After helping Rin Tohsaka haul the suitcase, which was clearly beyond what her strength could handle, into the car, Jizi had originally wanted to turn around and lift Rin into her seat as well. But this tsundere little girl seemed determined to show Jizi that she was "already capable of handling any situation independently," so she did not take Jizi's outstretched hand and instead struggled to climb into the seat, which was far too high for her.
"Pfft..."
Though Jizi had tried hard to hold it in, Loli Rin's deliberately affected movements in the name of "elegance" still made her snicker. To keep the girl from finally flying into a rage and resorting to the decidedly "inelegant" act of using both hands and feet, Jizi simply picked her up and placed her in Aoi Tohsaka's arms. Naturally, she received an unappreciative "Hmph!" in return.
Aoi Tohsaka gave her daughter a light tap on the head, then turned and bowed to Jizi with a serious expression.
"Rin has received much of your care these past few days, Miss Assassin."
Jizi hurriedly returned the solemn bow. Since she was not good at dealing with people like Aoi, she could only mumble, "Not at all."
"Ever since Sakura... In any case, Rin has always been suppressing her feelings. As her mother, I could not help worrying. But these past few days with you, this child has finally been able to let out her emotions. Thank you so very much."
With things having been said this far, Jizi could no longer brush it off. She answered earnestly, "Actually, perhaps I'm the one who has been looked after. I've also been very happy spending time with your daughter."
"Hmph! Don't think I don't know... What's this?"
What interrupted Rin Tohsaka's inevitable venomous remark was the slip of paper Jizi placed in her hand.
"It's my phone number. Call me if anything comes up!" This was also insurance against the little brat running off to Fuyuki City by herself in the future.
"Like I'd ever call you!"
"Then take care. Goodbye."
Watching the car drive away until it vanished from sight, Jizi knew that the real show was about to begin.
---To keep this chapter from being entirely watered-down canon material, this is where that ends. The content below is 99% canon, so you can skip it.------------------
In a clearing amid a patch of scrub forest in a corner of Miyama Town, Fuyuki City.
After focusing his senses and confirming that no one was watching, Waver Velvet began preparing the summoning ritual.
The three chickens that had spent the entire day struggling and screeching, tormenting Waver's nerves without pause, were first cheerfully sent by him to meet King Yama.
Before the dripping blood cooled, he had to draw the pattern of the magic circle on the ground. He had practiced the sequence countless times: four circles of regression, inscribed in the center of the summoning circle—there could be no mistakes.
"Manifest. Manifest. Manifest. Manifest. Manifest. Five times thus. Let the restraints be broken at once."
As Waver chanted the incantation, he carefully sprinkled the blood across the ground.
Meanwhile, in the workshop beneath the Tohsaka Residence in Miyama Town, the same ritual was being prepared.
"Let silver and iron be the essence. Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation. Let my great master Schweinsteiger be the ancestor.
Let the walls rise against the wind that surrounds thee. Let the four cardinal gates close. Let the crown of thorns rotate upon the three-forked road leading to the Kingdom."
Tokiomi Tohsaka recited aloud as he laid out the magic circle. What formed the circle was not sacrificial blood, but melted jewels. Every gem he had filled and stored away for this day, Tokiomi used without hesitation.
Watching from the side were the father and son Risei and Kirei, as well as Jizi, who was at least still part of the Tohsaka camp for the moment.
Kirei stared fixedly at the Holy Relic placed atop the altar. At a glance, the fragment looked no different from a piece of mummy, yet it was said to be the fossilized shed skin of the first snake in this world to molt, in the distant primordial age.
At the thought of the Heroic Spirit that could be summoned with such a thing, Kirei could not help shuddering.
He had finally acknowledged Tokiomi's unwavering confidence. No Servant could possibly defeat the Heroic Spirit Tokiomi had chosen.
As for Jizi, she was naturally figuring out how to cling tightly to the thigh of Type-Moon's greatest tycoon.
At the same time, at the far end of the distant continent, Kiritsugu Emiya was checking the completion of the magic circle in the center of Einzbern Castle's chapel.
"This simple a ritual is enough?"
Irisviel watched from the side. The simplicity of the preparations seemed to have caught her off guard.
"You may be disappointed, but summoning a Servant never required such a grand ceremony."
As he checked whether the lines drawn in mercury were warped or uneven, Kiritsugu explained.
"In truth, it is not the caster but the Holy Grail that summons Heroic Spirits into the human world. As Masters, all we need to do is anchor the Heroic Spirit that appears in this world and provide the small amount of Mana needed to maintain its material form."
Satisfied with the completed result, Kiritsugu nodded and stood up, placing the catalyst upon the altar—the sheath of the holy sword from legend.
"With that, the preparations are complete."
"You memorized the summoning incantation before coming, didn't you?"
In response to Zouken Matou's confirmation, Yanye nodded in the darkness.
The air was thick with the stench of rot and acid, shrouded in a deep sea-green darkness. The Matou Residence stood atop a hill in Miyama Town, and deep beneath it lay this worm pit.
"That's right. But insert two additional verses into the middle of that incantation."
"Why?"
Yanye asked casually, and Zouken answered with an innately sinister laugh.
"What do you mean, why? It's simple. Yanye, your ability as a magus falls far short of the other Masters, so your Servant's basic abilities will naturally be lacking as well."
"In that case, we'll make up for it through the Servant's class and raise the base value of those attributes."
This meant determining the class through the arrangement of the summoning incantation.
Ordinarily, when a summoned Heroic Spirit's class as a Servant was determined, it was inevitably decided by the Heroic Spirit's own attributes. However, there were two exceptions: two classes that could be selected beforehand by the summoner.
One was Assassin. The Heroic Spirit corresponding to Assassin had already been fixed as one of the assassins who inherited the name Hassan-i Sabbah. Jizi: Are you sure?
The other class could apply certain additional factors to any Heroic Spirit, allowing them to qualify for that class—
"This time, we will add the attribute of 'Mad Enhancement' to the summoned Servant."
As though savoring the destruction about to be brought forth, Zouken announced with a face full of delight,
"Yanye, you shall serve as Berserker's Master. Do your best for me."
On that day, in different lands, before different catalysts, the incantations being chanted rang out almost simultaneously, in a coincidence far beyond mere chance.
Every caster shared the same long-cherished wish.
A miracle meant for only one person was about to descend. To obtain it, they would not hesitate to fight bathed in blood. Toward the heroes beyond the reaches of time and space, several people upon the earth now raised their prayers in unison:
"I hereby declare..."
Now was the moment to test himself as a magus. If he failed, he might not even keep his life. Though tense inside, Waver felt no fear at all.
His passion for pursuing power and his relentless drive toward his goal—judging by temperament alone, Waver Velvet was without question an outstanding magus.
"I hereby declare—
My will shall create thy body, and thy sword shall create my destiny.
If thou heeds the Grail's call and obeys this will and reason, then answer my summons—"
Mana flowed through his entire body. Once one became a magus, one would likely never escape the chill and pain brought by the Magic Circuits writhing within.
Waver gritted his teeth and endured it, continuing the chant.
"—Let this oath be made. I shall attain all the virtues of all of heaven; I shall have dominion over all the evils of all of hell—"
Kiritsugu's vision began to darken.
The Emiya family's Magic Crest, passed down through generations and engraved on his back, began chanting independently to support Kiritsugu's magecraft. His heart began pounding rapidly, as if some mysterious force had seized it from beyond his own will.
His body, ravaged by Mana gathered from the atmosphere, had now lost its function as a human body. It had become a component for realizing some mystery, a circuit linking spirit and matter.
Ignoring the pain groaning beneath the immense pressure, Kiritsugu focused on the incantation. Irisviel, standing beside him so tense that she had forgotten even to swallow, did not even enter his awareness.
The forbidden phrases mixed into the summoning incantation would strip the summoned Heroic Spirit of reason, reducing them to the berserk class. At the appropriate point, Yanye inserted the two verses:
"—And let thine eyes be clouded with chaos. Thou, imprisoned by frenzy. I am the one who holds thy chains—"
Unlike an ordinary magus, Yanye's Magic Circuits were other organisms parasitizing his body. The burden of stimulating and activating them was agony far exceeding the pain endured by other casters. As he chanted, his limbs began to convulse, countless capillaries burst, and blood seeped out.
His remaining right eye now shed tears of bright red blood that slid down his cheek.
Even so, Yanye had no choice but to concentrate.
When he thought of what he bore upon his back—he could not run away now.
"—Thou art the seven heavens clad in three great words of power, come forth from the ring of restraint, guardian of the scales—!"
Though he had reached the final verse, Tokiomi continued driving the Mana rushing through his body to accelerate.
A tornado arose with flashes of lightning. The wind pressure forced Kirei and the others watching nearby to shut their eyes, yet the lines of the summoning circle still shone brilliantly.
At last, the magic circle connected to a place beyond this world... Amid the endlessly overflowing radiance, a golden figure appeared. Father Risei was instantly overwhelmed by that majesty and could not help exclaiming:
"...We've won, Kirei. We're certain to win this war..."
And so, the prayers reached their ears.
From the other world to this one, legendary phantoms descended amid whirlwinds and light.
Those who had once been human, yet transcended humanity, gained power beyond mankind, and ascended into the realm of gods. From the gathering place of these extraordinary beings... from the throne of heroes upheld by the power of restraint and carrying humanity's countless dreams, the Heroic Spirits now descended upon the earth together.
And then—
In the forest at night, within stone walls shrouded in darkness, imposing voices rang out one after another:
"Tell me, are you my Master?"
Before you continue