Fate/stay night: holLow wORlD

Chapter 26: The Closure of any Hope

(F/n) clawed his way through the black mud, it filled up the Church, destroying all in its path. Kirei did not seem to be affected at first till his eyes widened in a moment, "But thats!?" His voice failing as something reached up from the mud, a hand grabbing him from behind and pulling him under.

(F/n) fought but his mind was tormented with vile images things which could never be unseen. And soon, his body sinking completely against the tide, his bloodied hand smearing at the foot of the Statue of the Mother Mary.

An endless void, where nothing could enter is what lied beyond for the Master of the Knight Mordred, that is what awaited him. The void was a place of unknowns, where no individual could traverse and could enter. But, (F/n) (L/n) entered this reality what truly lie beyond what the black mud bridged too.

To the eye, a hazy sky washed over illuminating the otherworldy and devoid place. There was no landscape except for the sky, and everything else was a empty black.
However, a lone figure walked the void, there footsteps softly sounding as they stopped. They were cloaked in a light black, as they stared up, their face obscured in a manner similar to Lady of the Lake, but their face was masculine, as his lips softly curved up to a smile.

The man raised his hand snapping his fingers as the sky above had a small tear which opened. And out of this tear, black mud seeped out softly seeping through but a figure, the unconscious form of (F/n) soon fell out hitting the floor a bit aways from the cloaked figure. The tear soon closing as the black mud disappeared without its source.

(F/n) coughed feeling his aching body no longer within extreme pain as if something trying to pry him open had stopped. He rolled over slightly, as he opened his eyes fully seeing nothing but the dark below. It confused the Master who rubbed the floor which had no texture, but felt like a solid surface as he looked about not immediately spotting the figure a bit aways.

(F/n) slowly stood up while holding his arm which had shoukd had been minutes ago reconstructed thanks to Avalon's potency. He was still felt the same as just then in the Church, no longer suffocated by the black mud which had suddenly appeared.

There was not even an ambient wind within this strange and lifeless plane. Perhaps it was a reality marble was (F/n)'s initial thought but the time for investigation would be halted as footsteps softly echoed. The Master turned his head to the sound spotting a hooded figure in a manner similar to Vivian, Lady of the Lake but this individual was within a light black.

(F/n) narrowed his gaze ready to fight as the figure stopped about 15 meters away and spoke, "Quite the predicament, would you not agree Master (F/n)." The man spoke with a stern yet curious tone, and a memorable voice which once heard, could only be associated with that said individual.

Master (F/n) as he was now oddly called looked around hoping to see anything but nothing, as the sky above was the only other distinctive trait of the plane he was on. (F/n) was confused by the individual as he had no basis or idea whom they might even be or where he was.

"I must say, the 5th Fuyuki Grail War was growing quite tiresome and boring." The man seemed annoyed before his small expression of emotion on the only visible half of his face returned to a neutral state, "I had long believed that her belief may have been misplaced, having been summoned from my own respite to watch over this whole ordeal of at her behest, yet I should not be surprised by the outcome."

(F/n)'s mouth was slightly open as he raised one eyebrow just confused as there was no context to the man's sentence. They were completely vague past the mention of a female individual which sparked a soft memory just recently of Kirei's similar comment.

"Who are you?"

The man hums, "A better place would be to as where are..." He softly opened his arms out to showcase the endless space of nothing, "Welcome to the most desolate and absent plane of all existence, that which sits between all realities as a singular plane, the Eternal Abyss." He explained as his hands returned back to his sides as he sounded slightly annoyed still as there was something going still.

"And why am I here?"

"Because she willed it, the Vigil."

It was not a name or thing which the Master knew as the man soon had a small smile oddly cross his lips.

"You should be thankful, even harboring a powerful Relic of the Fey no less would have been an eternal cycle of death within the corrupted wake of the Grail."

Images prodded at (F/n)'s skull as as the black mud may perhaps have been a small note which Shirou's servant Artoria had informed him upon about what came immediately after the Grail's destruction before she disappeared completely. But also, (F/n) felt a familiarity of the knowledge which he was being told lurking within the back of his mind, this all feltn familar. 

"Well, now that I have your undivided attention. Listen well (F/n), naught remains any longer to stop the Fake Grail from reigning its evil upon Fuyuki, and it falls to you to starve off the impending fall." The man informed the Master as he started to walk to the side staring off in the distance softly, he was only pacing .

"And why me just alone? What about the others-"

"You are not a fool, unless you truly believed that the others which you allied with would see the end. Naught lies in the way any longer to see the balance restored to the World, and as the last remaining Master of reason, all rests on you."

(F/n) did not wanna believe the word of a complete stranger nor an elusive figure such as this man whom seem to hide their identity and their vague words.

"Believe and ponder what you will, but be it by yourself or your servant's, this War will end. And by her command or otherwise balance must be restored." The man's voice had raised as it sounded more as orders than a request as he snapped his fingers once more.

Flames soon clouded (F/n)'s vision as he raised his arm in instinct as the ambient noise soon filled the area. He looked around to see himself outside the Church as the black mud had ceased but the destruction was something else.

There was now a large sinkhole where the Church once was, as a tear within reality remained in the air as it slowly poured out into a pool which seemed as if it could extended outward even if it tried.

Mordred soon appeared softly as her spirit core felt shaken a little. "Master... that's it, the Grail."