Oh~~Then what is the ending of this story?"
Sakurajima Saori stared at Hasegawa Kaede, who was very close at hand, with a faint smile on her face, looking like a cunning fox.
"Of course it will be a happy ending like returning to my hometown and getting married."
Noticing the growing smile on Saori Sakurajima's face, Hasegawa Kaede sweatdropped from her back and quickly changed her words.
"Well... getting married is indeed a bit fast, so what do you think about becoming a couple?"
There was a brief but long silence. Hasegawa Kaede felt that her mouth was dry and her heart almost jumped out of her throat.
"I don't object to this ending."
Sakurajima Saori ran her hands through her broken hair, turned her head and looked in another direction, her fair face turning a lovely pink color.
"But this story must have a name."
"I've already thought about it."
Hasegawa Feng said with beaming eyebrows. He cheered in his heart, as if a river of honey flowed through his heart. In an instant, the world suddenly became beautiful and sweet.
"The name of this story is "fate"."
"fate...fate?"
"That's right, it's fate. Look, no matter the past, present or future, what we experience is just like the name, a series of stories connected by "destiny", isn't it?"
"And each of us is the hero in our own story. After all, fate's story is the story of heroes!"