— Time rewind to last night —
In the forest on the outskirts of Fuyuki City, there was a castle belonging to the Einzbern Family, built specifically as a Master's base during the Holy Grail War.
The entire forest was covered and concealed by a magical barrier, thus remaining unknown to others.
Due to the unexpected large battle during the day, Irisviel had no choice but to bring Artoria here and rendezvous with the true Einzbern Family Master, Kiritsugu Emiya, to relay the intelligence and situation she had gathered to her husband, after which Kiritsugu Emiya would devise a new battle plan.
..."That's roughly it."
Irisviel recounted to Kiritsugu Emiya the situation from her and Artoria's meeting with the mysterious dark witch to the end of their battle.
"Afterward, Artoria told me that the mysterious Servant, whose class couldn't even be discerned, possessed the abilities of almost all Servant classes.
Her numerical parameters completely surpassed Artoria, who should have been the strongest, and even a direct hit from Artoria's strongest noble phantasm could be blocked by a defensive noble phantasm without a scratch.
Kiritsugu, I feel our current situation is very dangerous; Artoria's information is highly likely to have been exposed."
Artoria, dressed in a men's suit, stood behind and to the side of Irisviel, her face like ice.
Her fists were clenched tightly, knuckles faintly cracking.
She could not bring herself to personally explain such a result to her Master, with whom she had extremely poor compatibility, and could only let Irisviel convey it.
But even so, she still found this humiliation unbearable.
Admitting that she was inferior to others—Artoria was not so insecure as to deny it, but neither could she act as if nothing had happened.
Artoria was furious that Kiritsugu Emiya had suddenly issued an order, almost like a sneak attack, to release her noble phantasm.
To strike suddenly while an opponent was conversing with someone else was an insult to her knightly code and the holy sword in her hand!
But the final outcome was that the opponent took her strongest blow unscathed.
Artoria, whose strength was completely overwhelmed by her opponent, no longer had the standing to argue with Kiritsugu Emiya about his methods.
Behind him, a short-haired beauty with a dignified and solemn appearance and dark green hair stood quietly.
However, her sharp, eagle-like eyes made her completely unapproachable, as if she had a natural barrier separating her from ordinary people.
Maiya Hisau once prided herself on being "the auxiliary machine that makes Kiritsugu Emiya, this machine, operate even more like a machine."
She considered herself a part of Kiritsugu Emiya and was a woman whom Kiritsugu could completely trust, existing for Kiritsugu Emiya like his strongest weapon.
Kiritsugu Emiya, his face as still as water, showed no emotional fluctuations. He stood opposite Irisviel across a long table, listening carefully to every detail Irisviel recounted.
"Is there nothing else? Irisviel, did you notice anything unusual about that Servant?" Kiritsugu Emiya pressed after Irisviel finished her story.
At her husband's words, Irisviel also felt that the strange Servant who called herself a witch indeed gave her a different feeling from Saber. It wasn't about personal temperament or personality, but rather, as an independent individual existing in the same time and space, she felt different from a Servant like Saber, who was summoned by the Holy Grail.
"Unusual... Speaking of which, the feeling that Servant gave, her existence, was too real... It was like, like, a human," Irisviel hesitated, somewhat incredulous.
"Exactly," Kiritsugu Emiya agreed expressionlessly. "When I used the life detector to search for your location in the mountains earlier, I found two life signatures that were extremely close. Originally, I thought it was the opponent's Master, but the search results showed none."
The simple but not foolish Irisviel immediately understood the meaning of Kiritsugu Emiya's words. Even Saber, standing nearby, looked at her Master with shock.
"The Servant who fought Saber today is alive; she is a living individual," Kiritsugu Emiya concluded, his expression unchanged.
The one who found this conclusion most unacceptable was undoubtedly Saber. Incredulous, Saber slammed her hands on the table and exclaimed loudly,
"Impossible! Servants summoned by the Holy Grail should all be materialized existences of magic! How could they possess life?! That's tantamount to..."
"Tantamount to ancient people, resurrected in this era..." Irisviel murmured, unable to believe it, as she interjected.
"Hmm," Kiritsugu Emiya nodded slightly in agreement. "Moreover, the opponent's attitude was quite ambiguous. If we say that they held back at the end of the close-quarters combat, it could be explained as not wanting to expose their trump cards or expend too much at the beginning of the war, allowing other teams to benefit. However, Saber had already revealed her final trump card. Saber's existence should have no value or secrets left for the opponent, yet she and her so-called Master still didn't try to kill Saber."
Kiritsugu Emiya did not consider Saber's feelings, speaking the unvarnished truth without mercy, exposing Saber's unbearable humiliation in the most direct way. Speechless, Saber's anger was hard to quell; her agitated hands left two palm prints on the expensive long table.
Irisviel, unable to bear seeing Saber suffer such negation and torment, quickly interjected to change the subject. She knew her husband wasn't complaining about Saber, but merely stating facts, yet it was precisely this that made it even harder for Saber to endure.
"So, Kiritsugu, what do you mean?"
After a moment of thought, Kiritsugu Emiya said, "That resurrected Servant in the modern era likely has no connection to the Holy Grail War. Instead, she is a Heroic Spirit summoned by her Magus Master through his own means. And her Master himself either disbelieves in the Holy Grail or is only interested, with no intention of participating in the Holy Grail War."
"Are you saying that a learned Magus senior, capable of summoning a Heroic Spirit without relying on the Holy Grail, has come to Fuyuki City, intending to observe this Holy Grail War as an outsider?"
"This is probably the only explanation for that strange Servant's actions. And judging by his ability to resurrect a Servant with such power without relying on the Holy Grail, her Master must not be an ordinary Magus. However, we cannot rule out the possibility of him being an enemy, as ultimately, what is achieved is the Holy Grail, the omnipotent cauldron that grants all wishes."
As the war council reached this point, Maiya Hisau, who had been standing silently behind Kiritsugu Emiya, operating the familiars, suddenly spoke up:
"Mr. Emiya, a Servant battle just occurred at the Tohsaka Family residence. Kirei Kotomine's Assassin engaged with Tohsaka Tokiomi's summoned Servant and was killed in less than one round. Tohsaka Tokiomi's summoned Servant could only be seen as a dazzling golden light. Judging by the attack method, it should be an Archer."
At this moment, Irisviel suddenly felt a violent pain from her heart. She clutched her chest over her heart, her delicate body swaying precariously. Saber quickly rushed to support her.
Kiritsugu Emiya, who had previously been expressionless, seemingly indifferent to everything, saw his wife in such distress and immediately asked with alarmed concern, "Irisviel, what's wrong?!" He then directly flipped over the long table and took Irisviel from Saber's arms.
Irisviel endured the pain and managed a faint smile at her husband, saying, "It's nothing. It's a normal phenomenon for the soul and magic to return to the lesser grail after a Servant dies. I'm fine."
Kiritsugu Emiya frowned, looking at the suffering Irisviel. He had clearly embedded King Arthur's scabbard, which could heal all wounds, into his wife's body as a conceptual armament. How could an Assassin, with low magic and attributes, who was unremarkable except for his stealth abilities, cause such a violent reaction?
At this moment, Maiya Hisau, who had been standing by, looking deeply at Kiritsugu Emiya and Irisviel, suddenly spoke up again, her voice urgent. This time, even she, who was usually like a machine, couldn't help but show some panic:
"A huge magical energy reaction suddenly appeared in the direction of the Matou Family! All the surveillance familiars placed around the Matou Family were destroyed by this magical energy!"
"What?!"
Kiritsugu Emiya quickly pulled a remote control from a table drawer. He pressed the switch, and the huge display screen on one wall lit up. The monitors placed near the Matou Family had all been destroyed by the strong winds caused by the magical energy. In the footage from eight hundred meters away from the Matou Family, only a dazzling light could be seen shooting up from the Matou Family's location, then falling in the direction of Mount Enzou—
"Boom—!"
Even within the Einzbern Castle, the sound of the impact was clearly audible, no less powerful or brilliant than Saber's anti-fortress noble phantasm. The four people present, whether it was the calmly mechanical Kiritsugu Emiya or the unwavering Saber, couldn't help but gasp.
This Holy Grail War, it seems, will be more complex than expected.
---------------------------------
I hope you're enjoying the fanfiction so far! If the story has you hooked and you can't wait to see what happens next, you can unlock 30 chapters in advance over on my Patreon: patreon.com/TLHimejima1
Every bit of support means the world to me so if you're loving the ride, don't forget to drop a Power Stone and let me know.