Chapter Three: The First Night

Everything still seemed surreal to Emiya Shirou, from the revelation that Sajyou Ayaka was a Magus, to that of the Holy Grail Wars and the summoning of Servants, to the grim role that his father had allegedly played in the last War. A part of him wanted to deny her words, but her grief and hatred seemed all too real.

"It's unfortunate, but being a hero is a limited-time thing. When you grow up, it becomes hard to call yourself one. I should have realized that earlier."

Kiritsugu's words on that fateful night, under the silver moon, echoed in his mind. Was that what he had meant? A hero of justice was supposed to save everyone, but… Kiritsugu had been forced to kill Ayaka's sister? Why? But it wasn't just that… Ayaka had called his father 'The Magus Killer', practically spitting the epithet at him. How many had his father killed? He knew so little about Kiritsugu's past, but he had never imagined it was something like this. Had Kiritsugu saved Ayaka out of guilt then? After all, it had only been after he found the boy who would become Emiya Shirou that life and joy had returned to Kiritsugu's eyes.

But no matter what his father had done, that didn't change Shirou's promise to him. He would live up to the ideal his father had given him and save everyone, so that no innocent victims would be left behind to grieve for their loved ones as Ayaka had been.

At least it no longer seemed like she was ready to kill him. After he had unwittingly used what she called a 'Command Spell' to compel his Servant, who had since introduced herself as Saber, to not harm Ayaka, she had asked that her Servant, Caster, similarly refrain from violence against him for the time being. But even if they had worked out a truce, Ayaka still seemed wary of him, and she was obviously terrified by everything that had occurred, a fact that only became more obvious as her rage faded away. She had managed to say that they should head to Kotomine Church but she had pretty much clammed up after that.

In spite of how badly Assassin had beaten him up he felt well enough to walk – his injuries must not have been as severe as he first thought, so he saw no reason to refuse Ayaka's suggestion if Kotomine could explain the rest of this War he'd gotten himself into. Ayaka was also the proper Magus of the two of them, so he deferred to her judgment. She inadvertently made the difference in their abilities clear when he saw her cut a finger on one of the shards of glass his unexpected entrance into the greenhouse had created, and then used the magical energy contained within her blood to repair the hole in less than a minute while Caster was busy examining the Bounded Field that protected her home.

"That's amazing!"

She gave him a funny look, as if she thought he was making fun of her, and after a long moment she spoke. "No it's not. Rin would have managed it in a few seconds."

It took Shirou a moment to understand the significance of what she had just said. "Wait! You're telling me that Tohsaka is a Magus as well?"

"Her family's one of the three that founded the Holy Grail Wars," Ayaka replied wearily. "And she's the Second Owner who presides over Fuyuki. Of course she's a Magus! Anyways, we should get going. Have Saber assume spirit form."

"Unfortunately, I cannot do so," said Saber.

And thus they had to waste a minute grabbing one of Ayaka's extra coats and draping it over Saber, so that passerby would not see her armor underneath.

They hadn't gotten far away from her house when they encountered a familiar and very cross-looking face: Tohsaka Rin. But there was also tall, tanned man with silvery hair a red coat by her side, another Servant, and Shirou could not help but feel that the man was someone he would never be able to get along with. At the same time, Caster materialized at Ayaka's side, which only caused Rin's ire to grow.

"Do you care to explain this to me, Sajyou?" Rin snapped. "For years I hear that you want nothing to do with the Holy Grail War, and now you've gone ahead and summoned a Servant? And why is Emiya here, with his own Servant from the looks of it? Don't tell me that you teamed up with him!"

"I didn't mean… it was an accident… Assassin…" Ayaka stammered while Caster looked on disapprovingly.

"Both of us got caught up in this," Shirou cut in. "I had come over to drop off the papers she missed earlier today and check on how she was doing. When I arrived, the door was broken down and I ran into a Servant who was trying to kill her. We both got thrown into a magic circle and we ended up summoning Servants. Beyond that, I don't know what's going on, so we were heading to the Church to see the Supervisor."

"Hmph. Sajyou, is what Emiya says true?"

"Yes."

"And he managed to summon Saber?" Rin asked incredulously. "Did you know he was a Magus?"

"No. I suspected that he might be due to who his father was, but I had no proof and I was too scared, so I said nothing. I'm sorry, Rin."

"I'm not even really a proper Magus," Shirou continued. "My father just taught me the basics, like how to use my Magic Circuits and Reinforcement, and the only spell I'm really good at is Structural Analysis."

A vein was practically throbbing in Rin's forehead now. "Have you no common sense?! Why would you tell me what Magecraft you're capable of? We're enemies!"

Saber shifted in her stance, prepared to act in an instant, and for a moment both Shirou and Ayaka were convinced that they were going to have to fight Rin and her Servant.

But Rin just crossed her arms and huffed, "Fine! Go see Kotomine! I can't just attack an amateur who doesn't know what he's gotten himself into. And you, Sajyou, I'll let you off this time for the sake of our friendship, but if you're still a Master by tomorrow know that we will no longer be friends! Besides, though I'm sure Archer would prove quite capable, I'm not so reckless to order him to fight two Servants at once, especially when one of them is Saber. Do you understand?"

Ayaka nodded nervously.

"Good! Archer, we're leaving."

"As you wish, Rin."

And then they departed.

"What did she mean by `if you're still a Master by tomorrow'?" Shirou asked.

Ayaka said nothing.

xXx

"Sajyou…" Archer, also known as the Counter Guardian EMIYA, wondered. She was a friend of Rin's, apparently attended Homurahara Academy, and had just been involved in an accidental summoning with his younger self, or at least an alternate version thereof. Yet her name was unfamiliar to him, and while his memories were imperfect, he thought that he could say with confidence that he had never met one with that name before.

Of course, that wasn't the only change. There had been that strange masked man at the school, who was also unknown to him, and he was sure that it had been Lancer whom Emiya Shirou had a run-in with, not Assassin… to say nothing of the fact that the one he remembered as `Lancer' was now Caster.

Well, at least his summoning by Rin was a constant, and she was every bit the prideful yet teasing and easily flustered Magus that he remembered. And of course, there was still Emiya Shirou, no doubt still clinging to that fantasy of becoming a hero. Archer held few illusions that killing Shirou would do anything to erase his own accursed existence as a Counter Guardian, for such a hope seemed only slightly less than futile under the best of circumstances. But at the very least Archer looked forward to venting his frustration on Shirou if the fool remained committed to the ideal that would damn him, given the proper opportunity.

And so he would wait for that opportunity.

xXx

After Rin's departure, Shirou, Saber, Ayaka, and Caster in spirit form at her side began the long walk through Fuyuki's less-developed Miyama Town to the urbanized Shinto across the Mion River, which Kotomine Church laid on the far side of. Ayaka had once again become very quiet and rebuffed further attempts at conversation or otherwise kept her responses brief, and soon Shirou could not help but feel awkward himself.

After about an hour they arrived at Kotomine Church without incident. It wasn't a particularly large building, as Fuyuki only had a small Christian population, but it still had a certain grandeur to it and loomed over its surroundings. Ayaka recalled that before the 4th Holy Grail War it had seemed to be a welcoming structure, back when the pious Kotomine Risei ran it, and she had come there regularly with her family. Indeed, it was where she had first met Tohsaka Rin, who was also attending services there with her family, but they hadn't come to know each other beyond being acquaintances until after the War. Now that it was under Kotomine Kirei's jurisdiction it was a place she preferred to avoid when possible, lest she be forced to spend more time than necessary with him. In contrast, Shirou had never set foot inside of a church, at least not within the ten years that he could remember, and, given that she had said nothing about Kirei's character to him, he was left with his own naïve first impressions.

At last she spoke again, trying to sound authoritative but with a trembling in her voice betraying her true feelings. "This is Kotomine Church. The Supervisor will be waiting inside."

"If you are heading inside Shirou, I shall wait out here," Saber spoke up.

He seemed hesitant for a moment, but nodded. "Okay. Just try not to get into a fight with Caster until I know just what's going on here."

"I shall respect your wishes," she replied. "It would be dishonorable for me to break the truce that you have established. Of course, should Caster do so first I will fight back, and I encourage you to remain on your guard."

"Heh. Don't worry about me," Caster said as he materialized across from Saber. "Though I expect a good fight in the end, I'd be foolish to just rush in against Saber and her Magic Resistance. Plus, it's not wise to anger a lady," he continued, glancing at Ayaka.

"Thank you," she replied. She then took a deep breath, opened the church's doors, and led Shirou inside.

xXx

Meanwhile, in the penthouse that he had bought near the core of Shinto, Atram Galiast was furious.

In spite of using one of his three Command Spells to ensure that she'd get the job done, Assassin had still failed to kill Sajyou Ayaka before she could summon a Servant. What kind of Assassin couldn't kill a young Magus living on her own before a witness arrived? And she even had the gall to report back in a form that she knew would infuriate him further!

For Assassin now looked quite unlike how she appeared at Ayaka's home, no longer wearing black and a skull mask but a short white dress, and while her skin could once blend into the night it was now fair. Indeed, she had affected the appearance of an innocent yet beguiling maiden with bright eyes that matched her hair, though the latter was still cut in a similar style to that of her "Assassin" form. Such was the power of her Shapeshifting skill, to hide her true nature while putting forth a serene façade, and that was why she was known as `Hassan of Serenity'. And one who enjoyed the close company of beautiful women, Atram had to exert all of his discipline as a Magus to keep himself from approaching her, lest he inhale that sweet poison that surrounded her too deeply or touch her and meet instant death. After all, the power of his first Command Spell only prohibited her from deliberately touching him. And now it took his every instinct of self-preservation to keep himself from slapping her in anger, which would also spell his death.

"We could not have foreseen the boy's interference," Assassin soothingly lied, "nor that he was a Magus and a potential Master." Of course the scene she had been ordered to make would draw unwanted attention; only the nature of witness had truly been a surprise to her. "Do not be so hard on yourself, Master."

"According to the survivors of the last War, Sajyou Manaka was a true prodigy of Magecraft! If such gifts manifested in her, who knows what talents might lie dormant in her sister?" Atram snapped. "And even Sajyou Ayaka truly is just an average Magus, she's long been expected to be chosen as a Master. If you had eliminated her, then the Grail would have been forced to choose another, less qualified Master. But it's too late for that now." He paused, gathering his composure and once again reining in the urge to strike her. "You said her Servant was Caster?"

"Yes. And the boy seems to have summoned Saber."

"That's very interesting, Assassin. At least your mission wasn't a total waste. What did he look like?"

"Auburn hair, golden-brown eyes, reasonably well built. He seemed impulsive and used Reinforcement Magecraft to improvise a weapon."

Atram raised an eyebrow at this. "That hardly seems like the behavior of proper Magus. In any case, I do not know of any mages who match that description. But as an unknown and the Master of Saber he merits further investigation. Find out who he is, what his weaknesses are, report your findings to me, and then kill him when an opportunity presents itself. Do not risk a direct confrontation with Saber, and do not fail me again." Confidence reentered his voice. "In the meantime I will be making preparations in my workshop for the day that I challenge the Tohsaka Master or whichever Magus the Einzbern have sent this time. If I can defeat them and claim the Grail my family's prestige will increase immensely in the Association, and with the capital I have put in place here I should be able to secure a decisive advantage."

Assassin allowed herself a smile that looked simply dazzling on her false face. At last, her foolish Master was giving her reasonable orders!

"As you wish, Master."

xXx

"I thought I might be seeing you tonight, Sajyou Ayaka," Kotomine Kirei said as they entered the church, already standing by the altar. "But who is that with you?"

"I'm Emiya Shirou."

The priest's eyes lit up, and his smile grew wider for a moment. "Emiya…" he repeated. "Do you mean to tell me that you are Emiya Kiritsugu's son?"

"I am."

"You wanted each Master to report to you after summoning their Servant, and he didn't know what was going on," Ayaka blurted out. "And he…" Her cheeks flushed and she found it impossible to continue. It was true that Emiya Shirou had probably saved her life by distracting Assassin for a few seconds, but she couldn't quite bring herself to openly admit it, especially in front of Kotomine. Yet she disliked the idea of being indebted to an Emiya, so she had rationalized that establishing a temporary truce with him and guiding him here would help her clear that debt. And if she was honest with herself, she would have come to the Church anyway; unlike Rin she didn't have the courage to simply flout Kirei's directives.

Kirei nodded understandingly, but that only sent a chill down her spine. "I have clearly taught you well, Ayaka. You are to be commended for putting aside your grudge against Emiya Kiritsugu to bring his son here, and you responded to my summons when my other student, Rin, did not. Has she indeed become a Master as well?"

"Yes. She summoned Archer. We crossed paths with her on the way here."

"Thank you."

Then Kotomine's tone turned more severe. "That being said, Ayaka, I am disappointed that you made no mention of Emiya here before now; surely he goes to your school and you suspected that he might be a Magus like his father. If so, you should have promptly informed the Second Owner or myself of this fact."

"I understand," she replied sullenly.

He shook his head. "You curse your fate, Ayaka, but you should rejoice that the Grail has chosen you; with it you can make your dearest wishes come true. And as I told you this morning, you have much to fight for."

He paused. "But I suppose I should instruct the son of the Magus Killer in what his father apparently did not see fit to mention about the Holy Grail Wars first."

Both Ayaka and Shirou stiffened at the sound of the epithet, one in distress as it conjured terrible memories in her mind, and the other as his vision of Emiya Kiritsugu was challenged once again.

Besides just telling Shirou the rules of the War in detail, Kotomine was relentless in impressing upon him the lengths that mages would go to win, lengths that Emiya Kiritsugu had gone to.

"Emiya Kiritsugu committed all of these atrocities for the sake of what he foolishly believed to be a better world," Kirei concluded. "And to that end anything could be sacrificed, be it the lives of countless civilians caught in the crossfire, or those of the Masters who stood in his way, including the young Sajyou Manaka. Yet imagine, Emiya Shirou, what would happen if the Grail were to fall into the hands of a man with even fewer scruples than your father, those motivated purely by their own base interests?"

Shirou's fists were clenched. "I won't allow that to happen. I'll fight, but I won't let anyone die because of this stupid War! And even if my father lost his way like you say, he saved me and what he believed in was right!"

"So what the Sajyou believed in was wrong?" Kotomine asked. "By all accounts, Sajyou Hiroki, Ayaka's father, was a good man as mages go, and from the Grail he sought a path to the Root so that he could gain knowledge and an understanding of the world, a desire he surely shared with his eldest daughter. Of course, such an achievement would have also vastly increased the prestige of the Sajyou within the Mage's Association."

"No, it wasn't," Shirou replied after a moment. "And if someone I can trust ends up winning the Grail I'll be happy for them. There's nothing that the Grail can give me that's worth killing for!"

"Then tell me, Emiya: do you think you can reason with those Masters who are willing to kill all those in their way and sacrifice civilians to achieve their goals? Can you persuade them to surrender or do you have the skill to apprehend them? And what of their Servants? You surely cannot defeat them yourself, and even with Saber they remain formidable foes."

"Are you telling me to kill the other Masters?!"

"That is merely the simplest solution."

"Then I'll find a better one!"

For a long moment, Kotomine's gaze bored into Shirou, and for a moment the young man feared that the priest had seen through his bravado, for in truth he didn't know how he would stop such enemies. Was that why his father had become the Magus Killer and failed to become a hero, because killing was expedient?

But Kotomine did not press the point further. Instead, he simply smiled and said, "In any case, Emiya Shirou, your noble desire to protect others brings with it the base need for there to be a clear evil for you oppose. So you too should rejoice at being chosen to fight as a Master in the Holy Grail Wars."

And then at last Kotomine turned his attention to Ayaka, causing Shirou to feel as if an oppressive weight had been lifted from his shoulder. "And what of you, Sajyou Ayaka? Will you take part as a Master in the Holy Grail War and perhaps bring your late father and sister's dreams to fruition? Or will you throw away the blessing that the Grail has given you?"

For a moment, Ayaka was sure that she was going to refuse, to renounce her rights as a Master. She had never wanted to get caught up in the War. But no, she was tired of running away and living in fear. She would stand her ground and strike back against those who would try to kill her. And she would make sure that nobody unleashed the same sort of horrors from the Grail as someone had ten years ago, even if it meant fighting Rin or Shirou along the way.

"I'll…" she started. The words threatened to get choked in her throat, but she steeled herself and forced them out before she could second-guess herself again. "I will be a Master in the Holy Grail War!"

"Then I declare the 5th Holy Grail War to have officially begun."

xXx

Upon exiting the church, Ayaka and Shirou were both relieved to see that their Servants had kept their word and hadn't started a fight while they spoke to Kotomine, but the air seemed tense between them. Saber remained quiet as she looked over to Shirou for a sign of his decision, leaving Caster to break the silence.

"So you decided that you're going to keep being my Master," he stated.

"Yes," Ayaka confirmed.

"That's good. If you had come out here and severed our pact I probably would have killed you myself. I don't like cowards or those who would trample my pride. I'll admit that I was worried for a bit, but it seems that you're made of sterner stuff than I first gave you credit for, Master. So what are your orders?"

She turned to Shirou. "We should part here. Since I've committed myself to the Holy Grail War, that means we'll have to fight each other eventually, but I'd rather not do so now."

"That may be so, but I meant it when I said that I don't want to kill any Masters, Sajyou. Besides, we'll both have to cross the bridge anyway to get back to Miyama Town. We can stick together until we get there. Besides, it's dangerous for a girl to be walking around the city at this time of night."

"I can take care of myself!" she shot back. While he probably meant well, she didn't want to show any more weakness in front of him now that she had resolved to fight. "I'm a far more capable Magus than you are and I have Caster with me! You should worry more about yourself."

"That's true, but won't it be safer if we go together?"

Why was he so insistent about this?

"Look, Sajyou, I now know that you have every reason to hate what my father did as the Magus Killer. I didn't even know about any of it until tonight… But he still saved me and me taught me the importance of helping others. And before he died, I made a promise to him, to live up to the ideal that he couldn't reach in his stead. So please, let me help you."

"Or maybe you like her, kid."

"What?" Ayaka felt her face turn a deep red at her Servant's impertinent remark. That couldn't be! They were barely more than acquaintances… albeit acquaintances who had both happened to survive the Great Fuyuki Fire and then gotten thrown together into the 5th Holy Grail War. Surely he'd be more interested in a girl like Tohsaka Rin, or that underclassman he seemed friendly with, Matou Sakura (whom she knew to be Rin's biological sister, for the Sajyou had moved to Fuyuki prior to Sakura's adoption, though she never spoke of this as Rin had made it clear that the topic was not to be brought up).

"It's not like that," Shirou affirmed to her relief.

"If you say so," Caster shrugged.

And now she was tired of arguing, so she told Shirou, "Fine. You can come along. Let's get going."

xXx

The trip back through Shinto was uneventful, and both Shirou and Ayaka were quiet. The tension between them had eased somewhat, but they were both still somewhat embarrassed from Caster's antics and ruminating on what had been said inside Kotomine Church

But when they reached the park on the Miyama side of the bridge, where they would have split up, they found that someone was waiting for them, a small girl with pale silvery hair wearing a warm purple coat and hat. She looked harmless at a glance, but Ayaka nonetheless felt gripped by a sudden sense of déjà vu and fear. And when she saw the girl's red eyes, she knew at once what the girl was – an Einzbern homunculus.

"Good evening, brother. And good evening to you too, Sajyou Ayaka. I didn't expect to find both of you together. My name is Illyasviel von Einzbern."

Ayaka's instincts were screaming at her to run, but she couldn't do that. She had committed to being a Master, and with a thought Caster materialized at her side.

"I'm pleased to see that you've both summoned Servants," Ilyasviel continued, sounding genuinely happy. "It wouldn't be much fun if you couldn't fight back. But even so, both of your Servants at once will be no match for Berserker!"

And then it appeared, a hulking figure wielding a massive stone sword, surely capable of cutting them in two (and for a moment Ayaka saw a vivid image of her bisected corpse lying on the pavement in her mind's eye) or even smashing or crushing them with its bare fists. It wore little armor, save for tassets around its waist and what looked like manacles around its wrists and ankles, but its skin seemed quite tough, like it was armor itself. And its wild mane of hair and glowing red eye were testaments to its madness, as was the overwhelming killing intent that radiated from it, somehow held in check for now by Illyasviel.

"Get them, Berserker!"

"_!" Berserker roared.

The monster lunged forward, moving faster than a truck, and for a moment Ayaka thought that it was the end for her and Shirou, but his Servant moved swiftly, meeting Berserker's huge sword with her own invisible blade, straining with all of her might against it.

"Let's go, Master!" Caster urged. "Saber will keep Berserker occupied for a few minutes. Use that time to strike!" And with that he quickly traced the rune Algiz into the air, followed by Ehwaz and a third rune that she didn't recognize, and held out his staff, using it as a Mystic Code to amplify their effects. The runes glowed briefly with power for a moment before fading, and Ayaka felt that power settle upon her, creating a defensive Bounded Field around her person and Reinforcing her body, granting her increased durability and agility.

"It's crude, but I don't have time to fashion some more permanent protection for you now." He turned to leap into the fray. "Just stay clear of Berserker, Master – the Field won't last long against his blows, and while it will soften them, they may still be strong enough to seriously injure or kill you outright if you're unlucky."

And then Caster was off. But he called his Bounded Field and Reinforcement crude? He had accomplished in moments something that would have been a complex task for her, if she could even create a Field remotely of such quality at all, and Rin would probably have to use up some of her precious jewels to make something comparable, which would probably still fall short of Caster's work. It just went to show how much greater the mysteries of old were to the Magecraft of the modern era. As Caster's Master, she could sense that there was Divinity within him, and during the Age of the Gods Magecraft had been even more powerful still, coming close to True Magic. Yet Caster himself seemed to be but a demigod, and from what she knew of the rune-using cultures, their most famous heroes had lived around the twilight of that age or shortly after it had passed.

"_!" Berserker roared again as he saw Caster moving toward him, snapping Ayaka's attention back to the fight at hand.

Right. If she could beat Illyasviel while Saber and Caster kept Berserker occupied, they could pull through this. On her own, she had no doubts that Illyasviel could beat her in a straight fight, but she was protected by Caster, and that gave her hope. And so she darted forward and to the side with supernatural speed, leaving Shirou behind to helplessly look on as the three Heroic Spirits fought, with Saber weaving in and out of Berserker's range as she tried to land a decisive blow, and Caster conjuring a wall of flames and displaying impressive agility as well to deliver some heavy strikes with his staff, though they barely seemed to faze Berserker.

"So you're bringing the fight to me?" Illyasviel asked as she saw Ayaka's approach. "Then let's see how you deal with these!" she shouted, conjuring a pair of silvery bird familars.

Ayaka was ready for a trick like that, and quickly fired a storm of feathers at them. It was a direct hit, shredding one of the familiars and causing it to explode. The other counterattacked, but Ayaka swiftly leapt to the side and then destroyed it with another volley.

"Impressive. I guess I'll have to add some more," Illya said, pulling some more strands of hair from her head and creating four familars.

Now Ayaka found herself hard-pressed, even with Caster's enhancements. With the amount of crossfire coming at her from the familars, she was forced to seek cover. The Bounded Field around her absorbed what would have been several deadly hits, but she knew that it couldn't last forever, and whenever she managed to shoot down one of Illyasviel's familiars her opponent simply made another one almost effortlessly. It was clear that Illyasviel remained on a completely different level than her as a Magus, and that she would eventually wear her defenses down and triumph when Ayaka tired and depleted her prana.

"_!" Berserker bellowed in pain as Saber managed to run him through and Caster followed up by leaping high into the air and crushing Berserker's skull under a strike empowered by his runes. Ayaka couldn't believe it. Had they won?

"You managed to kill Berserker two times?" Illya asked in annoyance. "Well it doesn't matter: my Berserker is Hercules, and he has one life for each of the twelve labors that he performed. Now get back up and kill them, Berserker!"

And already, Berserker was regenerating, the hole in his chest sealing itself and his skull rapidly reforming. And then he was back into the fight, and launched Saber back with a savage blow, causing her to land with enough force to put a small crater into the park's brick path. And now it looked like Shirou was about to do something incredibly stupid, as he moved to put himself between Berserker and Saber. Didn't he realize that he would just get himself killed and that Saber would then disappear shortly thereafter?

But suddenly, a knife flew through the air, seemingly from out of nowhere, heading directly for Illya, only to be shot out of the air by one of her familiars at the last moment. And then there was another, and Berserker immediately returned to Illya's side, protecting her from the attack with his massive body. The Masters could sense killing intent all around them as Illyasviel's attackers moved from the their concealment, white skull masks gleaming in the night.

Assassin?

It had to be Assassin. But there were now dozens of Assassins around them, and none of them looked the same as the one who had tried to kill Ayaka earlier that night. But something else was wrong, for malevolently glowing red veins were etched across their dark figures and their once pristine masks.

Saber was even more dumbfounded than Ayaka and her Master. She recognized these Assassins: they were the same ones that she had encountered during the 4th Holy Grail War. How could they have persisted for ten years? Incarnation? But she too sensed that there was something terribly wrong with them, that the Servants before her had somehow been corrupted and bent to the will of an evil power.

One of the Assassins, a female with long hair, emerged from the group while the others engaged Berserker, forcing him to keep defending Illya, and stepped toward Shirou. But the Assassin did not attack, and began speaking.

"Master of Saber and his ally: retreat now with your Servants if you value your lives. It would displease our Master greatly if you were to die here."