Fate/Grand Order story · Events, Apocrypha/Inheritance of Glory
Section 7: Decisive Battle: Hanging Gardens
Apocrypha/Inheritance of Glory. Bow of the Gardens
1 scenes, 200 lines
1. Before the battle
200 linesM-my fist?
Okay?
Uh?
...Is your hand okay?
I-I dunno... I can't...feel it anymore...
I think Mordred just sort of...forgot you're a normal human.
Forget "okay." Do...do I still have a hand?
Uh, uh. (You do.)
？！
I have ascended!
Mr. Muscleman! It's about time! Hiya.
...I can't believe you actually climbed all the way here during that fierce battle...
That rope held up really well!
Indeed. It is a rope with a rebellious spirit!
Are you okay? Can you still fight?
It'll be morning soon...but the Hanging Gardens are still here, just like we thought they'd be.
I'm guessing the Assassin of Red joined our side after we won that last battle.
Which means these gardens belong to both our enemy, and our ally.
Right you are. Your plan was rash, but successful.
...There you are. The Assassin of Red, Semiramis.
I have a fairly good idea of what's going on here.
It was your negligence that led to this situation. Wasn't it, Custodian?
...You may be right.
The last wish remaining in this Greater Grail was one that should never be granted, but it was also nobler than any other wish had ever been.
I never thought about touching it myself. I couldn't have even if I wanted to.
...Does that mean you know who our enemy is?
Oh yes, I know him all too well. I may not have my memories of the war either, but I do have these gardens.
As such, it was a trivial matter to learn of him.
Ahh, it seems another has been revived.
...Forgive me. We really made you work back there.
Don't worry about it. I will admit, though, that your attack was so powerful, it's almost a shame we're on the same side now.
Thank you. Indeed, I wish we could have had a proper battle.
... ...
All of you, come with me. Now that thirteen of us have been revived, night and day no longer matter.
Our enemy awaits us before the Greater Grail.
Our enemy?
？！
Yes, our enemy. A man, Master of Chaldea.
The only Master other than you in this entire world.
I have lost. Leave me be, and continue onward. I regret that I have no gift for you apart from my defeat.
...Captured.
Armor of gold, godkiller lance, lone kshatriya of the great Mahabharata, warrior, brave, Hero of Benefaction.
Karna.
But...I am tired now. Tired enough even to forgive your deception. ...What's more, I have lost.
...Captured.
The oldest known poisoner, the empress as dreadful as she is beautiful, the queen of Assyria who desired not love, but power.
Semiramis.
Thirteen Servants in total. And now, I have perfect reproduction data for all of them.
...Enough to begin the Great Holy Grail War once again.
Soon, I will reach the number of battles needed to shut down the wish made upon the Grail...
...and tamper with it myself.
...I reach out my hand, over and over and over.
I copied thirteen Servants, created shadows, and set the stage as best I could.
I am the only one left, and now, I shall become the final Servant.
My control over the system has reached eighty-seven percent. More than enough to grant my wish.
And yet... And yet, and yet, and yet...!
I am unable to speak my wish aloud!
You... You would still resist me...!?
Of course. Under normal circumstances, this system would not even grant the likes of you an audience.
It matters not how many years it was in your possession. It was another, far greater mage who did the work, not you.
Enough is enough, you cheap imitation of Vlad III.
Imitation?
How the hell's that work?
...I explained this to Fujimaru once before.
He was the Master who desired the Greater Grail more than anyone, save for myself and a certain priest.
He was the leader of the Black team, and the head of the Yggdmillennia family.
And he was the mage who hid the Greater Grail and studied it himself for sixty years.
He desired the Greater Grail so much that he betrayed the Lancer of Black, Vlad III...his own Servant.
He is Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia.
... ...Haha, hahaha, hahaha!
So, with the exception of the Extra class, every Heroic Spirit from the war is assembled here!
Along with the homunculus who stole the Greater Grail from me! From mankind itself!
Khh... Ahh, the pain. I can feel my psyche slipping away.
But that doesn't matter anymore, as the reproduction is perfect.
...So you still desire the Greater Grail, even though your soul is practically falling apart?
A tool, a THING like you could never understand.
No, none of you heroes could ever understand. You've always had power to fall back on.
Not me. I worked myself to the bone. I racked my brain studying magecraft so intensely it nearly killed me!
I extended my life even as I lived in fear. I threw myself into a Holy Grail War! I commanded armies! Betrayed my allies!
I'm not like the three families who let their own indolence guide them until they lost sight of the goal!
I'M the one who wanted this Greater Grail more than anyone! I'M the one who desired it most!
...Whether or not that is true, Darnic has been dead for a long time now.
The thing speaking now is nothing more than the lingering desires left behind after his death.
The desire...left behind...
？！
Yes.
...As I said earlier, he betrayed Vlad III, right before he died.
He used a Command Spell to force Vlad III to transform into a vampire and then merged with him.
the result was a horrid monster, neither human nor vampire.
But even that did not gain him the Greater Grail. A priest who was a Master for the Red team defeated him, you see.
That should have been the end of it.
When a Servant dies, they dissolve into purified magical energy, and are absorbed by the Greater Grail.
Yes, that's part of it...
...but it's also because Darnic consumed the souls of infants to extend his life.
Now, he is neither human, nor Servant.
He is just a...thing. One driven solely by the desire to win the Holy Grail for itself.
That is all this "Darnic" is.
Uh...
Damn... Sounds more like putting down a rabid dog than kicking ass!
The Greater Grail is close to falling apart. You won't even be able to activate the Third Magic, let alone reach the Root.
...Give it up. Your dream ended long ago.
Oh no it didn't! Not yet!
Have you forgotten what I told you earlier?
I now control eighty-seven percent of the Greater Grail's system.
I will make far better use of it than you ever would!
All you've ever done with its power is sit around waiting for someone who will never come!
... ...
What an odd thing to say. How can you make use of the Greater Grail's power when you're dead...?
Dead, alive, it doesn't matter. I will always seek to control the Greater Grail!
Once I have it, my wish will finally be granted...!
...I see. So now you are little more than a vengeful spirit.
But this would benefit all of you very much as well.
As long as I control the Greater Grail, none of you will ever die again.
You would have a secondno, a third lease on life!
But, if I am defeated, and this Great Holy Grail War comes to an end...
...all of you will disappear as well.
...Now, Custodian, which is the better choice? In fact, let me make it simpler.
Would you rather have a third chance at life, or just vanish with no one to remember you!
I swear to you all now, on my honor as a Yggdmillennia...
...I will ensure that you all leave this Greater Grail, and are incarnated in the real world!
You will be free to do as you wish. You may make your own dreams come true, or simply wander as you please.
I have no intention of commanding you as my Servants. Whatever you decide will be your business, not mine.
... ...
What're you gonna do...!?
？！
I...I have no right to compel them one way or the other. I am the Custodian. Nothing more.
Even if they are just reproductions, they're still conscious beings with their own unique personalities.
...I can't order them to their deaths.
...Man, Sieg, you're way beyond being a downer, you know that? You can be completely exhausting sometimes.
Huh?
Oh? And why is that?
Easy. 'Cause I wouldn't really be a hero if I went along with you now, would I?
We're meant to live life to the fullest. Even if you trip up along the way, that doesn't invalidate what happened before the fall, or after.
And reproduction or not, Servant or not, as long as I'm still me...
...I'm not doing anything that a real hero wouldn't do.
Carrot-looking weirdo!?
I can't really say I got the cleanest hands around here...but that sure as hell doesn't mean I'll be siding with you!
Even I'd feel pretty gross going along with your plan.
How 'bout you, empress lady? You gonna side with this ass?
...Indeed. I cannot consent to your proposal.
I share Achilles's view. I will not dishonor the life I led before.
And I am certain Karna agrees with me.
You can certainly try to prolong your own life if you wish, but I'm afraid I have no interest in that myself.
I went to my death knowing I had done what I had to. Now, my only obligation is to lend my strength to those with goals to achieve.
Likewise.
I can only carry out my work when I have been summoned properly. I therefore cannot go along with your plan.
As for me, I refuse simply because you presume to order me about.
If you take issue with that, then defeat me and prove you are right.
Oh I am toootally siding with these nice people! Yeppers!
Weeell...maybe I should side with you since I was on the Black team and all...
...but, naaah, can't do it! The hero in me has gotta stop you!
Perhaps one of my many famous lines will suit here: "Let the end try the man."
So I am most resolutely opposed to your plan as well!
Certainly it can make a good story when a hero turns to evil, but such hackneyed plot twists are beneath me!
Uh. (Shaking head)
Hmm... No, we don't like it. You're a great mage.
We hate people like you! Oh, but not you, Mommy!
You're a hack of a mage!
Sorry for being bad.
That's why we love you!
Thanks, Jack!
You're welcome!
？！
...There you have it, Sir Darnic.
We are not pawns to be used however you like. We are alive, with our own minds and opinions.
Even if we are just reproductions... No, BECAUSE we are reproductions...
...we cannot abandon our pride as heroes.
...Oh well, I thought things might turn out this way.
So I suppose I will just have you keep fighting until you change your minds!
Pseudo-Greater Grail...connected!
It can't be... You're going to reproduce the Greater Grail INSIDE the Greater Grail!?
You're out of your mind! That's like trying to create a parallel mirror world with brute force!
...And I'm quite all right with that.
For how can one be a mage without traversing the realms of the absurd?
... ...
That wish may be wrong, but as it is your wish, I am sure it seems right to you.
But...that doesn't mean I'm going to let you have it. Because your wish DIDN'T come true.
As the Greater Grail's Custodian, I WILL defeat you!