For example, as long as the world Sakura changed could ensure there was no possibility of humanity or Earth being destroyed, thereby affecting the survival of those two Counter Forces.
As long as Sakura did not challenge the Counter Force's duties or engage in actions that threatened it, some of her changes could be accepted by the Counter Force.
Most of the others who might step forward to stop Sakura were the same. There was a certain chance that both sides could reach a consensus.
Only one was an exception.
That was... the Human Order Stabilization Agency—Chaldea.
There was no need to think about it. Chaldea would absolutely never allow Sakura to alter history.
What was even more troublesome was that Chaldea was in the future, while Sakura was in the past...
The changes Sakura had caused now had, in fact, already affected this Timeline's future. The reason that mysterious person had appeared over the East China Sea to adjust the ley lines was precisely because Sakura had begun affecting the Timeline.
Therefore, from the moment Sakura awakened, Chaldea had effectively become Sakura's—enemy!
2004... the Holy Grail War... Fuyuki City in flames... a Singular Point... This really is the worst possible situation!
Yes, Chaldea becoming her enemy alone was not the worst part. What was worse was that... perhaps Chaldea's other enemies would also become Sakura's enemies.
After all, Singular Point F—Fuyuki City in flames.
Sakura had no desire to see the world become such a terrible place.
Making the world better, allowing most people to live better lives and have happier futures—that was the result Sakura sought!
No matter what, I will not let the world become like that... Nor will I ever accept the history Chaldea recognizes... Come on... I, Sakura Matou... will never admit defeat!
She viciously crumpled the information in her hand into a ball. Then, the young girl pressed her lips tightly together, yanked open the window behind her, and hurled both the information and her cowardice out the window with all her strength...
Pseudo-Holy Grail...
She could not let the Holy Grail War be postponed until it erupted in 2004, ten years later!
This was the answer Sakura reached after a full day of careful deliberation.
The alliance between a Clock Tower Lord shrouded in mystery and the King of Magecraft... was simply far too powerful for Sakura as she was now.
But making the Holy Grail War proceed on schedule was by no means easy.
After all, the Holy Grail required far too much mana.
Compared to the flowing ley lines known as Gaia's Blood, the most powerful mana source currently controlled by humanity had less than one percent of the output of the ley lines flowing beneath Fuyuki City.
Even across the entire Earth, there were not even a hundred Mana Furnaces of that grade.
Besides, even if there were that many Mana Furnaces of that grade, Sakura Matou could not afford them, nor would anyone sell her that number of Mana Furnaces.
Of course, aside from Mana Furnaces, there were actually several things in the human world capable of making up the Holy Grail's missing mana for that year.
For example, the Dragon Heart left behind by the dragon corpse within the Spirit Tombs beneath the Clock Tower.
And then there was a spider sleeping soundly somewhere in South America, as well as an Artificial Dragonkin that might appear in some small village in Wales...
However, those beings were either already controlled by major powers, were simply not something Sakura could provoke right now, or were entangled in some incredibly troublesome conspiracy.
It could be said that nearly every path before Sakura was a dead end.
But... would Sakura truly resign herself to fate just because the road ahead was a dead end, an impasse?
Of course not! They were merely dead ends and impasses. It would be another eighty or a hundred years before Sakura bowed her head and admitted defeat.
Since a genuine Holy Grail War was nearly impossible to hold.
Then... why not have Fuyuki City hold an early, less formal Pseudo-Holy Grail War instead?
After all, based on the data from her previous scan of the Great Holy Grail and Zouken Matou's understanding and research into the Holy Grail.
There was a very high chance they could use the ready-made mana within the Great Holy Grail to create a Holy Grail ritual capable of limited wish fulfillment and successfully luring in Servants.
"Sakura, you want this old man to create another Holy Grail?"
"Yes, that's right. Can you do it?"
"Heh heh heh... No. Creating a Holy Grail is absolutely not something a magus like this old man can accomplish..."
Indeed, creating a Great Holy Grail like the one beneath Fuyuki City was not something a magus could accomplish.
But what Sakura wanted was not that kind of high-end product, shaped by the Third Magic and potentially capable of realizing the Third Magic again!
Zouken Matou, who had just firmly refused Sakura, visibly fell into thought after hearing that this Holy Grail only needed to fulfill part of a real Holy Grail's functions.
Creating a lesser Holy Grail with limited functions was not much of a problem for Zouken Matou, who had spent years obsessively trying to crack the Holy Grail system and had always hoped to use the Holy Grail to achieve immortality.
The question was whether he should create this Holy Grail for Sakura.
That was what Zouken Matou was considering.
But clearly, Sakura did not give Zouken Matou time to think.
Just as Zouken Matou visibly showed a pensive expression, Sakura, who had long been prepared, suddenly raised her hand and made a gesture toward a corner of the study.
A piece of fabric identical to the room's walls suddenly fell away as though it had been cut loose. Shinji, who had been concealed there for a long time using Ninja Stealth Arts, revealed himself.
Then Shinji gave a low shout and swiftly formed a ninja hand sign with both hands.
In an instant, countless black runes, like wriggling tadpoles, covered Zouken Matou's skin.
Pain. Intense pain.
From his flesh to his Mage Circuits and even his soul, the moment those black runes appeared on Zouken Matou's skin, he felt pain so severe he wished he were dead.
"Ah!"
With a scream, Zouken Matou trembled and collapsed to the floor.
As his body began convulsing uncontrollably, even more miserable screams rang out without end.
Sakura waved again, having Shinji release the technique. Then, staring fixedly at Zouken Matou with cold eyes, she said.
"Grandfather, remember this! Your body is not freedom—it is a prison. Put away your schemes, or the next punishment will not be this simple."
The pain in his body vanished, and so did the pain in his soul.
But the anger and humiliation of being toyed with by Sakura, a young girl, would not disappear so easily.
Still, for immortality, for the sake of continuing to live, Zouken Matou knew when to bend and when to stretch.
He quickly climbed to his feet. Then, with a respectful expression and his head lowered as though making an oath, Zouken Matou soon gave Sakura the answer she needed.
"This old man can create the Holy Grail you require. But to fully realize all the functions you demand, one key element is still missing..."
"What is missing?"
"Fuyuki City's ley lines!"
"The ley lines?"
"Yes, the ley lines. If you wish for the Great Holy Grail to provide mana to the inferior product this old man creates later, you have only two choices: make the Great Holy Grail provide it willingly, or reverse the ley lines and use them to draw mana from the Great Holy Grail indirectly."
Sakura gazed at Zouken Matou's smiling yet not-smiling eyes.
Her expression remained calm as she nodded. Then, just as the amusement in Zouken Matou's gaze deepened, Sakura suddenly raised her small fist. Wrapped in a thin layer of Qi, she swung it heavily at Zouken Matou's aged face.
With a bang, Sakura's fist smashed solidly into Zouken Matou's face, sending him stumbling.
"You..."
Faced with this sudden punch, Zouken Matou immediately revealed a look of shock.
"I know this is your revenge, grandfather. This punch is mine. Now that we have both taken revenge on each other... get to work and make the Holy Grail immediately!"
"This old man understands..."
There was no doubt that Sakura and Zouken Matou had always been united only on the surface.
Even now that they had torn away all pretense, there would be no fundamental change in how they got along.
Zouken Matou would surely continue playing the obedient dog on the surface. But when that dog would turn into a wolf and swallow Sakura, Little Red Riding Hood, in a single bite—that was hard to say.
"What a disgusting old worm... But he isn't wrong either. The Winter Saintess and the Tohsaka Family... I must choose one of them and eliminate it. But old worm, if you think this can disgust me and complete your revenge, then you are dreaming... I am Sakura Matou!"
Tokiomi Tohsaka's Visit...
"Sakura, Zouken Matou is becoming harder and harder to control."
"Yes, that's right."
Extending a tongue nearly as long as a forearm, Orochimaru licked his own eyelid under Sakura's slightly disgusted gaze.
At some point, a scalpel had already appeared in Orochimaru's hand. His face immediately filled with killing intent.
"Do you need me to deal with him now?"
"No. He still has his duty to fulfill, and under the constraints of the Self-Imposed Contract, I still have to grant him immortality."
"Heh heh, immortality... That truly is a cruel ending. In that case, I will not ask further. But once he achieves immortality, hand him over to me. An immortal individual... would certainly have tremendous research value."
"I will. But Orochimaru, after you remove some of Zouken Matou's mana restrictions... don't let him leave your sight, and don't let him tamper with the Holy Grail."
"No problem."
Yes, Sakura had decided to completely give up on that old worm, Zouken Matou.
Redeem him?
Impossible!
Sakura had even prepared herself to give up the Destiny Points on Zouken Matou.
Although Sakura did hate tragedies and hoped that most people could attain happiness... whether Zouken Matou still deserved that, and whether his ending could even be considered a tragedy, was truly difficult to say.
Perhaps it was all Tokiomi's fault.
Speak of the devil, and he would appear.
Just after finishing her conversation with Orochimaru.
Sakura heard from Shinji that Tokiomi Tohsaka would be paying them a visit shortly.
Sakura was not at all surprised that Tokiomi Tohsaka would visit at this time.
After all, how many people knew just how much effort Tokiomi Tohsaka had put into the Holy Grail War?
The referee, the referee's son, opponents, contestants—Tokiomi Tohsaka had already dealt with most of them.
In Tokiomi Tohsaka's eyes, the Holy Grail War beginning soon was a victory he could win with his eyes closed.
But at such a time, the Holy Grail War was suddenly being postponed because of the ley lines. How could he possibly accept that?
Moreover, if the Holy Grail War were postponed for ten years, Tokiomi Tohsaka might very well have to face his own daughter on the battlefield and fight her to the death.
Blood relatives killing one another was not uncommon in the world of Magi. And if it truly came to that, Tokiomi Tohsaka would not be softhearted.
But... who knew what things would be like ten years from now? His old friend Risei Kirei would not remain in Fuyuki City for ten years, and neither could his preparations and arrangements remain in use for ten years.
More importantly, with Sakura's talent, if the Matou Family truly taught her carefully for ten years, it was hard to say whether Tokiomi Tohsaka would even be able to defeat Sakura by then.
Tokiomi Tohsaka knew his two daughters' talents extremely well.
In his eyes, they were both supreme geniuses.
Therefore, no matter what, Tokiomi Tohsaka could not allow the Holy Grail War to be delayed by ten years.
After his repeated attempts all ended in failure.
Tokiomi Tohsaka had no choice but to place his hopes on Zouken Matou, another member of the Three Founding Families who lived in the same city.
The desolate Matou Residence.
Tokiomi Tohsaka, elegant in every respect, undoubtedly brought a different air to the desolate Matou Residence.
He offered the gift he had brought. Then, outwardly elegant but inwardly troubled, his eyes bloodshot, Tokiomi Tohsaka immediately asked Sakura, who had come to receive him.
"Forgive my presumptuous visit. Old Man Matou, he..."
Just as Tokiomi Tohsaka was about to ask Sakura where Zouken Matou was.
Before you continue