"Stop," Saber's expression shifted abruptly, and she instinctively rushed forward, but another figure moved faster. Lily stepped in front of her, Excalibur already drawn, its edge pointed directly at Saber.

"Remember what I told you at the banquet last night? I looked forward to a battle with you. Now, if you want to save your Master, then fight me with the Holy Sword in your hand," Lily stated calmly, her face expressionless.

The White Knight's voice was somewhat husky, not from fear of the person before her, but more from her internal hesitation. Though clutching the Holy Sword, she lacked the courage to attack. She had no confidence in winning; this sword, entrusted with dreams of glory and the oath of victory, could not be swung. The defiled code of Chivalry. I am unworthy of this sword now... the King of Knights thought.

Saber did not attack, and Lily made no move either; she was merely standing there, blocking the path. Of course, simply standing there was enough. Unlike Saber, Lily harbored no doubts; no one would pass her.

Bang.

The gunshot rang out. Kiritsugu Emiya never feared a fight. So, as Lin Luo approached him, he unhesitatingly drew the gun hidden in his coat and fired toward Lin Luo's heart.

But Lin Luo seemed utterly oblivious, letting the bullet fly toward him without dodging or flinching. Then, just as the projectile was about to make contact, a faint white mist materialized over his chest. It was as if a leaf had struck a wall; the bullet, capable of piercing a human body, fell harmlessly to the ground.

"Is this the weapon you use to save the world?" Lin Luo didn't even glance down, continuing his advance with contempt in his eyes. "What a pity. If I can block a Noble Phantasm, something like this is utterly useless."

A flicker of shock crossed Emiya Kiritsugu's eyes, but as the Magus Killer, his blood ran cold quickly, and he regained his composure... There was no one who could not be killed. That was the fact Kiritsugu knew, so even if the bullet failed, there must be something else that could effectively harm the opponent.

So thought Kiritsugu, yet he failed to realize that his enemy, for the moment, was effectively invincible to him.

Just as Kiritsugu prepared to change his attack vector, his vision blurred; Lin Luo had vanished from his front. The next instant, he felt a violent churning in his gut, a tremendous force exploding within him, making it feel as though his internal organs were about to erupt. He was sent flying backward.

"This won't do. How can someone so weak save the world? You're too arrogant," Lin Luo remarked sarcastically, retracting the fist he had landed on Kiritsugu’s abdomen. Before the man's body even hit the ground, Lin Luo had already disappeared from his original spot.

The next moment, he materialized behind Kiritsugu, delivering a sharp kick to the body still suspended in mid-air.

Thud.

Receiving another heavy blow, Kiritsugu violently spat out a mouthful of blood and crashed heavily onto the ground.

"Kiritsugu!" From the moment Emiya Kiritsugu fired until he fell, the entire event took less than two seconds. Irisviel finally reacted, a mix of shock and alarm surging through her, and she instinctively moved to rush forward.

But at that precise moment, a series of rapid rat-a-tat-tat sounds echoed in the air—a continuous spray of bullets shot toward Lin Luo from an unseen direction, like a sudden downpour.

Engulfed entirely in the hail of projectiles, Lin Luo merely squinted slightly, making no defensive move. Another cloud of white mist appeared, completely blocking the rain of bullets capable of tearing anyone apart. They struck the barrier and splashed harmlessly onto the ground.

Glancing at the spent casings scattered by his feet, Lin Luo nodded approvingly. "Hmm, not bad, not bad. Those look like assault rifle rounds; definitely more power than the last attack. The shooter must be that assistant of yours, the one named Maiya, right? Decent aim, but if you want to defeat me with technological weaponry, you'd need a nuclear bomb."

This was no idle boast. With defenses capable of blocking Noble Phantasms, the technology of this era could not inflict any damage on Lin Luo, unless it was a blast like a nuclear explosion capable of instantly turning him to ash.

And Emiya Kiritsugu, of course, did not possess a nuclear arsenal.

Blocked by Lily, both Maiya and Irisviel could only watch, stunned once more by Lin Luo's overwhelming power. While blocking bullets wasn't extraordinary—any moderately competent magus could manage that—what was that ghostly, phantom-like speed?

No, that wasn't merely a matter of speed; it was outright teleportation... bordering on true magic.

The realization struck both women simultaneously: Could he be a True Magus?

"You shouldn't be dead yet. Get up, Kiritsugu. You claimed you would save the world, didn't you? If you can't even defeat someone like me, how can you save anyone? Don't be so naive," Lin Luo said. The image of Lin Luo presented to them now was utterly different from his usual self—ruthless and chillingly cold.

"You... what is wrong with saving the world?" Kiritsugu managed to roll over on the ground, his face contorted with fury. He was finally provoked, but he lacked the strength to rise again.

Although Lin Luo had only struck him twice, for the recipient, it felt akin to being hit by a truck twice. He knew that if Lin Luo hadn't held back, he would already be dead.

"Indeed, there is nothing wrong with wanting to save the world; this world is rife with too much evil. But... you are too presumptuous, Kiritsugu Emiya. Who do you think you are, a savior?" Lin Luo looked down at him with a cold sneer.

"Even a mortal has the right to save the world," Kiritsugu retorted fiercely, enduring the intense pain wracking his body.

"Yes, everyone has that right, but certainly not you..." Lin Luo nodded, then shook his head. "Because you are not human. You are merely an unfeeling killing machine. Machines cannot save the world."

Seeing Kiritsugu prepare to protest, he continued: "Isn't that true? You weigh the lives of everyone in the world by quantity, placing your own family and complete strangers on the same level. To allow the majority to live, you must extinguish the minority. To save the side that gains even one person, you must abandon the side that loses even one person. Saving indiscriminately means killing indiscriminately; life has no inherent value or status, young or old—a single life is the only measurable unit. Even if you love someone, you still treat their life as equivalent to another's, cherishing them equally, discarding them equally. Who could ever believe that such a person could save the world?"

"This is my way of saving the world. There is nothing wrong with it," Kiritsugu glared at Lin Luo, unwavering in his conviction regarding his path to salvation.

"Ha," a sound that was both a scoff and a sigh, Lin Luo spread his hands open. "Very well, let us use an analogy. I will ask questions now. As long as you answer according to your true will—no matter what the answer—I will not kill you. Conversely, if you lie, you exit here. How about it?"

"...Fine. Ask away," Kiritsugu agreed after a few seconds of thought. He had no other choice given his current predicament.

Lin Luo nodded. "Excellent. Then, the questioning begins. I expect an answer within three seconds. First, the premise: Two boats drift on the ocean. One carries three hundred people, the other two hundred, totaling five hundred humans, plus yourself, Kiritsugu Emiya. Assume these five hundred and one individuals are the last remaining humans on Earth..."

At this point, Lin Luo smiled strangely. "...And here is the question: Both boats suddenly spring a fatal leak simultaneously. You are the only one with the ship repair technology. If you mend one ship, the other will sink. Which ship do you choose to repair?"

"Naturally, the one with three hundred people," Kiritsugu answered without hesitation.

"After you make that decision, the two hundred people on the other boat will certainly disagree. They don't want to die either, and they will try every means necessary to stop you and force you to repair their ship. What do you do?"

"Kill..." Hesitating for less than three seconds, Kiritsugu replied.

"Good. Now for the second question: The boat with the remaining three hundred people encounters another problem, and it's irreparable. At this moment, there is a lifeboat, and only you know how to operate it, but it only holds two hundred people. Once it's full, the remaining one hundred people will naturally refuse to be abandoned. They want to be rescued; they might even try to seize the lifeboat. What do you do then?"

"...Kill." Kiritsugu felt something was going wrong, but under Lin Luo's gaze, he forced the word out.

"Mmm, while your answer is infuriating, I appreciate your honesty. Now, the third question. The lifeboat finally reaches a small island. Everyone is starving and thirsty, and only you, Emiya Kiritsugu, can find food and fresh water. Don't ask why only you can find it; you're the Savior, after all. The others are all old, weak, young, and frail—incapable of such feats. However, the food and water are only enough for one hundred and twenty people to survive, and barely enough to sustain life. So, you distribute the provisions to those one hundred and twenty. Oh, and you don't need to eat or drink because you are the Savior and cannot die. So, what is your choice now? And yes, those eighty others are certainly going to try and seize the supplies."

"...Kill." Following the data and logic in his mind, Kiritsugu made his choice.

"Mmm, you answered faster than I expected. You truly have the potential of a Savior. Now for the fourth question: A monster appears on the island. However, you can only protect eighty people while fleeing. The remaining forty are beyond your capacity to guard, though those forty will desperately cling to you, begging for your protection. What do you do?"

"...Kill." Resisting something internally, Kiritsugu murmured the word.

"And for the fifth question, it's lunchtime again. This time, there's even less food—enough for only sixty people to live. What do you do? Same as before, the people who miss out will fight you for the supplies."

"Kill." Surprisingly, Kiritsugu answered this time almost instantly.

"Next, the sixth question. You encounter another monster. This one is stronger; its name is QB. With your abilities, you can only protect forty people. Again, the remaining twenty demand your protection. What do you do?"

"Kill." The voice was almost numb.

"All right, it's dinner time. The food is dwindling severely—only twenty-five portions. Those who don't eat will die. What's your move?"

"Kill." A voice as cold as ice, utterly devoid of human warmth.

"Eighth question: Tonight, another monster appears—a truly formidable one named the Town-Guarding Divine Conduit. You can only save fifteen people."

"...Kill." His voice trembled, a sound utterly unlike anything that should escape a human mouth.

"Mmm, excellent, excellent. The path to salvation is almost complete. Now for the ninth question..."

"Stop... stop talking..." Before Lin Luo could finish the query, Kiritsugu clutched his fists and groaned in agony. He seemed utterly broken, on the verge of collapse.

"That won't do. I said I would ask ten questions. But since you've been so honest, I'll jump straight to the last one. Only three people remain with you now, and you encounter the Demon King. The King decrees that you must kill one person, so the other two may live. What is your decision?"

"No, don't ask any more..."

"That won't do. I always keep my word. Only when you answer will I spare you and your wife. Besides, the final question is simple, isn't it? You've been doing this all along, haven't you? Go on, answer."

"...Kill."

"Yes, very good. Finally, one in your left hand, one in your right, embracing them both. Savior Emiya Kiritsugu, your data-driven theory has successfully saved the world! A hearty congratulations! We should all cheer for this... But tell me, those 498 people you killed—should they hate you, or should they thank you?"

Kiritsugu was rendered completely speechless, lying flat on the ground, his eyes empty. That void-like gaze stared upward at the sky, as if he were already dead.

Meanwhile, Saber and Irisviel, who had remained silent during Lin Luo's Q&A session with Kiritsugu, felt a chill deep in their bones upon hearing the exchange. How could this be saving the world? This was annihilation!

Emiya Kiritsugu had destroyed the entire world.

Purely, without malice, driven by hope to save the world—but if salvation took this form, absolutely no one would ever be grateful, and no one would ever wish for it. To be more precise, everyone would view him as the enemy.

Because he was the purest form of evil in existence.