Emiya Kiritsugu felt very tired right now.
The slightly cold mountain breeze made his weary body tremble slightly.
The sun hung in the sky, but he only felt cold as he pulled down the brim of his disguise hat.
Looking at the single remaining stroke of crimson Command Seal on the back of his hand, he quickly returned to the city, walking through the crowds.
It had been over forty hours since his last rest. His eyes were bloodshot as he stood before the Tohsaka family villa—now reduced to rubble and surrounded by police tape—rubbing his temples to keep his thoughts as clear and coherent as possible.
This was already the fifth location. After the devastated Matou family residence, the Einzbern castle reduced to nothing but rubble and smoke, the Church with its main doors sealed and familiars destroyed, and the elderly cottage rented by Waver Velvet—he'd been dragging this exhausted body from dawn until now.
But... nothing. Absolutely nothing. All personnel related to the Holy Grail War seemed to have died after the banquet battle. He hadn't seen any living members of the Three Founding Families.
Last night, the swordswoman's desperate cover had allowed him to escape the bombing zone alive.
And the first thing he did after escaping was try to contact Irisviel and his assistant, Maiya Hisau.
As for how many people survived last night and who he should target now—
These all ranked behind finding Irisviel. After all, damn it, no matter who won.
Irisviel, the Lesser Grail, couldn't be lost. If she was lost, even if he became the final victor, it would be meaningless. Even if he killed all the survivors, as long as Irisviel wasn't there, the omnipotent wish-granting device couldn't descend from the four great leylines. Therefore, the first thing he needed to do was confirm Irisviel's safety or death—both out of public duty as someone in the know and certain private feelings difficult to express.
However, after searching for so long, he had a rough guess: Maiya and Irisviel were most likely in grave danger, having fallen into the hands of certain participants, or even become two corpses without life.
"Maiya hasn't gone to any of the agreed-upon safe houses. The public information from the Church states everyone is dead. Only Kayneth and I are in unknown status. Waver Velvet successfully fled and is preparing to leave Fuyuki City."
"The only missing information concerns Tohsaka Tokiomi and that mysterious Master behind Illya."
Waver Velvet was no longer a threat since he'd already left Fuyuki City overnight, abandoning the Holy Grail War.
Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald's life or death was unknown, but with those injuries, his personal combat ability should be greatly reduced. Moreover, as a non-Three Founding Family participant, he shouldn't know the intelligence that the Grail's descent required a vessel. Of course, he couldn't rule out that the Archibald family's intelligence network exceeded predictions and imagination.
Illyasviel's Master was in a similar situation, but Illya might have told her Master about the Lesser Grail. And her mysterious Master had never shown their face from beginning to end—the suspicion was undoubtedly greatest.
Tohsaka Tokiomi's suspicion ranked second. There was clearly something wrong with Gilgamesh. The Church very likely had a backdoor relationship with Tohsaka Tokiomi. Illyasviel's fierce battle with them might have been due to unequal division of spoils.
Finally, there were people like Kotomine Risei, Matou Tsuruno, and Kotomine Kirei...
"So in the end, I still... lost?"
Emiya Kiritsugu sat on a bench on the busy street, hiding in a building's shadow as he lit a cigarette. He'd long predicted the result of his own defeat.
After all, as the swordswoman had said at the beginning, when Illyasviel appeared, it likely proved from the side that he and Irisviel had died in the Holy Grail War, leading to her entire life of tragedy and misfortune.
However, he and the swordswoman were both the same type of stubborn person. Even though they had poor compatibility.
Their desire for victory and hope was the same. If the swordswoman gave up fighting, he'd use Command Seals to force her. If he gave up fighting, the swordswoman would cut him down with her sword. From beginning to end, they'd been in this state of checks and balances where they could only move forward.
Now the swordswoman was gone. He'd become the loser. Instead, his shoulders felt much lighter.
[Protect Illyasviel, Emiya Kiritsugu. This is my final request.]
"How can I protect someone I can't even find? Even her dying words were so naive and unreasonable. No wonder the Kingdom of Britain fell under your rule."
Thinking of the swordswoman's final desperate threat, Emiya Kiritsugu exhaled a long stream of white smoke and rubbed his forehead again. Yesterday's lively team—
Today, inexplicably, only he remained...
Just like before in the village, just like the final moments with his Natalia...
This wasn't sentimentality. After all, he was long used to this kind of solitary progress. It's just that in these short few days, being left with nothing again—he who hadn't rested in so long hadn't adjusted yet. It felt unreal, like waking from a dream.
"The four great leylines—the Church and Tohsaka family have no signs of Grail ritual activity, so that leaves only the top of Mount Enzou and Fuyuki City Civic Center. This is the worst-case scenario: Irisviel has been taken by an unknown enemy to perform the ritual."
Watching the busy street for over ten minutes, standing to throw the long-burned cigarette into the trash, Emiya Kiritsugu bought a can of coffee and began organizing current information.
Best case scenario: Irisviel was coincidentally encountered and kidnapped by Kayneth while fleeing the Mirror Forest. Because then at least Irisviel would still be alive. With that Clock Tower Lord's pride, he was unlikely to kill a defenseless woman—this was a matter of personal dignity.
Genius-type mages were often like this, while he himself belonged to the type with mediocre talent and no shame.
"I've searched everywhere that needs searching. Kayneth's base has moved to an unpopulated area. If she's not there, I can only try my luck at the remaining two leylines."
"The Church already has the possibility of backdoor dealings. I can't trust any information except what I've seen with my own eyes. Currently, including myself, there are still four Holy Grail War Masters alive and prepared to fight."
"Kayneth has overwhelming advantages. Can't rule out that his base still has magical armaments like last night's. If Lancer is still alive, absolutely cannot approach within 500 meters of there. Using a sniper scope to observe from afar is the most reasonable choice."
Even an obvious person could deduce that if Lancer was still alive, his combat power would be severely diminished by injury.
This surviving combination of Kayneth was purely a disabled team.
But Emiya Kiritsugu had always been cautious. He wouldn't gamble on whether a Clock Tower Lord had remaining terrifying trump cards. After all, during last night's confrontation with Kayneth, he'd already witnessed the Archibald family's intelligence network.
His Heroic Spirit Servant, the swordswoman, had witnessed Kayneth's unsolvable resources and connections—pulling out Divine Constructs, creating the near-impossible precedent of dual classes. Who'd be stupid enough to continue underestimating him?
"Still can't let my guard down. That guy Kayneth isn't on the same level as those other mages I've encountered. Need to prepare multiple contingencies..."
Downing the energizing coffee in one gulp, Emiya Kiritsugu thrust his hands into his pockets, lowered his head, and slipped into an alley.
Maiya, Iri, Saber—all gone. Now, one mistake and he'd lose everything.
He didn't think there was anything wrong with his own death. After all, someone like him was purely an executioner in the eyes of the law. Illyasviel's appearance had also made him understand that in this Holy Grail War, he was almost certainly destined to lose.
But many people were like this. Whether the swordswoman, the Conqueror King, Illyasviel, or even Diarmuid, Waver Velvet, and so on—almost all participants in this Holy Grail War were foolish people who fought to the death despite knowing they couldn't win. For the participants of this Holy Grail War, there was never such a thing as inevitable defeat and giving up. Only death and elimination were their endgames.
Either chase their ideals and get an answer, or die on the road pursuing their ideals.
Naive or foolish—no need to care how others viewed it.
Their ideals weren't others' ideals. They just wanted to finish writing the answer sheet of their lives.
Whether this answer sheet's conclusion was perfect or tragic, they had to complete it.
"BANG!!!"
Several hours later...
A thousand meters away, the sniper rifle's trigger was pulled.
In a building's dark, damp pile of debris, the Magus Killer—who'd just arrived and set up his sniper rifle, watching for only ten-some minutes without understanding the situation—furrowed his brow slightly. In the end, he still chose to snipe the black-clothed man's head in the distance.
He'd searched for so long without finding Irisviel, but instead witnessed this extremely bizarre scene.
A black-clothed man with an appearance and dress almost identical to his own stood openly and boldly atop a building, as if he were his twin.
Of course, he had no twin, so the existence of this black-clothed man with his identical appearance seemed extremely bizarre, even paranormal. Although scientific statistics showed that with a global population base of seven billion, there would always be two people with completely identical appearances, he didn't think he'd encountered such a low-probability event.
If he's Emiya Kiritsugu, then who am I? Have I become my own body double?
And what was that person saying? Why weren't Kayneth and Diarmuid attacking him?
He didn't remember having a good relationship with Kayneth.
Could they be threatened or controlled?
But that would be too absurd. That black-clothed man stood so openly before a Heroic Spirit Servant and was even closing the distance, entering attack range.
At this distance, if Diarmuid harbored any killing intent, the opponent would die without question.
"Very confident in his own abilities."
"Or has a trump card."
He hadn't seen the process between Kayneth and the black-clothed man regarding the Self-Geas Scroll, so he only felt it was very strange. At the same time, he became somewhat wary of that black-clothed man who could freely disguise himself with his appearance, because this disguise was so perfect that even he, along with Diarmuid and Kayneth, seemed to notice nothing wrong.
Even plastic surgery couldn't be this bizarre. Because appearance and clothing could be disguised, but how could Kayneth, as a Lord of the Clock Tower, not detect issues with temperament and core aspects? This would be more terrifying than the Assassin class's Presence Concealment.
But it didn't matter. He couldn't hear the conversation between the two, but he recognized the ritual being arranged...
That was a Servant transfer ceremony. Kayneth was about to transfer his Heroic Spirit Servant to an existence whose disguise was more absurd than a Heroic Spirit's, and at full strength...
This, forget about who the opponent was, forget about why they're disguised. If Kayneth successfully transferred, what chance would the other Masters have...
"Damn it! What's wrong with the Church's intelligence? Why is Emiya Kiritsugu really still alive!"
The bullet broke through the air, striking in an instant, the head exploding.
The black-clothed man whose brain was blown by a headshot immediately flashed with frustrated thoughts.
In this Holy Grail War, only Emiya Kiritsugu used guns. He still knew this basic information, which was also the main reason he was impersonating Emiya Kiritsugu, because among this Holy Grail War's Masters, only Emiya Kiritsugu's persona would do such despicable things as kidnapping someone's fiancée!
But with all his calculations, he truly hadn't calculated that Emiya Kiritsugu hadn't died in last night's banquet battle!
Hadn't the Church's announcement this morning said most of last night's participants had died?!
And even if he hadn't died, Emiya Kiritsugu should be severely injured. Why would he come to Kayneth's side for no reason, and right when he was about to succeed, give him a shot!
"My lord, enemy attack... No, my lord, that guy's head, why..."
The instant the bullet arrived, Diarmuid had already protected Kayneth in his wheelchair.
However, before he could search for where the enemy was, he saw that the headshot black-clothed man not far away hadn't shed a single drop of blood. His head presented a bizarrely twisted state.
"How can this be?"
Then the surrounding scenery seemed to tear apart like a mirage.
The Self-Geas Scroll in Kayneth's hand twisted a few times. The psychological pressure of his soul being bound also disappeared. Even his five senses recovered due to this sudden attack. He suddenly raised his head to look at the black-clothed man whose shattered head was recovering in just a few seconds.
First slightly stunned, then his eyes carried the coldness and anger of being toyed with:
"Good, good, good. Any stray cat or dog dares to insult the Archibald family's honor now. Hypnosis at the level of deceiving the five senses—the initial conversation was the beginning of the hypnosis. No wonder every clause and sentence on this Self-Geas Scroll writes 'Emiya Kiritsugu, son of Emiya Norikata' or 'fifth-generation heir of the Emiya family,' while the Servant transfer section writes 'transfer Lancer to the contractor' rather than Emiya Kiritsugu himself!"
"Lord of the Clock Tower, please calm down. I can explain all this..."
"I don't need a deceiver's explanations. Kill him immediately, Lancer!"
"!!!"
The transfer contract's ritual formation instantly vanished. The crimson demonic sword crossed dozens of meters in an instant, fiercely slashing down at the expressionless black-clothed man!
With a tearing sound, the black-clothed man seemed shocked by this sudden turn and forgot to dodge!
The next moment, the expressionless man's head showed a hint of helplessness as it spun through the air. With a thud, it fell to the ground without raising any dust. He'd been killed with one strike by Diarmuid's furious Moralltach sword, beheaded with eyes wide open!
Even severely injured, Diarmuid was still a Heroic Spirit Servant. A third-rate Heroic Spirit, even the weakest among Heroic Spirits, would crush a mage. Moreover, Diarmuid's agility even in his injured state was still C+!
"That's why I said, why not listen to my explanation first? Anyway, Lord Kayneth, you weren't planning to continue participating in the Holy Grail War. Might as well give me your spot and let me play~"
However, the head that had fallen to the concrete ground turned around on its own.
Raising the corners of his mouth slightly to show a helpless, mocking smile, even though his headless body was not far away.
"Besides, I was just joking. Lord Kayneth, don't be so humorless, okay? Are all people from the Far East this hot-tempered? Listen—the elegance and cultivation of the Archibald family head is crying~"
Wuu wuu wuu, wuu wuu wuu wuu wuu, wuu wuu wuu wuu wuu wuu wuu—as if confirming the man's words, crying sounds like a child's tantrum began echoing from all directions, growing more intense.
Mixed in were some bizarre, indescribable sounds that made Kayneth's already injured head ache inexplicably, veins bulging on his forehead again.
The surrounding environment twisted and rewrote again. The originally clear sunlight gradually turned gloomy dark red. The building corners became damp, growing blue-green moss that smelled like dead ocean fish. Something seemed to be wriggling in the dark depths of the corridor—viscous, disgusting alien monsters like those summoned by dark mages.
"What on earth is this..."
Diarmuid reacted quickly, flicking up the man's head, then exploding with magical energy to slash both it and the body to ash. But even so, the surrounding scenery didn't change.
He and Kayneth behind him seemed to have stepped into another unfathomable otherworld. His Mind's Eye skill only made him grip his demonic sword tightly, guarding Kayneth's side.
"Could this be a Reality Marble? Besides the eighth Heroic Spirit Servant Gilles de Rais, did someone summon a ninth illegal class Heroic Spirit?"
"Heh, Reality Marble? Does this skulking coward deserve to touch forbidden spells closest to True Magic? It's just illusion—illusion that can deceive human senses."
Kayneth, holding his bandaged head with one hand, gritted his teeth against the splitting headache and spoke with disdain. As a Lord of the Clock Tower, the moment he saw through the opponent's identity, he understood what type of magecraft they were using. At the same time, his vigilance and wariness toward this unknown mage grew.
Illusion.
And extremely high-level illusion at that.
Illusion that even he, a Clock Tower Lord, couldn't quickly see through while being led by the nose worrying about his fiancée. Moreover, it could even deceive Diarmuid, a Heroic Spirit Servant. That unknown mage likely had Grand-level expertise.
Damn it, how bizarre. Where did this Grand-level mage pop out from in this small Far Eastern place? For a Grand-level mage, the omnipotent wish-granting device should be just so-so. Is it really worth wandering around this tiny Fuyuki City?
"Ara ara~ Why so cold? As a Lord of the Clock Tower, that's very impolite~"
"No way, no way—you can't take a single joke? Or are you worried about your fiancée Sola-Ui? Ehehe, Lord Kayneth, you remind me of an old friend. He too cared very deeply about a certain saint. Unfortunately, that lovely saint might never have cared about him at all~"
Wanton, frivolous laughter of indeterminate gender came from everywhere. Their illusion was nearly impossible for modern mages to see through, as long as compatibility didn't counter them too severely.
Even Heroic Spirit Servants were toys in their eyes, to be toyed with at will.
If not for hearing that participating in the Holy Grail War required a Heroic Spirit Servant, they wouldn't even bother coming to Kayneth. After all, this kind of fool obsessed with women offered too little entertainment. They preferred pure, passionate holy maidens like Saint Jeanne d'Arc.
However, that Saber seemed to be King Arthur—also a very interesting, simple knight maiden, with a decent connection to their teacher's teacher...
If she hadn't been eliminated, they would definitely have chosen to deceive Emiya Kiritsugu and torment his summoned Heroic Spirit Servant...
"BANG!!!"
"Mere bullets—no matter how many come, they're useless. What a clumsy Magus Killer~"
Sensing technological weapons incoming from about several hundred meters away, the voice sounded somewhat helpless.
Then, there was no then—because this time it wasn't a gun bullet.
"BOOM!!!"
Smoke billowed!
A rocket launcher struck the building. Explosions and flames swallowed two floors in an instant. The entire construction site environment twisted again. Dust rose, sparks flashed, and the massive roar reverberated deafeningly throughout the site!
The superior illusion shattered the instant this wide-area attack reached its user!
A slender figure in a black-and-white off-shoulder dress was forced to retreat lightly from the bombed floors, landing on the spacious ground of the lowest level!
"Ara~ Is weapon control in the Far East as lax as in America?"
The slender girl's figure clasped her small hands behind her back, commenting with interest. To break her illusion with this kind of saturation strike:
"Really, don't be so serious. I'm just a weak, pitiful, helpless innocent girl who came to catch up with Gilles~"
After Matou Zouken's sudden disappearance.
Fuyuki City's defense system against foreign mages basically fell into paralysis. Neither the Tohsaka family nor the Einzbern family had the deterrent power of Grand Mage Matou Zouken, whose insects spread throughout every corner of Fuyuki City.
After all, for young mages, few recognized Matou Zouken. And this type of foreign mage who didn't recognize Matou Zouken—the true master of the Matou family was too lazy to bother with them, because such existences basically couldn't discern what was special about Fuyuki City's Holy Grail War system anyway. So coming for tourism or whatever was fine.
But for foreign mages with qualifications and ability, just one look at Matou Zouken would make them wary. And this type of mage could mostly tell there were problems with Fuyuki City's Holy Grail War system—completely different from other magical rituals crowned with the Grail's name. Therefore, Matou Zouken would step forward to intercept such mages.
And now, this slender, adorable girl in white stockings who looked no more than twelve or thirteen years old.
Was a foreign mage who greatly feared Matou Zouken. Not long ago, after sensing her old friend Gilles de Rais using his Noble Phantasm grimoire's aura, she'd rushed overnight from America to the Far East, only to be intercepted by Matou Zouken on Fuyuki City's outskirts.
And warned that if she dared step one foot into Fuyuki City, he'd beat her flying out of the Far East. Both Grand-level mages—could she tolerate this? Could she?!
In America, she was also a prominent figure. The Marshal of France once had to show her respect!
Being scolded by some five-hundred-year-old brat—could she tolerate it?
But considering the compatibility countered her too severely, she had to tolerate it. She had to swallow her pride and honestly submit, saying she'd leave immediately...
Hmph! Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west—Worm of Kiev, you're still young, I'm too lazy to bother with you...
Then she sent off Matou Zouken with a smile, cursing him ten thousand times in her heart, preparing to obediently observe from outside Fuyuki City. Figuring after the ritual ended, she'd go in and dig up some local specialties—couldn't come this far for nothing...
Then, right after Matou Zouken warned her, his lair was raided by some unknown good Samaritan. The entire insect swarm monitoring and guarding outside Fuyuki City vanished.
Sensing this situation, she initially thought Matou Zouken was playing tricks.
Trying to fool her into entering so he'd have an excuse to beat her up—though she wasn't really afraid of beatings.
Like the Magician Marshal, Gem Zelretch Schweinorg.
Scarred Red, Aozaki Touko.
The Eternal Princess, Kuonji Alice.
And so on—she'd fought many powerful mages. She didn't lack one or two more like Matou Zouken. After all, in the entire mage world, many could beat her, but those who could kill her—well, they should first go practice with Scarred Red.
But common knowledge: getting beaten hurts. Especially getting beaten for no reason. So after sensing this, she spent an entire day and night preparing before daring to send a familiar into Fuyuki City to check if Matou Zouken was tricking her.
Finally, confirming the Matou manor was blown to pieces, Matou Zouken had a small probability of being dead, and a high probability that even if not dead, he wouldn't dare come out to stop her—
Our Miss Francesca Prelati finally began entering Fuyuki City to find her good friend.
Oh, you say the Church is still maintaining order? If someone from the Burial Agency came, she'd give them some face. A few mere Executors really overestimated themselves.
"Naa naa naa~ Using modern weapons in a duel between mages is way too much bullying. Besides, losers should act like losers. Magus Killer acting like this—is he a sore loser? Ganging up to oppress me, a weak woman, is really ungentlemanly~"
Landing on the spacious ground between buildings, Miss Francesca's slender fingers lightly touched her lips as she tilted her head, looking at Emiya Kiritsugu shouldering a rocket launcher several hundred meters away.
This was a girl in a black-and-white off-shoulder dress whose appearance and height didn't exceed fifteen years old.
White stockings wrapped around her small feet, soft long boots that looked very touchable and playful. Gray-white long hair surrounded by black-purple butterfly knots. Most notably, her spiral black-hole-like pupils seemed to rotate differently, capable of making people intoxicated by those beautiful yet bizarre eyes.
"Right? Right?"
"?!"
Several hundred meters away, Emiya Kiritsugu was preparing to reload when the next moment, Francesca's voice was right beside him. He raised his head, pupils contracting slightly.
Directly meeting the spiral pupils that had been on the building ground one second ago, but were right in front of him the next.
How can she be this fast? Less than a second—even Heroic Spirits don't have this kind of speed, right?
No, that person can't possibly have this speed. Even a Heroic Spirit with Agility A couldn't cross several hundred meters in the blink of an eye. If this person had such parameters, they wouldn't bother negotiating with Kayneth—they'd have already beaten him down and coerced him...
"BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!"
Almost the instant he saw the adorable girl appear, Emiya Kiritsugu drew the compact submachine gun from his waist and pulled the trigger, directly emptying the magazine!
However, the gunpowder and bullets seemed to be swallowed the moment they contacted her, turning into broken glass fragments along with her. Aside from sparking on the cement ground, just like before, not a drop of blood splattered—completely ineffective attacks!
"Illusion? When?"
Emiya Kiritsugu felt somewhat absurd.
He realized this was an illusion's shadow, but he couldn't understand how the adorable girl, across several hundred meters without any chanting or ritual activation traces, had made him inexplicably fall victim. He'd never encountered such a bizarre, absurd mage.
"Don't look at her eyes. Her illusion activation medium is being observed by her. Emiya Kiritsugu, you fool—this isn't like those small-fry mages you've encountered before. She's a genuine Grand-level mage with extremely high expertise who might use forbidden spells!"
What are forbidden spells? Things like Reality Marbles, the materialization of mental worlds closest to True Magic—these were among the mage world's forbidden spells.
Even conventional Grand-level mages couldn't master forbidden-spell-level grand magecraft. But this adorable girl clearly wasn't a conventional Grand-level mage, but rather a terrifying existence who'd reached the pinnacle even among Grand-level mages. Unless compatibility completely countered her or strength exceeded hers by multiples or even dozens of times to directly crush her, otherwise this adorable girl was a monster comparable to modern Heroic Spirits.
Magical energy's amplified sonic ripples spread through the air—that was Kayneth's cold voice.
Clearly, after Emiya Kiritsugu used the rocket launcher to temporarily break the illusion barrier.
Having seen this girl's true appearance, he'd already guessed her identity about seventy to eighty percent.
The Clock Tower had geniuses everywhere, so naturally abundant intelligence networks. Mages who'd reached extremely high expertise in various fields—as long as a Lord didn't have brain problems, they'd basically heard of them. Even if they hadn't seen the real person, they could obtain certain secret information.
"Seal your vision. Don't trust what you see. Kill her, Lancer!"
As the indifferent words fell and magical energy exploded, Diarmuid set down the wheelchair and leaped from the third floor holding his demonic sword. The crimson sword radiated bloody red light, fiercely crashing down at the adorably smiling girl. In an instant, the earth trembled!
BOOM! The demonic sword equipped with a magical furnace manipulated fate. The blind knight, with skilled martial arts, swung his sword in sweeping horizontal strikes, thrusts, and crescent slashes, pouring out his power. His speed was dazzling, overwhelming. After sealing his vision, his combat power hadn't diminished in the slightest—because he was a legendary figure from mythic epics. The gap between Heroic Spirit Servants and modern mages absolutely couldn't be bridged by simple tricks!
One strike, two strikes, three strikes, four strikes, five strikes, a hundred strikes—nearly a thousand afterimages were invisible as the demonic sword tore through everything around. Speed was never the deciding factor, but the already severely injured Diarmuid had no choice but to be this fast. He couldn't sustain prolonged combat. Once trapped in illusion again, his only choice would be to be worn down to death. Only blitz attacks were the optimal choice to repel or kill the invading enemy!
"Lancer can still burst out with this kind of power..."
Emiya Kiritsugu in the distance furrowed his brow slightly, looking through the sniper scope at the terrifying magical power that swept through like a whirlwind, destroying half the clearing. He understood that the so-called Grand-level mage was already in grave danger.
After all, illusion was just false hallucination. Under sealed vision, for a Heroic Spirit Servant to kill this kind of Grand-level mage not in a magical workshop wasn't difficult.
After all, not every mage was a hexagonal warrior like Illyasviel.
"SLASH!"
Flesh was cut open by magical power, blood dripping, scorching dust rising.
Just as Emiya Kiritsugu thought the adorable girl had been beheaded, the demonic sword's magical power exploded again, sweeping away the surrounding dust to reveal the full picture of this Holy Grail War ritual's first forced close-quarters direct confrontation between Heroic Spirit Servant and Grand-level mage...
"How can this be?!"
On the spacious dusty ground, dozens to hundreds of thorned alien tentacles twisted the earth like flowers. Sharp spikes pierced Diarmuid's charred body—it wasn't the adorable girl who was injured, but Diarmuid who'd been wounded in this brief exchange. Several fine scratches appeared on his handsome face!
Emiya Kiritsugu found it incredible. Even the participant Diarmuid opened his eyes and touched his slightly aching cheek, quickly using his demonic sword to sweep around, eliminating those thorned plant tentacles!
That was clearly a product of illusion?
Why?
Why could false illusions harm real creatures?
This is magecraft?
Illusions harming reality—sealing vision can't avoid it. Can this still be called magecraft?
What kind of monster crawled out from where? How could a normal Holy Grail War produce such a bizarre person? Could any Master in Fuyuki City's Holy Grail War really compare to this strange existence? Emiya Kiritsugu gritted his teeth and rubbed his eyes, truly unable to believe the results seen through his sniper scope.
"Francesca Prelati. Grand-level mage. Reportedly active in recent years in America's Snowfield City. An American mage existing for over a hundred years—an old thing. Has ambiguous connections with the American government. Was once killed by Aozaki Touko, one of the Three Colors known as 'Red.' Rarely appears in the mage world since."
"There are also rumors saying your ancestor—or you—once received magical instruction from the fairies of a certain lake. And those lake fairies were legendarily taught by the court mage and mentor of the Kingdom of Britain, the prophet Merlin."
"Originally I thought these were just distortions spreading rumors, like saying the heir of one of the four exorcist families, the Ryougi family, Ryougi Shiki, possesses Rainbow-rank Mystic Eyes. But now it seems some distorted rumors aren't all garbage information. Your magical expertise might indeed have decent connections with that master illusionist of Britain, Merlin."
Kayneth, seeing this scene, remained unhurried. Instead, he turned his wheelchair to the third-floor edge, glanced around at the changed environment again, then spoke with disdain.
For Emiya Kiritsugu, Francesca was bizarre. But for him, this Clock Tower Lord, she was just so-so. If not for initially worrying about Sola-Ui and being led by the nose, he might not have been unable to quickly see through her disguise.
This was also why he hadn't paid much attention to Heroic Spirit Servants before. He'd seen and heard of too many geniuses and monsters. Comparatively, with his perspective, putting Heroic Spirit Servants in his eyes at the start would have been problematic.
"So I'm this famous? Hehe, to be remembered by a Clock Tower Lord~"
"Are you one of this Holy Grail War's participants?"
"That's right. I'm Caster Medea's Master. Unfortunately, my Heroic Spirit Servant was too disobedient, never discussing or explaining any plans with me. Now that she's gone, this weak girl can only enter the fray herself~"
The playful, helpless voice echoed from every dark corner behind Kayneth.
Francesca's answer was also within his expectations. After all, aside from this, he really couldn't think of a reason why she'd calculate and antagonize a Clock Tower Lord—it could only be factional interest conflicts within a magical ritual.
Though it was rather strange. This Snowfield City powerhouse actually came from so far away to participate in this kind of magical exchange meeting, when she supposedly shouldn't care about this omnipotent wish-granting device.
"Hehe, the traitorous witch paired with a pretend-young old thing—truly birds of a feather."
"Snakes and rats can still bite people to death, Lord~"
"Just with your ability to deceive the five senses, even distort and deceive reality to some extent?"
"To bite to death a severely injured Clock Tower Lord and a broken Heroic Spirit Servant, I personally think these little tricks are already sufficient~"
The essence of her magecraft seen through, the girl's voice remained teasing. In all of Fuyuki City, aside from that Worm of Kiev, even a Clock Tower Lord couldn't break her magecraft. After all, others' compatibility might counter her, but she could also counter others.
"Hehe, today let me teach you something, you old thing from Snowfield."
However, Francesca didn't receive an exasperated response. Instead, she heard Kayneth's cold laughter.
Francesca's illusion expertise was extremely high, possibly having reached divine-level mastery. After all, her lineage was good—her teacher's teacher was, according to current Clock Tower speculation data, one of the peaks of illusion expertise, the nightmare Merlin, suspected of approaching Crown-level mastery.
Therefore, her illusions not only deceived others' senses but even reached the point of deceiving reality.
But unfortunately...
Although she was an old monster, her luck was bad—she'd encountered one of the geniuses among the current Clock Tower generation's geniuses...
"Deceiving humans, deceiving reality—doesn't mean you can deceive physical phenomena!"
"You shouldn't have, absolutely shouldn't have, left your magical energy on this Self-Geas Scroll!"
Kayneth laughed mockingly as he leaped from his wheelchair, jumping directly from the third floor toward Diarmuid!
"?"
Miss Francesca's true body, hiding in a dark corridor corner, scratched her head somewhat confused. Left it, so what? Magical means can't find me anyway.
Seeing this, she increased her illusion output, even arrogantly stepping her small foot on the mercury-colored liquid magical armament's surface that had somehow deployed beneath the cement floor.
Because it was meaningless. Her illusion could even deceive the magical armament's enemy detection.
"It's just a magical armament. Even if you can sense me, you can at most confirm a general direction... Ara?"
Before finishing her words, a faint smell of gunpowder spread.
Miss Francesca's spiral pupils widened, looking at the pin-pulled hand grenade that had rolled to about a meter in front of her. She seemed not to have reacted yet.
This was an EGD-33 hand grenade. It only needed 3.5 seconds after pulling the pin to detonate. Its lethality could even destroy tanks and armored vehicles. Effective range approached a hundred meters. Her mind briefly flashed through this information like a revolving lantern.
No need for pinpoint targeting, only needing the target within a certain range.
"Ah?"
Miss Francesca looked utterly confused and bewildered.
Why would a Clock Tower Lord have a hand grenade?
This was the last thing she said before being engulfed by explosive shrapnel and flames.
"BOOM!!!"
"BOOM!!!"
As Kayneth was caught mid-leap by Diarmuid, brilliant firelight erupted across the building's third floor. With the true body attacked, the twisted, gloomy world rapidly crumbled. The Volumen Hydrargyrum also activated hedgehog form at this moment, bombarding wildly with spikes and radiant impacts, shattering the entire third floor together.
Having Diarmuid attack was itself bait. From Miss Francesca's perspective, both enemies before her were heavily damaged—only Diarmuid posed slight threat. With Diarmuid attacking, naturally moving against Kayneth was most reasonable. After all, her corporeal illusions had limited range. Without bringing her magical workshop into the Far East, combat power purely depended on enemy imagination. Seemingly arrogant and domineering on the surface, but actually cautious at every step.
But Kayneth predicted her prediction and even created an information gap.
—Namely, the hand grenades he'd exchanged with Emiya Kiritsugu last night had actually never been used.
No matter how high Francesca's illusion expertise, her true body couldn't be an invincible existence.
Ultimately, whether Grand-level mage or Clock Tower Lord, ninety percent of hard power lay in magical workshops. He'd been praising how formidable Francesca was all along.
Actually, he'd never considered her human. Bullshit disciple's disciple of Britain's Merlin—without a magical workshop, mages' combat power is about the same.
Praise you a couple times and you actually get arrogant? Don't think about why I dared let Diarmuid go meet the enemy instead of having him guard me vigilantly.
"CRACK!"
"So this is... the interior of the Grail?"
In a desolate world drifting with snow.
Countless homunculus corpses piled into a small mountain—all with identical appearances and physiques to Irisviel. She looked bewilderedly at the corpse mountain before her, tears unconsciously flowing from her red pupils. She closed her eyes, wanting not to see, not from sentimentality but unconscious behavior.
She was dead, and through magical ritual, was becoming the vessel for Fuyuki City's Grail descent.
Although she'd long known her purpose since birth, truly transforming into the Grail—she still felt instinctive sadness.
"Are you crying, Mother?"
Opening her eyes, reflected in them was a small girl worrying about her.
As if the Grail had heard her wish, the scene before her switched again to the warm atmosphere of her German homeland castle bedroom. The little girl sat on the bed's edge in a purple-white dress, clutching her chest as if unable to breathe, brows full of worry.
"Mother, I had a nightmare. In the dream, Illya became a golden cup, and then seven black things wanted to squeeze into the cup..."
"It's okay, it's okay. Mother will absolutely never let that happen."
Hearing this, Irisviel pulled the little girl into an embrace, pressing her against her ear and closing her eyes again to feel that long-missed warmth. Two streams of warm tears slid down her cheeks again:
"You won't encounter this. Illya, you'll definitely be freed from the Einzbern destiny's shackles. Mother's generation will definitely fulfill the Einzbern's long-cherished wish. From now on, Illya will grow up healthy and happy without responsibility."
The room began turning to black ash and falling. The warm bedroom seemed to be disintegrating.
Clearly the final warmth, yet the corpse mountain of homunculi behind the bedroom appeared again inappropriately.
Everything began disintegrating. Those corpses with identical appearances and physiques to Irisviel were also disappearing. But bizarrely, they became somewhat different.
Their mouths curved to unreasonable angles, showing slit-mouthed woman-like smiles as if cursed.
Black.
Black muddy water was gathering from all directions, swallowing the warmth.
"Illya?"
The adorable little girl in her embrace also disappeared. Finally sensing the abnormality, Irisviel stood up, looking at the black mud flowing from all around in disbelief. Because in the classics' descriptions, the Grail's interior didn't seem like this.
"The Grail's interior? How could..."
The black mud spread to Irisviel's hem. Countless arms reached from below, pulling her into the depths.
If this is the Grail's interior, then who am I, being here?
She felt herself becoming strange. Information about the Grail was being twisted and rewritten.
Arms tearing, letting black mud completely cover and submerge her. She realized something wasn't quite right about the Grail. But the mud's coverage made her unable to say specifically what wasn't right. Instead, she increasingly felt this was the Grail—very reasonable.
"Yes, this is the Grail's interior. The omnipotent wish-granting device will eradicate all sadness in the world, dispel all troubles, grant people the power to realize wishes!"
"The end has arrived before me. The Einzbern's long-cherished wish and Kiritsugu's ideal... will both be realized!"
Irisviel stroked her own cheek. She discovered she could see again.
In this world filled with black muddy water, her mouth also began unconsciously rising to show a gentle smile. She understood the omnipotent wish-granting device's essence. Understood everything. So this is the Grail's truth—salvation's answer.
She might no longer be herself now, but that didn't matter, did it?
No matter who obtained the Grail, both Kiritsugu's and the Einzbern's wishes could be realized by her. Whoever the victor was didn't matter—as long as someone won.
As long as any one person came here to make a wish, as long as this Holy Grail War ended, everyone would be happy.
Her white hem turned an inexplicable black-red. Her smile grew more wanton, even crazed. She understood—so this is Illya's feeling.
Really, really intoxicating. Makes one want to laugh.
"So, Illya, come together with Mother. Don't resist anymore~"
"Together with Mother, you'll be very, very happy—happy forever~"
Irisviel's head twisted and bent. Smiling gently, she waved toward a certain corner of the black muddy water.
There was a small adorable girl in a white dress, hugging her knees with her little head buried in her thighs—just like Illya in her memories, a daughter she loved.
"The Grail should have formed long ago. Why are you unwilling? Why won't you accept? Why do you hate Mother? You must learn to accept defeat, my Illya. Not letting your soul return to the Grail like this is very naughty behavior~"
"..."
"You're already dead, just like Mother, Illya~"
"...Not yet, time."
The dress-wearing little girl's voice was humble as black mud surged from all directions.
But the moment before the black water touched her, six golden cards around her automatically floated up.
Circling around her bare feet like knights protecting a princess, those cards blocked the muddy water. No matter how the black water surged, it couldn't shake the cards.
"Such a naughty child, not even listening to Mother, unwilling to face reality~"
The black-red dressed Irisviel tilted her head. She temporarily had no way to deal with this disobedient daughter.
After all, even she herself found it somewhat unbelievable. Because it was too strange.
—Six Heroic Spirit Servants had died. She'd received six large portions of souls and Spirit Origins on her side.
—While on Illya's side... there were actually six small portions