My Fate Compendium of Type-Moon Chapter 10

As he read further, Sakutsuki's inner world became increasingly shaken, mirroring the old man's handwriting. By the end, he felt a coldness as if standing alone beneath a snowy night.

So that's how it is. No wonder the Origin Bullet had no effect on him. No wonder his magic parameters had risen so abnormally. No wonder such an accident occurred during the competition…

Ah, so that's how it is.

From the moment he had awakened, the young man had been inhabiting a non-human vessel.

He had no Magic Circuits. Every time he fought, every time he used magic—

It was at the cost of his life.

Magic Circuit

A pseudo-nervous system found within a magus.

It serves as a pathway to convert life force into magic, and also as a conduit to the Great Magic Circle that forms the foundation.

The number of circuits a person can possess is determined from birth. Magus families exist to produce descendants with even just one more Magic Circuit.

Once opened, they can be activated at the user's will. A magus's talent is judged by the number of Magic Circuits they possess. For example, Shirou Emiya has 27 Magic Circuits, while Rin Tohsaka has 40 primary and 30 secondary circuits.

Of course, there are special existences. The homunculi of Einzbern were created as bodies with Magic Circuits to serve as the core of the Greater Grail. After becoming the Greater Grail, Justeaze's Magic Circuits expanded and proliferated to a diameter of nearly a kilometer.

And then there are—those who bypass the intermediary of "Magic Circuits" entirely, using their life force directly to cast magic. They are considered heretics.

Naturally, this is not something to be proud of.

For Sakutsuki, this devastating news meant he had to abandon his carefree demeanor. He no longer had the luxury of freedom; he had to take the initiative, utilize his foresight and his "cheat," to extend his dwindling lifespan.

After tearing up the report and forcing Ahadon to sign an unbreakable "self-compulsory contract," Sakutsuki rode his beloved Kawasaki Ninja H2R and left Einzbern. He didn't return to Winter's Castle until dusk.

The night passed without incident.

After that, Einzbern returned to its peaceful state, save for the addition of a young man with white hair and golden eyes who frequented its library, greedily absorbing the magical knowledge accumulated over a thousand years.

Illya still loved to come and play with Sakutsuki, and he could never refuse her requests. Each time, he would smile wryly, put down the book in his hands, and say, "Don't disturb me next time," before generously casting magic. Then, under the clear sky, he would watch Illya with Kiritsugu Emiya or Irisviel, accompanying her as she spent her happy childhood.

Seven days passed in the blink of an eye.

Only one year remained until the start of the Fourth Holy Grail War.

The next morning, Sakutsuki, dressed in a new suit and carrying his motorcycle helmet, bid farewell to the Emiya family.

"Onii-chan is leaving?" Illya clutched Sakutsuki's sleeve, her ruby-like eyes filled with reluctance. "Can't you stay here with Illya forever?"

The young man with golden eyes crouched down, gently stroking Illya's long hair as he had when they first met. His voice was gentle and distant, "I can't help it. A Kamen Rider's destiny is to wander."

"Shirou is saying things I don't understand again." Illya pouted with a huff, her adorable expression bringing a smile to everyone present.

Everyone except Kiritsugu Emiya, of course.

The magus killer stared intently at Sakutsuki's left hand, or more precisely, at the black fingerless gloves the young man had worn for the past seven days and had never taken off. His gaze lingered for a long time.

Could it be…

"Goodbye, Kiritsugu, Mrs. Emiya, and my adorable little princess. It's a shame I couldn't wait for that girl's arrival, but I must continue my journey now. See you all in the future."

Sakutsuki was not one for lingering. After a brief farewell, he mounted his motorcycle and left the eternally snowy Winter's Castle.

"Girl…?" Irisviel tilted her head, a hint of confusion in her voice. "That's strange, will someone else be visiting Winter's Castle later?"

They would never understand. Because when that girl arrived, the fate of the Emiya family would also reach its irreversible conclusion—if a person named Sakutsuki had never existed.

Annecy, France

Annecy is the most beautiful small town in the Alps. The French call it the "Balcony of the Alps," and the locals call it the "Venice of Savoy." Legend has it that the water in Lake Annecy comes from the snowmelt of the Alps, and it is considered the cleanest lake in all of Europe.

Since he was visiting, Sakutsuki had no reason not to see it. And by Lake Annecy, he encountered a young man from the East. After they jointly helped an old man who had his wallet stolen, they became acquainted and temporary travel companions.

"Speaking of which, I haven't asked you the reason for your visit here, Sakutsuki," the handsome man with black hair and black eyes, dressed in sportswear, asked casually as he looked at the sparkling Lake Annecy.

"Just enjoying the last moments before destiny arrives," the young man with golden eyes replied, leaning on the grass with a languid posture, showing no sense of urgency.

"That's quite a statement…" the man, still harboring some chuunibyou tendencies, chuckled. He playfully poked Sakutsuki with his finger. "At your age, always talking about destiny, what's wrong? Cold feet before marriage?"

"I'm not the type to be afraid of my girlfriend," Sakutsuki opened his eyes and glanced lazily at the man. "Besides, you're the last person who should be saying that. I remember when you were drunk last night, you were muttering things like, 'As long as Aoi is happy,' and 'What's so good about Tokiomi Tohsaka,' or something like that. Could it be… the girl you like ran off with someone else?"

Pausing, Sakutsuki spoke the man's name: "Am I right, Kariya Matou?"

"S-shut up!" Kariya Matou's playful expression vanished, replaced by panic and embarrassment at his secret being revealed. "I didn't say anything like that, absolutely not! You must have misheard!"

"Yes, yes, yes," Sakutsuki couldn't be bothered to expose the man's clumsy lie.

[005: Kariya Matou]

[Character Information]: The second son of the Matou family, a descendant of Zouken, Kariya's younger brother, and Shinji and Sakura's uncle. He is the only younger generation member of the Matou family with some magical aptitude. In the original timeline, he was the Master of Berserker in the Fourth Holy Grail War. The family head, Zouken, initially intended for Kariya to be the heir. When Kariya was young, he arranged for him to interact with Aoi, the daughter of the Zenjou family, a magus family, to foster their relationship.

[Hidden Information]: Due to the extreme strangeness of the Matou family's insect summoning techniques, even with the support of Zouken and the Zenjou family, Kariya was unwilling to let Aoi fall into the Matou family's insect den. Therefore, regarding Tokiomi Tohsaka's interference at this time, Kariya felt that as long as Aoi was happy, he would sever ties with the Matou family and leave on his own.

[Record Conditions]: None

The records of the Destiny Illustrated Book are all laid out here. If you're going to act like this, why pretend you're not involved?

"You brat, you just love seeing me embarrassed, don't you?" After his initial panic, Kariya Matou recovered and gave him a shove. "Aren't you flying out soon? Hurry up and go, so you don't keep making fun of me."

Kicked in the backside by the thick-soled oxford shoes, Sakutsuki reluctantly stood up. He suddenly asked Kariya Matou, "Want to come back with me? Our routes are the same, aren't they?"

"Fuyuki City… Hmph." Facing his travel companion's question, a trace of pain and resistance flashed in Kariya Matou's eyes. He eventually shook his head. "Never mind, I'll depart in five days. Before that, I need to buy some souvenirs for two little girls. When I get back to Fuyuki City, I'll look for you."

"A souvenir, hehe." Sakutsuki chuckled softly, casting a pitying glance at Kariya Matou. He put on his helmet and rode his motorcycle away.

"Hey! What's with that look?"

The man's dissatisfied protest was left behind. Sakutsuki hummed a song he'd learned in this world and sped through the sunny town on his motorcycle.

An hour later, a passenger jet at Annecy Airport roared into the sky, carrying weary or excited travelers, along with their unknown destinies, towards the beyond.

Without a certain magus killer wielding a surface-to-air missile to cause trouble, the plane took off and landed safely, eventually touching down on the runway of an airport in western Japan and coming to a steady stop.

A few minutes later, a mobile lift connected to the cabin door, and the door opened.

A young man in a black suit, looking sharp and capable, descended the stairs and stretched lazily, looking out at the bright morning light of Fuyuki City.

On his left hand, where he had removed his glove, were three scar-like markings.

These were the "Command Seals," the entry tickets to a certain war.

On a warm and gentle holiday morning, sunlight streamed onto the grass. Children ran around playing in the park, while their parents watched them with smiles. Citizens strolled leisurely down the streets, enjoying their usual peaceful days.

Ah, the peaceful Fuyuki City.

But today, the rumbling engine of a motorcycle injected an unusual note into this peaceful atmosphere.

The black suit was embroidered with gold patterns, outlining his tall, well-trained physique. The dashing young man rode a high-tech motorcycle through the streets and alleys of Fuyuki City. Even the helmet he wore couldn't hide his pair of blazing golden eyes.

"Mom, there's a Kamen Rider!" A child by the roadside caught a fleeting glimpse and shouted excitedly.

"Hm? Where?" The mother didn't turn around. His father looked, but the young rider had already disappeared from the street, leaving only the lingering roar of the engine in the air.

Where had this mysterious rider gone? To Fuyuki City's most famous Ryudou Temple, or to the ancient Miyama Town? To the forest rumored to hold a "dream city," or to the clean and indifferent new downtown area?

Had he ever sped across the cross-sea bridge, taking in the city's beautiful scenery?

By noon, the gathered crowds realized through their conversations that this rider had traveled all over Fuyuki City in just one morning.

Ah, would he appear again in the afternoon? That charming and mysterious young man riding a motorcycle?

People looked forward to it, anticipating a small ripple in their peaceful fate.

However, this expectation was soon dashed, because in the afternoon, the silver-green motorcycle had stopped at the foot of the hill in Miyama Town. Taking off his helmet, the young man with messy white hair looked up at the two equally magnificent mansions on the hill and began to ascend, step by step.

He was going to disrupt a ceremony.

He was going to attend a funeral.

He was going to announce his arrival.

For the magi of Fuyuki City, the two mansions on the hill in Miyama Town had always been the focus of their attention, as they were home to the masters of the city's mysterious world—Tohsaka and Matou.

For countless years, any magus who caused a disturbance in the city, disrupted the ley lines, or meddled with the mysterious would fall before the guardians who wielded magic insects and manipulated jewels. Some were even stripped of their Magic Circuits, reduced to mortals, and died in unknown corners.

This reputation, forged through bloodshed, made Fuyuki City a peaceful place in the world of mystery. Even the most audacious magi were unwilling to cause trouble in this city, lest they incur the punishment of the ley line guardians.

Occasionally, some magi would mutter: Are the Tohsaka and Matou families overreacting? Why do they appear at the slightest disturbance?

But the nature of magi was, after all, cold and ruthless. After a brief moment of doubt, they would continue to pursue their own goals, and the secrets hidden within Fuyuki City were most strictly guarded under the vigilant watch of the two great families.

And today, the Tohsaka and Matou families, though both guardians, rarely interacted. They had unusually opened their impregnable barriers, and the heads of both families, engrossed in their own research, had emerged from their magic workshops for another meeting after a long time.

The reason was simple: the Matou family wished to adopt a child with magus bloodline, and the head of the Tohsaka family, in response to the request of an old ally, decided to give one of his two beloved daughters to the Matou family for adoption.

In the hall of the Tohsaka residence, Tokiomi Tohsaka, the fifth-generation head of the Tohsaka family, a man with black hair, blue eyes, and a deep, profound face, was meeting with an old man whose limbs were as thin as a mummy's and whose sunken eye sockets gleamed with sharp vitality.

After a brief and concise exchange, the two parties finally reached a consensus. Even when facing a monstrous existence, Tokiomi Tohsaka remained unfazed, nodding calmly, "It seems our opinions are unified. In that case, Zouken Matou, you can take my youngest daughter today—"

"Objection!"

Before he could finish speaking, the main door of the Tohsaka residence burst open. A young man with white hair and golden eyes, wearing a fingerless glove on his left hand, strode into the reception hall and questioned the two astonished magi loudly, "As signatories of the ancient covenant, have you forgotten who provided our Holy Grail?!"

"Since you were able to quietly break through the more than twenty layers of defensive barriers I set up..." Tokiomi Tohsaka narrowed his eyes, subtly gripping a jewel at the tip of his palm. Beside him, the monster named "Zouken Matou" revealed a sinister cold smile.

In response, the young man let out a disdainful snort, "It's not the 'Sixty-Four Layers of the Offering Hall.' I can break through mere defensive barriers with the most basic magic."

With a wet, sticky chuckle from the depths of his throat, the withered old man stared coldly at Sakutsuki and hoarsely revealed his identity: "The signatory of the ancient covenant, the creator of the Holy Grail ritual to fulfill our wishes, not from our two families, but from the homunculus family residing high in the snowfields—Einzbern."

"Precisely." Sakutsuki produced a token he had "borrowed" from Jahangir and gestured with a smile.

After confirming the token's authenticity, Zouken Matou's expression did not relax; instead, it became even more grim, "Then, what objection does a mere messenger of the Einzbern family have to the contract between the Matou and Tohsaka families?"

Meeting Zouken Matou's gaze directly, a dangerous curve had appeared on Sakutsuki's lips at some point, "That's because we Einzberns also want to adopt one of the Tohsaka family's two 'jewels'."

"You?" Tokiomi Tohsaka's calm expression wavered slightly but quickly returned to elegance. "Even so, what can you homunculi teach my youngest daughter? Puppet-making techniques? The Tohsaka family doesn't need such skills."

"I can teach her many things." Facing Tokiomi Tohsaka's questioning, Sakutsuki beckoned with his left hand, and a blade formed from condensed magic materialized and stuck into the ground. He closed his right hand, and a dazzling purple jewel fell into it. "Moreover, I can promise to protect her always, even if she refuses to become a magus."

"Projection and Reinforcement Magic, to have cultivated them to such a profound level... How terrifying." With a sinister laugh, Zouken Matou recognized the true nature of the young man's magic at a glance and praised him without reservation.

Because he understood Tokiomi Tohsaka, understood his choice.

"Although your magical attainments are admirable, in the end, these are just the most basic introductory magics, aren't they?" As expected, after a brief moment of surprise, Tokiomi Tohsaka declared in an irrefutable tone, "Then consider the purple jewel a welcome gift from the Tohsaka family to the Einzbern family. Esteemed messenger, please take your leave now."

In Tokiomi Tohsaka's eyes, whether it was the magical mysteries he could impart or the geographical distance between him and his youngest daughter, the Matou family far surpassed the self-imposed isolation of the Einzberns.

What's more...

"Can your Einzbern family entrust the Magic Crest to my youngest daughter like the Matou family can?" The question from the head of the magus family was like the final hammer blow at an auction, deciding the girl's ultimate fate.

"Sigh..." The young man sighed with regret, then turned and walked out the door without a backward glance, leaving behind a revelation before the storm:

"I promised her freedom, I promised her a future, I even bestowed upon her the grace to break free from her demonic nature and walk towards ordinary happiness."

"Yet, you chose to ruthlessly push my hand away."

"Then my radiance has reached its end." Appearing from the bottom of the hill to the top, Sakutsuki smiled as he looked at the two imposing Western-style houses. The hunting pistol in his hand gleamed with a cold light.

"After this, there will be an endless night."

From the very beginning, Sakutsuki never intended to obtain what he desired in this manner.

Kariya walked quickly through the scenery of his hometown, a place he thought he would never see again.

Even when Kariya had returned to Fuyuki City several times before, he had never crossed the river to step into Miyama Town. Come to think of it, he hadn't been back in nearly ten years. Unlike the new city center, which changed its appearance daily due to urban development, this area remained completely unchanged, as if time had stopped its march here.