This Is My Holy Grail War [101]

Black eyes, black armor, black warhorse.

The gray-white knight was no more. Now, Archer had been completely consumed by humanity’s malice, turned into a being of pure darkness. Without hesitation, she offered her own body to nurture this world’s evil, allowing it to flourish and grow strong.

With a sharp pull on her horse’s reins, Archer spurred her mount upward. What was once a steed galloping across the earth now carried her into the heavens.

Under the blazing radiance of the sun, she ascended toward the light. In this moment of her transformation into death itself, snow began to fall gently from the sky.

“Without darkness, there can be no dawn!” The apocalyptic knight began to chant the ancient words of the Revelation. “The world shall be cleansed by a great flood. Before that day comes, I shall judge all your sins!”

Soaring over the snow-draped city, Archer rose higher into the sky.

“Proclaim it! Revelation—Descend!” Archer suddenly reached for the bow slung across her back, a weapon she had never used before.

What stood out most was that, although everything about Archer had turned into a shade of deep black, the divinely granted coronet on her head and the white bow in her hand remained untouched, unstained by the corruption of this world’s evil.

The white crown gleamed brilliantly against the backdrop of her obsidian form, and the pure white bow shone with a sacred light as Archer raised it above her head. Mounted on her warhorse, she began to sing a hymn.

The song was holy, imbued with divine authority, yet tinged with a profound loneliness and sorrow. Its icy, severe lyrics conveyed a sense of nobility and the unyielding detachment of a knight. It felt as though a celestial angel, perched loftily upon the clouds, had blown the horn of judgment upon the end of the world, gazing down at humanity below.

Drawing the bowstring gently, Archer aimed her arrow toward the sun. The sky turned a lifeless gray, as if the entire heavens were painted with the ashes of a world burned to cinders.

It was like a masterpiece—yet also like a tattered cloth, scorched by embers.

Archer’s Noble Phantasm was unleashed. But this was no Anti-Unit, no Anti-Army, nor even an Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm. This was truly an Anti-World Noble Phantasm.

Not limited to humanity, it targeted every living being on the planet. From the humblest ant to the most arrogant ruler of mankind, none could escape the original sin flowing in their blood. This was judgment upon all creation.

Merely drawing the bowstring was enough to send shockwaves through the world. The Holy Grail, which required all Servants to manifest fully, began to reveal its form.

In the next instant, a black arrow forged from pure magical energy materialized in her hands. She loosed it, and the arrow flew straight into the sun. Before the stunned eyes of onlookers, the radiant orb vanished, obliterated in an instant. It was as though Archer had shot down the very sun itself.

The sun’s warming light, once a gentle herald of spring, now turned into a venomous glow, radiating the malevolence of an abyssal darkness.

In its place, a gaping void—a black hole—appeared in the heavens. This void was the Grail’s maw.

From it poured torrents of black mud, a deluge of corruption that surged forward like a primeval beast unshackled from its chains. It swept toward the city, an unstoppable tide. What had been a beautiful day transformed into a hellish nightmare in mere moments.

The black sludge ignited the instant it touched the earth. Even materials like steel and concrete, resistant to ordinary flames, burned like oil in this cursed blaze, the fire growing fiercer and hungrier.

People fled in terror as they realized the magnitude of the disaster. The world itself had undergone a profound change, far beyond a mere revelation of Archer’s Noble Phantasm.

Yet Archer herself remained aloft, her blackened form circling above Fuyuki City, bow in hand. She neither smiled nor showed any sign of triumph. Like a mechanical automaton, she silently enacted the end of days as written in the Bible. Following its script, war, famine, and death would soon follow in the wake of her actions. Swords, starvation, plagues, and beasts would bring untold suffering to humanity.

“Ahahaha…!” Gilgamesh, witnessing the scene, laughed aloud. Far from feeling fear at this apocalyptic sight, he seemed to find it exhilarating.

Though Gilgamesh held a deep love for humanity, the current state of mankind had left him profoundly disappointed. The Archer before him, manifested as an apocalyptic knight, declared that this doomsday was necessary to cleanse humanity’s sins and restore them to the purity of Eden.

This resonated with Gilgamesh. Without hesitation, he accepted it. For without darkness, there could be no dawn—a sentiment perfectly aligned with his worldview.

He looked forward to this judgment, even as he silently prayed for humanity. Survive this trial. Shine brighter than ever before. Humanity, oh humanity…

It was a twisted kind of love. Even as he unleashed the world’s evil upon them without mercy, he hoped they would surprise him. His laughter was not of mockery, but of anticipation.

—

Is this Archer’s Noble Phantasm? Assassin, observing from the outskirts, caught sight of Archer ascending into the heavens. The white bow and crown stood out starkly, even against her blackened form. All signs pointed to the fact that this apocalyptic scene was the result of Archer unleashing her Noble Phantasm.

The apocalyptic knight’s powers, according to Tohsaka Rin’s analysis and Archer’s earlier actions, seemed to require specific conditions to activate.

The Revelation in the Bible described four horsemen of the apocalypse. Following that logic, Archer’s Noble Phantasm would require the presence of four such figures.

Archer had never chosen a Master, only extending invitations to other Servants. This suggested that she needed the agreement of at least four Servants to bring about the apocalypse.

Assassin pieced together what he could: Archer herself counted as one, and Gilgamesh, a survivor of the last Holy Grail War, as another. Then there was her Master, Angra Mainyu, an irregular Servant who had long existed within the Grail.

But even with these three, they were still one short. How had the Noble Phantasm been activated? Who was the fourth? Based on the available information, Assassin couldn’t figure it out.

But there was no time to waste on speculation. With unanswered questions lingering, Assassin and his newly forged allies set out on a journey to save the world—and humanity.

—

This is a fan translation of 这是我的圣杯之战 by 向希望祈祷. All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!