Nothing happened during the day.
In the reception room of the Tohsaka Residence, Tokiomi still brewed tea at his usual time, read the ley line reports, then exchanged intelligence with Kirei through the phonograph.
Mayuri stayed in Spirit Form most of the time, remaining inside the residence.
Occasionally, she materialized, sat on the sofa for a cup of black tea, then went back to sorting through what she had seen in last night's battle at the harbor.
Tokiomi Tohsaka's policy remained unchanged today.
Hold position.
"The greatest taboo in the Holy Grail War is losing your patience."
Those were Tokiomi's exact words to Mayuri that afternoon.
Tokiomi's view was simple.
The melee at the harbor on the first night had already exposed quite a few camps' secrets.
Saber's true name, the effects of Lancer's twin spears, Rider's true name and Noble Phantasm, and Berserker's ability to temporarily turn whatever was at hand into a Noble Phantasm.
The Tohsaka side, by contrast, had revealed the least.
Aside from that Archer of unknown origin, Mayuri had only shown Thunder Sanctuary's Lion Form and the Astral Dress's ability to block attacks.
She had not used her real means of attack, nor had she shown anyone the other three forms.
They still held a considerable information advantage. Going out to pick fights now would only be a poor bargain.
Wait.
Let the other camps fight first.
Mayuri could find no fault with that.
Although, as a King of Knights fan in her previous life, a voice in her heart kept shouting that she wanted to watch Artoria fight, her head was still reasonably clear.
Tokiomi's judgment was sound this time.
The sun set.
The second night came to Fuyuki City.
A residential street in Miyama Town, Fuyuki City.
It was just past midnight, and the streets were empty.
The streetlights cast orange-yellow light over the road in separate stretches.
The November night wind was colder than yesterday's. It swept up fallen leaves by the roadside and sent them tumbling over the asphalt a few times with a rustle.
Two people walked side by side down the street.
Irisviel walked on the left.
Her long, silvery-white hair gleamed beneath the streetlights, and the hem of her white coat swayed with her steps.
Her wine-red eyes looked ahead, with little trace of a smile on her face. She looked rather different from when she had been splashing through the surf by the sea yesterday.
Artoria walked half a step behind on the right.
She wore silver-and-blue knight's armor, her blond hair tied back, her emerald eyes facing forward.
The stray tuft on top of her head bobbed twice in the night wind.
She was checking her condition.
The mana flowing through the contract was completely different from last night's.
During the harbor battle last night, the mana Kiritsugu Emiya supplied as her Master had only been adequate.
It could sustain the basic costs of maintaining her physical form, manifesting her armor, using Mana Burst, and keeping Invisible Air active.
But once a fight dragged on, her reserves dropped noticeably.
Kiritsugu Emiya's Magic Circuits were not poor, but his fighting style had never revolved around direct clashes.
The mana he could spare for his Servant was limited.
But now, the mana pouring into her Spirit Origin had changed completely.
There was a great deal of it.
The mana coming through the contract channel was steady and clean, continuously pressing into the core of her Spirit Origin.
Artoria could clearly feel every part of her body being filled.
It felt like someone who had never eaten their fill suddenly finding a whole table of food before them.
The source of her supply had changed.
During the day, Kiritsugu Emiya had adjusted their Master-Servant contract.
Artoria did not know exactly how he had done it.
The result was straightforward: the person supplying her with mana was no longer Kiritsugu Emiya.
It was Irisviel, beside her.
This technique had reportedly originated with a Lord of the Clock Tower, Lancer's Master, Kayneth El-Melloi.
By adjusting specific nodes in the Master-Servant contract while the Master retained their Command Spells, a third-party mage could take over supplying the Servant with mana.
After inventing it, Kayneth had written it up in a paper published in a Clock Tower journal and even applied for a patent.
Among his academic achievements, it was not particularly eye-catching.
But for the Einzbern Family, it was very useful.
After learning of the technique, the Einzbern main family in Germany had paid a high price for the rights to use it, quickly adapted it to their needs, and sent the finished product to Fuyuki.
Once Kiritsugu Emiya received it, he completed the contract modification during the day.
Tactically, handing the mana supply over to Irisviel allowed Kiritsugu to save all his mana for his own battles.
Saber could also receive more energy.
It was a very good deal.
And Irisviel von Einzbern herself was one of the few completed products the Einzbern had produced in recent decades.
She was a homunculus approaching the original Saint of Winter, Justeaze.
Her Magic Circuits had not been engraved into her afterward, but woven into her body during her creation.
Her body itself was a mana furnace core.
In terms of both mana quantity and quality, few Masters in this Holy Grail War could compare with her.
More importantly, Irisviel was also the vessel of the Lesser Grail.
The mana provided by the Greater Grail also had to pass through her body.
Now that she was connected directly to the Servant contract, Artoria's energy allotment had increased as well.
Artoria's Spirit Origin was now full of mana.
She flexed her sword-wielding right hand.
The sense of power in her fingertips was far beyond last night's.
"Saber, how do you feel?"
Irisviel turned to look at her, concern and a little curiosity in her wine-red eyes.
"Very good."
Artoria's answer was brief.
But a hint of confidence slipped into her tone.
"Better than very good. In my current state..."
She paused.
"I'm probably the strongest Servant in this Holy Grail War."
Coming from the King of Knights, that statement said enough.
Irisviel smiled without asking further.
The two continued forward.
Their destination was the Matou Family Residence.
The Einzbern Family's decision to attack the Matou Family on the second night had come from Kiritsugu Emiya.
His analysis was cold.
Kariya Matou's body was already close to giving out, and Berserker's mana supply might also develop problems.
Rather than let that variable erupt on a later battlefield, it was better to deal with him now.
One of the Three Founding Families against another.
In the Holy Grail War, such a scene was hardly rare, but it was certainly ugly.
Artoria stopped about a hundred and twenty meters from the Matou Residence.
In the darkness ahead, an old Japanese-style residence stood deep within the residential district. High walls surrounded it, with several old trees nearby.
The Matou Family Residence.
A defensive bounded field maintained by insect Magecraft covered the residence's perimeter.
To Artoria's senses, that mana felt sticky and filthy, like a great mass of insects tangled together.
Artoria extended her right hand.
The holy sword materialized.
This time, there was no Invisible Air.
Emerald mana shone from her palm. The blue hilt formed first, followed by the guard, the blade, and the tip.
The entire holy sword appeared in the darkness of Fuyuki's second night.
Excalibur.
The Sword of Promised Victory.
The golden blade shone, the fairy script on its surface lighting up character by character as mana flowed through it.
Light spread from the edge, bathing a small area around Artoria in gold.
The holy sword's light illuminated her silver-and-blue armor, while the currents of mana lifted her blond hair slightly.
This was Excalibur's first true appearance in this Holy Grail War.
During last night's harbor battle, it had remained hidden behind Invisible Air.
Even when Diarmuid's red spear broke through its concealment, it had lasted less than half a second, and Lancer alone had seen it clearly.
There was no need to hide it now.
Gripping the sword in both hands, Artoria raised Excalibur above her right shoulder.
A high guard.
She spread her feet, lowered her center of gravity, and began gathering power.
Mana Burst A activated.
A vast amount of the mana coming from Irisviel was drawn away.
The core of Artoria's Spirit Origin worked at full capacity, compressing the mana and pouring it into the holy sword.
The light on the golden blade abruptly intensified, and white radiance engulfed the fairy script on its surface.
The holy sword's true name was not released.
Artoria did not speak that name.
She simply swung her sword.
One slash.
Light burst from Excalibur's slash.
A band of gold-white light roughly five meters wide surged forward along the ground.
It burned through the road, and the roadside trees vanished before they even had time to catch fire.
The band of light crossed a hundred and twenty meters and struck the Matou Residence's defensive bounded field.
The insect bounded field maintained by Crest Worms collapsed the instant it touched the light.
Its mana structure could not withstand the impact and was forcibly scattered.
The insect spell formulas making up the bounded field broke apart, evaporated, then vanished.
The entire process took less than a second.
Then the light kept going.
It rolled over the spot where the bounded field had stood and struck the Matou Family Residence itself.