"Magic...Authentic..." Tohsaka Rin stared dumbfoundedly at the girl who had suddenly appeared; she had seen that familiar face many times in the past, even in her dreams.
However, the latter was less of a dream and more like a story from another world—a story about the "Holy Grail War."
"I'm quite touched. After all, I get to see so many familiar faces as soon as I return. Right, Miyu~?"
"Aka... Sister... Why..."
The expressionless girl's face finally showed a hint of emotion, but she quickly hid it away.
"It seems you still remember our promise, Miyu. That's good. I'm very moved. A reunion is truly a touching thing."
Tossing aside the Rider she had pinned down with her sheer presence, Akatsuki released Miyu's spear tip. "But before getting emotional, I still need to deal with this mindless beast."
"The Ainsworth family's technology is still too backward, though I suppose this is his limit. After all, even the Fuyuki City greater grail was only established with the help of the Third Magic's product and the heritage of the Three Founding Families of the Holy Grail War."
"Die, Rider."
As soon as Akatsuki finished speaking, Rider's body instantly exploded into a mist of blood. In the center of the mist was a card of unknown material—Rider's class card.
The moment Rider's class card was exposed to the air, it drifted toward Akatsuki's hand. Upon grabbing it, Akatsuki immediately connected to the Throne of Heroes on the outside of the world through the class card, summoning the original Rider, Medusa.
"Servant Rider. Are you my Master?"
"That's right, I am your Master!"
Stuffing Rider's class card into Miyu's arms, Akatsuki walked toward Rider under everyone's stunned gazes, grabbed Rider by the shoulders, and went straight in for a kiss.
Under everyone's watch, Akatsuki poured magical energy from her mouth into Rider's. The exchange of bodily fluids made the flow of mana much smoother, and at the same time, various memories of the past surfaced in Rider's mind.
"Mmph!"
Rider suddenly pushed Akatsuki away. "Akatsuki!"
"It seems you've recovered your memories. Congratulations." Akatsuki wiped the saliva from the corner of her mouth and looked at Rider with a satisfied expression.
The world began to shake. Since the class card had been recovered, the Mirror World could not last much longer. Moreover, with Akatsuki breaking the boundary between the Sea of Imaginary Numbers and reality, the Mirror World was now full of cracks and on the verge of collapse.
"I know everyone has many questions, but the most important thing is to leave here first, right?"
Akatsuki turned her gaze toward Miyu, who nodded.
Inside the Hyatt Hotel.
"Oh!! Has this hotel already been rebuilt!"
Akatsuki looked at the entire hotel building that Luvia had booked. While marveling at her immense wealth, she also couldn't help but critique the Hyatt Hotel's unchanging interior design style.
"Hmph, I thought a True Ancestor would have a perspective different from ordinary mortals. To think you'd marvel at a room like this—oversized and inappropriate, filled with overpriced furniture and nothing but hollow, luxurious decorations."
Although Tohsaka Rin and Illya were surprised by the Hyatt Hotel's top-tier suite, Luvia, a wealthy socialite from birth, was very sensitive to such flamboyant and extravagant designs.
"This is just an ugly pigsty decorated with superficial luxury, lacking any historical origin or cultural atmosphere, blindly using plagiarized sensibilities."
"Uh... Miss Luvia's criticism is quite harsh..."
Illya hid behind Tohsaka Rin in fear, while Akatsuki sat relaxedly on the leather sofa, drinking the high-end red wine brought by the waiter.
"You've given the same evaluation as the previous Lord El-Melloi. But if you want to trace the source of such base habits, the problem doesn't lie with this hotel."
"Oh? You, a Japanese True Ancestor, actually have such self-awareness? I've changed my opinion of you!" Receiving an unexpected answer from Akatsuki, Luvia had to re-examine the True Ancestor before her. "You're right. Ultimately, this tiny island nation called Japan has major issues itself. But I suppose I can understand; after all, it's just a penniless countryside."
"Unfortunately, I am a True Ancestor of Huaxia."
"Eh?"
"Wait a minute! I never heard anything about that!"
Tohsaka Rin didn't know how many times she had been stunned today. Ever since Akatsuki appeared in her memory, anything involving her was bound to give Rin a huge surprise.
"Huaxia? Isn't that the mysterious land of the far east? I've heard their magecraft foundation is quite different from ours, but the aura on you doesn't seem to come from Huaxia?"
Luvia's eyes widened slightly with a hint of curiosity.
Akatsuki gently swirled her wine glass, the red liquid spinning inside. "Those are all trivial matters. What's important is that I'm back!"
"Delight this King to your heart's content!" Akatsuki put down her wine glass, a look of pleasure on her face. "Whether it be power or the truth, as long as you please this King, then this King shall grant all your wishes!"
Hearing Akatsuki's words, everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.
Luvia looked at Akatsuki as if she were an idiot and said to Tohsaka Rin, "Was this acquaintance of yours just released from a mental asylum? Why would she say something as small as your brain capacity?"
"As I thought... Gilgamesh's speaking style doesn't suit me."
Akatsuki scratched her hair sheepishly. After explaining a few things to the group and letting Rider return to find Matou Sakura on her own, Akatsuki and Tohsaka Rin walked along the streets of Fuyuki City at night.
"What's wrong? If it were the usual you, you'd definitely be grabbing my collar and demanding I explain why I went missing."
"Sigh, of course." Tohsaka Rin looked at Akatsuki. The Akatsuki before her eyes gradually overlapped with the figure in those memories that felt like her own personal experiences. "So, are you going to tell me what exactly you've been doing these past few years?"
"Saving the world."
"Forget it if you don't want to say."
"But I really did go to save the world. For some reason, as soon as I opened my eyes, I was in the middle of a battlefield. In that situation, I could only side with Chaldea, right?"
"Chaldea?"
Tohsaka Rin looked at Akatsuki in confusion. "The organization for the protection of the human order proposed by the Lord of the Celestial Body Faculty? That proposal was frozen a long time ago. After all, the funds required were too massive, and it might have exposed the mystery to the eyes of ordinary people. Neither the Mages Association nor the Church would allow it."
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