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To Arash's horror, he realized that the lotus wasn't just growing, it was trying to trap Brynhildr within its petals!

"Brynhildr, run!" he shouted.

"I'm trying!" Brynhildr yelled back as she kicked off the ground. She flew up fast, trying to get beyond the lotus's reach.

Higher and higher she went. She could see the open sky ahead, feel the cool evening air. She was almost there.

But just as she was about to break free, countless black hands shot out from the lotus. They moved with terrifying speed, grabbing her ankles first in an iron grip.

Then they wrapped around her legs, her waist, her arms. More seized her chest, constricting tightly, making it hard to breathe. When she tried to scream, they covered her mouth too, silencing her cries for help.

Brynhildr's upward flight stopped abruptly. Then she started falling, her momentum reversed in an instant. The black hands pulled her down relentlessly, like the hands of countless devils dragging a celestial being straight into hell.

The scene left everyone frozen, their skin crawling.

"So this is it," Gil muttered, watching Brynhildr being pulled down. "That weird feeling I felt from future Shirou... it was this thing." He shuddered. "It's disgusting. I don't even want to go near it."

Suddenly remembering his scabbard had touched some of this mud, Gil yanked it off with a grimace. He tossed it into the Gate of Babylon, vowing never to use it again.

"Mmph... mmph..."

Brynhildr couldn't speak as the black hands dragged her into the lotus.

Then the Black Knight clenched his fist, a deliberate and ominous gesture. The lotus responded instantly, its massive petals snapping shut with a thunderous boom, releasing a flood of dark light that blinded everyone.

When they could see again, Brynhildr was gone.

"She's... gone? Even with her Immortality?" Fujimaru stammered, his eyes wide.

"She didn't just disappear, you moron!" Misaya snapped, her face ashen. "She melted. Like chocolate in an oven, she just... melted away."

Fujimaru froze, processing her words. Then the realization hit him, and the color drained from his face.

"What kind of twisted person is your future self?" Misaya asked, her voice shaky. "To melt someone like that..."

"How should I know what he's into?" Fujimaru shot back, looking equally disturbed.

"You—" Misaya started, then caught herself. "No, I... I'm sorry, this humble girl shouldn't speak to you like that."

Fujimaru: "....."

He just stared at her, speechless.

There was no doubt about it - the Black Knight's attack had shaken Misaya to her core, silencing even her usual sharp tongue.

Just then, Brynhildr's ethereal form appeared from what was left of the lotus. She looked at the Black Knight, her expression oddly peaceful. "Thank you for freeing me," she said with a lonely smile. "So this is what it means to be eternally drowned in extreme love..."

Her soul flickered, then faded away.

"Brynhildr..." Arash whispered. Then his face twisted with rage. "You killed Lancer! You'll pay for this!"

Even corrupted by Manaka, Arash's instinct to protect his allies remained. But now, that instinct had warped into something much darker.

"Ahhh!"

Black flames erupted from Arash's body. The surge of mana was so intense it seemed to bend reality, making everything around him look distorted.

Gilgamesh's eyes widened in alarm. "That mongrel is going all out! He's burning away his own immortality—"

"Take my final—STELLA!" Arash shouted.

The space around him began to warp and twist.

Gilgamesh quickly moved in front of Fujimaru and Misaya. He combined two swords, forming a gleaming golden bow. His face was grim as he spoke:

"The inferno of destruction fills the heavens! Behold! This is what it means to destroy the World! Sword of the End—, Enki!"

Massive waves of world-ending power gathered in space, creating giant magic circles in Earth's orbit. At the same time, divine symbols lit up along Gilgamesh's bow.

This was the Star of Destruction, the Surge of Utnapishtim. Unlike Ea, the Sword of the End Enki had no creation power. It was pure destruction, the embodiment of the Great Flood myth made manifest.

The Sword of the End's power grew each day, building up to unleash a world-ending flood from orbit on the seventh day - like Noah's Flood.

This was Gil's secret weapon, meant for Arthur and Manaka. But now, to save everyone, he chose to destroy the Sword of the End and was firing it from the ground to counter Arash's final Stella.

Just then, Fujimaru spotted Mordred in the distance, his eyes widening in alarm. "Gil, wait! Mordred's still out there!"

"Too late!"

Gilgamesh loosed the world-ending arrow. It streaked through the air, a harbinger of absolute destruction.

The force of destruction met the star-slaying fire mid-air. Their collision created an explosion strong enough to shatter a Holy Sword and kill a Beast. The very fabric of reality trembled at the impact.

"Crack crack crack—"

The land split like breaking glass, revealing black chaos and warped gaps between dimensions. The blast wiped out everything in its path - time, space, cause and effect, concepts, matter... all of it obliterated in the surge of colliding energies.

Mordred watched helplessly as the energy surge approached. Even her Intangibility wouldn't protect her from this all-consuming blast.

But at the last second, the Black Knight - driven by Shirou's instinct - turned back. It reached out, embracing Mordred, and shielded her with its body.

She froze.

It felt... warm.

Though it was just a mass of mud, those arms and chest gave off a comforting heat.

She rested her cheek against it. There was no heartbeat, no coldness, just the feeling of being wrapped in warm springs.

"This feels so... familiar. So safe."

Then she realized. This must be how it would feel if that man had held her as a child.

It was yearning, anger, distance, and... love.

"Boom!"

In a massive explosion, everything vanished.

Love, hate, land, trees... all of it disappeared, leaving only a void of chaotic, twisted darkness.

...

"What is this?" Misaya asked, staring at the twisted darkness around them.

Gilgamesh scanned the void, searching for any sign of Arash. There was none.

"How... how did it end up like this?" Fujimaru said, his voice shaky.

"We blasted through the World Texture," Gilgamesh explained. "Space, time, cause and effect... the planet's surface here can't recover. Good thing this is just a past time plane. Otherwise, who knows what might escape."

"Escape?" Fujimaru asked.

"Without the World Texture, we'd see gods, ghosts, demons... all the beings unwilling to let the Age of Gods end. They'd show up right here." Gil's face was grim as he looked around. "Or maybe... in the real past, we did blast through it. Maybe that's what led to the Beast of Revelation disaster."

"Forget about that. Where's Mordred?" Fujimaru asked, his voice tight. "You didn't kill her, did you? How are we going to explain that to my future self?"

Gilgamesh scowled. "This king doesn't explain himself to anyone!" Then he pointed to a warped area. "But she's still alive."

Fujimaru and Misaya looked where he pointed. There was Mordred, unharmed, still in the Black Knight's arms. But the knight was in bad shape - half its body gone, face torn off, what was left of it crumbling away.

"This... It blocked that strike..." Gil's brow furrowed. "Was it a Noble Phantasm? Or just sheer willpower?"

"Is this really the time to wonder about that?" Fujimaru shot back.

The Black Knight set Mordred down, creating a path of mud towards Fujimaru and the others. It gave her a gentle push.

But Mordred didn't move. She stared at the crumbling mud knight and said:

"Why?"

"Why?"

"Why?"

Three times she asked, tears streaming down her face. "If you despise me, why protect me? If you care about me, why despise me? Why? I don't understand... why?"

The Black Knight watched her cry, silently falling apart.

It was just mud, not human, only carrying Shirou's instinct.

Yet, seeing Mordred's tears, it knelt down. With its half-crumbled hand, it gently wiped her cheek, then softly held her face.

"Don't touch me!"

Mordred swatted at the hand, but she caught only air, her hand passing through where the knight had been. She hurriedly looked up, eyes widening as she saw the knight crumbling like grains of sand.

Panicked, she tried to hold on, her hands grasping desperately at the disintegrating form. But the more she grabbed, the faster it vanished. In the end, even what she clutched slipped through her fingers, leaving her hands empty.

Heartbroken, she crouched down, staring at the spot where the mud knight had been. Her eyes searched the ground, as if hoping to find some trace of its existence.

The dispersing mud particles lit up the black world like stars, tiny points of light in the darkness. The Black Knight's body dissolved like dream bubbles, its form becoming less distinct with each passing moment. As it faded, Mordred caught a glimpse of a smile on its half-face.

It was an incomplete, gentle smile.

Then, like fireflies on a summer night, the particles swirled around her a few times. They danced in the air, circling her as if in farewell. And then, just like bubbles in a dream, they vanished completely, leaving behind Mordred, a pitch-black night sky and flowing tears.