And that explained why these Servants were so powerful.
A ritual that could approach the realm of True Magic naturally could not be measured by the scale and magical energy of an ordinary magecraft ritual.
Servants summoned through a system like this would not merely be shadows of Heroic Spirits in the ordinary sense, either.
Kayneth El-Melloi was regretting one thing at that moment.
Why couldn't I have spent just one more day doing my homework?
Before coming to Fuyuki, Kayneth had checked the publicly available information on the Holy Grail War. His final assessment had been: a small-scale ritual with research value, worth coming to see in person.
Naturally, the public records said nothing about the Second Magician, nor anything about inheriting the Third True Magic.
As a young Lord of the Clock Tower who had been called a genius for years, Kayneth had thought little of this local ritual and simply come to Fuyuki with his fiancée and Servant.
Now, leaving would not be easy.
The Holy Grail War had already begun, and withdrawing midway was troublesome to begin with.
Not to mention that Kayneth was one of the Clock Tower's Twelve Lords.
If word spread that he had entered a war, accomplished nothing, and slunk back to London, how could he hold his head up at the Clock Tower?
But if he kept fighting, the level of these factions was already nothing like what he had anticipated.
Saber used Mana Burst as though it were an ordinary slash.
That bolt of crimson-gold lightning from Caster had fallen from the sky and could wipe out a Servant in a single strike.
Even Kayneth had no desire to confront Avalon's dimensional isolation head-on.
Although Berserker had already been eliminated, the basic abilities he had displayed earlier were beyond what a normal Servant should possess.
Not one of these opponents could be dealt with simply by getting a little serious.
Kayneth looked toward the door on the other side of the suite's living room.
Beyond it was the second bedroom, where Sola-Ui Nuada-Re should still have been resting.
His fiancée.
No.
Sola-Ui must leave Fuyuki.
Kayneth stood and strode toward the living room.
As he walked, he issued an instruction to Lancer, who was in Spirit Form.
Be ready. I may need your help with something.
Kayneth knocked on the second bedroom's door.
Sola-Ui's voice came from inside, sounding very displeased at being woken.
Kayneth did not wait for her to open the door. He unlocked it with his key and walked straight in.
The woman with medium-length wine-red hair sat on the edge of the bed, tying the belt of her nightgown. She looked up at Kayneth with a very sour expression.
Kayneth did not beat around the bush. He went straight to the conclusion.
You must leave Fuyuki now.
Sola-Ui refused.
Her reasoning sounded plausible, too.
She said that she was Kayneth's fiancée and a backup source of spiritual energy, and that she had a duty to remain on the front lines to provide support.
As Kayneth listened, he noticed her eyes flick briefly to one side while she spoke.
That was where Lancer stood in Spirit Form.
Kayneth had no time to pursue the matter now.
"Sola-Ui. This is not a discussion."
His voice did not rise, but he stressed every word.
"Lancer."
At his command, Diarmuid materialized in the bedroom.
Once the knight in the dark green combat suit took in the situation in the room, his golden-amber eyes paused for a moment.
"Put her to sleep. Gently."
Diarmuid opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing.
He walked behind Sola-Ui, raised his hand, and delivered a chop to the back of her neck.
The movement was light, without brute force. He simply used technique to render her temporarily unconscious.
Sola-Ui's eyes closed, and she slumped onto the bed, her breathing soon settling into a steady rhythm.
"Arrange for the hotel staff to take her to the airport under the pretext of a sudden illness requiring transfer to another hospital."
"I've already contacted the family. A private plane will arrive in two hours."
Kayneth took Sola-Ui's traveling coat and personal belongings from the wardrobe and quickly packed a suitcase.
Diarmuid stood to one side, watching his Master arrange to send his fiancée away.
The knight's expression was hidden by his face guard. All that could be seen was that he remained silent.
This was his Master's private affair.
As a Servant, Diarmuid had no standing to say more.
Twenty minutes later, hotel staff wheeled Sola-Ui out of the suite.
Kayneth stood by the window. Only after watching the black minivan downstairs drive off toward the airport with Sola-Ui inside did he unclench his hands.
His fingernails had left indentations in the palms of his white gloves.
With Sola-Ui's affairs settled, Kayneth returned to the desk.
As one of the Clock Tower's Twelve Lords, his responsibilities extended beyond winning the Holy Grail War.
The Twelve Lords had to maintain order in the world of magecraft, and one particularly important rule was that Mystery must not be exposed to ordinary people.
Tonight's battle between Saber and Berserker had destroyed the Matou Family Residence and affected several surrounding blocks.
Destruction on that scale needed an explanation in the ordinary world.
A gas explosion, an earthquake, a terrorist attack-whatever the story, someone had to make arrangements beforehand and clean up afterward.
Without a mage stepping in to coordinate matters, ordinary society would notice this sooner or later, and the trouble would be even greater then.
Kayneth had to stay.
The Holy Grail and victory could wait.
This was what a Lord of the Clock Tower ought to do.
Kayneth took a blank sheet of parchment stationery from the desk drawer, then picked up his fountain pen.
He was going to write a letter.
Recipient: Waver Velvet.
Kayneth had long known where that brat was hiding.
An ordinary house on the outskirts of Fuyuki City, in the room on the west side of the second floor.
His familiar had located it on the very first day.
Waver's meager concealment methods were practically no concealment at all before Kayneth.
Kayneth had not acted before.
Not out of softheartedness. He simply had not thought it necessary.
In his original plan, Kayneth intended to deal with the other factions first, then seek out this student who had stolen his holy relic once the situation stabilized.
Once everything was over, he would stand as the victor and make Waver understand just how great the gap between them was.
Now the plan had to change.
The pen touched the parchment.
Kayneth's handwriting was as neat as print.
It was the result of the calligraphy classes included in the Clock Tower's aristocratic education.
The letter spacing, slant, and thickness of the strokes were all carefully controlled.
The letter ran longer than Kayneth had initially intended.
It opened in the standard format for academic correspondence at the Clock Tower.
Heading, date, declaration of the sender's identity.
Only then came the body.
Kayneth did not use a threatening tone.
There was no "I'll kill you" in the letter, nor anything like "just you wait."
What he wrote was an invitation.
He invited Waver to a neutral location so the two of them could talk face-to-face.
Then, in the latter half, Kayneth included some information.
Not much, but enough for someone like Waver to recognize the severity of the problem.
The true background of the Holy Grail War's Three Founding Families.
The difference between True Magic and magecraft.
The actual goal of this ritual.
Kayneth El-Melloi rarely did this sort of thing.
He was warning someone he had always looked down on.
This was not out of kindness.
Allowing a third-rate student who understood nothing to keep blundering around in an affair like this was too risky.
Rather than let Waver charge around everywhere with the King of Conquerors, it was better to explain things clearly, so he at least knew where he stood.
At the letter's final paragraph, Kayneth paused for several seconds, then wrote on anyway.
If Waver was willing to withdraw from the war with dignity and return command of the King of Conquerors to him, Kayneth could guarantee Waver's personal safety and would not pursue the theft of the holy relic.
Signature.
Sealing wax.
The El-Melloi family crest pressed into it.
Kayneth handed the sealed letter to the black carrier-pigeon familiar perched on the balcony railing.
"Deliver this to the outskirts of Fuyuki City-"
He provided the precise address and coordinates.
"You may hand it to anyone in that house."
"Whether it's that brown-haired boy or the big red-haired fellow beside him."
The pigeon flapped its wings twice and flew into the night sky.
Kayneth stood on the balcony, watching the familiar disappear into the distance, then turned and went back inside.
He passed the desk, the crystal ball, and the investigation report that had left him uneasy ever since reading it, finally stopping at the window.
From thirty-two floors up, the lights of Fuyuki City spread out below him.
Flames were still visible in the direction of the Matou Family Residence. The fires in the ruins had not all gone out.
"Lancer."
Diarmuid's outline emerged behind him from Spirit Form.
"From now on, we will no longer take the initiative to attack. Defense and intelligence gathering will take priority in all operations."
The room fell silent for a moment.
Diarmuid's voice came from behind him, his tone reasonably steady.
"Yes, Master. But if a Servant challenges us..."
"That's another matter."
Kayneth cut him off, his pale purple eyes reflected in the windowpane.
"If someone comes looking for death, we won't turn them away. But as for going out to seek our own, forgive me, but I no longer have that confidence."