“Kiritsugu, what should we do?”

After returning, Irisviel immediately found Emiya Kiritsugu and told him everything she had heard from Fang Zheng. After listening to Irisviel's description, Emiya Kiritsugu was silent for a long time. He just stared at the table silently, like a sculpture, motionless. However, Irisviel did not speak either, just waiting for her husband's decision.

After a long while, Emiya Kiritsugu finally spoke.

"There is no evidence that what she said is true."

“But Kiritsugu…”

"We can't just back down like this, Ellie."

Kiritsugu interrupted Airi.

"Indeed, what she said makes sense, but there is no evidence to prove it. We cannot be sure that this is definitely true. Even if it is true, it does not mean that the Holy Grail has really lost its ability to serve as a wish-granting machine."

"But...if that's the case, why is she saying this?"

"Perhaps she hopes that we can choose to end the Holy Grail War in advance. After all, with her ability..."

Having said that, Emiya Kiritsugu thought for a while, then looked at Saber.

"SABER, if you release your Noble Phantasm, can you defeat CASTER's Master?"

"It's hard to say..."

In response to Emiya Kiritsugu's question, Saber shook her head.

"I haven't had a direct competition, so I can't judge for now."

"Is that so... In that case, we must at least join forces with RIDER. The enemy is indeed strong, but we are not completely powerless to win. Regardless of whether what they say is true or false, we will only get the answer when the Holy Grail is summoned."

“…”

Irisviel looked at Kiritsugu and then at Saber, and she couldn't say anything else. She understood their feelings very well. No matter what, Emiya Kiritsugu and Saber came for the Holy Grail, but now, without any evidence, it was absolutely impossible for them to withdraw from the Holy Grail War so easily.

Especially Kiritsugu, he paid so much for all this...

But for Irisviel, she yearns for the future described by Illya, a future where she, her husband, and her children can live a happy, stable and peaceful life. This is what Irisviel hopes for.

But now it seems that she will not be able to convince Kiritsugu to give up.

Thinking of this, Irisviel sighed deeply.

It's late at night.

Kotomine Qili looked at Toshiomi Tōsaka lying on the bed without saying a word. At this moment, Toshiomi Tōsaka was lying on the bed with lifeless eyes, and the whole person seemed to have aged twenty years in an instant. It was no wonder. For this Holy Grail War, Toshiomi Tōsaka spent so much effort and even summoned the most powerful Heroic Spirit. Just a few days ago, he was sure that he would be the winner of this Holy Grail War.

But now...it's all over.

The Holy Grail War had only just begun on the first day, when Archer, who was highly expected by Toshiomi Tōsaka, was directly eliminated and was killed by CASTER's MASTER in a clean and tidy manner. Toshiomi Tōsaka was completely unable to accept this blow, not to mention that his body was also severely injured in the previous battle.

Although Fang Zheng's 40-meter-long sword didn't hit Toshiomi directly, he bumped his head against the corner of his own table, causing massive intracranial hemorrhage, and it was still unknown whether he could survive. Now Toshiomi can only lie in the ICU, relying on a ventilator to maintain his life.

But even so, no one knows how long he can hold on.

So…what to do next?

Looking at his teacher, Kotomine Qili fell silent. The original plan was for him to assist Toshiomi Tōsaka in winning, but now, Toshiomi Tōsaka has been forced to withdraw from the Holy Grail War and may even die. In this case, what can he do? He has no wish to realize it, and because of this, Kotomine Qili feels that he has no idea what to do.

Should we continue?

Use ASSASSIN to win the Holy Grail War?

Or give up the Command Seals? Return to my original life? To be honest, I have never thought about these questions, but now it seems that I must consider them.

Thinking about these questions, Kotomine Qili left the hospital and walked towards the church.

“Click, click…”

The lonely footsteps echoed in the silent and deserted streets, and under the dim street lights, there was only the figure of Kotomine Qili. But just as he was about to walk up the ramp to the church, Kotomine Qili suddenly stopped and looked forward.

"You are finally back. I have been waiting for you for a long time."

On the slope not far in front of him, a girl with a red ponytail that looked like burning flames was holding a bottle of Coke, biting her chewed candy while glaring at him with dissatisfaction.

"But okay, now that you're finally back, it's time to end this boring wait."

As Red Ponytail spoke, she casually threw the empty Coke bottle behind her, and it fell into the trash can next to her with a "bang".

"What does this mean?"

While staring at the red ponytail in front of him vigilantly, Yanfeng Qili spoke, and the red ponytail spread out his hands.

"It's simple. I want to kill ASSASSIN, but there are too many clones of ASSASSIN. It's like playing whack-a-mole, which is time-consuming and annoying. So I plan to use a convenient way to solve the problem. Look, aren't you ASSASSIN's MASTER? As long as I kill you, ASSASSIN will be finished, and I won't have to go through the trouble of looking for him everywhere on the street, don't you agree?"

“——!!”

Hearing this, Kotomine Qili immediately clenched his fist and put it in front of him. Although he didn't know how the other party knew that he was the master of ASSASSIN, he was sure that the other party was definitely well prepared this time, so he must not be careless! He knew very well how powerful this girl with a red ponytail was. If he was careless at all, he would probably die on the spot!

"By order..."

“Swish…!”

Kotomine Qili had just opened his mouth and had not even had time to use the Command Seal when the world before his eyes suddenly split into two.

A line of blood appeared on Kotomine Qili's forehead, and then gradually spread from top to bottom. Then Kotomine Qili's body was split in the middle, and then he fell to the ground without a sound.

The red ponytail who appeared behind Kotomine Qili at some point raised the Frostmourne in her hand. Soon, a white soul breath was sucked out from the corpse, and a miserable scream was heard. It was then sucked into the magic sword and disappeared.

"Okay, we're done."

Looking at the body in front of him, Fang Zheng snapped his fingers, and soon, a fire suddenly appeared, quickly devouring Yanfeng Qili's body. Fang Zheng yawned, then turned around and disappeared into the dark shadows.

I left quietly, just as I came quietly. I waved my hand without taking away a cloud.

No one knew that ASSASSIN's MASTER had died just like that, just like his servants, he disappeared silently into the darkness without any movement.

No one cares.

It was not until the early morning of the next day, on the Fuyuki Bridge, that Fang Zheng met RIDER and his group again.

However, this time, in addition to RIDER, there are also SABRE and LANCER.

"So, you decided to unite?"

Looking at the three servants in front of him, Fang Zheng was not surprised at all. When he heard her question, the three servants looked at each other and nodded.

"Yes, I have vowed to dedicate the Holy Grail to my Lord."

LANCER was the first to speak, and Saber nodded.

"We will not believe everything you say based on your one-sided statement. Whether it is true or false can only be determined after the war."

"You said you would give me a more interesting battlefield, young lady."

RIDER laughed loudly and patted his chest hard.

"I, the King of Conquerors, am tired of waiting!"

"All right."

Looking at the three people in front of him, Fang Zheng shrugged. Fang Zheng didn't care about their choice. As she said, whether they understood or not, these servants would not commit suicide obediently. Obviously, the only way to go next was to fight back.

"Since you have already decided, there is nothing more to say."

As he spoke, Fang Zheng reached out his hand, took out Frostmourne from behind him, and then thrust it into the ground with force.

"Seal it!"

Along with Fang Zheng's roar, an icy wind howled, and the bone-chilling wind rushed towards them, enveloping everyone.

When they opened their eyes again, the scene before them shocked the three servants.

"This is……?"

The three of them were a little surprised at the scene in front of them. They had expected the other party to show them the ruined royal city and those terrifying beings as before. But this time, what appeared before them was an endless, frozen wilderness.

The cold wind was howling and the snow was falling heavily.

Everything before my eyes seemed to be completely frozen.

"Warriors of the Frozen Wastes, rise up!"

Along with Fang Zheng's roar, the next moment the three servants saw thousands of undead spirits emerge from the originally frozen wilderness with a "crash" sound. They held weapons in their hands, and dazzling blue soul fire flickered in their dark eye sockets.

"Welcome to Icecrown Citadel."

At this moment, Fang Zheng was already standing at the gate of the Lich King. She held Frostmourne in her hand and looked at the three servants in front of her with a smile on her face.

"What you are facing now is the undead spirits, the Scourge. They once brought death to every corner of this world, and these are the enemies you are facing."

Having said this, Fang Zheng looked at RIDER.

"King of Conquerors, are you satisfied with this enemy?"

“Hahahahahaha!”

Hearing Fang Zheng's question, RIDER burst into laughter.

"Good, good! This is the enemy I want! Undead souls? The Scourge! Well, let me see what qualifications these moving skeletons have to stand in front of me!"

Having said that, RIDER suddenly raised his sword.

"Come out, my men, my subjects! The time to attack, invade, and plunder has come again!"

"boom!!!"

As RIDER finished speaking, the endless desert emerged from behind RIDER, and then the Macedonian army once again gathered in front of their king.

"As for you...SABER."

After taking a look at RIDER, Fang Zheng looked towards Saber not far away.

"I have another enemy for you."

Having said that, Fang Zheng snapped his fingers. Soon, dark fog condensed on the ground, and then a figure in black armor emerged from it.

"BERSERKER?!"

Saber was also shocked when she saw this scene.

"You actually teamed up with BERSERKER?"

"Of course not."

Fang Zheng shook his head.

"In fact, it was given to me by Berserker's master as a reward..."

Fang Zheng smiled slightly when he said this. In fact, it was yesterday that Matou Kariya found Fang Zheng, and as a reward for her directly kicking Tokiomi and ARCHER out of the game, Matou Kariya readily gave BERSERKER to Fang Zheng.

Unlike in the anime, the reason why Matou Kariya participated in the Holy Grail War this time was not because he was forced by Mushi-sama, but because he found his house bombed after returning home, and then learned from Toosaka Aoi that Sakura was sent to Matou's house, and mistakenly thought that Sakura was killed in the bombing. Therefore, in order to avenge Sakura, Matou Kariya took the initiative to summon BERSERKER and tried to hit Toosaka Tokiomi in the face.

Unexpectedly, before he could take any action, Tōsaka Tokiomi was kicked out of the Holy Grail War.

This really made Matou Kariya vent his anger. Later, he found out that Sakura was fine, so he decisively chose to get rid of the Command Spell, handed BERSERKER to Fang Zheng, and flew away.

"Besides, this BERSERKER has some relationship with you. After all, he is..."

Having said this, Fang Zheng was silent for a moment.

"Well, you'll know after you fight."

After all, spoilers would be too boring, and Fang Zheng was also looking forward to seeing Saber's reaction when she learned of BERSERKER's true identity.

"Go, BERSERKER, and do what you have to do."

"Arthur!!!"

As soon as Fang Zheng finished speaking, he saw BERSERKER roaring and rushing towards Saber. And its action was like a signal. At this moment, the Scourge Legion that had been standing silently in the wilderness also screamed, raised their weapons, and rushed forward!

"The enemy has arrived!!"

Riding on his beloved horse, looking at the surging undead army in front of him, RIDER excitedly raised his weapon high.

"Our enemies are the undead, the Scourge. This will be a battle that will go down in history...!"

Having said that, RIDER gripped the blade tightly and swung it forward!

"**Of!!"

“Aaaaaaaaaah!!!”

Along with RIDER's roar, tens of thousands of soldiers strode out from the desert wilderness. Facing the undead in front of them, they raised their weapons and rushed forward with roars.

Just like that, in this cold, frozen wilderness, the human army and the undead collided heavily.