"Thank goodness you didn't kill that woman. You almost did something irreversible."
On the way back, after Shirou told Little Yellow Duck what had happened that day, it suddenly said this.
"What's wrong?" Shirou was utterly confused.
Makiri chuckled. "Brat, don't tell me you already noticed?"
Shirou froze for a moment, then nodded without changing expression. "...Yes. I noticed."
Volume One 043 — Shirou: Why Does This Sister Look So Familiar?
Makiri gave a satisfied sneer. "That's right. Your guess is correct.
The Einzbern Master is very likely the Lesser Holy Grail of this Holy Grail War."
"The Lesser Holy Grail?"
"The so-called Lesser Holy Grail is the key used to open the Greater Grail, as well as a stabilizing device.
Brat, you've already seen it with those eyes of yours, haven't you?
The Einzbern Master should be a 'container.'"
"Yeah."
That much was true. Shirou had indeed seen that the Silver-haired homunculus's body was an empty shell.
The skill Ultimate Magic Eye allowed him to see through the surface and perceive the essence of things.
That was why Shirou's eyes could not strip Irisviel naked and reveal the countless Command Spells covering every inch of her skin.
Nor could they see the flesh beneath her skin, already a crystallization of Magic Circuits that could be called infinite.
He could not understand that she was a "weapon" created by Einzbern to achieve victory in the Holy Grail War.
But he could see that Irisviel's original purpose of creation—her design concept—was actually that of a "container."
But what did that have to do with the Holy Grail?
Makiri went on to explain the deeper workings of the Holy Grail.
The so-called Lesser Holy Grail was a "container" prepared by the Einzbern Family to absorb the souls of defeated Servants.
For the Holy Grail to descend, neither the Greater Grail beneath Mount Enzou nor the Lesser Holy Grail could be missing.
Until the last Holy Grail War, the Lesser Holy Grail had still been a literal cup.
But during the Third Holy Grail War, the Lesser Holy Grail was destroyed, bringing the ritual to an end.
For that reason, Makiri speculated that the Einzbern Family would create a new container capable of managing itself this time—
In other words, they would construct the Lesser Holy Grail out of a human body.
That way, they could seize the initiative and keep the key to opening the Holy Grail in their own hands.
"I see, I see. I don't understand any of it."
Shirou asked again, "What happens if the Lesser Holy Grail dies?"
Little Yellow Duck said, "It doesn't matter even if it dies. As long as it maintains a human form, it can continue functioning as a container.
But if the Einzbern puppet loses its self-awareness, the ritual will become troublesome.
Every faction will prioritize targeting the side that possesses the Lesser Holy Grail."
Shirou nodded thoughtfully. "I see. Then what if it breaks...
I mean, what if the container's basic form is damaged to the point that it can no longer be maintained?"
"..."
Makiri: Brat, what are you planning?
"Then they can only make a new Lesser Holy Grail.
It's simple. They just need to cut out the Lesser Holy Grail's heart—its core—and put it into another human body.
There's no doubt about Einzbern's technology. Even a human body can be made compatible.
It doesn't demand much in terms of magical ability. Even someone with no aptitude for magecraft at all, like Shinji, would do... Heh heh heh."
Why did he have to use his own grandson as an example?
Shirou watched the scenery outside the bus roll backward and fell into thought.
Einzbern, homunculi, the Lesser Holy Grail... He digested the knowledge he had gained that day.
"Come to think of it, there's an incredibly strong gangster bodyguard beside the Einzbern Master."
Shirou recalled the black-suited youth beside Irisviel.
"It's rare for you to personally say someone is strong... Is he her Servant?"
"No. I haven't seen many Servants myself, but he didn't give me the impression of being a Servant—a spirit. He seemed more like a living human being."
"That, I'm not entirely sure about. Well... considering that it's Einzbern, they probably paid to hire a mercenary from somewhere."
"I see."
Strangely, the back of that blond youth remained difficult to erase from Shirou's mind. He felt as if he had seen him somewhere...
The final question.
"Makiri, are all the Einzbern women perverts? Are they all like that?"
"..."
For some reason, Little Yellow Duck began cursing angrily.
"Master, welcome home~ Welcome home~ Would you like a bath first? Dinner first? Or would you rather eat...?"
"Did anything happen while I was gone?"
"Mm-hmm, nothing at all. Don't just stand in the doorway. Come on, hurry up and come in."
"Whose house is this, yours or mine?"
Shirou sighed and stepped into the entryway.
Not long afterward, Taiga Fujimura also returned from school.
Shirou hurriedly prepared dinner.
He called Sister Fujiwara over to eat, was dragged into the bath with her, and finally regained his freedom before returning to his room.
As soon as he entered, Shirou saw Lady Avalon sitting upright, drinking tea while staring intently at the crystal ball.
"Hey... so that's the Arthur from this world. Hee hee, how cute..."
"What are you watching?" Shirou asked curiously.
The crystal ball occasionally emitted dazzling flashes of light.
Lady Avalon turned around. "Ah, Master, you came at just the right time. Saber and Lancer are fighting."
"?"
Shirou froze for a moment before rushing over and pushing her aside.
"Something this important happened, and you didn't call me!?"
Lady Avalon replied as if it were only natural.
"Hm? Wasn't Master enjoying his time bathing with a cute high school girl?
I thought it would be bad to disturb you."
"I wasn't enjoying it!"
The red-haired boy protested while looking toward the crystal ball.
When his gaze swept over the blond girl in the scene, Shirou's expression froze.
"...Huh?"
Shinto, the streets of the warehouse district by the docks.
This place had already been transformed into a battlefield from myth.
The duel between the two armored knights—Saber and Lancer—had reached its climax.
The invisible sword and the sealed spear collided, each impact erupting in dazzling sparks and scorching shockwaves.
The deserted streets at night seemed to be shrouded in a wildly raging storm. The enormous currents of mana surging from their bodies sent nearby vehicles flying and shattered the pavement around them.
The swordsman whose momentum was unstoppable, and the spearman whose attacks changed unpredictably.
Their speed had surpassed the limits of the naked eye. Even if someone filmed them with a high-speed camera, the CCD could only have captured endless afterimages.
This was the Holy Grail War—the clash between Servants—
Not far away, Irisviel trembled all over in excitement as she personally witnessed this battle from myth.
The two sides had already exchanged more than twenty rounds.
At first, they had been evenly matched, neither gaining the slightest advantage. But now, the balance was rapidly breaking.
Saber was petite, while Lancer was at least twenty centimeters taller. At a glance, the difference in their physiques was like that between an adult and a child.
Yet Saber had completely suppressed Lancer on the battlefield.
She launched a fierce assault on the Knight of the Spear with absolute confidence, driving the handsome man backward again and again. Even his possession of two strange weapons, one long and one short, could not help him withstand her attacks.
The reason was not a difference in martial skill, but a simple and obvious disparity in strength—
Mana Burst.
A warrior who possessed this skill could ignore differences in body size and easily overwhelm any enemy in strength.
What was more, she possessed overwhelming reserves of mana that surpassed those of all other heroes in the Heroic Spirit Throne—
The red dragon heart buried in the girl's chest produced vast amounts of mana with every breath. It was truly an inexhaustible Mana Core.
On top of that, Irisviel was a Master who could be called the strongest in history in terms of mana supply alone, while also possessing the best compatibility with her Servant.
As a result, on the level of close-quarters combat, no Heroic Spirit existed who could suppress Saber.
P.S. Morgan's eye color as Ash, the Savior in her second ascension, is blue. However, she can use glasses to alter her vision and turn her eyes green, as with the Witch of Rain in her first ascension.
By the time she becomes Queen Morgan, she's an old woman, and her pupils have faded to light blue. Thus, Morgan has three different eye colors across her three Saint Graphs.
Sajyou Ayaka has the same setting regarding using glasses to change her eye color.
Volume One 044 — Is That You, Morgan?
Lancer—Diarmuid successfully tricked Saber into opening her guard with a beautiful feint before leaping backward.
The handsome man frowned. "How strange... What exactly is the true form of that sword of yours?"
A teasing smile appeared at the corner of the blond girl's lips. "Yes, what could it be?"
Saber concealed her weapon with her skill Wind King Barrier (Invisible Air), giving her a tremendous advantage in close combat.
Lancer could not see the invisible sword in Saber's hand or determine its length, so he could only keep himself as far as possible outside his opponent's attack range.
Although Diarmuid remained completely unharmed, the repeated failures of his attacks had still caused this battle-hardened knight to grow anxious.
It was not only difficult to judge the attack distance. Lancer had also sensed something strange from the collisions between his weapons and Saber's—
It was almost as if what he was clashing against was not a sword, but some kind of... thick, blunt weapon.
Before you continue