Fate/Zero Episodes Season 2
Fate/Zero Season 2 Episode Summaries
**Episode 1: Bloody Battle on the Mion River **
The episode opens with military jets approaching the Mion River and wondering if there really is a monster out there. They say if there really is a monster out there then the odds are that they will be the first to go considering that’s how it usually happens in monster movies.
Saber is seen trying her best to cut down the creature but it continues to heal itself. Rider flies in with his chariot and tries to inflict some damage but it continues to heal itself. Lancer isn’t able to get a clear shot on Caster this way. Ryuunosuke is praising the Lord in amazement of what Caster has created. Opening theme rolls~
The scene flashes to Kirei Kotomine talking with his father Risei Kotomine - supervisor of the Holy Grail War. They believe the activity on the Mion River is grave for the Holy Grail since it could expose it. There are already onlookers gathering at the river. Risei Kotomine states that they will have to request help from the Mages Association. He will also work on the coverup.
Saber is continuing to try to cut down the creature as Archer, Gilgamesh (King of Heroes) sits on his throne in the sky and talks about how grotesque the creature is and the inability of the other Servants (Lancer, Rider, and Saber) to take it down even when they are working together. Tokiomi Tohsaka is there with him. He thinks it is best to deal with the creature before more witnesses arrive. He asks Gilgamesh to exterminate the creature, so he fires a few shots at it, but it is still capable of regenerating. Gilgamesh doesn’t want to continue dealing with or even looking at something so disgusting. He asks him to draw “Ea” - Gilgamesh’s greatest treasure but Gilgamesh throws his golden wine chalice and tells him to silence! Gilgamesh takes it as an insult and is incredibly upset. Tokiomi knows he could use a Command Seal, but doesn’t want to cause further friction in their relationship by doing so.
The military jets continue to circle the scene. They see Gilgamesh’s flying vehicle and are uncertain as to what it could be. Could it be a UFO? One of the drops down for a closer look but is caught by tons of tendril like tentacles that pull him into a mouth! It eats him! And then, sprouting all over its body and tentacles… are EYES! Thousands of them! His pilot friend sees this happen and decided to try to take him down for the honor of his friend. He says he will kill it before it eats him. That’ll he’ll hit it with everything he’s got. But then… Berserker appears on the top of his jet and transforms it into his Noble Phantasm! The other Servants notice he has dropped into the party. Tokiomi Tohsaka says he will go deal with Berserker’s Master Kariya Matou.
Berserker has now taken control of the fighter jet and is soaring it directly towards Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh reacts by using one of his Noble Phantasm which shoots weapons out from the sky. Berserker shoots missiles at his flying ship but none of them hit him.
Meanwhile Tokiomi Tohsaka finds Kariya Matou and begins to insult him. Kariya has only one question for Matou - why did he entrust Sakura (Tokiomi’s daughter) into Zouken’s custody? He says he did it so she would have a good future. Since only one of his daughters could inherit the secret of the family’s magic, he didn’t want the other doomed to normal human “mediocrity.” Kariya is sickened that Tokiomi sees their past happy family as mediocrity. Tokiomi sees it as if he had no choice. The Matou family promised to make Sakura a powerful mage as well. If one of them fails at becoming a powerful mage, at least the other wouldn’t and that would fulfill the Tohsaka’s family desire of a powerful mage lineage. Kariya thinks he’s a bastard. Kariya thinks it will please his descendents. Kariya becomes so worked up by Tokiomi and Berserker going after Gilgamesh that he begins to cough up blood. Crest Worms start to crawl up toward Kariya as he declares he will never forgive mages and he will murder them all including Zouken and Tokiomi. Watching all this hidden in the background is Kirei Kotomine. The Crest Worms sprout wings and Kirya sends them flying towards him.
Ryuunosuke is seeing cheering on Caster from the shore as Saber and Rider continue to fight, but not leave a dent in the creature Caster created. Onlookers stand in disbelief. Suddenly, Ryuunosuke is shot in his stomach! He’s not sure what happened, until he looks down and sees his blood on his hands, which he thinks is so beautiful. He laments on how it was hiding right there in front of him this whole time. Caster notices that Ryuunosuke has been hurt and calls out to him from within the creature he has fused his body with. Ryuunosuke feels he has finally found what he has been looking for for so long. He smiles, and then is shot again in the head which kills him and his Command Seal fades away. He dies with a big smile. Caster grieves and decides to give him the coolest thing ever as a gift to him as he parts from this world.
Kiritsugu Emiya and Maiya Hisau discuss that before moving on to their next target - Kiritsugu having just shot Ryuunosuke in the head - they need to deal with Caster’s creature because if it reaches land it might be able to kill and replenish its mana over and over to the point it can never be defeated. He says the only way to kill it is to destroy every last particle of its flesh. The Servants also know that they need an anti-fortress Noble Phantasm if they are to take down Caster and the creature he is controlling. All other Noble Phantasms will not make more than a dent. Saber possesses such an attack but she can’t use it before the damage done to her left arm by Lancer.
Episode 2: Golden Light
The episode opens with Saber standing before Caster’s Creature and looking like she doesn’t know what can be done. Rider also looks perplexed. Berserker is still trailing after Gilgamesh. Kariya Matou continues to send flying Crest Worms toward Tokiomi Tohsaka who is defending the attack with a magical barrier. Kirei Kotomine continues to watch on from the shadows. Rider calls for Saber to fall back because he has an idea. Saber, Rider, Lancer, and Irisviel regroup. Rider says he will put the abomination into his Ionioi Hetairoi Reality Marble to buy some time, but it will only be a few minutes. He tells Waver Velvet to stay behind and call for him if anything happens. He will send a messenger when he feels his call. Up in the sky Archer and Berserker continue to fight one another. More and more people also come to the river to watch what is going on. A giant tentacle rises up about the drop down on them when Rider traps the creature in his Reality Marble.
Back with Tokiomi Tohsaka and Kariya Matou, things are not looking good for Kariya. He’s bleeding more and more from the effort to attach Tokiomi. Tokiomi uses “Intensive Einasherung” and shoots fire out of his staff that envelops him in flames. He screams, staggers, and falls over the second story railing. All of which Kirei Kotomine witnesses.
Lancer, Saber, Irisviel, and Waver start to devise a plan of attack to do once Rider can no longer hold Caster and his creature in his Reality Marble. Irisviel receives a phone call from Kiritsugu but she doesn’t know how to use a cellphone so Waver answers it for her. He asks him if Rider can release the creature wherever he wants once the Reality Marble collapses. He says he can go about 100 meters. He tells him when the time is right he will fire a signal flare for where he wants him to be released. He also tells him to tell Lancer about the anti-fortress Noble Phantasm that Saber has in her left hand. Lancer decides that he so badly wants to punish Caster as well for his horrible actions that he snaps the spear that cursed her hand and returns it to its full health. Saber, with her hand restored, then calls forth the Excalibur. She runs out over the water while Berserker follows after her firing down bullets from the jet. Archer is upset he would turn his back from him and he begins to pursue him. Something seems to fire off the back of the jet and it engulfs Archer in flames!
Meanwhile Kirei Kotomine finds Kariya Matou on the ground barely alive. He pulls out his blades but before he thrusts them into Kariya the words of Archer echo in his mind and he decides instead to heal him.
The scene cuts to Kiritsugu on the water in an tug engine inflatable boat. Waver calls to Rider and a messenger materializes at his side. He tells him to tell Rider about the signal flare. Lancer decides to materialize on top of Berserker to keep him from attacking Saber during this pivotal moment. He stabs the jet with his anti-magic spear and it explodes but Berserker does have time to grab and detach a turret. Which he readies to shoot at Saber but is taken out by Archer before he has the chance. Kiritsugu shoots of the flair and Waver reports the location to Rider’s messenger who confirms it and then dematerializes to go tell Rider. Seconds later Caster’s creature reappears and Saber uses her anti-fortress Noble Phantasm which draws light from all around her in a beautiful sparkling golden manner as she shouts “EXCALIBURRRRRR”! Archer is impressed. It splits open the creature and Caster sees a shining light as it parts right in front of him. It then envelops and destroys him. Caster sees a vision of someone who looks like Saber, but is really Jeanne. She smiles at him and reaches out her hand to him which he takes before his oblivion. Archer has fallen for Saber… Rider feels more bad for her than impressed because of the way she lived, shouldering the burden of her followers and living cursed to her ideals never falling in love or enjoying life. He says it is painful to see. Archer finds it attractive that she embraced dreams that they say were too much for her. Rider and Archer decide not to fight one another because Rider is too weak from the fight with Caster and Archer wants to fight him at his full strength.
Episode 3: The End of Honor
The episode opens with Risei Kotomine, a priest in the Church and supervisor of the Holy Grail, speaking with Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald. He has come to ask about the bounty (extra Command Seals) that were for those who defeated Caster. Opening theme roll~
Next we see Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri talking to herself about having the second Command Seal when her arm is cut off by Miaya. She bandages up her wounded arm and shoots her right hand to destroy it and the Command Seals.
The scene flashes to Kirei Kotomine setting down Kariya Matou in front of Zouken Matou’s house. He knows he saved him even though he will work to seek vengeance on his Master and this confuses him because he doesn’t feel regret for his betrayal but instead exhilaration.
Back with Risei and Kayneth, Risei agrees that Lancer was instrumental in the defeat of Caster but he isn’t sure if Kayneth should be made a Master at this point. Kayneth pleads his case and Risei agrees then gives him a Command Spell. Then unexpectedly as Risei walks off, Kayneth shoots him simply because he didn’t one any of the other masters to have a chance at receiving an additional Command Spell.
Lancer is seen seeing the leftover scene of Sola-Ui and then being scolded by Kayneth. He tells her that she is still alive because he is still being supplied with mana. Their conversation is cut short when Saber and Irisviel ride up in their car. Lancer tells Saber that Sola-Ui has gone missing and if she knows where she might be and Saber doesn’t know anything about it. Saber wants to fight Lancer tonight because she knows that the other Servants won’t interfere because they will be recharging from all the exertion used in the battle that night. Lancer agrees and they begin their duel to the death. Lancer notices that her strikes are weak because she is fighting without the use of her left hand. Saber confirms that is the case because using it would shame her sword and weaken her attacks fatally. Lancer is impressed and glad to have met her.
Kayneth is watching in the background upset that Lancer isn’t winning or withdrawing if he can’t. He wants to prioritize finding Sola-Ui. As he moans and groans over the predicament, a bullet clitter clatters to the side of his wheelchair. He spots it and looks in the direction from where it came to find Kiritsugu Emiya standing with his gun pointed at Sola-Ui who is sat slouched and unconscious against a pillar. Emiya throws him an unbreakable, enchanted mage contract called a Self-Geis Scroll that restrains Emiya from ever harming Kayneth or Sola-Ui as long as used a Command Spell to order Lancer to kill himself. Emiya cocks his gun and Kayneth wastes no more time as he looks at his fiance tears up and makes the command. Suddenly on the battlefield to the shock of Saber and Irisviel, Lancer stabs himself in the chest with his own spear. Lancer screams and falls to the ground calling out Saber and Emiya for their foul play, saying he will never forgive them, curses the Holy Grail, and hopes that the wish will only grant disaster as his body crumbles away from this plane. His eyes also took on a red demonic look. In his last breath he tells them to remember the rage of Diarmuid.
If that wasn’t gruesome enough, Maiya from a distance snipes through the chests of Sola-Ui and Kayneth who was holding her in his arms in his wheelchair. Emiya had tricked him into thinking he was safe from death, when all along Maiya was going to kill him anyways. They both drop to the ground and Kayneth calls out to Emiya to finish him off. Saber approaches and finishes him off with her sword. She is quite upset to say the least and says he finally sees Emiya for the vile man he is and calls herself a fool for thinking they shared a common goal. She says she can’t believe his goal for the Holy Grail is something that will save anyone and demands him to tell her his true desire and explain himself. He doesn’t care to explain to Saber though, only responding to Irisviel, because he sees her as a murderer also, but one that can take pride in things such as honor and glory. He calls their right and wrong ways to kill illusions that have led many to their deaths. Saber thinks without her ideals that every war would become hell on Earth but Emiya believes war IS hell. He sees Saber’s acts as inherently evil as his own. Emiya says he will obtain the Holy Grail to save the world and he will use his most effective weapons at his disposal to do it. He doesn’t mind to take on every sin of the world and dirty his hands by evil acts if it means it will be the last humanity sees. As soon as Kiritsugu leaves the scene Irisviel falls forward from being weak.
Episode 4: The Eighth Contract
The episode opens with Kirei Kotomine entering the church and seeing his father, priest of the church, and supervisor of the Holy Grail War Risei Kotomine dead on the floor. He closes his eyelids and scowls. Opening theme runs~
Kirei Kotomine is then reporting the news of Risei’s death to Tokiomi Tohsaka with Rider Gilgamesh standing in the background. Tokiomi is very upset by this.
Back with Saber is Irisviel regaining her strength on her Magic Circle. Maiya joins them and shares that Tohsaka Tokiomi is asking them for an alliance. Irisviel sees it as him thinking they are weaker than Rider and Berserker. They decide they will meet with Tohsaka.
We see Tohsaka with his wife at the front gate of their mansion and Rin sees him through the win. She excitedly runs down to greet him. But she stops at the door unsure as to why her mother looks sad. Her mother tells her that her father wants to talk to her and she runs over to him. He tells her to always keep the Church in her debt. He tells her she as a Tohsaka is duty-bound to obtain the Holy Grail and it also her path if she is to become a mage. Then he gives her a book which she gladly accepts.
Time rushes a bit forward and we see Saber and Irisviel meeting with Tokiomi Tohsaka. Kirei Kotomine, Rider, and Maiya are also present. Kiritsugu Emiya is also listening in through a recorder in Maiyu’s wristwatch. Tokiomi introduces Kirei as his past opponent but now disciple though this isn’t the truth and the three are suspicious of it. Irisviel says an alliance is ridiculous, but will agree to an order of attack one that will mean Saber will not attack Archer until the other two opponents have been defeated. Archer must also not attack Saber. It would be a temporary, conditional truce. Tokiomi sees it as a fair compromise. Irisviel however says they have two conditions - that Tohsaka must give them all the information they have obtained on Rider and his master and Kotomine Kirei must be fully removed from the Holy Grail War. Irisviel knows that there has been animosity between the Einzberns and the Executor. If Kirei remains under the protection of Tohsaka, they could never trust him. Tohsaka accepts.
The scene flashes to a Saber revving a motorcycle given to her as a gift from Kiritsugu. She likes it since it is more similar to a horse than a car. She heads off to secure the route back. Maiya and Irisviel drive behind her. Irisviel is exhausted again. She rests on Maiya’s shoulder and she tells her about what she is, a disguise for the vessel with an instinct for self-preservation. Very soon she will revert to what she was originally. She likely will not even be able to converse with Maiya the next time she sees her. Avaolon - the healing and age-stopping scabbard of the Excalibur held within Irisviel - has helped the shell that is her body not collapse, but things deteriorate quickly when she’s not around Saber. She tells Maiya this because she knows she won’t pity her, but will just accept her as she is. Maiya promises to protect her to the end even if it costs her life.
Back at the Church Tokiomi Tohsaka is upset with Kirei Kotomine not telling him about his past with the Einzbern family. Kirei tells him he has no choice but to ask him to withdraw from the Holy Grail War. As Kirei packs up the items in his office, his eyes catch a photo of Kiritsugu Emiya and his interest in who he is peaks again. Rider then appears in his office as Kiritsugu was asking himself if he should really leave the Holy Grail War without answering this question for himself. Rider says that the Holy Grail is still beckoning Kirei and yet he is fighting it. Kirei receives a phone call. They have finally found out where the Einzberns have been hiding. Kirei has decided to stay in the Holy Grail war. Unknown to anyone else, he reveals the Command Spells on his arm that were a gift from his father when he died. Archer reminds him that if he is to enter the Holy Grail War then Tokiomi is an enemy and he is sitting in the room right now with an enemy Servant. Kirei is not phased and he lays down some straight facts on Archer. He tells him the truth of the Holy Grail War. That it started as an attempt to open a passage to the Root through the sacrifice of seven Heroic Spirits’ souls which would activate the Greal Grail. He says that is why Tokiomi has cared so much about preserving his Command Spells because he will use the last one to command Archer to kill himself. All the loyalty Tokiomi showed Archer was a lie. Archer is impressed with Kirei and bored with Tokiomi. He then decides to switch from being the Servant of Tokiomi to the Servant of Kirei.
Later that evening Tokiomi Tohsaka and Kirei Kotomine and saying their farewell for now to one another. Tokiomi asks Kirei to help with Rin’s education after the Holy Grail War ends and also to take care of her as his daughter should something happen to him. He also gives him a will that claims Rin as the inheritor of his estate. Lastly, he gives him a parting gift - an Azoth dagger which symbolizes that he has mastered the Tohsaka family magic and graduated to full-fledged mage. Kirei thanks him. Tokiomi heads for the door to see him off and Kirei follows him, but as some creepy music plays.... HE STABS HIM IN THE BACK WITH THE DAGGER! Tokiomi falls to the floor dead and bleeding out. Archer then materializes at his side having been there the hold time and giving Tokiomi a false sense of safety. Archer and Kirei officially form their Servant Master pact. Archer guarantees he will give him the Holy Grail and Kirei guarantees he will give him a good show, gladly being his jester until he finds his answer.
Episode 5: Distant Memories
The episode opens with Kiritsugu Emiya as a child swimming with friends and cliff diving. Another friend of his, Shirley, who is old enough to drive a car honks her horn and picks him up from the beach in her truck referring to him as Kerry because she finds his name hard to say. She tells him of the origin of the island’s name which has to do with a girl cursed into being a crab by the God’s for having stolen their offerings for her sick mother who had no food. She says the shrine where they worshiped the gods is right by his house which is why none of the villagers will go there thinking it is bad luck and warning Shirley not to go there too often or she will be cursed too.
We see his father who has successfully used magic to keep 100 flowers from wilting by altering their flow of time - they won’t grow any further but they’ll never die. Shirley also has made her first successful specimen by learning through imitation while helping Kiritsugu’s father.
The scene cuts to Shirley arguing with her Father Simon, a priest of the church, when he asks her to please not return to their house. Kiritsugu overhears this and thinks his father should spend some time with the villagers.
Later on Shirley and Kiritsugu are sitting together in the bed of her truck talking about how Father Simon and the other villagers seem to have it out for Kiritsugu’s father. They continue to preach at her and tell her if she continues to work at his house she will become a demon. They even gave her a dagger that has some kind of mystical protection charm to keep with her at all times. She isn’t one bit afraid of his dad though even if magical research isn’t exactly normal because his research could really make history. It could eliminate death itself. She thinks about using his work to benefit humanity so that people will respect him but says that he has given up on that. Later at the house they see that Shirley’s plant has withered. They walk out to a river together and see the stars reflected in it. She asks him what he wants to be when he grows up and what he will use the power from the magic to do in the future. He says it’s a secret, so she says she’ll wait and see staying at his side until then. He blushes and shouts whatever which she reacts to with a hug as he struggles to get away embarrassed.
The next morning he is woken up by his father who asks him if he went into his workshop yesterday and he responds that he didn’t. He then tells him not to leave the house. Time passes and Kiritsugu sits on the porch waiting for Shirely who is late. He decides to go into the village to look for her. He looks in her room and finds on the floor one of the test vials from his dads workshop. Outside he sees bloodied chickens and follows them to the side of her house. She sees her there, eating a chicken with her mouth. Blood is all over her and her eyes are red. He runs to her but she shrieks and backs all the way into the back of the chicken coop. Crying, she says she only wanted to show that his dad’s research could work, but it isn’t working. She thrashes and screams about which throws the dagger off of her and toward Kiritsugu. She then begs for him to kill her because she doesn’t want to lose further control before it is too late. Screaming he squeeze the cage so tight parts of it break in her bloodied hands. No longer willing to wait, she bites into her own wrist which Kiritsugu witnesses.
The scene cuts to after the sun has gone down and Kiritsugu has brought Father Simon to the scene. Then it cuts again to Kiritsugu in the church having flashbacks of Shirley. Father Simon tells him to stay put while he goes to inform the village, but Kiritsugu looks out the window and sees as he is leaving two people quickly sneak up behind him and attack him with bites shocking Kiritsugu off his chair. He hears another enter the church and shuts his door locking it but the person bangs at his door knowing he is inside. Suddenly a man in a hooded black cloak with a cross necklace stabs through the person trying to get inside and door. He tries to open the door but his attention is taken elsewhere when a person breaks through the window. Kiritsugu, terrified, sits pushed up against the wall as he hears more of the people walking outside of his window. They all have glowing red eyes. He runs escapes out his window after they have passed and sees the village has been overrun with them. They are attacking people and when the person dies, they come back to life wanting to attack others. Then, Kiritsugu sees the entire village in flames. Suddenly he finds himself surrounded but a woman jumps out of nowhere and shoots the zombies around him. She turns back to shoot him, but decides he’s no threat and spares him. She says it seems she’s late.
They walk a bit together up to the top of a hill and look down at the burning city. The women tell him they are vampires which they call Dead Apostles. They drink people's blood increasing their numbers. She says everyone on the island is one by now and she’s there to clean up the mess. She then says there are also two groups working to do that - the Holy Church Executors who will kill anyone they suspect may have drank the blood and the Mage’s Association who are more interested in discovering who unleashed the creatures and keeping the information to themselves by killing anyone the know knows the truth. The Mage Association is the one that set the fire to destroy any evidence. She says she is a salesman who deals with the Mages Association and that she is looking for a mage who’s been designated for sealing. She further explains she is looking for the medium that changed the first person into a Dead Apostle and asks him if he has any information. Kiritsugu thinks of Shirley in the chicken cage and of his dad.
The scene flashes to his dad lighting fire to his research and Kiritsugu standing behind him. He asks him why he was researching Dead Apostles. He doesn’t answer and simply calls what happened to Shirly and unfortunate but did inadvertently lead him to his answer earlier. He also says a Dead Apostle that can’t handle it’s blood cravings is a failure and that the Emiya family research requires eternity because the Root will remain forever out of their grasp if they remain mortal. His father says he will continue to research after escaping on a motorboat, but before he can finish telling him to gather his things, Kiritsugu stabs him with Shirley’s dagger. Then he uses his father’s gun, with pleasant images of Shirely in his mind, to shoot his father dead. The women and him then leave the island together on the motorboat as Shirley’s withered plant burns.
Episode 6: Where Justice Dwells
Kiritsugu Emiya, now around his teenage or young adult years, lays on a cot in a dingy room with IV bags hooked up to him and bandages on his body. The woman is there smoking and tells him that the pain Mages bear of their Crest is for their entire lives when he whimpers in pain. She says his father gave him a fitting name because his origin lies in severing and binding and his name having the characters for sever and bind. Opening a case of bullets, she says she has the perfect Mystic Code for him and explains that she ground up part of his ribs and put a bit in each of the bullets. There are 66. His origin will manifest in anything he shoots them with and cutting the Magic Circuits of anything magical then binding them destroying them from functioning ever again. She advises him to use them wisely.
The scene cuts to a man running through dark streets. Kiritsugu and the women he calls Natalia are tracking him together. They trick him into an area after which Kiritsugu kills him with a shot.
Kiritsugu then wakes up, back around the age of last episodes flashback, young adolescents. It seems the scenes prior in this episode were flash forwards from this moment. The scene is narrated in Kiritsugu’sadult voice. He explains he spent several years with the woman named Natalia Kaminski and followed her path as hunter during which time he practiced loading guns quickly and the like. She worked as a true freelancer and never asked questions only caring about the money that she made from the conflict between the Mages Association and the Holy Church. Kiristugu often wanted to come with her, but she denied him several times. He explained that from the dreadful night on Arimago Island he has seen several more similar tragedies and learned that such things happened around the world on a daily basis. As he narrates the montage goes on to show him slightly older and shooting several different men in different settings. He wonders if it was all pointless… He had killed his father so no one else would be victimized in such a way and yet there were more and more people dying around him and at his hands. Natalia tells him the only way to have such an outcome would be to kill every person like his father, or in other words every mage, on Earth but considers that idea infeasible and a joke.
In another flashback to his younger self in front of the burning village she tells him to always put his life first and survive by whatever means thinking that sacrificing himself for someone else will not help anyone. He replies saying he knows he can’t save everyone, but he wants to save as many people as he can.
Back at her base, Natalia receives a fax on her next hit as she prepares coffee. Kiritsugu is a young adult and helping move papers. The target is Odd Vorak, a mage who uses bee familiars to turn people into ghouls. The Mages Association is offering a huge bounty. She says he brings destruction wherever he goes and that she had lost the last town he was in completely having failed to capture him once before. She takes a drag of a cigarette and Kiritsugu asks for one. She tells him they are bad for him, but obliges. This is when and where he picked up the deadly addiction. He is seen later smoking alone on his bed to help him relax.
The hunt is on and Natalia is walking through the airport. Vorak will be on a plane and she intends to take the same flight from Paris to New York. Vorak will not be able to bring his case of bees on the plane, but will have to allow it to travel in the cabin as checked luggage. Kiritsugu is tasked with finding the ally he intends to meet in New York and taking him out.
The scene flashes to Natalia in the cabin. She sits behind Vorak and uses a magical circle she draws on the back of his chair with her finger to kill him. At the same time Kiritsugu sets up his shots and snipes his ally from the building of another window. Back in the cargo bay, Natalia gasses the bee case and opens it to find all the bees dead. She comments on how easy it all seemed. She lights the bees on fire and asks Kiritsugu if he’s ready to get the corpse off the plane. Kiritsugu is driving an ambulance to her location and she is about to change into a doctor’s uniform. However, she is cut short when she hears someone coming down the cargo bay steps. She turns to look and it is a flight attendant turned ghoul with bees buzzing around her! Alarmed, she shouts “Ghouls!” to Kiritsugu over there connected receivers. Bees had been inside Vorak and came out after his death. They were now swarming around the cabin and all the passengers had been turned into ghouls. She shoots the attendant and explains the situation to Kiritsugu. She is not equipped for skydiving… The ghouls have even gotten into the cockpit. They both… pretend… it’s all going to be OK, but it’s quite obvious it won’t be.
While Kiritsugu obtains a large weapon from a shady man in an alley, Natalia updates him on the good and bad news of her situation. The good news is that she is still alive, the plane is still in the air, it was surprisingly easy to reach the cockpit, and she should be able to fly the plane. The bad news is that the plane is full of three hundred passengers that are now all ghouls. She is most worried about the landing with the plane being too big for her to handle. She says she’ll figure out a way to land it but doesn’t know what to do about the ghouls and all the bees. Kiritsugu says he has it all figured out as he goes out into the ocean on a speedboat. She seems surprised and laughs. They begin to reminisce a bit about when they first met and started living together. She says she saw too much skill in him from the start because of his capability to disconnect his feelings from his trigger fingers, something she says takes years for hit men to master yet he had it from the start. She says though even if you find a job that suits your abilities, if you do it just because you think you should but not because you want to you’re guaranteed to never find happiness and that is no way for a human to live. She says she feels guilty she had no other way of life to teach him. Kiritsugu tells her he did see her as his mother (yes, all in past tense…) and they both agree it was fun. She says that’s enough of that talk since it will be embarrassing when they see eachother again… She says she needs to land in 20 minutes and talks about how it seems she’s gotten soft from playing house and maybe should retire. If she did, she’d probably just keep acting as his mom.
Then… Kiritsugu lifts up a rocket launcher to the sky… And before shooting it tells her “You are my real family.” He pulls the trigger, a montage of them together rolls, and the plane explodes burning everyone and everything inside it. He watches from the water. Drops the launchers. Asks if Shirley saw it. Then falls to his knees. He says he did it again, just like he killed his dad. He didn’t screw up like he did with Shirley (not killing her to prevent the town from being overrun). If Natalia had landed the plane there was no telling how many people would have turned into ghouls and might have died. Her sacrifice at his hands saved them all. He screams crying and cursing with the pleasant memory of Shirley in his mind asking him what he wants to become when he grows up and he says looking out at the water… “I.. I…” and roll end credits (plus get more tissues… T_T).
Episode 7: The Assassin Returns
The episode opens with Maiya Hisau letting Kiritsugu Emiya into the earthen shed out back on the property they are staying at where Irisviel von Einzbern works on her magic and has her magical circle. She leaves the two alone. Kiritsugu sees Irisviel charging on her circle. Roll opening theme~]
Maiyu stands outside as the two talk to each other. She thanks him for coming to see her one last time. She knows it's about time for her to return to being the Holy Grail. From her chest rises Avalon, the hollowed scabbard of Excalibur which was helping her keep her human form and strength. She knows he will need it more than her now especially in his final battle. She also says she is happy because she was loved, was loved, had a husband, and had a daughter for a whole nine years thanks to him. Kiritsugu apologizes that he couldn’t show her more of the world. She says it has been more than enough and tells him to save it for their daughter Ilya. She requests he shows Ilya all the things she never got to see such as the cherry blossoms and summer clouds. He agrees and says it is time to go. He brings Avalon with him. Miaya confirms outside with him that Saber has gone after Rider so he will go after Tokiomi Tohsaka. He thinks Archer will show to the Rider and Lancer fight so he will strike Tokiomi when that happens. He tells Maiya to stay there with Irisviel.
The scene flashes to Saber in her car trying to sense for a servant. It is also paired with shots of Waver Velvet at the convenience store picking up some necessities and Kiritsugu lining up a shot with his gun outside of Tokiomi’s residence. He notices however that no barriers are set up around the grounds. Waver Velvet is enjoying a bento in the forest on a picnic blanket with a sleeping bag and other items. He says he’s going to stay there all day sleeping and Rider can take all the mana he’d like to recover as long as it doesn’t kill him. Rider has been drawing mana from himself rather than Waver because he doesn’t want to endanger his life. Waver, not wrapped up in his sleeping bag, says that it is fine though. He just wants to prove that even he can accomplish something so grand. Rider doubts though that the Holy Grail is even real, lamenting on when he thought Oceanus - the end of the world - was real and led many into trying to find it. Once he saw a modern day map he had to come to terms that the world really is round and closed, that there is no Oceanus. He now doesn’t want anyone else to die chasing fantasies. Since the existence of the Holy Grail can’t be confirmed, he can’t admire Waver’s determination to risk his life. Rider wants to face Saber next because he feels if he doesn’t help make her change her ways she will be stuck on the wrong path forever. He feels it's his as a Heroic Spirit.
In a dreamlike trance Berserker is shown in front of a nude man saying he is the mocked, the shunned, the despised, and that none sing praises to his name. The man asks who he is. Berserker defines himself in more negative ways then moves forward with such speed it seems like he just transported and grabs the man by his neck lifting him off the ground and choking him. He says, you are the offering and then goes to attack the man, but it is Kariya Matou who wakes up from the dream. He is shackled against a wall. Slashes on his stomach show how infesteted his insides are with Crest Worms. He knows he is going to die soon and Aoi Tohsaka, Sakura Matou, Tokiomi Tohsaka, and Zouken Matou flash before him in his mind. Zouken’s cackle is heard as he approaches with his cane calling him a pathetic sight. He says he’s decided to give him a most valuable trump card because he’s surpassed his expectation of how long he thought he would live. He jabs him with his cane and as his mouth opens an enormous bug crawls quickly across Zouken’s cane and into his mouth. His veins begin to bulge as he screams and writhes in pain. Zouken told him the worm was first to drink of Sakura’s chastity and contained a year’s worth of her vitality making it a top-shelf mana source. He tells him to keep fighting and burn through every bit of the life taken from Sakura. Kariya screams and pulls at his chains. Absolutely. Disgusting.
Back with Irisviel is Maiya preparing her weapons. Irisviels asks her why she fights for Kiritsugu and she says it's all she has because she cannot remember her family or even her name. Her name, Maiya Hisau, is just the alias from the first passport Kiritsugu gave her. Maiya begins to explain further as a scene of Saber is shown looking out at a town outlook on a hill and Kiritsugu is seen going into the Tohsaka residence. She says it was a poor country that didn’t have the funds to maintain their military but still fighting never ceaser. People were dying every day. Then the government realized it would be cheaper and faster to just kidnap and teach children to use guns. She feels she is just a machine that points and fires. Everything human within her had died. Kiritsugu picked her up off the ground and ever since she has let him use her life as he sees fit. At this moment Kiritsugu finds the blood spot on the floor where Tokiomi was murdered by Kirei. Maiya tells Irisviel that she is surprised by her passion. That she fights so much to save a world she hardly knew. She says that’s true and she doesn’t know much of the world. She doesn’t understand but she takes on Kiritsugu’s ideals. Maiya asks if she has a wish of her own and she says it is that Saber and Kiritsugu obtain the Holy Grail. She wants an end to strife. She wants to see Kiritsugu’s wish come true - for all wars to end. She also wants the Fourth Grail War to be the last. She knows if they fail her daughter Ilya will be next. She wishes it will end with her so that Ilya can live her whole life as a human being. Maiya doesn’t expect to live by the time Kiritsugu’s wish is granted and even if she does she feels she will have no reason to exist. Irisviel tells her she has to find her real name and family. She wants her to live. After some investigative work, Kiritsugu puts together that Tokiomi is dead. Suddenly, something bashes into the door of their building. It’s Rider. He kicks the door off its hinges. Maiya quickly calls Kiritsugu and starts shooting at Rider. Kiritsugu uses a Command Spell to order Saber to return to the storehouse immediately. She’s there in a flash fully armored. Maiya from is laying on the floor, blood dripping from her mouth. She tells her to hurry and follow Rider who took Irisviel. She says she’ll be alright although it really doesn’t look so… Saber swears to rescue Irisviel and starts to track Rider. She sees him flying off with Irisviel and hops on her motorcycle. Kiritsugu returns to the storehouse after sundown and finds Maiya. She is barely alive. Kiritsugu starts to cry but she says not to and to save his tears for his wife while wiping his tears. He tells her not to worry. To leave the rest to Saber and that her job is complete. Her hand slips and he grasps it as she passes away…
Episode 8: Knight on a Two-Wheeled Steed
The episode opens with Kiritsugu standing back up from being with Maiya as she passed away and Saber racing down the street on her motorcycle after Rider. She swerves in and out of traffic including incoming traffic but she loses sight of him however she can still feel him and sense in her mind that he is nearby on his chariot. Rider decides to land his chariot on the same road as Saber to settle their feud with a race. Waver comments that Saber’s motorcycle is going far faster than one typically should.
Meanwhile Kiritsugu is looking at spent bullets at the storehouse and something of Rider’s that dissipates.
Back on the road Saber concentrates mana into her motorcycle and uses Invisible Air. Her motorcycle takes on a different appearance and speeds up even faster. She begins to gain on Rider. Rider then thrusts a sharp part of the side of his chariot into the rocky hill face of the road causing rubble to fall which Saber narrowly dodges. She boosts herself forward and soars off a bend in the road to take a shortcut to the location of Rider. She soars through the air and calls to Rider. While still in midair she strikes down at him with her sword as he stands up and reflects it with his own. There is a shock of energy and she is thrown back a little ways but lands with no problem. It is then she realizes Irisviel is not with him.
Back at the Tohsaka residence Kiritsugu is interrogating a man from the Matou family into telling him where Irisviel is. When he says he doesn’t know, he asks for Kariya Matou’s location which the man also says he doesn’t know. Kiritsugu shoots him in the leg but the man continues to say he doesn’t know. He then says Kariya left with some man from the Church this morning. Kiritsugu believe it was Kotomine Kirei. Which it was. Kotomine is then seen atop a building with Rider holding a passed out Irisviel.
The scene switches to Kariya Emiya and Kotomine Kirei talking with one another. Kariya seemed to have used two Command Spells to make Rider show up for Kotomine and he is also calling him Father. Kotomine however replenishes them and tells him he is free to use Commands Spells as he likes as long as he cooperates with him. But Rider wasn’t really Rider… Kariya had used the Command Spells to make Berserker appear as Rider. Berserker begins to return to his true state while jerking, shouting, and still holding Irisviel. Kariya tells Berserker to leave and Irisviel falls to the ground. Kotomine tells him to come to Fuyuki church at midnight tonight to have his chance to face Tohsaka Tokiomi (who is actually already dead…). Kariya leaves and Kotomine turns his attention to Irisviel, but he is not alone. Zouken Matou shows up having been lurking somewhere in the shadows.
Meanwhile, the real Rider and Saber are at a standstill in their fight on the windy hillside road. Rider uses “Via Expugnatio” and Saber uses “Wind.” As Rider runs towards her in his chariot she uses “Excalibur!”
Back with Kotomine Kirei and Zouken Matou, Kotomine asks him what his business is doing there. Zouken responds he wants to see what kind of trap he had been setting for Kariya. He also continues to be pleased by seeing his son in agony. Even going as far as to say it is difficult to decide which he would enjoy seeing more, a pathetic death for Kariya or his victory. Zouken calls him a maggot at which Kotomine throws a blade at him for saying at which it cuts through half of his head, but his voice is still heard but now all around Kotomine in a presence like manner. He continues to insult him by calling him the Church’s dog. Zouken’s body seems to dissipate into a swarm of Crest Worms which fly away as he tells him he’ll see him again one day. Kotomine then sees off in the distance a bright flash of light beyond the hills.
Back at the scene of Rider and Saber, Saber’s Excalibur move threw Rider and Waver high up into the air and back into a tree. Rider holds onto a branch with one hand with Waver being held in his other arm. He apologizes for screwing up. Rider tells him to use Ionioi Hetairoi, but he shakes his head saying he’s only willing to expend the chariot on Saber. Saber drops her arm and transforms back into her black suit after hearing this while watching them hang from up in the treetop. She then gets back on her motorcycle and drives off. Irisviel wasn’t with him anyways and finding her is her prime concern right now.
We then see Kariya Emiya walking down the street wondering to himself how much more he can really fight. He enters the Church as he was requested to by Kotomine and see’s Tokiomi Tohsaka (...or at least his body?) sitting on the first pew. Angered he limps toward him while shouting at him, but at the moment he is within inches of him, Tokiomi’s limp body falls on him. Kariya is shocked and confused. His wife Aoi Tohsaka then shows up in the Church doors and sees Kariya with her dead husband’s body. Kariya says he didn’t do it. Aoi approaches steadily. She kneels down to Tokiomi and asks Kariya if he’s satisfied now that the Matou family is guaranteed to win the Holy Grail. She asks him why taking Sakura from her wasn’t enough, but he had to kill her husband in front of her. This situation, however, all being a framing and setup by Tokiomi. Kariya begins to blame Tokiomi, saying if it wasn’t for what he had chosen everyone would’ve been happy. She screams at him to shut up as tears roll down her face and she tells him what he would know, he’s never loved anyone. But then, in his voice before all this, we hear him say against an all black screen that he did love someone, someone warm and kind, that he wanted to make happier than anyone else, and would have given his life for which is the only reason he has been able to endure all the pain of the Holy Grail War. Endure, endure, endure, ENDURE! He shouts. He doesn’t want that denied. That he won’t forget it. That her words are a lie. That there was someone… But he asks himself who was I fighting for? Whose fault is this? If I’m going to die… I mine as well... he says in his mind as he gets a flash of Aoi sitting on the bench. And then the scene returns from black and he is on top of Aoi, holding her down with his knee and body weight while choking her as she struggled and tears stream down her face until she has no breath left in her. Her arms fall at her sides. He has killed her. He stands up breathing heavily and looking down at what he has done. He screams, wails, and begins limping out of the Church. Tokiomi and Gilgamesh have been watching from a balcony wine glasses in hand the entire time. Gilgamesh seems somewhat satisfied and Tokiomi only has to comment that his wine feels more intoxicating than before and if it continues to be as such he would very much like to taste it again, possibly alluding to wanting to do something as awful as he did to Kariya again.
Episode 9: All the Evil in the World
The episode opens with Waver Velvet walking home exhausted. The older man named Glen Mackenzie he is staying with, who he hypnotized into believing was his grandfather, calls to him from the roof. He tells him to come up because he wants to talk to him. Although he’s not in the mood and politely tries to get out of it, Rider encourages him and Waver makes his way up on the roof to sit with him and enjoy some coffee. The older man tells him he’d been awake and up on the roof since the early morning and Waver still hadn’t been home. He says it’s the best view for the sunrise also. He puts a blanket around Waver and talks to him about when he and Martha moved to Japan from Canada and built their house there on Miyama Hill to be able to stargaze making sure to include a skylight that allowed access to the roof. It was a dream of theirs to do with their grandchildren. He says his real grandchildren never came up once though and he’s always watched the stars by himself. He then casually tells Waver he’s realized he’s not really his grandchild and is not sure how she was so convinced, but that it has been nice and he’s not angry even if he has a right to be because March has been smiling so cheerfully lately which is something he would have never imagined. He can also tell Waver means no harm by living with them. He also tells him he can stick around for a while long if he’d like, but Waver responds he can’t promise that nor that he can guarantee he’ll even make it back alive. Glen tells him as he gets older he’s realized there really isn’t anything so important that it is worth risking his life and that with age comes the realization that nothing is worth more than your life.
The second scene then opens with Kiritsugu Emiya, having not slept so far for forty hours, sitting at one of the Fuyuki’s four major spiritual ley lines. He knows there is one at the Tohsaka estate, Fuyuki City Church (which neither had signs of Kotomine Kirei), Enzousan (where he has been waiting at), and the Fuyuki City civic center. Saber approaches and says she has scoured every inch of the city but hasn’t found Irisviel. If anything happens, she says to please summon her with a Command Spell and leaves.
Meanwhile Irisviel is still being held captive by Tokiomi Kirei. She lies in a magic circle on the ground of Caster’s old hideout which Tokiomi says Kiritsugu was never able to find. He tells her to wake up. He wants to be the one to transform her into the Holy Grail, but she only wants to relinquish that to one man… Kiritsugu. She tells him Emiya sees right through him, knowing he is the one to fear most, and Kotomine should be ready. She tells him the same cannot be said for Kotomine. That his heart has none of the things of Emiya’s. He then grasps her neck, choking her and angry she would speak about him. Choking her tighter, he says Emiya has subjected himself to fighting endless, pointless battles doing nothing but slaughtering others again and again, living aimlessly and wasting time. He says they are not different because they are both lost. He lets go for a moment. She coughs and catches her breath. He asks her what Emiya’s wish is and she tells him…. world peace, humanity’s salvation. She tells him he will never understand and that is how they differ. Emiya has convictions. Kotomine thinks that conflict is humanity’s nature and to reject that is to reject humanity itself. He calls it a baseless ideal. But Irisviel responds that is why he knows he needs a miracle to make it happen. She says even though he knows he loses everyone close to him and has had to to make sure his ideal could come true, he still cannot help but love them. Kotomine then raises her by his hair, grasps her neck with both hands, and then breaks it, her arms falling limp to her sides until he lets go and she falls from her kneeling seat to the ground. The lights of her magic circle fades away… Kotomine feels now has a reason to fight, to destroy the Holy Grail before the very eyes of Emiya, and with it, his ideals.
Back at Glen and Martha’s house Waver is woken up by Rider reading by candlelight by the windowsill. He told him not to wake him at nightfall, but Rider says he thinks it is best they be off tonight because his gut is telling him everything will be decided that night. Waver agrees that the night air feels too still. They see outside their window a strange mana burst in the sky like ords of blue and pink. In code, it spells out “Achieved” and “Victory,” but that couldn’t have possibly happened yet. Someone seems to be getting ahead of themselves. Rider takes it as someone challenging the other Servants. Rider calls forth his faithful steed in preparation to set off for battle. He asks Waver what he is waiting for, but Waver feeling only the powerful can continue and him not being it decides to use all three of his Command Seals to order Rider to be victorious, obtain the Holy Grail, and conquer this world. His Command Seals all fade making him no longer Rider’s Master. He tells him to get going and he turns to leave but Rider grabs him by his shirt and throws him on his faithful steed. He says he may not be his Master, but he is certainly his friend with a big smile bringing Waver to tears since he feels like he’s just a kid and it means a lot for Rider to want to bring him along. He calls him a baka for thinking otherwise and tells him to stand tall as an equal to him to which Waver responds by blowing his nose in his cape. They then set off together for Rider to fulfill his first command soaring into the sky on his faithful steed. Glen is shown in his bed awake seeming to have overheard this and smiles before he drifts off to sleep.
Saber also sees the lights in the sky as she drives down the street on her motorcycle. As this is shown Kotomine talks about how Tokiomi chose the worst place for the fights to commence believing he doesn’t actually want the Holy Grail but wants to use it as bait to lure and kill him and the other Masters. It’s simple and the best he thinks he can come up with.
The scene switches to Gilgamesh talking to Kotomine and asks him what he has planned. He tells him unleashing his power at close range would put the ceremony at risk. He tells him if he wishes to fight at full strength he must go out and welcome them as they approach. If anything happens to Kotomine while Gilgamesh is away he will simply summon him with a Command Spell. Archer asks Kotomine if he still has to wish for the Holy Grail to which Kotomine responds he still does not. If forced he says it would be for no one to interfere with the fight. Archer also says if Saber is to arrive before he returns than Kotomine should let Berserker keep her occupied. Kotomine agrees. Archer wonders where Irisviel is while asking about the Holy Grail’s vessel being within her. He tells Archer he has killed her because there was no reason for her to be alive.
Speaking of Irisviel… The snowy Einzbern estate is shown and hundreds of dead, mindless homunculus are shown piled in front of Irisviel. She cries as she sees this and closes her eyes. When she blinks them open she sees her daughter Illyasviel von Einzbern asking her why she was crying and her daughter tells her she had a bad dream. She dreamt of being turned into a cup with seven big lumps inside of her. Irisviel holds her close while tears fall down her face and she tells her that she will never let that happen. She promises and says she knows she will be freed from the bonds of that fate. The scene starts to get an odd muddy black distortion and the homunculus are shown again. The black begins to break through them and one contorts its face into a wicked smile, the others follow suit. Irisviel blinks her eyes open again and all that remains of the room is her daughter’s bed and the chair she was sitting on. The blackness begins to cover her. Hands with long arms reach out from the black tar like substance as she struggles and questions who she is there…? She then sees herself in a foggy nothing and says to herself that of course since she is in the Holy Grail she is the omnipotent wish-granting artifact that will wash away the world’s sorrows and end it’s suffering. She has the power to grant that wish. The end is close at hand. A strange visual is shown where the camera pans through her eye to dropping down into another image of Irisviel standing the same way, but this time she takes on the same creepy smile as shown by all the other homunculus before.
Episode 10: The Ocean at the End of the World
The episode opens with Rider galloping across a bridge to be met halfway through by Gilgamesh. Waver Velvet says he is afraid but in the words of Rider his heart is dancing.
Saber approaches the location Kotomine has drawn everyone to. As she rides her motorcycle down to the underground parking she is caught off guard by Berserker.
Gilgamesh and Rider approach one another on foot to share a drink. Gilgamesh asks him where his chariot is and Rider admits that Saber one it in a race from him. Gilgamesh wanted to fight him at full strength though, but Rider says being that he is not perfect time means he is beyond perfection and Archer agrees he does have a special aura about him tonight and actually believes he has a chance. They clink cups and drink. Rider asks him one more question. Hypothetically, if they armed his Ionioi Hetairoi with his Gate of Babylon they would become the strongest army on Earth. He asks him if he will become his ally. Archer laughs hard at this however and turns him down saying he has only named one man a friend and is the only one he ever will, plus there is no need for two kings. Rider than respectfully agrees to challenge him. They both jump into the air and their cups clatter to the ground disappearing with a glitter of gold. Rider regroups with Waver telling him he may be the last opponent he ever faces. Waver tells him he can’t die there. Has he forgotten his Command Spell he asks. Rider says he is right and calls his comrades to gather. Using Ionioi Hetairoi the three are transported to the dessert in Rider’s Reality Marble. He encourages his soldiers with a king’s speech and they all charge forth. Archer seems unphased.
Meanwhile Berserker is attacking Saber in the underground parking lot. He seems to have a powerful weapon that shoots different types of ammor from explosives to fully automatic bullets. While this is happening Kariya Emiya is struggling to stay alive. He sees Sakura in front of her and she asks him why he is suffering and he says it is because Berserker is fighting. Sakura asks why and he says it is because the priest said so. She asks who the priest is and he says the priest said if he would win he would give him the Holy Grail and that he will use it to rescue her so they can all play together again. Sakura asks if she can see her mother again and Kariya sees her flash before him. He screams out. Sakura seems to have been just a vision. The battle between the two continues. Saber takes cover where she can behind pillars and cars, but it looks difficult to get a slash in on him without opening herself up to fire. She uses her sword to propel a car forward, running behind it as cover until she just approaches Berserker at which time she flips the car and thrust her sword into Berserker. His armor shields him, so she jumps up to strike him from the air, but he catches her blade between his palms. Fire from the car has ignited all around them. She realizes he knows the length of her sword. She pulls the sword from his hands and kicks him away. The sprinklers cease the fire. She wonders if he could be a knight she once knew. She identifies herself as Arturia Pendragon, King of Britain, and asks him to identify himself. Berserker struggles and laughs. His ghostly, cloudy black aura diminishes and his mask falls all while we are shown flashbacks of Saber as King Arthur and Sir Lancelot. Berserker’s face is then revealed and it is Sir Lacelot but he has sharp pointed teeth, leather-like skin, and bulging eyes. Saber calls him friend and asks him why. Sir Lancelot was one of the knights among her Round Table. He doesn’t answer but runs forward at her slashing at her with his blade which she deflects with her own. While only defending and without striking she keeps trying to talk to him with a sad expression. She wonders if Rider’s judgement of her was right. Was it because she saved her people but didn’t lead them? Was it because she was trapped by her ideal of a king that exists for others not himself. Is she really a naive little girl? But Berserker continues not to answer her and charges her again.
Meanwhile Rider is rushing forward toward Archer with his army. Archer calmly summons a special weapon called Ea and tells it to awaken. He uses Enuma Elish which is so powerful it breaks the very ground in several pieces separating Rider from his army and destroying his Reality Marble. Ea is an anti-world Noble Phantasm that can obliterate anything. Waver looks behind them and sees all of Rider’s troops falling into the ground breaking apart and then they appear back on the bridge. Rider asks Waver if he will serve as his retainer. Waver calls him king, says he shares his dream, and sweats his fealty to him as he cries. Rider puts him to the side of his horse and tells him as his retainer it is his duty to see him dream through and to pass tales down to future generations. With a big smile he tells him to live on. To tell people of his king and Iskandar’s charge. Then he pulls on the reigns of his faithful steed Bucephalus and charges Archer. Noble words run through his mind and she shouts his battle cry. Archer uses his multi-weapon Noble Phantasm which takes out Bucephalus so Rider continues to run forward on foot while multiple weapons stab into him. He throws his sword forward as he approaches Archer but is stopped just inches away from chains that shoot out of the portals Archer can make in the sky. They bind him and Archer finishes him off with Ea. Before he closes his eyes for the last time, he sees a vision of ocean water and says it sounds nice. We hear him come to realize that his heartbeat itself was the sound of Oceanus’s waves. Waver with tears in his eyes watches him disappear. Archer approaches and calls him child asking him if he is Rider’s Master. He says he is not and that he is his retainer. Archer sees that he has no Command Spells. He asks if he is loyal to him why doesn’t he fight him, but Waver says he would surely die, but he was ordered to live. Archer commends his loyalty then turns and disappears in a glitter of gold. Waver drops to the ground and cries for his friend and his king.
Saber and Berserker continue to fight. Kariya continues to scream in pain. Irisviel is laid on a bed in the middle of an auditorium in Fuyuki City civic center. And Kariya is seen walking to meet face to face with Tokiomi
Episode 11: The Final Command Spell
Kirei Kotomine and Kiritsugu Emiya finally meet face to face to fight. Kirei charges forth with three long blades wielded in each hand and Kiritsugu fires off a bullet. Meanwhile Berserker, now fully revealing his face as Sir Lancelot, is charging at Saber. She continues to be able to block each of his swings of his swords. Berserker manages to get a strong hit on Saber and she flies back into a pole, sliding down to the ground. Back with Kirei and Kiritsugu, Kirei is able to block the bullet shot by Kiritsugu with his blades and even though it was an Origin Shot it doesn’t have the same effect as Kiritsugu had expected. It does shatter his blades, but it seems to stop there and not affect Kirei’s Magic Circuits. Kirei moves in to perform a sweeping high kick, but Kiritsugu uses Time Alter: Double Accel to speed up his timing and dodge the attack. He then dodges another and after pulls out his automatic rifle to fire several shots which Kirei is able to block with new blades. Kiritsugu realizes Kirei is using Command Spells as his mana source so by the time the Origin Shot affects the Command Spell he was drawing from it has already faded and this is shielding him from the Origin Shot damaging his Magic Circuits. He simply isn’t using his own Magic Circuits. He decides he needs to get a direct shot on him because that should at least still rip through him and his Magic Circuits, but simply hitting his blades won’t do it. Kirei is sure he will be able to strike Kiritsugu because he will adjust for his speediness. This definitely catches Kiritsugu off guard when he goes to load his gun, but Kirei is already charging toward him far faster than he expected. Kiritsugu lands a punch which throws Kirei back into the wall. Saber isn’t doing so well either. The scene switches over to her fight with Berserker and he’s able to get a jumping kick to her face which he uses to push it back against the cement pole. Saber continues to block and wonder if it was all her fault he turned out as he is now.
Irisviel is then shown in the auditorium of the Fuyuki City civic center. She lays on a table with an ivory ruffled satin table covering. Suddenly a fire rises from her abdomen and spreads out to her head and toes. She then vanishes and in her place the golden Holy Grail rises and floats.
Saber begins to fight back at Berserker. Kiritsugu plays dead… As soon as Kirei turns around, he showers him in bullets from his automatic. Kirei is able to block these with his very arms. Kiritsugu does Time Alter: Double Accel again to give him time to load his Origin Shot pistol. A Command Spell fades from Kirei’s arm and he raises his hand to deflect the bullet, but it penetrates and he begins to feel the damage taking place in his Magic Circuits. Both are looking in pretty bad shape and Kiritsugu is out of automatic ammo plus his Contender (the Origin Shot pistol) needs reloading. He knows he still has Avalon in his chest, which is what helped him recover from the heart-crushing punch he received moments ago by Kirei, and can self inflict wounds that will heal because of it. They both consider plans in their head and then Kiritsugu does Time Alter: Triple Accel and runs forward.
Back in the auditorium, blood is starting to rise within the cup. It quickly overflows covers the entire table and begins to cover the auditorium floor. It is running quickly now.
Kiritsugu tries to get a slash in with his knife, but even with one arm out of commission Kirei is able to dodge his attempts. Before Kirei gets a punch in, Kiritsugu dodges by using Time Alter: Square Accel. He is able to kick away from him as well as throw his blade into his leg and load his gun. Kirei throws his blades at him and runs forward as Kiritsugu aims his gun. Moments before the finishing shot the ceiling caves in from the weight of all the blood above and the lights go out.
The scene then switches to the sound of a sword penetrating someone's chest and Kariya Matou is shown slumping over. Saber is then shown with her sword through Berserker, upset at what she has had to do, but still determined to get the grail. She says she considers it the only thing she can offer as compensation to him.
Kiritsugu Emiya is then suddenly on a beach the stars are sparkling and the rain is coming down in black droplets. A girl that looks like Irisviel approaches him and says she had faith he would make it there. She tells him his wish will come true there inside the grail. That is where he is. He only needs to offer his prayer. She reveals herself to be the Will of the Grail having taken on Irisviel’s appearance and personality. She even has her wish, to be born into the world. She says she will answer his prayer the way he has done so for so long. The Holy Grail can only fulfill a wish if the wisher knows the way in which it could be fulfilled. The way he has always done it though is sacrificing one for the greater good or the greater amount of people… Over and over. He opens his eyes and is then in a hotel room. The TV asks him about which ship he will save. What he will do in each situation. But the point is, the cycle will continue and continue. He will keep killing some to save more, but that more will split and he will have to kill again until he has killed everyone. The Holy Grail cannot grant the miracle he wishes for because he himself doesn’t know how it would be fulfilled. He doesn’t have to be able to do it, but has to be able to know how it would be done. Then the Holy Grail can do it on a grand scale no one man could enact. Flashbacks are shown of the island, Shirley’s plant, shooting his father, killing Natalia, and more. The male voice of the Holy Grail that has been speaking to him through these scenes tells him he is the embodiment of Angra Mainyu - the one worthy to bear all the evils of the world. If his wish were to come true, he’d have to choose between Natalia, Irisviel, and his daughter Illyasviel. It shows him killing Natalia, then his daughter Illyasviel in front of his wife by shooting her, and finally his wife Irisviel by choking her after she shrieks in grief for her daughter.
He then returns outside the Holy Grail and is behind Kirei with his gun cocked. Kirei knows that he refused his wish from being granted and asks him why. Kiritsugu tells him it had too high a price for too little a benefit. Kirei begs him not to destroy the grail and to give it to him, but Kiritsugu shoots him.
Saber is seen entering the auditorium. She sees the cup and calls out to Irisviel, but Gilgamesh interrupts the moment. She tells him to step aside, but he shoots a sword at her leg. He then asks her to give up on her fantasy and become his wife. She calls it nonsense and theft of her Holy Grail. She says she absolutely refuses and Gilgamesh responds by sending my weapons here way that pin her to the wall. He simply thinks she doesn’t understand the joy of devotion to him or that she is too shy. She thinks she must know pain first. Kiritsugu then is shown with them and is using one of his Command Spells… He orders her to use her Noble Phantasm to destroy the Holy Grail. She tries to resist, but he uses his third and last Command Spell to order her again. Gilgamesh is upset that their wedding ceremony was interrupted. Saber screams in disapproval of the command but raises the Excalibur shining bright and slashes it down. Roll end credits~ Only one episode left!
Episode 12: Fate/Zero
The episode opens with Kiritsugu Emiya ordering Saber again with his final command spell to destroy the Holy Grail. She yells for him not to order her, but against her will her body obeys the command. Her arms raise her Excalibur and swings it down hard shooting light from the blade. Saber wonders if all of this has been her punishment for being the king who could not understand the feelings of others. She fades away with the bright light that takes up the entire screen and destroys the grail. At night, a person is walking their dog and notices the bright light orb shining from a far off distance. It eventually dulls. Kiritsugu sees that though the Holy Grail is gone, there is an opening in the sky and a torrential amount of rain begins to pour out from it. It begins to fill the auditorium as Kiritsugu stands in disbelief such a thing could be happening. The blood fills the hallways of the Fuyuki Civic Center and this force breaks the glass of its windows pouring out into the street seeming as hot as fire while flames lick from the rooftop. The rushing blood reaches the treeline and does in fact ignite the trees. Kiritsugu Emiya stands overlooking the city falling into demise while a scene of Illyasviel von Einzbern waking up rolls with the dialogue playing from the time she talked to her mother about her dream of being turned into a cup, though her mother isn’t there. He rushes into the burning town and starts to try to save and rescue as many people as he can crying out when he finds more and more dead. Illyasviel looks out the window. She seems to be talking to her mother who isn’t there who is encouraging her that her father will come back soon. Illyasviel believes he will finish his important job.
Kariya Matou is then shown with Sakura Matou on the stairs of the Crest Worm pit. He tells her he is there to save her and that all is okay now. He brings her to Rin who embraces her with happy tears. Aoi-san is also there smiling. Rin and Sakura thank him with tears in their eyes and call him daddy. But this all isn’t really happening. He is sliding down the Crest Worm staircase dead as Sakura with her brainwashed, mindless gaze watches him fall into the pit and be completely covered. She calls him a foolish person to go against their Grandfather.
Meanwhile back at the ground zero of the Holy Grail Kirei Kotomine surprisingly wakes up. Archer is sitting atop rubble with his legs crossed and completely naked. He had dug him out of the rubble which he says was quite tiresome. Kirei asks him what happened and Archer says that the black mud spit him out again. The heavens must have decided he should return and rule Earth again. Kirei remembers he was shot and touches where the wound would be on his chest, but although there is blood, there is no wound. And even more surprisingly he has no heartbeat. Archer can only come up with the theory that since they were tied together, when he came back so did Kirei through some absurdity. Since they outlasted all the other Servants and Masters, this result of the burned city must be what was Kirei’s deepest wish. Kirei laughs like a madman happily surprised that he is capable of gathering enjoyment from such suffering and destruction. He’s not satisfied yet though. He wants to understand the logic behind this being the outcome of his deepest wish and declares he will dedicate his life to understanding that. Archer says he will be by his side and stands up covering himself up with a red cape. Kirei walks forward promising to himself in his mind he will find it (the Holy Grail) again, see its birth and see it to its end. Before he leaves he sees Kiritsugu Emiya but Kiritsugu turns and walks away to continue searching for survivors instead of fighting him. Kirei sees this and leaves him be.
A boy's voice is heard. He is recounting him being rescued by Kiritsugu who had tears in his eyes and joy in his heart for finding someone still alive as if he was as happy as being the one saved. Kiritsugu had said thank you to the boy because he was so grateful to find someone alive because by even saving one person he saved himself.
The next day Waver Velvet is sitting at the breakfast table while watching the news with Glen and Martha Mackenzie. That ask is Mr. Alexei (Rider) made it to England safely and Waver tells them he called at the crack of dawn from Heathrow because he forgot about the time difference. Martha says that is just like him and they all have a chuckle. Waver then tells them he has decided he will do some traveling, but there is a lot of preparations and priorities he will need to take care of so he was hoping if they wouldn’t mind he could stay with them until he figures things out. Martha is very happy and Glen lifts his coffee and winks at him with a smile. Waver returns to his room which is cluttered with everything Rider left behind. He sees the game Rider bought but never opened which Rider wanted to play with him. Also inside the bag is a bonus T-shirt for the first-run edition. From outside the window Waver is shown starting up the game to play.
Kirei Kotomine is then shown together with Rin Tohsaka and family at a graveyard. He reads some words as part of Tokiomi Tohsaka’s funeral though he was the one who murdered him. After the ceremony he tells Rin Tokiomi would be proud of her behavior as the new head of the Tohsaka family. She glares at him. Her mother is also there, having apparently not died or somehow been brought back to life after Kariya Emiya choked her in the church. But, she is in a wheelchair. Kirei tells Rin to bring her now to the grave and Rin turns to do so telling her mother it’s time to say goodbye to father. Her mother however has no idea what happened nor where she is or that Sakura is no longer with them. She seems to have lost her mind and confuses Kirei for Tokiomi. Tokiomi then gives Rin his Azoth dagger to commemorate her becoming the head of the family. It is the same dagger that was given to him by Tokiomi and he used to kill him. She knows it was her father’s once and starts to cry.
The scene flashes to Saber atop a hill with piles of her soldiers all around her. She cries that she has found herself there again. The scene of her killing strike on Lancelot plays again as his voice explains that he never forgave himself for loving Guinevere, her queen, and Saber never so much as questioned him, but stood in her righteousness before him when he had hoped for judgement at her hand. Had her anger punished him, he might not have fallen into madness in his quest for atonement. Saber cries that she is unworthy atop the hill. Lancer, before he finally vanishes does tell her he can say with assurance she was the greatest of kings and all that served her shared that feeling. But atop the hill Saber cries that she wasn’t the one who should have become king.
Next is the voice of Kiritsugu Emiya again. He says he tried to contact the Einzberns numerous times but heard nothing back and Jubstachei refused to lower the barrier around the forest so he couldn’t get in to reach Illyasviel. He never saw her again… But after her, no other person was taken from him. His life didn’t become the total loss he thought it might. He adopted the boy he found that day, Shirou. Five years later they are seen sitting together on their back porch at night. He tells him he gave up on being a hero. That you can only be a hero for so long and it’s much harder to call oneself a hero as they become an adult which he wishes he realized sooner. Kiritsugu says the moon shines beautifully. Then Shirou says he’ll be the hero instead because Kiritsugu being an adult missed his chance. A light starts to shine on Saber. Kiritsugu says that’s a relief and closes his eyes. Shirely’s voice plays in his mind asking him what he wanted to be when he grows up… And he answers… “I want to be a hero.”