20. Irisviel and Sakura: A Master and Servant with a Subtle Relationship
Through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows of the mountain villa, the deep night's moonlight fell softly upon Sakura's bed.
A cute cat-shaped pillow, quilts and sheets covered in adorable cartoon characters... and, completely out of place among them, a mature silver-haired woman, clearly visible before Sakura under the moonlight.
Irisviel von Einzbern...
The married woman who had just been abducted through a scheme by the two Clock Tower Lords now lay atop Sakura's "cartoon castle" with her eyes closed like a sleeping beauty...
As a homunculus embodying the pinnacle of Einzbern technology, Irisviel was indeed highly suited to become Orochimaru's body.
With countless artificial Mage Circuits and excellent modification potential, among all known humans, Irisviel was practically the most suitable vessel for Orochimaru.
What was more, Irisviel was a buy-two-get-one-free deal. Not only was she suitable as Orochimaru's vessel, but she herself and the lesser Holy Grail within her could also help Sakura further analyze and control the Great Holy Grail... and she even came with the top-tier Noble Phantasm, Avalon.
But... no matter how good she was, Irisviel was still a trap, a hot potato.
There was no need to mention the Einzbern family. They were merely a group of homunculi pursuing the Third Magic.
And then there was Kiritsugu Emiya. He was absolutely going to be a huge problem, and Sakura was certain that it would not be long before he learned that his nine-year-old wife was in her hands.
But even knowing it was a trap, even knowing it was a hot potato, Sakura ultimately gritted her teeth and decided to accept it.
She had no choice. Irisviel was simply too tempting.
After confirming that Irisviel would remain unconscious for at least another dozen hours.
Though Sakura had become much more alert in her excitement, her young body ultimately could not overcome its drowsiness. Facing Irisviel, who lay on her bed like a sleeping beauty.
After pulling the blankets over herself and Irisviel, Sakura casually nestled into Irisviel's sweet-smelling embrace and fell into a deep sleep...
While Sakura slept comfortably with Kiritsugu Emiya's nine-year-old wife as her pillow.
Kiritsugu Emiya, who had lost his wife on the very first night of the Holy Grail War, could not fall asleep no matter what.
Before the Einzbern Castle that had been moved to Fuyuki City.
Cigarette butts littered the ground, a lonely man stood there, and silent Servants remained nearby...
This was the sight at Einsbern Castle tonight.
Filled with guilt, King Arthur watched her Master's back on the steps. Having made such a serious mistake on her very first sortie, she was equally miserable.
If Kiritsugu Emiya did something now, even if he punished her, King Arthur would feel better.
Yet Kiritsugu Emiya did nothing at all... and that only made King Arthur feel even more guilty.
The silence continued until the latter half of the night.
Unable to endure the torment in her heart any longer, King Arthur, a legendary monarch, slowly walked to Kiritsugu Emiya's side and sat down on the steps beside him.
"Master... please order my punishment..."
Seeing King Arthur state her position, the other Servant, who had also remained silent and immersed in self-reproach, Leonidas, King of Sparta, likewise stepped before Kiritsugu Emiya and lowered his head.
"Master, please punish me as well..."
Kiritsugu Emiya tossed aside the cigarette in his hand and glanced expressionlessly at his two Servants, but he did not respond.
Irisviel's abduction had indeed stirred guilt, anxiety, anger... and other negative emotions in Kiritsugu Emiya's sensitive heart.
But Kiritsugu Emiya had not lost his composure, nor had he sunk into despair because of it.
Losing his wife had certainly affected him, even giving him a momentary urge to throw everything aside and rescue Irisviel.
But Kiritsugu Emiya was Kiritsugu Emiya, a Hero of Justice capable of placing lives upon a scale and weighing them.
Naturally, once he had calmed down, he made a new calculation.
His wife and the Holy Grail... family ties and absolute justice...
Having already made his choice in his heart, Kiritsugu Emiya was now thinking more about analyzing the coming battle and devising responses for every possible situation.
Seeing that Kiritsugu Emiya had not replied for a long time.
King Arthur, her face filled with guilt, pressed her lips together before speaking again.
"Master... at least allow us to act and make up for our mistakes..."
Looking at the two indispensable tools before him, Kiritsugu Emiya shook his head and pulled out another cigarette.
"There is no need. Rescuing Irisviel... is not the highest priority. The alliance between the two Clock Tower Lords is the most troublesome issue right now..."
Hearing Kiritsugu Emiya's almost heartless and cold words, Leonidas's eyes widened. His iron fists, which had struck down countless enemies, clenched tightly in an instant.
King Arthur, standing beside him, also showed anger upon hearing Kiritsugu Emiya's answer...
But as the most perfect King... as one who placed reason above emotion, King Arthur ultimately loosened her clenched fists and nodded at Kiritsugu Emiya.
"A reasonable judgment... but..."
As Arthur calmly spoke the word "but," a tremendous force suddenly seized Kiritsugu Emiya and yanked him up from the ground.
Holding Kiritsugu Emiya high above her head with both hands, rage blazing in her eyes, King Arthur's petite body looked incomparably imposing at that moment, like an enraged lion.
"But... Kiritsugu Emiya, you are not a King. This rationality, this pride, does not belong to you, one of the people!"
Kiritsugu Emiya lightly patted King Arthur's arm, signaling her to put him down, then calmly looked at the furious King before him.
"A King... I truly cannot get along with a Servant like you..."
"Likewise, Master. I do not like someone like you either..."
Just as the "pitiful little girl who should never have become King and borne all of this" and the "bastard who deluded himself in the name of justice" were on the verge of completely falling out. (These were Kiritsugu Emiya and Artoria's respective views of each other.)
The phone in Kiritsugu Emiya's pocket rang at that moment.
"It's me, Maiya. How is the situation?"
"...Mm, I see. I'll head over now."
After ending the call, Kiritsugu Emiya turned to look at his two Servants, straightened the collar of his trench coat, and spoke calmly.
"We found the Master who kidnapped Irisviel..."
Though they disliked one another, and though the relationship between the three of them was actually rather subtle.
Still... having entered this Holy Grail War for different purposes, they all understood clearly that none of them could do without the others for now.
A car drove out of the castle... and the fully armed Servants followed close behind...
21. Kiritsugu Emiya's Terrorist Attack...
In the dead of night, most of Fuyuki City's urban districts had fallen silent.
But... on Fuyuki City's busiest central street, despite the time nearing three in the morning, quite a few urban men and women were still enjoying the nightlife.
Kiritsugu Emiya looked up at the Matou Grand Hotel halfway down the street, listened to the intelligence continually coming through his concealed earpiece, and quietly furrowed his brow.
"The Matou Family... a five-year-old family head... who visited those two Lords before the war began..."
As he listened to the information Hisau Maya continuously reported through the earpiece.
Even Kiritsugu Emiya could not help but feel that this was going to be troublesome.
But Kiritsugu Emiya was not someone who would stop moving forward just because of a little trouble.
After inconspicuously completing his preparations along the street.
Kiritsugu Emiya looked up at the Matou Grand Hotel once more and, without hesitation, used the contract to order his two Servants to attack.
As the order was given, Kiritsugu Emiya, carrying a suitcase filled with all kinds of weapons, looked at the Matou Grand Hotel before him and casually pressed the detonator in his hand.
Electric current activated the detonators, and the explosives generated intense heat.
In an instant, the specially modified incendiary bombs Kiritsugu Emiya had planted began releasing scorching flames one after another.
Under temperatures approaching a thousand degrees, flames erupted continuously from all across the street, making the men and women enjoying the nightlife scream shrilly.
The crowd scattered in panic, and the hotel began an emergency evacuation.
Moving against the flow of fleeing people, Kiritsugu Emiya quickly used the chaos caused by the fire to enter the Matou Grand Hotel without anyone noticing.
Just as Kiritsugu Emiya set the entire street ablaze and the crowd began fleeing.
Marisbury and Kischur Zelretch, in the penthouse suite at the top of the Matou Grand Hotel, naturally became aware of what was happening outside.
They put on their coats and readied their Mystic Codes.
By the time Arthur and Leonidas barged directly into the Magic Workshop on the hotel's top floor.
The two Lords from the Clock Tower had already completed every preparation for battle.
"Mr. Animsphere... it seems some restless rats intend to challenge us."
"Do not let your guard down, Kischur Zelretch. At least two Servants have entered our workshop..."
"Two... the Servants of Kiritsugu Emiya, that Magus Killer? That truly is the style of a dark rat like him... Mordred!"
"Understood, Father King. I'll handle it!"
With a wild grin, Mordred, carrying her greatsword and already fully armed, instantly charged out through the suite's door...
Before long, the violent clang of blades colliding echoed back into the suite.
As Mordred and King Arthur began fighting, Solomon, who stood behind Marisbury, also began to move.
After gently nodding to Marisbury and Kischur Zelretch, Solomon entered spirit form and vanished from before the two Clock Tower Lords.
"Master and Lord Kischur Zelretch, please beware the Origin Bullet..."
Faced with Solomon's warning before he headed to the battlefield, Kischur Zelretch had learned parts of the future from Solomon on the night Solomon was summoned. Upon hearing the words "Origin Bullet."
His expression instantly turned somewhat savage.
"Origin Bullet... Mr. Animsphere..."
"Go. According to our Covenant, this honor should have belonged to you, Kischur Zelretch."
"My thanks..."
He elegantly bowed slightly to Marisbury.
Then Kischur Zelretch, whose expression grew increasingly savage, unconsciously touched his chest before releasing his Mystic Code and walking out.
The battle atop the Matou Grand Hotel was exceptionally fierce. In particular, the fight between Mordred and Artoria, this mother and daughter pair, could only be described as a fight to the death.
The two continuously swung their weapons at each other, and within only a few minutes, each of their weapons was stained with the other's blood.
However, Artoria currently held the greater advantage in their battle.
The battle on the other side was the exact opposite.
Leonidas was indeed a top-tier legendary warrior, but his opponent was Solomon... Thus, even though Leonidas held every advantage in class and attributes.
Solomon still suppressed Leonidas with ease, forcing him into a desperate struggle.
Artoria, who was fighting Mordred fiercely in another room beside Leonidas, more or less sensed Leonidas's predicament as well.
Artoria could not help but be startled by this.
Leonidas, in the Lancer class, was no weakling. Without using Noble Phantasms, even Artoria could not claim with certainty that she would defeat Leonidas, the Spartan King who had defended Hot Springs Pass against the Persian army.
Yet now, such a warrior was being suppressed by a mysterious enemy within her perception...
I must end this quickly!
Looking at the rebellious "daughter" before her, who laughed wildly as she relentlessly traded blows with her, her body covered in wounds.
Though Artoria deeply did not want to hurt her, and even less wanted to kill her again...
The King's rationality still drove Artoria to prepare to release her Noble Phantasm and directly eliminate Mordred...
However, just as Artoria fought Mordred while secretly gathering magical energy, intending to repel Mordred with a point-blank Noble Phantasm release...
Kiritsugu Emiya's voice suddenly sounded in her ear.
"Stop, King Arthur... I don't have enough magical energy to support your Noble Phantasm release..."
Just as the Servants were fiercely entangled in battle.
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