"Senpai has absolutely no idea about the Holy Grail War," Matou Sakura said, looking at Xia Yu. "There is no information left behind by his father in that house! I can guarantee it!"
"Matou Sakura... sigh, I'll just call you Sakura." Xia Yu sighed upon hearing this. Under the other girl's slightly panicked gaze, she patted her head. "Don't you think those words are a bit naive?"
"Even though we actually haven't thought about doing anything to him, the way you look so concerned for him... to be honest, if you were dealing with someone with lower moral standards, they would have already come up with at least eighteen ways to deal with you two star-crossed lovers..."
"Star... star-crossed lovers..." Matou Sakura froze instantly.
She had clearly intended to dodge Xia Yu's hand just now, but for some reason, she couldn't avoid it at all. Just as she instinctively wanted to use Magecraft, that hand was already resting on her head.
Sakura was just about to resist when the phrase "star-crossed lovers" completely derailed her train of thought.
"Looking at this reaction... sigh, why do teenagers come to fight in a Holy Grail War?" Xia Yu shook her head. "Magi truly have a habit of not acting like humans."
"Aren't you also a Magus of the Einzbern family?" Although Matou Sakura agreed with the sentiment, wasn't this clearly insulting herself as well?
"A Magus? I'm not one," Xia Yu said with a beaming smile. "I'm a Servant. A Servant! Exactly like the kind of Servant you'll be summoning next!"
"...Berserker..." Illya's resentful gaze swept over from the side.
"Hi, Berserker here!" Xia Yu was in a rare, high-spirited mood. "Does my dear Master have any business with me?"
"You're exposing everything!" Illya exclaimed in frustration. "Are you going to tell her your True Name next?!"
"Oh, right. It's been so long and I haven't introduced myself yet." Xia Yu nodded and looked at Matou Sakura. "Hello, Sakura. I am Firefly, the Berserker of the Einzbern family."
Matou Sakura was clearly bewildered by such a blunt and frank attitude. She looked at Xia Yu, then at the frustrated Illya beside her.
The latter couldn't take it anymore. She leaped onto the back of the Servant calling herself Firefly and locked her arms around her neck. "Will you just give it a rest! This is an enemy! An enemy! No one fights a Holy Grail War like this!"
"An enemy? Not necessarily." Xia Yu gently patted her hand. "Sakura, it's painful, isn't it?"
Matou Sakura's eyes shrank, and she lowered her head. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"It's okay, Sakura. I understand," Xia Yu gently stroked her head. "If there ever comes a day when you can't endure it anymore, come find me."
"I'll help you, even if you're a bad girl."
"...Apologies, Senpai must be waiting." Matou Sakura didn't know how to respond. She stood up hurriedly, bowed to them, and said with her head down, "I have to get back quickly. Please excuse my rudeness; I will visit again another day."
"My promise is always valid!" Xia Yu called out loudly as she watched her retreating figure. "By the way, remember to say hello to Anna for me!"
"Um, who is Anna?" Matou Sakura asked, confused.
"She's the Servant you'll summon next," Xia Yu's smile took on a trace of mystery. "The compatibility between you and her is truly excellent. As long as you perform the summoning, there's a ninety percent chance it'll be Anna."
"...I'm sorry, I have to go."
Hearing this, Matou Sakura's footsteps quickened even more.
She didn't know why this mysterious Miss Firefly was saying these things to her, but she seemed to understand her so well...
From her past experiences to the fact that she was a "bad girl," and even the Servant she was about to summon... her attitude was so inscrutable.
Matou Sakura didn't dare trust her.
After all, this was the Holy Grail War, a cruel slaughter where it wasn't surprising for opponents to use even the most despicable methods.
How could she judge whether this was a trap or not?
Waiting for her to summon a Servant and then jump right into it.
Matou Sakura returned to the Emiya Residence, her heart heavy with worry.
"Sakura, come see exactly where it's broken?" Emiya Shirou looked at her, completely confused. "I've looked everywhere and can't find it... wait, Sakura, that expression... did something happen?"
"...Senpai," Matou Sakura lowered her head, not wanting her respected Senpai to see her expression. "I... no, you'd better not go near those people who just moved in across the street."
"What exactly is going on, Sakura?" Shirou's expression turned serious. "Is there some history between them and you... no, that's not right either. They clearly don't look like locals."
"It's a matter concerning my family," Matou Sakura said, her head hanging low. "They... they aren't good people. Senpai, don't get close... no, Senpai, is there anywhere you want to go?"
At this point, she looked up excitedly. "Take a leave of absence from school first, then go to another city to clear your head. A month and a half... no, two months will be enough. Just treat it as giving yourself a vacation and stay far away from this city!"
Emiya Shirou remained silent for two seconds. Looking at her panicked state, he eventually nodded.
"Alright. But I have one condition."
Matou Sakura was overjoyed. "What condition? I'll do anything I can!"
"We go together, Sakura," Emiya Shirou said seriously. "I don't know what you're worried about, but if leaving this city can avoid it, then we'll go together!"
"No, that won't work, Senpai," Sakura lowered her head deeply again. "I can't leave..."
"Then I won't leave either." Emiya Shirou stepped forward and took her hand. "Whatever happens, I will face it with you, Sakura. I will never just abandon you and ignore you!"
To be honest, he normally wouldn't be able to say such things, but seeing Sakura so completely rattled, Emiya Shirou somehow found the courage.
"...Senpai, let's stop here for today." Matou Sakura's entire body trembled. She kept her head down and said, "I... I have to go home now."
"See you at school tomorrow, Senpai!"
She turned and left, ignoring Emiya Shirou's hand trying to stop her.
Her lowered cheeks had already turned crimson.
Her heart was an even bigger mess.
She left Emiya Shirou standing alone at the door, staring blankly at her retreating back.
Meanwhile, in the mansion across the street, Illya was throwing a fit.
"You must have lied to me!" She stood aggressively in front of Xia Yu, pinning her shoulders. "Berserker! You said you didn't have any information about this Holy Grail War!"
"But you clearly know so much! You know about that person from the Matou Family, and you even know the Servant she's going to summon!"
"It's mainly because I heard Anna mention her before, and I've dealt with BB too," Xia Yu replied. "This child has a very bitter life, comparable to Anna's, so she can summon Anna based purely on compatibility."
"At first, I really wasn't sure what the situation was with this Holy Grail War, but after seeing her, I realized all this."
"Who are Anna and BB?" Illya's attention was instantly diverted. "Are these people you're talking about Heroic Spirits?"
Xia Yu took the hands that were pinning her shoulders, easily breaking the control, and then naturally pulled Illya into her arms. "Them? Well, that was a different journey."
"In a parallel world where the Human Order was in peril, numerous heroes answered the call of the last Master of humanity, overcoming the Seven Singularities to save the world."
"I met Anna on the Seventh Singularity, the Absolute Demonic Front. She was a tiny little thing, absolutely adorable." Xia Yu gently stroked Illya's hair. "In that Singularity, we fought an extremely, extremely difficult battle."
"How difficult?" Illya asked subconsciously.
"Let's put it this way. Do you think my behavior just now was underestimating the enemy? That I was arrogant?" Xia Yu asked softly.
"So you knew! Berserker!" Illya was about to explode again, but she was suppressed by one of Xia Yu's hands.
"It's mainly because I've seen big scenes. An ordinary Holy Grail War..." Xia Yu shook her head. "It's just okay."
"Humph, 'Demonic Front'? Sounds like just fighting monsters," Illya frowned. "How big could the scale be?"
"The Absolute Demonic Front... it was set during the Age of Gods in Babylon." Xia Yu gently stroked her long hair. "The monsters you speak of were claimed to be the children of the goddess Tiamat—though Tiamat herself didn't create them."
"Rather, they were created by the goddess Gorgon from Greek Mythology," she said gloomily. "The Three Goddess Alliance was dissatisfied with human actions, so they formed a pact to destroy humanity together and then divide the world among themselves."
"Gorgon was just one of them. The second goddess was the goddess of the Babylonian Underworld, Ereshkigal."
"What... they're just... just two goddesses," Illya muttered in a low voice. "What about the third one?"
"The third one is even more of a heavyweight," Xia Yu's lips curved slightly. "The supreme deity from South America, the feathered serpent god, Quetzalcoatl."
"Wait, a Chief God level deity?" Illya almost jumped. "How was that summoned?"
The Einzbern family exhausted themselves just to summon Heracles, and they even had to apply the Mad Enhancement curse to increase the success rate...
"That was the Age of Gods; no summoning was needed at all," Xia Yu said with a smile. "That was the Three Goddess Alliance."
"What about the human side?" Illya asked curiously. "You said many heroes answered the call, right?"
"First, there was the ruler of Uruk, the Wise King Gilgamesh," Xia Yu introduced. "Then there were Tomoe Gozen and Fuuma Kotarou, who had retired because of Quetzalcoatl before we arrived. Then there was the King of Sparta, Leonidas I."
"There was also Ushiwakamaru and Musashibo Benkei, as well as the city's guardian deity Ishtar. Oh, right, and Merlin and Anna."
"So many Heroic Spirits... but you still couldn't win, right?" Illya murmured. "Those were three goddesses, including a South American Chief God like Quetzalcoatl. The local Underworld goddess of Sumer was also troublesome. Gorgon was probably the easiest to overcome..."
"But Gorgon had the Holy Grail," Xia Yu spread her hands. "She alone could make Uruk suffer bitterly."
"Oh, and the Holy Grail... wait, a Holy Grail?!" Illya looked up sharply. "Where did Gorgon get a Holy Grail?"
"Naturally, the mastermind behind the destruction of Human History gave it to her," Xia Yu replied. "Seven Singularities, each with a Holy Grail. And various Sub-Singularities didn't lack Holy Grails either."
"And those three weren't much of a challenge. The real challenge only appeared after crossing the Three Goddesses—the Primordial Mother Goddess of Sumer, an Evil of Humanity, a Beast who possessed the principle of Regression."
"To defeat it, the Human Order even sent out a Grand Servant, who sacrificed his Grand Class status just to give it a possibility of being defeated."
"So Illya," Xia Yu reached out to rub her cheeks, "now you know why I'm not very interested in the Holy Grail War. That Holy Grail thing... I've handled plenty of them. They do have a lot of mana and are quite useful normally, but if it's not the original, it doesn't really deserve the title of a 'Universal Wish-Granting Machine'."
"That mastermind who destroyed humanity sent out seven Holy Grails at once to various critical points in Human History. Uruk, for instance, was the key moment when humans and gods parted ways."
"So you can understand why I'm so relaxed, right?" Xia Yu rested her chin on her head again. "I'm not like others; I don't have some wish that must be fulfilled. Your ability to summon me was purely based on compatibility. I don't believe the Holy Grail has that much power either."
"For me, this is just a relaxed and pleasant journey."
"...So who exactly is that Anna?" Finally, Illya lowered her head. Her face was blank; she simply couldn't imagine what kind of scene that was. In the end, she could only focus on the present.
"She is Medusa," Xia Yu smiled gently. "Anna eventually sacrificed herself to help us overcome the hurdle that was Gorgon."
"...This... wait, why are you doing this again!" Illya snapped out of it and realized she had unknowingly been pulled into the other's arms again. She broke free in embarrassment and anger. "Don't get too arrogant, you mere Berserker!"
After getting familiar with Xia Yu, she had gradually become bolder.
"But Illya feels really good to hold," Xia Yu said, blinking her eyes. "Tiny, fragrant, and soft."
Ever since she had experienced the taste of Bronya, Xia Yu had fallen in love with this feeling—holding them gently in her arms, resting her chin on their heads, and feeling the silky long hair. Wow, that feeling, there's truly no going back!
"You... you..." Illya slapped the table in frustration. "I am your Master! Can't you show me some respect!"