Finally… finally, I got it.
Everything is already in my hands.
Roland gripped the scabbard tightly, his fingers trembling slightly. He should have been ecstatic, celebratory even, yet what he felt instead… was calmness and indifference.
A surreal stillness washed over him, as if nothing in the world could prevent him from simply living in peace.
And perhaps now, nothing could.
---
[Key of All Spirits]
—Contracted Spirits: Kira Yoshikage ( successfully Contracted), Holy Lord's Soul (Uncontracted)
—Spirit Extraction Remaining: 1
—Current Status: usable
---
It happened quietly. Silently.
Yet Roland knew, his greatest need since coming to this world had finally been fulfilled.
He could now leave this world at any time, without needing to risk his life in the Holy Grail War.
The only reason he remained in Fuyuki… was to fully absorb Kira Yoshikage.
The unease that had coiled like a serpent in his chest finally loosened. His hunger, the beast within, had tasted satisfaction.
Despite his outward decisiveness, Roland understood his own weakness, he couldn't let the Contracted Spirit go. And that meant confronting Emiya Kiritsugu head-on.
But now, another question arose.
How to deal with servants?
After all, before tonight, he didn't even know who the spirit was in. He was kidnapped while sitting alone in the store playing with his hands quietly. Everything that happened next was both carefully calculated and impulsive
If he missed the opportunity to lure Kiritsugu into a trap at that time, before his identity was fully exposed, he'd loose the opportunity to get it again.
So, he had to bluff. To stand tall against a man who had spent a lifetime as a hunter and killer.
Roland had resolved it in his heart: even if he had to abandon secrecy and expose his trump card, the sheer heart attack, to get the spirit, he would.
But then, luck intervened.
Kiritsugu accepted the deal. No hesitation. No bargaining.
Pure luck.
Had they fought, had people died, Irisviel might've revealed Avalon. Saber might've unleashed its true might. At that point, getting anything from them would've been impossible.
Right now, Avalon wasn't indispensable to Kiritsugu. After all, Einzbern paid for it, and Kiritsugu hadn't earned it himself.
---
"I can leave now."
Despite dancing with death so many times, this was the first time Emiya Kiritsugu had ever felt true anxiety.
Saber was powerful, too powerful. If he had to force him to suicide, it'd cost two Command Seals. Wasting one here would wreck his entire war plan. He had already lost Maiya.
He couldn't afford another misstep.
Roland glanced at him, mildly irritated, as if someone had interrupted his favorite song.
That smile, thin, cold, made Kiritsugu's skin crawl. For a moment, he thought Roland might betray him after all.
But Roland calmly kept the scabbard and walked past.
The Sheer heart attack, the car, transformed into a sleek badge, which was absorbed into the back of the strange Spirit guardian's hand.
Without another word, Roland disappeared into the night, closing the broken door that Maiya had slammed through. Even closed, it left a visible gap.
Through that narrow slit, Kiritsugu watched his enemy vanish into the dark.
---
The other man had simply… left.
Kiritsugu stood in place. Processing. Breathing. Trembling.
A long sigh left his chest. His heartbeat slowed, but the pain returned, organ-deep and biting.
"...Who the hell was that guy?"
He steadied himself, thoughts racing.
Maiya's death was his biggest loss till now. And yet, without it… he might've died tonight.
The enemy had known everything, his team, tactics and plans. And if Maiya hadn't interfered, Kiritsugu might've been assassinated without ever knowing how.
He had spent so much effort to escape on the street before. If he was blocked at the sniper point on the high-rise building earlier, even if he called for his servant, he would probably be killed or injured if the building collapsed due to the explosion.
He clenched his teeth. His frustration surged. But it quickly morphed into something darker.
Roland had made a mistake tonight.
He let me live.
That man didn't understand the underground rules. He wasn't a magus. He didn't know how Masters contacted the Church, or how the Association enforced secrecy.
Most importantly, he exposed his own intel.
A strange guardian Spirit. No magic circuits. Yet incredible supernatural power. He would draw attention like a beacon.
Kiritsugu smiled thinly, spitefully.
The fire Roland set, no one needed to know it was him. The aftermath would fall under the Church's investigation. Kiritsugu would frame it cleverly.
And then… Roland would know what it meant to be hunted. By the Mage Association. By the Church.
This was vile. Kiritsugu knew that. But victory required sacrifices.
Let Roland experience the true horror of the world he thought he understood.
"For the Holy Grail, for all of humanity—I'll bear this sin."
Maiya… I'll make sure your death wasn't in vain.
His hand gripped the door.
And in that moment—Maiya's final words echoed in his mind.
"The secret of his power… is that he can explode anything he touches…"
He remembered. The grenades. The delayed detonations. The rocks that exploded on impact.
The car.
Maiya's body.
Was the guardian spirit the one causing it?
Or… was it touch itself?
His fingers began to tremble. Lips parted.
Fear. Pure and unfiltered.
Could it be… anything the man touched could turn into a bomb?
He looked down.
At the doorknob.
His breathing stopped. Without care for his injuries, Kiritsugu forced his consciousness into action—his muscles burning with pain—as he activated Time Alter to jerk his hand away.
At the street corner, unseen, Roland leaned casually against a wall.
His lips moved softly.
"Killer Queen… has already touched that doorknob."
From the Spirit's viewpoint, the trap was perfect.
There was no escape.
Not from a bomb like this.
If you make a mistake in real combat… that's your last mistake.
That had always been Kiritsugu's philosophy.
Now, he tasted it for himself.
Everything, Roland's feigned hesitation, the way Maiya died before she could speak, the dramatic confrontation, it had all been staged.
Even the use of the Origin Bullet…
Emiya Kiritsugu's final time-altered scream became a howling curse hurled into the void.
"Roland!! You plotted against me!!"
Roland returned to the building, a field of death now buried in silence.
He eyed the still-smoking doorknob… then the spot where Kiritsugu had once stood.
A satisfied smile tugged at his lips.
He muttered to himself:
"Kira was right. Never create an enemy that keeps you up at night."
He didn't want to live like a fugitive, dodging sniper bullets in back alleys. No, that life wasn't for him.
Kiritsugu had to die. That was the only way to guarantee peace.
And if the trap failed?
He would've contracted another Spirit on the spot.
But now, the job was done.
"Three Command Seals… wasted. Tch, a little wasteful."
He rummaged through the supplies, finding a pristine box, inside which were a dozen Origin Bullets.
Roland's eyes gleamed.
"A gift? Kiritsugu… you shouldn't have."
Gun. Spirit. Bullets.
Everything he needed had been delivered.
He chuckled, slipping one bullet into the chamber.
"Guess I'll sleep easy tonight."
And humming softly, Roland vanished into the dark
On the eve of the Holy Grail War, Emiya Kiritsugu was unable to rise again.