Day 2: Shirou — Blackened Church
Six people sat around the table in Shirou's living room. Sitting to either side of Shirou were the knightly woman and the one-eyed, one-armed man. Across from him was Rin Tohsaka, flanked by a knight in a red coat and the girl who had used a black bow. There was an uneasy tension in the air.
When the female knight had seen Rin and her two companions, she'd looked like she wanted to attack them. However, since she was also distrustful of the one-armed man, it had been pretty clear that a fight would be highly disadvantageous. Shirou had been able to convince her to lower her invisible blade and had gone to talk to Rin. To his surprise, she had formally requested a one-night truce so they could parlay. Dumbstruck, Shirou had agreed. Which brought them to where they were now.
"Emiya." Rin said. "We've been classmates at school for a while; but since I didn't know you were a magus, I never introduced myself properly. Allow me to do so now. I am Rin Tohsaka, heir to the Tohsaka family and supervisor of the Fuyuki territory. Accompanying me at the moment are the Servants I summoned for the Holy Grail War. As they are both of the Archer class, you may call them Red Archer and Black Archer."
Before Shirou could think of a proper response to that overly-formal introduction, the one-eyed, one-armed man spoke up.
Hi, nice to meet you." he said. "My name's Kiyomasa Senji, but people usually just call me Crow."
Rin's mouth fairly dropped open at his casual greeting. The two Archers also both looked slightly surprised, and the female knight fairly bristled at his demeanor.
"You should not give your name so carelessly!" she said. "A Servant's name and their Noble Phantasm are among the most jealously guarded secrets of the Holy Grail War. Even if we are under temporary truce, these Servants will still eventually be enemies."
"Well, yeah, but it'd be confusing for the kid who summoned us if he had to call us both Saber." Crow said. "This way, he can call you Saber and me Crow. You still get to keep your identity secret, while I think mine was pretty obvious from the outset. I mean, if you're talking one-eyed, one-armed swordsmen, it's pretty much just me and Tenge Sazen."
"If it was truly out of consideration for me, then I suppose I should thank you." Saber said, frowning. "However... it disturbs me that I do not recognize your name, nor do I know this 'Tenge Sazen' you speak of."
"Um, pardon me, but..." Shirou said. "Could someone please explain all of this to me? Like, what's all about Masters and Servants and the Holy Grail."
There was silence as the five other people at the table all stared at him.
"You mean you don't know?" Rin asked.
"Um, no." Shirou said.
"You did call me, did you not?" Saber asked. "By performing the summoning ritual over a magic circle with a suitable catalyst?"
"Well, I fell into the circle when the man with the lance attacked me, but I didn't perform any ritual or anything." Shirou said. "And I don't know what you mean by catalyst; but if you're referring to some type of magic artifact, I don't own anything as fancy or valuable as that."
More blank stares. Rin made a sound like she was choking.
"You... you..." she sputtered. "You're a complete amateur! A total know-nothing! And yet somehow, without even a catalyst, you managed to summon two Sabers, the most powerful class of Servant in the Holy Grail War!?"
"If you would just tell me what this Holy Grail War is, I might understand why you think that matters." Shirou said.
Rin sighed and rested her face in her hands.
"Unbelievable." she said. "Well, I guess we have no choice. I can't put it off any longer; we have to go see that shitty fake priest."
Shirou knew well of Kotomine Church, though he'd never been there. The church had cared for many orphans in the aftermath of the devastating fire that had ravaged the city ten years ago, but Shirou had not been among them; he had instead chosen to live as the adopted son of Kiritsugu Emiya, the magus who had saved him. The church itself had been near the center of the fire, and had been almost completely rebuilt afterwards. It was one of only a few buildings in the area to have undergone such reconstruction; much of the surroundings had instead been turned into a commemorative park. It was supposed to memorialize those whose lives had been lost in the fire, but Shirou always found it a dour and gloomy place; as though it symbolized the unspoken truth that people had surrendered to their painful memories by abandoning the area instead of trying to revitalize it.
Rin led Shirou to that tragedy-touched church, saying that the priest there could explain everything. She instructed the Archers and Sabers to wait outside; then brought Shirou in to the church, where they were greeted by the resident priest. He gave them a smile, but Shirou didn't sense any warmth in it. Rin didn't return the smile, instead going straight to the introduction.
"This is Kirie Kotomine, my guardian and magecraft teacher." Rin said. "He's serving as Overseer of this War on behalf of the Holy Church, ensuring that all participating magi follow the rules. He can answer any questions you have — if you can tolerate him long enough to ask them."
"He's a member of the Church... and also a magus?" Shirou said, confused. "And he's your guardian, but also supposed to be neutral? Aren't those contradictions?"
"Man is by nature full of contradiction." the priest said, speaking in a resonant baritone. "It is indeed unusual for a man of Church to become a magus, but certain circumstances led me to become apprenticed to young Rin's father, Tokiomi Tohsaka. When he and his wife unfortunately passed away ten years ago, I received guardianship of Rin and of the Tohsaka estate."
"Nice job you've done managing it, by the way." Rin interjected.
"It is a virtue to live humbly and without excess; and you are far from impoverished." Kotomine said, a slightly reproving tone in his voice. "I any event, with my apprenticeship ended, I returned to the service of the Church. As for my impartiality, let me assure you: I will show Rin no special favor. No one who has been trained as a magus can fail to understand that it is necessary to put one's personal feelings aside for the sake of one's duty."
Shirou felt a strange pang of dislike for the priest. He agreed with what Kotomine was saying, that it was necessary to ignore one's emotions for the sake of doing what was right, but didn't like the way he was saying it. Kotomine said it so easily, it was like the necessity didn't pain him; almost as though he didn't have any such feelings in the first place. Staring into the priest's dark eyes, Shirou wondered exactly what sort of man he was.
"Something unusual's been going on with this War." Rin said, apparently oblivious to the tension Shirou was feeling. "When I summoned my Servant, I received two Archers. And this kid, he got two Sabers. Do you know anything about how one Master might get two Servants of the same class?"
"It is unusual, to be sure, but not entirely without precedent." Kotomine said. "During the Third War, two Edelfelt Masters were chosen — a pair of identical twins. Each summoned a Servant of the Saber class, so there were two Sabers in that War."
"I was aware of that, but that was because of the Ore Scales trait of the Edelfelt bloodline." Rin said, speaking the name 'Edelfelt' with a measure of distaste. "It wouldn't explain us getting two Servants."
"Um... What are these Ore Scales things?" Shirou asked.
"It's a Sorcery Trait that's found in the Edelfelt bloodline." Rin said, as though that explained everything.
"And, uh... what exactly is a Sorcery Trait...?" Shirou had to ask.
"Wow, you really are a half-assed magus if you don't even know that much." Rin said. "Let me put it in simple terms: a Sorcery Trait is a special ability that is passed down through a magus bloodline. The Edelfelt family is one such bloodline, and their trait is Ore Scales. It allows them to have two heirs to their magecraft, whereas in other magi families it is only possible for a single child to inherit the Magic Crest. The point is, their Ore Scales let them get two Servants that one time; but since neither of us have the Ore Scales trait, it can't explain how we ended up with two Servants."
The world of magecraft was far vaster than Shirou had ever imagined. Even though he'd known his father alone wouldn't be able to give him a complete education in magecraft, Shirou had though that he'd at least understood the basics. But it seemed that he had simply lacked the understanding of the depth of his own ignorance.
"I can think of one other precedent for multiple Servants of the same Class." Kotomine said. "During the Fourth War, my own Servant was the Hundred-Faced Hassan-i-Sabbah. His Noble Phantasm, Zabaniya, allowed him to manifest in up to eighty separate bodies."
"But they were all still a part of the same Servant, right?" Rin asked. "We both seem to have summoned two entire separate, unconnected Servants of the same class. There also appear to be two Lancers serving two different Masters, which wouldn't be possible if they were incarnations of a single Servant."
"I see." Kotomine said. "Most troubling. Be assured that I will investigate this matter further in my role as Overseer of the Holy Grail War."
"Oh, one other thing." Rin said. "This guy's been chosen as a Master; but as you've probably already gathered from his questions, he's completely hopeless as a magus and totally clueless about the War. Fill him in on the important details, would you?"
With that, she turned around and began walking towards the door.
"You're leaving?" Shirou asked.
"That damned priest loves the sound of his own voice." Rin said without turning back. "He's probably going to blather on for hours. I already know all of this stuff, so I'm not going to sit and listen to him explain it all over again. Come find me outside when you're done."
She turned and exited the church without a second glance. Kotomine, in turn, didn't even watch her go. Shirou got the feeling that the relationship between the two was a bit complicated. But rather than dwell on that, he turned to the priest and awaited the promised explanation.
"The Holy Grail War." Kotomine intoned deeply, as though speaking God's own name. "I suppose it would be best to start from the beginning. Tell me, what do you know of the goal traditionally sought by magi?"
"To reach Akasha, the Swirl of the Root." Shirou said. "To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what that means, but my father said it was really important to some of the more traditional magi."
"That is correct." Kotomine said. "Akasha is the origin of the Universe. It is the ultimate source of all events and all phenomena; the archive of all past, present, and possible future events. For years beyond counting, magi have striven to open a path that would lead them to the Root. However, because it exists outside of the physical and metaphysical boundaries of the World, no mundane method can ever succeed. And magecraft, for all its dazzling glory, simply reproduces the mundane through arcane methods. To truly reach Akasha requires something that is unto magecraft as the sun's fire is unto the flame of a guttering candle."
Memories surfaced in Shirou's mind of the time when Kiritsugu had first revealed to him that he was a magus. In particular, the distinction he had drawn between magi and Sorcerers...
"You're talking about Sorcery." Shirou said. "The five True Magics, which surpass human ability and approach the level of the gods. Let's see, there's Kaleidoscope, which deals with parallel worlds... Magic Blue, which is something to do with time travel, I think... and, um, I forget the others. I didn't pay much attention since I was told that they were beyond even the greatest magi, let alone a half-baked one like me."
"Impossible?" Kotomine smiled. "Nearly impossible, perhaps. But the difference between 'impossible' and 'nearly impossible' is infinite in breadth; and humans are striving, always striving, to attain that which is forever beyond their grasp. And three hundred years ago, a group of magi came up with a method for reproducing the Third True Magic: that which is known as Heaven's Feel, or the Cup of Heaven."
"The Holy Grail." Shirou said.
"Indeed." Kotomine said. "Though, as a man of the cloth, I must point out that this Sorcery is unrelated to the religious artifact commonly referred to by the same name."
"I understand." Shirou said. "Go on."
"Creating the Holy Grail was a great undertaking, far too big for a single magus family to complete on their own." Kotomine said. "The Einzbern family had struggled alone for generations to fabricate a Holy Grail, but they could not complete the Sorcery: though they could manufacture the Cup of Heaven, they could not produce the contents. The Tohsaka family, from which my young apprentice Rin is descended, had likewise worked for many generations without getting any closer to the Root. And so finally a group of magi, normally so obsessed with keeping their magecraft a secret from outsiders, decided to work together to achieve what none of them could individually. It took seven magi in total, combining their powers and respective areas of expertise, to create the Heaven's Feel: a grand ritual for filling the Cup of Heaven and using its power to unlock the path to Akasha. Together, they were able to arrive at the Third Sorcery."
"They succeeded?" Shirou asked "Then what is the Holy Grail War?"
"They succeeded... in a manner of speaking." Kotomine said, smiling sardonically. "The seven magi produced an omnipotent wish granting machine that could grant any desire, even to reach the Root... but it was only capable of granting one wish. While the more traditional magi families held on to their dream of opening a path to Akasha, many of the other participating families had moved on to desiring more worldly objectives: wealth, power, immortality, the usual such things. Unable to agree on how this once-in-a-lifetime miracle should be used, the magi turned on one another. And that is how the Holy Grail Wars began."
"And they've been going on in secret ever since?" Shirou said.
"Not continuously." Kotomine said. "The Einzbern family can produce as many cups, or 'Lesser Grails', as they wish; however, the Heaven's Feel ritual, or 'Great Grail', can only supply enough power to fill one cup every sixty years or so. The War that you have been selected to participate in as a Master is the Fifth."
"That explains the origin of the War, but I still don't get what it involves." Shirou said. "Like, what's all this Master and Servant stuff I've been hearing about?"
"It is the method by which the Holy Grail chooses who is worthy of possessing it." Kotomine said. "Each time the War begins anew, the Grail selects seven Masters, each of whom summons a Servant to compete in a battle royale. Each Servant is an epic spirit, a legendary soul whose great deeds have allowed them to be enshrined in the Throne of Heroes for all time. Through the Third Sorcery, they are once more granted life and allowed to compete for the chance to have a wish of their own granted by the Grail. When only one Master-Servant team remains, the Grail will descend and they will be able to make their wish."
"So my Sabers are famous heroes from history?" Shirou said. "One introduced himself as Kiyomasa Senji, but I don't recognize that name from any legend. And the other didn't want to tell me her name, since she was afraid her enemies might use it against her..."
"A wise precaution." Kotomine said. "Learning a Servant's true identity is often the first step in figuring out how to defeat it. If you figure out that your opponent is Achilles, then you know to aim for the heel. As for not recognizing the name of a Servant, there are a number of possibilities. Not all Heroic Spirits are equal: in addition to famous heroes of legend, there are also anonymous Counter-Guardians and nameless Wraiths who you may not have heard of. Because the Throne of Heroes exists outside of time, it can even summon heroes from the future who may not even have been born in the current era. In any case, Servants summoned by the Grail receive knowledge about the other souls within the Throne of Heroes; thus, even if you lack the knowledge to identify a particularly obscure Servant, your own Servant should be able to piece the clues together."
"You said that the Holy Grail War is a battle royale." Shirou said. "Does that mean that the winner has to kill the other Masters?"
"Not necessarily." Kotomine said. "The Holy Grail will manifest when only one Servant remains, regardless of how many Masters are left alive. A Master who has lost his Servant, or who has lost the three Command Spells that give him his status as a Master, can drop out of the War and seek sanctuary at the church. I myself did so in the previous War, as the Assassin-class Servant I summoned was the first to be eliminated, and thus survived my loss."
"I see." Shirou said. "So it's only the Servants who fight to the death. That's a relief."
"Not necessarily." Kotomine repeated. "Even if it is not necessary to eliminate enemy Masters, it is often expedient. After all, a Servant cannot last long without a Master, and killing a human is much easier than killing a Heroic Spirit, so the easiest way to defeat a powerful Servant is to kill its Master. Furthermore, just losing one's Servant does not eliminate a Master from the War. It is still possible for them to make a contract with a Servant who has lost their original Master, thus forming a new team. Thus, any Master who does not give up their Command Spells and seek refuge at the church is considered a valid target. That is the nature of this War."
"That's wrong!" Shirou said. "I don't care if it's a wish-granting device or the path to the Root or whatever; nothing's worth people killing each other over!"
"Such a naive outlook will not get you far in this War." Kotomine said. "There are many wishes which people are willing to kill to obtain. When choosing the Masters who have the right to compete for it, the Grail often selects those who have a strong reason to desire it — those who have the will and conviction to do what is necessary to win."
"Then it must have made a mistake in choosing me." Shirou said. "I don't care at all about some stupid Sorcery that grants wishes. I'm certainly not going to kill anyone over it!"
Kotomine shrugged.
"The Holy Grail is required to choose seven Masters, regardless of how many truly suitable contenders are available. It is not unheard of for those without particular ambition for the Grail to be picked simply to round out the full set. It is possible that you were picked simply because you are a magus."
"But there must be tons of magi in the world more qualified than me." Shirou asked. "I'm not really a true magus. I don't even have a Magic Crest. All I know is the few bits of magecraft taught to me by my father, Kiritsugu."
The priest paused for a moment.
"I don't believe Tohsaka introduced you." Kotomine said. "What might your name be?"
"I'm Shirou Emiya." Shirou said.
"Emiya... of course." Kotomine said, nodding as though Shirou had explained one of the great mysteries of the Universe.
"What do you mean by that?" Shirou asked suspiciously.
"All I can say for certain is that the Grail has chosen you." Kotomine said. "No one fully understands the selection criteria the Grail uses in picking the Masters; but without a doubt, it considers you one of those worthy of competing to possess it. If you believe you have no need of the Grail, then perhaps it has seen something in your heart which even you yourself are unaware of. Ultimately, the simple fact remains: you, Shirou Emiya, have been chosen for the Fifth Heaven's Feel."
"Like I give a damn." Shirou said.
"If you truly do not desire to participate, you may waste your three Command Spells, release your Servant to seek a contract with another Master, and remain in the Church until the War has concluded." Kotomine said. "However, consider carefully before making your decision. Because this I can guarantee: the other Masters will fight for the Grail. Ambition and desire burn brightly in their hearts, and they will slaughter each other without restrain in order to obtain their wish. And if the prevailing magus should be one with an impure heart, the desire the Grail fulfills for them would be... well, surely you have not forgotten the fire of ten years ago."
A black sun. A sea of flames. The despairing screams of the damned. These memories, carved into Shirou's soul, were something he would never in his life be able to forget.
"What do you mean by that?" Shirou asked stiffly.
"Oh, pardon me." Kotomine said. "I said that the Holy Grail War usually occurs every 60 years; but actually, it's come a bit early this time. The Fourth Heaven's Feel was only ten years ago. During that War, one of the Masters actually managed to lay hands on the Grail. However, before that Master could have his wish granted, another Master ruined the ritual by breaking the Lesser Grail. Even so, the result was..."
Kotomine swept his hands out, as though wiping the pieces off a chessboard, and smiled serenely.
"The Grail can be used that way!?" Shirou demanded. "It would grant that kind of wish!?"
"As I said before, do not be misled by the name into thinking that the Grail is something holy that will grant only pure desires." Kotomine said. "It is a Sorcery designed to grant one's wish — regardless of what that wish may be. Should the winning magus make an evil wish, the Holy Grail will grant it as readily as a good one."
"I can't allow that." Shirou said. "I can't allow anything like that fire to happen ever again!"
"Then fight, Shirou Emiya." Kotomine said. "If you do not seek to make a wish upon the Grail for yourself, then win it to keep it from the hands of those who would use it for malicious ends. Only the winner has the right to determine how the Grail is used — so if you would prevent another disastrous wish, you must emerge victorious."
"Alright." Shirou said. "My mind's made up. Thank you for your help."
Shirou had just started to step towards the exit when Kotomine spoke again.
"Rejoice, Shirou Emiya." the priest said. "Your wish will finally be granted."
Shirou stopped.
"What do you mean by that?" he asked. "I told you I don't have any wish for myself, didn't I?"
"No wish for the Grail, perhaps." Kotomine said. "But whether you admit it or not, you do have an unquenchable desire burning within your heart. Your impassioned words about preventing another disaster make it all too clear. You, Shirou Emiya, desire to be a hero."
"And what's wrong with that!?" Shirou demanded. "Isn't it good to want to save people? Isn't it right to want to protect people? Why shouldn't I want to become a hero?"
"In order to be a hero, one requires a villain to strive against." Kotomine said. "The expression of good requires evil for it to be contrasted against: hope in opposition to despair, forgiveness in opposition to retribution, death in opposition to life. The deeper the darkness, the brighter the light that shines within it. It is a dichotomy that has tormented humanity for thousands of years, that the existence of good requires the existence of evil. You, who desire to be a hero, have never had the opportunity because you have never had any villains to face. But now that chaos, murder, and bloodshed are about to descend on Fuyuki, you will be given a chance to prove yourself. To destroy those who bring destruction, and to ascend to your goal atop a mountain of corpses."
"My goal isn't to kill anyone." Shirou said. "All I want to do is protect the innocent. If there are any unsuitable Masters, I'll stop them from obtaining the Grail; but you yourself said it wasn't necessary to kill them. I just have to make them give up their Command Spells so they stop being Masters and drop out of the War. I won't kill some to save others. A true hero saves everyone."
"It is no small thing, to be chosen by the Holy Grail." Kotomine said. "Those picked as Masters usually have a reason to desire it strongly, and will not be easily convinced to forsake their Command Spells. The simplest way to sever a contract against a Master's will is to amputate their arm — and even then, they could make a contract with another Servant, and the Grail would return their Command Spells on their other arm. The only certain way to permanently remove a Master from the war is to kill them — hence the necessity of this church. And even its hospitality has been abused; my own father was murdered here during the previous war."
There was no hint of sorrow in Kotomine's voice as he said this; to him, it was simply a statement of fact. The lack of emotion was subtly disturbing; just how heartless did a man have to be to speak of such a thing so casually?
"It is called the Holy Grail War because people die." the priest continued. "If you do not kill, you will assuredly be killed. That is the nature of war. It is impossible for anyone to change that."
"If my wish really will be granted as you say, then there's nothing to worry about." Shirou said, his tone hardening slightly. "Because heroes are heroes precisely because they can achieve the impossible."
For some reason, the priest let out a laugh upon hearing those words.
"Is that what you believe the true nature of a hero is?" Kotomine asked. "How wonderful. It has been a long time since I have met anyone so naive. Soon you will discover that the weight of your ideals is an impossible burden to carry; and what will you do then? Will you be driven to betray those principles by which you have thus far lived your entire life? Or will you try to endure the unendurable; turn your mind to steel and hold on to your ideals no matter how many times they betray you? I truly look forwards to seeing the consequences of your participation in this war. Do your best, Shirou Emiya, for I will be watching with interest."
There was really nothing Shirou could say to that, so he turned his back on the sinister priest and walked out of the church.
Rin was waiting outside with the Servants.
"Have you made a decision?" Rin asked.
"I have." Shirou affirmed.
"Judging by the look of stupid determination on your face, I suppose it's too much to hope for that you're going to do the sensible thing and drop out." Rin said.
"There's too much at stake for that." Shirou said. "I don't care about the Heaven's Feel or Third True Magic or anything like that... but if this Grail is as powerful as everyone says, then I can't risk it falling into the wrong hands. I have to fight. And for that, I'll need my Servants' power."
He turned to the two figures who had appeared by his summons. Epic spirits, Kotomine had called them; legendary souls whose great deeds had shaped the history of the world. Shirou could tell from having seen just one battle that he would be helpless against such adversaries on his own. If he was going to have to stop magi who commanded Servants, his only chance would be to use Servants of his own.
"Saber, I accept you as my Servant." Shirou said. "And Crow, I would be honored to form a proper contract with you as well."
"I would advise against that." Rin said. "Maintaining the material form of a heroic spirit requires a great deal of prana. A novice like you would be hard-pressed to handle one Servant, let alone two. Trying to support both will greatly decrease the efficacy of each."
For some reason, Red Archer and Black Archer glanced at each other and shook their heads.
"I don't want to turn Crow down." Shirou said. "He appeared without a contract to me; but despite having no obligation to help me, he chose to offer me his service instead of running off to find another Master. That tells me he's a good person."
"Don't be an idiot." Rin said. "It's pure self-interest. The Servants are only fighting to have their wishes granted, same as the Masters."
The two Archers again shook their heads in exasperated unison behind their Master's back. Despite the fact that they were her Servants, Shirou got the feeling that they weren't operating on exactly the same wavelength as their Master.
"I think it'll be fine." Shirou said. "Kiritsugu once told me that, since I can only do one specific type of magecraft, I don't even use the majority of my magic circuits in the first place. I can spare the prana. You guys don't have any objections, right?"
"None." Saber said.
"Anything's better than nothing." Crow said.
"Alright." Rin said, raising her hands and acquiescing. "I'll help you make the contract. Repeat after me: 'I command thee to my side and entrust my fate in thine sword...'"
As he recited the words Rin gave him, Shirou's Command Spells burned with red light, and he knew that he had truly become a participant in the Holy Grail War.