[Contestant Rin Tohsaka has successfully defeated her younger sister and secured third place! With less than an hour left before the end of the preliminaries, fewer than ten contestants remain. Barring any surprises, the rankings are unlikely to shift much. Let us congratulate the four finalists in advance for earning their tickets to the finals!]
Sakura Matou was sent flying, the star-shaped score markers scattering across the ground.
Rin Tohsaka hurried over to help her up. Since this wasn't a Shadow Duel, Sakura was only momentarily weakened—no real harm done.
"I still couldn't beat you, Sis."Sakura smiled at Rin. Having lost, she wasn't about to brood over it. Competing with Illyasviel was out of her reach anyway—truth be told, maybe it had never been a fair match to begin with.
"Congratulations, Sis. One step closer to victory. Just don't lose when you face Illyasviel next, okay? I'll be cheering you on."
"I'm going to win!"Rin declared her intention with full confidence."I'm taking my Servant back and claiming the Holy Grail along with him!"
"The Holy Grail, huh… Since things have come this far, Sis, you should probably learn the truth about it."
Now that Rin no longer held any prejudice toward Caster, Sakura figured it was time she knew certain things.
"Let's talk more when we get back."
-
At the Emiya Residence, which had all but become their temporary base of operations—
"So basically, because the Einzbern family violated the rules during the Third Holy Grail War, the Grail was tainted. It's lost the mechanism to grant wishes properly, and now interprets them maliciously instead?"
Rin quickly grasped the core of what Sakura was explaining, much of which aligned with what Tokiomi Tohsaka had told her before.
"Then, ten years ago—in the timeline where you met Caster—how did the wish to resurrect everyone get granted?"
"Because a Beast appeared. It absorbed the taint of All the World's Evils. When Caster won a Shadow Game, the Beast and that evil were both wiped out by the system's rules."
"A Beast? Seriously, how many ridiculous extra classes does the Heroic Spirit system even have?"
Rin brushed aside that unanswerable question.
"So if we want our Grail here to function properly, we'd also need a vessel to contain All the World's Evils, then defeat it through a Shadow Game?"
Her gaze shifted toward Archer.
"If Sakura knows this much, then you—who tried to use the Grail to power up Caster's Noble Phantasm—must've known too. That's why you were so eager to find a Master…"
"So, Archer—you chose me as your Master because you want me to be the vessel for All the World's Evils?"
Rin sprang to her feet, hurling a magical bullet straight at Archer.
"You bastard! You double-crossing traitor! I'm putting an end to this disaster right now!"
Archer recognized that Rin simply needed to vent, so he projected twin swords and shattered her spell midair, trying to calm her.
"Rin, you're the strongest Master in this Holy Grail War. That makes you the most suitable vessel! It's a talent no one else has—you're the only one who can do this!"
"Oh, so now you're trying to flatter me again? You really are good at buttering girls up, aren't you?"
Rin, having been tricked once before, wasn't falling for it again. She fired several more shots at Archer.
"If this plan of yours actually works out, what happens to me then? Am I still Rin Tohsaka, or do I become Angra Mainyu? Do I live? Do I die? Want me to make you kill yourself right here and now?!"
The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. The force of her spells blew the door off its hinges.
"Rin, take it easy."
Shirou Emiya intervened—not to defend Archer, but to protect the integrity of his house. If this kept up, his modest savings would go up in smoke.
"You're the same person, right? Didn't you say you wanted to kill your past self? Forget the Grail, I'll help you do that right now!"
Rin raised a gemstone threateningly, though she had no real intention of harming Shirou.
Archer, however, wasn't willing to take that risk. He swiftly grabbed Shirou by the collar and carried him out of Rin's blast radius.
"Sorry, I can't step down just yet. This is the closest we've ever come to realizing true peace. You have to believe in Caster's Noble Phantasm—paired with Shadow Games, it can accomplish the impossible. Once this is all over, you can kill me if you want."
"Why is it me you're volunteering for punishment?"
Shirou elbowed Archer, only for it to be effortlessly blocked.
"You're the one who got us into this mess. Why am I getting dragged into it?"
"Is it really just my mess? I've tested this: even indirect harm is traceable under the system's rules."
Archer gave his past self a strange little smile. Having regained his memories of this time period, he knew himself all too well.
"Remember the fire ten years ago? That was the result of someone destroying the Holy Grail and unleashing All the World's Evils. But if Caster's Noble Phantasm had applied to everyone back then, then under the rules, the initial contact that caused harm would've been nullified—even without mutual consent. That disaster never would've happened."
Shirou had watched enough of the livestreams to grasp the rough mechanics of Jiang You's Noble Phantasm. He knew Archer was telling the truth. Rin had also explained some of the Magus Association's rules to him.
"But covering the whole world with a Noble Phantasm? That sounds impossible. And would the Association even allow it? The conflict of interest could get a lot of people killed."
"They've already agreed."
Bazett had said so in front of Archer. Their biggest obstacle was already out of the way.
"Even if they hadn't, I'd still do it. Whether it's magecraft or firearms, they're just tools for killing. The world wouldn't miss them. And it's not like the kind of magecraft that improves daily life is being shared with the masses anyway."
"All right, I'll help you."
The moment Shirou realized the tragedy from ten years ago might never repeat, he was already convinced.
Rin sighed. She knew the moment Shirou heard the words hero of justice, his thinking would narrow to a single track, making him easy to sway.
"I knew it would come to this. So, are you going to use me as the vessel?"
"No. I meant I'll be the vessel. Look—I have magic circuits too. You once said I had the makings of a first-rate mage, right?"
Shirou's eyes were filled with resolve. For the sake of world peace, he was ready to give up his own life.
"Even if it means losing myself completely—it's worth it!"