The Second Holy Grail War. She had studied and prepared for it almost her entire life. Even after the loss of both parents in the previous War, her father having been a participating magus, eight years ago, the young woman known as Atosaki Kurokawa never wavered in the belief that she would become a Master, now more than ever to avenge their wrongful deaths and make the wish for peace they died protecting come true.
An answer to her prayers came in the form of a Servant, although exactly how it happened left for her much to be desired. On the cusp of the War's arrival, she did everything necessary to complete a successful ritual. She wanted to summon a Hero who was killed by a woman, that way he would know how scary women like her could be. She hoped this for a single reason reason, for leverage, due to one particularly crippling flaw she had which gave her little else to bank on but influence. Even after all her calculations, precise as they were, the real problem was a factor out of her hands: the Servant himself.
It felt like a branding iron being pressed into the back of her neck. She had officially gained her position as a Master under the Second Degree, Cherubim. The Servant called forth from the magic circle composed of runic symbols was an armored young man with deep-set crimson eyes and blue hair tied back in a long tail. The only thing she understood about him was his voice, which she likened to a deep, aggressive growl.
"You are a Master without sight."
His words were blunt, a statement not a question.
Through blank, unseeing brown eyes she looked at him, through him, past him, and nodded.
Never did she expect to so soon incur his wrath. She had halfheartedly expected to receive a more understanding, sympathetic Servant. The Lancer, proud and headstrong, vehemently refused to recognize her as his Master despite her extensive knowledge of rune magecraft, healing, and even black magic. Feeling she had no other choice, she sealed his Noble Phantasm, a demonic spear called Gáe Bolg, to exert as much control over him as possible.
In retaliation, Lancer decided to steal his Master's most powerful familiars, namely her black hunting dogs, and independently sought out other Masters while they were unprepared. He targeted Ayaka Sajyou, a girl predestined to become a Master in the War, and attempted to kill her in her home before the appearance of her own Servant, Saber. Due to his suppressed powers, Lancer stood little chance against the newly-summoned Saber, his substitute wooden spear broken easily with one blow. It was when he readied a counterattack that his blind Master appeared at the Sajyou residence, having located her rogue Servant with the use of a tracking rune.
"Lancer, with my first Command Spell I order you, never kill anyone unless I allow it."
Even worse for him, she actually had the audacity to apologize profusely and then propose an alliance between herself and Ayaka for the sake of having strength in numbers. She knew full well that six other Master-Servant pairs would prove difficult, if not impossible, for either one of them to defeat. Ayaka reluctantly accepted when Saber seemed willing. Lancer was furious at being forced to side with the very people he wanted to kill, but despite this had no say in the matter, his Master's decision absolute.
Atosaki extended a hand and Ayaka took it. Their pact was sealed, and thus began the Holy Grail War of Tokyo. The players were pieces on a sprawling chessboard, archetypes of black and white, each a prototypical form of their own desires, good or evil. Dark frequencies swelled beneath a surface of tranquility; the heavens turned hollow with the mournful, tolling knell of battle.
The curtain rose upon a stage set for death.