Infinitely deep, mysterious, distant, and vast, the dragon source, which had continuously fed the earth with life force from the Root since the beginning of the world, hung as always high in the air of the underground stone temple.
Amidst the dense, materialized cloud-sea mist of the Greater Life Force, two figures who absolutely should not have been there stood, calculating something directly beneath the infinitely mysterious dragon source.
"No matter how many times I see it, it feels out of reach. Perhaps this is the entrance to the Root."
Jeanne, clad in her battle armor spirit gear, stood beside Rin, looking up at the sphere of the dragon source above her head.
"Unfortunately, it's not. That's just a faucet constantly gushing life force from the Root. An old geezer who's completely dead has already tried," Rin, kneeling on the ground and carving a magic circle into the diamond-hard stone floor with her fingers, replied to Jeanne's conjecture while continuing to concentrate on her carving.
Jeanne looked at the magic circle Rin was carving on the stone floor with a strange, incomprehensible expression, while Rin meticulously checked it against the sample blueprint in her hand, scrutinizing every minute detail to ensure there wasn't even the slightest error or blurriness.
"Master, are you planning to summon a Heroic Spirit here? This is too simple and crude; it's disrespectful to my compatriots."
"Mm." Rin nodded slightly, responding to Jeanne, "Perhaps you're a bit disappointed, but summoning a Servant doesn't require such an elaborate spiritual summoning ritual."
Rin explained while carefully checking the patterns drawn on the stone floor for any distortions or blemishes.
"Because, in reality, it's not the Magus's power that summons the Servant, but the overflowing magical energy from the greater grail after it has absorbed enough. As a Master, I merely act as a link between the Heroic Spirit and this world, and provide the magical energy for them to materialize in this world. Well, if you don't have higher demands for your Heroic Spirit, this much is sufficient."
As if satisfied with the completion of the Magic Array, Rin nodded and stood up, continuing to explain to Jeanne: "Of course, the better the magical conduction effect of the materials used for drawing the array, the better the natural effect will be. Magical materials for drawing arrays typically use blood, which is also the most common and frequently used drawing material, as magical energy is stored in blood. Besides that, higher quality materials include mercury, commonly used by Alchemists, and the gem solution often used by our Tohsaka Family, which will have an even better effect. Of course, the effect is directly proportional to the price. However…"
Rin pointed to the array she had carved, "The material I used to draw the array is actually magical energy itself. The magical energy flowing externally, transformed by my greater source life force, will fill the empty grooves of the stone-carved array to automatically form it. I don't think there's any material in this world with better magical conductivity than magical energy itself."
Then, Rin rummaged through her Magic Pouch and pulled out a rusty, mottled black iron shard. This was the relic Rin had prepared for the Fourth Holy Grail War.
Jeanne frowned slightly, looking at the shard in Rin's hand with a hint of doubt, and said, "Master, I sense an ominous and chaotic aura from this shard in your hand. What kind of Heroic Spirit are you planning to summon?"
"I plan to summon Berserker…"
In the frozen City of Snow, surrounded by the dark, millennia-old accumulated obsessions.
Kiritsugu Emiya, the Magus killer who married into the Einzbern Family, was in the most magnificent and darkest place within this ancient, ice-sealed castle: the Einzbern Castle Chapel.
This was, of course, not a place to praise God's grace and find peace of mind. In a city inhabited by Maguss, a so-called place of prayer referred to a sacrificial room for performing magical rituals. Kiritsugu Emiya was currently here, doing his final information compilation before summoning a Heroic Spirit.
In this chapel, if one looked up at the stained-glass windows, they depicted not the portraits of saints, but the long history of the Einzbern Family, who wandered in search of the Holy Grail.
Among the "Three Founding Families," the Einzbern Family had spent the longest time pursuing the Holy Grail.
Finally despairing of their solitary method of seeking the Holy Grail, two hundred years ago they were forced to establish cooperative agreements with external Magus families like the Tohsaka and Matou.
In the subsequent Holy Grail Wars… due to the Master's combat ability always lagging behind, they never won a single time. The ultimate result was that they had to bring in battle-savvy Maguss from outside. This decision was made nine years ago.
It could be said that Kiritsugu Emiya was the last trump card played by the Einzbern Family, who had always prided themselves on their pure bloodline. For this, they did not hesitate to change their family creed a second time.
Kiritsugu Emiya, staring at the data on his laptop, his gaze inadvertently swept over and fell upon a relatively new painting on the stained-glass window.
It depicted Justitia von Einzbern, the Einzbern Family's "winter saintess," and the two Maguss serving by her side. All three extended their hands towards the Holy Grail in the sky.
From the composition of this painting and the balance of its creative intent, one could discern how much the Einzbern Family had strived to belittle the Tohsaka and Matou families two hundred years ago, and the sense of humiliation they felt when they had to rely on their help. All of this could be glimpsed from this painting.
"If I am lucky enough to survive this war…" Kiritsugu Emiya muttered a low, sarcastic bitter laugh to himself, "My own image, even if unwilling, will be painted on this stained glass according to that composition."
"How is it, Kiritsugu? Everything is ready. Have you found anything on your end?"
A face too beautiful and perfectly sculpted, like a doll, with ruby-red eyes and long, silver hair shining like snow; she possessed both the elegance of a lady and the childishness of a toddler, making it hard to imagine she was already a mother to an eight-year-old daughter.
Irisviel von Einzbern, Kiritsugu Emiya's wife, the vessel for the Holy Grail in this Holy Grail War, a Homunculus created through artificial magic synthesis, a woman destined for tragedy and devoid of happiness.
At this moment, she was smiling with a face full of happiness, holding a charcoal-colored long box. Inside was the relic that the patriarch had just entrusted to her, to summon the strongest Heroic Spirit, "Saber."
Kiritsugu Emiya looked up and, together with Irisviel, opened the long cabinet entrusted by the patriarch, captivated by its contents.
"I didn't expect that we would actually find this thing…"
Even the usually calm Kiritsugu Emiya seemed deeply moved at this moment.
It was a scabbard.
Golden in material, adorned with dazzling blue enamel, such luxurious equipment, rather than a weapon, resembled a treasure displaying the dignity of nobility, like a keter and a scepter. The inscription carved in the middle was a long-lost fairy script… proving that this scabbard was a craft made by non-human hands.
Irisviel reverently took the golden scabbard from the lined box and held it in her hand.
"Legend has it that this scabbard, simply by being worn, can heal its wielder and halt aging. Of course, the prerequisite is that its 'original owner' provides the magical energy. This is the greatest aid Grandpa and the family have given us in this war: King Arthur's scabbard, avalon."
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