Fate: Hero of Justice Takeover

[Spirit Origin 'Avenger' has been shattered.]

[Disengaging simulated armament… Disengaged successfully.]

[Transmitting soul for return… Transmission successful.]

[Successfully returned to original world line!]

The familiar sensation of weightlessness vanished. Sakatsuki opened his eyes to see a refined and elegant hotel room.

He hadn't returned to the Church, and worried that his secrets might be discovered at Illya's house, so Sakatsuki had chosen to enter the Singularity in this state.

But he never expected to return so disgracefully like this.

"Beast, huh…" he murmured. There was no sign of unwillingness on Sakatsuki's face, only a calm recollection of the oversight in that confrontation.

Though to outsiders, it seemed that Draco simply used a Command Spell and Sakatsuki obediently chose suicide, the fierce tug-of-war within could only be known by the two of them.

Just as Ritsuka so firmly believed—how could Sakatsuki possibly not be prepared for that Command Spell?

When Draco finally invoked the Command Spell, Sakatsuki immediately communicated with the Holy Grail, relying on its mystery along with the properties of the Avenger class to resist the compulsion.

Sakatsuki had come close to success. A single Command Spell could not control an Aevenger who held the Grail.

But his Master was no mere magus, but a Beast—an embodiment of humanity's evil, and originally the true master of the Holy Grail.

How could Draco have wasted such a Command Spell?

While Sakatsuki was locked in resistance against the Command Spell, immobilized, the few remaining Beast Herc moved.

As the familiars of a fallen Beast, they inherently embodied the Seven Deadly Sins, the incarnation of base desires:

Greed, pride, sloth, envy, gluttony, wrath...

In that instant, they self-detonated, transforming into pure original sin, flowing into Sakatsuki's body, shaking his emotions.

After a brief moment of shock, SaSakatsukikuya let the bloodlust surge in reverse, filling himself with murderous aura to block the descent into emotion. Even as pain wracked his spirit, he remained unmoved.

If he could endure this, Draco would have no more cards to play—

!!!

In a corner hidden from all eyes, the beauty leaned down. Though her body seemed soft and boneless, she became the final straw that broke the camel's back.

Because Draco embraced Sakatsuki, lifted his chin with her fingers, and lowered her head.

Something soft touched his lips—cold and forceful—like a small dragon full of hostility and possessiveness, biting the man entangled in fate.

Even if only for a brief moment, before separating, he could still feel the blazing passion hidden beneath that icy mask.

The incarnation of lust, the great demon concubine—Draco.

That passionate kiss completely shattered Sakatsuki's psychological defenses.

Reason trembled. His soul was shaken.The Beast Herc invaded. The Command Spell spread like maggots clinging to bones. The Holy Grail's light retreated again and again, until it finally cried out and was forced back into the Chronicle of Fate.

A sigh echoed from within the Spirit Origin. As a Servant, he still followed the same fate as always.

"Kill yourself, Avenger."

The soft lips had already withdrawn. Draco pulled away without the slightest attachment and issued her command again.

Thus, the white-haired general plunged his hand into his chest and crushed his spiritual core.

Only then, after the Servants—whose perception was obscured by the aura of the Demon Pillars—turned their heads in delayed realization…

They witnessed, in utter shock, the collapse of a great edifice.

"Sigh, to think I was forced into a kiss. So humiliating and cold. When will us men ever stand tall again…"

Despite saying that, Sakatsuki still had to rub his face to hide the strange arc that had subconsciously formed at the corner of his lips.

Although he'd been treated like a dog and died in the Singularity, his mood was inexplicably good—so much so that he almost wanted to burst into song.

It seemed someone finally couldn't stand how smug he looked even in death, and a wave of drowsiness suddenly washed over him like the tide.

"Shit, today's the checkout date…" Before he could say more, Sakatsuki's eyes shut, and he fell into layer upon layer of dreams—completely unconscious.

It was a call from the valley of death.

When Sakatsuki opened his eyes again, an old man holding a worn greatsword and wreathed in ghostly blue flames stood silently before him.

"King Hassan… to think you'd drag me into a dream on your own initiative. What's this about?" Looking at the overwhelmingly oppressive Old Man of the Mountain, Sakatsuki didn't flinch but simply smiled wryly.

Though never written out explicitly, after their first encounter—where his head was severed by the Old Man of the Mountain—every night since, Sakatsuki had met him in dreams, fought, and lost. Like the final boss guarding the end of a Soulsborne game's garden.

After dying in 108 different ways, Sakatsuki didn't really gain any kind of death precognition, and simply gave up on winning—treating it as training, just hoping not to die too miserably.

But this was the first time King Hassan had actively dragged him into a dream.

A soul-light ignited in the hollow of the old man's eyes, and for the first time, this nightmare shell spoke:

"I have smelled the scent of the Beast. The Fallen Beast, the dragon that drinks foul water from the golden cup—she is already close."

Hearing this, Sakatsuki also set aside his casual air and nodded solemnly. "Indeed, old man. Far away in the Mediterranean, my struggle with Draco has ended. I tasted the bitter fruit of failure, and she… likely has broken her seal and reclaimed the Beast's soul and body."

"Are you truly the one who failed?"

"…What?"

This time, the Grand Assassin did not answer the man's rhetorical question. Instead, he raised the old sword in his hand slowly:

"Such arrogance, such sloth—was it all to add more bones to the strong man's grandeur?"

"Fool. Hand over your head!"

As that familiar line rang out, Sakatsuki's iridescent azure eyes lit up along with the howling dark wind, reflecting a shattered world.

Mystic Eyes of Death Perception—Activate!

"I've been playing the role of Lord Wu An for so long, I nearly forgot how to fight…"

Dodging the attack with composure, Sakatsuki stretched his limbs, twin black-and-white blades crossed to hide his face, exposing only a pair of unsettling eyes.

Though not on par with King Hassan in basic technique, after dying so many times, even a dog would have memorized the enemy's attack patterns.

He could've cleared this long ago, but had been busy conquering the second Singularity and didn't have time for the trial. Still, since King Hassan came knocking…

"Then let's have a proper fight, Old Man of the Mountain!"

With a confident shout, Sakatsuki charged forward.

And immediately got wrecked.

His headless corpse had just fallen before King Hassan when a new shadow gathered and formed a fresh body. Before he could even register his own decapitation, he instinctively swung his arms—only to find them empty.

A wild Sakatsuki had respawned!

"I got one-shotted?! Wait, how am I alive again?!"

Sakatsuki was incredulous—not only because King Hassan's combat level had skyrocketed, but also because this time, he hadn't exited the trial upon dying.

A wave of crisis exploded—facing the increasingly pressing King Hassan, the young man in his prime rapidly retreated, choosing to back off in the dream for the first time.

After all, King Hassan's attacks could cause real harm to his actual self!

One death was fine, but two, three… who knew how long he'd be trapped in this illusion, or how many more times he'd be killed?

Even though he'd already left the Second Singularity, he had no intention of giving up yet!

He threw his twin blades, briefly halting the old man's steps. Taking the chance, Sakatsuki summoned a crimson magic spear. Without dodging or retreating, he charged forward.

The spear flashed, and a silver moon arc appeared in the black ocean.

As if holding a paintbrush, painting recklessly—his face couldn't help but break into a smile, his rainbow-blue eyes growing ever brighter, like a madman in a ruined world:

"Come! Battle!"

***

Hey readers!

Want to read ahead? 📖 Join my Patreon for early access to 30+ advance chapters! Your support helps me write more and bring the story to you faster.

🔹patreon.com/aarvan🔹