The Nuclear Sword Fairy from a certain cartoon

Seeing Shirou suddenly standing still after touching the Holy Grail, Saber was worried and walked over to touch his shoulder.

However, at this moment, Shirou could neither hear Saber's voice nor feel her touch.

Under the influence of magic, the scene around Shirou shattered like a bubble, turning into a void of endless darkness.

In this world of absolute darkness, the only thing that could bring any feeling was the black mud that half covered Shirou's legs.

He seemed to be in black shallows.

"This is the inside of the Holy Grail."

Shirou looked around at the darkness and found that the world filled with black mud seemed to extend infinitely without an end.

At this time, a surprised female voice came into my ears.

"where is this place?"

Shirou was stunned for a moment and looked at the girl standing next to him at some point.

"Saber? Are you coming in too?"

"Well, when I touched you, it seemed that you were also affected by magic..." Saber replied.

"Is that so... let's go together."

Shirou exchanged glances with the girl clearly.

"Okay." Saber nodded.

After walking a short distance in one direction together, a light source began to appear in front of the originally dim field of vision.

As the light source continued to amplify, the scene around them began to change dramatically.

The sky was covered in pure white, and suddenly he felt a slight chill on his cheeks. Shirou raised his hand to catch the falling white objects.

"This is... snow?"

Shirou raised his gaze and looked ahead, finding a castle standing in the center of this world surrounded by heavy snow.

……

Even through the thick glass window, Irisviel could still hear the howling of the cold wind outside.

Snowflakes were falling one after another outside the window, and the sky and earth were completely the same color.

The cold breath spread through the cracks in the window into the house, and a heart-stopping sound also entered the room.

It was the sound of countless people crying, as if the cries of all those who had died tragically in the past had been retained in Irisviel's ears.

Disturbed by these sounds, Irisviel, who was leaning on the bed, slowly opened her eyes.

"what happened……?"

His crimson eyes scanned everything in the room, but he didn't find anything unusual.

Therefore, Irisviel naturally attributed the sound she just heard to an auditory hallucination.

"Ugh..."

Suddenly, Ilia, who was lying on the bed, curled up with a look of fear on her face.

"Mother, I had a nightmare, Ilya turned into a wine glass dream."

The young hands clung to their mother's arms for protection.

Seeing her daughter's appearance, Irisviel quickly hugged her in her arms.

Irisviel asked in a soft tone while gently stroking her daughter's cheek. The voice and touch of her mother, who was always by her daughter's side, softened her originally frightened expression.

Then, she told her mother about the nightmare she had just had.

"Ilia had seven big pieces in her heart. When Ilia felt like she was going to die and was very scared but couldn't escape, she heard the voice of Lord Justessa, and a big black hole appeared above her head... …”

As Ilia said this, she suddenly realized that the nightmare seemed to symbolize something bad, and her little body began to tremble uneasily again.

Seeing Illya's fear, Irisviel caressed her cheek with some distress.

"It's okay, Illya...I will always be here with you."

After hearing this, Illya immediately buried her face in her mother's arms.

Irisviel also wore a motherly smile and hugged her daughter tightly.

Suddenly, an idea came into her mind.

Shouldn't his daughter Illya be far away in Einzberenberg, Germany?

And I am obviously in winter

Mushi, why can he suddenly appear here and embrace his daughter whom he has not seen for a long time?

When she realized this, Irisviel suddenly felt dizzy, and her memory of how she got here was in chaos.

I feel very strange now, my consciousness is extremely clear, but I can't think clearly.

What is muddy and meaningless is not her own spirit, but the world in which she lives.

Many scenes flew by before her eyes.

Looking at these sights, one can only feel a sense of unnecessary and unbearable sadness and emptiness.

The sights reflected in his eyes are all unrelated to joy and happiness.

Only common to this point, a kaleidoscope of chaotic images.

There is pain, there is humiliation, there is regretful resentment and loss.

Bloodshed and scorched earth, betrayal and revenge, painstaking efforts to achieve nothing, this is a costly chain of futility.

The familiar snow scene repeats itself.

Irisviel finally understood that she was now inside the Holy Grail.

Every inch here, even the endless loop of scenery outside the window, is just a reflection of her past memories.

She was having a dream from which she would never wake up.

When Irisviel understood this, the snow outside the window suddenly stopped.

Blending into the darkness of night, is the thick black mud that swirls.

Black mud seeped in from all parts of the room, dripped from the chimney, and slowly spread towards her.

"no, do not want……"

A panicked expression appeared on Irisviel's face, and she subconsciously wanted to take her daughter away from here.

But when she tried to pick up Illya, she suddenly found that the hands holding her arms were tightly restraining her like shackles.

Then, the young girl who had the same appearance as her daughter Illya raised her expressionless face and looked at Irisviel.

"Why are you running away? Mother... wouldn't you like to stay here with Illya forever?"

The girl's originally white skirt turned into the same color as the spreading black mud.

Looking at such a young girl, Irisviel suddenly understood and her pupils shrank sharply.

"You...you are not Illya!"

Her daughter is in reality, not in this illusory dream!

"I only found out now that it's too late~"

The young girl who said this had a playful smile on her face.

Being stared at like that, Irisviel felt that her hands and feet were cold, and the fear was spreading in her heart.

She immediately started struggling. For some unknown reason, the young girl's hand suddenly let go, and Irisviel broke free.

Before she could understand why the other party did this, she immediately fled the room and ran down the long and narrow corridor.

The stairs going down are at the end. As long as you can reach that place, you may be able to escape from here.

Unfortunately, things did not develop as Irisviel thought.

When she was just one step away from the stairs, the black mud that kept spreading from the walls and windows blocked her path. The black mud, as hot as magma, dyed the corners of her skirt black.

At this moment, Irisviel finally understood why the young girl let her escape.

Because it is impossible for her to escape from this castle (cage).

Irisviel couldn't help but burst into tears when she thought of her daughter Illya, who was still alone in the real world and still looking forward to the return of her parents.

"Woo... Illya..."

call out----!

The sound of a sword penetrating the air came. In front of Irisviel who fell to the ground, a long sword passed through the obstacles formed by the black mud and landed on the ground in front of Irisviel.

The sword pierced the ground and trembled.

hum!

Chapter 76 The promised future

Then, Irisviel suddenly heard a strange sound.

Those were the sounds of someone stepping on the stairs, and they were getting closer and closer to her.

The woman who subconsciously raised her face saw a red-haired boy who, in her opinion, should not appear in such a place.

And what appeared immediately behind the boy was the face of the King of Knights that Irisviel was extremely familiar with.

"Orihara...and Saber? You guys..."

Saber spoke to Irisviel first.

"Although I don't quite understand the process, we have found a way, Irisviel."

"Cheer up, madam, for your daughter Ilia's sake."

Following these words, Shirou and Saber reached out their hands to the lost woman in front of them.

"Come on, let's get you out of here!"

After hearing these words, Irisviel's expression became a little dull. After she was convinced that these were not hallucinations, warm tears came out of her eyes and flowed down her cheeks.

……

When he opened his eyes again, Shirou's consciousness had returned to reality.

"It seems to be successful..."

Shirou looked at the small crimson ball of light waiting quietly in his hand and smiled.

"Is this... Irisviel's soul? I didn't expect such magic to exist in the world." Saber stepped forward curiously and looked at the ball of light in Shirou's hand.

"That's right, this is Irisviel's soul. Now we just need to put it in and go to the Einzbern house to find a new body to revive her."

Shirou explained to Saber with a smile.

"Is that so... That's great." Saber breathed a sigh of relief.

At this time, Shirou turned his attention to the scabbard "Avalon" that disappeared along with Irisviel's body and lay quietly on the ground.

Its appearance is decorated with eye-catching blue enamel on golden metal, with long-lost elf writing in the middle.

The ability of the scabbard is immortality, with the ability to heal the holder's injuries and stop aging.

Moreover, this scabbard is the strongest defensive treasure and has "absolute protection". When the true name is released, neither the five magics nor the hero King Gilgamesh's deviant sword can touch it. The scabbard's Existence itself is equivalent to "magic".

If Saber had possessed this Noble Phantasm from the beginning, she would have been the winner of the Holy Grail War.

Shirou picked up the scabbard and handed it to Saber.

"Don't lose it again."

"Ah."

Saber took the scabbard from Shirou and stroked the lines on it nostalgically.

After retracting her gaze, Saber then looked at the Holy Grail that was constantly overflowing with black mud on the pedestal.

After seeing the filth overflowing in the Holy Grail, Saber bit her lips angrily.

"...This kind of Holy Grail cannot fulfill my wishes at all!"

Saber's hand holding the sword couldn't help but tighten, and the "Sword of Promise to Victory" also trembled. The black mud that was constantly filling the surroundings, after being illuminated by the dazzling light emitted by the holy sword, did not dare to approach at all. .