Brother-in-Law? Brother-in-Law!

Next came the messages she received in the evening:

Rin-chan? Are you there yet? Are you there? Don't forget to message me! (.o_o)

P.S. A super huge surprise has already been delivered to your house! I left it with the Tohsaka Family's butler, so remember to go pick it up! (★ ω ★)

Rin looked at the lively words and emojis on her screen. At last, a hint of a smile appeared on her tired face.

She could almost feel the warmth of Marin's boundless energy, even through the screen.

Her fingers tapped quickly across the screen:

Rinrin: Sorry, Marin. I just finished dealing with all those old fossils at home... I'm home safe. Fuyuki is cold.

Rinrin: A surprise? Did you go on another spending spree?

After sending the messages, she stood up, phone in hand. The weariness in her eyes gave way to curiosity. She had to see what the butler had received.

Rin left her room, her steps a little lighter than before. She found the old butler in the mansion's corridor, organizing the storeroom.

"Miss." The white-haired butler bowed respectfully.

"Uncle, did I get a package today?" Rin asked.

"Yes." The butler immediately turned around, retrieved a flat, rigid envelope from a locked cabinet, and handed it to her with both hands. "It arrived this afternoon. The sender was listed as 'Miss Kitagawa Marin.' Security checked it. Nothing unusual."

"Thank you." Rin accepted the envelope. It felt very light.

Back in her room, Rin sat at her desk and slit the seal with a letter opener. A thick, sturdy card slid out.

It was a concert ticket.

VIP section, front row.

The ticket's design was unusually simple. The back was white, with the seating area, date, and time clearly printed in black. A barcode and QR code sat beside them. There were no unnecessary decorations.

Rin turned the ticket over.

The front was solid black, with only one striking line of fiery red lettering:

"Devil May Cry"

Rin held the unusually textured black ticket, her brows drawing together slightly.

"A concert? Why give me this?"

Of course she knew about the "Devil May Cry concert."

On her way back from the station to the Tohsaka Residence, its minimalist posters had been everywhere, covering bus stops and the walls of buildings alike: solid black backgrounds, fiery red lettering, just like the ticket in her hand.

But all she could think about was the upcoming Holy Grail War.

The fluctuations in magical energy, Kotomine Kirei's probing, the preparations for her workshop... those were what she needed to focus on.

As for who was headlining the concert or what they were singing, she had no interest in finding out.

Her fingers tapped quickly across her phone screen:

Rinrin: Marin, I got the ticket. The concert? What's that about?

Her phone vibrated almost immediately.

Marin: Ehehe~ Rin-chan got it! (★ω★)

Marin: Don't ask so many questions! Anyway, you absolutely have to come that day! You absolutely, absolutely can't miss it! Trust me! (｀?ω?')?

The messages had Marin's usual bubbly energy and emphatic insistence, but she'd avoided the main question, making the whole thing even more mysterious.

Rin stared at the lines on her phone. A hint of helplessness flashed in her icy blue eyes.

"So secretive..."

She put down her phone and looked back at the black ticket. The fiery red "Devil May Cry" seemed to burn in the light.

Two days later... the very day the Holy Grail War would officially begin.

She rubbed her brow and casually set the ticket on her desk.

"Whatever. I'll leave it for now."

For a Magician (Master) about to be swept into the Holy Grail War, two days passed in the blink of an eye.

In hidden magecraft workshops scattered across Fuyuki City, the lights stayed on through the night.

Repairing crests, contracting familiars, adjusting Mystic Codes, planning tactics... each task demanded enormous concentration and magical energy.

The invisible pressure in the air grew heavier by the minute. Fluctuations in magical energy surged like restless undercurrents, reminding them that the night that would decide their fates was drawing near.

Everyone felt they still had a crucial alchemy circle to finish, or a fatal flaw in their tactics to fix. But time surged mercilessly onward, heedless of their anxiety.

Fuyuki's invisible countdown beat heavily against the heart of everyone who knew what was coming.

For Kitagawa Marin, though, these two days dragged by at a snail's pace.

She spent nearly every day at the enormous concert venue, rehearsing with Chen Tian.

The deafening sound system, dazzling lights, and complicated stage lifts and cues left her reeling, but she could only think about those few minutes—her song.

In Ivory Tower, there was an ethereal solo for a female voice. She could picture only one thing: when she sang it onstage before a massive audience, what would Rin-chan's face look like from the front row of the VIP section? Shocked and delighted?

To make sure that moment came right at the start, she even wrapped both arms around Chen Tian's and shook him hard, her voice as sweet as honey. "Boyfriend-kun~ Please, please! Can you put Ivory Tower first? Pretty please~?"

Chen Tian looked down at the blonde girl clinging to his arm. She gazed up at him, her face full of hopeful pleading. He smiled gently.

A hint of indulgence passed through those usually calm, deep-set eyes.

What could he do? His own Little Sun had made such a heartfelt request.

"Mm." His quiet reply was as good as an agreement.

Marin immediately cheered, hopping around him like a little bird that had just received a treat. "Yay! Boyfriend-kun is the best! Rin-chan's going to be so surprised! Hehehe..."

She was already imagining a crack in Rin's usually composed expression. Just the thought made her bubble over with excitement.

Chen Tian ruffled her soft blonde hair without saying anything more. The trace of helplessness in his eyes had long since turned into wordless affection.

His little airhead wanted to be spoiled, so he'd spoil her.

As long as she was happy, that was all that mattered.

Outside the venue, Fuyuki's leaden sky grew darker by the minute. Night was about to fall.

The dressing room was brightly lit.

Chen Tian sat quietly before the makeup mirror while the stylist held a few earrings beside his earlobe, trying them out. His reflection showed a face without much expression and deep eyes as still as a calm lake.

Kitagawa Marin had already finished her makeup. Wearing a sequined performance outfit, she sat on the sofa beside him.

She held her phone, her fingers absently swiping over the screen. Her lips were pursed, and her legs swung restlessly.

"Why hasn't Rin-chan replied yet..." she muttered, anxiety thick in her voice. "Ugh, this is so frustrating... What if she doesn't come? What'll happen to my surprise then?"

She irritably ran a hand through her golden hair, messing up a few strands of her carefully styled look.

Chen Tian kept his eyes on the mirror. Watching his Little Sun fret was especially cute. "Don't worry."

His voice was steady. "I asked Xiaozhong to wait outside the venue. At the entrance downstairs, once the QR code on Miss Rin's ticket is scanned, the system will send an alert. Xiaozhong will get the notification and go to meet her right away."

"I know..." Kitagawa replied glumly, her brows still furrowed. "I'm just worried... I wonder how Rin-chan's been these past two days back home. I hope those old-fashioned men in her family haven't been picking on her..."

She jabbed at her phone screen, as if it were one of those "old fossils" from the Tohsaka Family.

Chen Tian said nothing more. The stylist selected a black earring, simple in design but with a hint of sharpness, and carefully put it on him.

The touch was cold. Chen Tian's eyes closed for a moment.

Chen Tian could feel energy boiling somewhere in the city.

It was vast and twisted, carrying an ancient, filthy aura, like magma churning beneath the earth, poised to erupt.

He recognized the familiar fluctuations at once. He had encountered this power before.

Is it about to begin?

Chen Tian thought. Tonight, the pot that was Fuyuki City would finally boil over.

The cold touch of the earring brought him back to reality. He opened his eyes slightly. The cold reflection of the makeup mirror shone in his deep pupils, still and calm, as if what he had just sensed were no more than an irrelevant breeze.

"Marin," he said, his voice as steady as ever.

Kitagawa looked up from the sofa, her blonde hair swaying. A trace of worry still lingered on her face.

"It's time to go onstage." Chen Tian stood up, and the stylist immediately stepped aside.

A staff member opened the heavy soundproof door of the dressing room a crack from the outside.

In an instant, a huge rush of hot air filled with pounding beats and waves of electronic sound burst in, crashing against them like a raging tide against the rocks!

The deafening cheers and screams of tens of thousands of spectators in the stadium mingled with the pounding electronic beats from the warm-up DJ. Like an invisible wall of sound, seething with energy, they slammed into the relatively quiet dressing room.

"Whoa!" The stylist and assistants instinctively shrank their shoulders, squinting slightly as the wave of excitement hit them. For a moment, it seemed to set their blood on fire.

This thunderous sound was more than the overture to a concert. It was like the roar of a slumbering giant waking up!

Kitagawa Marin was startled by the sudden, tremendous noise, her body almost bouncing off the sofa. She instinctively gripped her phone. There was still no new message from Rin.

The worry that had left her so restless was briefly subdued and diluted by the crashing waves of sound, like a small piece of ice dropped into boiling water.

She abruptly looked toward the door. The dazzling, colorful lights spilling out of the venue instantly lit up her eyes, and the glow of the stage began to dance in them.

At the same time, Chen Tian stepped forward into the raging sound and flood of energy.

The instant he crossed the dressing room's threshold—

A muffled "sound," so vast it defied description yet seemed to come from deep within the earth, exploded in the depths of his awareness!

Ordinary people could not hear it. It existed only within the special dimension of his senses.

It felt as if... the vast vortex of magical energy he had sensed churning like filthy magma deep in Fuyuki City's ley lines had finally reached its limit. Some invisible fuse had suddenly ignited it!

An invisible shockwave swept silently yet with incredible speed across all of Fuyuki City, radiating from some hidden point.

Chen Tian's footsteps did not falter. His expression remained as calm as a deep pool.

The summoning ritual for the Holy Grail War had officially begun.

At that moment, the gate to Fuyuki's hell was forced open by countless Magicians' yearning and obsession!

Outside, the music thundered, the crowd's cheers rolled like a landslide, and the venue's lights blazed too brightly to look at. The grand, worldly spectacle of celebration had begun.

Under the very same sky, another battlefield—one made of blood, lies, desire, and Heroic Spirits, far more ruthless and merciless—was also silently shrouding all of Fuyuki City beneath the cover of the thunderous music and cheers.

Chen Tian clearly felt the faint ripples caused by the tremendous surge of magical energy inside him slowly subside. He also felt the pulse of the city beneath his feet pounding wildly to two completely different rhythms: one of rousing music, the other of a prelude to death.

He adjusted his breathing slightly and walked steadily toward the passage leading to the dazzling main stage, where all eyes were waiting.

Chapter 35: Brother-in-law? Brother-in-law!

"Somewhere in Fuyuki City, far from the noisy battlefield"

In stark contrast to the brightly lit Civic Gymnasium, where sound thundered through the air, this place was shrouded in a deathly silence that made one's heart pound.

The air was as thick as congealed blood. A chaotic, violent vortex of magical energy tore through the night, its shrill scream inaudible. Lead-gray clouds pressed low overhead, as though they might swallow this chosen battlefield at any moment.

A figure hovered arrogantly in midair, like a god looking down upon ants.

His golden heavy armor gleamed blindingly in the night, every inch of it exuding the cold hardness and opulence of metal from the Age of the Gods.

His once-smooth golden hair was now bristling with surging magical energy, each strand standing on end like a burning golden hedgehog, radiating unbridled arrogance.

His crimson, serpentine eyes looked down upon the ground. Deep within his pupils lurked the gleeful desire for destruction.

Behind him, several enormous, bizarre rings that seemed to be cast from molten gold—the manifestation of the Gate of Babylon—rotated slowly, like otherworldly portals to an endless treasury, exuding a suffocating pressure.

Golden ripples spread across the rings' surfaces. Every fluctuation signaled the imminent arrival of a deadly weapon.

He was Gilgamesh, the oldest Hero King. Clad in armor for battle, he radiated an utterly despair-inducing pressure.

"Ha ha ha! Mongrels!" His wild laughter tore through the heavy air, brimming with contempt and the thrill of impending violence. "Let your heads and wails add a little amusement to this King's tedious journey!"

Before the words had even faded, the golden rings behind him suddenly erupted in blinding light! Several streaks of gold, like thunderbolts tearing through the night, shot toward the ground with enough power to pierce mountains, shrieking as they flew!

Their targets were the two people below, braced for battle!

Emiya Shirou gritted his teeth. His Magic Circuits were all screaming.