Chapter Summaries

Artoria and Irisviel arrived at the site of a battle between Rider and Black Saber, where they witnessed Black Saber kill Assassin with a single counterattack. Rider identified Black Saber as a swordsman of extraordinary skill and reflected on how narrowly he had survived their clash.

• Rin sensed the magical battle, while Kirei watched it through Assassin’s shared senses and saw Rider confront Black Saber inside a Reality Marble.
• Artoria and Irisviel rode to the scorched battlefield and saw Rider and Black Saber emerge from the vanished Reality Marble.
• As Black Saber passed nearby, Assassin attacked from hiding, but Black Saber severed his head before the strike landed, cutting off Kirei’s shared senses.
• Rider arrived in his chariot, introduced himself as Alexander the Great, and named the Black Knight Black Saber.
• Rider recalled that Black Saber had nearly killed him with a single slash and described every strike as sure to reap a life.

Iskandar recounted his battle with the Black Knight, who had cut through his Army of the King, and explained why he had ended their fight. Alice identified the Knight as Assassin, and Iskandar later learned that the Old Man of the Mountain was the inherited title of the Assassination Cult’s leader.

• Iskandar recalled how the Black Knight survived the Army of the King and advanced toward him, but Iskandar stopped the fight after noticing the Knight’s existing wound had reopened.
• Iskandar told Saber that the Knight had been wounded while pursuing Caster, and Ruler Jeanne revealed that she had injured him to stop him from killing innocent children.
• Iskandar argued that the Knight had broken no rules and questioned Saber’s ideals, while Jeanne admitted her intervention had been unfair.
• Alice revealed that the Black Knight was Assassin, not Berserker, and Iskandar later asked his Master about the Old Man of the Mountain.
• Iskandar’s Master explained that the Old Man of the Mountain was the inherited title of the Assassination Cult’s leader, also known as Hasan-i Sabbah.

Kotomine Kirei confirmed that the Red Faction Assassin’s apparent death had concealed the survival of Hundred Faces, while Matou Zouken’s attack on the Tohsaka estate exposed a new threat to Tokiomi’s family. The chapter ended with Zouken demanding Tokiomi’s younger daughter and Tokiomi refusing.

• Kotomine Kirei reported to Father Risei that witnesses believed the Red Faction Assassin had been killed, and he warned Hundred Faces that the Black Knight could detect her concealment.
• Kotomine Kirei learned that a Black Faction Heroic Spirit had killed Matou Zouken’s body at the Matou estate, while Zouken’s true soul had escaped elsewhere.
• Matou Kariya sent Berserker to attack Tohsaka Tokiomi, and Berserker fought Archer while turning Archer’s weapons into his own.
• Tohsaka Tokiomi restrained Matou Kariya with Magic and prepared to attack him, but redirected his spell when Matou Zouken appeared.
• Matou Zouken offered Tohsaka Tokiomi a deal and demanded his younger daughter, but Tokiomi refused.

Matou Zouken tricked Tohsaka Tokiomi into signing a binding contract concerning Sakura, but a mysterious black Berserker destroyed Zouken’s body and took the document. The black Berserker survived Archer’s assault thanks to his Noble Phantasm body, and Archer prepared a devastating attack that threatened everyone nearby.

• Matou Zouken offered Tohsaka Tokiomi a contract promising Sakura proper training and protection in exchange for her future descendants joining the Matou family, and Tokiomi signed it.
• A figure with Double Pupils destroyed Matou Zouken’s body and seized the contract, intending to use it as evidence against him.
• Archer blasted the black Berserker with a golden beam, but the Berserker survived and advanced through Archer’s volleys by deflecting them with his battle halberd.
• Iskandar and Waver arrived, while Artoria and Alice were also nearby; Artoria recognized Archer as the Hero King of Babylon.
• The black Berserker caught Archer’s weapon with his hand, revealing a steel body that Artoria identified as a Noble Phantasm.
• Archer summoned five powerful Noble Phantasms and prepared to make them self-destruct, prompting Artoria, Iskandar, and Tohsaka Tokiomi to react to the danger.

Archer’s attack failed to kill the Black Berserker, who then turned on Artoria and wounded the Black Saber while he protected Alice. Later, Sakura asked Rin to translate a Self-Geas Scroll, and Rin’s mistaken reassurance left Sakura suspecting that Tokiomi valued the Root more than his daughter.

• Tohsaka Tokiomi used a Command Spell to stop Archer from pursuing the Black Berserker after Archer’s exploding Noble Phantasms failed to hit him.
• The Black Berserker attacked Artoria and nearly struck Alice, but the Black Saber intervened and was wounded while protecting her.
• The Black Saber kissed Alice and explained to a bewildered Iskandar that he loved his wife.
• Tohsaka Rin complained about her Archer’s pranks, then answered Sakura’s knock and translated a Self-Geas Scroll describing a marriage arrangement involving the Matou and Edelfelt families.
• Rin guessed that the scroll concerned a secret deal during the Third Holy Grail War and reassured Sakura that Tokiomi would never agree to such a thing.
• Sakura privately concluded that Tokiomi cared more about pursuing the Root than about her.

Artoria dreamed of another King Arthur defeating a seven-headed monster with a radiant Holy Sword, then woke to find Alice and Bai Yue performing their Holy Sword Purification Ritual. At breakfast, Illya and Irisviel worried about Artoria’s exhaustion while she remained wary of Bai Yue and the ritual.

• Artoria watched a vision of a male King Arthur ruling a prosperous Britain and fighting a seven-headed monster in Avalon with a radiant Holy Sword.
• Artoria woke from the vision and wondered whether she had seen Bai Yue’s past, then discovered that Alice and Bai Yue had begun another Holy Sword Purification Ritual.
• Artoria watched the ritual take an unfamiliar and shocking form before Illya brought her breakfast.
• Illya admitted that her concern for Artoria’s health had also been motivated by selfish reasons, and Irisviel blamed Bai Yue for encouraging Illya’s picky eating.
• Bai Yue and Irisviel urged Artoria to rest, while Artoria glared at Bai Yue and remained suspicious of the new ritual.

Artoria questioned Bai Yue about his past and why unfair treatment had produced better results than her strict fairness, and he agreed to explain if she danced with him. Dressed in formal attire and dancing with Bai Yue, Artoria began answering a battle-strategy question he posed, leaving their lesson underway.

• Irisviel realized that Artoria shared her dream of Yue’s past and explained that Yue had accepted the Holy Grail summoning partly to experience love.
• Artoria confronted Bai Yue about the dream and asked why his unfair handling of a plague crisis had worked better than her fair enforcement of the rules.
• Bai Yue explained that people’s emotions, needs, and jealousy shaped their reactions, and that Artoria had not understood the people’s state of mind.
• Bai Yue asked Artoria to dance with him in suitable formal clothes in exchange for explaining his approach, and she reluctantly agreed.
• While dancing, Bai Yue described a battle scenario and asked Artoria to devise a strategy, and she gave him her response.

Artoria learned from Prince that understanding people required balancing reason with emotion, and he kissed her to demonstrate love’s effect on her. Jeanne discovered that Gilles had become a feared black mage after her death, then left Mr. Bai and Karen to seek him before he could endanger them.

• Prince explained how emotion and reason could lead to different outcomes, and Artoria accepted that she needed to understand love better.
• Prince kissed Artoria, leaving her overwhelmed and unable to think clearly.
• Jeanne learned from records that Gilles had become a black mage who murdered children after her death.
• Jeanne realized the child she had encountered might have been Gilles’s victim, but the child’s body had already been cremated.
• Jeanne apologized to Mr. Bai and Karen and said she had to leave to confront Gilles, demonstrating her ability to protect herself.
• Mr. Bai suggested arranging a meeting with Gilles, and Jeanne agreed with his mistaken assumption that Gilles might be someone she loved.

Jeanne told Mr. Bai about the danger posed by Gil and agreed to stay with him to keep him safe. Meanwhile, Tohsaka Rin and Luviya Serlinta fought with magic, then discovered their Servants had secretly joined forces to embarrass them.

• Jeanne explained that Gil might harm Mr. Bai because she had lived with him, and Mr. Bai renewed his pursuit of her.
• Mr. Bai worried that Gil might target them, so Jeanne agreed to stay and protect him.
• Tohsaka Rin and Luviya Serlinta recognized each other, challenged one another, and arranged to duel in an abandoned park.
• The girls traded magical attacks until their spells backfired and their own gemstones bound them.
• Tohsaka Rin and Luviya Serlinta ordered Archer and Rider to photograph and attack each other, but the Servants instead exchanged embarrassing photos of their masters.
• The girls tore up the photos and agreed to a truce until they had disciplined their Servants.

Kayneth sent Diarmuid Ua Duibhne to meet the Black Faction’s Lancer, Romulus, and their duel became the Holy Grail War’s first major battle. As Romulus unleashed powerful Spears of Light and Diarmuid countered with his red spear, the watchers recognized Diarmuid and waited to see what Romulus would do next.

• Kayneth decided to send Lancer out to draw an opponent into battle, and Lancer sensed a Black Faction Servant deliberately revealing his presence.
• Diarmuid Ua Duibhne met Romulus in the warehouse district, where Romulus revealed his True Name but Diarmuid obeyed Kayneth’s order not to reveal his own.
• Waver and Iskandar watched the duel from Fuyuki Bridge, and Iskandar recognized that Romulus’s hands served as his spears.
• Romulus launched waves of Spears of Light, but Diarmuid’s red spear erased them and broke through Romulus’s magical armor.
• Artoria and Irisviel observed the fight, identified Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, and wondered what effect his second spear had as Romulus’s next move approached.

The King of Rome unleashed his true Noble Phantasm against Diarmuid as Lainas revealed herself as Kayneth’s niece and the Black Faction’s Master, ordering her Lancer to crush Kayneth’s Servant. The battlefield transformed into a vast, tree-filled upheaval, leaving Diarmuid on the verge of defeat.

• Alice teased Artoria about kissing the moon, then reassured her that they were sisters and she did not mind.
• Diarmuid’s yellow spear flew toward the King of Rome, who caught it with a strange red spear and prepared to reveal his Noble Phantasm.
• Kayneth searched for the opposing Master while explaining that he had separated the Servant’s Magical Energy supply from the Command Spell contract.
• Lainas confronted Kayneth, revealed her Command Spells, and ordered her Lancer to crush his Servant.
• The King of Rome thrust his spear into the ground, unleashing a Noble Phantasm that transformed the terrain and battered Diarmuid with a torrent of earth and roots.
• Diarmuid recognized that his defeat was inevitable because the King of Rome surpassed him in combat experience and tactical judgment.

Diarmuid lost to the Black Faction Lancer, but a young girl exposed the Red Faction’s illegal Magic supply and forced a change of Master that kept Lancer alive. Meanwhile, Kotomine Kirei encountered his daughter disguised as Black Faction Assassin, and Jeanne grew alarmed by how many Black Faction Masters were children.

• Diarmuid was overwhelmed by the Black Faction Lancer’s giant-tree Noble Phantasm and pinned by its roots.
• The young Black Faction Master summoned Jeanne and exposed that someone other than the Red Faction Master supplied Lancer’s Magic.
• Miss Sola agreed to become Lancer’s Master, while Kayneth was removed and Lancer was ordered to protect his new Master instead of fighting.
• Black Faction Assassin killed a hidden Assassin at the church and confronted Kotomine Kirei about whether he wanted to revive her mother.
• Kirei denied having that wish, and his daughter vanished beneath Black Faction Assassin’s cloak.
• Jeanne recalled that several Black Faction Masters were children and feared the faction had a serious problem.

Jeanne suspected that Karen and several other children were Masters tied to the factions’ adult Masters, and wondered whether Mr. Bai was the Assassin who had been following her. Meanwhile, Ori and Shiki discussed Ryougi Shiki’s connection to the Root and refused to use her power to guarantee his victory; the chapter ended as Ryunosuke Uryu’s soul was ignited and a frightened girl walked alone through the night.

• Jeanne connected Karen’s abandoned childhood and the priest among the Red Faction to the possibility that Karen was a Master, perhaps with Assassin as her Servant.
• Jeanne wondered if Mr. Bai was the Black Faction’s Assassin and questioned whether his closeness to her had been an act.
• Ori and Shiki discussed how their original personality had touched the Root and made a deal with the man whose different identities were summoned in the Holy Grail War.
• Ori stopped Ryougi Shiki from choosing a future that ensured his victory, while Shiki admitted she wanted to prevent him from succeeding because of what he would have to bear.
• A frightened purple-haired child walked alone through a deserted, shadowy street at night as Ryunosuke Uryu’s soul was ignited and Caster was pinpointed.

Bai Yue captured Ryunosuke Uryu and severed his connection to Caster, then learned Caster’s location. Jeanne confronted Gilles de Rais, whose madness and crimes she confirmed, but he threatened captured children to force her to obey.

• Ryunosuke Uryu lured Fujino into an alley, but Fujino twisted his limbs with her power while Bai Yue appeared and restrained him.
• Bai Yue burned Ryunosuke Uryu’s soul and severed his contract with Caster, then used their connection to locate Caster about ten kilometers away.
• Gilles de Rais prepared for Jeanne’s arrival, believing his magical barriers would prevent Bai Yue from surprising him again.
• Jeanne confronted Gilles and questioned him about murdering children, but he claimed they had willingly sacrificed themselves to revive her.
• Gilles revealed that he had captured several children and threatened to harm them unless Jeanne hugged them and let them go.

Jeanne used her anti-army Noble Phantasm, Crimson Saintess, to destroy Gilles's monsters after realizing the children had become irredeemable aberrations. The flames began consuming her as she accepted the cost of the attack, leaving her fate uncertain.

• Assassin broke the barrier and charged the children, so Jeanne used a Command Spell and her sword to stop her from striking them.
• The children exploded into monsters that attacked Assassin, who was badly corroded before cutting down the creatures that remained.
• Jeanne realized Gilles could no longer be controlled by her Command Spells and that his evil book was sustaining him.
• Jeanne began a martyrdom ritual, and her silver sword burned the monsters that rushed toward her.
• Jeanne completed the chant and activated Crimson Saintess, whose flames began burning her as well as everything around her.

Jeanne destroyed Gilles and his demonic workshop with the Flame Holy Sword, then an Assassin sacrificed himself to stop the sword’s ritual from consuming her. Jeanne kept the badly burned Assassin alive with Gilles’s Command Spell as an unknown figure approached.

• Jeanne used the Flame Holy Sword to destroy the demonic monsters, the children, Gilles, and the Magic workshop.
• An Assassin struck the sword and killed the ritual activating it, ending its execution of Jeanne.
• The sword began consuming the Assassin after he took it from Jeanne, and he moved away so she would not be caught in the flames.
• Jeanne tried to stop him, but he paralyzed her with a precise strike and endured the flames until the ritual ended.
• Jeanne found the still-living Assassin and transferred mana from Gilles’s Command Spell to keep him from vanishing.
• Jeanne sensed someone approaching and wondered whether they belonged to the Black or Red faction.

Jeanne discovered Assassin’s familiar face beneath his mask after Caster treated his injuries. Meanwhile, Matou Zouken recruited Kayneth to rejoin the Holy Grail War, and Jeanne apologized to Karen while promising to stay by her side.

• Caster treated Assassin, then warned Jeanne that the barrier would soon fail, so Jeanne helped him leave before the others arrived.
• Jeanne brought Assassin somewhere quiet and removed his mask, recognizing the familiar eyes and face beneath it.
• Kayneth killed a man who bumped into him and destroyed the body, then encountered Matou Zouken in the street.
• Matou Zouken offered Kayneth a chance to rejoin the Holy Grail War in exchange for throwing it into chaos, and Kayneth agreed to follow him.
• Jeanne apologized to Karen for what had happened, while Assassin promised he would not suddenly leave her and ruffled her hair.

Karen fell asleep beside Bai Yue while Jeanne stayed to replenish his magical energy. After Bai Yue kissed Jeanne and teased her into accepting a more intimate way to help him recover, they remained together with Karen still sleeping nearby.

• Karen went to sleep beside Bai Yue, careful not to lean against his flame-like wounds.
• Jeanne asked about Karen’s relationship with the priest, and Bai Yue explained that Karen did not want to kill him.
• Bai Yue admitted he had concealed the truth about Gilles de Rais to keep Jeanne from interfering and to make her feel guilty toward him.
• Bai Yue pulled Jeanne into his arms and kissed her, and Jeanne noticed that their contact transferred magical energy more efficiently.
• Jeanne accused Bai Yue of using her guilt and attraction to make her replenish his energy, and he acknowledged his selfish intent while teasing her as his wife.
• Jeanne pointed out that Karen was sleeping beside them, but Bai Yue said she would wake more readily if separated from him and urged Jeanne to keep quiet.

Artoria began the Holy Sword Purification Ritual as she struggled to understand her growing emotions and reconsider her wish to change history. Meanwhile, Jeanne endured a magical-energy ritual with an Assassin while Karen slept, and the ritual was about to shift into a “Taiji” arrangement.

• Irisviel asked Artoria to try the Holy Sword Purification Ritual, and Artoria weighed the offer against her doubts about changing Britain’s fate.
• Alice told Artoria that her flustered reaction came from emotion, and Artoria realized she had begun carefully touching and purifying the Holy Sword.
• Jeanne nervously continued supplying magical energy while keeping watch over the sleeping Karen, as an Assassin absorbed the magic-rich substance.
• The Assassin experienced a sudden surge in magical-energy production and recovered about a quarter of his MP.
• Jeanne asked whether she knew Taiji, then explained that she wanted to form Taiji while continuing the energy transfer and having Jeanne perform Holy Sword Purification.

Alice helped Saber deepen the Holy Sword ritual while reflecting on Saber's painful past, and later Assassin infiltrated the Tohsaka residence to test Rin. Sakura’s Command Seals revealed her participation in the war, and Assassin claimed that Rin’s father had secretly arranged Sakura’s transfer to the Matou family, leaving Rin shaken.

• Alice recalled Saber's memories of killing Mordred and encouraged Saber to continue the ritual with Yue's help.
• Alice repositioned Saber around the Holy Sword to begin the Tai Chi Combination Ritual, and the ritual intensified Saber's emotions.
• Hassan infiltrated the Tohsaka residence to abduct Sakura and provoke her sister into revealing her Servant.
• Rin burst into Sakura's room and found Berserker holding Assassin while Sakura's Command Seals showed that she was a Master.
• Rin confronted Archer for hiding Sakura's involvement, while Archer said he had kept quiet because it was interesting.
• Assassin told Rin that Kotomine Kirei had followed her father's orders and claimed her father had made a contract with the Matou family concerning Sakura.