How About You Find Another Savior?

Xi had to admit that Rin, with her aptitude for all five elemental attributes, was indeed superior to Sakura in some ways.

It was precisely because he felt a slight sense of envy on Sakura's behalf that Xi had never let Sakura and Rin attend his magecraft lessons together.

Sakura's magecraft training had all been entrusted to Morgan.

Since the girls' talent was roughly equal, he could only widen the gap through the quality of their teachers.

"In three months, Mr. Tokiomi will begin transferring his Magic Crest to his daughter ahead of schedule," Xi continued. "He'll also have Rin succeed him as the next head of the Tohsaka Family. This has already been reported to the Mage's Association."

From then on, Tokiomi would only act as a father, handling the Tohsaka Family's many affairs for Rin until she came of age.

Though he could no longer continue teaching his daughter as a Magus, he did not have much dissatisfaction with the current situation.

Being alive was better than anything.

"The Mage's Association..." Waver muttered.

A few days after the Holy Grail War ended, Waver, as one of the surviving Magi, received the war report.

The Xi Jianxi before him had killed Kayneth and his Servant in direct combat.

"Don't look at me like that. The Holy Grail War was a fight to the death from the start. Kayneth had that resolve too." Xi raised an eyebrow.

"I know." Waver sighed.

Ever since learning about it, he had begun to feel that he bore some responsibility for Kayneth's death.

If the King of Conquerors' Master had been Kayneth rather than Waver, then the outcome of his teacher's battle against Xi would have remained uncertain.

"So, Waver, aren't you going back to England?" Xi asked. "You were originally a student who skipped out of the Clock Tower to take part in the Holy Grail War, weren't you?"

"I'll probably take some time off from school." Waver spoke naturally. "After that, I plan to travel around the world and see things I never thought to learn about before."

The world was incomparably vast, and because of that, countless things awaited Waver's discovery.

"As expected... the existence of a king can change a person." Xi said with deep feeling.

After hearing that, Irisviel could not help but laugh.

After their conversation ended, Irisviel went to join her husband and the others. The family drove toward Miyama Town.

Kiritsugu Emiya had bought a house there and was recently having it renovated. He was probably planning to settle down there.

Waver also went to the shopping center in Shinto to purchase supplies for his journey.

"You're done talking already?"

Morgan, who had been upstairs eating snacks with Sakura and Karen, only came back down after confirming that everyone else had left.

She was still wearing that blue kimono, seemingly quite fond of the clothes Xi had picked out for her.

"We're done. We can go to the park to see the cherry blossoms in a bit." When Xi said this, he deliberately looked at Sakura.

Karen covered her mouth and gave a strange laugh. "Are you looking at big sister, or the flowers on the trees?"

"Dad!" Sakura protested to Xi in displeasure.

As Xi dodged, he brought up another matter with Morgan.

"I don't plan to live in Fuyuki or Japan forever. In a couple of years, once Sakura and Karen are a little older, I'll often take them traveling to broaden their horizons and gain experience." Xi closed one eye. "So, you'll need a false identity to conceal yourself to some extent."

After all, a Servant was a high-ranking familiar, and she was also a famous witch. Trouble was bound to follow.

"What do you mean?"

"You'll need another name. If you have any good ideas, tell me. It isn't urgent."

Morgan pinched her chin and thought for a moment.

"Actually, it won't take that long. I've already decided. I'll use your surname, and as for my given name—"

She revealed a gentle look so soft that even Xi was left speechless, then spoke that name.

"I'll be called Toneriko."

Endnote

Thank you all for your companionship. As of today, this book has finally reached the end of its first volume.

I wonder whether everyone was satisfied with the final developments.

If there were any shortcomings, I hope you will all be understanding.

As my first Fate fanfiction, I feel that I've been rather fortunate. For example, the anniversary Servant implemented this summer and FGO's newest setting collection released in August both played extremely important roles in the writing process for this book.

As everyone has seen, the first volume's plot followed the FZ timeline.

Next, I can roughly tell everyone about the plans for the next two volumes.

The second volume will primarily cover Xi Jianxi's life as a Magus at the Clock Tower, with the story mainly corresponding to the Lord El-Melloi II Case Files portion.

As for the third volume, I think some readers may already have guessed it. It will connect to the Fifth Holy Grail War on FGO's timeline. After all, Morgan has already appeared, so the plot is definitely moving in that direction. laughs

I hope revealing this in advance will not affect the reading experience of those still following this book.

Finally, let me give a brief explanation regarding the protagonist's setting.

The name Xi Jianxi contains a certain amount of personal bias.

The surname Xi Jian comes from Kotone Shiomi, the official default protagonist name for the female lead of Persona 3 Portable.

As for Jianxi, I happened to see the pen name of a writer called Hasegawa Tenkei. I thought it sounded nice, so I chose it.

And as it happened, Jianxi and apocalypse have the same pronunciation in Japanese.

So that was how the name was ultimately decided.

As for the male protagonist's setting, there were subtle adjustments during the writing process, so I secretly made a few changes to the original prologue. As for exactly why, please allow me to keep it confidential for now.

Lastly, thank you once again for your support.

Although it is the National Day holiday, I will not slack off. I'll work hard to fulfill the promised bonus chapters.

I wish everyone a happy National Day.

Shadow Realm Interlude: Life (1)

"Got you!"

"Too slow!"

Using the smoke created by an Explosive Flame Magic bombardment to obstruct her vision, Xi Jianxi seized the chance to get behind his opponent and attack.

But before the spear in his hand could strike, she turned around at an even greater speed and knocked it away.

He rolled several times across the hard, uneven stone ground before his body finally came to a stop when it slammed into a stone wall.

"Ugh..."

Xi lay where he was, sucking in a sharp breath.

That blow had struck one side of his shoulder blade squarely with the spear shaft. Xi had nearly thought his bones would break.

Even with healing Runes supporting him, the pain in his body could not be avoided.

As he watched the slender purple figure land before him, Xi habitually reached for the spear that had fallen nearby, preparing to get up and continue fighting the person before him.

"That's enough for today. Your body is nearing its limit as well." The woman with long purple hair lightly hooked her toe, and Xi's spear flew up before landing in her hand.

Only after hearing that declaration did Xi finally let out a breath and continue lying motionless on the ground.

There was no way to measure time in this place, nor could he see its passage. The skies were overcast at all times. Still, Xi could barely estimate from his physical sensations that the training had lasted about an entire day.

The exhaustion alone had left his entire body aching, so he simply lay on the ground and waited for the Runes to restore him.

"You've improved. I only intended to test the waters, but you held on surprisingly well." The woman crouched down and spoke cheerfully to Xi.

"Was it really that I held on? You were the one who refused to call a stop, Master..." Xi closed his eyes, refusing to look at her lovely face, not even a strand of hair out of place.

This was the place known as the Shadow Realm, and the person he called Master was the mistress—or rather, the queen—who ruled this land.

Scathach.

Xi could no longer count how long ago he had arrived here. All he knew was that it felt like a very long time had passed.

Because he had managed to survive in this land, Scathach had been quite pleased with his aptitude and accepted him as her disciple.

Of course, Xi could have refused, but she had said that if he did, she would leave him alone in the wilderness.

Having had enough of fighting the undead, Xi obediently became her student.

"Is that so? I thought that was merely a little warm-up. At that level, my disciple should naturally be able to endure it." Scathach said.

"Fine..." Xi half-opened his eyes. "So, Master, did you go easy on me today?"

He asked again.

Training that felt like a blood-spitting marathon was not something that had begun today.

Yet he felt that today had not been quite so difficult—though he had still lost in the end.

"Oh? I didn't expect you to say that. It seems that next time, we can include more difficult training." A dangerous signal came through Scathach's smile.

Xi realized it was too late to take back his words. He got up from the ground and leaned against the castle's stone wall.

Scathach, meanwhile, casually sat down beside him in an equally unrestrained posture.

"Still, there really is nothing here." Xi said. "No food, no water... It's a wonder I managed to survive."

Scathach smiled knowingly. "Not entirely. Unlike the outside world, the Great Source here remains abundant. As long as you have sufficient mana, you can survive."

She stretched out her hand, and mana naturally gathered within it, only a hair's breadth away from crystallizing.

"When you're tired, use mana to fight fatigue. When you're hungry, use mana to fight hunger. When you're injured, use mana to restore yourself." Scathach said. "Something at this level does not even require me to teach you."

"Uh..." Xi grimaced, unable to say anything in response.

He had thought that Scathach had granted him some kind of magecraft protection, but it seemed that the truth was exactly the opposite.

"Based on that alone, your talent in this regard is already the greatest among all the disciples I have taught." Scathach was merciless during training, but she never stinted on praise when it was deserved.

Xi sat cross-legged, his hands pressed against his ankles. "Since there's enough mana here to keep me alive... would it be possible to use mana to create plants and make them bear fruit?"

"I already told you, this is a land of the dead." Scathach answered quietly. "Put another way, it is a place much like the underworld. The concept of 'life' scarcely exists here."

Hearing that, Xi had wanted to ask, "Then don't Master and I count as life?" But the words reached his lips before he swallowed them back down.

Scathach, who had already become half-divine, could no longer be considered life in the ordinary sense.

For her, the possibility of death did not exist.

Neither a beautiful death nor an ugly one.

She simply remained as she was, eternally existing.

Perhaps only when the moment came for the world and everything beyond it to perish would she encounter an instant that could truly be called death.

As for him—

'You don't need to worry about that. I'm just hard to kill, that's all.'

Xi had once asked Scathach about it, but his Master had only given him that somewhat inscrutable answer.

Knowing that no matter how much he asked, he would receive no other answer, Xi did not ask again.

"Then... it really is impossible?" Xi said.

Scathach gave a pleasant smile. "What? Do you want to try?"

"I do, a little. Can you teach me, Master?" Xi perked up.

But Scathach's next words were like a bucket of cold water poured over his head. "Figure it out yourself. As for magecraft, I have already taught you everything I can without holding anything back."

"...Master..." Xi complained.

"Do not force yourself. If you want to do it, then do it. If you do not, then leave it alone." Scathach smiled to herself. "Just don't let it interfere with your training."

Xi immediately got worked up. He brushed the dust off himself and sprang to his feet. "Hey, Master, don't tell me you think I'm trying to use this as an excuse to get out of training?"

Seeing how he tried to restrain his emotions but could not help letting them show, Scathach simply chose not to clear up the misunderstanding.

"It is best if you are not trying to avoid it. You know what happens if you evade training. Use anything in the castle as you please. If you truly manage to produce some results, then I may consider reducing the intensity of your training afterward."

Xi silently nodded, then walked away without looking back.