Fate: I Will Eventually Become the Hero of Justice

Spartacus said, "You take the others and retreat first, I'll stay behind to delay them."

Adam nodded.

He did not hesitate.

Bearing the great pressure of being chosen leader by all his brethren, he had matured rapidly.

Without melodrama, Adam led his brethren to retreat via another small path.

Vlad sent a squad to pursue them. Spartacus intended to stop them but was blocked by Vlad with thousands of stakes.

Looking at the isolated Spartacus, Vlad asked: "Where is Assassin? Why did he not come with you, ancient Roman rebel?"

"That king has more important matters to handle. Naturally he need not dirty his hands with this. Also, I am no rebel, oppressor." Spartacus drew his longsword and slashed.

A cold flash of light tore through the air, slicing an incoming stake.

Vlad's expression was icy as he said: "Rebelling against the land, disturbing the peace and order that should be calm - if you are not a rebel, then what are you?"

Spartacus retorted: "The order you speak of merely oppresses the majority for the gain of a minority! That is not order, but true chaos! So you oppressors must be overthrown!"

Spartacus stretched out his palm, pointing at the setting sun. "Do you see that blazing sunset? It symbolizes the unjust order of you minorities. No matter how beautiful, it will set. After a long dark night, true dawn will come! You are all passing, while the will for freedom burns strong. The age of free men has no need for ancient kings! You - have long been unneeded!"

Vlad's breathing grew heavy.

He turned and stared at the sunset. How fiery red, yet descending all the while.

Vlad's hands clenched tightly. He glared coldly at Spartacus and attacked.

The stakes filled the sky like stars, raining down in a tidal wave.

Spartacus fought back with all his might. He absolutely could not fall here. People yearning for freedom were still under threat from oppressors. He had already failed once in life - how could he fail again here?

The two battled under the blazing sunset.

Vlad's [Lord of Execution] assailed relentlessly. Spartacus resisted with all his might, but was ultimately no match for Vlad empowered by [Demonic Defender of the State].

Yet he succeeded in single-handedly delaying Vlad, allowing Adam to lead the others in escape.

Spartacus smiled as he exited the stage. He felt no regret, only some remorse in not seeing Adam accomplish what he had failed to do in life.

But shockingly, Vlad did not kill Spartacus. He impaled his joints with stakes, capturing him instead.

Spartacus asked in confusion: "Why did you not kill me?"

Vlad did not answer, only brought him back to the Yggdmillennia castle basement, re-imprisoning him in the deepest depths.

Exiting the basement, Arjuna stood waiting at the door.

Arjuna said calmly: "In the end, you did unnecessary things, King of Romania."

Vlad looked at him calmly and said: "I want an answer."

"Isn't your lifelong wish to erase Dracula's stigma?" Arjuna asked, puzzled.

Vlad said: "Indeed, that is my lifelong wish. But ever since meeting Eternal King, I have a question in my heart."

"What question?" asked Arjuna.

Vlad did not answer, only turning to gaze distantly at the horizon's dusky line.

"Can I see my sunset again?" Vlad murmured.

He remembered vividly the sunsets he had seen in life.

Becoming an Ottoman hostage, the storms of Wallachia, and at the very end, that glimpse of crimson...

Could he see that sunset in his memories again?

...

Meanwhile at the Church...

Kotomine and the others also learned what happened with Spartacus and Vlad.

Reasonably, knowing Spartacus's situation, Kotomine should have tried to rescue him. But in reality it was not so.

Kotomine had long abandoned Spartacus, naturally he did not care.

What he cared about was the intelligence on him.

"Berserker disappeared with Eternal King, but now he's appeared attacking the Black Faction alone... Does this mean Eternal King's condition has fully recovered?" Kotomine's brows furrowed.

Eternal King was who Kotomine saw as the biggest obstacle to winning the Holy Grail War.

"What do you think, Karna?" Kotomine turned to him and asked.

"It shouldn't be yet," Karna shook his head. "If Eternal King had fully recovered, there would likely already be a killing spree."

"You make sense..." Kotomine nodded, slightly relieved.

He did want to assassinate Eternal King, but had no idea on his whereabouts until now.

Most importantly, he also knew nothing about the sixteenth Servant who had infiltrated Valcea.

Kotomine rubbed his temples, he had too many headaches.

"If I may, you shouldn't worry about Eternal King that much. Get some rest, Master. Don't forget, you're only human now," said Semiramis.

Kotomine smiled wryly and shook his head. He knew this was Semiramis's character, overconfident in her Hanging Gardens of Babylon. But she was right about one thing: he was just a human now and needed to rest.

After some consideration, Kotomine sat aside and fell asleep.

He wanted to rest his mind.

However, in the dream it was as if his spirit was grabbed and pulled through a narrow entrance.

He found himself in an oppressive, dark city. The structures were strange and bizarre - abnormally shaped massive green stone buildings, gigantic carvings, magnificent statues and ornate reliefs, all dizzyingly tall.

The entire city exuded a strong aura of corruption, very oppressive.

Kotomine frowned as he surveyed it.

Strange languages could be heard...

And as he looked around, he felt something and raised his head. What he saw made his heart hammer heavily with a violent shock!

An enormous octopus-bat-human hybrid monster towered over the city, looking down at him. Its huge green body was like an underwater volcano, with countless head tentacles, scaly corpulent body, limp claw forelimbs, and tattered, undeveloped wings on its back.

Kotomine stared at it in shock, feeling bizarre mental fluctuations heating his mind.

"Lord..." He murmured God's name, stabilizing his spirit.

Gazing at the monster, he whispered: "Evil god..."

...

Shirou and the others hurriedly made their way to the city of Trifas.

The distance between Valcea and Trifas was not great. Under the cloak of night, his group arrived at the outskirts of Trifas.

Rather than going directly to the Yggdmillennia castle, Shirou had Saber escort Gray and Nero to investigate the Grail there.

"You're not coming with us?" Gray asked.

He shook his head. "I'm already considered an enemy of the Black Faction. It wouldn't be wise for me to go there myself. You all should go - explain the connection points to Lancer. Given his personality, he'll likely help you with the investigation."

Gray nodded in understanding. "What will you do in the meantime?"

"We'll poke around Trifas for now. Who knows, someone might come looking for us," Shirou said with a laugh.

She nodded again and headed off with Nero, Saber leading the way.

Saber was also aware of the connections points and readily agreed to help Gray and Nero, though she had no intention of relinquishing her own desire for the Holy Grail.

Watching as Saber's group departed, he turned with a smile to look at Mordred.

Mordred shifted uneasily and couldn't help asking, "What is it? Why are you staring at me like that?"

"Oh, nothing really. I was just wondering if you were hungry?"

"I'm not hungry!" she answered tersely.

Seeing Mordred so estranged from him, Shirou was troubled.

He considered himself to have decent emotional intelligence, but was completely lost when facing Mordred.

Shirou took Mash to a nearby restaurant to eat.

At the table, he noticed Mash staring intently at him.

"What's the matter? Do I have something on my face?" He asked, touching his cheek.

"Oh no, it's not that!" she waved her hands, looking flustered.

Seeing her nervousness, he gave a gentle smile. "Then why are you staring at me?"

She lowered her eyes hesitantly. "I just...suddenly realized you don't seem as scary as I first thought, Mr. Fujimaru."

"Was I really that scary before?" Shirou asked, puzzled.

That couldn't be right. He didn't think he came across as unapproachable, especially now as just plain old Fujimaru Shirou without any influence from Eternal King.

"No, not exactly..." she shook her head anxiously, unsure how to explain her feeling.

She had to admit, at first she was a bit afraid of Shirou. With Command Spells ineffective on him, his history of killing a former Master, that ominous mud exuding such malice...yet he would smile so gently in a way that seemed scary rather than friendly, like an archdemon.

But seeing him at a loss with Mordred made him seem less scary and more approachable somehow.

After thinking for a moment, she asked, "Mr. Fujimaru, what do you really think of Mordred?"

Mash didn't know his true identity, but knew he was King Arthur. She imagined he might be conflicted on getting along with Mordred.

The situation was rather complicated when she thought about it.

But she was able to distinguish between them probably thanks to being around so many different Artorias in Chaldea.

"How I see her...to be honest, I'm not sure myself," Shirou sighed. His feelings were complicated. Mordred's birth had resulted from his and Artie's mistakes, as well as Crimson Moon's vengeance.

Ironically, he and Artie survived while Mordred had died.

Sometimes Shirou wondered - if back then Merlin had steeled himself and lied, not telling how to return to the present, would he have pursued Artie, Morgan, Scáthach or Arcueid? If so, Mordred's birth may have followed naturally.

But even in that hypothetical situation, wouldn't he still be obsessed with going back to the future?

This was perhaps a dilemma.

And because of this, when he saw Mordred, it was like seeing his own mistakes.

But he didn't shun her because of it.

"I don't know how to interact with her, but I absolutely want us to get along. Though there's still estrangement now, I believe one day she'll call me 'Father'," He said earnestly.

Although his feelings were in disarray, he believed they could have an ordinary father-daughter bond someday.

"Mm. I believe you, and I hope for the best, Mr. Fujimaru," Mash said with an encouraging smile and nod.