Stars dotted the pitch-black curtain called the night sky, surrounding the bright full moon at its center.
At that moment, the only inn in the small town of Ust-Nerga had its doors locked tight and all its curtains drawn.
Under the subconscious interference of the repelling magecraft Keep Out Idlers, people found even approaching the inn extraordinarily difficult, let alone peering into the mysteries within.
The inn's spacious front hall had been completely cleared out. The youths stood before four Summoning Circles, reciting the standard incantation in unison:
"Let silver and steel be the essence, and stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation."
After finishing the first two lines, Shirou Emiya, Illya, and Sakura Matou paused their chanting together, while Rin Tohsaka took the opportunity to recite an additional short verse:
"Let my great master Schweinorg be the ancestor."
A bronze sword fragment, a jeweled necklace, a steel arrowhead, and a temple foundation stone-the Heroic Spirit catalysts within all four Summoning Circles began shining with white light at once:
"Let the descending winds be blocked. Let the gates of the four directions be closed. Come forth from the Crown, and wander the three-forked road to the Kingdom."
Blood, liquid gemstones, a magic power solution, and mercury-four entirely different liquids dripped onto the diagrams before the youths, filling the "gaps" in the Summoning Circles.
"Fill, fill, fill, fill, fill.
Repeat each turn five times. Yet let the moment of filling be the moment of abandonment."
The strange sensation of magic power rushing through their bodies lingered, but the four children, who had lived alongside the mysteries for years, were already accustomed to it.
"Set-declare-
Your body shall serve under my command, and my fate shall rest upon your sword. Answer the summons of the Holy Grail. If you will