Moments pages are Spoilers Off. You Have Been Warned.
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First Series
- Illya's breakdown over Rin, Luvia, Ruby and Sapphire's Disney Death during the battle with Saber.
- Miyu's What the Hell, Hero? speech to Illya, after the latter almost became The Load by getting poisoned and almost killed, and caused a mana explosion in order to destroy the army of Assassins, which almost took the Miyu, Rin, and Luvia with them had the former not created a barrier to shield them all. Miyu also tells her that she doesn't want to fight with her anymore, which sends poor Illya flying away crying. This is all right after they finally became friends.
- However, it later turns out Miyu told Illya all that because she wanted to protect Illya and let her live a normal life, while Miyu carries the rest of the burden on her shoulders alone. All for her very first friend.
- Illya's friends congratulate her on finally breaking Miyu out of her shell and say they're happy they can all be friends. Miyu bluntly says Illya is her only friend and she doesn't care about them at all and they are useless. This makes Tatsuko cry. Throughout the series, Illya's friends repeatedly fail to befriend Miyu.
2wei
- Seeing the normally stoic Miyu clearly fighting back tears after confusing Shirou for her brother. She's never even mentioned a brother before, and Miyu only sits in silence when Illya asks about him.
- When Irisviel is finally confronted and explains everything to Illya and Kuro, the latter is furious that Iri sealed her away in her attempt to give Illya a normal life. But when she finds out that the Grail Wars are over, she feels that she has no further reason to exist. She ends up using up what's left of her mana and starts to fade away, lamenting that she never got the chance to live a normal life. Thankfully, Illya manages to use her and Kuro's Grail energies to grant Kuro her own stable existence, and the chance to live.
3rei
- Chapter 1 is a huge one for Illya. Imagine being a young girl stranded in an Alternate Universe where your home is destroyed, friends and family are gone, no knowledge of where you are, and nobody to confide to. While Illya does eventually meet Tanaka, they are both stumped on what to do next. And to twist the knife further, they get attacked by Beatrice while Illya is not at a condition to defend herself.
- Sakura's death, which leaves Shirou visibly heartbroken.Shirou: The night was cold, but what she left behind was much colder.
- How Sakura's remains are treated isn't much better: Julian resurrects her as an Ainsworth Doll, using a combination of Sakura's own Mana Drain technique and the Lancelot Berserker Card to turn her into a direct counter to Shirou and the Archer Card. The end result is essentially Dark Sakura on crack.
- The fate of all the Holy Grail Dolls in general. Holy Grail Dolls are not people anymore, instead being the souls of the dead Reforged into a Minion by the Ainsworth Family. Every single one of Miyu's brother's enemies suffered this fate, as did Shinji, Angelica, Beatrice, and even Sakura. The best they can hope for is a Mercy Kill so they can die as themselves, or, more miraculously, try and regain their sense of self on their own. It's later explained being turned into a Doll strips the soul of one of their more cherished qualities, taking Angelica's emotions, and Beatrice's love for Julian. While the two are slowly beginning to regain what they lost, it's still saddening to think that after already having their souls defiled and being Made a Slave, that they would lose a part of themselves just to add insult to injury.
- Rin's reaction to finding out about Sakura's demise.
- Chapter 44 reveals some truths about the Ainsworth family, and it is not pretty. Every - presumably male - heir of the Ainsworth will be eventually taken over by Darius a la Roa, and Julian was actually trying to do something before Darius fully took over. Angelica is actually a doll based on Julian's sister but she lost 90% of her emotions... but still retains enough to tearfully beg Illya to save both the world and Julian.
- In Chapter 47, in the wake of everything that's happened, Erica makes it clear to Illya that she wants to die. Illya tells Erica that she's going to save everyone, including her, and Erica responds by asking Illya to kill her. To see the girl who was introduced as an adorable little Cheerful Child begging to be killed is heart-wrenching. Then, Darius finds Erica again and calls her back, and the girl makes it clear to Illya that the next time she sees her, they will be trying to kill each other.
- And in Chapter 53.2, we finally find out why: "Erica" is just the latest in a very long line of names she has used over the ages. She's actually Pandora - the Pandora, the one with the box that holds all the world's suffering, from Greek mythology. She's over 6,000 years old, and cannot die until her Box is opened, as the box "contains" her death. We find this out as she confesses that, although bonding with Miyu briefly suppressed her desire for death, Miyu proclaiming that she, as an Ainsworth, could never be her friend broke her heart and convinced her that opening her Box and releasing her death is her only option.
- Chapter 59.2. Up to this point Darius successfully destroyed every Class Card, and the last one is the Archer Card that is inside Chloe. Her card is destroyed but she also uses an Origin Bullet to destroy Darius' magic circuits. She barely has enough time to say goodbye to Illya and Miyu before she disappears.
- Chapter 60. Chloe's sacrifice ends up being pointless. Darius suddenly revives in a gigantic, monstrous form that kills Miyu immediately, claiming the Holy Grail manifested from her body and unleashing Pandora's Box before Illya has a chance to do anything, ending the world.
- Chapters 64-65. As Illya travels through the Starlog (a recording of the past) to try and fix this mess, we see that Darius was not always a monster. In fact, he was once as friendly to Pandora as Julian; he only wanted to open Pandora's Box to end Pandora's suffering. It was the entire reason he invented Displacement Magecraft, including Conceptual Replacement, essentially tying his fate to Pandora's until the Box opened. But his slapdash method of Resurrective Immortality came at a price: his memories would fade with each revival, until he eventually forgot why he wanted to open the Box in the first place, degenerating into the raving lunatic of the present day that seals Pandora's memories away every time she doubts him.
- Continuing from the above, Illya is mortified that Darius' earnest wish mutated into this, and Tanaka... does a poor job of explaining how feelings can change over time. She basically just took an 11-year-old child and slapped her in the face with the futility of existence; this is not what you should do to a Plucky Girl trying to save the world. Illya's resulting Freak Out sends her tumbling end over end through the Starlog.
- Chapter 66. The culmination of the trip through the Starlog was a little box that Illya miraculously received from Darius before he lost his marbles, and Illya believes she knows what to do with it: bring it to Pandora of the distant past... but to do what she's planning will take her far beyond being able to return to her body in the present; it's a one way trip. The magnitude of this is hammered in by a titanic 4-page spread of all the major and minor characters Illya met marching towards the bright future... while Illya alone disappears into the darkness with only Gilgamesh knowing what became of her. Illya tearfully decides that for the sake of her friends' happy ending, she will make the supreme sacrifice, and begins the 6,000 year jump.
- Since Illya in the future is functionally dead as a result of this, this chapter marks the point where all three main heroines have died. And unlike the other named characters who were Killed Offscreen when the world ended, we see the three children's fates on-panel.
