Whispers of the devil make angels fall

Author note:

Keep in mind that Dio, as a proper villain, doesn't feel the urge to tell others the truth. He will undoubtedly lie and manipulate to get what he wants, so if you feel like he said something that isn't true on this chapter, well it is probably because he lied.

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Saber looked at me with wide eyes. "You bastard..." she said with an angry expression. "You would take the grail from me because of such nonsense?"

"What do you mean by nonsense? To me there is nothing in the world that makes more sense than this. I want you, so I will naturally do my best to get you." I reply while shaking my head. "So? Do you agree to my offer or not? I mean, regardless of the case you would get the grail so I don't see why this is a problem."

Saber looked at me for a moment in silence, the anger in her expression slowly diminishing but still evident. "Fine." she said, looking at me with a determined expression. "However it will be a proper duel between you and me only."

"Of course." I replied with the same smile. "However I don't actually have a weapon like yourself, so you can't use your noble phantasm, deal?"

Saber nodded at my words. "Okey, but in that case if I kill you once then I win." she said back.

"Hmm, how about instead of a duel to death, we make a duel of determination?" I ask while rubbing my chin. "The one who gives up first, looses. You can kill me as many times as you want of course, but unless either one gives up, the battle won't be over."

Saber looked at me confused for a moment before a small smile appeared on her face. "So you think your will is stronger than my own?" she asked.

"I know it is." I reply with the same smile on my face. "I will make you admit defeat, my dear king of knights, so get ready!"

At my words, Saber pointed her golden sword at me, whereas I turned my fingers into spears.

As my eyes glowed slightly, I focused on Saber's body. The wound on her leg left by Diarmuid is still there, so her movements are limited, not by much but still limited. I could take a distance and attack from afar, but the duel is about getting her to admit defeat, not killing her. She also can't use her noble phantasm, so basically her sword is just that, a sword.

Still... I will be fighting a close quarter combat specialist when I am the opposite of a close quarter combat fighter, which is definitely not good. In a way, I am extremely glad I did some training with Diarmuid and while it is obviously not enough to put me even close to the level of the king of knights, the fight itself is merely a facade for this duel, a way to entice her by believing she has the advantage here.

I won't loose against her because I could die a million deaths and my ideals would remain unchanged, in her case however...

Launching myself forward, I pointed my fingers to Saber's neck, however they were easily deflected by her sword.

My fast attacks continued, however none were able to pierce through her armour even if they managed to get past her sword. Having ten 'spears' was enough to be able to get one or two past her sword, however they were still too weak to actually leave an injury on her.

The closer I got, the more danger I was in. Saber began countering my attacks, landing her sword slashes and stabs, while I still hadn't managed to draw blood from her.

The wounds in my body quickly healed, making her grit her teeth while continuing her attacks. In a way she was as annoyed as I was, since after each of our clashes we would both come out unscathed, however I was already expecting this, so to her it must have been worse as she bang to realise it wouldn't be easy at all.

As the minutes passed, our attacks continued to hit each other, however we both looked as if we hadn't even began. My attacks still hadn't pierced her armour and her attacks were still healed in seconds, so except for our disheveled hair or the bloodstains on my broken clothes, we were just fine.

"You still don't want to surrender?" I asked with a smile as I jumped back, getting some distance from her to begin my actual plan.

"Never!" she replied, getting on a stance. "The grail will be mine!"

An amused expression appeared on my face as I once again jumped forward. "Then surrender, I don't mind giving it to you on our wedding day!" I say as I continue attacking, however each time less and less of my attacks landed on her armour. It was evident that she grew accustomed to my way of fighting, especially since I am not particularly experienced in fighting like this.

"Why do you want to make me your wife?" asked Artoria as I jumped back once again.

A smile formed on my face. "Because I want to." I reply. "I don't need a reason to want things, but if you need them then its probably because your determination and your courage are amazing, and the way you continue to challenge me even though you have no chance of winning is very cute."

Saber was definitely not pleased with my last words.

"Well you asked a question, now it's time for me to ask one." I say while gaining a serious expression. "Do you know how the grail works?"

Saber was confused for a moment before answering. "You make a wish and the grail fulfils it." she replied.

"Not quite." I reply, chuckling. "It simply supplies basically an infinite amount of mana, which the wish-maker can use in order to make something happen, however the one who makes the wish needs to know how to properly use the mana to achieve the goal." I explain, still focused on her eyes. "Tell me, Artoria, do you know how to travel back in time? I could give you the nearly infinite amount of mana myself, but could you give it the purpose and use a proper method to go back?"

Saber's eyes widened at my words. "Lies." she muttered, refusing to belief my words.

"If on the other hand you simply wished for Britania's salvation, nothing would change. The reason why is because the grail will use your thinking method to turn the wish into reality, and since you have no clue how to actually save Britania, the grail will also have no clue of how to do it either. You could wish for someone else pulling the sword, but would that actually guarantee the salvation of Britania? By what standards would that person be considered worthy of the sword? Someone righteous like yourself would end up following down your footsteps, so your mind will naturally not consider them worthy, however someone who would go to any lengths to save Britania would fail to meet the requirements because they will be deemed too 'evil' or 'cruel' to pull the sword according to your mind."

Artoria remained silent while my explanation continued. Her mind was slowly being thrown into chaos since she realised she didn't actually know what Britania would need to be saved, and if my words regarding how the grail worked were true then she would indeed fail.

"The problem with you is that despite being a king you have no understanding of what being a king means. You always saved your people, but that is all you ever did, you never actually ruled them, you never led them."

Artoria, who had remained in silence until now, looked at me with a tint of despair in her eyes. "You are saying that I will fail them regardless of what I do? That there is nothing I can do for my people? I refuse to accept that!" she exclaimed, pointing her sword in my direction and jumping forward.

A kind smile appeared on my face as her sword went through my heart. "I know the truth is usually unpleasant to hear, however it is the truth nonetheless." I say while extending my hand and caressing her cheek. "Besides, I am still not done. The grail itself won't grant you any wish at all because you are not a magus." I say while my kind smile disappears. "The grail is not some omnipotent wish-granting object, it will only help you if you are an actual magus, which you are not." I continued talking.

Artoria's eyes widened once again as she looked at me. "W-What?" she asked in a low tone.

Red sparks appeared on my wound and moved towards the sword, slowly making their way until they touched her, however Artoria remained focused on my eyes.

"That's right, servants are summoned to become the fuel for the grail, it is the master who gets to make the wish." I say. "In other words, Kiritsugu and Irisviel meant to betray you from the beginning."

Saber's eyes remained focused on me as a tint of yellow appeared in the green of her eyes. "They planned to betray me from the beginning?" she asked with a shaken expression.

"Indeed." I reply while nodding. "They just wanted to use you and then stab you in the back, just like the people of Britania."

For a second, her eyes regained a bit of clarity. "No, my people didn't betray me." she said, though it sounded more like she was trying to convince herself.

"Yes they did." I say. "Your knights abandoned you when you needed them, your people supported the rebels and scorned you. Don't you get it? No one there actually appreciated you, no one there wanted you to rule them."

"That's not true..." she muttered, her eyes once again turning yellow and the light of her golden sword dimming.

"Everyone hated you, Artoria" I muttered calmly. "No matter what decision you made they would have cursed you for it. Everyone would turn their backs on you regardless of what you did because they would all come to despise you and your decisions, that is the price of being a king, that is what neither Merlin nor Vivian told you."

"No..." she replied in a low tone, the yellow in her eyes settling down after replacing all the green. Her sword began showing lines of black and red that slowly expanded into her gauntlets. "They wouldn't have done this to me..."

"Oh but they did." I tell her. "Merlin knew with his clairvoyance and prophecies that your kingdom was meant to fail, and that you would die filled with regrets, however he didn't care."

"B-But..." she muttered while stuttering a bit. "That can't be true..."

"You know it is." I continue saying, my tone too slowly getting lower until it came out as nothing more than whispers on her ear. "And the reason why this happened is because you were too kind to others, you were too good." I continue whispering.

Her expression was still shaken, slowly despair overtaking her mind as her rationality forced her to believe my words while her emotions tried to refuse them.

"You forgave your knight when he took your wife and ran away, you forgave your son and blamed yourself even though he was the one that raised his weapons against you, you forgave your people and assumed the role of a martyr instead of getting angry at them." I continue whispering while caressing her cheek.

Artoria's eyes turned completely yellow and her sword slowly began to turn black, however she remained in silence. My words were like knifes, slowly digging their way through her mind and memories while rooting out her deepest regrets and insecurities.

"The people who invaded your kingdom wanted to take your lands while the people inside your kingdom wanted to take your crown, your nobles wanted your riches while your knights wanted your wife. Everyone wanted a piece of you, but no one cared how much you bled after they teared it out." I continued saying while getting closer to her, my words filling her head as my tone lowered. "Your precious Avalon was stolen while you were at war to protect your kingdom, or am I wrong? Your most trusted knight ran away with your wife even after you forgave him. Your son wanted your crown so badly that she didn't care about taking it form your corpse."

Her expression slowly changed, whereas before it was desperate and bordering insanity, now it was becoming understanding. As if realisation had dawned on her, Artoria's breath slowly calmed down while the despair in her eyes settled.

"Let me show you what a real ruler should be." I whisper with a small yet kind smile. "This world will keep standing in your way, spitting on your kindness. Entrust all your dreams and goals to me, set your ideals aside and swing your sword for me, I swear I will make you perfect..."

Her armour began turning black as well while the sword turned completely black with red lines, the same colour as my eyes, appeared across it.

"You have been alone for so long, you have tried so hard, and in the end they just didn't let you succeed." I whisper in her ear before pulling myself away and looking her in the eyes, my face right in front of hers as I placed my hand on her cheek. "You won't have to be alone anymore, from now on you will be with me, and I will make sure that whoever dares to betray us pays tenfold for their crimes. I will never hate you, nor will I try to take your things away from you, after all everything yours will already be mine..."

Her sword, which was still embedded in my heart, slowly came out as she focused her yellow eyes on me. Her expression had slowly gone from disturbed to understanding, however it had been nothing to what she was showing right now... she was entranced. Like a hungry bear, my words became honey to her ears as she grew entranced by my promises, charmed by my oaths, obsessed by my vows.

"It's fine, my dear." I say while raising her chin, her armour now black matched the colour of her sword. "Even the brightest of angels have fallen, but don't worry... this time I am here to catch you."

"I surrender..." she mutter in a low tone.

"Do you agree to become my wife then?" I asked with an amused smile, her gaze still focus on my own.

"I do." she replied with the face of a woman who got everything she wanted.

"Good." I reply, pulling her in for a kiss. After a few seconds of our lips pressing against each other, I pulled a ring out of my pocket and placed it in her ring finger. "Now you belong to me, my queen." I say, pulling her in for another kiss.

She simply nodded at my words while our lips once again pressed together.

Pulling ourselves apart, I looked at our surrounding with a smile. "Looks like the rest are already waiting for us." I say aloud.