Fate/Zero – “We Kidnapped Your Wife”

Cogs of conflict continue to rotate with fervor in Fate/Zero’s 20th affair, a spectacle which sees passing of several type unfolding within – and awakening of the foundation for the unexpected to be held in the finale.

There has been a pause since the slaying of Tokiyomi – yet now the series loads and reloads once more for the intense road to the ending. Our various factions who have succeeded in remaining alive to this point prepare themselves for a crossing of a bridge – a frail and shaky pathway into uncertainty, segregated from the route of origin upon arrival to ensure not a soul shall be able to return to what once was.

Starting first with Waver and Rider, the most comical pair of master and servant, Waver is apparently tending to the needs of his companion – Rider has lost much of his magical energy in the bout against the unfathomable in size squid, and Waver now hopes to tsunderely aide his servant in regaining as much of this lost strength as possible. Waver is visibly more serious than usual, although still as emotional as per his usual demeanor, as he prepares himself for an outing amongst nature, a camping trip which will apparently do as desired, heal Rider.

Waver has a notable determination to him as he quickly goes through a meal, and rushes to ready himself to sleep through the day – yet speaks with Rider constantly as he does this all. Multi-tasking like a man with a plan, Waver seems to have also been more aware of his surroundings than believed. He’s caught onto an interesting detail – Rider did not make use of Waver’s mana reserves, but his own. And the reason for this is that Rider is hesitant to risk the life of Waver – something inevitable if he chose to utilize Waver’s mana.

However, Waver insists on such – stating that with no sacrifice, even a victory will feel for naught.

Rider’s belief is that while he can’t deny one’s will to expend for a greater cause, he’s learned hard of deaths which come from chasing fairy tales. The location of the grail is unknown – and so for Waver to leave himself at risk for a myth, it would simply pain Rider, and he cannot allow it.

No matter, the subject shifts to opponents – and Rider specifically seeks to combat Saber next, believing it is his rightful duty to teach the dreaming little girl a lesson. Waver doesn’t mind either way – and with that, he falls asleep.

Moving along to Mato Kariya, a nightmare in which he’s surrounded in a vast void of red, a realm of spite, awakens him with a slight shock – he was seeing Berserker in his dreams, and Berserker spoke, stating himself to be full of rage and hate. Kariya is tethered to a wall within a dark room – likely being within Zouken’s despicable control, and indeed, the senile sadist of the hour himself arrives only to further enhance the sickening cringe worthiness of the scenario.

Zouken forces Kariya to intake a worm, repulsive as that sounds, worse is that it is one which has been violating the little girl whom Kariya has been trying to save all along – Sakura. The worm has been feeding away at Sakura’s life over the course of a year – and now, it is within Kariya.

All there truly is to say in respect to Kariya’s situation is that it is a mix of disgusting, disturbing, depressing, and quite pitiable – with many sprinkles of wriggly, worm-like strands of irony. Sakura’s position is simply getting worse, and so is his – Kariya is clearly not going to succeed in anything but his own desolation, unfortunate as it is.

Turning to Kerry and crew, Irisviel is in her final days – and Maiya seems quite assured of her own expiration as well. Little did Maiya expect however, she actually perishes before Irisviel – meeting her demise as result of brute force from an intrusion inside a small hut she hid within alongside Irisviel whilst Kerry-kun was away. On that note, Kerry-kun was busy in hopes of writing off Tokiyomi – however, a visit to the Tohsaka manor reveals that someone else has beat him to it as we already know.

Quite a bummer for Kerry-kun, his life only gets worse from here as he then learns his wife has been taken away – kidnapped by an assailant supposed to be Rider. The episode concludes with Maiya turning to a lifeless corpse, and Saber dashing off on her motorbike in a manner practically identical to a loading intermission scene for the original Tomb Raider on PlayStation.

Suspicion surrounds whether it is actually Rider who has whisked away the defenseless and doll-like Irisviel as Rider should have been with Waver – of course that could have been a case of things not being as they appear, yet the scene of the wife stealing was still quite questionable. For instance, Rider’s visage isn’t shown – and once the fellow kicked down the door, it was only a focus on his foot. The use of force as seen here is peculiar – and this could all ultimately be no more than a false flag to incite two parties against one another.

Also note, Rider wasn’t riding anything – his usual carriage was nowhere to be seen, however that could be explained by his lack of energy.

In any case, it’s yet another week’s worth of wait to see the progression from here out – some aspects are simply fated already, such as Kariya’s impending self-destruction, assuming he’s not ruined himself already, whilst others are a bit more open to opportunity, such as whatever it is Rider is involved in.

• 
  Fate/Zero Episode 20 Pre-Release Images
• 
  Fate/Zero – “I’m Firin’ Mah Excalibur”
• 
  Fate/Zero – Melloi’s Wife Made Cuter On BD
• 
  Fate/Zero – Melloi Bullied By Wife