I have no idea how long I have been unconscious, but my body feels incredibly heavy.
Even though my mind woke up a few seconds ago, I cannot even open my eyes or move my arms.
Well, i can but it's so heavy it feels like i can't at all.
Now that I think about it, it has only been three days since the Holy Grail War started, yet I am working so much harder than I ever did during my three years of training.
On the first night, Berserker attacked me, and then Gilgamesh kidnapped me. On the second day, Saber kidnapped me, and an Assassin attacked me too. By the third day, I honestly thought I was finally going to have a lazy, slow shopping day. But then the whole situation with Saber happened.
This is way too much to deal with. It is honestly more stressful than my entire previous life combined. The moment I manage to perfect the barrier around the orphanage, I should really just leave the city.
"Looks like she is already awake," I hear Lady Ava say.
"Isn't it fine to let her sleep for a while more?" Saber asks.
"Let her sleep. She has certainly earned a proper rest after everything she did there," Gilgamesh says, her voice carrying its usual tone but sounding surprisingly gentle. "Consider this break a well-deserved reward."
Well, if they say so, I am just going to keep my eyes closed and try to sleep for a bit longer. By the way, what exactly is this incredibly soft feeling under my head?
I slowly shift my arms, reaching up to figure out what exactly my head is resting on. As my hands move around, I brush against something incredibly soft and warm.
It feels like smooth fabric stretched over a very comfortable cushion. I keep rubbing the spot a little more, trying to guess what I am actually touching.
Suddenly, a soft, quiet giggle comes from right above me. I feel the soft surface twitch slightly under my hands, almost like I am tickling someone's thighs.
"Oh my," Lady Ava comments, her tone full of teasing amusement. "Do you actually prefer Saber's lap pillow over mine, Rikka?"
Wait, what?
My brain stalls for a second as her words process in my head. I immediately sit straight up, my eyes shooting open wide to see exactly what is going on.
"Saber!? Wait, was I really using your lap as a pillow?"
"Yes. You were sleeping so deeply, but resting in your previous posture seemed incredibly uncomfortable," she says to me, speaking as if giving me a lap pillow is the most normal thing in the world.
"So I offered you my lap, and you seemed to be much more at ease."
"Ehh... Thank you? But yeah, your lap really is comfortable. It is so warm, and the skin-no, wait a minute, that is not the problem!" I quickly look around to distract myself. I can see Gilgamesh sitting right near us, and Lady Ava is sitting in the other direction.
We are all sitting on the ground, still resting inside the Garden of Avalon after everything that just happened.
It takes me a few moments to completely regain my composure and process the memories flooding back into my head.
"I see. It seems my plan actually worked," I mutter.
Compared to when Denial takes over, I actually remember everything that happened during the fight against Saber in her Alter form.
But even though I was fully conscious and knew exactly what was happening, it somehow felt like I was not myself at all.
Operating purely on the cold logic of my Origin is just such a weird feeling of disconnection, and I really do not want to feel like that ever again.
"Yes, you managed to defeat me in battle," Saber says with a firm nod and a small, genuine smile directed right at me.
"You certainly provided a spectacular show," Gilgamesh chimes in. She rests her chin on her hand, looking at me with a deeply satisfied smirk.
"To think you would literally snap that massive wave of corrupted energy apart piece by piece and fight past your own limits just to save her. I must admit, the entertainment was truly exceptional. You have earned my genuine praise today, Rikka."
"You used way too much magical energy," Lady Ava adds with a gentle sigh.
"Thankfully, we are still here in Avalon, so your body is regaining it much faster than normal."
"Well, that is to be expected." I look down at my hand, staring at my one remaining Command Spell.
Since I lost consciousness before I could replenish my Od, I never got the chance to use this to restore my magical energy instantly.
"Well, at least I still have this for later if I ever need it."
After that, I decide to stand up. We have been sitting here for a while, and even if time in the outside world moves much slower thanks to the Void, I still kind of miss Irisviel.
After all this exhausting work, being pampered by her does not sound like a bad idea at all...
But the exact moment I put weight on my legs, my knees immediately buckle. I almost collapse completely, but Saber moves incredibly fast, catching me securely before I can hit the ground.
"Oww..." I groan, clutching my head. It feels exactly like someone is driving a drill straight into my skull. "My legs feel like jelly, my head is spinning, and my body is so weak... What happened?"
"Of course you feel that way, Rikka. We already discussed this before," Lady Ava explains, her tone turning slightly more serious.
"What you did earlier is basically a miracle, not magecraft anymore. You were essentially utilizing the concept of the Fifth Magic. You came dangerously close to completely breaking the boundary of modern magecraft."
"But my version is way more manual!" I argue through the pain. "I have to connect directly to the Root and search for the right path myself! The user of the Fifth Magic can just casually use theirs automatically!"
"You do realize that what you are saying is completely outrageous in the first place, right?" Lady Ava replies with a soft sigh.
I huff, leaning deeper against Saber as my head continues to throb.
I stay like that for a few seconds, just letting the intense pounding in my skull settle down to a tolerable level.
With nothing else to do while my head recovers, I decide to close my eyes and focus inward just to check on my Magic Circuits.
I dive my consciousness into my own body, tracing the spiritual pseudo-nerves running through my soul.
Just as expected, everything feels perfectly normal. The moment I push a tiny bit of focus into them, I can immediately feel my magical energy flowing.
Because the quality of my circuits is ridiculously high, my Od does not feel like standard magical energy.
I know normal magi usually describe their prana as a faint electrical current or a small spark of heat, but mine feels completely different.
It flows like a thick, glowing river of liquid ether. The density is absolutely absurd, carrying a potent weight that hums with power as it circulates flawlessly through my pathways.
I check the overall quantity next, and just like Lady Ava said, nothing is wrong at all. My pathways are completely undamaged, and my capacity is as massive as it always is, already replenishing smoothly from the environment.
But as I trace the flow of my energy all the way to my core, I suddenly notice something completely unexpected.
I stop and focus my senses a little deeper, making sure I am not just hallucinating from the headache. But no, it is definitely real.
There are three distinct, active magical tethers securely anchored directly into my Magic Circuits. They feel like solid links of prana, constantly drawing and sharing my magical energy.
"Huh? Isn't this exactly like the Servant connection that I have?"
I remember when I first made the contract and summoned Lady Ava. I could actually feel her drawing on my energy to manifest in front of me.
Ever since then, I can always feel her presence connected to me. Even during the fight with Saber Alter, when she cast Hero Creation on me, she channeled it directly through our link to make the spell even more potent.
"But why are there three?" I mutter quietly. "The first one is definitely Lady Ava, but who are the other two?"
...Wait a minute.
I snap my eyes open and immediately look around. Lady Ava is just sitting there looking completely relaxed, while Gilgamesh is staring directly at me.
"Seems like you finally noticed, little guardian," Gilgamesh says, a distinctly satisfied smirk forming on her face.
I slowly tilt my head back to look straight up at Saber, who is still letting me rest on her lap. She meets my gaze and gives me an apologetic, yet genuinely warm smile.
"Wait... Don't tell me..." my voice trails off as my brain struggles to catch up with reality.
"When you killed my contract with Kiritsugu, my connection to him was completely severed," Saber explains gently. "Without an anchor, I would have eventually disappeared. But since your magical energy is so incredibly dense, Caster helped bind my new contract directly to your circuits while you were asleep."
"And I simply decided that you are worthy of my presence," Gilgamesh chimes in, crossing her arms and leaning back comfortably. "After putting on such an excellent performance, it is only natural that I claim you as my Master. Do not worry, your massive energy reserves are more than enough to handle both of us alongside that Caster of yours."
I just stare at them, completely stunned.
So, let me get this straight. While I was completely passed out I somehow became the Master of three ridiculously powerful Servants?
I gently rub my temples, feeling my headache immediately starting to come back. "You guys really just do whatever you want, don't you?"
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Since it's already like this, I can't really do anything about it. I mean, Saber lost her contract with Kiritsugu because I showed her that illusion and pushed her into becoming an Alter in the first place, so it really is my own fault.
And Gilgamesh... well, she just does whatever she wants. It isn't like I can actually complain to her and expect her to listen.
In the end, despite explicitly saying I didn't want to be involved in this Holy Grail War, I somehow just gained three ridiculously powerful Servants.
Crack.
A sharp, glass-like sound echoes through the air. I can hear a massive crack forming across the sky of the Garden of Avalon, indicating it is finally time to leave this place and return to reality.
Since my legs still feel like absolute jelly and I can't stand up, I'm still being carried in Saber's arms.
Before the space completely collapses, I tell Gilgamesh and Lady Ava to just disappear into spirit form.
I don't need a blonde woman wearing a golden armor that leaves her stomach completely revealing, and a weird woman carrying a staff walking beside us in the middle of a crowded mall.
I sigh, leaning my head against Saber's shoulder. I still need to deal with Tokiomi.
He is definitely going to be furious about suddenly losing his contract with his golden goose. Tomorrow is going to be an incredibly long day.
Oh, right, Kiritsugu. I wonder if he's actually fine? Saber definitely drained a massive amount of his magical energy to power up herself during the fight, so I really hope he didn't just drop dead from prana exhaustion.
While I'm busy stressing over my plans for tonight and tomorrow, the entire Garden of Avalon suddenly shatters around us.
A blinding white light envelops my vision, and a moment later, we are dumped right back into the mall.
The transition is honestly jarring. One second we were in completely peaceful silence, and the next, a massive wave of noise hits my ears.
The loud chatter of hundreds of people talking at once, the echoing thud of footsteps hurrying across the tiled floors, and the distant hum of store music instantly flood my senses.
Thankfully, nobody is screaming or pointing at us like we just appeared out of thin air.
We are standing in a slightly secluded area, but looking around, nobody is even acting like anything weird just happened.
I blink, looking up at a large digital clock hanging over one of the mall's main entrances.
My eyes widen slightly as I read the numbers. Even though we were in that bounded field, fought an intense battle, and then rested inside Avalon for what felt like hours, the clock has barely changed.
Because Void completely isolated us and slowed down the concept of time relative to the outside world, it has literally only been a few seconds since this whole mess started.
"Sorry I'm late, Rikka, Saber!"
While I'm still looking up at the clock, I hear Irisviel's voice, making me turn toward her. She is walking hurriedly toward us, happily holding a pair of ice cream cones in her hands with a bright smile on her face.
"Sometimes I wonder which one of us is the actual kid here," I mutter to myself.
Because Irisviel just loves getting excited over every little thing, it really feels like she is the child instead of me.
Wait a minute. Isn't Irisviel technically only eight or nine years old at this point chronologically? Am I the older one, or is she?
But unfortunately, my casual thoughts are completely interrupted. Irisviel suddenly stops moving, her eyes widening in sudden shock and pain.
The ice cream cones slip from her hands, splattering loudly onto the mall floor. Her knees give out instantly, and her body goes completely limp as she collapses forward.
Since I'm still being carried in Saber's arms, Saber reacts immediately. In a blur of motion, she dashes forward, managing to catch Irisviel gently with her free arm before she can hit the ground.
"Irisviel?!" I call out, my heart jumping into my throat.
"Irisviel, what's wrong?" Saber asks, her voice laced with deep concern as she carefully lowers us both closer to the ground so she can support her.
Irisviel is breathing heavily, her hands weakly clutching her chest. Even from a few feet away, I can feel a dense, suffocating wave of magical energy radiating off her small body.
She looks completely overwhelmed, like she is being crushed by her own internal weight.
Then, the realization hits me like a truck.
Two Servants have already died in this Holy Grail War.
As the lesser Grail, Irisviel's homunculus body is designed to absorb their massive spiritual cores.
Normally, the incredible physical and spiritual strain of containing that much raw, burning prana is suppressed by the healing power of Avalon, which Kiritsugu implanted inside her.
But Avalon's passive healing only functions when it has a direct connection to Saber's magical energy through a Master.
Because I completely killed Saber's contract with Kiritsugu... Avalon is completely dormant right now.
Without the holy scabbard keeping her body together, she is taking the full, unfiltered brunt of the dead Servants' prana all at once.