Ryudoji Temple, located on Mount Enzou, is the highest point of Fuyuki City's spiritual pulse. The greater grail is located in the stalactite cave beneath Ryudoji Temple. The natural spiritual barriers here even form a rudimentary anti-spirit barrier. Servants entering the temple must pass through the main gate; otherwise, their abilities will be greatly reduced.
This can be said to be a natural magical fortress, occupied by Medea, the Fifth Holy Grail War Caster, during the Fifth Holy Grail War. Unfortunately, this place is too conspicuous; staying here is tantamount to exposing oneself. The dangers of the Fourth Holy Grail War were far greater than the Fifth Holy Grail War, so even Rin would not choose this as her base.
But even so, this is the most suitable spiritual ground for the Holy Grail's descent, and it is also far from the urban area, so even if all the worlds evils leaked, it would not cause excessive casualties. Therefore, Rin asked Jalter to snatch Irisviel to assert control over the choice of the final battlefield.
Having cleared out the people in the temple beforehand, only Rin and her group remained in Ryudoji Temple. In the back courtyard of Ryudoji Temple, there was a small lake, which was directly above the greater grail's placement and the most spiritually powerful place in Fuyuki City. Rin had Jalter place her in the lake water; she had to recover her state as quickly as possible, as there were still many things she needed to do.
Stripping off her clothes, she quietly immersed herself in the cool lake water, floating in the center of the lake, calming her excited mood and weary nerves after the intense battle, feeling the immense life force imbued in the lake water.
Under Rin's will, the great life force from nature formed a faint mist that enveloped the lake surface. The hazy mist surged towards Rin in the center of the lake, replenishing the overdrawn vitality in her cells and filling her depleted magic core. The hideous scars on her ice-like skin quickly contracted, healed, and finally disappeared without a trace, not even a single scar mark remaining.
Amidst the splashes of water on the lake surface, Rin, like a lake spirit, leaped onto the shore. Jalter, waiting on the shore, did not play with Rin as usual, but calmly handed Rin her clean and intact clothes.
"How is Irisviel?"
"That doll carrying the Holy Grail? It's already in the final stage. I put her in the room."
Rin nodded calmly and changed her clothes.
"I'll go see her."
When Irisviel regained consciousness, she felt a long-lost sense of ease. A surge of vibrant life force was flowing into her body, and her previously failing bodily functions returned. Irisviel opened her ruby-like eyes; the vision she had lost before falling unconscious returned. She could see the world clearly once again.
"Rin?"
The first thing Irisviel saw clearly after regaining consciousness was, unexpectedly, the young girl. Only then did she realize she was lying in a magic circle three meters in diameter, with abundant magical energy being drawn from the ley lines by the array to supply her. The room was no longer the warehouse in an ordinary house, but a complete underground magic workshop. Irisviel's last memory before passing out was of herself, tormented to the brink of death by the souls of four Servants, then completely filled by the soul of a fifth Servant suddenly entering the Holy Grail, and Saber's sorrowful cries in her ear... The lesser grail was already completely full. If that was the case, I should have already died and become the Holy Grail, shouldn't I?
Irisviel wondered. Her body, which should have collapsed, now had the strength to sit up. She looked at Rin, who was shaking a test tube with her back to her, as if concocting an alchemical potion, and asked in confusion:
"Rin, did you bring me here? Where is this?"
A voice immediately answered her question:
"That's right, I'm the one who snatched you from that Little Knight King!"
Irisviel turned back in surprise and saw the sinister-looking Jalter on the side, instantly startled!
"You, it's you!" Thinking of Rin on the other side, Irisviel's face instantly turned extremely pale.
"You are, Rin's Servant? Rin has two Servants?!"
How could they possibly win now...?
Regardless of whether it was Jalter or Lancelot, the power they displayed in this Holy Grail War was astonishingly formidable, and with Rin herself as an unprecedentedly powerful Master, no matter how one looked at it, Saber and her allies had no chance of winning.
Having seemingly completed the work she desired, Rin turned and walked over to Irisviel, sitting down beside her and calmly stating:
"This is beneath Ryudoji Temple, the closest place to the greater grail's location, and your final resting place."
Irisviel, who was born for this day, naturally had no objection to it; her only concern was the ultimate fate of the Holy Grail.
"Rin..."
"I can give Kiritsugu Emiya the chance to wish upon the Holy Grail, because I don't need such a thing."
Rin couldn't help but smile as she saw Irisviel's wide-eyed, surprised expression.
"Actually, I brought you here to see if I could save you, to let you live under the premise of the Holy Grail's advent. Unfortunately, I couldn't..."
The more Rin spoke, the more her voice grew somber. By the end, she let out a long, silent sigh, feeling a profound sense of loss.
"I'm sorry... I couldn't save you."
Irisviel blinked blankly, looking incredulously at the sighing, despondent Rin.
"Why would Rin want to save me? I didn't ask you, and you made no promises to me. Why apologize?"
Rin silently and gently shook her head.
"I'm not apologizing to you; that sigh was for myself. My desire to save you is purely my own will, neither out of kindness nor nobility; it's just something I wanted to do. But if I want to do something and can't, shouldn't I apologize to myself?"
'To change all the known tragedies of this beautiful yet cruel world'—this was the steadfast wish Rin set for herself from the very beginning, and she had always strived to fulfill that wish. It wasn't that Rin was a saint, unable to stand by and watch tragedy unfold; it was simply that she genuinely wanted to save those whom she had liked since her previous life but who had met with tragedy. She simply enjoyed doing it.
Even though Kiritsugu Emiya and Irisviel, the parties involved, had made their resolve, Rin herself couldn't bear to stand idly by and intervened in the matter.
Unfortunately, in the end, Rin found herself powerless. Irisviel could not be saved, at least not for Rin as she was now.
"But, I'm powerless, aren't I? I'm sorry, I couldn't be saved by you."
The purer the heart, the more it can perceive the truth or falsehood of intentions. Irisviel felt Rin's sincerity and, with a bitter smile, apologized to Rin in return.
"...After all, Irisviel is ultimately just a false shell to protect the lesser grail... even her personality is fake..."
Irisviel's personality was fake because she had no soul.
After thoroughly examining Irisviel's structure using every means available, Rin finally understood why Gilgamesh treated Homunculuss with such disdain. Irisviel's existence was like that of the intelligent robots in American futuristic robot movies; her personality was self-generated after the Einzbern Clan completed her using Alchemy.
The soul is the blueprint of the body, but Irisviel was not. Her body was designed and created by the Einzbern Family, modeled after Justitia, the winter saintess. Her thoughts were activated by Alchemic formulas. She possessed everything a human had, even the ability to bear offspring. But the line between humans and Homunculuss was the existence of a soul, and Irisviel had none. The lesser grail was Irisviel's core driver and the source of her personality and thoughts, irreplaceable, which is why Rin was helpless.
"I will temporarily stabilize your body with my magic, using the Holy Grail's source of magical energy to suppress the activation of the lesser grail. Tomorrow night is the final night of this Holy Grail War."
Rin poured the alchemical liquid she had prepared in a test tube into a crystal goblet. The liquid glowed with a dreamy, iridescent purple. Rin handed the cup to Irisviel.
"This is my own concoction, 'Hypnos' Wine.' If you feel there's nothing left to worry about or be concerned with, perhaps you can use it to embark on a dream from which you'll never awaken."
Gently taking the wine glass, Irisviel gazed blankly for a moment at the purple liquid, which shimmered with a dreamlike light, then looked at Rin and said:
"Thank you, Rin. Although you always say you only act according to your own will, I, who received help, must thank you."
She then drank it all, and the clear crystal cup fell to the ground, shattering into pieces. Irisviel closed her eyes peacefully, like a sleeping beauty. This time, her eyes would never open again... "Master, did you really create that God of Sleep's Wine?"
"How could I? It's merely an alchemical poison that causes one to die in a dream without awareness. Since I couldn't save her, I could only give her an easy release."
Rin stood up, and the glow of magic shimmered in her hand. The magical energy surging from underground, under Rin's array-based formation, formed a crystal coffin that enveloped Irisviel.
"She should understand that, unable to be saved, she wouldn't live past tonight."
Rin expressionlessly ceased her magic, turned, and walked towards the exit, instructing Jalter as she went:
"Place her in the center of the lake. The greater grail's own magical energy suppression should be enough to last until the seventh Heroic Spirit returns. I want a complete Third Magic, not a flawed version that manifests prematurely."
Watching Rin leave the temporarily established underground magic workshop, Jalter smiled with a mix of helplessness and vexation:
"She's clearly on the verge of tears, yet she insists on acting cold. This pitiful state truly makes one not know how to comfort her."
One Hundred Fifty-Six: Resolving the Final Concern
Greeting the first rays of sunlight from the eastern sky, the final day of the Holy Grail War finally arrived. Rin sat on the roof of Ryudoji Temple's main hall, welcoming the arrival of this last day.
The sound of tiles clinking echoed, and Rin turned her head to look at Jalter, who had sat down beside her, sighing:
"Such a thrilling war is about to end. When I felt like it had been going on for three or five years, I realized in the end that barely a week had passed."
"Hmph, you say that! Every day in the house, I was just hoping you'd summon me, afraid that someone would assassinate you from behind before you even had a chance to summon me. I worried about you constantly; I've had enough of those days."
"Yes, tonight is the last of it."
At this point, Rin stood up, and Jalter watched her.
"Are you still going out?"
"Yes, I need to send my father, who is madly obsessed with the Holy Grail, out of this battlefield. The most dangerous night is coming, and if it were him, he would definitely throw himself into it without hesitation."
"Do you need help?"
"No, I've already seen Gilgamesh go out for a walk."
Standing before this gate, which now felt unfamiliar, Rin, hidden from view, couldn't help but be filled with a myriad of thoughts. After all, this was her home, in this life and the next. She never imagined that the first thing she would do upon returning here two years later would be to attack her own father.
But there was no other way. Even an attack was better than him dying in this Holy Grail War. Afterwards, he could punish her and scold her as much as he wished, but she absolutely had to send her father back safely to her mother!
Rin leaped directly over the top of the outer gate, twisting her body in mid-air. Her right index, middle, and ring fingers touched the ground, supporting her body. Then, almost replicating the Assassin who infiltrated the Tohsaka residence on the first night, she advanced through the garden with extremely difficult, gymnastic-like movements.
Although there were no defensive barriers against external enemies during the day, the warning barriers were still active. The airtight, invisible barrier scanning net was clear in Rin's spirit vision. After thoroughly observing and understanding the barrier's operation and methods, she infiltrated the courtyard silently with difficult, 'threading-the-needle' maneuvers and precise timing.
Looking at the last barrier gem ahead, which she couldn't bypass and had to destroy, Rin fell into an inexplicable hesitation. She wanted to destroy it but instinctively couldn't bring herself to reach out.
Damn it, a spear isn't going to shoot down from the sky again and pin me to the ground, is it? Rin immediately shook her head, dispelling the fleeting whimsical thought. Even if Gilgamesh really appeared, could she, who wasn't even a combat-scrappy Assassin in a direct fight, compare to him?
Thinking this, Rin simply picked up a pebble decorating the courtyard and threw it towards the barrier gem. With Rin's strength, the thrown stone was no weaker than a cannonball fired from a heavy artillery piece; the barrier gem shattered on impact.
In the end, she still didn't dare to reach out... After crossing the last barrier, Rin arrived at the wall of the mansion without alarming Tohsaka Tokiomi at all. The front door was definitely not an option. Rin lightly leaped, her hand gripping the window of the study on the second floor of the house. The study window happened to be open, and Rin thus silently returned to this home.
Still so lax and careless, Father. Such a person as you is not suited for war, otherwise, how could you have died so easily in the original work/canon? Everything in the study was the same as when she left two years ago. When she returned here, it was as if time had stopped at the moment she left. When she came back, the only thing that had changed was her.
After entering the study, Rin made no unnecessary movements, quietly waiting for her father to appear. At this point, it was the final critical stage of the Holy Grail War. Everyone was like a startled bird; even a faint magic power fluctuation or an inexplicable sound was enough to cause high alert. Therefore, Rin waited here silently.
Fortunately, Tokiomi didn't make Rin wait long. It was probably just after dinner, and Tokiomi walked into the study from the outer courtyard.
Her father's tall and resolute figure, unseen for two years, remained the same. He wore a simple yet luxurious red suit, held a ruby-handled cane in his right hand, and had a meticulously trimmed short beard on his chin. Whether it was his walking pace or every gesture, he still carried that classical, self-disciplined elegance.
Sigh... I apologize, Father.
Rin quietly and stealthily walked in front of Tokiomi and stood still. The moment Tokiomi walked within five meters of Rin, she suddenly dispelled her invisibility and revealed herself! Faced with Rin's sudden appearance, Tohsaka Tokiomi naturally experienced a moment of complete shock and distraction, and that was precisely the moment Rin wanted—
"Intimidation!"
An invisible mental power outburst! It instantly caused a huge shock to the target's spiritual world, making his mind completely blank, unable to think or react to any external factors.
"Mind Control!"
Invading another's thoughts and taking over the target's bodily autonomy at a moment when their mind is weak and unguarded.
Stepping off the train that had returned to Fuyuki City from the neighboring town, Rin let out a huge sigh of relief. Her last concern had finally been successfully sent away. The hypnosis spell she cast was enough to make Tokiomi sleep for three days and three nights. Now, she could finally face tonight's final battle with a clear mind.
Thinking of this, Rin asked Lancelot beside her:
"Berserker, the summoning of the Holy Grail is complete, and the magic power is already full; it no longer needs Heroic Spirits to fill it. Are you willing to remain in the present world as my familiar? Although I cannot grant you a body, as long as my magic power is continuous, you can stay."
Rin requested Lancelot. Rin hoped Lancelot could remain in the present world as a Heroic Spirit familiar, like Saber and Medusa in the second ending of the UBW and HF routes during the Fifth Holy Grail War. As an outsider, Rin couldn't keep the King of Conquerors, but Lancelot was her Servant, and Rin could keep him.
"Ugh..."
"Is that so... I see. Then prepare well for tonight, and go fulfill your wish."
Rin felt no surprise at Lancelot's polite refusal. With her final thoughts expressed, everything now awaited the night sky to draw the curtain on this Holy Grail War.
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