Matou Sakura was in a panic. She came rushing out of the ruins at the end of the street as quickly as she could while still managing to look somewhat composed, trying to stop this confrontation from escalating any further.
She had intended to let her Servant demonstrate some dominance first, to buy time until she arrived.
After all, in her assessment, this mana-burning Saber girl had already expended a great deal in her fight with the white Lancer. Facing two Heroic Servants simultaneously should have given her at least some pause and led to a stalemate.
But plans never keep up with change. The Saber before her was far stronger than she had anticipated. Even after sustaining injuries and fighting through multiple consecutive engagements, her combat power remained formidable. She was simply not someone that her own Servant, who hadn't even gone all out, could contend with.
How to put it? The Saber class, even after being ousted from the top three strongest classes...
Still had absolutely ridiculous numbers. That completely unreasonable Mana Release and Strength.
It showed her the hard work that had gone into this. As for the sweat, it was currently soaking down the back of her dress.
She wasn't worried that her own Servant was weaker, because her opponent's stats were high, but that didn't mean her Servant had used full power. The thing was that her Servant's true peak state was extremely difficult to control.
Even she as the Master might get killed without discrimination. So she didn't dare provoke a direct confrontation.
The gunsmoke of mana saturated this ravaged landscape. The rising black mana flames scorched everything around them to char. Several hundred meters of street had been run through. The small park at the far end was burning, its sacrifice complete. The exhausted red Archer pressed a hand to his chest and panted steadily. The purple-haired Rider who had crawled out of the rubble licked her lips and drew her hand back from where it had been hovering near her eyepatch.
Powerful. Very powerful.
That was the first impression every Servant on the scene, and every Master present, had of the young Saber before them.
Though unlike the red Archer's guarded wariness, the purple-haired Rider looked less frightened and more like she had just found an interesting prey, clearly thrilled with no sign of fear.
"Matou Sakura?"
Seeing the girl rushing out politely from the alley at the end of the street, Miss Illya tilted her head slightly.
She seemed to have a faint recollection of that name, though not a very strong one.
The two Servants opposite her were tensed and ready for hostilities. She didn't make any rash moves either, only letting the charge building in the black sword ease back a little. Not because the name meant anything particular to her, but because the alliance the girl had mentioned gave her pause.
"The Anti-Medea Alliance?"
"That's right, Miss Saber. You heard it yourself just now, didn't you? The Age of Gods magus Medea has invited the six Heroic Servants participating in this Holy Grail War to a battle at midnight three days from now. And I'm sure you've heard something of the legendary reputation of the Age of Gods magus Medea from your own Master. She was the strongest, most terrifying Heroic Servant killing machine of the Fourth Holy Grail War."
"..."
Killing machine, that was fine.
Strongest, on the other hand... you mean the one who never dared fight any Heroic Servant at full strength the entire War?
Whose only one-on-one victory was against the Berserker Lancelot, which cost two of his lives and lasted a full day and night, and even then only because Matou Kariya's mana supply to him had been running critically low?
Even if you're going to exaggerate, there should be limits. Wasn't the strongest combatant of the Fourth Holy Grail War obviously Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, who transcended myth, wielded three magical furnaces, and had the Clock Tower Lord Kayneth as his Master? Just that birth-fate guaranteed first-battle victory effect alone, who in the Fourth Holy Grail War wouldn't have taken a solid hit the first time they encountered him?
Not that you couldn't argue it wasn't so much Diarmuid being extraordinary as any Heroic Servant who had a Master as wealthy and as intelligent as Kayneth would be similarly overpowered.
But working down the rankings, where exactly did they put the Golden King Gilgamesh, who could never be bothered to get serious, and yet even without being serious could stably overpower the vast majority of Heroic Servants, that walking chuunibyou king?
"It seems you are also aware of the Age of Gods magus Medea's reputation. I won't elaborate further then. I have come here today in my capacity as head of the Matou family to extend an invitation to the ancient heroes and the gifted magi of the modern age to join together and stand against the legendary strongest Heroic Servant."
Seeing Miss Illya fall silent, Matou Sakura let out a small inward breath of relief.
She assumed it meant Miss Illya was also wary of the Age of Gods magus Medea.
She quickly gestured for her own Servant to put away her weapons, and while she was at it, carefully reminded the red Archer not far away who was somehow still alive.
Trying to ease the tension in the air and stop a completely pointless clash from reigniting.
Right. Pointless.
Because in her view, participating in a Holy Grail War meant pursuing the Grail. What did killing or defeating someone even accomplish? As long as the last one standing wasn't you, no matter how impressive your kill count, you were just doing unpaid labor for somebody else. The Medea of the Fourth Holy Grail War was a perfect example of that.
So, without first dealing with the biggest threat, continuing to fight Miss Illya here was nothing but factional infighting and self-inflicted attrition.
For her and the Matou family, it was pure negative value. It would only make things harder going forward.
"She is the strongest Heroic Servant?"
Miss Illya sounded uncertain.
"Yes. The Church has released partial records from the Fourth Holy Grail War, and as head of the Matou family, I naturally have access to considerably more inside information. For example, as far as I know, the Fourth Holy Grail War was essentially a one-sided slaughter carried out by the Age of Gods magus Medea."
"?"
"At the port battle, the Age of Gods magus Medea publicly provoked all six Heroic Servants, broke through the encirclement of an entire army, killed the Archer, and walked away without a scratch."
Matou Sakura's expression was faintly serious as she continued:
"In the battle to hunt down the eighth irregular Servant, the Age of Gods magus Medea was infuriated that the irregular had stolen her class, and ignoring the Church's Command Seal bounty entirely, she used vastly superior magecraft to completely crush the irregular. After slaughtering her opponent, she didn't even bother to collect the Command Seal reward."
"Then there was the battle crushing the Berserker, the elimination of the Assassin, and finally the banquet battle at the Einzbern Castle where heroes and champions gathered. The Age of Gods magus Medea went on to kill multiple Heroic Servants in succession. If she hadn't been too arrogant, failing to anticipate that the Lancer and Clock Tower Lord Kayneth still had new trump cards in reserve, and was caught completely off guard, the winner of the Fourth Holy Grail War would surely have been her."
"She possesses an extraordinarily powerful spirit summoning technique. She may even be able to communicate directly with her teacher, the oldest Greek goddess Hecate. In other words, she is essentially a divine being who has been downgraded in violation of the rules. Her spiritual foundation is technically that of a Holy Grail War Servant, yet she can wield the power of a god."
Ah?
Hecate?
Are you serious?
Looking at Matou Sakura's completely straight-faced delivery, Miss Illya hesitated and frowned slightly. The conclusion was technically right, but why did the process feel so wildly different from everything she actually remembered?
In the world of mathematics, a process this fabricated would definitely cost you full marks. What complete nonsense.
"The Age of Gods magus Medea is like this? There are special inside details like this?"
"Please rest assured, Miss Saber. Every word I say is true. Within Fuyuki City, no one among the Three Founding Families knows Medea better than I do."
"..."
Seeing Miss Illya fall silent again, Matou Sakura took it as confirmation that her opponent had been stunned by this track record.
Of course, one or two details in this account were somewhat embellished. It wasn't just the Church's records but also included certain interpretations and perspectives from the Three Founding Families themselves.
But the main substance was largely accurate. The Age of Gods magus Medea was without question a top-tier Heroic Servant, a hexagonal all-rounder who excelled in both magecraft and close-quarters combat. The subject was even touched upon in the Memoirs of Lord El-Melloi II.
The Divine Witch of the Elder Age. Heir to a goddess. Brilliance without peer. An ancient king, unknowing of a woman's might, gave offense to the divine, and paid a ruinous price. It is said that in his final moments he reflected aloud: "A Cup War without the witch, is that even legitimate?" To which she replied: "It matters not. The Cup is not something I sought. Your defeat had but one cause: you dared to challenge the majesty of the gods."
All who heard this could only sigh. Later analysis concluded: the witch's decree must not be defied; the authority of the gods surpasses all.
Enthusiasts' interpretation: In the eyes of the Age of Gods magus, the Grail and all the Heroic Servants are small fry.
This simultaneously lowered the prestige of the Far Eastern Grail ritual and elevated the Age of Gods magus Medea's prestige, to the point that a certain oil-money magus who had summoned said Heroic Servant didn't dare show even the slightest disrespect toward her, and approached her with great humility, earnestly asking to be carried to victory.
"Isn't this somewhat overstated? From what my Master and I know, the Age of Gods magus Medea does not possess that kind of ability. This reads more like exaggeration."
Miss Illya frowned slightly, also probing to see how much Sakura actually knew about the Fourth Holy Grail War.
"Well, well, though I don't know what kind of information network your Master has access to, Miss Saber, I'd imagine it's not from one of the Three Founding Families. It's perfectly natural to be overconfident with incomplete information. Please don't misunderstand, I'm not saying this to mock you."
"It's only a friendly reminder. Please, please do not underestimate the Age of Gods magus Medea, no matter how great a hero you may have been in life or how magnificent the feats you accomplished. Allow me to offer a reference. The Archer who appeared in the Fourth Holy Grail War bore the True Name of the oldest king of Mesopotamia, the Golden King Gilgamesh. And he was the very first Heroic Servant to exit that Holy Grail War."
Matou Sakura dropped this piece of information, at once an appeal and a warning.
The oldest hero-king of humanity, Gilgamesh, hadn't even survived the first night of the Fourth Holy Grail War.
It was a side-angle testament to just how terrifying the Age of Gods magus Medea was.
The strength and scale of that Holy Grail War had clearly been immense, and the Age of Gods magus Medea had clawed her way out to the very top from among a crowd of elite Heroic Servants.
She was essentially one step away from looking Miss Illya in the eye and saying: You know Medea, or do I know Medea?
You just got summoned. What do you know about Medea? We of the Three Founding Families are the genuine Medea scholars.
"The Fourth Holy Grail War. You're saying the Archer Gilgamesh was the first to be eliminated?"
Even the red Archer found himself briefly stunned. What kind of strength level did this Age of Gods magus Medea even have?
He had been surprised enough when Matou Sakura appeared so politely and properly.
Now hearing this bombshell of a claim, his head had genuinely started to ache.
"As the Servant of Master Tohsaka Rin, Archer, you can verify this through the Tohsaka family's own records. At minimum, Gilgamesh dying at the hands of the Age of Gods magus Medea is no secret among the Three Founding Families. The specific details are open to interpretation, of course."
Surveying the completely devastated wreckage all around her, Matou Sakura smiled politely.
The Tohsaka family had declined. In terms of intelligence and information, they naturally couldn't keep up with the other two founding families. A lot of the finer details regarding the Fourth Holy Grail War could only be referenced through the Church's published records, and those were far from perfectly accurate.
"Naturally, as a show of good faith, Miss Saber, I am willing to sign a self-binding Contract of Compulsion with your Master, guaranteeing that neither my Servant nor the Matou family will engage in any conflict with you until the Age of Gods magus Medea has been dealt with, and that we will provide all possible assistance."
"And as for Archer, if you also wish to join the alliance, that is certainly possible. You would simply need to persuade your Master, the head of the Tohsaka family, Tohsaka Rin. After all, our Three Founding Families have always stood together throughout history, and personally I have no wish to lose the long-standing friendship between my family and the Tohsaka family."
One had to admit that Matou Sakura had a very skilled tongue. In terms of rhetoric, there was very little to criticize. She kept her position low and unpretentious in a way that didn't grate.
Even if this was all temporary, and everyone knew only one person could survive to the end.
Still, as a potential early-game alliance partner, Matou Sakura would instinctively feel like a very good choice to most people.
"Are you certain that the alliance alone would be enough to contend with the Age of Gods magus you're describing?"
"I cannot promise the odds of victory. No one can. But more strength is always better than less, isn't it?"
"..."
"You and Archer are the only two I've approached so far. If you're both concerned about problems arising afterward, we can quietly extend the contract to cover the final battle as well. For example, after we deal with the Age of Gods magus Medea, the three of us maintain our alliance and first work together to remove the Einzbern family, their white Lancer, and whichever Servant is hiding in the shadows."
Drawing lines between factions, dividing spheres of influence, forming a community of shared interest.
In a sense, this was the founding shareholders round. The three of them were the original investors.
Any Servant who joined later would be kindling to be harvested after Medea was dealt with and then discarded.
And backstabbing? Hmph. Let anyone try.
Assume Medea is eliminated. Their three-way alliance would force the other three parties to also form an alliance, and given that the remaining three openly had an Assassin-class Servant, overall their combat power would be decisively inferior.
At that point, if any one of their three parties dared to betray the others, the remaining two would immediately kick the defector out. And the opposing three parties certainly wouldn't accept a proven traitor into their camp.
This was the whole of Matou Sakura's plan: to keep the situation clearly divided and under her control.
She had reviewed why the winner of the Fourth Holy Grail War had not been from among the Three Founding Families.
The answer was that everyone had flip-flopped too fast. The situation had been murky and unclear, with almost everyone oscillating back and forth between sides.
To solve that problem, the first priority was to define the factions clearly. To establish a community of interest with a concrete, stable line that would not be crossed. Once the situation was clear, everything would come down to pure skill, and as a Master, Matou Sakura was quite confident in herself. She had a specific advantage in clear, legible battlefield conditions.
"Aren't you worried I might be affiliated with the Einzbern family?"
Miss Illya sounded curious. Sakura seemed to have concluded she was not an Einzbern Servant.
"Whether you are or aren't, the alliance remains valid. I was only speaking hypothetically."
Matou Sakura extended her small hand gracefully.
A polite smile and an invitation.
"Only, in my own mind, I would estimate the probability of that being low. From what I know, the Einzbern family's Master in this Holy Grail War is a young girl who only arrived in Fuyuki City this morning. Given the Einzbern family's characteristic caution..."
"Their affiliated Servant should not stray too far from their Master. And yet your battle was entirely without restraint, as though your Master were nowhere in this vicinity at all."
Of course, the most important reason was something else entirely. The Einzbern family this time around appeared to be throwing out all pretense of honorable conduct and was prepared to play as a team.
A Matou family informant at customs had personally witnessed the Einzbern family take delivery of a shipment of firearms.
What those firearms were for, Matou Sakura didn't need to guess.
If the Saber girl before her were the Einzbern family's combatant, there would be no reason her backup wasn't already sniping Tohsaka Rin from some corner nearby, rather than having the Servant clash head-on with another family's Servant.
"...You have a way with words."
"You flatter me, Miss Saber."
"Your eloquence just bought your Servant's life back. I will consult my Master."
She didn't step forward to take Matou Sakura's hand, even though it would have been a perfect opportunity to close the distance and kill her.
But she had noticed that the purple-haired Rider girl, who appeared to have put away her weapons, kept one hand hovering near her black eyepatch.
And the red Archer was quietly chanting something under his breath, seemingly a preparatory aria for something.
Knowing full well she had already fought through multiple consecutive battles and taken on significant drain, Miss Illya quickly dismissed the idea of pressing the fight further. She wasn't afraid of the purple-haired Rider's trump card.
But she absolutely was not going to gamble on whether the red Archer's trump card might land a surprise critical hit while she was in the middle of killing Matou Sakura.
Besides, there was something more important. In the instant she had fired that beam cannon and torn apart this street...
Her detection had caught something. In that fraction of a second, she had detected an odd Servant aura.
It had vanished almost instantly, close enough to an illusion that she couldn't be certain. But that uncertainty alone was enough to make her wary of her unconscious Master, and whether he might be abducted by that faint, indistinct Servant presence while she was occupied fighting these two.
"Not two. Three. One that can't be sensed..."
Miss Illya murmured quietly, and turned away without expression.
She held the gaze of the red Archer, who had maintained his guard without dropping his focus for even a moment, for one long beat. Then she stepped from the pale moonlight into the shadows.
Dissolved into spirit form and vanished around the corner of the street.
"The Matou family awaits Miss Saber's visit, in the name of the head of the Matou family."
She hadn't managed to shake the other girl's hand.
Matou Sakura smiled and offered a small bow without resentment, and the tension in her back, soaked cold with sweat, eased by a few degrees.
That had been pressure.
The pressure of facing a legendary ancient hero. The pressure of facing mana on a scale that was beyond any Clock Tower Lord she had ever heard of. The pressure of standing before an enemy who could kill her at any moment.
It would be a lie to say she wasn't afraid of Miss Illya. Because that girl was genuinely terrifying.
That dense, black, almost tangible mana reaction had provoked an instinctive dread in her at a fundamental level.
Without putting too fine a point on it: if that girl's weapon hadn't been a sword, and if she hadn't been wearing a set of black knight's armor...
And if the Age of Gods magus Medea hadn't already issued her declaration.
She might almost have suspected that girl was Caster. Or even the Age of Gods magus Medea herself.
"A sleepless night. And that level of combat power, and she still isn't Medea. So just how terrifying is the true Age of Gods magus Medea, and what kind of heights does the pinnacle of the Holy Grail War even reach..."
Matou Sakura murmured to herself, lingering unease still clinging to her.
She had thought she had already far overestimated the Age of Gods magus Medea.
But seeing real Heroic Servants clash in person had made her realize she was still just a frog at the bottom of a well.
The Age of Gods magus Medea was explicitly the peak of the Holy Grail War. Every other Heroic Servant was a hair below her. Which meant that Saber girl was also, necessarily, weaker than Medea. Otherwise, why had she gone silent multiple times and ultimately accepted the alliance?
"Heh heh, what an interesting piece of prey. I will definitely hunt you down."
"I'll peel your armor off piece by piece, admire every inch of your terror from foot to head, and swallow you whole."
Watching Miss Illya disappear, the purple-haired Rider girl licked her lips again with obvious relish, her appetite clearly whetted. As a Chaotic Evil Servant, she was absolutely infatuated with that malicious scent emanating from the black girl.
That was suffering. That was twistedness. That was sin.
She even had a feeling that if she consumed the other girl, not even the Grail ritual's system could constrain her anymore. Matou Sakura's Command Seals would become useless against her.
"Creature without self-reflection. That girl's stats are clearly at least a full tier above yours."
Matou Sakura crossed her arms and gave a cold sniff.
Anyone could see the Saber girl's numbers were ridiculous. A legitimate stat monster beyond question.
"Use your Command Seal to release my full power. I won't lose to her."
The purple-haired Rider girl responded with her own amused sneer.
And she hadn't just taken a beating without getting anything useful out of it. The effective information she had gathered was quite substantial.
"Keep an eye on your sister's Archer. There is definitely something between him and that Saber."
Seeing Matou Sakura still intent on going to check on Emiya Shirou's survival, the purple-haired Rider girl fell into step beside her and lowered her voice.
"Something? What kind of something?"
"There should be some kind of connection between them. They may have known each other in life."
"?"
"You still haven't noticed? When that Saber was swinging her sword at him... she was clearly holding back."