Chapter 1.

Narrator: Koyomi Araragi

Servant:?

Day: 0

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I suppose it is time to talk about fate. "Destiny" and "Fate" are interchangeable terms, however, many people perceive and use them as though they were different. The easiest way to remember it would be that the term "destiny" is often used in a positive connotation, yet "fate" is often used in a negative way—especially when used in the past tense.

Something that is destined is something like a gift on Christmas Eve, or some kind of role that is meant only for you—while something that is fated is like a deadline for publishing your newest book or the amount of time before execution.

What got my mind thinking about this trivial difference?

I, Araragi Koyomi, do not know either—however, when I woke up on this grassy field, staring at the stars, in another world—I almost felt that it was somehow, indescribably, destined to be.

What happened just up to me laying on that grassy field?

It all started when I went on a date with Sejougahara Hitagi. Yes, my loving, sweet, and incredibly dangerous girlfriend had invited me out on a date on her birthday just like last year.

I was shocked.

Not because she had invited me on the date to begin with, but rather that she would pick the same spot we sat in last year, and that we went during the day to have a picnic—an activity I never thought I would see the entity known as Senjougahara Hitagi ever have so much fun doing.

"Open up wide, Koyoko."

She was attempting to feed me like I was her child. I flinched back at the ludicrous amounts of sweetness she was trying infect me with, using nothing but a fork and chopped-up sandwiches.

"What is up with this situation?"

I wondered in astonishment as I happily take a bite.

"What's with the pampering, waga aruji-sama (Master)?"

Inside my shadow, I hear Shinobu, bored, curious as to why I am being fed sandwiches as if all my bones were crushed. While I do not necessarily have the answer to that question, I suppose it is better than running food through my veins through one of those fancy IVs after getting paralyzed by an acidic girlfriend capable of 5 degree burn.

"Master, would it not be better to eat the sandwich like a normal human? Lest I remember—and I should know as we share the same nervous system—you are but 1/8th vampire now and at your maximum mobility. You need not worry about health nor should you worry about fitting in with human society by pretending to eat human food that tastes like cardboard."

"How come I feel like you're referencing a completely different series?"

"Hm, what was that, Koyokoyo?" Hitagi intervenes the conversation I am having with myself.

Hm?

Did you just add another "yo"?

"I did nothing of the sort, Yokoyoko."

Now you just changed the entire nickname!

"At any rate, Hitagi—what's with the picnic and being baby-fed sandwiches?"

"Isn't that how couples usually go on dates?"

"Where the hell did you get that from?!"

"I heard it from Mayoi."

"That's a lost cause!"

I scratched my head before I realized something crucial.

"Wait, Hitagi. You can see Hachikuji?"

Not only did she say she saw Mayoi Hachikuji, but she said she talked with her and even called her "Mayoi" just now. The shock of that thought—suddenly made me cough up a storm.

"Are you okay, omae-sama (Master)?!"

It felt as if my lungs were being ripped apart—and when I opened my eyes, I found my hands stained with blood. I felt Shinobu materializing from my shadow as I look up at Hitagi Senjougahara—rather, who was in front of me was not Hitagi Senjougahara.

It was an entity that knew how to trick me into thinking it was Hitagi Senjougahara.

It was a fake.

But who is the faker?

"It seems the sandwiches were laced with some kind of poison!" Shinobu exclaimed as she sucks my blood to rid of the poison—simultaneously giving her power to transform into a teenager. "Reveal thyself, villain!"

Shinobu points the kokoro-watari sword at the faker.

"I'm sorry, Koyomin. I knew you were never going to agree to this through normal means, but this is a rare opportunity. I infected you with a type of magic spell that can only be distributed without harm by ingesting it in small portions—and it will send you to another world."

At that moment—I felt a dizziness unlike ever experienced before. I felt my bones cracking and my muscles tearing as I experience the immense pressure of interdimensional travel, not through that of a portal, like when Shinobu and I traveled back through time, but rather by turning myself inside out.

Thankfully, if I weren't at least 1/8th vampire, I think I would have been consumed by the immense pain.

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I woke up in Japan. But this was not the Japan I knew.

This wasn't even the suburban town I lived in, no, this was a city I had never seen or heard of before in my life.

"Fu… yuki, city?"

Fuyuki City. The city was literally covered in ice—and it was no ordinary winter cold, as soon as I woke up, I was blasted with temperatures so cold, a vampire can feel it.

A vampire.

I don't sense Shinobu in my shadow—I believe our contract has been temporarily broken, like during that time the darkness was chasing after Hachikuji.

If this keeps up, I will become a normal human with no aberrant blood running through my veins—however, when Shinobu drinks my blood, both of us get power-ups.

I become more of a vampire, while Shinobu returns closer to her original form, Kiss-Shot Acerola-orion Heart-under-blade. In which case, having regained at least half of my vampiric abilities—if even that much, I should last for a week at most before fully-reverting back to a human.

Did Gaen Izuko also plan this far ahead?

The woman who proclaims to know everything—the woman cursed with knowledge.

I don't know why she tried to deceive me, but knowing her, there had to be a good reason. I wouldn't be alive if it weren't for her deception. The question for now isn't why—rather, for what reason am I being summoned here into a parallel universe?

Another world; isekai.

What is my purpose for being here and how should I act next?

The city is desolate. There seems not to be a single person living here, despite it being a city. Not only that, but there isn't a single thing lurking under any streetlight, working or not.

I realized that I was literally alone in this city, separate from my friends, separate from my girlfriend, and separate from my trusted partner. For the first time since before I met Kiss-shot Acerola-orion Heart-under-blade, I'd never felt more alone. Having it taken away so suddenly felt like a hole had been blown through my chest.

It feels lonely and cold, I wish Mayoi would show me the way back home.

"Are you a master, boy?"

I turn around to see a man with a long red lance inquiring something of me.

"Well, I suppose you would be, wouldn't you? No one in this city right now isn't participating in the war."

Huh?

"War?"

The man with the lance looked at me with a confused expression.

"Huh? Do you not know what the Holy Grail War is? Then again, I suppose my master didn't know anything either, until I was summoned. Sorry, kid, but even if you haven't summoned your servant yet, if you aren't around, neither is that servant—which means it's all the easier to win the Holy Grail War. I'm afraid I'm going to have to kill you."

I felt the jolt of imminent death.

I immediately jumped to the side and narrowly avoided the lance coming straight for my chest, instead, breaking through the steel fence behind me like paper mâché.

"That's not bad, kid. Perhaps this could be a little entertaining. At the very least you got good reflexes, but who knows how long your luck will last!"

The lance is swung and thrust, I manage to avoid them by jumping back with vampiric strength. Perhaps this is the only time when lady luck is genuinely on my side, but I doubt I'll be able to survive if I get hit by that lance.

This is a bad time to be apart from Shinobu. Not only could she provide me with backup, but she also has the kokoro-watari. She pulled the sword out before I was transported, but both she and by extension the sword, aren't with me now—I have no choice but to either try and fail to match his power or evade and retreat.

"What's the matter? A low-tier magus, perhaps? That would explain why you would avoid my lance and do nothing back. I might be forced to use my Noble Phantasm if you're gonna be stingy."

What is he even talking about? I need to find a way to get out of here and contact Gaen before it's too late. I don't know what my objective is, nor do I know what is going on around me in a world I very apparently know nothing about.

Any idiot or genius alike could see that that's a recipe for disaster.

But there's nowhere to run where he can't follow me. If I had full access to my vampiric abilities, I could easily visualize the power I need and create it—morphing and contorting my body and unleashing a deadly fury.

Needless to reiterate, that is not possible in my current state. If I concentrate hard enough, I could probably make my skin as hard as steel, but considering the lance ripped through that steel fence like it was nothing is probably an indicator that such is useless.

That said, it should only be his lance that is crazy powerful, and if I can get around that somehow, I should be able to land a devastating strike against him.

But I don't know his power-level—his reflexes, his skill. Me getting away earlier may have just been a fluke and it looks like he has something else up his sleeve if I give him enough trouble. The best mode of attack right now is to keep my distance—rather, get away!

The lance is thrown across the intersection as if it were aimed at Xerxes. I narrowly dodge, but soon find myself grappled from behind by the man.

"Quit struggling!"

This is my chance!

My hand turns into steel—I just manage to cut his stomach before he jumps away and back to his lance.

"Shouldn't have let my guard down against you! I don't know if I'm excited now or pissed off—well done, boy. Looks like you're really something else—although you're definitely not a servant. Let's make this an honorable fight to the death!"

He picks up his lance and jumps at me and strikes—

I'm going to die.

He's aiming at my head.

I'm going to die!

—I pulled out a single blade from the very roots of my nerves and deflected his lance.

The kokoro-watari.

The sword that should not be here—I was holding in my hands. If I had used this sword correctly, I could have sliced through the lance and the lancer, but my poor technique, impeded further by the impromptus of revealing the sword.

No, this is not "the" kokoro-watari. This is not the same blade that Shinobu pointed at Gaen Izuko before I was brutally transported into this world.

This was the same blade that killed me before college-entrance exams.

The copy of the kokoro-watari that Gaen Izuko made out of Seishirou's armor last year after departing with Hachikuji.

"You're just full of surprises, boy!"

Not giving me time to respond, the man thrust his lance only to be deflected again by my blade. Thank you Gaen-san—with this, I can win!

I run in with the kokoro-watari—the aberration slayers' finest weapon—something that can cut through the very soul of an aberration without ever touching the human it may be attached to.

But in this world, in this city, it seems to have no such advantage—no matter how powerful my strikes, it seems to have no effect on his lance.

I finally opened my mouth after staying silent in front of the enemy—it is not like me not to talk but I believe the situation called for it. (Also, it doesn't help that I have none of the members of my harem to talk to at the moment.)

"Who are you?"

A single question, I asked.

"Me? I can't tell you my full name—but my Servant class is Lancer, just call me that."

"Servant?" Like a thrall?

"I'm not here to make conversation—ready your sword!"

I ready my sword.

All I need to know is whether I can strike him or not using this sword—whether this sword has any effect on his body. Huh? His wound has healed already… it might be possible his body is similar to an aberration.

Lancer starts swinging and thrusting his lance at me again, this time, as I deflect all of his strikes—I aim for his fingers.

"AGGGHHHH!" Lancer cried out. I managed to cut just a single pinky—but it seemed effective enough to warrant such a blood-curdling cry. "What the fuck is that sword—it cut right through my magical energy without any sort of resistance! Sorry for my overreacting, but now this is really getting interesting! …Unfortunately, my master is telling me to get this over with, so I can't exchange blades with you anymore. It was nice knowing you, kid. I would ask your name, but there's no real use—you'll be dead in a second, anyways."

His red lance glows—the space around me becomes frozen in time. Not so much as a breath can be taken—my brain stopped working entirely.

Magical energy swirls around that lance at immense rates.

I do not even have a moment to realize that I'm utterly dead.

"GAE BOLG!"

The lance pierces my heart.

I'm going to die, again, rather, this time I'm dead before I even realized it. I've died before—I died when I gave my life to Kiss-shot Acerola-orion Heart-under-blade. Since then, she's saved me from all sorts of deaths—my body being ripped to shreds and everything. I also died when Gaen killed me with the fake kokoro-watari.

The first time, I came back as a vampire, the second, I came back as a human.

The lance is pulled out—I fall to the floor.

There's no way it could all end like this. There's seriously something wrong with how the world works if I just die here. Is that narcissism or is that experience or strong will? Or is even this feeling ultimately a fake one—I can't tell.

All I know is that I need to climb up—stabbing the sword into the ground to use it as a perch. Bleeding out quicker than my mind can think, but there was something I can hold onto pretty well.

"Hah! My heart wasn't beating anyways, Lancer!" I yell.

At that moment—as if space itself had warped around me—a man who was not anywhere in the vicinity before, was standing right in front of me. The man in red, with white hair and dark-toned skin, turned around to face me.

"Servant class, Archer. Are you my master?"

The man asks with a stern gaze.

Huh?

I feel a burning sensation on my left hand—three marks that looks and feels like they were carved into my flesh appear there.

"It would appear so." Archer continued. "Master, I am at your service. Command me as such—do you wish for me to slay the enemy in front of you?"

It didn't even take me a moment to figure out what was going on—it was as if the pieces I was fed up till now has finally fit into place. It seems like I share some sort of contract with this man, much like the contract I share with Shinobu. These marks seem to be proof of that. I don't know how or why I summoned him, but I could also tell that there was no time to think about such things.

I don't know what types of aberrations these guys are—but I'm not going to lose now.

I have people waiting for me back at home.

"It seems like you've finally summoned your servant, boy." Lancer commented. "That's 7 servants now—the Holy Grail War has now officially begun. Too bad I couldn't finish you off beforehand—but you even survived my Noble Phantasm?!"

"Master. What was the name of his Noble Phantasm? The name of the lance that pierced your heart."

I believe he said "Gae Bolg."

"I see." Two blades, one black and one white appear in Archer's hands. Pointing them at Lancer, "So you are the Hound of Ireland, Cú Chulainn—that is your true name."

"Tch."

The Hound of Ireland. I heard bits and pieces about him as I worked my ways up through middle school. A mythological Celtic hero that killed King Chulainn's guard dog in self-defense then offered to take its place, when he was still just a boy.

This guy is him?

What is going on here? This reminds me of the first day I found out vampires existed—that those creatures only spoken about in western myth exist—now actual people from myths are attacking me?

Did I summon someone from a myth?

"Not exactly, but that is something that should be discussed another time, Master."

Did he just respond to me in my head?!

"We can communicate like this for now, Master." I realized he was speaking to me without moving his lips. "Your magic circuits seem to be very strong. With this, we can win tenfold." To Lancer. "Surrender yourself."

"As if."

The two of them ready their weapons a good 10 meters apart from each other—then instantly engage with each other at the speed of sound. The man in blue with the red lance and the man in red with the black and white swords clash, while I'm struggling to stay up and heal my wounds. The two warriors are equally matched—no matter what attack either one comes up with, it is followed directly by a counterattack.

That is, until Lancer jumps back and away.

"My master is telling me to come back, sorry, fellas. See ya later!"

He jumps away, out of sight.

"Master, your orders? I would recommend following him, but you seem seriously injured. We should get some place to rest immediately."

"That sounds good… Preferably someplace not so cold."

Then, everything went black.

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Narrator: Koyomi Araragi

Servant: Archer [WISE UP!]

Day: 1

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I wake up on a grassy field—it is warm, even though the sun is not out.

Yes—this must be fate, I thought. Even after everything I've done to save myself—I couldn't shake the idea that this may be the punishment I am given. For what—even though the reason has faded, the thought just came up. No, there was never a reason to begin with.

Right next to me, there is the man I summoned last night, Archer, who is guarding me since we're out in the open.

"You're up early, Master. By the way, I don't think I ever got your name?"

"Araragi Koyomi."

"That's an interesting name."

"People tell me that a lot—where are we?"

"Can't you tell, we're in a grassy field? To be more specific, we are just outside of Fuyuki City. If you're wondering why I took you here instead of there, its because of that Berserker that was tailing us. If I didn't get away as far as I can, quick enough, we would have been dead meat. Thankfully, the master commanding that ruthless warrior was a bit of a numbskull, so I was able to get away."

"Berserker?"

Just what is going on?

"The Holy Grail War has seven masters and seven servants, we are as such. You are my master and I am your servant, together, we compete for the Holy Grail to grant our wish. Not that I necessarily have one to be granted. The classes are as such: Saber, specializing in swords; Archer, specializing in bows and ranged combat; Lancer, specializing in lances and spears; Caster, specializing in mage craft or sorcery; Rider, specializing in mobility; Berserker, sacrificing brains for brawn; and Assassin, stealthily taking out their targets."

"So you're an Archer? But how come you were fighting with swords?"

"I use projection magic to fight, primarily. And I can project swords and arrows alike, but mostly, I would use swords as arrows."

"Projection Magic?"

"Oi, do you know anything? It seems like you were summoned from a different world entirely. I've never seen a guy like you—you seem to be some sort of vampire, but at the same time, you are not a true ancestor nor a dead apostle. Though it appears you are somewhat similar."

All I could do was stay silent—still. After everything that happened to me, you would think I have no problem dealing with stuff like this, but I am admittedly shell-shocked, like a 13-year-old boy going up to a famous actor or model and trying to grasp the different worlds they live in.

I am out of my environment.

"In more ways than one, or twenty for that matter."

"Why is that?"

"You haven't noticed yet?" Archer points to the horizon. "Look at the city as the sun rises."

I couldn't believe it—it was winter yesterday, snow was on the ground at places I walked and there certainly weren't any trees that had leaves or cherry blossoms on them. The air is warm—it's like spring all over again, even though I experienced both summer and winter all in the same day.

One thing was made incredibly clear.

"You are not on Earth, either."