"Sakura, do you know where the people from the Einzbern family are?"
Tohsaka Rin was extremely irritated.
After summoning her Servant last night, she had gone straight to the Einzbern castle deep in the mountains, only to find not a single soul inside. A complete waste of a trip.
She certainly didn't think Sakura had played her for a fool; it could only be that the Einzbern, knowing they had caused a massive scene, had found somewhere to hide.
At least, that was what Tohsaka Rin thought.
Furthermore, due to her 'carelessness,' she had intended to summon a Saber, but ended up with an Archer.
And he was a particularly useless kind of Archer—he couldn't even remember his own True Name.
This left her feeling quite unsettled, unsure of exactly what tier her Servant's combat power sat in. She didn't dare act too high-profile.
"...Tohsaka-senpai, did you not find them?" Hearing this, Matou Sakura looked up at her.
"No, there was no one living in the castle outside the city," Tohsaka Rin replied, troubled. "I can't allow this unstable factor to remain hidden in Fuyuki City."
At the very least, she had to uncover the truth of what happened that day; otherwise, she really wouldn't be able to write her report.
"In that case, please do not pursue them any further." Matou Sakura hesitated for only two seconds after hearing her complaints before bowing deeply to her.
"It is truly dangerous!"
She had only shared the information previously because she saw her sister's distress and wanted to help her.
But if it came to personally contacting them, Matou Sakura definitely wanted no part of it.
"This is the responsibility of the Manager of the Spiritual Land," Tohsaka Rin forced herself to perk up and said, "I can't run away from it, Sakura."
"But the Holy Grail War has already begun, hasn't it?" Matou Sakura countered. "From now on... Tohsaka-senpai's energy should be spent on competing."
"The Holy Grail War, huh," Tohsaka Rin sighed. "Right, Sakura. The Master for the Matou Family should be that guy Shinji Matou, right?"
"Make absolutely sure you don't get involved, okay?"
"I know, Tohsaka-senpai," Matou Sakura replied, looking down.
"Alright, that's enough for now," Tohsaka Rin waved her hand. "School is almost over. Hurry home."
She watched her sister bow to her and walk toward the school gate.
"Archer," Tohsaka Rin said to herself, "You went to check that scene outside the city, right?"
"Of course I did, Rin," Archer said, instantly ending his spiritualization and revealing his appearance. "It's just... the outlook isn't optimistic."
"What are the specifics?" Tohsaka Rin asked. "What's the basis of your judgment?"
"The simple fact that a typical Heroic Spirit's Noble Phantasm couldn't possibly cause such terrifying results," Archer shook his head. "I can even tell the winner held back on purpose. Otherwise..."
"That area would be at least several times larger."
"Are Heroic Spirits all monsters?" Tohsaka Rin clutched her twin tails and wailed. "That attack wasn't even at its strongest state?!"
"..." Archer didn't answer her; instead, his eyes flickered.
When he was first summoned, he indeed lacked a small portion of his memory, but it was slowly returning now.
Having regained some memories, he was certain that such a situation had never occurred in at least the Holy Grail War he had experienced.
Between his years of combat experience while alive and the endless missions he'd ground through as an Enforcer for the Counter Force, he considered his judgment quite sharp.
He knew exactly what kind of Noble Phantasm could achieve such a terrifying result.
To put it bluntly, anyone possessing such a Noble Phantasm was not to be trifled with.
"Let's go. We need to investigate further." Tohsaka Rin had no choice but to set off again.
Such was the hard-knock life of the Manager of the Spiritual Land.
On the other side, Emiya Shirou looked at the idling Shinji Matou before him.
"If you're really that bored, the Archery Club grounds are a bit messy." Shinji Matou thrust his hands into his pockets, leaned forward, and brought his head close. "Why don't you help clean up, Emiya-kun?"
As he spoke, he turned around and left with two girls.
"I'm counting on you!"
Emiya Shirou could only let out a helpless sigh.
Then, he silently began to clean the Archery Club alone.
By the time he finished bit by bit, the sky was completely dark.
Emiya Shirou set down his bucket. Just as he was about to close the door and leave, he heard a series of clanging sounds of unknown origin coming from within the school.
Clang!
Curious, he leaned over to look, only to see two figures—one in red and one in blue—facing off on the training grounds.
"This is..." He was still confused when they began fighting once more.
Two people in strange clothes were fighting fiercely with a sword and a spear. Emiya Shirou almost suspected he was hallucinating, but the speed and destructive power far beyond anything human reminded him of the things he had been worrying about lately.
"No, I can't stay here any longer." Emiya Shirou remembered Matou Sakura's warning and turned to slip away quietly.
But whether through misfortune or fate, as he turned, he happened to step on a dry branch.
Snap.
With the keen perception of a Heroic Spirit, they could have sensed it even in broad daylight, let alone in the dead of night.
"Who's there!" The blue Lancer instantly shifted his gaze.
Seeing this, Emiya Shirou knew things were bad. He stopped worrying about the noise, turned, and bolted.
He was rational; with that kind of exaggerated physical prowess—where clashing weapons even sent out sparks—he would never outrun them on flat ground. It would be a one-way trip to the grave.
So, Emiya Shirou ran into the school building, hoping to find a place to hide.
From his perspective, this was undoubtedly the best choice, but for a Heroic Spirit, whether one hid in a school building or ran straight out of the school made no difference.
Archer did not move to block Cu Chulainn; he simply stood in the middle of the grounds and sighed.
Inside the school building, Emiya Shirou was currently looking at the Scarlet Spear piercing through his heart, his face filled with disbelief.
As the man before him pulled out the spear, he slowly collapsed.
"Tough luck, kid," Cu Chulainn shook his head. "Since you saw us, I have to ask you to die."
Blood gushed continuously from Emiya Shirou's heart, staining the floor around him a deep crimson. His body was still trembling slightly.
"Dead men tell no tales," Cu Chulainn turned to leave. "Curse your own weakness and misfortune, and then die."
Hearing this, Emiya Shirou tried his best to lift his head to see who had killed him, but the massive loss of blood had already drained every bit of his strength.
"I've done a nasty job," Cu Chulainn sighed. "To be called a hero after this is truly laughable."
"I have no complaints, I know." He seemed to be speaking to someone over a communication link. "I understand. I'll return immediately."
"What a detestable Master."
He sounded thoroughly dissatisfied with his Master.
Soon, Emiya Shirou was the only one left in the hallway.
Or rather, a body on the brink of death.
In the final moments of his consciousness, he felt someone come to his side and flip him over, muttering something.
Why did it have to be you...
Then, he lost consciousness completely.
Cold. Shaking.
Emiya Shirou opened his eyes.
"Am I dead?"
"No, I'm alive?"
He couldn't make sense of the current situation and could only stand up like a walking corpse.
The bloodstains on him weren't fake. The weakness of his body wasn't fake.
But he had indeed come back to life.
Emiya Shirou didn't know why; he could only head home in a daze.
What had just happened was still too much for him to process.
Staggering all the way, he reached his front door.
"It's nearly midnight, you know."
Xia Yu looked at his state, leaning against the doorframe. "Nothing good happens when you're not home by the dead of night. Well, Emiya, how does it feel to have died once?"
"...Terrible. Painful." Emiya Shirou managed a forced smile. "Do you seem to know everything?"
"The wound on your chest might be healed, but the holes in your clothes and the bloodstains haven't disappeared," Xia Yu smiled. "I can still see them."
"Then do you know why I'm still alive?" Emiya Shirou was utterly confused. "According to my memory, I should have died."
"You ran into a kind soul who saved your life at any cost," Xia Yu sighed. "Emiya, that's a life. Have you thought about how you're going to pay it back?"
"...I don't know," Emiya Shirou's mind was a mess.
"Fine. Looking at you now, you probably couldn't give me a straight answer anyway. Go inside and rest," Xia Yu said calmly. "As for what's out here, leave it to me."
"What?" Hearing this, Emiya Shirou didn't quite understand.
But footsteps came from the other side of the street... along with the sound of a spear tip scraping against the stone pavement.
"Having to kill the same person twice in one day," Cu Chulainn spoke with great frustration. "Is the world always this cruel and bloody?"
"That's—careful! Miss Firefly!" Emiya Shirou recognized the man who had just thrust a spear into his heart and cried out, "This person... is very wrong! He's strong!"
"Strength and weakness are only as you perceive them." Xia Yu stepped out from the doorway and stood before him. "I said you can go back and rest; no one will disturb you."
"Ho, quite the mouth on you, little girl," Cu Chulainn raised an eyebrow. "But looking at you... tsk. Though you have the air of a warrior, I don't see a drop of Mana."
"Still, looking at you, you aren't someone who knows nothing. I'm curious—where do you get the confidence to block me?"
"Confidence? Why don't you come over and find out for yourself?" Xia Yu smiled and extended her right hand. A teal energy sword appeared in her grasp.
After her battle with Gilgamesh, she had managed to figure out a few ways to tap into the seed within her body.
This time, she wanted to try fighting without summoning Sam, relying purely on her own physical body to battle a Heroic Spirit.
After all, for Firefly, her strength lay in her heart, not in that suit of armor.
In fact, the reason the SAM Armor was so powerful was entirely because she pushed it to its limits. Otherwise, if every member of the Iron Cavalry of Glamoth had possessed such power, how could Glamoth have fallen?
According to historical records, at its peak, the number of Iron Cavalry was as vast and sky-blotting as The Swarm itself.
"Now, go back and rest," Xia Yu said to Emiya Shirou behind her. "Just leave him to me."
Emiya Shirou was silent for two seconds before nodding heavily.
He wasn't the type to be melodramatic or shout slogans about never leaving. He knew that even if he stayed, he would only be a burden to Miss Firefly.
Perhaps she could have won, but might lose because her hands were tied trying to protect him.
Emiya Shirou wasn't that kind of person. He turned and entered the house, but instead of heading toward his bedroom, he ran quickly toward the storage room.
There were things Kiritsugu had left behind... Even if most of it was junk, maybe he could find a few items that would be of help.
Emiya Shirou could only pin his hopes on that; having died once, he understood the gap between himself and those people only too well.
On the street, Xia Yu faced off against Cu Chulainn.
"What a troublesome Master," Cu Chulainn grumbled, as if he had received some sort of instruction. "Testing you without killing you—what kind of order is that?"
Kotomine Kirei would, of course, give such an order. He wasn't yet certain if the girl named Firefly was the one who killed Gilgamesh; after all, she didn't look like she had that level of martial prowess.
But he felt Firefly was definitely connected to that person—perhaps she was the Master—which was why he ordered Cu Chulainn to test her.
At the same time, he was prepared to use a Command Spell to call Cu Chulainn back.
"Then what are you waiting for?" Xia Yu raised an eyebrow at his complaining. "Aren't you going to attack?"
"Hmph, let's see what you're made of!" Cu Chulainn spun the Scarlet Spear in his hands, approaching Xia Yu step by step. Once he reached a suitable distance, he lunged forward with a sudden thrust! It was the most straightforward of moves.
Xia Yu's eyes narrowed, and she thrust her sword out to meet it!
Clang!
In an instant, their weapons collided—tip against tip!
"Hiss. I take back what I said about you; I really misjudged you." Cu Chulainn felt his arm go numb and stepped back, clicking his tongue. "To be able to do this, you couldn't have been nameless in any era."
To be able to react to his attack and even strike first, meeting his spear tip with her sword tip—she had dispelled his dismissal with a single move. This was definitely a powerful enemy!
"Even though you look so fragile on the outside..."
"Come on, warrior, tell me your name!" Cu Chulainn became visibly excited. "Let's have ourselves a proper, bloody fight!"