Decided to just randomly select a picture from my library. It landed on Proto Merlin.

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I open my eyes to find myself in a burning city.

??: "The hell am I doing here?"

I scratch my head as I slowly get up. I walk around for a bit until I dodge an incoming barrage of attacks. I look up to see someone in gold shooting swords at me.

??: "What's wrong old man? I thought you were a lot better than I was!!"

He fired another barrage of swords as I look to find myself lacking any armor. A hand punches through the wall I was hiding behind and pulls me through it. I'm suddenly sent flying towards a car. Upon impact, I cough up a lung as the air in my body leaves from having zero defense.

??: "*cough*.. Kid-!!"

I hadn't seen him come over and land a powerful kick to my face.  He grabs me by the collar of the shirt I was wearing and looks me in the eyes.

Y/n: "I thought you said you were the strongest, Alter? Or were you relying on that black grail for all that power?"

He mocks me before kneeing me in the stomach. He chucks me like a rag doll towards a wall. I try to use Babylon but he was too fast in responding and kicks me through the wall. He proceeded to beat me to a pulp, not allowing me once to use Babylon or even to attempt a counter.

Y/n: "BECAUSE OF YOU, I MADE EUCLIWOOD CRY!!!"

He continued to land punch after punch. His fist was covered in blood as I could only helplessly watch.

Y/n: "I COULDN'T KEEP MY PROMISE!! I'LL KILL YOU!!"

He raised his fist up but it never came down.

Y/n Alt: "Do it... Kill.. Me"

Y/n: "No.. I won't"

Y/n POV

I let him go as I look down at him.

Y/n: "I only brought you here because you've pissed me off long enough and angered me beyond my limit. Where we are, I don't know. But I immediately knew you would be cut off from the black grail if I died"

Y/n Alt: "You're pretty smart"

Y/n: "Of course. I'm a king after all"

I use Enkidu to pull him over to a wall so he can rest against it.

Y/n: "I know what you're trying to do. You think corrupting me with the black grail will make us win?.. It's a possibility but I might end up just like you"

I point at him before resting my back on the opposite wall.

Y/n: "Unlike you, I'm not some arrogant asshole.. or atleast not entirely. I don't go in to every battle using all the tricks up my sleeve. I don't wip out Ea and unleash it on every enemy I see. I use my brains and friends to gauge the battle"

Y/n Alt: "How cliche"

Y/n: "You may see it as that but I don't. I don't use my strength to beat others. I know how to use what I have to their best abilities and look at all the outcomes before the battle starts. I'm a genius mastermind after all"

Y/n Alt: "I am you. You'll end up just like me if I don't give you the black grail-"

Y/n: "No. You may be me in the face but you are nothing like me. We may have had similar paths in finding our people but we are not following the same destiny. Your greed for glory led you to losing everyone by trying to conquer the big fish by yourself without caring for the people you had around you. As you are now, you will cause my people to die if I let you loose"

He looks down angrily as I speak facts.

Y/n: "You don't know how to acknowledge talent when you have it infront of you. You decided to kill those who could of helped you in defeating Kama rather than using them. You had all the tools and still-"

Y/n Alt: "I was never blessed with having the king of heroes to guide me you spoiled brat!!"

Y/n: "I'm not relying on him for wisdom. I've asked him a couple of times for intel but never relied on him for battle plans, weapons, or any of that sort. The wisdom I have is what I've earned from working for it. I studied every weapon I could possibly use in Babylon and made them better"

Y/n Alt: "That's ridiculous.. you'll never win alone"

Y/n: "I know.."

I extend a hand to him.

Y/n: "But together, without any traps or attempts to get me to consume the black grail, we will win this war"

He looked at my hand and simply looked away.

Y/n: "I'll teach you how you failed all of them. You had the greatest healer and buffer on your team and decided not to use her once"

Y/n Alt: "Ahri"

Y/n: "She can strengthen your whole team along with healing them and you're telling me you couldn't use her once?!.. idiocy at an all time high, but it gets worse"

He thinks back to his battles and realised his own mistakes.

Y/n: "You had King Arthur on your team and you simply relegated her to support duties?! Are you insane?! You had a knight of the round table as well and the best role you could offer her was evacuating?!"

Y/n Alt: ".. I see"

Y/n: "You didn't even bother bringing Amagi, another tactical genius or even Eucliwood!! You only sought to bring her down by yourself to furthur increase your legend wasn't it?.. Hypocrisy for you to say that the two of us are the same. You want to beat Kama don't you?"

Y/n Alt: "Of course I do!!"

Y/n: "Then listen to what I have to say. I have the biggest shot at taking her down but if you won't listen, I'll kill you now and return back to the world of the living without you"

Y/n Alt: "What nonsense-"

He stops the moment he sees the blade of the sword in front of him.

Y/n: "I'll destroy you. In order to protect those who I love, I wouldn't even care for killing myself. Even if it's a future, more powerful version of myself"

I send the sword back to Babylon as I pick him up.

Y/n: "I have a plan for her but I need you to make things run smoother. I don't need you but I'd like to have you along to have a higher probability to win. Stop being an arrogant bastard blinded by his own greed and just accept already!!.. if you truly wish to stop Eucliwood and everyone else from dying then please... just listen to me.. I don't want to see that sad expression in her face again"

He looked at me and looked down.

Y/n Alt: "I..."

Y/n: "I figured something out"

He looked up at me as I put a hand on his shoulder.

Y/n: "You came from a route where she became our wife wasn't it?"

He simply nods.

Y/n Alt: "How did you figure that out?"

Y/n: "Pretty obvious. You seemed more attach to her than you were with the others"

Y/n Alt: ".. I'll accept if you promise me one thing?"

Y/n: "What is that?"

Y/n Alt: "You kill Kama. Erase my timeline from having ever existed. Even if it means sacrificing everything I had in my past, I'm willing to do it so it never occurs"

I put a hand on my chest as he looks at me.

Y/n: "You have my word. From one king to another"

Y/n Alt: "Hmph. So what's the plan"

Y/n: "It all hinges on how the battle between her and Tiamat turns out.. as much as I would hate to do it. I'm willing to unbind Tiamat if it means keeping everyone safe"

Y/n Alt: "What are you talking about?"

Y/n: ".. Tiamat is nowhere near her full strength. She's absorbed so much mana from the earth that no doubt she could stand her own against a full powered Kama"

I stick out my arm as a few command spells appear on my arm.

Y/n: "These command spells restrain her from unleashing her true form.. her Beast form"

Y/n Alt: "Why don't you just release her from them?"

Y/n: "If I do that.. she'll lose whatever pieces of herself she has that loves us.. that loves me... I don't want to lose my mother but... if I have to, I will for the greater purpose of saving humanity. This is a last resort option"

Y/n Alt: "I see"

Y/n: "Coincidently, Eucliwood could have the potential to destroy Kama as well. Her reality warping magic could kill her but it has a high probability to kill her as well along with a 50/50 shot if it not being powerful enough to kill Kama"

Y/n Alt: "This is why you've been stressed out lately?"

Y/n: "I can't find an outcome where everyone comes out unscathed.. even if it meant sacrificing myself, I just can't find my answer to keeping everyone alive"

Y/n Alt: "... I apologize for what I've done"

Y/n: "Don't. You've experienced events far worse than any hell I could ever endure. You are simply trying to avoid sed events from occuring"

Y/n Alt: "..."

Y/n: "Well then.. I think it's time we wake up"

I close my eyes and wait. Next thing I knew, my eyes opened to find familiar people around me. Gilgamesh had just doused an entire bottle onto my mouth.

Y/n: "Is that-?"

Ahri: "MASTER!!"

Ahri was the first one to jump onto me. I simply hug her as she tears up in my arms. I look over to see the 3 fox girls all throw themselves onto me as Gilgamesh walks away from the room.

Mordred: "Master!!"

I was expecting a hug but ended up getting the blunt part of her sword straight onto the top of my head.

Y/n: "OW!! What the hell was that for?!"

Mordred: "B-Because you are stupid!! How could you just kill yourself like that?! Not care about what happens to us!!"

She had tears running down her face as her hands shake while holding Clarent. I ignore the pain and tilt my head as she puts her sword down and runs over to me.

Y/n: "I'm sorry to have worried you girls.. Merlin?"

Merlin: "He's in the cube. He is completely drained off magical energy from the looks of it"

Y/n: "That cube of yours does a good job at cutting off from the fountain of his power. No doubt with it he's unbelievable powerful but removing that? He's nothing more but a shell of his old self"

I look over to see Eucliwood on the ground. The girls let me go as I go over to her and pick her up. I gently tap her in the cheeks as her eyes twitch a little before opening up.

Y/n: "Hey there, you awake yet?"

Her eyes begin to water as she wraps her arms around my neck and cries onto my shoulder.

Y/n: "I'm sorry.. I promise to never make you have to go through that ever again"

I look at the opened door as X gives me warm smile. Outside the room, Gilgamesh finally breathes out a sigh of relief. He had a hand covering his face as he slid down to the ground. He felt someone put a hand on his head as he sounded annoyed.

Gil: "What do you want?"

X: "It's okay.. we're alone"

Gilgamesh didn't move or say anything as X crouched down and embraced him.

X: "You're to proud of a king to show it but I can see it through that barrier of yours... you were very worried weren't you? Even to the point of using your most powerful vital in Babylon"

A few tiny, clear liquid balls fall to the ground as X simply smiles and pats the king of heroes in the head.

X: "It's fine for man to let his emotions out.. even if it's a king"

Gil: "That bastard.. I... I thought I lost him.."

Back in the room, loud footsteps are heard as Tiamat runs in. She looks at me and tackles me to the ground with Eucliwood still in my arms. She starts inspecting my body until she gets to my face.

Tiamat: "Y/n is.. okay?"

Y/n: "I'm fine mom. Thank you and I'm sorry for worrying you"

She hugs the both of us as she too begins to tear up.

Tiamat: "I was scared. I couldn't sense the life coming out of you. I thought you were dead forever!!!"

I hug her with one arm as I the rest suddenly crush us.

Y/n: "I'm fine okay?!.. Eucliwood's being suffocated by all of you!!"

Her head pops up from Tiamat's breast as I sigh in relief. I look out to see Alter sitting down in the cube looking up at me. He nods as to let me know he now follows what I say. I nod back as he has gained my trust.

Y/n: "Everything has aligned.. this is our best shot"