"Fill, fill, fill, fill. Repeat four times... Huh? Was it five? Well, I was only short one fill."
A young man recited a strange incantation in his apartment living room while drawing a magic circle with red paint (?). The ritual should have been more solemn, but the young man, Ryunosuke Uryu, disliked such stifling atmospheres. To him, his own comfort was obviously more important.
"Then this should be okay, right? Fill, fill, fill, fill, fill. This time makes five, yeah..."
After completing the ritual, he smeared the remaining paint (?) across the walls in a certain pattern. Once he was done, Ryunosuke walked toward the other living person in the room—a little boy curled up in the corner, bound all over and trembling. He seemed to be sobbing, but his gagged mouth could make no sound. Through his tears, his eyes stared at three human bodies: his older sister and parents—or at least, they had been. Now, they were merely corpses.
As Ryunosuke described his worldview and unique sense of art to the child, something unusual gradually manifested around the blood-drawn pattern behind him. Air began to stir within the previously sealed room, changing from a breeze at an unscientific speed—
—into a violent whirlwind that tossed the furnishings into complete disarray.
Sensing the disturbance, Ryunosuke stopped his monologue and stared at the magic circle alongside the little boy. The difference was that his gaze was full of anticipation and excitement, while the boy's was filled with panic on the verge of collapse.
At the same time, a sharp pain traveled from the back of Ryunosuke's right hand into his nerves. After a sensation like being scorched by high-voltage electricity, tattoo-like markings appeared there.
Specks of phosphorescence shone through the center of the tornado-like airflow. Mist seeped from the magic circle, while faint lightning and sparks flashed intermittently. Ryunosuke could feel it: something, something that did not belong to this era—or even this dimension—was about to appear.
"Answer me..." A voice rang out from within the fog-shrouded space. It did not possess the violent or eerie tone one would expect from a "demon"; instead, it was unbelievably gentle. "Are you my Master, the one who summoned me?"
A black robe that covered the entire body, along with a hood and a bizarre mask beneath it, suddenly appeared before Ryunosuke. Though he still did not know what it looked like, Ryunosuke was certain that it was not any life-form currently existing in this world. That made him excited.
"I don't know about this Master stuff, but I'm definitely the one who summoned you with that circle. My name is Ryunosuke Uryu, a freelancer. My hobbies are killing people, and I like children and young girls."
The voice beneath the mask took on a trace of emotion, though Ryunosuke could not tell whether it was anger or delight. What caught his attention was the response. "What a coincidence. I like young girls too. But why did you summon me?"
"Huh?" Apparently not expecting the summoned "demon" to converse like a normal person, Ryunosuke tilted his head and thought for a moment. "Nothing in particular. I just wanted to see. Maybe I got tired of mortal killings. I was curious what a 'nonhuman' would be like."
"I see. Then I shall give you what you have always sought."
"That'd be great. But before that, should we eat this little boy? I'm especially... Urgh!"
The sickle blade pierced his abdomen. Blood splashed out with a wet splurt, then the blade carved an arc before finally hooking upward and leaving Ryunosuke's body through his chest.
"Wow..." Looking at that pure red, Ryunosuke thought, Ah, this is it. The thing he had always been searching for but could never find had been hidden inside his own body all along. And those dangling intestines, those organs like the liver—weren't they exactly what he wanted? The question of what a blond human's intestines looked like, or what a black person's internal organs looked like, all lost meaning at that moment. Everything emerging from his own wound seized all of his attention.
"As expected of a 'demon.' This is what I've been searching for..."
There was not the slightest trace of pain on the dead man's face. At the corners of his mouth lingered an incomparably radiant smile.
"Breaking news: A fire has broken out at a building on XX Street, Fuyuki City. The flames spread from Room XX. The cause of the fire remains unknown. Police found four bodies at the scene. Three have been identified as residents of the household. The fourth suffered wounds from the abdomen to the chest and was missing its right wrist. Preliminary identification suggests that he was the prime suspect in several previous murder cases. An unconscious boy was also discovered around the corner outside the building. He has been identified as a resident of the household and is currently receiving treatment. Police are conducting an in-depth investigation into the details of the case..."
At a small inn near Fuyuki Port, Jizi listened to the news broadcast from an ancient television while taking a preserved human right arm from a jar of formalin. She lightly touched the back of its hand, and the three Command Seals that had been there transferred to the back of her own hand.
After finishing that task, Jizi produced a watercolor pen matching her skin color and covered up the Command Seals.
"Mission accomplished!"
As for where she got the money and identification to rent a room—hehe. With the Caster class skill Item Construction boosting her Noble Phantasm, Thousands of Delusions, Jizi could utterly crush every person in the world who made a living forging documents and printing counterfeit money.
"Hmm, timeline-wise, after Caster appears comes the time for the black uncle's gymnastics performance. Doesn't seem like there's anything I can interfere with. Besides, I'm at the southernmost end of Fuyuki City, while the Tohsaka Residence is at the northernmost end, so I won't go join that excitement. I might as well camp out at the church directly. Huh? The church is also in the far north?"
"Then let's flip a coin!"
Jizi casually materialized a coin—one side read "Watch gymnastics," while the other read "Go to church"—and tossed it. The result was—
"That one doesn't count! I'm not going to watch the black uncle do gymnastics! Again! Best two out of three!"
"...Fuck, best three out of five!"
"Best four out of seven!"
"..."
"Best five thousand out of nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine!"
"Finally got 'Go to church' once~ Real men settle it in one round, so I'm going to the church!"
[Jizi: Fuck! Even Luck D shouldn't work like this!]
"According to the rules of the Holy Grail War, Kirei Kotomine requests the Holy Church's protection for his personal safety."
"I accept. As the supervisor of this war, I, Risei Kotomine, guarantee your safety. Now, please come inside."
Though the two of them had already discussed it beforehand, acting this way was somewhat too hypocritical.
But to avoid attracting attention, they could only put on a show before the church entrance. Risei Kotomine wore a stern expression, pretending to be an impartial supervisor as he brought his son, likewise disguised as a defeated magus, into the church.
For Fuyuki City, which had a large foreign population, the number of people who regularly attended church services was relatively higher than in other cities. Though this Fuyuki Church stood in the Far East, it possessed the magnificent atmosphere of a strong Western religious faith. On the surface, it was merely a place for ordinary believers, but in truth, this church had been built by the Holy Church to serve as the supervisory headquarters for the Holy Grail War. Its leyline ranked third, supposedly even comparable to the Tohsaka Family residence, which ranked second locally.
Naturally, the person serving as priest here had to be chosen by members of the "Eighth Sacrament," the organization responsible for overseeing battles between Masters and Servants. In other words, the man who had received ordinary believers at this church for the past three years was Risei Kotomine.
"Everything is proceeding according to plan, right?"
The script had been perfectly normal up to this point, but what happened next caught Risei Kotomine completely off guard. Before his words had even faded, an Assassin hurriedly materialized before them to report, "Master, there has been a complication! All of our brethren stationed to monitor the route from the Tohsaka Residence to the church have lost their presence. They were likely eliminated by someone!"
"What? How is that possible? Who was it?"
"I don't know. They were all dealt with in an instant."
"No matter how weak an individual Assassin may be after its strength is divided, locating an Assassin in Presence Concealment and killing it in a single strike is absolutely beyond human capability." Unlike his father, who had lost his composure due to the disruption of their plan, Kirei Kotomine began calmly analyzing the situation. "Among the known Servants, more than one possesses this level of attack power—in fact, nearly all of them could do it. But the means of detection are another matter. Saber, Lancer, Berserker, and Rider do not possess such abilities. Even if their Noble Phantasms may have some special properties, rather than suspecting that, we should set our sights on—"
"—Caster?" Risei Kotomine, having recovered his senses, quickly followed his son's train of thought.
"Oh my, are all the mobs nearby cleared out?" Jizi appeared in the forest outside the church. Just as Mapo had deduced, she had just cleared out all the nearby Assassins. As for how she found them: while Assassins in concealment could neither be seen nor emit Mana—note, Mana—and were practically air to this world's Magi and Heroic Spirits, Jizi's body was a Xiling construct capable of contacting and sensing psionic energy. Psionic energy was a concept far beyond the level of Mana. So long as energy was still flowing, no matter how profound the concealment technique, Jizi could locate it—at most, her view was rather blurry. Still, with enough time, she could get high-definition results.
First, she performed a rough scan and marked the green dots on the minimap. If one was close, she sniped it in the head with the Bow of Destruction and Ruin II. If it was far away and unclear, she threw her mask nearby, transferred her five senses into the mask, and dispelled the fog of war. Once she had vision, she simply repeated the process—she had special warding techniques. No use being jealous.
"The mobs aren't respawning anymore. Looks like this instance is cleared. I may not be able to beat the final boss, but beating up little kids is easy and pleasant. I don't have much Mana left, and my goal of scaring those guys colluding with the administrators has been achieved. Those black uncles should restrain their peeping habits a little now, right? I'll head back and prepare for tomorrow night's gathering. Hmm, time to squeeze out one last payment, DA☆ZE!"
Inside the church, the Kotomine father and son had just connected with Tokiomi to discuss countermeasures when they suddenly sensed intense killing intent. At the exact moment they dodged aside, an arrow with a paper note tied to it shattered the window and flew in, aimed directly at Kirei Kotomine's head. Before it could hit, however, the Assassin guarding him caught it with one hand.
"Father, this is likely only meant to deliver a message. Considering that our opponent silently eliminated Assassin's clones, this attack was far too poor by comparison." Kirei Kotomine's voice did not waver in the slightest, despite having faced countless trials of life and death.
"What does the other side say?"
"Master, there are only a few lines and this photograph."
The note's contents were simple: a photograph showing every Assassin appearing at once, along with a demand that the church deliver supplies to several designated locations. Otherwise, they would reveal the information that "Assassin has the ability to create clones" and that "the church, acting as supervisor, is colluding with the Tohsaka Family." With the photograph as proof, there would surely be many participants willing to believe it.
"Damn... The church can afford these supplies, but having our plan fail and ending up caught in someone else's scheme is truly unpleasant." This was the second time Risei Kotomine had lost his composure that night. Still, he was not concerned about whether the other party would keep their word. In the Holy Grail War, there were only winners and losers. Even if they broke their promise, hehe—dead people had no mouths. And even if they survived the Holy Grail War, the church had no difficulty tracking down a magus who had once been a Master. What came after finding them would be even simpler.
"Father, a large portion of the requested supplies are materials for making Mana restoration potions. That confirms it is Caster. Only that class possesses Item Construction. We can also infer that tonight's operation consumed a great deal of their resources. The question is, what is going on with this photograph? There are no traces of forgery whatsoever, but Caster was only summoned this morning. I'm certain I never had the Assassins gather at the location in the photograph during that time. And how did they know the appearance of each Assassin? It appears this enemy possesses detection abilities completely beyond our grasp."
"We can discuss that later. Go prepare the supplies first. Such a major mistake right from the start... Can this truly proceed smoothly, Tokiomi?"
[Jizi: Would I randomly claim I have special Photoshop skills?]
Before you continue