Battle resumed

Late at night, in a guest room at Ryuudou Temple.

"Oh, what interesting children they are!"

The Witch, dressed in a long black robe that concealed her face, looked at the image transmitted through the Crystal Ball in her hand and made a playful sound.

That building was just one of her many places for collecting magic, so it wouldn't be a big deal if it were destroyed. However, the red-clad girl master and her little assistant were definitely worth paying attention to.

"Imitation —or rather, copying?"

The Dragon Tooth Warriors stationed there were considered invincible to ordinary people, but in the eyes of the Magecraft, they were just low-level Familiar. She didn't expect those one-time Props to achieve any results—and as she expected, even the strongest Dragon Tooth Warriors only appeared for a dozen seconds longer than their colleagues. However, the methods used by the opponents were quite interesting.

Both were Dragon Tooth Warriors, using the exact same Magecraft as the Witch. Their physical structure and fighting style were identical, the only difference being the materials used to create Dragon Tooth Warriors. Because the witch was a well-prepared local Magecraft, the quality of her Cursed Object was far superior to those mass-produced merely to meet quotas, naturally giving her the upper hand in battle.

The Magecraft of copying Magecraft —have Magecraft thousands of years later achieved this level of skill? Or is there more to the story?

"Hehe, that's worth investigating~"

The Witch gave a sinister smile and shifted her attention to another girl.

Although she was traveling with her red-clad master, she wasn't her servant; it's inferred she was either an assistant or a disciple—but she didn't seem like Magecraft at all, relying entirely on Martial Arts Magecraft the battle. Her physical abilities and the Bokken in her hand were likely enhanced by the person beside her. The Witch wasn't very skilled in martial arts, but it was clear that the silver-haired girl's swordsmanship was already quite proficient.

If she only possessed these qualities, she wouldn't qualify for Witch's attention list. What truly piqued Witch's interest wasn't her martial arts or Magecraft, but her body.

"She's truly a perfect being~" The Witch licked her lips. "Even in my time, I've never seen such suitable material. Her body seems born to be the Vessel of the Holy Grail."

The Witch's eyes were filled with desire, looking at the silver-haired girl as if she were looking at a delicious cake—she had completely analyzed the so-called Holy Grail War System built by some ignorant junior Magecraft, and naturally knew what steps were needed to "summon the Holy Grail." Therefore, in order to ensure that her wish could be fulfilled, every step had to be done perfectly, especially the final Sacrifice.

As for the Servant who should have been the main focus of attention, the Witch considered him nothing special, just a fighter with some skills, someone her partner could easily handle.

"Hehehe~" The Witch chuckled sinisterly at her own plan.

"Emiya -kun!"

"... Um..."

"Emiya -kun!!"

"... Ugh?"

"Emiya -kun!!!"

Huh!?

Sakura Matou looked at her best friend with some concern, who had been awakened by being hit on the forehead with chalk by the teacher. For some reason, this girl, who always presented herself in perfect condition and was known as a model of aloofness along with Rin Tohsaka, a senior student, was quite absent-minded in class today and even fell asleep when the teacher called on her to answer a question.

The other classmates chuckled good-naturedly at Jizi's rare loss of composure. She lowered her head awkwardly, straightened her back, and seemed to have woken up. However, Sakura, who was sitting next to her, could see clearly that her eyelids drooped again after a short while.

So, in order to prevent Jizi from being targeted by the teacher again, Sakura acted as a timed alarm clock for the entire day's classes.

"Thank you for today, Sakura."

"It's nothing, but Jizi, didn't you sleep well last night?"

"Um... I'm busy with some things, sorry it's not convenient to say."

"It's okay, just take care of yourself."

After school, Sakura chatted with Jizi, who looked a little tired, while packing her things. After Jizi thanked her again, Sakura picked up her bag and left the classroom, but instead of going downstairs or heading towards the club, she went to the upperclassmen's section. Just then, a red figure walked over from there, and when she saw Jizi, a happy smile appeared on her usually tense face.

"Sister..." Long ago, Sakura was the one opposite that smile.

"..."

The purple-haired girl shook her head, banishing meaningless emotions—they had nothing to do with her anyway. Besides, she knew about everything, from the girl named Saber who appeared next to her senior to what Jizi did that night, but what could she do about it?

She sensed a familiar presence entering the campus, and she knew it was time for her to leave.

Jizi, the senior, Saber, and the older sister are all so powerful, so nothing will happen to them.

"Rin, today we need to search for another master within the academy... Rin?"

"... Ah, um!"

Jizi noticed that the person in front of her seemed a little absent-minded. Following her gaze, she saw only a deserted corner of the corridor.

"What's wrong?"

"Fine."

Rin just saw a strand of long purple hair disappear around the corner—if it was her... no, it couldn't be her. Although Matou is also one of the Three Families, Jizi sits next to her every day; there's no way she wouldn't have noticed.

Wait a minute, speaking of the Matou Family, there seems to be another person—but is that guy's Magecraft aptitude sufficient to be a Master?

Or rather, does the Matou Family possess some secret technique that can forcibly enhance a person's aptitude?

Given their Magecraft to manipulate creatures and their affinity for water, this possibility is quite high. After all, even ten years ago, Uncle Kariya was able to command monsters of the Berserker level after leaving the path of magic for so long.

But it still doesn't make sense. Although I was young then, I remember the inhuman and ghostly appearance of Uncle Kariya after he was modified—after all, that look left a deep impression on me—and I saw Shinji Matou few days ago, and he didn't seem to have changed much.

Matou Family's technology improved? Or perhaps my thinking is completely wrong, and this matter has nothing to do with the Matou at all.

"Cold?"

"Ah, sorry, I got lost in thought. Where were we?"

"It means we need to search for the third master within the academy today."

"Oh, right, that's what I was just thinking about—do you think it could be Shinji Matou?"

Rin told Jizi her reasoning, and Ji Zi nodded after listening, but then asked:

"That makes some sense, but that Seaweed Head... it just feels a bit off."

"A sense of incongruity?"

"Yeah, they just don't have that aura of a scheming mastermind or a boss lurking in the shadows—think about it, if they traced it back to the Seaweed Head and found out it really was him, wouldn't they suddenly lose all motivation?"

"Hahaha," even while pondering a serious matter, Rin couldn't help but laugh after hearing Jizi's description. Then, she imagined Shinji Matou sitting on a throne resembling a demon king's castle, looking at her and Jizi who had barged in, and making a boss-like declaration—"Hahahaha!" Rin laughed even louder.

Do you think so?

"Indeed, if it really is him, then all our tension and effort seem completely unnecessary."

After completing the scheduled task "Black Second Master (1/1)", Jizi finally became serious:

"Speaking of which, don't some people from our school live at Ryuudou Temple? Could they be related to the casters who are based there?"

"Are you talking about Issei Ryuudou?" Rin nodded. "We definitely need to be careful. Even if there's no direct contact, we can't overlook any possibility."

"We can leave this to Shirou; he's good friends with President Ryudou," Jizi said, then suddenly remembered something and added, "Speaking of Shirou, where's he? We clearly agreed to go out together after school this morning!"

"Yeah, the last class has been over for so long, it's unlikely to come out --"

"!"

Rin stopped halfway through her sentence, and both she and Jizi's expressions changed simultaneously, their bodies instinctively tensing up.

"This is... the scent of a servant?"

"That's right, in the backyard!"

Sensing the intense aura emanating from the school, the two hurried towards it. To move faster, Jizi simply picked Rin Princess Carry; the weight wouldn't affect her speed and would also distract Rin from using Magecraft.

"Rin, are there any Surveillance Familiar there?"

"No, but I've buried some Dragon Tooth Warriors underground throughout the academy," Rin said, closing her eyes trustingly and focusing all her attention on controlling the Dragon Tooth Warriors. "It's a female Servant; Shirou was slightly injured but nothing serious."

"Hmm, what about Archer?"

"I told him to find a suitable spot to snipe and wait—don't worry, the Dragon Tooth Warriors have already passed by, there won't be any problems."

With the Dragon Tooth Warriors and the Archer keeping watch in the shadows, Shirou's safety should be no problem. However, Jizi did not slow down because of this. She carried Rin Tohsaka and sped towards the backyard like the wind.