My Fates Codex of Type-Moon

Two prodigious geniuses, and the womb that birthed them. Even with the Clock Tower's protection, the magi wouldn't leave them alone.

By then, Sakura would need the strength to protect herself.

But that was already decided... Kariya abruptly turned his head to look at Sakutsuki.

"You're leaving?"

The young man with golden eyes nodded lightly. "My time is short. Since you've already qualified, I can leave with peace of mind."

As if sensing his reluctance, Sakutsuki smiled and shook his head, making a promise:

"Rest for a year, then come back."

Gritting his teeth, Kariya ultimately said nothing. Instead, he watched Sakutsuki wash the dishes, bid farewell to him and Sakura, then put on a suit as if going out for a normal day, and disappeared from their sight with determined steps.

This departure lasted for an entire year.

During this year, Kariya never gave up his magic training. He also didn't forget to teach Sakura, ensuring she wouldn't lose her most precious emotions on the path of magic. Sakura, too, had begun to learn the incredibly obscure Imaginary Numbers Magic, and under its mystical influence, even her body underwent wondrous changes...

And when the fated day arrived, Kariya Matou raised his right hand, a flicker of anticipation crossing his more resolute face.

"Holy Grail War... I will make you pay, Tokiomi Tohsaka."

"And Sakutsuki, you little brat, don't disappoint me."

Let's return to a year ago, to the day of farewell.

After bidding farewell to Kariya Matou and Sakura, Sakutsuki didn't linger. He immediately headed to the primary ley line location in Fuyuki – Mount Enzou.

The peak, rumored to have once been inhabited by dragons, silently welcomed its peculiar guest.

Like a mountain spirit appearing in eerie folk tales, the young man's figure drifted through the mountain path, entering a large cave known as the "Dragon's Cave."

This was the convergence point of the ley lines, and the location of the Greater Grail's magic circle.

Sakutsuki stood in the center of the cave, his expression solemn. After taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes.

His remaining active time, his very life, was already limited. Now that his preparations were sufficient, it was time to slow the consumption of this body and await the arrival of the Holy Grail War.

And then... continue a life that had already reached its end.

As a deep blue magic circle appeared, his form seemed to dissolve, vanishing into the faintly visible crimson patterns.

[Self-existence has been dispersed, consciousness is now in contact with the Greater Grail]

[Fragments of the Third Magic have been used]

[Entering slumber, estimated awakening time: seven thousand hours]

[Individual activity consumption reduced, estimated remaining active time: seven thousand four hundred hours]

That was 1994, an unforgettable year.

The Great Fire of Fuyuki City began.

The Fuyuki Civic Hall, with an investment cost of over eight billion yen, collapsed overnight. A destructive black torrent descended from the sky, drenching it like a waterfall.

The slaughter then commenced.

At this moment, people were enjoying their peaceful sleep. The deathly black mud sensed their lives and transformed into searing curses, attacking them.

It burned houses, it burned gardens. Both those sleeping and those awake, trying to escape, were reduced to ashes, their remains nowhere to be found.

The death toll exceeded five hundred, and one hundred and thirty-four buildings were destroyed.

The feast of death painted the night sky a fiery red, lingering for a long time.

Beneath this unparalleled destruction, the sole survivor lay on the ground, their vacant eyes wide open, deeply imprinting the horrific scene before them into their mind.

Though a survivor, he knew in his heart that such a description would soon become a thing of the past.

Next, I'll be burned by flames, drowned by black mud, or suffocated to death in the thick smoke, won't I?

It's unimaginably painful. Even living is a torment. I even feel like dying would be easier.

But then, a man like a walking corpse found me.

...I still remember that person's expression.

Tears welled in his eyes, genuinely happy to have found a living person.

—Because his expression was so filled with joy.

It made me think that the person being saved wasn't me, but that man.

But that emotion, that touching sentiment, was incredibly real, and it was conveyed to me.

Ah...

I've decided. I will carry that man's expectations and live on as a survivor, in place of the victims.

My life is for sacrifice, to live for others.

A red figure flickered continuously within platinum light. At this point, it was impossible to distinguish whether it was the memories of a transmigrator or some fragments recalled from distant times.

Only that obsession was utterly real, imprinted deep within the young man's mind.

If only, if only I could return to before that disaster—

Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely… I must stop it!

Magic, that which transcends common sense, refers to phenomena where things achievable under common sense are accomplished through uncommon means.

However, magic does not encompass "things humans cannot achieve"; the ability to accomplish such things is called "Magic."

Ultimately.

Magic is both human intellect and the world.

Magic is not included within it; it is a loneliness suspended outside the heavens.

The first to begin changed everything.

The second that followed acknowledged the countless.

The third that carried on showed the future.

The fourth that opened the way hid its form.

And then the fifth, the end, had already lost its meaning (its seat).

Of the Magics that still exist in the world, excluding the second and fifth, the rest still await humanity's plucking, like the fruits of Eden.

The Third Magic—Soul Manifestation—is an infinite energy source based on the perpetual motion of the soul, and using an immortal soul as a template, it creates a perfect body befitting it.

It depicts a new possibility for humanity's future.

In the slumber of time, Sakutsuki gradually absorbed fragments of the Third Magic, finally discerning some of its essence.

As long as the soul is immortal, the energy possessed is infinite, and an immortal soul relies on emotions for support—emotions become motive force, the soul creates miracles; those who have lost their desires and emotions are mere walking corpses unqualified to complete the Third Magic.

For this very reason, the Winter Saint, being an artificial human, cannot grasp the Third Magic, and the Einzberns, sealed away in the wind and snow, cannot possibly achieve their long-cherished wish.

This is true even with the Greater Grail.

"...You carry a familiar aura."

Black sludge surged, outlining a figure with a curvaceous body, leaning over the sleeping person and breathing:

"Empty, possessing nothing, someone who doesn't belong to this world, someone who hates and deeply loves humanity."

"If you wish to be saved, then fill me up."

Thus, the sleeping person awoke from a bizarre, fantastical dream.

[Consciousness awakening, existence being reshaped]

[Reshaping successful]

[Estimated active time: Seven hundred hours]

Platinum particles converged, reshaping a well-proportioned body. The naked youth stood in the center of the great cavern, eyes closed, reaching out his hand to retrieve clothes from a rhomboid space and dress himself neatly before opening his golden eyes.

Mana, filling his body after a long absence, accelerated Sakutsuki's return to consciousness. The vibrancy of the ley lines around him was also invisibly heralding the arrival of a certain moment.

It had already been a year.

Fuyuki City, seemingly peaceful, was now a gathering of storms, welcoming challengers who would stop at nothing for their wishes.

"So that's how it is... It's about to begin." Lightly flicking his sleeves, the handsome youth smiled. A year seemed to have had no effect on him; even his elegant kimono looked as good as new.

But now, he was ready to welcome the Holy Grail War.

Now—it was time to summon a Heroic Spirit.

Spreading his hands, his fingers moved rhythmically, as if connecting two places beyond his immediate vicinity, from which flowed molten iron that had been stored away.

For Sakutsuki, whose attribute was "Sword," the molten iron, melted from a ritual sword, was his best summoning material.

The molten iron drew the pattern of a magic circle on the ground, drawing four retreating circles before enclosing them with a summoning circle. The order was not to be changed.

Although it was knowledge he had memorized perfectly in the Einzbern household, Sakutsuki still reviewed it repeatedly, avoiding any possibility of oversight.

Taking a deep breath, the youth closed his eyes and, as if sensing something, loudly recited:

"Fill, fill, fill, fill, fill!"

"Repeat five times, but discard when filled."

As the syllables were uttered, a switch within Sakutsuki, existing between the tangible and intangible, was flipped.

From this moment on, Sakutsuki, as an existence, would shed his human portion, becoming merely a component designed to fulfill a mystery.

His consciousness as a human transmitted pain, and Sakutsuki detested abandoning the attribute of "human."

And such suffering was occurring simultaneously in hidden corners in different places.

"With silver and iron as the foundation, stone and the great ancestor contract as the base, my predecessor, Schweinorg. Blocking the descending wind with an iron wall, sealing the four gates, circulating endlessly through the crossroads of the kingdom from the crown."

Beneath the Tohsaka residence in Miyama Town, Tokiomi Tohsaka chanted loudly while drawing a magic circle. The material for drawing the magic circle was not the blood of a living sacrifice, but liquidized jewels. For this day, Tokiomi had long accumulated many jewels infused with magic, and today he used them all in the ritual, not hesitating to incur a massive debt.

Kirei Kotomine, standing beside his teacher, stared intently at the Holy Relic placed on the altar.

It was said to be the fossilized shed skin of the world's first snake.

Thinking of the Heroic Spirit this Holy Relic would summon, even Kirei couldn't help but feel a sense of awe.

Now he finally understood Tokiomi's confidence; as long as it was a Servant, no one could defeat the Heroic Spirit Tokiomi had chosen.

"Is such a simple ritual enough?"

In the winter city, blanketed by wind and snow, Irisviel gazed at the simple, almost crude summoning circle on the ground, a hint of surprise in her voice.

"You might be disappointed, but summoning a Servant doesn't require such a grand ritual," Kiritsugu Emiya explained as he meticulously checked the mercury-drawn patterns for any distortions or smudges.

"That's because it's not the magus who actually summons the Servant, but the Holy Grail. As the Master, all I need to do is anchor the appearing Servant to this world and provide them with magical energy to materialize."

Seemingly satisfied with the completion of the magic circle, the man stood up and glanced at the altar in the center, where the catalyst for the summoning was placed.

It was a scabbard, primarily golden with blue lines tracing its design. A faint, smooth sheen passed over it, reflecting the inscriptions on the scabbard.

Kiritsugu Emiya stared at this significant holy relic, a flicker of solemnity crossing his eyes.

If his guess was correct, this Holy Grail War would likely be more troublesome than he had imagined.

"It's starting, Iris," he said softly.

"Let's begin, Sakura. You should stand back a bit."