Shiki Tohno had always considered himself an ordinary person, a belief that persisted until his foster brother's bloodline went berserk.
Having grown up as an ordinary person with his memories of his clan's destruction sealed away, Shiki Tohno was unexpectedly kind and considerate.
He loved cats, cherished friendships, and adored his sweet foster sister at home. He also immediately took a liking to the handheld game he had only recently discovered.
Even the Berserker Vampire Princess, whom he had summoned by fate, was treated with his innate gentleness, despite her lunging at him the moment she was summoned and nearly severing his neck.
Even though the sight of her stirred the blood in his veins, urging him to kill her.
If Morgan hadn't been watching nearby, and Merlin's sudden intervention hadn't arrived, Shiki Tohno would have either become a Dead Apostle—a creature he instinctively loathed—or removed his Mystic Eye Killers, succumbing to his primal urge to dissect the Vampire Princess into seventeen pieces.
"Miss Guinevere, are you saying you want me to allow Berserker to be thrown directly into battle when needed?"
"Exactly. Though she recognizes no bonds, driven solely by madness, and even Command Spells have no effect on her, her power is undeniable. She certainly has her uses."
The plane was approaching its destination. Guinevere finished writing her manuscript, the King of Knights secured victory through divine intervention, the King of Conquerors finished reading the novel, the Empress lulled Amakusa to sleep, and Gareth had lost to Tohno over twenty times.
After Guinevere sat beside him and made this request, Tohno neither immediately agreed nor withdrew.
The Vampire Princess was his servant, bound to him by a master-servant relationship. This bond allowed Tohno to glimpse fragments of her memories during their first night together.
In his dream, he saw the Vampire Princess's serene and beautiful form, witnessed her being deceived by a Dead Apostle, and the massacre of countless members of her own clan that followed.
By the end of that dream, the once-lovely figure had devolved into madness. Tohno saw only blood, resentment, rage, and the purest murderous intent toward Roa, the Dead Apostle who had deceived her and drained her blood.
"I understand. But before we act, please give me some more time. I want to try talking to her, to help her regain her senses. It would be cruel to use her as a weapon without even trying to reason with her. She's suffered enough."
Guinevere nodded in reluctant agreement. She was only trying to give Shiki Tohno a preemptive warning.
After disembarking from the plane and connecting with Mordred by phone to confirm they were nearing their target location, Guinevere chose to split the group.
"Rider, I'm counting on you."
"Hmph, I thought you'd want to handle this alone."
"Well, we need to conserve our strength, and we have to consider the possibility that Lia and I might not be enough if we go in alone. Sister Morgan, I'm leaving this to you. Remember what I told you."
"Rest assured, I'll take good care of Tohno and Amakusa. But what about that Kiritsugu Emiya you trust so much..."
"Don't worry about him either. He's a seasoned professional, and he's better suited for independent action anyway."
The prearranged carriage drove to the outskirts of the city. Once they were alone, the King of Conquerors summoned his ox-drawn chariot, allowing himself, Waver, Guinevere, and the King of Knights to ride together.
Like lightning splitting the sky, the two master-servant pairs surged forward to intercept Mordred.
Shortly before Mordred and Sakura set out, the Yggdmillennia Family had already detected their approach.
Faced with Mordred's direct assault, they had only two options: fight or flee.
"Family Head Darnic, are you sure you want me to intervene?"
Within a single day, the Yggdmillennia Family had gathered seven Masters, four of whom had already summoned their Servants.
For example, one member had summoned Lancer, a stout clansman had summoned Saber, and Kirei Kotomine's daughter had summoned Caster...
As for Kirei Kotomine himself, he chose to summon Assassin once more.
"Caren, let children deal with children. Go..."
"Yes, Father."
Since birth, Caren, Kirei's daughter, had been diagnosed with a unique constitution known as the Masochistic Spiritualist Constitution.
In essence, she passively attracted Daemons and those possessed by Daemons, inciting in them a primal urge to reproduce with her.
If not for the unforeseen events of the Fourth Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City, where Kirei Kotomine seized Ciel's True Ancestor bloodline and demanded to personally kill his daughter, young Miss Caren, barely ten years old, would have already begun her work as a spiritual medium.
Yet even with her exceptional abilities, the Holy Church hadn't sunk to the depths of beastly behavior. Caren remained pure, untainted by the suffering no child her age should endure.
Now, returned to the present, her fate after being sent to Kirei Kotomine's side could hardly be called fortunate. He was, after all, no father worthy of the name.
Wearing full-body black stockings beneath her Church nun's habit, Caren, with her waist-length white hair, nodded and immediately summoned her Servant.
"Cu Chulainn, carry me."
The Hound of Ulster, Cu Chulainn, the Child of Light, had manifested as a Caster due to the Lancer Class being occupied by the Black Faction.
At Caren's command, he materialized from his Spiritron form and, standing at 1.85 meters tall, knelt before her to carry the frail child on his back.
Without another word, he sprinted away with Caren clinging to his back.
In this manifestation, his sole desire remained a glorious battle, and he accepted his role as vanguard without complaint.
After he and Caren left, the opulent hall of Yggdmillennia Castle remained far from silent.
Though appearing young, the Darnic Clan Head, actually over sixty years old, bowed respectfully to the Servant seated on the Lord's throne.
Following his conversation with Kirei, he had proceeded with his plan to summon Romania's most famous King—the legendary vampire progenitor, Dracula.
But Dracula... no, Vlad III, was in truth a pure human. The vampire identity imposed upon him was a fabricated crime, a distortion that transformed him into the monstrous legend.
Fueled by this legend, he harbored an intense hatred for vampires and, by extension, for Kirei Kotomine, who had stolen Roa's blood.
"Hmph, a monster who has willingly embraced his depravity."
With this single remark, Vlad III fell silent. He said no more, acknowledging that Kirei Kotomine had summoned a monster even stronger than the King of Heroes. This was due to his connection with Hassan of the Hundred Faces and the preparations he had made over the past five years.
Drawing upon the legends of Hassan, he had located the ruins of the First Hassan's temple.
"Kirei Kotomine, will he make a move?"
"He despises me and only kills those nearing their fated end. I have no idea where he's gone now."
Even with the summoning snake skin once used by Tokiomi Tohsaka, facing an opponent united and even stronger, summoning Gilgamesh again would be pointless.
After summoning the servant he had so desperately desired, Kirei Kotomine felt a flicker of regret, at least outwardly. The servant proved utterly disobedient.
"Gordes, take Saber with you," Kirei instructed. "They can't possibly be without other Master-Servant pairs supporting the enemy Saber."
Gordes Musik Yggdmillennia, a high-ranking mage of the Yggdmillennia Family, was known among them as "the Incompetent One."
Just as in another timeline's Great Holy Grail War involving the Yggdmillennia Family, he had summoned Siegfried. This time, however, he did so knowing full well that one of their opponents was the King of Knights, specifically to leverage Siegfried's dragon-slaying capabilities.
If Guinevere were present, she would recognize Gordes more for his son, the "Fat Director," who, after Chaldea's victory over the Demon God King, had purchased the entire organization and become its new director.