The night wind weaved through the church's spires, letting out low whimpers.
Olga Marie stood by the railing at the edge of the bell tower, her silvery-white hair fluttering in the wind.
With her arms folded, her amber pupils reflected the night view of the entire Snowfield City; in the distance, neon lights outlined the city skyline, and directly opposite stood that white building, particularly conspicuous in the night.
City General Hospital.
"Hmph."
She squeezed a short syllable from her nose and spoke without turning her head, her voice sounding somewhat ethereal in the night wind.
"So, why exactly do I have to follow you to do this kind of thing?"
"Eh?"
Flat, who was sitting on the edge of the bell tower platform behind her, tilted his head.
His legs dangled in the air and his hands supported him at his sides as he leaned back slightly, looking up at the night sky diluted into a pale purple by the city's light pollution.
Hearing her question, he turned his face.
"Because it's going to be very lively tonight!"
His tone was matter-of-fact.
"Besides, wouldn't Miss Olga Marie be bored staying all by herself?"
"Bored?"
Olga Marie let out a sneer, raising a hand to brush away a strand of hair that the wind had blown against her face.
"I am the President of the Earth; I'm very busy! The affairs I have to handle could pile up and crush this building—where would I find the time to be bored?"
She looked down at Flat from her height, her other hand raised to her chest, her face full of pride.
"I'm not like a silly guy like you, whose head is filled with nothing but unreliable things."
"Haha, then Madam President has truly worked hard!"
Flat clapped his hands in enthusiastic support.
"Just rest a little today and consider it accompanying me!"
Olga Marie turned her head away, letting out an ambiguous soft huff from her nose.
"Idiot."
'Otherwise, why else would I have run off to a place like this.'
Upon hearing this, Flat started giggling again.
He didn't reply further, simply looking back up at the night sky.
Olga Marie ignored him as well.
She rested her hands on the cold iron railing and leaned forward slightly. Her gaze crossed the distance of dozens of meters, penetrating the barriers of the hospital wards, and locked onto a specific room on a specific floor.
She saw that petite figure lying on the hospital bed—a girl who looked barely over ten years old, her black hair scattered across the pillow and her skin pale to the point of being nearly transparent.
Kuruoka Tsubaki.
The Master of the other Rider in this Holy Grail War.
She was also their target for coming here tonight.
After forming a verbal alliance with Tohsaka Rin and the others, Flat had learned a piece of news from them:
Tonight, multiple participating factions would launch operations against the hospital, and the target was precisely this comatose girl.
As for why she needed protection, Tohsaka Rin hadn't explained in detail, only mentioning vaguely that 'her life or death will affect the direction of the Holy Grail War' and that 'we cannot let certain forces have their way'.
Flat had shown immense interest in this.
"I feel like it's going to be very interesting!" he had said, his eyes shining terrifyingly bright.
Olga Marie originally had zero interest in such matters.
The struggles of humans, the ownership of the Holy Grail, who lived and who died—to her, none of it mattered.
She was the President of the Earth, an existence destined to govern the entire planet; such petty conflicts were as childish as kindergarteners fighting over toys.
But when Flat said "Let's go together," she actually hadn't refused immediately.
By the time she realized it, she was already standing atop the church bell tower.
"Tch."
Olga Marie clicked her tongue again, attributing this bit of unease to 'I just happen to have nothing to do, so there's no harm in watching the fun'.
Her gaze focused on the girl in the ward, and her brow furrowed slightly.
This girl's physical condition... was very abnormal.
It wasn't an injury or a disease.
It was as if someone had taken a blueprint and used a red pen to crudely alter the parameters, forcibly modifying the specifications of a 'human' into 'something else'.
Olga Marie saw the traces of those modifications; dense Magic Crests were deeply implanted in the girl's superficial layers, gnawing at her vitality like parasites.
They had rewritten her physical data, forcibly dragging the individual 'Kuruoka Tsubaki' toward a preset template.
And the girl's consciousness had been shattered by the impact of this violent rewriting, falling into a deep coma from which she could no longer wake on her own.
"..."
Olga Marie stared at the girl's pale face, watching that flame of life that was so weak it was almost extinguished. Suddenly, a strange, groundless irritation surged in her heart.
The feeling came so fast and fierce that she subconsciously clutched her chest.
"What..."
She whispered to herself, confusion flashing in her amber pupils.
Why?
She should have felt nothing.
She had seen too much of human life and death.
Among the possibilities of countless worlds, she had witnessed the rise and fall of civilizations and the extinction of planets. The fate of a mere human was, in her eyes, nothing more than the rise and fall of a speck of dust.
Yet at this moment, looking at that girl lying on the bed, looking at her forcibly distorted existence, Olga Marie felt a wave of discomfort that almost made her gag.
Mixed in that discomfort was anger, and... a familiar yet strange resonance.
As if—
She had once been treated this way as well.
"..."
Olga Marie closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
The chill of the night wind poured into her lungs, calming her down slightly.
She lowered the hand clutching her chest, and when she opened her eyes again, her pupils had returned to their calm state.
Only deep within that calm, a trace of sharpness remained.
And just then—
"Hum."
A wave of magical energy with a clear warning intent spread from the direction of the ward.
The fluctuation was very subtle; an ordinary mage would find it difficult to detect.
But Olga Marie heard it.
It was the aura of a Servant.
Pale, cold, carrying an obsession with death and protection, it wrapped tightly around the girl on the bed like an airtight cocoon.
It was her Servant.
Or rather, a product manifested by certain concepts using the legend of 'Pale Rider' as a foundation. He was currently dwelling deep within Kuruoka Tsubaki's consciousness, maintaining his existence based on the sleeping Master.
And he had clearly detected Olga Marie's long and deep scrutiny.
That wave of magical energy was a warning, like the low growl emitted by a beast guarding its territory.
"Heh."
Olga Marie let out a light chuckle, but the meaning within it caused the distant Magical Energy Fluctuations to come to a sudden halt.
"A Servant manifested by using legends as a vessel, is it..."
"Your perception is quite sharp."