To Become a King and a Magician

Failure.

Lying on the ground without an ounce of strength, Naoki, his body slowly fading, stared at the scene before him, the thought echoing endlessly in his mind.

The Holy Grail, reduced to barely ten percent of its volume, still floated in the air. Half of Beast VI/S's body lay bloodied on the ground, its form semi-transparent as if it could vanish at any moment. [Manaka] leaned weakly against Beast VI/S.

Mutually wounding each other—the result could be described as such, but merely wounding wasn't enough. He needed to defeat her completely.

"If you hadn't locked your target on the Holy City, you would've won, Natsukawa-kun."

Her body recovering rapidly, [Manaka] smiled.

"Though I was disrupted too, compared to you, it was still within my acceptable limits."

Not targeting [Manaka] as the primary focus of the attack was why Naoki lost, even after unleashing the Holy Sword. It wasn't that Naoki didn't want to, but the situation forced him to target the Holy City; otherwise, his body would've collapsed first.

And after defeating the Fall of the Holy City, the remaining damage was at a level [Manaka] and Beast VI/S could endure.

"Even so, the outcome was decided from the start. My plan was doomed to fail from the beginning."

Looking up at the dome pierced by the Holy Sword's wave, [Manaka] saw the false night at its end.

The Holy Sword couldn't destroy her, but it injured her enough to immobilize her temporarily and shattered the barrier separating both sides. Though she could recover quickly, while she did, two others were still there to deliver the final blow.

Arcueid.

Aozaki Aoko.

Right now, she couldn't face those two.

"Sajyou Manaka, you… knew this would happen from the start?" Struggling to hold on as his Servant body faded, Naoki asked with a scowl. "When you began this plan, you already knew it would end like this?"

"Yes, I knew."

[Manaka] nodded.

"After you came to this world, the Root recorded your existence. Naturally, to ensure the plan's success, I rechecked the anomalous points that could lead to failure."

In the first simulation, the plan was certain to succeed, but in the second, it failed—no matter what, it always failed.

"You could say your arrival caused my failure today."

"Then why… did you go through with it? Knowing you'd be stopped, why did you still…"

"For Ayaka, of course. Even if it was the most likely future and already set, for Ayaka's sake, I'd change it." [Manaka] smiled. "You'd want to do the same, right? Try to change it, even knowing you'd fail in the end."

Naoki nodded, then sighed, turning to the three approaching figures behind him.

(The rest is up to you, Arcueid, Aoko.)

His temporary Servant body fully dissolved into specks of light and vanished into the air.

Seeing Naoki off, [Manaka] leaned against Beast VI/S and stood again.

(There's one thing I lied about, Natsukawa-kun. I didn't predict everything. There was an anomaly in the leyline that kept me from fully withstanding the Holy Sword in the end… It was the one exception I didn't know existed.)

(Though my negligence and oversight played a part, it was also the key to my failure, the crucial move you landed.)

"Sister!"

Facing [Manaka], Ayaka looked at the apocalyptic scene before her and couldn't help but bite her lip.

"You came, Ayaka. It's embarrassing, letting my little sister see me like this."

"Kouhai-kun… Where's Naoki!?"

Not finding her beloved junior, Aoko panicked instantly.

"He's fine. His body was a temporary Servant, and its Saint Graph collapsed and vanished. The consciousness linked to that body should have returned to his original one." [Manaka] glanced at Arcueid and said, "Failure, huh… Though this outcome was known five years ago, and I tried to eliminate the unstable factor early on, it still ended up like this."

"Sister, please stop. A happy future or whatever… I don't want it right now. Compared to a world where only I'm happy, I'd rather have you back…"

"I know, Ayaka."

[Manaka] smiled. "I know what you're thinking. You didn't listen to me, and I didn't listen to you… Hehe, in that sense, we really are sisters."

"But I don't like giving up halfway. Even if failure is certain, I won't give up until the very last moment."

(This is something I learned from your other self, Ayaka.)

Holy light shone behind [Manaka], like two rows of an honor guard, pillars of light rising to the sky, accompanied by the continuous sound of swords being drawn.

"The Holy Sword… Speaking of which, I do have a connection with this existence. My other self fell in love with the Holy Sword's wielder, was killed by the Holy Sword, and defeated by it countless times. Now I've been defeated by its wielder too… What a relationship that makes me unable to laugh."

"Sister, what are you going to do? Stop, don't continue!"

"So, consider this my revenge. Let me wield the light of the Holy Sword just once at the end, even if it's only a temporary simulation…"

Ignoring her sister's gaze, [Manaka] decided her own farewell.

Seeing the lights blazing like Holy Swords, Arcueid pulled Ayaka behind her, stretched both arms to the sky, tore open a rift, and pulled out a crimson full moon from within.

"Noble Phantasm projection, True Name Release—Holy Sword, draw from the scabbard."

"Moon Fall."

The moon of destruction fell from the sky, and the light of the Holy Sword soared upward.

The collision of star against star instantly swept through the new world, burying a girl's wish, sustained for eight years, in magnificent grandeur.

This wasn't a victory of justice, nor a triumph of evil.

It was merely a foolish older sister, overly indulgent of her younger sibling, arrogantly trying to bring happiness to her sister, only to ultimately fail against reality and fate.

(Sorry, Ayaka.)