Chapter 640

Chapter 640: The Holy Grail Moon’s Final Night

A delicate and beautiful face, a small and straight nose, thin yet alluring lips, and glossy black twin-tails.

And when those eyelids lifted, they revealed clear eyes like misty rain.

As the pristine windowsill, the empty corridor, and the pale fluorescent lights came into view, Rin Tohsaka frantically glanced around. The cold moonlight brushed against the girl’s face, making her appear as helpless as a newborn emerging from amniotic fluid.

Her gaze swept the surroundings until it landed on a young man leaning against the railing, overlooking the schoolyard. His silver-white hair bathed in light, golden vertical pupils, handsome features, and sharp jawline—enough to captivate anyone’s attention.

It was as if, after a long day of studies, an exhausted girl had encountered a breathtakingly handsome upperclassman in the school hallway. Just looking at him made her restless heart dock safely in the harbor of Porto Calle.

"...What exactly is my situation right now?"

"Just like Alice, your opponent in the Three Meetings with Hakuno, I intercepted and restored your data before the Moon Cell could discard you into the recycle bin for permanent deletion." Sakatsuki didn’t turn around. "To put it simply—you’ve been revived."

Revived.

Sakatsuki’s tone was so matter-of-fact that Rin froze for a long moment before the reality and joy of it finally sank in.

Along with a faint trace of resentment.

"You could’ve told me I wasn’t going to die... Making me put on that heroic, ready-to-die expression was downright embarrassing."

Completely forgetting the fact that she had just been resurrected, Rin planted her hands on her hips and stomped forward to tug at Sakatsuki’s sleeve. When the young man finally turned his head with a resigned look, the girl couldn’t help but curve her lips into a radiant smile.

"Hey, Sakatsuki-kun, you didn’t just stand there watching me say all those cringeworthy things because of some twisted sense of amusement, planning to mock me about it later, right?"

"..."

"Right?!" Rin’s smile grew increasingly strained, and Sakatsuki guiltily averted his gaze. Before she could spiral into a crouching, head-clutching meltdown, he nodded.

"Of course not. ’I’ would never be that kind of person. Mhm."

"If you hadn’t tacked on that last sound, I might’ve actually believed you." Rin twitched her lips and leaned in closer. "So what were you staring at so intently earlier? What could possibly be more interesting than this beautiful girl right here—ah."

The twin-tailed beauty’s neck creaked as she turned her head, glancing between Sakatsuki (who was struggling to keep a straight face) and the red-cloaked figure standing in the schoolyard, his golden vertical pupils gleaming as he faced off against Leo and Gawain.

"This... you... I..."

"That’s the Servant. I’m the Sakatsuki from the preliminaries. He killed you. I saved you. He’s me. I’m him. While I was reviving you, Leo showed up looking for a fight... Got all that? Understand?"

No! Who could possibly understand that?!

The rapid-fire explanation bombarded Rin’s brain, short-circuiting her thoughts. Perhaps her dumbfounded expression was too obvious, because Sakatsuki—the original—sighed and gave her a look that screamed, "Child, the entire family is disappointed in you," before his form gradually began to fade.

Tired, I should just go back and play chess with Buddha-brother.

"Whatever, I wouldn’t be surprised by anything that happens to you." While Sakatsuki was pondering the solution to that half-finished chess game, Rin finally sighed in abstract resignation to reality. "But since you’re facing Leo, that means the Moon Holy Grail War has reached its final battle."

"Final battle?" Sakatsuki chewed on this unexpected term, smiling faintly.

"Sorry, but this can hardly be called a final battle—"

"After all, Hakuno was practically raised by me?" On the playground, Sakatsuki Archer said without mincing words, "Rather than having a ’final battle’ with some boring guy who’s the same gender as me and almost as handsome as I am, I’d much rather look forward to surprises from sweet, soft female students."

"What a shame." Leo didn’t take this as provocation—he had the confidence to crush such arrogance. "I’ve prepared for so long, even sacrificed my brother. With the power gained at such cost, of course I can defeat you, and take care of Hakuno along the way."

"..." Sakatsuki paid no heed to Leo’s declaration, but when the boy mentioned his brother, mentioned Julius’s sacrifice with that expression of detached reminiscence, the smile vanished from his face.

"Julius died because of you."

"Of course I know." Leo tilted his head, puzzled by Sakatsuki’s repetition. Beyond confidence and radiance, this might have been one of the few subtle emotions Leo could express.

But among these emotions barely surviving under the scorching sun, there was no grief or longing.

Only calm—the tranquility of accepting Julius’s death as fact, unmoved.

"Indeed, you are an ideal King-Saint." Sakatsuki’s face was expressionless. "But your complete lack of feeling toward your brother’s death has created an unbridgeable chasm between you and humanity."

"Is... that so." The boy seemed momentarily taken aback. "Now that you mention it, I did have a similar realization. As a king, I might not be perfect yet. Perhaps when I finally face Hakuno, I can learn something from her."

"No need to wait until then—you won’t live to see that moment." Sakatsuki raised a hand. "What you lack, I can tell you right now—"

"Please stop, Leo. That’s enough. I don’t believe there’s any need to converse with an opponent before the final battle."

As sunlight bathed half the playground, a knight resembling a white knight prince materialized from illusion.

"I told you not to manifest, Gawain."

"My deepest apologies, but Leo, I don’t believe you lack anything." Using his towering frame, Gawain shielded his Master while glaring at Sakatsuki. "I shall wield my holy sword to protect you and clear all obstacles from your path."

"..." Faced with his stubborn guardian knight, Leo ultimately sighed in resignation. "I’m truly sorry things have become so awkward. Then let’s proceed with the battle, Sakatsuki."

"With pleasure."

With the topic forcibly cut short, Sakatsuki abandoned further discussion. Cold steel gleamed as he grasped his black-and-white blade.

"After all, practice is the sole criterion for testing truth."

Tossing this obscure humor at Leo, Sakatsuki fully focused his mind, sword at the ready.

Even with his memories from before the transmigration, the young man clearly remembered that the boy Leonardo Bistario Harway was a character modeled after King Arthur.

Inheriting the wisdom of a king while also bearing the heart of a sacred ruler devoid of mercy.

Such a leader—no wonder Gawain pledged his loyalty, no wonder those who approached him lamented with the sorrowful refrain, "The king understands not the hearts of men."

Likewise, for someone who had fallen into such obsession, he had already corrected one and naturally could correct a second.

"The so-called answer will naturally reveal itself when you are defeated, Leo!"

————

The battle commenced swiftly.

And—concluded just as quickly.

Nearly every Master had been eagerly anticipating since the second round—the moment when the mysterious and formidable Servant Sakatsuki would clash with the renowned Leo. They imagined how the two would be evenly matched, advancing and retreating, countering each other’s moves in a dazzling display of skill.

However, that was the Sakatsuki before the fourth round.

In the first battle, he reclaimed his two great magecrafts and the Noble Phantasm of the Electromaster.

In the second battle, he regained his peerless demonic fists.

In the third battle, the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception revealed their sharp edge.

Finally, in the fourth battle, the draconic constitution capable of sustaining this killing machine returned to the young man.

Sakatsuki—Archer. Though nominally still bound by the constraints of a Servant, due to compatibility issues, he could fully manifest the entirety of his original power. After all, the origin of Sakatsuki’s existence stemmed from the first Heroic Spirit of iron forging.

At this moment, standing before Gawain was a Magus who wielded the Third Magic and supreme magecraft; a warrior whose martial prowess reached divine realms, unparalleled in archery, spearmanship, and swordsmanship; and a great hero bestowed with mysteries rivaling the Age of Gods.

Even the radiant sun among the Knights of the Round Table seemed insignificant before this last knight who had ascended to the pinnacle of legend.

Moreover, the young man continued to write his legend step by step—while the heroes recorded in the Throne of Heroes had long ceased to progress.

Once surpassed, there was no possibility of catching up again.

"Lightning, descend!"

Moving like a phantom, he deftly evaded the sword strike. Sakatsuki’s crimson robes fluttered as he descended like a butterfly into a diamond-shaped space, only to reappear behind Gawain in the next instant. Pointing a finger skyward, the thunderclouds he had been gathering since the start of the battle roared, unleashing lightning saturated with positive and negative charges, striking the knight—once as fair as a prince—into a disheveled, half-kneeling state.

"Gawain, watch your front!" Leo raised a hand to shield himself from the billowing dust, still managing to warn his Servant. But it was too late. Sakatsuki, with his displacement magecraft, moved faster than sound itself.

With a crisp snap, the young man’s hand clamped onto Gawain’s head like a claw. Gawain instinctively struggled, barely lifting his gaze to meet Sakatsuki’s radiant, sunlit smile.

"You know, I’ve wanted to try this move for a long time."

Pretty Boy, effect activated.

Critical failure!

A sudden chill seized Gawain’s heart, twisting and contorting it. He gazed at Sakatsuki’s smiling face—that countenance almost as handsome as his king’s—now exuding an ominous aura akin to hellish demons. In that brief silence, it felt as if endless abyssal valleys had risen, greedily licking at the sun before finally opening their maws to devour it whole.

In despair, Gawain closed his eyes.

To Sir Tristan,

At last, I have come to understand your sorrow...

Then, in a sudden burst of acceleration, Gawain’s soul bid farewell to his flesh before he could utter any last words.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Manic laughter and the sound of buildings being demolished followed in rapid succession. Thus, the Moon Holy Grail War welcomed its final midnight.