Summoned Amidst Crisis

What!

The Catalyst was destroyed!

Tsukahara Meiji never expected something like this to happen!

However, upon closer thought, this wasn't the legendary Ring of the Nibelung, just a gold ring Karl made himself. It was only natural for it to be shattered by a Servant's attack, right?

Ignoring the excruciating pain of his fractured shoulder bone, a sorrow welling from his heart consumed Tsukahara Meiji's body and soul from the inside out.

It's so broken... it's probably lost its qualification as a Catalyst, hasn't it?

If it were the real thing, maybe he could still summon… but this is just a gold ring after all… now that it's destroyed, it has no connection to the Ring of the Nibelung.

Even though Tsukahara Meiji wanted to gamble on his luck and summon just any Servant—without a Catalyst, the summoned Servant would generally be someone similar in character to the Master.

But... Tsukahara Meiji didn't dare to gamble.

Because among Servants, there are those skilled in combat and those who aren't… if his luck was bad…

And, even taking a step back, even if his luck was good and he drew a powerful Servant, with his own magic power… it would likely be greatly diminished.

The young Master's eyes, as dark as the night sky, repeatedly drifted between the gold ring and the Command Spells on the back of his hand…

Unlike the panic of ordinary people, Tsukahara Meiji's mind was remarkably calm.

He felt neither fear nor anger; he was so calm it felt strange even to himself.

He didn't even realize it himself, but he had long since obtained the most crucial trump card for winning the Holy Grail War.

A trait called [Crisis Calm].

When pushed to the brink, ordinary people either become indignant, break down, get excited, or fight desperately. But there are some people who become calmer the more dangerous the situation, even shedding all complex emotions at the moment of life and death, their minds as still as water.

This is the trait of maintaining peace amidst crisis.

It is an innate quality of a warrior.

When the Assassin had cornered him, Tsukahara Meiji finally discovered the most powerful force hidden deep within his heart.

Without further hesitation, the broken Catalyst was worthless; he stopped looking at it.

This is meaningless—his rationality told him.

He snatched the other Catalyst that Karl had thrown to him earlier: Robin Hood's oak branch.

Legend had it that Robin Hood met his companions under the oldest and tallest oak in Sherwood Forest. Branches broken from this ancient tree formed a bond that intentionally intervened in the sacred, ancient, simple, and devout oath of the oak.

(Why... did he throw both Catalysts over together?)

(Could it be... Karl, you anticipated the worst possible outcome from the start?)

"—I am the one who accomplished all on this earth, I am the one who gathered all the evils of this world—"

Without preamble, Tsukahara Meiji grabbed the oak branch and continued his incantation. Fortunately, the Servant summoning incantation doesn't change based on the Catalyst.

Perhaps Karl would blame him later. Perhaps this would sever the chances of victory for these two immature magi in the Holy Grail War.

But...

If we don't continue, our lives end here!

Tsukahara Meiji's mind was clear: the Assassin was not a benevolent being who would let them go. He understood that.

Hearing him continue to chant, the Assassin knew it was bad. Although he possessed considerable offensive combat ability, as an Assassin, as a ninja, his expertise was always in stealth. If he were to confront other Servants head-on, he might… and besides…

It must be done before the summoning is complete!

The Assassin threw seven or eight throwing knives from his person, his form twisting as he slid like a black fluid towards Tsukahara Meiji's back.

An Agility rank of A+ was far beyond human reaction speed. For a human, let alone reacting, their eyes couldn't even track the enemy's movements.

The Assassin knew clearly that there were still several sections of the Servant summoning incantation left. Before this black-haired magus could utter the final incantation, his blade would surely sever the carotid artery in his neck.

"—The rest doesn't matter! My life! Our Holy Grail War cannot end here! Respond to me! Servant Archer! Bring me victory!"

Tsukahara Meiji abandoned the tedious, lengthy, and obscure incantation, the unfamiliar English, and, using his native tongue, poured out his feelings with all his might.

I don't want to lose.

I want to win.

I don't want to die.

I want to win.

I want to do something for Karl.

The Holy Grail is mine!

In the Holy Grail War, summoning a Servant is the most sacred thing.

At the same time, it is the least troublesome.

Because summoning a Servant is not a magic that humans can achieve; it is a realm bordering on sorcery. The one who completes [Servant Summoning] is the Holy Grail, not the Master.

The Master's incantation and summoning circle are merely to obtain the Servant they desire more precisely, as the Master's mental state also influences the quality of the Servant.

In fact, during the Fourth Holy Grail War, Emiya Kiritsugu summoned Saber using a very rudimentary magic summoning circle, and Ryūnosuke Uryū didn't even chant the incantation correctly, mumbling and repeatedly modifying it, not even sure of the number of [Fulfillments], yet he still summoned Caster. In the Fifth Holy Grail War, the Master Emiya Shirou didn't even perform a proper summoning incantation, yet he still summoned the finest Saber.

This shows that summoning incantations aren't rigid.

What connects a Master and a Servant is a strong desire.

Amaury Ryunosuke received no magecraft education, nor did he recite the incantation correctly. The magic circle he drew was traced from an ancient book using human blood. The only reason he could summon a Servant was his intense desire to "see a demon, to confirm its existence"... Emiya Shirou also summoned a Servant in his moment of crisis due to his strong will to live. Because the Catalyst known as Avalon was embedded within him, he was summoned as the strongest Saber.

And at this moment, so was Tsukahara Meiji.

The strong thought of "I need you" was clearly conveyed to the Holy Grail.

The storm roared.

That was the torrent of magic.

That was proof of the contract.

The shuriken thrown by the Assassin were all disrupted by the storm. Their forward momentum was trapped by unpredictable gusts, losing their exaggerated speed.

And within that storm, the sound of a bowstring was clearly audible.

It transcended the gale, transcended the roar, a clear and definite call to battle.

Feathered arrows flew, and within the gale, seven or eight arrows rapidly tore through the blue-green smoke and dust, accurately striking down the Assassin's shuriken.

If nothing else, just this flawless control was enough to prove that the summoned Servant was undoubtedly of the Archer class.

The Archer class must be related to [Shooting Techniques] or [Projectile Treasures]. Generally, Archers possess considerable Noble Phantasm abilities.

Considering this, the Assassin dared not engage. He worried that pursuing too deeply would lead to his defeat. If pushed too hard, and the opponent used their Noble Phantasm, the situation would become extremely perilous.

Unfortunately, while Masters can instantly gauge a Servant's stats, Servants cannot. The Assassin did not know the Noble Phantasm rank of the Archer before him. Was it B? Or A? Or perhaps... EX?

The unknown breeds fear.

The Assassin did not want to die.

The first tenet of a ninja is "loyalty."

For loyalty, one must sometimes abandon dignity.

Samurai and knights might stubbornly refuse to yield, even unto death, due to [Bushido] and [Chivalry]. But for a ninja, that would be the most foolish way to die.

The dead are worthless.

To survive, offer as much information as possible to your lord, assassinate as many enemies as possible for your lord, and secure as many victories as possible for your lord – this is the loyalty of a ninja.

If he died here, it would only be a burden to his Master. Merely eliminating one Master was not worth it!

The ninja Servant did not hesitate and decisively set his escape objective: to inform his Master that the enemy had summoned an Archer. Moreover, he had already killed one person... with that, he had accomplished half his mission.

From the azure smoke, two more feathered arrows flew, their target the Assassin's heart!

Thwack!

The sound of wood.

The feathered arrows hit the Assassin's heart... No, they didn't!

At some point, the Assassin had already vanished! What the Archer's feathered arrows hit was a wooden stake! On its dry, yellowish-brown exterior, an exaggeratedly fitted ninja night-raid outfit was draped!

This was one of the [Ninjutsu] of the deified ninja: [Substitution Technique].

As the smoke gradually dissipated, Tsukahara Meiji could barely open his eyes in the strong wind.

Before his retinas could re-capture the light, a clear and pleasant female voice, like the stretching of trees or the gentle flow of a stream, echoed resolutely in his ears, dispelling the tinnitus caused by the storm.

"Servant Archer, I heed your summons and appear before you—Are you my Master?"