With the battles between the Conqueror King and the Hero King, and Artoria and Lancelot concluded, the final confrontation between the Masters, Kiritsugu and Kirei, also commenced.
In truth, the Holy Grail War did not feature many direct battles between Masters. If you exclude minor skirmishes, there were essentially three significant confrontations:
1. The battle between Kiritsugu and Kayneth, where Kayneth's magic circuits were destroyed.
2. The fight between Kariya and Tohsaka Tokiomi, where Kariya was defeated by Tokiomi's flames.
3. The current battle between Kiritsugu and Kirei.
The tension and excitement in this battle were palpable. Kiritsugu wielded modern firearms, while Kirei relied on melee weapons and martial arts. This clash of different combat styles created a unique and intense atmosphere, making readers feel on edge.
Just as both were about to deliver their final, fatal blows, the ceiling collapsed. Black mud poured in, engulfing both men and transporting them into the Holy Grail's inner world.
Here, Kiritsugu faced the greatest challenge of his life within the Holy Grail War. The Grail presented him with a series of dilemmas:
On a sea, there were two ships. One carried three hundred people, the other two hundred, totaling five hundred passengers, with Kiritsugu being the five hundred and first person. Suppose these five hundred and one people were the last remaining humans on Earth.
The Grail posed several questions to Kiritsugu, such as: if both ships were sinking, which one would he save? If he chose to save the ship with more people, what would he do if those left behind resisted his rescue efforts?
These questions left even the readers pondering deeply. If the ships carried no loved ones, just strangers, wouldn't the rational choice be to save the larger group, as the Grail suggested? Yet, something felt inherently wrong about this logic.
"This problem is similar to the famous Trolley Problem," a reader commented.
The Trolley Problem is one of the most well-known thought experiments in ethics. It presents an unresolvable moral dilemma. Essentially, it asks whether you would divert a runaway trolley onto a track with one person to save five people on the other track.
"Isn't this like the Grail's question?"
"If both ships had no one I knew, of course I'd save the one with more people!" another reader asserted.
"The lives on the other ship are also lives! What gives you the right to choose who lives and who dies?"
"Heh, because only I can repair the ships! You have no right to demand my help. If you don't like my choice, fix the ship yourself!" retorted another.
As readers debated, Kiritsugu also struggled with his decision. As an idealist, his black-and-white view of the world made him decisive in the past. But this time, faced with such a dilemma, his worldview was shattered.
When Kiritsugu realized that even if he wished to save the world, the world would respond with destruction, he resolutely rejected the Grail. Even when faced with the visions of his wife and daughter, he chose to "kill" them to prevent the Grail's misuse.
Kiritsugu, who had sacrificed everything to reach this point, rejected the Grail when he saw the cost outweighed the benefit. He killed Kirei and then used a Command Seal to order Artoria to destroy the Grail.
The burning black mud brought disaster to Fuyuki City, leaving scars that would remain for years. Amidst the inferno, Kiritsugu managed to save only one boy.
"Is this the end of the Holy Grail War? No one truly won..." Daniel thought, unable to calm his turbulent emotions.
If asked if the comic was good, he would say yes. If asked if it was exciting, he would also say yes. The fights and story were thrilling and well-executed. But after finishing it, many readers felt uneasy.
What about the heartwarming ending the Porter promised recently? How was this heartwarming?
Kiritsugu's ideals were shattered, his wife died, and the Grail he sought was destroyed by Artoria's own hands. The two main villains, the Hero King and Kirei, were resurrected by the Grail in the end.
Readers felt the conclusion was far from heartwarming. The unjust survived while the righteous perished. Many fans protested, flooding Ren's Weibo with comments. Some even gathered outside Picca Comics with banners, initially mistaken for protesting unpaid wages.
"Luckily, they can't get into this neighborhood," Ren said, watching from his second-floor window.
Seeing the increase in strangers outside the neighborhood, Ren decided to address the situation. He posted a complaint online:
"It is a heartwarming ending! So many hints left behind mean there will be a sequel to this amazing comic. Isn't that heartwarming enough?"
Initially, fans were furious at Ren's seemingly dismissive response, but after considering his words, they began to see some truth in it.
Indeed, Ren had left many unresolved plot points: the survival of the Hero King and Kirei, the boy Kiritsugu saved who aspired to be a hero, and the fates of Irisviel's daughter, Tohsaka Rin, and Kariya's niece.
"Well, when you think about it, it is kind of heartwarming."
"But wasn't the Grail destroyed by Artoria's Excalibur? How can there be another Holy Grail War?"
"Isn't it up to the Porter to decide if it's destroyed or not?"
"True enough."
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