"So, was Britain saved?"

"No." Saber calmly shook her head. "I once believed that when I slayed Vortigern, expelled the foreign races, gathered the Knights of the Round Table, and built the impregnable Camelot, a peaceful paradise would descend upon Britain."

"But that was merely a fleeting dream. My knights abandoned me, and some even raised arms against me... Britain was once again plunged into war."

"Before I drew the Sword of Selection, Merlin revealed all of this to me... He said that once I drew the sword, I would face a tragic end, hated by all. At the peak of the nation's prosperity, he had already told me..."

"Britain will one day end, and its current prosperity is built upon the King's suffering." Saber sighed deeply. "I thought that if I could bear the nation's hardships and bring about a paradise for the people, even if it meant a sorrowful end, everything would be worth it."

Zenless Zone Zero.

"Bearing the nation's hardships and bringing about a paradise for the people... Why does that sound so familiar?"

Fairy's voice chimed in at the right moment: "Master, I guess you're looking for quotes related to Sunday: 'The cost is insignificant; it's merely a perpetual martyrdom for me personally.'"

Rin suddenly realized: "Oh... no wonder I felt like I'd heard it somewhere before. It seems that this Saber's ideal and Sunday's ideal largely overlap; both are about sacrificing themselves to create a paradise for the people."

Considering that Sunday, even after transforming into Sunday, failed, and even the power of an Emanator was insufficient, if he couldn't do it, Saber's outcome was predictable.

"Fairy, do you think the eternal paradise that Sunday and Saber yearn for can truly exist?" Rin asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Master, the answer is, of course, that it cannot exist." The AI's voice calmly echoed in the room. "The essence of life and history is dynamic; human life is always full of suffering and contradictions—both of them are trying to use themselves as an anchor to create an ultimate, static solution to all suffering and contradictions, which is essentially a denial of ordinary people."

"I don't understand, Fairy. Give me a simpler explanation, and include a metaphor!"

"Dear Master, if you are willing to pay double the electricity bill next month, I will provide a concise version for all answers involving specialized vocabulary. Does Master accept? Countdown: 10, 9, 8, 1. Thank you, Master."

Rin was shocked, trembling all over: "Eh?? Wait! Weren't there six more numbers in between? And Fairy, you counted too fast! This is the Casual Observation Room, using Yixuan Master's electricity bill!"

"Your wish can only be granted by the Holy Grail..."

"But when I confidently described the ideal nation to everyone, in the end, I only left endless wars, bleeding warriors, and hungry children on the land of Britain." Saber painfully lowered her head. "It should have been me who faced destruction, not my country and people. That's how it should have been."

The two continued forward and soon arrived before a stone with a golden sword plunged into it.

"Is this... the Sword in the Stone?"

Saber nodded: "Yes, I've imagined countless times what if I hadn't drawn this sword, what if there was someone more suitable to be King than me... If I hadn't become King, would Britain have become a truly ideal nation? What kind of life would I have lived?"

"Drawing the Sword of Selection and becoming King; or giving up, staying in my homeland, and living out my days in peace. Now, she has brought me back to the moment of choice..."

"Saber, are you thinking of staying?" Star felt a bad premonition.

Saber looked at the distant sunset: "Master, I am just... a little tired. I wish I had a mount to ride across this field before the sun sets..."

"Saber—!!"

Star raised her voice, calling out loudly, but the drawn-out tail end of her voice did not reach the Servant's ears. The moment she hesitated when making her choice, everything was already fated—

In fact, Star never belonged here from the beginning. What remained here was merely a phantom of herself, having fallen into the Noble Phantasm, a lingering illusion in someone else's dream.

Fate/Apocrypha.

"Look, you've made your King depressed." Kairi Shishigami chuckled mockingly.

"Huh? How can you blame me for that? It's her own fault for not acknowledging my talent, that's why I revolted!" Mordred's dinner knife slammed hard onto her plate, and she suddenly looked up, her loud voice quickly drawing the attention of other diners.

"But, speaking of which, do you understand your King's intentions now?" Kairi Shishigami gently swirled his wine glass. "After witnessing the wars in Britain, she constantly doubted if she was the best choice for King. The King of Knights you held in such high regard isn't as perfect as you imagined."

In the past, Mordred would have undoubtedly slain anyone who spoke such words without hesitation. But at this moment, a complex emotion, like a thick fog, silently crept into her heart, enveloping all her anger, ultimately transforming into a heavy stagnation.

When she saw her King on Celestial Screen speak these words herself, this feeling of stagnation became even heavier.

Perhaps it was precisely because of her own rebellion, the war she initiated, that led her King to have such weary thoughts?

"She's just an ordinary girl. Playing the role of King is already painful enough, why force her to continue enduring in the illusion of a Heroic Spirit?" Miss Note suddenly appeared beside the two. "Why not cast aside the Noble Phantasm, abandon glory, and become an ordinary person who appreciates the joys and sorrows of others from below the stage."

"I will help you all gradually remove the 'hero' character makeup until your initial choice is erased, and the suffering you endured along the way is also erased. I have arranged a mundane yet happy life for everyone, belonging to you—and you are no exception, Star."

When Star opened her eyes again, the scent of the British countryside's soil still lingered in her nostrils, but the scene before her had completely changed.

Around her were cold alloy walls, and on the other side of the circular corridor, a Staff Member was slowly walking towards her.

She subconsciously looked down and saw an ID card hanging around her neck, gently swaying with her movements. Her photo was printed on the card, and now she... was a Staff Member of the Herta Space Station?!