Fate: How About a New Savior?

Not long after, Mordred, having tried and failed to start a conversation with Artoria—who remained silent, constantly surveying her surroundings—finally saw the Masters returning from the underground archive back through the tunnel.

"Oh! You finally came out! There wasn't even a proper enemy out here. I was so bored!" Mordred grumbled.

Shiomi raised an eyebrow. Realizing the surface had been uneventful, he gave an apologetic shake of his head.

"Sorry. The Clock Tower's data on this subject turned out to be a lot more extensive than expected. We needed to understand the mechanics of Heroic Spirit Summoning, and more importantly, why Servants are appearing despite there being no Holy Grail War."

"Huh? I thought this Singularity was only stable because it had a Holy Grail?" Mordred asked, clearly confused.

Sakura shook her head, her expression turning serious.

"The Holy Grail only exists to sustain the Singularity. Saber, you must know this—you weren't summoned here to participate in a Holy Grail War."

"Yeah, I've got some idea," Mordred scratched her head. "Seems like I was called to deal with whatever disaster this Singularity is facing. I even have records of my past roles as a Servant in other places."

Shiomi turned to her. "Remember the Archer Sakura's sister summoned during the Fuyuki Grail War?"

"That weird Archer guy? Sure, I remember. Even though we ended up losing together."

"He introduced himself as a Heroic Spirit from the future," Shiomi said. "Someone who gave up his posthumous existence to become what's known as a Guardian—a device formed by sacrificing oneself to the Counter Force. He never gave his true name, but he wasn't lying about the rest."

Then Shiomi looked to Artoria.

"I don't know if you remember, but the Artoria I knew also gave up her life after death. She became a Guardian too, in exchange for a chance to seek the Holy Grail and have her wish fulfilled."

As they began walking, Shiomi led the group and continued explaining.

"Heroic Spirits and Guardians are a bit different. Both are souls that have reached the Throne, but Heroic Spirits are summoned by humanity's hopes—Guardians, on the other hand, are born from humanity's despair."

"No matter which side we come from, we're summoned—or respond to the call—to save humanity," Artoria finally said. "We exist to lend our power for the sake of human survival."

Mordred stared at Shiomi, wanting confirmation from someone she trusted.

"Is that really true?"

She didn't mind if it was. Whether as a king, a knight, or a Heroic Spirit, she'd always been willing to use her strength to protect the weak.

"It's true. According to the Clock Tower's records, Heroic Spirit summoning is actually the work of the Counter Force—or more precisely, the Counter Force of humankind itself."

To the planet, humanity's survival isn't essential. In fact, if humanity were to endanger the planet, the Counter Force would summon something to eliminate them.

But that wasn't relevant to the current situation, so Shiomi kept that part to himself.

"Originally, Heroic Spirits summoned by the Counter Force manifested in seven vessels, all for the sole purpose of defeating a single enemy—a catastrophic threat to the world of mankind."

"A threat to mankind? You mean something that would only destroy humans?" Mordred asked skeptically.

She'd never learned this kind of information. In her understanding, destroying humanity and destroying the world were the same thing.

Like when people say, 'the world has ended.'

"Counter Force is divided into two kinds," Shiomi explained. "The first comes from the collective unconscious of humanity—a will to survive. That's the Counter Force of humankind. The planet itself, however, possesses another form of life. This life doesn't want to die either, and from that instinctive will to live comes the Counter Force of the planet."

He waved a hand, signaling Mordred not to get too hung up on the distinction.

"The point is, Heroic Spirit Summoning originates from the former. Its true purpose is to harness the power of seven vessels to defeat an entity bent on annihilating humanity and destroying the civilization we've built."

As he spoke, the path before them sloped deeper underground, showing signs of neglect yet still bearing traces of human construction.

"The so-called seven vessels refer to the seven classes. Whether it's you or Artoria, the classes you've been assigned are only imitations or derivatives of the original seven."

"Tch. That doesn't sound great," Mordred muttered, pulling a face.

She didn't like it—but she couldn't deny it.

"It's not worth getting hung up on," Shiomi reassured her with a smile. "Spirit Origins and class designations are really just a matter of access rights. If a disaster meets certain conditions, even someone who's not one of the original seven can be assigned a matching class by the Counter Force to deal with it specifically."

"So where are we heading now?" Artoria asked.

She looked ahead. The tunnel stretched on, its end marked by a faint light. Beyond that lay the entrance to a massive underground cavern.

"To the Holy Grail," Shiomi answered. "If I'm right, the mastermind behind Makiri and the others has already arrived at this Singularity to declare their defeat. Unable to accept that outcome, they've gathered everything they have for one final, desperate fight."

Shiomi's face remained calm, though a slight furrow appeared between his brows.

He could already feel it—the enormous swell of mana that dwarfed even the Holy Grail. Only an existence at the absolute peak of the seven classes could produce such overwhelming magical energy.

No matter what happened next, it would be a brutal battle.

...

As they exited the long underground passage and stepped into the great hollow chamber beyond, Shiomi immediately noticed the structural similarities to Fuyuki's Greater Grail cavern.

But knowing Makiri had been one of the original architects behind the Grail system, it wasn't all that surprising.

"You kept me waiting," a voice said from atop the high platform where the Holy Grail rested. "You thought if you stalled long enough, I'd give up and leave? That you'd be able to save your life that way?"

The voice was distorted, layered, difficult to identify—but its gaze was fixed on only one person.

Tenkei Shiomi.

Everyone else was meaningless—just dust, not even worth acknowledging.

As the figure gradually came into focus, Shiomi saw it clearly: a silhouette cloaked in calamity and dread, yet unmistakably familiar.

"You're…"

Shiomi's eyes went wide. For a second, he thought he might be mistaken.

But there was no mistaking it.

The most formidable enemy he and Morgan had ever faced during the Holy Grail War ten years ago.

The King of Magecraft—Solomon.