I'm Not A Master, I'm A Director (Patreon)

Chapter 74: Fainted

The climax of Fate/Zero's ending battle was the simultaneous development of multiple storylines. It started with three separate battles, but when the Holy Grail descended, the three storylines finally converged.

At the moment when the victors of the three battles, Arturia, Gilgamesh, and Kiritsigu Emiya, finally met under the golden Holy Grail.

"Put down your sword and become my wife under this golden Holy Grail!"

Under the golden Holy Grail, Gilgamesh proposed to Arturia.

"I refuse!!"

Facing this detestable tyrant, Arturia protested in her own language.

Unfortunately, she knew she couldn't defeat him alone with her movements restricted by the Noble Phantasms.

So, Saber pinned all her hopes on Kiritsugu, who arrived just in time, hoping he could use the power of the remaining two Command Spells to defeat Archer and obtain the Holy Grail.

Although their relationship was extremely strained, Kiritsugu and Saber's interests were aligned in pursuing the Holy Grail.

However, Kiritsugu, who had already grasped the true nature of the Holy Grail, could not continue to pursue it. He used his last two Command Spells to order Saber to destroy the Holy Grail.

"Kiritsugu——!"

Feeling betrayed, Saber let out a desperate roar as Excalibur was used to destroy the vessel of the Holy Grail, and she left the world with a heart full of regret.

Thus, the Fourth Holy Grail War came to an end, but the effects caused by the Holy Grail continued.

Saber destroyed the vessel, but its contents spilled onto the earth.

The center of Fuyuki City was completely slaughtered, and the land was forever draped in desolation and burning colors as the curse of evil turned into flames, killing almost everyone in the area.

What happened afterwards, viewers who have seen Fate/stay night already know.

Kiritsugu Emiya and Gilgamesh survived under the influence of the black mud. Shirou Emiya saved the barely alive Illyasviel von Einzbern from the ruins, and the story surrounding them will unfold ten years later.

Of course, there are also things that viewers may not know, such as the darkness of the Matou family.

Shinji left a little dignity for his uncle, letting him be drained of his Od by Lancelot and then burned to death by the fire caused by the Holy Grail.

After Kariya's death, Zouken Matou took Sakura to the underground basement full of Crest Worms.

"Since that stupid son couldn't bring me the Holy Grail, I'll have to make do with you, Sakura."

With Zouken's laughter like a broken bellows, the scene gradually faded into darkness.

This night saw many things happen, and countless lives were changed because of it, but these are stories for another time.

As the Holy Grail War came to an end, so did the movie.

The next morning, Waver had breakfast with his host family, while the television beside them reported on the terrifying fire from the night before.

Having grown up, Waver expressed his desire to take a break from school and travel, gaining the support of his "grandparents."

After breakfast, Waver returned to his room and looked at the gaming equipment left by his ruler. He began following the instructions to connect the game console to the television.

As the camera slowly pulled away, the scene faded out with the chirping of birds.

The heroes had returned to their thrones, and the story naturally came to a close.

Yes, the film Fate/Zero in theaters ends here.

Although there were shots filmed and edited, including the character endings like Tokiomi's funeral, Shinji had no intention of using them in the theatrical version.

The main character endings in the Fate/Zero story had already been shown in the movie, and there was no need for detailed explanations to connect to Fate/stay night.

Unfortunately, if they were to spend an episode detailing the endings like in an anime, the ending scene would become another long and stinky 20 minutes.

To successfully keep the length to around 3 hours, Shinji decisively removed this part of the plot from the theatrical version.

However, Shinji did keep a certain part of the plot as a post-credits scene—the conversation between Shirou and Kiritsugu in the hallway.

From a storytelling perspective, whether to include this scene or not didn't matter much. But the ending of Fate/Zero was just too melancholic, and the audience needed a positive and hopeful ending to lighten the mood.

"Then there's nothing to be done. Let me help you. Let me inherit Dad's dream!"

The young Shirou Emiya smiled and made this decision to his foster father.

At the same time, back on the battlefield of Camlann, Arturia, who was still praying for a chance to search for the Holy Grail again, looked up at the sky.

A ray of sunlight broke through the dark clouds and shone on her— it was the dawn of hope.

Kiritsugu, after hearing Shirou's words, also smiled with relief.

"Ah, then I can rest assured."

All the scars in his heart seemed to have healed, and Kiritsugu Emiya peacefully closed his eyes.

This man, who had accomplished nothing in his life and had never won any victories, in his final moments, with a heart full of relief, stopped breathing as if falling asleep.

The big screen went dark, and the lights in the theater came on.

Male audience members stood up one after another, eagerly leaving their seats.

The three-hour movie had their bladders on the brink of explosion.

Female audience members, on the other hand, remained in their seats, savoring the movie that had just ended.

It's not that girls could endure more than boys; on the contrary, precisely because girls couldn't endure it, they would go to the restroom as soon as they felt the urge during the movie.

"Sigh..."

Alice sighed deeply, feeling as if she had just woken up from a dream, a dream that had lasted for two full weeks.

At this moment, her feelings were extremely complex, to the point where she couldn't even describe them with concrete words.

The only thing she was certain of was that Alice knew she definitely wouldn't just watch it once!

However...

‘I think I'll wait a few days before watching it again... Watching tragic stories back to back isn't good for the mood.’

Just the thought of the cruel ending of the story made Alice feel like she should watch two comedy movies at home after returning, otherwise she would definitely feel depressed and unable to sleep.

Similarly, Aoko was also silent, but unlike Alice, it wasn't because of sadness; she was reliving the battles of the Heroic Spirits.

‘Sure enough, I have to find a chance to visit Fuyuki City.’

Aoko thought she could use her sister's name for this.

At the premiere, led by Shinji, the members of the crew stood in front of the big screen to receive the applause from the theater audience.

Audiences in East Asia don't usually clap during movies, so the applause from the live audience was to congratulate Shinji and the crew.

Keen observers could see that Fate/Zero was bound to be a success.

Although they didn't know if this dark-themed movie could achieve the dazzling box office records of Fate/stay night, there was no doubt that it would sell well.

"Brother, I have a question."

As Shinji accepted the flowers and applause, Sakura somehow managed to squeeze next to him.

"What's the question?"

In a cheerful mood, Shinji smiled and patted Sakura's head.

Sakura beamed brightly, "I'm curious about what kind of magecraft education Sakura Matou will receive in the movie?"

"Well..."

Shinji's expression changed.

Sakura asking this question wasn't something Shinji hadn't considered, but he didn't expect her to ask now, of all times.

Smack

Shinji flicked Sakura on the forehead.

"You're not even 18 yet, kids shouldn't ask."

Sakura responded by bumping her knee against Shinji's buttocks.

"Same goes for you, Mr. Not-Yet-18! Why don't you tell me what kind of storyline you've designed?"

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

Inside a chain cinema in Tokyo screening an advanced showing of Fate/Zero.

A Bandai investigator was chatting with a female journalist from TBS Television at the entrance of the theater.

"After tomorrow, if the attendance rate remains as high as it is now," the investigator proudly said to the female journalist, "Fate/Zero will set a new box office record."

"I don't think it will surpass 'Spirited Away'," the journalist expressed her opinion.

"But it will definitely outperform other live-action films," the investigator said with a smile, spreading his hands. "This is Fate we're talking about."

"True."

Thinking about the box office miracle created by FSN last year, the journalist nodded.

Suddenly, footsteps were heard.

Knowing it was the audience coming out, the journalist immediately stood up and signaled to her cameraman to head towards the exit.

The investigator also hurriedly approached with questionnaires in hand.

The audience for the advance screening were all die-hard fans of the series, and their feedback was crucial. If they liked it, at least it indicated that Fate/Zero had a stable fan base.

However, what surprised the two was that the first group to come out was not the majority of young people who occupied the theater, but a group of middle-aged and elderly men.

The journalist's face lit up with surprise as she recognized who these people were.

She immediately approached them, "Hello, Kawachi Ippei-san, I'm a reporter from TBS."

After a brief introduction, the journalist quickly asked, "Did you just watch Fate/Zero? Can you give some comments on the film?"

When Kawachi Ippei saw a reporter interviewing him, he was momentarily stunned.

Then, the veteran film critic put on the airs of a top expert and said calmly, "Fate/Zero attempts to present a world of magicians that doesn't exist in reality, but its execution is very poor—"

"Fate/Zero is really amazing! It's the best movie of the year!"

A loud, excited voice interrupted Kawachi Ippei.

A viewer in his twenties was very impolite, snatching the microphone and shouting.

"Conqueror King Iskandar is really cool! I wish I could have been born over two thousand years ago to conquer the world with him!"

Kawachi Ippei frowned. He wanted to tell the young man that he was a film critic, an authority on movies, and that he should listen to him.

Not to mention, snatching someone else's microphone was extremely rude in itself.

The young man noticed Kawachi Ippei's gaze and turned to glare at the old film critic.

"Old man, what are you looking at? Ancient fossils like you shouldn't even watch Fate!"

"You!"

Kawachi Ippei was so angry that his breathing became rapid. It had been years since someone dared to talk to him like this.

But facing the camera lens, Kawachi Ippei could only forcibly maintain his composure.

After the troublemaker left, Kawachi Ippei continued the previous topic.

"Fate/Zero is a superficial work, filled with unnecessary special effects. Although the director tried to portray the brutality of war, the execution is very poor, especially those boring battle scenes—"

Before Kawachi Ippei could finish speaking, the microphone was snatched again.

This time it was a young girl of about ten, her face flushed, her speech incoherent, but her excitement was evident.

"This movie is really great! Except for the ending being a bit dark, and not being very satisfied with the fate of Diarmuid, it has no flaws!"

"It's the best movie of my life, much better than 'The Lion King'!!"

Even if Kawachi Ippei had good manners, his expression began to darken at this moment.

But the female journalist seemed not to notice, just handing the microphone back to Kawachi Ippei.

"Kawachi-san, please give an overall evaluation of Fate/Zero."

"A very mediocre and time-wasting work."

Kawachi Ippei gritted his teeth and said, "A movie that doesn't even pass!"

"Excellent! Full marks!"

"I'd give it 120 points! The full score is 100."

"On a scale of 10, I'd give it a 9. Minus 1 point for the ending being a bit tragic."

...

The audience members coming out of the theater after them all snatched the microphone to give their own scores.

As for Kawachi Ippei, who knows who he is?

"Hmph."

Kawachi Ippei snorted heavily and left the theater with a gloomy expression.

He realized it was a mistake to stay behind for the interview; he should have left with the other film critics.

The female journalist conducting the interview maintained the same smile on her face. She noticed the change in Kawachi Ippei's expression, but it was intentional.

An interview should be sensational to be called an interview; what kind of journalist would she be if she didn't make big news!

With film critics giving mediocre scores and audience members giving full marks, only polarized evaluations could make her interview repeatedly discussed.

So, the female journalist handed the microphone back to the young girl of about ten.

"May I ask, which character do you like the most in this movie?"

"Of course it's Lancer, Diarmuid!"

Thinking back to the glorious knight she had just seen, the young girl's breath couldn't help but quicken.

"He's so handsome! I've never seen such a handsome man before, compared to him, J's idols are nothing! Diarmuid is really..."

As she spoke, the young girl suddenly ran out of breath, her eyes rolled back, and she fainted.

Instantly, chaos erupted at the interview scene.

"Someone fainted!"

"Get help!"