The Holy Grail War: a secret magical rite where seven Masters, chosen by the Holy Grail, summon heroes recorded in human history to battle, all for the sake of obtaining the wish-granting machine known as the Holy Grail.
Originally, the Spirit Evocation Ritual: Heroic Spirit Summoning was a grand magecraft that the world itself would only activate by borrowing the power of the planet's ley lines when the world was threatened.
However, the creators of the Holy Grail system, by downgrading this magecraft, eventually managed to summon a lesser class of beings called 'Servants' through a created framework. These Servants were fixed into seven classes: Saber, Lancer, Archer, Rider, Caster, Assassin, and Berserker.
Theoretically, because duplicates are not allowed, there should only be seven Servants in a single Holy Grail War.
But... that was merely the perfect scenario envisioned by its designers.
Once faced with some resistance or unexpected situations, various changes could easily occur.
For example, during the Third Holy Grail War, the Einzbern family, one of the organizers, cheated egregiously by summoning an irregular class Servant: Avenger.
And this current War, which should have been relatively normal... well, considering that an accursed cup filled with filth, it could hardly be called normal. Someone's whimsical actions had merely added a bit more amusement to this already abnormal Holy Grail War.
"Hmm... What's this?"
Somewhere in Japan, a middle-aged man with sunglasses, looking as imposing as a lion and giving off a fierce vibe, glanced at the back of his hand, which was prickling with pain.
A blood-red, enigmatic magical mark, as if dyed with blood, had appeared.
"Some kind of cursed seal?" Although Kairi Sisigou, a magus, was unfamiliar with this pattern, his excellent magus instincts quickly identified the nature of the mark.
He was initially wary. After all, for someone on a mission, it was hard not to suspect if such a thing was a residual curse or something similar. However, being proficient in necromancy and having honed countless intuitions through battle, he didn't sense any danger from it, so he didn't pay it much mind.
Of course, for any competent magus, allowing such a thing to appear on one's hand and ignoring it would be extremely unwise.
Thus, after quickly cleaning up the scene and reaching a safe house, Sisigou began to investigate the origin of the pattern on his hand.
The result was surprisingly easy to find.
—The Holy Grail War.
For the Clock Tower, it could hardly be called a secret. In the eyes of most Lords, it was considered rather insignificant—just a game cooked up by some backwater magi.
After all, among the Three Founding Families who created the ritual, the only one the Clock Tower might deign to notice was the Einzbern family, and they had very little contact with the outside world.
"Though it's a low-tier secret rite, it's become somewhat interesting recently. After all... that Lord from El-Melloi also participated in it."
"An omnipotent wish-granting device, huh?" Listening to his acquaintance ramble on the other end of the communicator and looking at the information, Sisigou, smoking a cigarette, felt a slight flicker of interest.
"Hey, hey, you don't actually believe that stuff, do you? That kind of countryside make-believe?"
"Well, since I've been chosen, there's no harm in checking it out. It can also serve as a vacation of sorts."
"Suit yourself. But let me remind you, that man named Kiritsugu Emiya has been hired by the Einzbern family to participate in this war."
"Oh?!"
Sisigou, who was initially unconcerned, instantly became serious. "That man?"
Although most in the magus world paid little heed to a disgrace like Kiritsugu Emiya and didn't care about his so-called "Magus Killer" title, Sisigou didn't think so. After all, Sisigou was a bounty hunter just like him. Using modern weapons and the like—for people like them, using whatever was most efficient was perfectly reasonable.
Therefore, though they had never met, Sisigou actually quite liked his fellow professional—of course, he had no desire to actually encounter him.
"Scared?"
"Heh heh, I was a little worried, but it doesn't matter anymore."
"In fact, knowing that man is also involved makes me even more interested," Sisigou exhaled a smoke ring and grinned.
Of course—he wasn't a warmonger.
Sisigou was just thinking: for a prestigious magus family like the Einzberns to employ an unsightly stray dog like him to participate in a magical secret rite, didn't that itself speak volumes?
Glancing at the crimson Command Spell on his hand, Sisigou took a deep drag from his cigarette.
"Prepare a catalyst for me."
"Oh my... What is this...?" Leaning against a pillow, a girl with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a delicate face, dressed up like a doll, had only one thing one might complain about: despite being a beautiful girl, she looked exceptionally 'listless'... Well, not exactly listless, but her appearance and aura were hard to disconnect from the 'otaku culture' popular in modern Japan.
Without a doubt—this was a good-for-nothing otaku girl!
But it couldn't be helped, really. After all... those things were all so boring, weren't they? Due to her extremely special origins, most things in the world failed to arouse her interest. In that case, she could only rely on such things to pass the time, right?
However...
"The Holy Grail War?" Blinking her bright, deep eyes that seemed like bottomless pits, the girl, who understood at a glance what the mark on the back of her hand was, suddenly perked up after a little investigation.
She sat up abruptly, like a duck, her eyes shining with excitement:
"This seems... very interesting!"
Of course, the so-called Holy Grail War was actually quite boring. After all, all that fighting and killing, just to explore the Root or something... what was so good about such a tedious thing?
But, for her, who explored everything, the unknown was the most captivating.
Subconsciously, she wanted to see how the story would develop and end.
But...
She couldn't see it, couldn't see it at all!
What was originally clear and uninteresting was now shrouded in a white mist... This kind of thing, how could anyone refuse it!
It's decided!
She had to participate, absolutely had to participate!
Similar scenes were unfolding in various parts of the world.
An alchemist who controlled alchemical chimeras—or rather, more accurately, his chimera.
At the moment of the magus's mad laughter, a beast he had created by sacrificing his own daughter and infusing various precious magical materials, a terminal chimera beast with combat power nearing that of a Phantasmal Beast.
On the chimera's beastly paw, a crimson mark slowly emerged, glowing faintly.
"What happened?"
The magus, noticing this anomaly, was somewhat surprised and also uneasy—for a magus, unexpected changes during a ritual were hardly good news.
If this experiment, into which he had poured everything, failed, it would be the worst possible super bad news.
After all, the result before him.
A mana supply reaching the level of a magical core, Phantasmal Beast magical materials, and... his own exceptionally talented daughter, upon whom he had lavished countless 'love' and spent a great deal of time meticulously cultivating.
To complete this achievement, he had practically bankrupted himself—of course, before the experiment, he had already conducted theoretical verification with countless experimental materials. The worst outcome among them was merely losing that time-consuming daughter. As long as the magical core and other materials weren't lost too heavily, they could still be salvaged.
But—
Along with the faint glimmer, he could feel it.
A large amount of magical energy was being extracted, but it wasn't entering 'Nina' as he had imagined. Instead, it seemed to be used for something else.
"Did the experiment go wrong..."
The magus, sensing a problem, was displeased and sighed, glancing at the experiment log in his hand—it seemed he needed to start over... This material could probably still be salvaged. Later... maybe try adding the power of a Dead Apostle.
...No!
Something seems to be approaching!
Sensing the traps in his workshop being triggered, his expression changed slightly. However, before he could think further—under the dim light, blood splattered on the wall.
With the trembling of the earth, this experimental workshop disappeared forever. In its place stood a graceful figure on the cliff, gently stroking the chimera—a being as beautiful as a deity, with long, flowing green hair, her bare feet touching the soil, able to feel the vibrant life of all things.
The forest flourished because of her, the earth pulsed with life.
Similar anomalies also appeared one after another in the Tohsaka household, which had temporarily relocated to a neighboring city to avoid the Holy Grail War, and...
"Ooooh!"
Dressed exquisitely like a doll, looking small and cute, but with an unsettling demonic glint in her eyes, a young girl excitedly looked at the crimson mark on the back of her hand and jumped for joy.
"Command Spells! They're actually Command Spells!"
"So happy! I thought I wouldn't be able to participate in this fun game anymore!"
Originally, she had sensed the aura of her old friend and wanted to come retrieve her belongings—but well, since she was already here, it definitely wouldn't be that simple.
With her personality, encountering something as interesting as the Holy Grail War, how could she not come looking for some fun?
However, what made her rather helpless was that—one of the Three Founding Families of this Holy Grail War, a certain undying old magus stationed in Fuyuki, was utterly unreasonable. He wouldn't let her in no matter what, and even beat her up.
Miss François was quite troubled by this. After all, from a magus's perspective, her compatibility with that old maggot was extremely poor.
Illusions were practically useless against his disgusting insect magecraft.
But now...
"Hehehe, do you still have any reason to stop me?" Stepping onto Fuyuki's soil, sensing the approaching magical energy, the girl swaggered, excitedly showing off the Command Spell on the back of her hand.
Matou Zouken—an old, decaying thing who had forgotten even his ideals, leaving only a pathetic desire to reincarnate by any means, even by becoming insects, in an attempt to live forever. As a member of the Three Founding Families, he had the duty to guard this land and prevent outside magi from approaching.
Especially troublemakers like this one.
Although he had absolutely no so-called pride, and he didn't hold much expectation for his useless descendant in this Holy Grail War, allowing this fellow, whose depravity surpassed even his own, to interfere in the Holy Grail War was something he, as an organizer, absolutely could not permit.
For this reason, no matter how many times she came, he didn't mind letting her enter upright and fly out horizontally.
However, this time, Zouken was indeed surprised.
He had thought she had found some new backing, and he had scoffed at it—but...
"To think the Command Spells would choose someone with such twisted tastes as you."
Zouken looked at the Command Spell, somewhat astonished.
It wasn't that Command Spells wouldn't choose scoundrels, but... this person before him...
Never mind, character was meaningless. What mattered was that Zouken, as an organizer, knew that all seven Masters had already been chosen. This was a sort of privilege he had as one of the designers of the Command Spell system.
But... if all seven Command Spells had already been created, where did the one on her hand come from?
A fake?
It wasn't impossible to fake Command Spells. For magi with profound magical skills, these things were merely an application of highly condensed magecraft. They could be used after spending some time on them.
—Of course, such a thing was meaningless in front of Zouken. After all, this old fellow named Matou Zouken, whose original name was Makiri, was one of the three creators of the Holy Grail system, and he had also designed the Command Spell system.
Even if it were an identical Command Spell, he could tell if there was a problem.
But the one on that old hag's hand.
Undoubtedly, it was indeed a Command Spell. Zouken could even feel its connection to the Holy Grail system.
However... what he found rather strange was...
This was clearly a genuine Command Spell, yet... it had hardly any magical energy.
A genuine Command Spell should be a highly condensed magical energy imprint, so much so that it could be used to issue compulsory orders to Servants, replenish their magical energy, enhance their magical energy, and various other functions—because it was very strong and useful, sometimes even becoming a decisive factor, it required a large amount of magical energy to condense.
The ones used by the Holy Grail system were the ley line magical energy accumulated by the Grail.
But this one before him... it was almost as if someone thought, 'This is so troublesome. It's not like I'm using it anyway. Whoever wants to use this thing can just infuse the magical energy themselves,' and thus casually created this DIY version.
"Where did this come from?"
He didn't believe that this old hag before him could create such a system project with Command Spell magecraft skills no less than his own.
"None of your business!"
"Just tell me if you'll let me in or not!"
Miss Flies-Sideways swaggered.
Then, she saw the person opposite her smile.
The next moment—
She successfully flew out horizontally!
"You just wait! I'll make you fly out later too!"
As if sensing this abnormal Holy Grail War.
Far away in France, at a church academy in Orleans, a 'Golden Jeanne' peeked out.