Reinforced with the strength of his demons and the magecraft of the witch who would be traveling with him, the ship left port.
He took in a sharp breath, a self-satisfied grin spreading across his face.
Yes, after all, even if the Holy Grail War had yet to complete itself, he had little reason to stay here any longer. There was comparatively little to gain, and far too much to lose. In that sense, it was best to simply retire, to pack up everything, return home, and leave those participants of the war to their own devices.
This had all been beyond his expectations, truth be told.
He had obtained the funds needed to start his life's work.
He had obtained multiple familiars whose power exceeded even his greatest expectations.
He had gained an invaluable contact in the Clock Tower.
He had gained the business associates who had joined him in departing Fuyuki.
And, of course, he had gained something else.
Ah, it was such a pity, but he hadn't tried to convince her to come with him. She had a desire all her own, after all, so it was all he could do to fulfill his side of their business transaction before saying his farewells. Besides, he was always just a codec call away.
Beatrice
"I hope you come out of this alive. It'd ruin the celebration if I learned you died right after I left...Benita."Well, no matter. What would happen would happen.
His eyes flitted over, looking to the false demons, the man-eating monster, the witch, and the necromancer.
He'd hoped that other one would have joined them, but sadly he seemed to have wanted to stay behind for now. Ah well, he knew how to reach them when he eventually decided to head out, so that would be fine in the end.
"Welcome to Dark Amazon, everyone."Yes. After all, even if this was the end of his participation in Fuyuki's Second Holy Grail War, this was not the end of Evan Strauss.
"Let's get to conquering."
“...well, I can't stall this fa' any longa. You've done enough. Let’s get to it. Rule numbah ninety-five, kid: concentrate.”
Space
bent.
Around the pair, the world distorted, something else taking its place. For a moment, the image of a mountaintop cavern flickered over the environment, before a white plane took its place, extending out in all directions.
Archer stood in place, his expression a startling one for anyone who had interacted with him over the course of the war. His jaw was set, eyes glinting with a hard light that went against everything he had shown prior to that point. For just a moment, the shadow of something else stood visible behind him, stretching up into the whiteness before it faded just as quickly as it appeared.
“Let’s begin.”His inflection was changed from how he had spoken since his summoning.
“Think about why you’re here, why you’re doing this. Maybe there’s someone you want to protect or avenge, something you want to create, something you want to destroy. Something you care about, something you despise. Maybe you want honor. Maybe you want to leave something behind. Maybe you just want to fight. I don’t care what it is, but decide on it now. That’s your tether.”A hero without a tether is hopelessly weak. That is why a completed hero will certainly fall to an incomplete one, as the latter still has something to strive for. That is why the other ‘me’ is something I must stand opposite, as he’s lost sight of our tether.
To create “something beautiful”. To give rise to something worthy of being called the strongest hero. An impossible goal, but the one we chased after nonetheless.
And we nearly managed it. We exceeded what even our wildest imaginations were. That one, he approached the precipice, perhaps closer than anyone else. Nonetheless, he fell short, as he was doomed to.
...for after all, if you pursue the title of “strongest hero”, there is a wall you cannot cross. That wall is not something that can be surpassed. Indeed, it is impossible to overtake it. No matter how strong you are, every ounce of strength you gain will only make that wall stronger in turn.
Yes, for a hero, it is impossible to surpass him.
...but, that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth trying.
Because, even if you don’t have the potential, even if nothing currently exists in the world with the potential, that doesn’t mean that something with that potential can never arise.
A hero is someone who accomplishes the impossible, so...
-A word like "impossible" does not deserve to have meaning to us.
This war is a farce. Anyone who cannot recognize this is an incompetent. Even the simplest glance at the spiritual foundations of its participants, an examination of the line that connects those foundations to the ritual cornerstone, or anything along those regards can reveal the truth. While there may be a higher purpose that a true examination would be needed to garner, the “wish” promised by this is nothing more than the result of a sacrificial ritual.
Ordinarily, then, I would not be bothered. I would merely entertain myself.
...However, these eyes of mine have seen a future, a fraction of a fraction of a chance where I can reach something with that potential.
I am not someone who has given up on my tether, as that other fool bearing my name has. So, I must obtain the result of that sacrifice, in order to reach that chance.
As the god of Thessaly, on my forgotten name as ■■■■■■, I swear it: I will obtain that possibility. And so—
“Hold onto it. Because everything you’re about to go through is going to test how strong that hold is. If you let go of it, you’ll die.”A solemn grin split his face. In spite of his words, there was something else there, the manic excitement of something that was fundamentally inhuman.
“That’s rule number one: Purpose.”And so, Hell began.
