A Different Fate - [Rewrite]

Chapter 25:Last preparations

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When Sakura woke up the following day, she found Arturia sitting on the armchair, sipping on her morning tea calmly. They had a brief conversation, in which the King of Knights explained that the ritual for the summoning of the Grail was going to take place in about ten days.

When Gilgamesh entered the room as well, Arturia addressed the problem of what they should allow Zouken to know. Sakura was tense when speaking about him, and Arturia was a little on edge too, but it was the King of Heroes who told the girl what were the best things to say to him.

Taiga, Shirou, Rin and Illya were quite saddened when they heard that Sakura would not be accompanying them to Germany, but the purple-haired girl reassured them serenely, encouraging them to go and have fun.

So, the day after, the four of them took a plane to Germany. And when Illya gave her a phone call to inform her that they had reached the Einzbern Hotel in one piece, Arturia could breathe in relief, knowing that they were safe.

The time was coming for the Grail to finally be destroyed.

Seven years since the end of the Fourth Grail War were almost over, and that would be the best moment to perform the summoning, as they had researched in London. A lot of mana had been stocked in the gems the Einzberns had given Arturia in Germany. The King of Knights knew how to correctly use magic to do the ritual properly. And they had a vessel.

Everything was ready.

There were some details, however, that needed to be discussed.

Arturia was aware of the fact that she was going to have to use Excalibur in a direct blow against the materialized Grail, but she knew that her sword would probably not be strong enough to destroy both the incarnation of the cup and purify its essence. A double attack, as she had already realized a long time before, would be necessary to truly erase that corruption from the world forever… but she did not have enough power on her own to do that.

She needed Gilgamesh, who happened to be probably the strongest Heroic Spirit existing, to help her.

She was a little uncertain, though. She did not know if he would agree to use his Noble Phantasms to destroy the Grail… but she had to ask.

Therefore, the day after Illya had left for Germany with the others, Arturia gathered her courage – internally reprimanding herself for having to do it… she knew he was very unlikely to hurt her or actually refuse her – and asked Gilgamesh if he would be willing to use Ea on the day of the ritual.

His expression was strange, so she quickly continued, "I know how precious Ea is to you, and I am aware of the fact that destroying a corrupted artefact is probably not worthy of its power. But… Excalibur alone is not enough, and you are the only person with an attack Noble Phantasm more powerful than mine."

He was silent for a long while, making Arturia quite nervous, even if she did her best to hide it.

He was considering. When they had been doing the necessary research in London, he had already realized that not one, but two very powerful attacks were needed to be able to overcome the Grail.

Arturia's sword could doubtlessly purify the darkness of the substance once the cup was properly summoned into the world – and not in the imperfect way of seven years earlier –, but then there would not be enough energy left to also annihilate the Grail's power.

The strength of Ea would be more than appropriate to give the coup de grace.

After all, the Grail was supposed to be a part of Gilgamesh's immense treasures… but it could no longer be considered such because of its corruption.