True Cruelty

So, you've come.

That must be the evil, uh...Mr. Moriarty.

Never mind the formalities. He's evil, remember?

Oh, right. Good point.

So this is the monster we've been hearing about. Not much difference that I can see.

There isn't. Good, bad, it's all equally transient.

To be honest, I was surprised to find I even had a good side. Even more so when he openly opposed me.

Hahahaha! Couldn't have said it better myself!

Even I was surprised to discover I exist!

As was I, naturally.

I couldn't care less.

？！

It seems I've made a very good friend indeed.

But I've no interest in my good side. So far as I am concerned, it is merely detritus to be cast aside.

The only person I'm interested in analyzing is you, Master of Chaldea.

You were once trapped here, only for Holmes to rescue you, and yet you reappear here of your own volition.

None of this is preordained. All of this is the result of innumerable calculations.

There is no need to answer that. The only part I haven't been able to calculate is what happens next.

Whether I lose, or you lose, the outcome of this exchange is immaterial.

Either way, my role will be over.

Yes, we do.

Nothing has changed. My calculations are correct.

？！

For 3,000 years, I have awaited this moment.

...Hm? What am I saying?

No, that's not right. I haven't been waiting for this at all.

I'm just imagining things.

...Hmm.

Now then, Fujimaru. ...Last Master of Chaldea.

Thanks to Der Freischütz's power, the asteroid is already here.

Once I have made it into a bullet, it will be loaded perfectly into this tower.

I don't wish to die. I don't wish to die, but...

...in this single instance, I value the murder of this planet more than my own life.

I can't tell if you're broken, or simply mad. But no matter. Once you're dead, this will all be over.

？！

Exactly. This is the conclusion of the case of the Shinjuku Phantom Spirit.

Try and solve it if you can, Fujimaru!

So...I have lost.

...So you have.

Evil Moriarty's disappearance, confirmed! You did it, Master!

？！

Indeed! I daresay we pulled it off perfectly!

No... It's not over yet.

Yet? What do you mean, yet?

There's no Holy Grail here...which means that power must have come from elsewhere!

...I'm picking up a new Spirit Origin! According to its pattern, it...it appears to be...!

No! It can't be!

It's not possible! No matter what else happens, this should be absolutely impossible!

...Haha. ...Hahaha, hahahahaha!

I remember! I remember everything now!

So, you're here, Fujimaru... loathsome Master of Chaldea!

？！

No, it's not Goetia! That's...a Demon God Pillar!

It may appear to be human, but there's no mistaking its Spirit Origin pattern!

？！

We were indeed destroyed! Our entire species was wiped out!

We had no way to revive! To return! To be restored! Our eternity was lost!

Our plan 3,000 years in the making was devastated! Yet here I am, revealing myself in this ugly form!

All for the sole purpose...of killing you!

...So, the last dregs of a forgotten race. Pathetic. And you say you're here to kill Fujimaru?

You have no right to blame him for

I know that!

...

You're exactly right! This bitter pain in my chest, this fire that sears my flesh... I know just where it comes from!

It's not because our 3,000-year plan was ruined. Nor because Heroic Spirits prevented the incineration.

It's not even thanks to that detestable Solomon returning his ring to the heavens.

No, there is something else behind all of that. One person responsible for how things turned out.

...You, Fujimaru!

？！

I admit it. I have no right to blame you for this. There is no justification for taking out my anger on you.

No, there is only hatred. Hatred. Hatred, hatred, hatred, HATRED!

I can't feel anything but hatred! Hatred for you, Fujimaru!

Why did you come here? How did you arrive on this planet, in this time, at that place!?

If you were a hero who had surpassed the bounds of humanity, I would be convinced! If you were a demon king who ate humans, I could accept it!

But you're nothing more than a common, ordinary man! And even then, you still destroyed everything!

I was only able to endure the humiliation of running away so that I would be able to kill you!

I'm not killing you in order to destroy the world. I'm destroying the world in order to kill you!

A murder plot!

That's what you've been planning all along, these 3,000 years, ever since escaping from the Temple of Time!?

This is the humanity distortion Lord Babbage arrived at! The foreign entity at the edge of the Incineration of Humanity!

？！

Lord Babbage was summoned as a Heroic Spirit to serve a Demon God Pillar, which is how he was able to obtain all the relevant numbers.

The next step, naturally, is to use those numbers in a calculation. Any mathematician would do the same.

Specifically, he calculated a future that assumed the Incineration of Humanity took place, rather than calculating a way to try and prevent the incineration.

That's when he made his discovery.

He learned that the Mage King would destroy the post-2018 future, even without the incineration!

Right you are, detective of Baker Street.

Over the course of 3,000 years, I have gained the ability to fuse Phantom Spirits and Heroic Spirits!

Innumerable cast-offs, forgotten by history, devoid of faith...

And yet, they possessed untold value! Urban legends! Fairy tales! Extinct beasts!

It was exactly what I couldn't understand before...and what I need now!

A passion for punishment. A vow for revenge. They are what fuel my existence! I am Demon God Bael!

Then let me ask you, Bael. How deeply was Moriarty involved in this!?

There is no need for me to answer that. You already have your answer.

...I was involved in every part, Holmes.

？！

I... Huh...?

Wha...

Wh-what the...?

Moriarty... You're... Now I see! It can't be! But it is!

Backwards! It was all backwards!

I can't believe you would go that far... That you would risk everything in this way!

So you even threw away certainty in your pursuit of victory!

...I reached you, Holmes. It was almost too easy for me... But this time I win.

This time, there can be no doubt.

So this is what it is to lose... Loath as I am to admit it, Moriarty, victory is indeed yours.

I am so sorry, Mr. Fujimaru. I made a grave mistake in my deductions.

？！

No way!

Altria! Kill me at once! There may still be hope for

Nice try, my sworn enemy. But your companions are ill-equipped to follow your line of reasoning!

Farewell, Holmes!

The greatest detective of all time! One who shared my perspective, but never my position!

With your power, I will achieve true victory!

...! Mr. Holmes's Spirit Origin is...not disappearing!?

Indeed it isn't.

I can still sense his Servant aura...but from Moriarty!

Of course. I didn't kill him, I absorbed him. That was how it needed to be done.

？！

...How good to meet you, everyone. My name is James Moriarty.

I am the one who shall destroy this planet.

When was it... When did you first betray us!?

When? Why, just a moment ago. It feels as though my long, long calculation has finally come to an end.

Wait. Just a moment ago? You only decided to betray us then!?

I-I don't get it! You're not making any sense at all!

I mean, if we were losing, I can see the logic in betraying us as a way to escape.

But we were winning! We were even strong enough to defeat Bael! I'm sure of it!

There was no reason for you to betray us!

...Would you mind, Bael?

You're wasting your time. But, we League of Phantom Fiends members are nothing if not equal.

If you wish to do so, I will wait.

Very well. I suppose you do at least have a right to know what is happening.

And I have an obligation to answer. So I will answer all your questions, starting at the very beginning.

After all, with Holmes gone, I'm now the only one who can.

？！

...Have you noticed it, Fujimaru? There's something fundamentally off about this Shinjuku, isn't there?

？！

Exactly.

This Shinjuku has been cut off from the outside world, and has no connection to humanity.

As a result...it has become a fictional city.

It's all but impossible to fuse a Phantom Spirit and a Heroic Spirit, or even two Phantom Spirits, anywhere but here.

And it is here that Bael and I formed an alliance, in order to pursue our separate goals.

Bael's goal was to kill you, Fujimaru... And mine was to surpass Holmes.

We banded together despite our differences in order to accomplish our otherwise impossible goals.

That is the League of Phantom Fiends: one formed between Demon God and human.

You...wanted to surpass Holmes? Not kill him?

...Fujimaru, have you ever played 21? Where you count up in ones, and whoever says "twenty-one" first loses?

Each player can only say a maximum of three numbers in their turn: "two, three, four," or "ten, eleven, twelve," for example. If you had your choice, would you want to go first or second?

And with that, you just sealed your loss.

Congratulations, you just sealed your victory.

？！

To get your opponent to say "twenty-one," you need to end your turn on a multiple of four. You can't end on a multiple of four if you go first.

And in our games...I always went first, while Holmes always went second.

It's how our world was designed. Good would always triumph over evil.

As long as I was Moriarty, I would never be able to win against Holmes.

Even summoned into these forms, these laws still restrain us.

If I might employ a metaphor you may find helpful... It is like the Counter Force that appears when the world is in danger.

Killing him failed to help me win, nor could I outsmart him. So I thought as hard as I could.

It's not as though Holmes never makes any mistakes. One need only consider Irene Adler, the woman who once outfoxed him, for that.

But whenever he faces me, he always gives it his all. It's quite vexing. Thus, there was only one way to beat him.

I would have to join his side.

Is that so. Then you HAD betrayed us from the beginning.

It is infuriating to think that we were so foolish as to not see it sooner.

Not at all. There was no way you could have seen it. After all...

？！

...Snrk.

Hahahaha! Well done, Master! You really are a sharp one!

Moriarty.

Right, right, sorry. Yes, you're exactly correct.

I reset myself to zero. I removed my memories and evil nature, created a good side, and was reborn.

And not only me. I also removed Bael's memories.

He believed himself to be "evil Moriarty" and acted accordingly, and I did the same as "good Moriarty."

Right up to the moment "evil Moriarty" disappeared just now.

He only thought he was Moriarty, and behaved as such.

If he hadn't, we would never have been able to defeat Holmes. Or you.

No way...

Am I wrong? It would have been impossible to evade Holmes's observant eye.

So I joined your group, and fought with all my strength and conviction at your side.

That is the indisputable truth. Worry not, Master. You need not feel bad for failing to see through me!

Hahahaha! I'm glad to see you haven't lost your spirit!

...Right, sorry about that. I forgot how good you really are.

You're not sad that I betrayed you. You're sad that I turned to evil in the first place.

？！

So, you've finally shown yourself, Bael!

...!

...You. Is this what you were after all along?

Emiya...!

It's not easy being a mercenary. Altered or not, distasteful or not, a job's still a job.

Once I was summoned, my only true ally was myself. The only others around me were the Wolf King, Yan Qing, and the Phantom and Christine.

I was hired to defeat the Demon God Pillar. Nothing else matters.

Besides, this world had already been cut off. People dying here wouldn't get in the way of my job.

I didn't care if I fought for evil or good. My only goal was to ensure that balance was maintained.

In which case, it made more sense to side with the winning team. Sensible, don't you think?

...I can't say I agree with that way of thinking. But, it does seem you're not our enemy.

I see. I knew the answer was simple.

I wasn't sure why you joined us, but I did know you meant to kill me.

Same here. I could tell you planned to use me and dispose of me.

But I guessed that you wouldn't make your move until things had reached this point. Seems I was right.

Now then, Master of Chaldea. Those guys are my enemy, and I think they're yours too.

In short, this may be the best chance we ever get.

I have no way to help you all escape, and you don't have any reason to fight me.

Want to team up?

Don't look at me like that. Some altered Servants are just like this.

If you want to save the world, you better get used to it.

...Will do. That was the plan all along, after all.

？！

...Are you going to fight, Moriarty?

I'm tempted to say it's pointless to ask...but I suppose it isn't.

Your revenge is now complete. This is as far as my obligation goes.

Let's begin, Bael.

Indeed.

I am Bael, the Demon God Pillar. My whole life has led to this moment. Soon, I shall have my revenge for the humiliation I've suffered.

The Demon God Pillar is preparing to attack! Your orders, Master!

Well said. Try not to fall behind, Archer!

Took the words right out of my mouth!

...

...Indeed. Come at me then!

？！

Hahahaha! I knew it! I knew I would be destroyed! But I still have my revenge!

Thanks for sticking with me all this way, Moriarty! Our long alliance is now dissolved!

Agreed. Goodbye, Bael, my comrade in arms who willingly gave all he had to what we both knew was a foolish pursuit!

You agreed to have your memories removed, and bore the humiliation of becoming human, all for revenge.

Farewell, demon god!

Then we are birds of a feather, Moriarty! ...Fujimaru, sadly, I was unable to kill you.

You were stronger than we were. I am humiliated, disgraced, shamed... Furious, in fact.

Nevertheless, your fate is sealed.

？！

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

...So, it's over.

As it is for you, Moriarty.

That, my dear, is where you are mistaken. You, and this planet, are finished.

...!

What!? There's a meteor in the sky above Shinjuku!

This composition... It's...Bennu!

But, Sheba has been constantly monitoring the sky there! It's like you've moved to an entirely new area!