"Kiritsugu!"
As the person who knew her husband best, Irisviel instantly understood what [Illya] meant, blurting out the name without a second thought.
She knew that her husband was not someone who cared about appearances—as long as he could achieve victory and his goals, the man named Kiritsugu Emiya would resort to any means necessary.
Therefore, knowing that the Rider's Noble Phantasm had a True Name Sealing effect, she was certain that, given Kiritsugu's personality, he would never agree to let Saber attend the banquet.
And on this point, they were bound to clash!
Indeed, that was precisely the case.
At that moment, Saber was glaring furiously at Kiritsugu, who remained expressionless, calmly puffing on his cigarette as he reiterated his stance. "Saber, you cannot go to the banquet."
A Noble Phantasm was a Servant's greatest trump card. If, as the other Servant claimed, the temple had a True Name Sealing effect, then with his cautious nature, he would not allow his Servant to take such a risk—especially not to attend some "banquet."
Of course, even if Ozymandias hadn't mentioned the True Name Sealing, Kiritsugu still wouldn't have allowed Saber to barge into another Servant's Noble Phantasm without understanding the situation fully.
Because that's the kind of man he was.
There was no need to take unnecessary risks—face and dignity meant nothing; only victory mattered. It was a ruthlessly efficient philosophy.
Even in the original timeline, Iskandar and Gilgamesh had only caught him off guard with their sudden arrival. If Iskandar hadn't personally come to invite them, Kiritsugu wouldn't have let Saber anywhere near the Three Kings' meeting.
"Kiritsugu! A king would never do such a thing!" Saber retorted, her voice laced with anger.
Just what did this man take kings for?
True Name Sealing was indeed troublesome, but anyone could see that Ozymandias's words were a blatant taunt: I wouldn't stoop to such tactics, but if you cowards are too afraid, then don't bother showing up.
A simple provocation, plain and simple. Yet, her own pathetic Master had actually fallen for it, becoming the very "gutless rat" the Pharaoh had mocked! Even worse, he was dragging her down with him!
Unacceptable! Utterly unacceptable!
She could not accept the idea of her, Artoria Pendragon, not attending the banquet. It was not just an insult to her own dignity, but also a desecration of the memory of the knights who had trusted and followed her.
The title of King Arthur was not hers alone; it was the shared glory of all of Britain during her era.
The same held true, to varying degrees, for the titles of other kings.
Desecrating a king's dignity and honor? You might as well be dead!
"Saber, perhaps that Rider won't resort to such tactics."
"But can you guarantee there won't be any problems?"
"Our goal is to achieve victory and obtain the Holy Grail… Everything else is meaningless." Kiritsugu, uncharacteristically, spoke more than a few words. He usually avoided conversations with Saber, leading to a strained relationship that only Irisviel could mediate. But with Irisviel gone, he was trying to communicate a little better, considering they still had to fight together.
"This is war, not some child's play."
"Risking everything for something as frivolous as a king's dignity is something I will never allow!"
"—Even if I have to use Command Spells."
Kiritsugu's tone was heavy.
Their conversation ended on a sour note.
Likely due to the threat of Command Spells, and for the sake of the bigger picture, Saber reluctantly swallowed her pride and the unpleasant feeling, giving up on arguing further.
She could have defied him. With her Magic Resistance, Kiritsugu would have needed two Command Spells to truly stop her. But Command Spells couldn't be wasted on something like this.
Saber had ultimately succumbed to the insidious whisper of doubt: You wouldn't want to lose the Grail War, would you?
Meanwhile, Illya and Irisviel had arrived at the entrance to the Ramesseum Tentyris, gazing up at the towering structure in awe. "It looked big from far away, but up close it's even more incredible… So this is how magnificent a pyramid is!"
"Yes… It's truly enormous. In terms of sheer size, it surpasses even our family's Einzbern Castle." Irisviel's eyes sparkled.
"Of course. Pyramids are wonders built by entire generations. And that Pharaoh's architectural talent was unparalleled in ancient Egyptian history. Moreover, this pyramid is a combination of his greatest works, essentially a cluster of buildings."
"Summoning a structure of this scale right off the bat… that Pharaoh clearly isn't giving anyone else a chance." [Illya]'s voice over the magical channel was filled with exasperation.
Ramesseum Tentyris—powerful as it was, it consumed an astronomical amount of magical energy. Only a leyline could sustain such a thing. And Ozymandias had unceremoniously commandeered Fuyuki's leyline… The local magi families were probably fuming.
But there wasn't much they could do. The Tohsaka family held control of Fuyuki's leyline, and their current head had been crippled by Kiritsugu.
"Hmph, this thing… is passable, I suppose. Barely fit to be my divine palace."
Unsurprisingly, the voice belonged to a certain useless goddess.
Her attire was… questionable. Even for Ishtar, the level of exposure was pushing it. Thankfully, being anchored to the young Rin limited how far she could go. She arrogantly critiqued the grand temple, feigning indifference, but in reality, she was probably itching to explore it.
After all, for someone from the mud-brick era of Sumerian mythology, even the arrogant Gilgamesh was just a "mud-slinging" city-state king. Even being the Queen of Heaven didn't come with such opulent digs.
Noticing Illya and Irisviel, her expression changed. "Wait. You're from the Einzbern family, aren't you?"
Her tone was far from friendly.
Illya couldn't help but complain over the mental channel, "That lady seems really hostile… I don't know how we offended her!"
"Well… probably because of Kiritsugu. After all, last night he used some pretty underhanded tactics to turn the Tohsaka head into a bigger wreck than even you."
"I seem to have become a strange unit of measurement now…"
At Illya's disgruntled comment, Irisviel sighed. "Well, there's nothing we can do about it. Kiritsugu is representing the Einzbern family, after all."
"That hair and eye color… A typical Einzbern homunculus, I see." It was Aoko Aozaki, who had arrived with Ishtar. She spoke up, "But I wouldn't recommend starting anything here. That good-natured Pharaoh might get upset, considering this is his territory."
"Hmph… I wouldn't lower myself to attacking a mere imitation—but Einzberns, you two are with that man called Kiritsugu Emiya, right?"
"Though I'm reluctant to admit it, that man is the father of the girl I'm possessing. So, since he dared to do such a thing, tell Kiritsugu Emiya this for me:"
"I will settle the score with him."
"My… Kiritsugu seems to have made some unexpected enemies."
"Well, it's not surprising. Given his style, he tends to rub people the wrong way. He's usually quite good at preventing future troubles by eliminating the root of the problem, but if he doesn't do a thorough job, situations like this arise… Besides, Ishtar is a notoriously petty goddess."
"Achoo—I feel like someone's talking bad about me. Do they want to be cursed?!"
Inside the pyramid, following a guide towards the main hall, Ishtar sneezed and grumbled indignantly. Then, noticing a mocking gaze, she angrily confronted Gilgamesh, who had already taken a seat.
"Hah, it was you! Gilgamesh! You were talking bad about me, weren't you?!"
"You idiotic goddess, I only speak the truth openly."
"Openly?! Damn you! It was you, wasn't it? Do you want to be cursed by a god again?!"
"Hmph. In the end, gods only resort to such underhanded methods."
As expected, Gilgamesh and the useless goddess quickly devolved into a shouting match. Enkidu, also present for the spectacle, couldn't resist joining Gilgamesh in mocking Ishtar, further infuriating the goddess, leaving her sputtering in rage but ultimately powerless.
"Honestly… that useless goddess…" Aoko, as Ishtar's Master, sighed, then turned to Illya and Irisviel with a smile. "Ah, sorry about that. What Ishtar said only represents her own opinion. I have no interest in getting involved."
As a magus, she had little desire for the Grail. Of course, to say she had no interest at all would be untrue. The Grail wouldn't choose someone completely apathetic. But her interest was more along the lines of A wish-granting device sounds interesting. I wouldn't refuse it if I could get my hands on it.
As for Ishtar's grudges… Although she was a magus, she wasn't the type to make enemies.
"It's alright…"
Surprisingly, Aoko seemed to hit it off with Irisviel. After being led to their seats, they started chatting amiably.
Illya, unable to join the adult conversation, felt a bit left out.
Until that DIO-esque voice boomed again:
"Hoh. Such a small child participating in this Holy Grail War. It truly surprises me."
"Eh… It's that flamboyant big brother."
Illya's startled exclamation reached Ozymandias's ears, drawing a smirk on his face. He chuckled.
"Big brother… Hmph, quite a bold title. However…"
"Well, seeing as you are a child, I shall pardon your impudence."
"This big brother seems like a pretty nice guy." Feeling a bit of goodwill toward him, Illya commented over the magical channel. With Irisviel chatting with Aoko, [Illya] seemed to be her only conversational partner.
"Well… While he's just as flamboyant as that Gilgamesh, the Pharaoh is rather tolerant of children."
"At least he definitely doesn't have any creepy hobbies like ripping out the hearts of white-haired lolis."
"...Eh?! That guy does that?! How awful!" Illya was startled by the statement and glanced nervously at Gilgamesh, who was still arguing with Ishtar. Perhaps sensing her gaze, Gilgamesh glanced back, causing Illya to shrink back.
That felt… ominous.
The next moment, she felt another gaze upon her.
Looking in that direction, she saw a blonde lolita standing beside a silver-haired, masked girl. Their eyes met.
"Master, that person… keeps staring at me…" Illya had a bad feeling.
"Well, that's the troublesome person I was talking about."
"Try to avoid attracting her attention. If you get entangled with her… you might experience gravity called 'forever.'"
"That sounds heavy… but isn't she after you? Why do I have to be careful…?"
"We're both Illyas, after all… While my 'core' might be more appealing to her, even a useless Illya like you has certain qualities that can attract her attention."
"That's not something to be happy about at all…"
"That helmeted lady who fought Kiritsugu's Servant is here too… I don't see Kiritsugu. Guess he's not coming after all."
"Well, that's just the kind of man he is."
To avoid attracting Manaka Sajyou's attention, Illya tried her best to act normal, exchanging idle chatter with Jiang Qiao through the magical channel. And it was this casual remark that seemed to catch Mordred's attention.
She called out loudly, her voice serious:
"Hey, King of the Sun! Where's Arthur?!"
"Hmph, how would I know?" Having returned to his throne in spirit form, Ozymandias glanced down at Mordred nonchalantly.
"However, if you are the last guest I have invited, then the answer should be quite obvious, wouldn't you say?"
Iskandar sighed, sipping his wine.
Gilgamesh simply scoffed, as if mocking something.
Mordred's face darkened.
And Morgan, who had been expressionless until now, nearly crushed the staff in her hand.