You call this a projection?

Believe? To be honest, it was hard for Tohsaka Rin to believe.

Faced with this situation and hearing Emiya Shirou’s words, the only method Rin could think of was—to kill Matou Sakura!

Since the advent of [All the World’s Evil] could not be stopped, one would have to destroy Matou Sakura, the medium for its descent, along with the entity itself, until not a single cell remained. This was the conclusion any magus would reach.

As the manager of Fuyuki City’s spiritual land and the successor of the Tohsaka family, Rin would not allow an out-of-control magus to remain on her territory. Even if that magus was her sister.

Therefore, faced with Shirou’s promise—faced with the fact that he didn’t want to use the simplest method, but instead intended to use something unstable that might not succeed—Rin’s answer was...

”You must succeed, Emiya-kun!”

That was it. Rin never doubted whether Shirou could do it; she doubted whether it was worth doing. Rationally, Shirou’s actions were entirely superfluous. Matou Sakura simply wasn’t worth the price Shirou might pay—the risk of failure or things becoming worse—just to save her life.

But some things are never a matter of whether they are ”worth it.”

Rin, who could talk about ”necessary sacrifices” with her lips, could never bring herself to perform such an act. Not wanting anyone to see her ”unmature” expression, she turned her head away and continued:

”If... if you are just comforting me, Emiya-kun... Or if your plan can’t guarantee Sakura’s safety, or if it might put you and others in Fuyuki in danger, or expose the secrets of magecraft...”

Her voice was thick with suppressed tears. Truly, Rin desperately wanted to save Sakura. Desperately. She wasn’t a traditional magus; she hadn’t truly discarded human ethics and morality.

So, after making that selfish plea—even though Shirou’s previous performance had almost made her believe he was omnipotent—her rationality returned. Understanding the difficulty of the task, she couldn’t help but say:

”Then please, Emiya-kun... on behalf of me, who cannot do it... kill Sakura.”

Was she being hypocritical for saying that? Foisting the responsibility that belonged to her, and the things she couldn’t do, onto someone else...

Just as Rin was drowning in self-mockery, Shirou’s firm voice reached her.

”Don’t worry, Rin. Sakura won’t die.

I promise you... No, even if you hadn’t said anything, I would have saved her. After all, that was our agreement.

You stay with me, and I help you save Sakura.”

He followed up with words that sounded like comfort, yet didn’t quite feel like simple comfort: ”As a partner, you’re a very reliable person, Rin. Even if you wanted to leave my side, I wouldn’t give you the chance to slip away.”

”...Eh? Emiya-kun, you-you-you-you, what are you saying!?”

Confusion, guilt, self-loathing... all these emotions budding in the depths of Rin’s heart were instantly converted into a different feeling. She stammered incoherently: ”We’re just allies... right, just a normal ally relationship!”

”Yeah, I’m talking about being allies too,” Shirou nodded, looking at Rin with an expression that said, ”I was talking about allies all along, what were you thinking?”

”...”

’No, that phrasing just now was definitely not about being allies!’ Rin wanted to shout that at him.

But before she could, Shirou spoke first.

”Besides, keeping promises made to others has always been my principle. So Rin, watch closely—my final formula for victory!”

’No, no, no, this Shirou guy is talking total nonsense! Rin, don’t believe him!’

[All the World’s Evil], hearing Shirou’s words, was going crazy.

’Where’s Rin? Save me! Are you really going to be fooled by his sweet talk!?’

[All the World’s Evil] was finally experiencing what Sakura felt when she was first sent to the Matou house—the feeling of desperately crying for help to Rin, only for no one to come.

Because, facing the fully unleashed [Excalibur], [All the World’s Evil] would undoubtedly suffer the same fate as in the Fourth Holy Grail War. Just as it was about to manifest, it would be struck back by that same light, obliterated along with the body of Matou Sakura!

As for Shirou’s guarantee that he wasn’t going to do that... [All the World’s Evil] didn’t believe it for a second.

Kiritsugu Emiya had done exactly that. Even when the target was the Grail formed by his wife, Irisviel, Kiritsugu struck without hesitation. Since Shirou inherited Kiritsugu’s will, there was no way he would make a different choice in the same situation.

”W-Wait...”

Unfortunately, it seemed too late to beg for mercy. Before the entity could finish its sentence, [Pseudo-Crazy Diamond] beside Shirou had already reached out.

Following the three Servant souls captured via [Pseudo-Atum]—and considering that winning the war required defeating five, meaning he was already past the halfway point—Shirou struck! Through the channel leading directly to the main body of [All the World’s Evil] inside the Greater Grail, [Pseudo-Crazy Diamond]’s fist connected!

”...?”

Wait, something was wrong!?

It wasn’t Saber’s [Excalibur], but [Pseudo-Crazy Diamond]?

And the target wasn’t its manifested avatar, but its main body residing within the Greater Grail!?

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