"You probably can't do it."
That was the answer Kenshinnes had arrived at after much thought—the only path to victory.
Diarmuid O'Dyna, who carried a knight's honor in his heart, could not obtain the Holy Grail for himself.
He did not need a hypocritical knight who merely put on airs, but a weapon capable of carrying out orders to the letter and mercilessly slaughtering every other opponent.
Kenshinnes let out a mocking laugh, and then—unexpectedly—raised his right hand bearing the Command Spells once more.
"By the Command Spells, I order you again—
Lancer, remember the agonizing betrayal you once tasted."
Volume One 052: If Nobody Wants Me, I'll Take It
"Ahh...!?"
Lancer let out a scream and arched his body, his face filled with disbelief.
Under the absolute compulsion of the Command Spells, memories from the distant past surged into his mind.
It was the dark seal he least wanted to touch.
In life, he had gone hunting with his lord, only to suffer grievous wounds in a battle with a demonic boar because he had chosen the wrong weapon.
Though the wound had been fatal and beyond the reach of medicine, he had not despaired.
The lord Diarmuid had been proud of and sworn his loyalty to—Finn MacCool.
He was a Great Hero who had accomplished countless feats and created innumerable miracles since his youth.
Finn, renowned throughout the world for his spearcraft and healing abilities, could originally have treated Diarmuid's wounds with ease.
Yet he had been betrayed.
Betrayed.
Betrayed, betrayed, betrayed, betrayed, betrayed, betrayed, betrayed!!
Faced with the loyal knight on the brink of death, what filled the aged hero's mind was the jealousy and rage born from the fact that they had once fought over the same woman.
In the end, Diarmuid died because he had not received treatment in time.
The ones who killed him were not the many malicious Geis, such as "being unable to refuse a friend's invitation," "being unable to hunt a demonic boar," and "being fated to be killed by a demonic boar."
Nor was it his younger brother, who had reincarnated as a demonic boar to claim his life.
It was the very lord to whom he had sworn to offer all his loyalty!
It had been a carefully planned murder from the very beginning!
"Ah... ah..."
Lancer fell to his knees, while tears of blood dripped constantly onto the crimson carpet.
The chivalry he had regarded as more precious than life itself had been utterly worthless in their eyes, trampled beneath their feet at will.
"Unforgivable... absolutely unforgivable..."
The knight no longer wailed or screamed. He merely repeated words of cursing, two streams of scarlet tears flowing from his wide-open eyes.
At this point, only the final stroke of the Command Spells remained on Kenshinnes's hand.
Considering that he still had to retain at least one Command Spell for future battles, in case his Servant betrayed him, Kenshinnes effectively had no Command Spells left to use.
Yet the sharp-featured magus raised his arm for the third time, as if he intended to exhaust his final privilege as a Master.
"Lancer, strip away your false mask and let me see your hideous true face!!"
Kenshinnes gave the order.
But this time, no crimson light burst from the back of his hand—
Instead, the three Mana Cores in the room released a blinding white light.
Surging magical energy gushed from the Mana Cores, all of it flowing into Lancer's body.
What happened next was astonishing.
The instant it came into contact with Lancer, that enormous, raging torrent underwent a horrifying transformation.
Pure white turned into chaotic black.
Rather than saying that Lancer was bathed in turbid magical energy, it would be more accurate to say that Lancer himself had polluted the "stone's" immaculate magic.
The spiritual foundation of Diarmuid O'Dyna was undergoing a terrifying distortion.
Though its output had been drastically reduced after being divided into three parts, the Mana Core was still correctly fulfilling its original function.
As a magical aggregation from the Age of Gods—a pseudo-Wish Machine—it responded to the darkness at the deepest part of Lancer's heart.
When everything was over, the proudest knight of the Knights of the Fianna, that radiant handsome man, had vanished without a trace.
What appeared in his place—
was a dark fiend clad in Cursed Beast Hide, wielding a crimson demonic sword and crimson demonic spear.
Shirou had remained motionless in the room for over an hour.
Only after confirming that Kenshinnes and Demon Diarmuid had completely left did he emerge from behind the curtains.
The three Mana Cores, which had originally contained immense magical energy, had fallen dormant. They looked no different from three ordinary decorative stones.
As the device that had activated the Wish Machine's functions, they probably would not operate again until the Holy Grail War ended.
Since that was the case, Shirou had no reason to destroy them.
Since that was the case, Shirou had a new idea for them.
All right, pack them up and take them away.
Mr. Kenshinnes, I'll recycle these creations of yours that possess nothing but magical energy and lack any sense of beauty.
"...Heave-ho."
Shirou hugged the stone shaped like a torso and suddenly exerted force with his waist, but after lifting it for barely half a second, he placed it back onto the carpet.
So... so heavy.
For an eight-year-old like him, it was still too much.
Carrying it away would be easy enough, but escaping this hotel, which had already been transformed into another world, without making a sound would be difficult.
Shirou took out a small communicator and contacted Hundred-Faced Hassan.
Though airtight detection barriers had been deployed all around the area, they had not made even the slightest provision against radio waves. That was the limitation of magi.
An hour and a half later, Big Sister Assassin appeared on the top floor of the Hyatt Hotel, with Loli Hassan following beside her.
When she saw Shirou wearing a white bone mask, Loli Hassan followed his example and pulled the mask from her hair over her face.
Shirou pulled Hundred-Faced Hassan aside and asked in a low voice, "Why did you bring this tagalong with you when you came out to work?"
"Do you think I wanted to?"
Assassin unhappily explained that the child had insisted on seeing Shirou.
"No, but aren't you spoiling her a little too much?"
After Shirou muttered this, Hundred-Faced Hassan glared fiercely at him.
In the end, Hundred-Faced Hassan was responsible for carrying the "torso," Shirou carried the "Wings," and Loli Hassan carried the "heart."
The three of them successfully carried the stones out of Lord El-Melloi's magical workshop.
Since three people and three stones were far too conspicuous, Shirou did not return home directly to avoid attracting attention. Instead, he hid nearby.
Recently, someone had constantly been complaining that Shirou played outside until very late and was hard to see every day, but there was nothing he could do about it.
The Holy Grail War would last at most two weeks. Just endure it a little longer during those two weeks, Sister Fujiwara.
At seven in the evening, the Servants might already be preparing to start fighting. Only then did the three of them sneak back into the Amamiya Residence.
The stolen Mana Cores were temporarily settled in a separate building.
"Then I'll be going. If my Master discovers that my movements are suspicious, it'll be troublesome."
When Hundred-Faced Hassan took Loli Hassan's hand and prepared to leave, Shirou asked her to stay for a cup of tea and exchange some information while she was at it.
After thinking briefly, she agreed.
"Tokiomi Tohsaka is clearly anxious because he can't determine the class of the seventh Servant. He's searching the whole of Fuyuki City as though he's gone mad... Shirou, are you listening?"
"I'm listening, I'm listening."
Shirou and Loli Hassan abandoned Hundred-Faced Hassan and sat in front of the television to watch a late-night Magical Girl anime.
Seeing the red-haired boy so completely absorbed, Hundred-Faced Hassan sighed helplessly.
"Kirei Kotomine ordered me to search the residences around Miyama Town's shopping district more thoroughly.
"When I conveyed the mission, I deliberately avoided the area near your home.
"That said, you still need to be careful and avoid letting anyone discover anything suspicious. If you're exposed, I'll die along with you."
"Mm, thanks, Big Sister Assassin," Shirou said happily.
At that moment, a news broadcast suddenly interrupted the television program, reporting large-scale gas leaks occurring throughout Fuyuki City.
"That's only natural."
Hundred-Faced Hassan thought for a moment before continuing.
"Also, something unexpected happened last night.
"Kirei Kotomine ordered 'us' to follow Einzbern as she left the warehouse district... Uh, what's wrong?"
Hundred-Faced Hassan was startled.
For some reason, Shirou had appeared solemnly before her, moving so quickly that even Assassin had failed to react for a moment.
The boy placed both hands on his knees, his expression unusually serious and grave.
"What happened to Einzbern? Please, go on."
Volume One 053: Group C Has Always Been Full of True Love
"Brother Shirou, aren't you going to watch anymore?" Loli Hassan asked, turning around.
Shirou looked solemn. "Big Sister Assassin and I have serious matters to discuss. I'll watch with you another day."
Hundred-Faced Hassan: ...Where did that perfunctory attitude from earlier go?
She then began recounting the strange events of the previous night.
After the battle in the warehouse district, while Hundred-Faced Hassan was carrying Shirou back to the hotel, the Assassins had been ordered to track Irisviel as she departed.
Then, on the national highway back to their base, they encountered Caster, who had never appeared until then.
"Caster?"
Shirou's heart jolted. All seven Servants, including Lady Avalon, had gathered. The final Servant really was Caster.
At the same time, this meant that the person who had attacked Big Sister Assassin last night and aimed at him from the darkness had not been any of the seven Servants, nor any of the seven magi.
That person...
Shirou sucked in a breath, and an indescribable excitement surged through his chest.
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