Anti-Fortress.
Tokiomi Tohsaka made a separate mental note of the term.
An Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm was already a very high-grade means of annihilation in the Holy Grail War.
Most ordinary Servants had Anti-Personnel Noble Phantasms. Even Anti-Army ones were rare, and Anti-Fortress was another matter entirely.
It meant Caster could destroy an entire building in a single strike, perhaps even affect an entire area.
In a contest between seven Servants, that kind of firepower was a deterrent in itself.
"Besides that-"
Mayuri held out a hand, as if illustrating something.
"I also possess a defensive Noble Phantasm and an Anti-World Noble Phantasm."
Anti-World.
Tokiomi Tohsaka's brow twitched.
An Anti-World Noble Phantasm was even more troublesome than an Anti-Fortress one.
Noble Phantasms capable of interfering with the laws of the world themselves were rare even on the Throne of Heroes.
"That should be about all of my abilities."
Having finished, Mayuri picked up her teacup again and took a sip.
She looked quite relaxed, as if she had just handed in an answer sheet and was waiting for the person across from her to grade it.
Across from her, Tokiomi Tohsaka fell silent for about five seconds.
He had already begun breaking down the information he had just received, item by item.
Mana: EX. Noble Phantasm: EX. An Anti-Fortress primary offensive Noble Phantasm. A defensive Noble Phantasm. An Anti-World Noble Phantasm. Switching between four forms. Absorbing ambient magical energy. Presence reduction.
Her weakness was equally clear: zero close-combat ability.
This setup...
For the second time, Tokiomi Tohsaka told himself, This Holy Grail War is won.
"Thank you for your candor, Caster." He bowed slightly.
"This information is crucial to me. I will devise the optimal combat deployment based on the characteristics of your fighting capabilities-and ensure that, throughout the entire war, you will never find yourself forced into hand-to-hand combat."
Mayuri gave a hum of acknowledgment.
Tokiomi Tohsaka lifted his teacup and took a sip.
The fire still burned in the fireplace, the wood occasionally crackling.
The reception room fell quiet.
Unlike the earlier, probing silence, this time both sides had at least laid some of their cards on the table.
Outside the window, Fuyuki's night breeze swept over the hills of Miyama Town.
In the distance, only the rough outline of Mount Enzou was visible in the moonlight.
Three days remained before the Holy Grail War officially began.
The three days passed quickly.
Mayuri stayed at the Tohsaka Residence in spirit form, occasionally materializing to take a few walks around the house.
The main reason was simple.
Although remaining in spirit form consumed little magical energy, Mayuri was not quite used to floating around without any physical sensation of a body.
She had, after all, been a flesh-and-blood human in her previous life. Floating around transparently was always a little awkward to accept mentally.
Tokiomi Tohsaka had not been idle during those three days either.
Through Risei Kotomine's intelligence network as supervisor, Kirei Kotomine directed the individual bodies of Hassan of the Hundred Faces to spread throughout Fuyuki and conduct reconnaissance.
Combined with the detection formulas the Tohsaka Family had placed along Fuyuki's ley line system, information about the other Masters was pieced together bit by bit.
Five participating Masters had been confirmed so far.
First, Tokiomi Tohsaka himself.
His Servant was Caster, Mayuri.
That needed no further discussion.
Second, the representative of the Einzbern Family.
According to the intelligence, they were suspected of employing an outside hire: the Magus Killer, Kiritsugu Emiya.
That name was famous in the magi's underworld. He specialized in hunting magi, used ruthless methods, and paid little heed to the rules.
The Master could also be someone else, such as a puppet manufactured by the Einzbern Family.
The Servant's specific class and true name remained unclear, but it was confirmed that they had completed the summoning.
Third, the representative of the Matou Family.
Their identity was currently unknown.
An individual body of Hassan of the Hundred Faces had attempted to infiltrate the Matou Residence to investigate, but the insect magecraft barriers in the underground area were too densely packed, and the conditions were truly disgusting. In the end, she had no choice but to retreat.
For now, they had only confirmed that the magical energy signature of one Servant remained within the residence.
Fourth, the official representative dispatched by the Clock Tower, headquarters of the Mage's Association.
One of the Clock Tower's Twelve Lords, the Lord of the Department of Mineralogy, Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald.
He was a traditional, prodigious aristocratic magus, formidable in ability, family background, and resources alike.
After arriving in Fuyuki, he had taken the penthouse suite of a luxury hotel in Shinto, putting on such a grand display that he seemed to be here for a vacation rather than a war.
His Servant's class and identity were currently uncertain.
Fifth, Tokiomi Tohsaka's apprentice, Kirei Kotomine.
His Servant was Assassin, Hassan of the Hundred Faces.
Nominally, he was a covert ally of the Tohsaka faction, responsible for gathering intelligence, ambushes and harassment, and diverting the attention of the other Masters.
Five confirmed.
The remaining two Masters were still under investigation.
One of their Servants' Spirit Origin signatures had briefly been detected near a residential house on the outskirts of Fuyuki. The fluctuations in magical energy had been immense, suggesting a high-ranking Heroic Spirit.
The other had left almost no traces. Hassan of the Hundred Faces had searched the entire city without finding an exact location.
That ability to conceal themselves was suspicious in itself.
Over the past three days, Tokiomi Tohsaka had relayed this information to Mayuri in batches.
After hearing it, Mayuri's assessment was simple.
"That Magus Killer sounds like the most trouble."
Tokiomi Tohsaka nodded.
Kiritsugu Emiya did indeed rank very high in his threat assessment.
The reason was not the strength of Kiritsugu Emiya's magecraft, but that the man's methods completely disregarded the rules magi followed.
Assassination, explosives, hostages, poisoning, exploiting civilians.
Those methods, which traditional magi disdained, were all things Kiritsugu Emiya would use.
Aristocratic maneuvering meant little against someone like that.
Still-
Tokiomi Tohsaka glanced at his Servant.
With Caster here, the situation was not too bad.
The final night before the Holy Grail War officially began.
Inside the reception room of the Tohsaka Residence.
The fire burned quietly in the fireplace.
The black tea on the coffee table had been replaced with freshly brewed Darjeeling, steam rising from the cups.
Mayuri still sat on the three-seat sofa.
After three days of adjusting, she could now sit fairly naturally on the leather sofa without worrying about her backless Mystic Code leaving her against the cold backrest.
The solution was simple.
Drape a thin blanket over the back of the sofa.
Long live pragmatism.
Tokiomi Tohsaka sat opposite her, legs crossed, turning a blank ruby that had not been imbued with magical energy between his fingers.
It was a little habit of his when thinking.
"Today," he began, his voice as steady as ever, "it is time to put on that show."
Mayuri set down her teacup and looked at the Master opposite her.
"As planned-Kirei Kotomine's Assassin will 'invade' the Tohsaka Residence's barrier tonight. You will be responsible for killing her."
"The audience for this performance will be the familiars of the other Masters and Servants scattered around the residence."
Tokiomi Tohsaka slipped the ruby into his breast pocket.
"There are two objectives. First, to display a portion of Caster's combat capabilities to the outside world and establish a deterrent."
"Second, to make the other Masters believe that we have killed Kirei Kotomine's Assassin and that Kirei himself has been forced to withdraw from the war-thereby lowering their guard against him and allowing him to continue operating covertly afterward."
Mayuri nodded.
She had already heard Tokiomi explain the entire plan yesterday.
There was nothing wrong with its logic.
Sacrifice one of Hassan of the Hundred Faces' individual bodies in exchange for room for Kirei to operate from the shadows.
At the same time, it would let the other factions see the firepower of the Tohsaka Family's Servant. If they wanted to make a move afterward, they would first have to weigh the cost.
"No problem, Master."
Less than three minutes after she said that, the defensive barrier around the residence emitted a red warning light.
Someone had broken in.
Tokiomi Tohsaka's expression did not change.
He did not even stand, merely glancing at Mayuri.
"Sorry for the trouble, Caster."
Mayuri hummed in acknowledgment.
The next instant, her figure dispersed where she stood.
Spirit form.
When she appeared again, Mayuri was already standing on the roof of the Tohsaka Residence.
Fuyuki's November night wind blew against her, a little cold.
Her long, pale-gold hair, hanging at her sides, streamed backward in the wind.
The roof tiles beneath her feet gleamed faintly in the moonlight. The distant hills of Miyama Town lay dark, and only a few tiny lights were visible in the direction of Mount Enzou.
Mayuri lowered her gaze to the residence's courtyard.
Inside the barrier, a thin black figure was darting between the garden trees.
The figure was wrapped entirely in black assassin's garb, with a white skull mask over her head. Her movements were light, almost soundless.
One of Hassan of the Hundred Faces' individual bodies.
This individual body's target was clear.
The gemstone core above the pool-like structure in the center of the courtyard.
It was one of the key anchors maintaining the barrier around the Tohsaka Residence.
If destroyed, it would briefly open a gap in the barrier.
Of course, all of this was an act.
That Hassan body knew she was going to die tonight.
Tokiomi Tohsaka knew. Kirei Kotomine knew. Mayuri knew as well.
Only the familiars hidden in the surrounding darkness were still watching this invasion in earnest.
Before coming up, Mayuri had already concealed the two pairs of wings behind her.
Her Astral Dress remained unchanged, its black fabric and gold trim outlining her figure in the moonlight.
Her expression was calm.
There was no tension, nor any hesitation.
The combat instincts the Holy Grail bestowed upon Servants were at work.
The target before me needs to be eliminated.
Information was processed into action.
My previous self probably would have hesitated.
Killing someone, even if the other party was merely an individual body, an assassin unit without a normal personality.
For the homebody I was in my previous life, who could not even bear to watch a fish being killed, I probably would have stalled for a long time.
But not now.
Within a Servant's Spirit Origin, the threshold for engaging in combat was low to begin with.
If it needs doing, then do it.
Mayuri raised her right hand.
Caster · Cherub · Cherub (Mayuri) Alignment: Chaotic · Self Six basic parameters Strength: C Endurance: B Agility: B Mana: EX Luck: B Noble Phantasm: EX Class skills 1. Magic Resistance A Nullifies magecraft incantations of fewer than three verses, and takes almost no damage even from greater magecraft or ritual spells. 2. Territory Creation E One of the two skills inherent to the Caster class. Since Mayuri had never studied or encountered magecraft before, nor possessed any abilities related to magecraft, this ability was at the lowest rank, E. 3. Item Construction E The same as Territory Creation. Personal skills 1. Spiritual Power Integration (Gathering of All Things) A Mayuri herself was an aggregate of multiple Spirits' Spirit Power and could absorb and assimilate surrounding magical energy, spiritual energy, and energy attacks, converting them into her own Spirit Power to sustain herself. 2. Judgment Surveillance (Invisible Observation) A In its normal state, Thunder Sanctuary contracted into an invisible black sphere. Aside from her Master and those with special perception, mages, ordinary humans, and the vast majority of Servants could not detect either her main body or her Angel, enabling silent, all-area reconnaissance. 3. Four-Aspect Divine Control A Her Angel, Thunder Sanctuary, could freely switch between four major forms-lion, human, bull, and eagle-to respond to the battle situation, with no cooldown between switches: - Lion form: a focused, single-shot lightning cannon of extremely high power, for pinpoint bombardment and breaking through fortified positions. - Human form: a 360-degree plasma barrage from the thousand eyes all over its body, with no blind spots, for full-coverage sweeps. - Bull form: heavy defense + chained, large-area lightning strikes, for taking damage head-on and suppressing an area. - Vulture Form (capable of high-speed flight): homing lightning missiles, for hunting down mobile enemies. Noble Phantasm specifications First Noble Phantasm: Final Judgment: Sword of Blazing Flame (Lahathelev) Rank: EX Type: Anti-Fortress / Anti-Personnel Human Order / Anti-Beast / Anti-Purification Range: 1-??? Maximum targets: ??? Description: Her Angel, Thunder Sanctuary, released all restrictions and reconfigured into a gigantic drill-lance, the "Sword of Blazing Flame," concentrating all of Mayuri's aggregated Spirit Power to fire an annihilating torrent of lightning. A single strike could destroy an entire city and its surrounding area, purging everything within range. Its power could grow even greater after charging. Second Noble Phantasm: Astral Dress: Number Ten Thousand Rank: A Type: Anti-Self Noble Phantasm Range: 0 Maximum targets: 1 Description: Mayuri's exclusive Astral Dress, a battle dress composed of Spirit Power. The inevitable form of a Spirit's manifestation in the world, it stabilized her body of Spirit Power and served as the foundational attire that supported her Angel and all her Spirit Power abilities. It possessed extremely powerful defensive capabilities. Physical attacks and magecraft alike had extreme difficulty penetrating this defense, which could nullify attacks below B rank. Third Noble Phantasm: Spacequake Rank: A+ Type: Anti-World Noble Phantasm Range: 1-99 Maximum targets: ??? Description: A spatial disaster triggered by an overflow of Spirit Power when a Spirit traveled from the spirit world to the real world. It caused spatial collapse and large-scale shock waves, destroying every object within the area.