My Fates Codex in the Nasuverse Chapter 19

The holy sword Arondight, also known as the Undisturbed Lake Light.

Even though it had been transformed into a demonic sword, its brilliance could not be concealed.

The unlit underground training ground, the moment the blade was drawn, shone with a sapphire-like faint glow as if submerged in the depths of a lake. The magnificent scene caused both grown men to lose themselves in its beauty.

"Mercy, generosity, wisdom, honor, valor... I too once passed the test of the five virtues of a knight and obtained the Lady of the Lake's Sword from Lake Ceravy in Toussaint," Sakutsuki murmured, stroking the sword's body, sighing softly as if lost in memory. "It's just a pity I lost it again and can't find it anymore."

"You did something like that too! Also, what is Toussaint? Is it a mysterious island?" Kariya exclaimed in shock, only to be severely scorned by the latter.

"Of course, it's fake. What era is this? Mystical powers have already faded. Fairies, elves, and the like are all on the fringes of the world. Where would I get a divinely forged sword?"

"But you said it like it was real!"

Sakutsuki smiled without speaking and sheathed the Undisturbed Lake Light in Lancelot's scabbard. The basement returned to its dim state.

The night was deep and quiet, perfect for storytelling.

"Let us tell a story of a knight..." the young man's voice was long and drawn, gently picking up the threads of past history.

It was the era of the planet's final romance, a twilight period when islands still held remnants of mystery, magic, and fairies, and sacred grounds persisted.

Most of the legends of the Knights of the Round Table also originated from this period—and that Knight King still led many knights, driving away foreign races, protecting his people, and leaving behind many heroic deeds that were sung by the people.

There was a knight from France who, upon hearing the rumors of the Sword in the Stone and the Ideal King across the strait, and after being compared to Arthur by his liege, set foot on British soil out of dissatisfaction and curiosity.

In one battle, he fought alongside the Knight King and finally realized that the brilliance of this king was not due to his physique, but to his unshakeable faith.

He was moved by the king's will, willingly offered his loyalty, and became a member of the Round Table.

Being from a foreign country, this knight was more focused on the individual than Britain, thus he noticed the anomalies of the King and the Round Table. He was extremely indignant at what the Knight of the Round Table Tristan had said when he left – "doesn't understand people's hearts" – and reached a consensus with Queen Guinevere, who also wished to share the king's burden.

In the tenth year of King Arthur's reign, the illicit relationship between the knight and Guinevere was exposed.

In the battle to save the queen, the knight killed Agravain, accidentally killed Gawain's brother, and wounded the Sun Knight Gawain, eventually leaving Britain with the queen and returning to his European territory.

Even so, King Arthur still forgave him.

But eventually, Arthur's son, Mordred, launched a rebellion. When the knight received a plea for help written by Gawain before his death, he traveled a long distance to support King Arthur in quelling the rebellion, but he was too late. The great battle between the King and the rebellious son had already concluded.

—The legend of the Knight King Arthur was ended, and the kingdom collapsed.

Afterward, the knight spent the rest of his life in regret.

When Sakutsuki finished his story, he found that two listeners had joined them at some unknown time—Miyu with black hair and Sakura with purple hair.

For the little girls, such a tragic knight's story was undoubtedly the most touching.

And Kariya, who had appeared before Berserker at some unknown time, looked at him with a complex gaze.

"So that's why I summoned you..."

Berserker, King Arthur and Queen Guinevere.

Kariya Matou, Tokiomi Tohsaka and Aoi Zenjo.

How similar were they to each other?

"▉▉▉▉..." the man, whose body was filled with wild energy, whispered, appearing more like a beast than a knight.

"If it were you, what would you do, Kariya?" Sakutsuki's question brought Kariya's consciousness back. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, the complexity in his eyes had vanished, replaced by a resolute determination.

"I will not let the person I love deeply suffer. Tokiomi was wrong, so I will correct him."

"Even if Aoi ultimately doesn't choose you?"

Kariya clenched his fists and turned his head away, conveying his will through silence.

At the same time, he prevented Sakutsuki from seeing the ambition burning in his eyes.

The Holy Grail War, the Grail...

Sakutsuki didn't notice Kariya's abnormality. He simply patted his shoulder to encourage him, then walked over to Miyu, crouched down, and met her amber eyes. "Have you tried?"

"Yes." Miyu, wearing a magical girl outfit with purple as the main color, had an extra strap on her left leg. She nodded upon hearing the question. "The Servant Cards are functioning normally; they can all be used."

"Very good." The golden-eyed youth smiled with satisfaction, having received the answer he wanted. "Since you've come to find me, it means there's new movement in the Holy Grail War, right?"

"Yes." Miyu nodded, her small face calm. "Last night, Assassin attempted to break through the Tohsaka estate's barrier."

"And then?" The keywords were triggered, and Kariya immediately became serious, asking in a deep voice.

Miyu paused, and there was a rare hint of disbelief in her tone.

"Then, Assassin was killed."

Toussaint, the five virtues of a knight, the Lady of the Lake's Sword—from The Witcher 3.

Especially for the magi gathered in Fuyuki City, there were two focal points: the two imposing mansions of the Matou and Tohsaka families, standing side-by-side on the hills of Miyama Town.

It was common knowledge that the Masters who wished to obtain the Holy Grail resided in these two Western-style houses. Therefore, low-level familiars had been frequently appearing day and night for surveillance purposes. The owners of the houses had naturally anticipated this situation and had already set up over a dozen or twenty layers of barriers within their gardens for detection and defense. From a magical perspective, they had transformed their mansions into military fortresses.

Of course, the Matou estate had become an empty shell a year ago, and the true Master of the Matou family and their allies were lurking elsewhere in Miyama Town, also monitoring the Tohsaka family, their rivals.

Do you think the Masters' actions are too cautious, even cowardly?

Regarding this, except for Sakutsuki, who was an anomaly from the start, it is likely that other magi would not feel ashamed but rather proud.

Although magi possessed mysterious powers, they were still human at their core. Their bodies were not much stronger; they would bleed if their skin was cut, and they would die if killed.

Servants, however, are different. Even the weakest Servant possesses power far beyond that of humans. Currently, there are no more than two digits of entities in the mysterious world that can confront Servants.

Therefore, the primary objective of the Holy Grail War is not to win, but to preserve oneself—if you die, you lose everything.

Just like the previous battle between Rider's group and Sakutsuki, wasn't Iskandar forced into such a sorry state by a simple magic projectile attack just to protect his Master?

Before they could ensure their own safety, the Masters would naturally hide in the shadows and gather information through various means.

Tokiomi Tohsaka used his disciple Kirei Kotomine and the channels of the Holy Church. Kariya used the influence of the Matou Estate and familiars for surveillance. Kirei and Waver used their own familiars. Sakutsuki... well, Sakutsuki basically didn't need information, as it was already stored in his mind.

However, out of caution, he still needed to confirm—would this little butterfly of his, by flapping its wings in this war, stir up a tornado?

"Let's see what happened last night," Sakutsuki said, gesturing for Kariya to communicate with a familiar and play the footage saved from the previous night.

The tragedy happened in an instant.

It was a shadowy figure whose form couldn't be discerned. As it entered the familiar's vision, the shadow had already thrown several casually picked stones, breaking through the interconnected barrier of the Tohsaka Estate and bursting into the courtyard.

But the moment the shadow attempted to shake the foundation of the barrier, a gleaming spear flew down like lightning from directly above, piercing its hand.

With Sakutsuki, a great magician who inherited a thousand years of magical knowledge, assisting them, the familiars monitoring the Tohsaka Estate were unexpectedly superb. Even the shock and disbelief of that shadowy figure were clearly reflected in the familiars' eyes.

A magnificent golden figure stood tall on the triangular gable roof of the Tohsaka Estate. The person exuded an awe-inspiring presence, shining all over, dimming even the light of the myriad stars and the bright white moon.

"You crawling insect on the ground, who gave you permission to look up?"

The golden figure coldly questioned, his fiery red eyes looking down at the Assassin prostrate on the ground, his tone devoid of contempt, only an immense indifference.

"How can you, an ant, look directly at this King? Ants should be like ants, looking at the ground as they die."

Countless shining weapons whizzed through the air, descending upon Assassin.

The familiars watching from outside the Tohsaka Estate could only watch as the first loser of the Fourth Holy Grail War, a Servant, was miserably defeated without even a chance to retaliate.

The footage ended there.

Silence.

After Kariya Matou watched the massacre, he fell into a long silence.

He asked himself if, if it were him, if it were his Berserker, could they kill Assassin so easily?

Regardless, that was still a Servant, an existence that ordinary magi could not resist.

Could he and his Servant defeat Tokiomi Tohsaka and that golden flash?

"Kariya, what do you think?" Sakutsuki's tone at this moment was very much like Detective Dee's.

"Just say what you think, you little brat," Kariya glared at him irritably.

"Then I'll get straight to the conclusion," Sakutsuki said with a smile. "This battle is fake, it was staged for us to see."

"Because I've fought with that golden Servant before, I know that guy isn't the type to just stay put."

Sakutsuki walked up to everyone, his fingers moving, replaying the segment of the footage from Assassin's appearance to the golden figure's arrival. This time, Miyu also saw the problem:

"The time... it's too short."

"Yes, from Assassin manifesting to Tohsaka's Servant launching an attack, the interval between them was too short, as if they were prepared beforehand, waiting for the opponent to arrive," Sakutsuki patted Miyu's head and smiled. "Don't forget that Assassin has the Class Skill 'Presence Concealment,' how could he be discovered so easily?"

"And if Sakutsuki is right, then there's only one reason why Tokiomi Tohsaka's Servant arrived so quickly." Kariya, who had gradually calmed down, also noticed the many flaws in the act. "That is, this was all prepared in advance."

"I heard that Assassin's Master has taken refuge in the Holy Church, and the supervisor has announced that he will be placed under protection."

"Hmph, that's quite a good plan." Kariya snorted. After a year of hellish training, he was no longer a novice in magecraft. "Although I don't know how he managed to keep Assassin alive, but if this is the case, the other Masters will definitely let their guard down, and then they will easily steal information."

After all, the Holy Grail War was an intelligence war, and the advantages brought by Assassin, who was best at gathering information, moving from the open to the hidden, were self-evident.

What troubled Kariya even more was that since Tokiomi Tohsaka would allow Assassin to stage such a play in his courtyard, it meant that he and Assassin's Master, Kirei Kotomine, were allies.

This way, the difficulty of defeating Tokiomi Tohsaka would be even higher.

"Kirei Kotomine... huh." Recalling the ascetic man in the mage's robe with fists like mountains, Sakutsuki curled his lips, not hiding his killing intent at all.

Before that priest completely fell, Sakutsuki would personally send him to hell.

Just as the two men were lost in their own thoughts, Sakura, who had been quietly by the side, raised her hand and said weakly, "Um, that, Sakutsuki-niichan."

"The flight you're waiting for has arrived."

Sakutsuki's golden eyes instantly lit up, and his anticipation was so clear that even others could sense it. Sakutsuki smiled, spun Sakura around in his arms, and then eagerly walked towards the door. "Let's go, Miyu, we're going shopping today!"

"Mhm," Miyu nodded. Sakura, though a little envious, was sensible and didn't say anything.

After all, Sakutsuki had been spending time with her these past few days, and she was already very content.

"So what's the connection between a flight and shopping?" Although he already knew about it, Kariya couldn't help but complain, then shouted, "Be careful! And come back early!"

"Got it! Dinner won't be short of you!"

As Sakutsuki and Miyu set off, at the F Airport closest to Fuyuki City, a chartered plane operated by Volare Alitalia, flying from Germany, landed on the runway.

The princess from Winter's Castle and the knight with a handsome appearance visited this small, ill-fated city.

A mobile lift connected to the cabin door, and the door opened.

A pure white young woman emerged from the aircraft. A white fur hat, a white coat, a white knee-length skirt, paired with her snow-white skin and silver hair, she looked like a pure white princess from a fairy tale, perfectly matching the current midwinter season.

Irisviel, the "Master" from the Einzbern family, looked up at the soft afternoon sunlight, a relaxed smile on her face.

Following behind her was a tall, slender young man. Judging by his appearance alone, the young man was no less striking than the woman in front of him. His long golden hair was simply tied back, and he wore a minimalist black suit, exuding an air of competence and crispness that perfectly complemented the smiling, pure white woman looking at her.

They were like a princess and her knight from a Western fairy tale, with three maids following behind them. Wherever they went, they drew admiring glances from onlookers.

If anyone could overhear their conversation, they would be even more convinced that they were peculiar and pure beings, separate from the mundane world.

"I'm really happy to be traveling with you, Saber. Because no matter how much I look at you, I never get tired of it."

"Irisviel, is something wrong?"

"It's nothing, don't worry about it."

"...Every time you smile like that, it means there's definitely something behind it. I hope you'll honestly tell me what it is."

"I was thinking, it's not entirely a bad thing that you can't materialize. Thanks to you not being able to turn into a spirit, I've had the pleasure of picking out clothes for you."

"..."

Artoria, known as Saber, sighed. The inability to materialize as a spirit was a serious flaw. Normally, she wouldn't be surprised if her Master scolded her severely for it. Having someone like this flaw was already beyond Saber's wishes, and now she even had to caution her master not to joke about it, which was completely turning things upside down.

"Irisviel, can I really blend in with the people of this era dressed like this?"