Jin'ga Seiji

Jin'ga Seiji beside him was still lost in self-admiration, something that would have been absolutely impossible under normal circumstances. Though he looked rather unremarkable, becoming a Master in the first large-scale magecraft ritual in history naturally meant he possessed strength worthy of the role.

A genius mage who had inherited the position of family head and the Mage Crest from the previous head at the age of twenty, he had never been satisfied with the twenty-odd years of life he had lived so far, nor with his family line's century of inheritance.

Though the Jin'ga Family was a Magecraft Family, that was all it really was.

Whether in terms of family foundations or social influence, it could not compare to a truly established prestigious family like the Linglongguan Family. It was even inferior to the later-rising Sajo Family, let alone being situated in the Far East, a place universally regarded by the magecraft world as a backwater—

The Jin'ga Family was no closer to the Clock Tower than it was to the Root. Both were impossibly distant.

His impatience and yearning grew ever stronger. Could endlessly practicing the family's inherited Alchemy Magecraft truly be enough? Was he supposed to be like his father and grandfather, doing nothing but researching and passing things down, hoping that one of his descendants would fulfill their great wish?

Absolutely not. He would never allow that to happen!

Ever since he had been chosen, his ambition and desire had continued to swell. The Holy Church had tacitly permitted mages to activate the Greater Grail in hopes of witnessing the descent of a miracle, while the Mage's Association hoped to use that miracle to fulfill the mages' great wish. The Holy Grail War ritual was the result of cooperation between the two sides.

At present, the Holy Church had not yet received reports of any other mages successfully completing a summoning. Jin'ga Seiji was currently the first mage to have summoned a Servant.

"The war has begun! I—I will slaughter all six Masters and six Servants!"

His eyes shone ever brighter, like a roaring bonfire. His fists clenched tightly, and his voice rose higher and higher.

"I will surely find the Greater Grail hidden somewhere in Tokyo! I will fulfill the long-cherished wish of us mages!"

His voice echoed through the empty warehouse, making even the dim space tremble. Then Jin'ga Seiji noticed Michael looking at him as though he were an idiot.

"Saber, do you have any questions?"

He coughed lightly, reining in the joy on his face as he tried to appear serious.

"Do you have detailed information on the Masters participating in this Holy Grail War?"

Michael surveyed the warehouse. Apart from a crude single folding bed, there was nothing else. If he had to name something, there were a few rows of magecraft books and manuscripts on a simple wooden bookshelf.

He walked over and casually flipped through them, as if he were the owner of this Magecraft Workshop.

"I am the first Master to summon a Heroic Spirit."

Jin'ga Seiji shook his head, his words carrying undisguised pride. The implication was that he did not know.

"Then you must at least have a list and information on the local Magecraft Families and the mages who have recently entered the country, right? And the distribution and flow of Tokyo's Ley Lines, the points where the Ley Lines converge—surely you have this basic information?"

Michael casually leafed through the manuscripts. These were all notes Jin'ga Seiji had left behind while studying Alchemy Magecraft. As an experienced alchemist, Michael found their contents so crude that they were unbearable to look at.

"This..."

Jin'ga Seiji froze.

"As a magecraft family, you can't possibly be this shabby, can you? Where are the other members of your family? Don't tell me you're the only one participating in the Holy Grail War?"

Michael's barrage of questions struck Jin'ga Seiji like rolling heavenly thunder, leaving him utterly dazed. Even the joy of summoning a Saber Servant was greatly diminished.

His mouth hung slightly open, as though he wanted to say something, yet no words came out. Only after a long while did he stammer out an answer.

"The essence of the Holy Grail War is a solitary war. I do not need the help of other mages."

"Tch—don't tell me you're still stuck in your middle school chuunibyou phase. This is a war, you know?"

The Magecraft Workshop was so crude that Michael could not find anywhere to sit. He could only create a genuine leather executive chair himself and sink comfortably into it.

"Since it is a war, you should make use of everything that can help you. And do you think that with your meager talent, you can provide me with enough magical energy?"

"And who gave you permission to speak to me while standing? Kneel! Then submit to me."

Michael narrowed his eyes. With a crisp snap of his fingers, more than half of Jin'ga Seiji's magical energy was instantly drained from his body, and it continued to plummet at an astonishing speed. If no measures were taken, once his magical energy was exhausted, it would likely begin drawing on his life force.

His heartbeat suddenly accelerated. Under the lights, his skin took on a vivid crimson hue caused by ruptured capillaries beneath it. Blood vessels gradually crept across the whites of his eyes, his breathing became increasingly ragged, and the strength drained from his entire body. As a mage, no one understood the consequences of losing life force better than Jin'ga Seiji.

"H-how could this happen?"

Gasping heavily, he disregarded his dignity and collapsed onto the floor. The Magecraft Workshop amplified a mage's magical energy, yet he was already in this state while inside it. If they entered actual combat, it would only be worse.

What Jin'ga Seiji could not understand was that he had clearly calculated the amount of magical energy the Servant required. By all reason, it should have been more than enough to support the Servant in battle. Why had this happened?

Could it be because of his rank as the fifth Power Angel?

After thinking it over, that was the only explanation that seemed plausible. Based on Jin'ga Seiji's rank, he should only have been able to summon a Servant from the lower four classes. Yet the one he had actually summoned was Saber, a class that could only be summoned by those in the top three ranks—the strongest Servant among the seven.

As his life force ebbed away, his consciousness began to blur. Michael calmly watched Jin'ga Seiji curl up on the floor and groan, without the slightest trace of pity in his eyes. Though he occasionally acted scatterbrained, at his core he was still an old monster who had lived for centuries.

"Master... please forgive my sins..."

Only after branding the mark of domination into Jin'ga Seiji's soul did Michael finally stop, sparing his life.

Jin'ga Seiji was merely an inconspicuous mage, whose ambition far exceeded his ability. There were countless people at his level in the Clock Tower, like weeds that would sprout anew the following year even if they happened to die.

Yet he was also different, because he was now Michael's Master. Of course, this Master was Master in name only, but that "name" was still important.

Perhaps because he had hitched a ride, Michael temporarily possessed some of a Servant's traits, such as being able to receive magical energy from his Master and being unable to leave Tokyo, the battlefield.

He could obtain the Grail, but only as a Servant. Perhaps because the Servant he had replaced was of the Saber class, Michael could not summon a Servant of his own and participate in the war as a Master.

Naturally, all of this applied only for the duration of this Tokyo Holy Grail War. If he had not needed a Master in order to obtain the Grail, then with Michael's temperament, he would likely have killed Jin'ga Seiji long ago and stripped the Command Spells from him.

They said it was better to have a godlike enemy than a piglike ally. Now, Michael was going to remodel Jin'ga Seiji, this "piglike ally," so that he would at least stop dragging him down.