A Reunion Across Two Worlds

Fuyuki City outskirts, Einzbern Castle, garden.

Kiritsugu Emiya sat in a lounge chair in the garden, watching his wife Irisviel and daughter Illya playing in the distance. A trace of warmth flickered across his faintly worried face.

The Fourth Holy Grail War had ended in utter defeat. It was not just him—every Master who had participated in the war had been thoroughly crushed by the same person. The feeling was terrible. They had been toyed with in the palm of someone's hand, without even the strength to struggle.

The Magician named Duke had been too strong, absurdly so. Kiritsugu Emiya was certain that even without a Servant's assistance, the man could have swept through the battlefield in a single night.

Although he had narrowly survived due to Duke's mercy, Kiritsugu Emiya was not grateful to Duke in the slightest. The shortcut to world peace had been cut off, and his dream had been shattered.

He was too strong. Why did a monster like that exist in this era? Kiritsugu Emiya felt nothing but helpless despair. The other man was a mountain he could never scale, even if he spent his entire life trying. To live in the same era as someone like that was a tragedy beyond description.

What troubled Kiritsugu Emiya most was that Duke was the benefactor who had granted Irisviel a second life. If his daughter Illya wanted to escape her tragic fate, she would need Duke's help as well.

Sssshh!

Static crackled through his earpiece. Kiritsugu Emiya's gaze instantly sharpened. His female assistant and harem member, the icy beauty, sounded hurried and... flustered?

"Kiritsugu, you'd better come take a look. A boy calling himself Emiya Shirou says he has something urgent to discuss with you."

"Emiya... Shirou?"

Kiritsugu Emiya furrowed his brow. They shared the same