Twilight, Kiritsugu and the Church

As dusk settled, the peak of Mount Sonokura was bathed in the orange-red hues of the setting sun.

Shiki stood atop a large boulder on the mountain's summit, facing the lingering rays of the sun. Suddenly, he spread his arms wide and shouted towards the sky, "I love you, Sun!!"

His voice echoed through the mountains, startling a few birds returning to their nests.

The Black Knight, Lancelot, stood below the boulder, watching Shiki's sudden outburst with a bewildered expression. A thought crossed his mind: Had the overuse of the Magic Eye injured Master's head?

"Mr. Lancelot, what bad things are you thinking?"

As if sensing the Black Knight's thoughts, Shiki suddenly turned his head and asked.

The Black Knight was startled, not expecting his thoughts to be seen through by Master.

He quickly covered up, "Master, I wasn't thinking of anything. I was just wondering when we should depart. If we're late, the other Heroic Spirits might make their move first, and we'll be put on the defensive."

Upon mentioning the other Heroic Spirits, the Black Knight's expression grew serious.

He knew clearly that whether it was Saber, the King of Knights, or Rider, if they attacked Archer or them, the situation would become tricky.

Once Rider's Noble Phantasm, his Reality Marble, was unleashed, the sheer number of troops would put them at a severe disadvantage.

His own Noble Phantasm, even when fully unleashed, was only an anti-army Noble Phantasm with a limited range and usage count. Fighting Rider would not be optimistic.

As for Saber, the King of Knights, it was not yet time to confront her. If they were to act rashly, they would only be able to retreat.

Shiki seemed to have already considered these issues. He leaped from the highest point of Mount Sonokura, drifting down as lightly as a falling leaf to land beside the Black Knight.

He said with full confidence, "Don't worry, no one else is as fast as us." As he spoke, he pointed in the direction of the new city and continued, "In everyone's perception, if there's no necessity, battles at night usually start after 9 PM. Caster's incident last time was just an accident."

The Black Knight couldn't help but retort, "But Master, the time Saber and Lancer dueled was also just past 7 PM, around the same time as the battle against Caster."

"Hmm... That was an accident too. Oh well, Mr. Lancelot, just listen to me, there definitely won't be any accidents today."

Shiki was a bit embarrassed, thinking how this Black Knight loved to expose him. He had only been involved in the Holy Grail War for about two and a half days, how could he know about all the previous events.

"Alright, let's not dwell on this. We'll go eat first, and then immediately hunt Archer. How about that?"

Shiki grumbled and started walking down the mountain first.

The Black Knight shook his head helplessly, his form dissolving, and followed closely behind Master.

At this moment, across the Miyou River, on the streets of the new city, neon lights gradually lit up, adorning the city in a riot of colors.

Shiki was looking for a suitable restaurant when suddenly, a familiar figure appeared in his vision.

"Kiritsugu Emiya."

The bearded, weathered man in his sight was someone he had previously had a gunfight with.

What puzzled Shiki was why the other party would appear here, and without his Servant. Was he that confident? Wasn't he afraid of someone attacking him?

The Black Knight, in his spiritual form, had also noticed Kiritsugu. He asked Shiki for instructions, "Master, what should we do?"

The Black Knight knew very little about this man, only that he was Saber, the King of Knights' true Master, a ruthless "Magus Killer." This information came from the Matou family's intelligence.

"Kiritsugu Emiya... Heh heh, how nice. Come on, let's go play with him for a bit and scare him."

Food could be eaten anytime, but this chance to scare Kiritsugu might be the only one.

Shiki used his ninja tracking skills. Even without chakra, he hadn't forgotten these skills. He carefully followed Kiritsugu, walking through two streets until Kiritsugu turned into a dimly lit alley.

"Master, it seems the other party has discovered us," the Black Knight reminded him.

Shiki smiled and said, "Not 'seems,' they definitely have. This is interesting, Kiritsugu. As expected of a 'Magus Killer,' you're very perceptive and cautious."

Since he had been discovered, there was no more fun to be had.

Shiki conjured a coin in his hand, and the power of the Asura Path instantly covered the coin, strengthening its essence.

With his magic now abundant, using such a method was effortless.

He flicked his finger, and the coin shot out like a bullet, passing through the crowd at extreme speed, soaring over billboards, and embedding itself deeply into the alley.

Shiki chuckled, turned, and left. Time to go eat.

Along the way, he could still hear the Black Knight complaining mentally about him using the Magic Eye's power again without permission.

The action he had just taken was imperceptible to others. Even if people felt a gust of air, they would only assume it was the sea breeze, as this was common in a seaside city.

Meanwhile, deep in the alley, Kiritsugu Emiya was breaking out in a cold sweat.

He slightly turned his head, looking at the dented wall next to his head. In the center of the dent, a gleaming coin was embedded.

He had almost had his head explode like a watermelon.

"Did that young Master not intend to kill me...?"

Kiritsugu could sense that the other party had no killing intent. This strengthened coin was merely a prank. But this prank had shown him the young man's abilities and power.

"Very strong!"

He finally understood why the other party's ordinary pistol had fired such powerful bullets before. It turned out he used reinforcement magic to strengthen the bullets.

Kiritsugu took down the gleaming coin and silently calculated the time. Two minutes later, the coin finally returned to its original color.

"Two and a half minutes..."

Kiritsugu's brow furrowed. The opponent's reinforcement duration and magical power both made him feel troubled. Coupled with the opponent's agile reactions and movements, his chances of winning against that young man alone were almost zero.

"We can only ambush them by surprise."

But how could that be easy? The distance was too great, and his accuracy would decrease. If the distance was too short, he was even less confident in close-quarters combat, and he had no chance of winning alone.

Kiritsugu reluctantly left the alley and continued searching the new city for Rider's Master.

As the Holy Grail War was nearing its end, this newcomer from the Clock Tower was the easiest target to deal with.

As for Saber and Rider forming an alliance, so what? As long as that newcomer died, Rider wouldn't be able to manifest for long and would soon return to the Grail.

A few minutes later, a stray cat leisurely strolled to the sunken wall of the alley. It curiously stared at the indentation, seemingly wondering why it hadn't been there before.

But this spot seemed just right.

The stray cat nimbly leaped, using the sunken spot to easily scale the wall. With a couple of meows, it jumped into the neighboring yard.

Meanwhile, at a restaurant two streets away, Shiki was agonizing over the menu.

Looking at the dozens of dishes on the menu, he fell into a state of indecisiveness. He wanted to try everything, but after patting his pockets, he found them empty and could only pick two items to try.

"Master..."

The Black Knight stood by, watching Shiki's hesitation with a bit of exasperation. He hadn't realized before that his young Master had such trouble making decisions.

It seemed that ever since leaving the Matou Old House, more and more of Master's minor quirks had been revealed.

Prompted by the Black Knight, Shiki finally used a method of pointing and choosing, selecting two Japanese specialty sweet dishes for his dinner.

However, after tasting them, Shiki frowned. He smacked his lips, a helpless expression on his face, and finally put down his chopsticks.

"What's wrong? Master, is the food not good?" the Black Knight asked with concern.

"No, it's my own problem. My sense of smell and taste have lost their sensitivity to certain flavors."

This strange illness, which he'd had since childhood, had led him to take countless medications, both good and bad. In the end, even his senses of smell and taste were affected.

He only now realized that he had lost most of his sensitivity to sweet and cloying flavors. Even the best mochi would taste like chewing on wax.

The Black Knight was momentarily speechless, not knowing how to comfort his Master.

"It's alright, Sir Lancelot. Don't worry about me; I know what I'm doing. This isn't some terminal illness; I'll find a way to treat it slowly in the future."

Shiki, instead, comforted the Black Knight.

Although the food tasted very, very bland, as if there was a layer of something between him and the flavor, he quickly finished eating. Then, without wasting any time, he took the Black Knight and headed straight for the church.

The time was approaching seven in the evening.

Gazing at the church, which was still lit up, Shiki's lips curved upwards into a confident smile. "I knew it! The Joyful Monster and Archer are here!"