First OF ALL ONCE AGAIN. CHAPTERS 1-10 IS IN THE AUTHOR's PAGE THIS IS THE UNTRANSLATED ONES. PLEASE GIVE HIM A FOLLOW/FAVORITE IM JUST TRANSLATING THIS FOR FUN.

Chapter 21, Reunions and plans.

It took them some time; but they finally arrived at the dormitory, an archaic western-style building. Shirou had come to this one several times, either at Flat's or Caules' invitation, they would invite him to play video games or watch movies, or to work with Rin on their joint project, as well as to perform tasks together with Ayaka, Gray, or Svin, and even to meet with Luvia for work matters. In short, he was quite familiar with the place.

Though of course, this was because most of his friends lived within it.

Which was a bit odd, at least considering that both Rin and Luvia, like him, were affiliated with more than one faculty, in their case, it was The Fourth Department, The Faculty of Mineralogy, which was formerly run by the El-Melloi family, and its previous Dean, as well as the previous Lord, was Waver's professor, Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald; However, after the events of the Fourth Holy Grail War, Kayneth was killed and the El-Melloi family became so weakened that they eventually lost the Department of Mineralogy. So, at present, this department is run by one of the three families that run the three factions: the Meluastea family, the leaders of the Neutral Faction.

That is, Rin and Luvia should be able to live in the Kischur dormitory, in fact, it made more sense for them to stay in this one, considering that they were among the best students of that faculty.

On the other hand, Shirou understood both of them preferred to stay in the Norwich dormitory, in Rin's case, it was well known that in the Clock Tower there was a certain degree of xenophobia towards magi coming from other continents and, although the El-Melloi faculty was part of the Aristocrat Faction, with all that that entailed, it was also the family that ran the Department of Modern Sorcery, which was known for accepting any kind of magus and working with all kinds of mysteries, as well as having several of the most troubled students with potential in the Tower, so, while it was likely to encounter someone with some xenophobia and a certain heightened ego, it was not as common as in other of the faculties. And, in the case of Luvia; well, despite being the heiress of a renowned family like the Edelfelts, this was not always a good reputation as a family of mercenaries; besides, she hired Lord El-Melloi II as a tutor, even before she became his student proper. Perhaps that was why she preferred the Norwich dormitory, though he wasn't sure.

Be that as it may, he was called here more than he should be, thanks to the constant bickering of his two female companions. Maybe that was why...

-Oh? Mr. Emiya?

The one who called him was the dorm supervisor, Krishna. According to Gray, she described him as someone who was obsessed with helping people, and commented once that he was good at cooking.

-Good afternoon," Shirou replied.

-I'm glad he's back, I had heard rumors that he was missing and feared the worst.

-I had to make an emergency trip and didn't have time to tell the others, I apologize if it resulted in any inconvenience.

Krishna shook his hand, "No, not at all, fortunately for us, there have been no fights lately...

-You're quite well known here, brother... -said Fillia. You told me you had strong ties to the Faculty of Modern Wizardry; but I didn't know you also frequented their dormitory.

-Oh? And you are? -Krishna asked interested.

-Oh! Where are my manners? Excuse me. -Fillia bowed and curtsied, clutching her dress in her hands. My name is Illyasviel von Einzbern, pleased to meet you. This is Sella and Leysritt, my ladies-in-waiting.

-Einzbern...? Oh! They are the family that served that old butler. The last remnant of the Wizard of the Third Magic, aren't they?

Fillia nodded, the old butler the man was referring to was one of the tuners her family used until a few years ago. They were a digression of the family, secluded from Winter Castle, was their building, a small house, formerly inhabited by a family of human magus, not homunculi. Since the homunculi could not trade well with human society, the tuners went to the cities in their place and were responsible for procuring the materials necessary for the Einzbern factory to keep it running. They were traders, essentially. Despite this, they were a talented family of magus and possessed great artistic talent. After all, humans without a strong aesthetic sense could never care for the Einzbern. The numbers of the tuner family dwindled along with the decline of the Einzbern family, and in the end, only one remained, he worked in the castle as a butler and taught the Einzbern homunculi until his last day, a few years ago, his death forcing Acht to create homunculi that would serve specifically to replace the role of this family.

-My name is: Krishna, I am in charge of the Norwich bedroom, it is a pleasure Lady Einzbern.

-Likewise," Illya answered.

-And she is...? -asked the manager to Shirou referring to his "maid".

-This is Fillia, my maid," answered Shirou.

-Pleased," replied "Fillia".

Krishna nodded, "Mr. Emiya has helped us a lot in several accidents involving two of our tenants, he is one of the few who manage to come out mostly unscathed from the conflicts of those two? -whispered the manager a bit discouraged.

-Two tenants...? -asked Manaka. Seeing that the manager was about to ask her name, she stepped forward. My name is Manaka Sajyou, pleased to meet you.

This surprised the manager, "Sajyou? Excuse me, are you related to Ayaka Sajyou?

Manaka nodded. She is my younger sister, Shi-kun and I have come to visit her.

Krishna turned to the boy for confirmation, after all, she had never seen the girl receive visits from her so-called sister in the year and a half of study she had been living inside the Norwich dormitory. And, to his surprise, the boy nodded.

Although still a bit hesitant, the manager decided to allow them passage into the dormitory. There they met Octavia Leyland, the receptionist, and she confirmed that Ayaka was in her room. So, they all made their way to a room on the third floor. As they walked, Manaka looked like a little lamb being led to the slaughterhouse. Finally, they reached the hallway where the girl's room was located...

-Wait for me hidden in this corner," said Shirou, "I'll go and talk to her first, then, when I've informed her, I'll signal you to come. Is that all right...?

-And if it's better... -The girl tried to refuse.

-Mana, you will have to face this sooner or later. The longer you delay, the harder it will become. You know that, don't you?

The girl looked down, biting her lip.

-Trust me. Yes? -asked the boy.

Manaka gave a slight nod.

-Fillia, can I ask you to see to it that he doesn't escape?

-Shi-kun! -exclaimed the girl indignantly.

Illya laughed, "Don't worry, if she tries, we'll hold her back.

-F-Fillia, you too?

Shirou smiled. It's for your own good. -Saying this, he rushed to the door of the room and proceeded to knock on it.

Knock; knock

Shirou waited for a few minutes and finally heard the door unlock. From the other side, Ayaka poked her head in...

-Shirou-kun?

Shirou waved a hand, "Ayaka, how are you feeling?

Seeing that it was her partner, she opened the door wide. Well... I had heard that Tohsaka-san was worried and angry that you suddenly disappeared," This sent a shiver down the boy's spine. Fortunately, he had informed Luvia about his trip, so as to respect his contract, and then had sent a message to the girl to inform her of his situation. Seeing the boy's expression, Ayaka gave a slight smile and proceeded to reassure him. Although, I understand that you communicated with Edelfelt-san and Forvedge-san, so they informed us that you had had to travel to Germany to meet with your sister and that's why you couldn't be there for the new year, that reassured them a little...

Shirou let out the air he was holding in his lungs; however, he was a bit confused afterwards. The?

The girl nodded... Yes, in fact, at first, several of us were very worried. The ones who were most worried, besides Tohsaka-san, were Gray-san, Forvedge-san and Sieg-san.

-I see, I apologize if I made you worry," said the boy.

Ayaka smiled, "I'm glad you're okay, but why did you have to leave so suddenly, Shirou-kun? -asked the interested girl.

-Well, it's kind of a long story... May I come in? I need to talk to you about something...

Curious, she allowed him to pass. Of course.

Thus, Shirou entered the room and sat on the chair of a small desk, while Ayaka sat on her bed.

-Ayaka... -said the boy seriously.

-Yes?

-You know the ritual known as the Holy Grail War, don't you?

Just hearing the name of the ritual put the girl on alert. G-Grail War? I-I had nothing to do with that ritual.

-Didn't your family participate in the war?

Ayaka shook her head sharply.

"Her reactions are too blunt for her to be telling me the truth; but I don't feel like she's lying to me either? Maybe she was very little, she might have known about the ritual and that her family was participating, but the rest was hidden from her"; thought the boy-. But your family was affected by it, wasn't it?

She lowered her gaze for a moment, "I don't know what you're talking about...".

-Aya, you don't remember anything from your days in Fuyuki, do you?

This surprised the girl. A-Aya? -This way of referring to her... her voice as she said it... Why did it sound so familiar? Her head began to ache; but, even so, that she tried to remember when was the last time she had been called that; however, this did nothing but make the throbbing pain grow stronger in the back of her head; nevertheless, she tried to ignore it-. H-How do you know that?

-Because something similar happened to me...

-Huh? -Ayaka looked at him confused, "What do you mean, are you saying that you...?

Shirou nodded, "That's right, I also lived in Fuyuki before the war started. And I was the only person who came out of the disaster "unscathed" -Then, the boy smiled slightly-. Well, I was, I'm glad you managed to get out of this one unscathed too, Aya.

-W-Why do you call me that? -The pain in her head increased progressively with each word as she tried to remember; however, her memories were slipping away, like sand through her fingers. She shook her head, "And... I didn't get out of the disaster unscathed. My father and I were outside the area where it originated, I-I think...

This surprised the boy, the house the Sajyou had bought was quite close to his own and thus close to the grail mud's impact area. Considering that Manaka was participating in the ritual, it did not seem logical to him that Hiroki, the sisters' father, would not stand by Manaka when the ritual was reaching its peak. However, Shirou would ask her friend about that later, that wasn't what was important now...

-I see, that makes me happy... As for why I call you that, excuse me, I used to call you that a long time ago and, since I remembered, I've been holding back until now. If it displeases you, I'll stop.

This confused and surprised the girl, despite the headache she got from him calling her that, surprisingly, she didn't dislike it, in fact, it was the opposite, it brought a nostalgic and warm feeling deep in her chest that urged her to try harder to remember-. D-Don't do it... -Ayaka took off her glasses. It's true that I don't remember my days in Fuyuki, are you saying that you and I met back then?

Shirou nodded, "It was when you wanted to explore the new city you had moved to. Back then, Mana accompanied you and you met me and Tachi. From then on, the four of us started meeting and playing together constantly, at least, until disaster struck.

Tachi, another name he felt he had to remember and that increased his headache, while increasing that nostalgic feeling in his chest, and... Mana? did he mean Manaka, his sister? That way of referring to her also caused him pain and nostalgia.

-And you called me Shi-kun?

-Ach... It hurts...! -Suddenly, Ayaka grabbed her head, feeling severe pins and needles in her head, "I-It hurts so much, i-it's like my skull is being drilled!

Seeing how the girl grabbed her head while shaking, the boy ran to her side. A-Aya! Aya are you okay!? -Shirou watched as a sort of dark reddish magic circle formed over the girl's head. This is... Blood?! No, it's not just that, it's some kind of witchcraft.

-S-Stop it! P-Please! -shouted the girl as the pain increased.

Shirou was not an expert in the arts of witchcraft, he didn't know how to perform it, much less how to undo it, so he did what he thought best: he ran to the door, opened it, and shouted-: Mana, come quick! I need your help!

-Huh? -exclaimed the girl who was a few meters away from the door.

-Quick! It's Ayaka!

The girl ran into the room and saw her sister writhing on her bed clutching her head.

-There's some kind of witchcraft on her head," said the boy as he approached followed by his older sister and the other three homunculi.

Ayaka was shaking on the bed while her eyes were tightly closed and small tears were falling from them, she was clutching her head tightly, to the point that she almost seemed to sink her nails into it.

-Shi-kun, hold her, I'll take care of the curse!

Shirou nodded and held the girl so Manaka could analyze the curse.

-This is... -Manaka began to intervene in the spell to nullify it and, after a few minutes, Ayaka began to calm down, until she finally stopped squirming when Manaka managed to remove the spell that had been imposed on her.

Finally, the girl stopped twitching and was breathing calmly; but she was unconscious.

-What was that? -asked the worried boy.

-Witchcraft, quite ancient, it was put to seal a certain part of her memory," Manaka answered.

-Seal? So, his memories of the holy grail war... it wasn't amnesia, they were sealed," said the boy.

Manaka nodded.

-But who put that seal on it? -Illya asked.

-I recognize sorcery, it's the same kind of sorcery my family uses. -Manaka looked at her younger sister's calm face. The smell of blood is a product of the sacrifice used to make the seal in her memory, the only person I can think of, who could have done this, must have been my father.

-Huh? But why...? -asked the boy.

-It's possible that the consequences of the war were too much for Ayaka, maybe that's why she decided to seal her memories about the event. Or at least, that's what I want to believe? -whispered Manaka.

-Will she be alright? asked the red-haired boy worriedly.

Her friend nodded, "Don't worry, I unsealed the seal on her memory. She should be fine when she wakes up.

The boy calmed down briefly. Then...

-Shi-kun... -Manaka spoke in a really serious tone. Could you leave this to me?

-Huh? exclaimed the red-haired man in surprise.

Her friend turned around and with a somewhat heavy smile, she replied, "After all, I'm her older sister... You have to meet with other people, don't you? Then leave this to me.

-Are you sure? -asked the worried boy.

Manaka nodded. Please trust me with this.

Shirou thought about it for a few minutes, not that he thought Manaka could do anything bad to his younger sister; but he didn't know if this would be a good thing for Ayaka. It was no mystery that the chestnut had a certain inferiority complex towards her older sister.

-Please... -whispered the blonde.

-Shirou, come on, we have things to do," Illya said as he left the room.

Seeing how Illya had decided to leave the room, Shirou made up his mind and nodded, "He entrusted it to you then.

Manaka nodded with a smile as she watched her crush close the door. Then, she turned to her sister, saw her peaceful face and couldn't help but bite her lips slightly. Ultimately, her sister's current state was partly her fault; but it wasn't just that, being able to possess knowledge of various timelines, as well as possible futures, could be both a gift and a curse, while in her case she didn't do the same atrocities as others of her selves, that knowledge was a constant reminder of what she might be capable of.

She sighed, for a moment, she remembered when she slightly bullied her crush after her first encounter with her sister. Back then, she didn't consider the state her sister was in, or how her warning would affect Shirou, if she was honest, fear consumed her. Ultimately, in many other timelines, after the first war ended with her assassination, several years later, Ayaka summoned Arthur and the two ended up falling in love, she couldn't help but think that events would repeat themselves in a similar fashion in this reality: She "died" at the end of the war and, years later, her lover, this time Shirou, would meet her sister and they would fall in love, fear consumed her to the point where she woke up to "intimidate" Shirou so that he would not get close to Ayaka; although she was so weak and so scared that she did not even tell him that the person he should stay away from was Ayaka.

Be that as it may, since she knew that this reality had adjacently advanced away from the others, she could do things differently this time, and would start from this point. She would help Shirou change the fate of this world and thus fulfill his dream and, in turn, succeed in obtaining a future of her own.

In this way, the girl waited for her sister to wake up...

Meanwhile, Shirou, Illya, Fillia and their two ladies-in-waiting walked through the dormitory corridors. They had two objectives: to meet Rin and Luvia. In Rin's case, it was because Illya wanted to introduce himself, since their families were allies when the ritual was still in force and, because sooner or later, Rin would be involved in the new holy grail war, after all, it was implicit in the system of the war that the three founding families should participate whenever this was possible.

The Einzbern did not change this when they handed over the information of the war system to the Atlas alchemists, both so as not to alter the system unnecessarily, as well as to show their respect as to their pact regarding the ritual.

Still, Illya told Shirou that they should not reveal any of this to Rin or the heir of House Matou yet, for while he trusted Rin, that was not the case with his sister. About the heir to house Matou, Shirou warned him about his personality and way of acting, and Illya told him that he was counting on him if he tried anything strange, which he readily accepted to her surprise, and which made her wonder if he wasn't the overprotective type of brother, to which Illya laughed saying that she didn't mind having a trustworthy younger brother who cared about her and protected her. Though in reality, if anything, the one who would have to deal with Shinji, wouldn't be Illya per se, but Fillia.

In Luvia's case, Shirou had to talk to her about the job the Queen just gave her.

BAM!

-What was that! -Fillia asked as she felt the tremor that shook the building after what seemed to be an explosion.

To her surprise, "her brother" didn't look worried or surprised, instead, he sighed and said, "That must be Rin and Luvia. That must be Rin and Luvia. It seems that the noise came from the lobby, we'd better go there.

-Luvia? She's the heiress of the Edelfelt house, isn't she? -Illya asked.

Shirou nodded, "Yes, she and Rin don't get along well, I think they had a feud from the very moment they met, although I don't understand why...

-Hmn... It's understandable, I guess.

This puzzled the boy. Understandable? Why?

-The origin of the enmity between these two families comes from the Third Holy Grail War, brother," Fillia answered.

-The third? -At that moment, Shirou remembered what Luvia had told him a long time ago. Now that you mention it, Luvia told me that her family participated in one of the Holy Grail Wars, was it the third one?

Illya nodded, "That's right, you see Shirou, the Edelfelt family has a special sorcery trait.

-Sorcery trait? According to what the professor said, it is one of the components that determines the effectiveness of magus sorcery. Attributes add meaning to Elemental Sorcery and expand its versatility. There are several types, such as Reinforcement, Projection and Conversion. Generally, the lineage of each magus is specialized in a certain attribute. This depends on generations of research and the types of mysteries engraved on the magical crest. Isn't that right?

-Exactly, for example: the Einzbern possess the characteristic attribute of Flow and Transfer of Power. We are specialized in the Transmutation and Creation of Materials, that is, Alchemy. Our attribute helps us to improve the production of homunculi. It also allows me, for example: to use sorcery to move the consciousness of others to something else or, something you've already seen me do, to transfer my thoughts to other people and vice versa.

-I understand... In my case, I have the Reinforcement attribute, it's not very special compared to others; but because of the use we make of it, it's quite effective. Grandfather told me that I may get some more in the future, if the molding runs its course successfully...

Illya nodded knowing what his brother was referring to, something they had discussed in the castle. In the case of the Edelfelt family, they possess the attribute: Mineral Scales, unlike other families, this allows them to effectively have two heirs to succeed their lineage, as well as the Thaumaturgical Crest.

As the two walked towards the lobby, Shirou asked, "But what does that have to do with the hatred between the two families?

Illya smiled, "To ensure their victory, the Edelfelt family used their Mineral Scales to have their heiresses participate in the Third Holy Grail War at the same time.

-¿Y?

-Well, you know how chaotic that war was." For a moment, Shirou wondered if there had ever been a holy grail war that wasn't chaotic. The thing was, the two sisters ended up defeated, though the exact details of how are unknown, and the Third War ended without a clear victor because of everything that happened. It is said that one was "killed", while the other one fled; but there are other much more interesting rumors...

His sister's mischievous smile gave the red-haired man a bad feeling. Which ones?

-It is said that the younger sister was defeated by the head of the Tohsaka family at the time, while the older sister fled the country vowing never to return. There are two sides to the rumor: the first says that after she was defeated, the head of the Tohsaka family stole part of the Edelfelt family crest...

Now that I said it, the Sorcery of the Tohsaka and Edelfelt were almost identical. They both used Jewel Sorcery, had the conversion sorcery trait, and were known to use the Gandr curse.

-The second version is much more entertaining, it is said that, for unknown reasons, after being defeated, the youngest Edelfelt sister was betrothed to the Tohsaka heir and, in this way, they obtained part of the Edelfelt crest.

-What? Wait! Would that mean that...!?

Illya nodded- It would mean that the current heiresses of House Tohsaka and House Edelfelt would, in fact, be second cousins.

This revelation shocked Shirou, for it made sense. Rin and Luvia were in fact very similar, not only in the matter of skills and spellcasting, in which they were almost identical, but both were alike even in appearance: both were about the same height, about the same weight, similar hair color and, although it was obvious that Luvia boasted greater attributes, the general build of both was similar as well. In fact, now that she remembered, Luvia had once told Rin that her family was one of thieves, did she mean this?

BAM!

Again, another huge explosion echoed throughout the place and a large amount of dust filled the hallway. Still, Shirou, Illya and Fillia went through it and, there they found them both: On one side was Luvia with a powerful Gandr ready to be fired. And, on the other, there was Rin smiling superiorly with three jewels ready to be used against her rival. Both looked like an opposite reflection of each other, with Rin wearing her casual reddish outfit and Luvia her classic blue dress.

Both looked like an opposite reflection of each other, with Rin wearing her casual reddish outfit and Luvia her classic blue dress.

-OH...HOHOHO! -The Edelfelt heiress laughed uproariously. Always so barbaric, Tohsaka.

-Look who's talking, gorilla woman! -Rin replied.

"Well, Fillia, it's just as we imagined, proceed as planned." Illya indicated to his "doppelganger".

Shirou prepared to stop the fight between the two; but his "sister" beat him to it.

-Well, well... That's a real shame," said Fillia in a mocking voice.

Although she didn't say it in a very loud tone of voice, her mockery clearly reached the ears of both magus, and they both turned in her direction.

-Shero! -exclaimed Luvia with a slightly exaggerated reaction, "Why didn't you tell me you had arrived? I would have sent someone to pick you up.

Rin folded her arms at the boy and averted her gaze. Hmm, I guess there was no point in worrying, after all it's like they say, idiots don't die so easily.

Shirou, for his part, smiled- Thanks for worrying about me, Rin.

At this, she turned around hurriedly, "W-who cared about you! It would just be bad for me if you died suddenly.

-But doesn't that mean he does care about you? -Illya asked.

-Didn't you hear what I just said? -she answered, her cheeks a little red. And... Who are you?

-Oh, let me introduce myself, my name is Fillia, I am Shirou's personal maid," replied Ilya elegantly.

-S-Staff servant!? -asked the two magus quite dismayed.

On the other hand, Shirou smiled nervously, he knew this was going to happen, and at this moment he was begging for someone to change the direction of the conversation, and obviously, that someone couldn't be him.

To his good fortune, Fillia sighed and complied with his wishes-. Such an exaggerated way of reacting and that way of referring to people without any manners... -Fillia sighed once more while shaking her head, "It seems that the rumors were true, the Tohsaka have lost the perfect behavior they were so proud of, and I guess the nickname: "the most elegant hyenas on the ground" is nothing more than an overestimation.

These words struck hard at the pride of both girls.

-Introducing yourself with insults to people you don't know, who has the worst manners? -Rin asked once again with her arms folded.

-No doubt, a total lack of elegance," Luvia commented with a big smile.

-Oh? Insults? I beg your pardon, this was just my appreciation of things after seeing the present events," Fillia answered with a superior smile. But where are my manners? Allow me to introduce myself, my name is: Illyasviel von Einzbern, I am the current head of the Einzbern family, as well as Shirou's older sister, these are my ladies-in-waiting: Sella and Leysritt -The mentioned gave a slight bow behind their "lady" -. According to the pact between our families, I have decided to come to introduce myself to the heiress of the Tohsaka family, although I did not expect to do it in this situation so... Peculiar...

-The heiress of the Einzbern family? -Rin asked in surprise.

-Shero's older sister!? -asked Luvia even more surprised.

-That's right, nice to meet you," Fillia made a perfect curtsy, which annoyed the "perfect ladies" that were the heiresses Tohsaka and Edelfelt.

-I've also come to talk to Luvia about a job," Shirou declared and, seeing the expression Rin had on her face, the boy also added. In addition to also talk about our future plans, Rin.

-I see, in that case, shall we talk about it in my apartment? -said Luvia pulling herself together. I'm sure Tohsaka can wait for us to finish...

-What did you say? -Rin replied. In any case, they came to see me.

To stop the possible pursuit of the fight, Shirou suggested, "What if we are all present? I mean, we won't talk about family secrets or anything like that, just our future plans, so it shouldn't matter if we're all together...

Almost instantly Rin and Luvia looked at each other, with obvious repulsion for each other; however, finally they both sighed and gave in.

-Perfectly synchronized, they really are alike, don't you think so, Shirou? -scoffed Illya.

Seeing the ladies' reaction to the comment, Shirou tried to change the effect of it. Y-Yes, they are both great magus, no doubt about it.

This pleasantly surprised the girls and caused Illya to make an adorable pout, for his part, Shirou was grateful that all that supposed training / teasing from Altrouge, finally served a purpose, while he wasn't an expert at flattery, he was at least good enough to keep the girls from resuming their conflict.

-Which floor are we headed to, Miss Edelfelt? -Fillia.

-To the second floor... -replied Luvia with a proud smile.

-Which room?

-Any room, Lady Einzbern, I rented the whole floor," replied Luvia.

This statement brought a resigned smile on Rin and Shirou's face, even though Luvia didn't like to waste money, she was still a noblewoman, which meant that her "minimum expenditure" was still exorbitant in the eyes of a normal person.

Thus, the seven of them entered one of the empty rooms, which more than a room was a small apartment, Shirou offered to prepare drinks; but Fillia stopped him saying that they could entrust it to Sella. In this way, the four sat down in the middle of the living room of the apartment.

-I wasn't aware that you had an older sister Shirou-kun, much less that she was the current head of the Einzbern family," Rin said inquisitively.

-Due to certain family disputes, Illya and I were unable to see each other until recently. So I didn't think it prudent to reveal this information with family tensions as they were then," Shirou explained.

-According to what you wrote to me, you left to fix these problems, Shero? -asked Luvia.

-That's right, it was an urgent matter and I didn't know how it would end, so I preferred to keep it to myself. I apologize for that.

Fillia then complemented as she hugged her "brother's" arm affectionately. Although things didn't go as well as we had hoped, we managed to put old grudges behind us, and now we can act like brothers again. Thanks to this, I was able to travel to the Clock Tower, and upon learning that the heirs of the Tohsaka and Makiri families were also present, I came to introduce myself.

"H-Hey Fillia, is it necessary for you to stick to Shirou so much?". Illya asked somewhat uncomfortably as she watched the scene.

Fillia smiled, something that elicited a raised eyebrow and a frown from Rin and Luvia, believing that this was directed towards them, "Of course my lady, it's a clear way to show how close we are. This will allow us to ward off unpleasant magus and make our position clear, don't you think it is fitting?".

"Well... I suppose so...", the girl replied without being entirely convinced.

Meanwhile, Sella brought drinks to the group.

-"Thank you, Sella," said Fillia as the others nodded in acknowledgement.

-I, for my part, took the opportunity to join her, as I also had some business to discuss with you two," said Shirou.

-What business? -asked Luvia.

-I received a contract from Lord Barthomeloi," answered Shirou.

-The Queen? So the rumors about being her executioner are true? -Rin asked.

Shirou nodded. "It was made official today.

"Because of this we had to make certain modifications to our initial contract," Luvia thought. What did she ask you to do?

-In two weeks, I must leave for the Seventh Labyrinth of Caubac Alcatraz.

-Caubac Alcatraz? He's one of the 27 of the Ancestral Dead Apostles, no shit... They send you to hunt him? -asked Luvia.

Shirou shook his head, "No, apparently, a bloodsucker known as Wolfgang Faustus has taken control of the labyrinth and is using it to wage a false war for the holy grail. All the investigators that have been sent previously have disappeared; so, the Queen has decided to end the ritual once and for all.

This surprised and worried the Tohsaka heiress, "A fake holy grail war? But that means you will encounter servants inside the labyrinth!

-That's not counting the traps and magical beasts that dwell within it, and of course, not counting the bloodsucker," Luvia added. It's too dangerous Shero, almost suicidal...

-You must reject it, everyone knows that the false wars of the holy grail almost always end in massacres, they have reached the point where the number of high ranking magus have decreased drastically because of these... -Rin said.

This was true, many magus of high ranks and great abilities had died in the fake wars of the holy grail, this because they believed that, with their incredible abilities and with a suitable servant, they could win the wars easily. Little did they know that in a holy grail war there were so many factors to consider that even those two things did not guarantee a victory. Thus, the number of high-ranking magus decreased too much, which caused numerous magus of lower ranks to ascend to fill the space that the dead magus had left. This had been the case of the head of the Yggdmillennia group, Darnic Prestone, whose true rank was Marca, but who, due to the void left by the dead and by using his political influence, managed to obtain the rank of Corona.

Shirou nodded, "I know; but I can't do it, it's the first job the Queen has given me, and Wolfgang isn't even one of the most powerful bloodsuckers. If I turn him down...

-There will be consequences. -Luvia completed. So, you want my help?

Shirou shook his head, "That's probably harmful too, you were able to hunt the Seventh of the Dead Apostles on your own; but you can't hunt a random bloodsucker? That's probably what he'll tell me if I ask for help to complete the job.

-"It's a test," Rin said, to which Shirou nodded, "Is it a political move?

-Probably. -Fillia confirmed. Shirou has been hired by the Queen as her enforcer; while she has allowed other Lords to employ his services, lesser magi cannot employ him in any way. So, the more times Shirou demonstrates his skill, the more weight the threat of, "I will send my executor to settle our scores," or something to that effect, will carry.

-Also, although I would probably refuse such a contract, the Queen can use me against other Lords; but not vice versa. So the threat is also valid for them...

-Then you can't ask for help, and you can't refuse it either... -Rin concluded.

-But I won't go alone, fortunately, the master and Gray will accompany me.

-I'll go with him too, of course," Illya declared.

-Hey? -asked both Shirou and Fillia.

Illya smiled, "Why the astonishment? As your personal maid, it is obvious that I must accompany you.

-Yes, about that? -Shirou tried to argue.

Illya smiled sweetly. I appreciate your concern; but as your maid, it is my duty to accompany you.

Shirou nodded reluctantly.

"My lady?" asked Fillia.

"As your personal maid, it is obvious that I must accompany you," Illya repeated, "Isn't that fitting?"

Fillia sighed internally, she knew she would not convince her mistress otherwise now that she had convinced herself to accompany him- "Perhaps we should accompany you as well, brother. I doubt the Queen would be angry that a member of your family is accompanying you, after all, it shouldn't be considered outside help.

Shirou frowned, but then, he smiled-. I thank you for coming; but, I think the best thing for both of you is not to enter the labyrinth, of the four of you, only Lys has the skills to be a real fighter, it is better not to risk it, probably the professor will also stay out of it.

Fillia nodded, "I understand, in that case, the four of us will wait for you at the entrance of the labyrinth.

This surprised Illya. But I...

-Fillia, among your duties as my dear brother's servant is not to hinder him in his work.

This moment, Illya resisted the temptation to scold her maid, and instead, decided to object. But-! -However, Shirou interrupted her.

-Illya, your forte does not lie in combat, if we encounter ghostly beasts and heroic spirits, I don't know if I will be able to protect you while facing the enemies. Do you understand?

For a moment, the image of the dragon slaying knight came strongly back to the girl's head, his sword approaching her person, the descending slash. She swallowed saliva. I... I understand...

-Well, Gray defeated a heroic spirit in the Rail Zeppelin, so he'll be helpful," Rin continued the conversation.

-So, if you didn't come to ask me for help; it was to inform me, wasn't it? -asked Luvia.

Shirou nodded.

-Report to you? -Rin asked.

Shirou and I agreed to inform each other about our jobs so we wouldn't be on opposite sides.

-I understand...

-I also came to talk about our trip, Rin," said the red-haired boy. I imagine you plan to do it in between courses, don't you?

Rin nodded.

-A trip? -Fillia asked. You didn't tell me about that, brother.

-Oh, sorry, it's something we've been planning for quite some time, so I forgot to tell you," the apprentice magus apologized. Rin and I plan to travel momentarily to Japan, to make it official that I have the Second Owner's permission to settle in Fuyuki.

-Oh? I didn't know you had a property in Fuyuki, Shero," then Luvia gave a small smile, "Maybe I should go there too, after all, I have two properties in that city as well.

Obviously, this annoyed Rin. Well, I hope you have all your permits up to date, even though your family was allowed in the city several decades ago, I remember the last thing your family's heiress said was: "I'll never come back to this country! Also, the last time I checked, those properties were almost totally destroyed, basically, down to the ground.

This made the girl click her tongue and Rin smirked.

-I see, in that case, I'll go too," said Fillia. My papers are in order and I have to analyze the damage my property suffered a few years ago...

Rin had nothing to say about this, so she turned to the red-haired man to ask. What about the trip?

-Well, I know you want it to be a quick trip; but maybe you should go back alone or wait for a few more days for us to go back together.

-Hmn? Why?

-I received information from Lord Valualeta about a magus I've been looking for, apparently, she frequents Mifune City from time to time; so, taking advantage of the fact that we'll be traveling to Japan, I plan to visit the city while we're in the country.

-Mifune City? Isn't it the city where several unexplainable events happened in the last decade? -Rin asked.

-Unexplainable events? -repeated Shirou.

The girl nodded, "Yes, like, for example: The residents of an entire apartment building "disappeared.

-Murders... -the boy whispered. I'd heard of many of them, most of them unexplained.

-It's not just that, Shirou-kun, there were bigger events...

This caught the red-haired boy's attention. Like what?

-Overnight, a huge bridge was totally destroyed. It twisted in a way that shouldn't be possible and ended up in pieces.

-Now that you mention it, that was about five years ago, wasn't it? -said the boy. I remember seeing it on the news.

Rin nodded, "All these unexplained incidents happened in the past decade, and although nothing as serious has happened in recent years, I wouldn't choose Mifune as a place to visit.

-I see, probably all these events are due to or related to the magus I'm looking for.

-What magus are you looking for, Shero? -asked Luvia.

-Aozaki Touko.

-The puppet maker? -asked Fillia.

-What the hell are you doing looking for Red? -Rin asked worriedly. Do you know how dangerous that woman is?

Luvia nodded- Although I hate to agree with Tohsaka, she is right Shero, Aozaki is not someone to be treated lightly.

Shirou nodded, "I know; but she might be able to help me with my goal.

Rin sighed, "Considering how stubborn you are, I know we won't change your mind, if I can, I will accompany you.

-Thank you.

Fillia turned her gaze to the window and, seeing the sun slowly disappearing in the distance, she said, "It's getting late, I think we'd better get back soon.

-You're right, now that we live on the outskirts of the city, we'd better come back earlier.

-You don't live in the dormitory anymore? -asked Luvia.

Shirou shook his head, "No, the apartments are too small to support the seven of us; so I'm living in the Marbury workshop now.

-The seven of us?

-Yes. The 5 of us, as well as Mana and Rouge.

-Wait, who's Mana?

-Oh right, Mana. She's Ayaka's older sister.

-Sajyou-san? - Rin asked. Right, I remember her sometimes talking about how she had an amazing sister; but she always did it in such a gloomy way that I thought that... -Then, she realized the implications of her companion's statement. No, wait, why are you living with Sajyou's older sister!?

At that moment, Shirou inwardly trembled as she felt the stares of her companions.

-Now that you mention it Shero, aren't they all, besides you, women? -Luvia asked accusingly.

-H-Wait, you two, it may be true; but I assure you it's just a coincidence; besides, one of them is my sister -the boy tried to explain himself-. About why I am living with Mana, is that we have known each other for almost a decade and she has a certain special condition that I can help her with. She is not yet affiliated with the Clock Tower either, so she has nowhere to stay...

However, the stares from her companions did not diminish in intensity.

-I'm serious, that's all. -Then he took out some small papers. This is my new address, we can use the place to test the prototypes of our project, or if you want to talk about some work," he said as he handed the papers to both of them.

-Well, it's convenient. It's been hard to work on our project after what happened last time... -Rin said.

-Then it is time to retire," said Fillia as she stood up. It was a pleasure to meet you, Lady Tohsaka, Miss Edelfelt.

-Likewise, Lady Einzbern," replied Luvia.

-It was a pleasure," Rin replied. Although the ritual is no longer in effect, I hope we can maintain the good relations between our families.

-Likewise," Fillia replied with a smile.

Then the Tohsaka heiress smiled nervously, "If by any chance you plan to introduce yourself to the heir of the Matou family, I should warn you that he is...

-Ah, yes, Shirou already warned me about the attitude of the heir of the Makiri family. Don't worry, I'll be ready just in case...

Once all was said and done, the seven of them left the room.

-Rin, can you show Illya out? I have to look for Mana and Caules...

-Of course.

Thus, Fillia, Sella, Leysritt, and Rin went ahead towards the exit.

Then, Luvia pointed at Illya. I suppose it's all right if we talk while she's present, right?

-No, not at all, she has my trust," the boy replied, to which Illya smiled.

-Then we can talk about the job I told you about in the Rail," said Luvia.

-You told me you wanted to talk about it in private, is it something very dangerous or secret? asked the red-haired man.

-Dangerous... maybe, I sent you the report to your cell phone, did you read it?

Shirou nodded, "Investigating a casino ship that travels around Europe, its name is: House of Fem, isn't it?

-Yes, it has the particularity that it ties up in the ports of London for a while, at the beginning of summer every year.

-What is dangerous about the casino? You didn't send it to me in the report," asked Shirou interested.

-Well, that's the problem, no one knows for sure," Luvia was quite serious about the subject. From time to time the cruise ship disappears and reappears; but the worrying thing is not the cruise ship itself, but what happens inside. Some passengers disappear and no one knows why or how.

-And no one has reported this?

-Yes; but all accusations disappear, are taken as false, or are withdrawn. This is because the ship belongs to a great magnate...

-Find out about the disappearances? -said the boy.

-In any case, no one knows why they disappear or how; but people still come for the great prizes offered by the casino. -I've decided to take the job since the pay is very good; but I don't trust going on my own, I don't know if my bodyguards will be enough to deal with whatever is inside the ship either.

-I understand, it looks very interesting, can I come along?

-Huh? -They both exclaimed, seeing that Flat, who was carrying a box of books, who knows where, had approached them without them noticing.

-He... just appeared out of nowhere," said Illya in astonishment.

Flat smiled, "I was trying out a new form of transportation, and somehow I ended up here...". -Then he turned to his friend. How about Shirou? You came back from... Where were you supposed to go?

Shirou gave an uncomfortable smile. Well Flat, I was in Germany.

-This is not a game you know, it's a dangerous job where you could lose your life," Luvia replied.

Flat smiled as he put down the box and put his hands behind his head. I know, but it looks like fun, so can I join you?

The Edelfelt heiress sighed again. You didn't hear me, I'm telling you again, it's not just an entertainment trip.

-I know, I know," said the blond with a smile, "but that doesn't make it any less interesting! Maybe it's not a normal casino and it's a gateway to another world! And that's why some people don't come back, or something like that.

Luvia was about to reply for the third time, but Shirou stopped her. Desist Luvia, when he fixates on something like that it's almost impossible to make him change his mind.

-But... -The lady tried one last time.

Shirou turned to his friend, "Well Flat, you can come with us; but on two conditions.

Flat smiled, "What two conditions?

-The first is that you must be ready to flee at a moment's notice, in case whatever happens inside the casino overtakes us," Flat nodded. And the second is: You must keep this a secret from the rest of our classmates; since it's a job we agreed to beforehand, no one must know our plans, got it?

The blond nodded again. Understood. Summer is still some time away; but I'll look forward to it. -Flat prepared to leave, but not before saying goodbye. I'll see you in class tomorrow.

Luvia looked worriedly at the red-haired boy. Are you sure about this?

-No; but I assure you that, if we had rejected him, he would have found a way to sneak in with us, it's better if we can keep an eye on him.

Luvia sighed-I suppose so...

Shirou gave a small smile- Besides, his attitude may be... peculiar for a common magus; but Flat is really talented. I don't think he's a burden by any means.

Luvia gave a small smile. You're right about that, the only reason that boy hasn't reached the rank of Pride or Mark is because he didn't want to.

-That's right, well I have to look for Mana and Caules, see you tomorrow, Luvia.

-See you tomorrow, Shero.

So, once again, Shirou went up to the third floor of the dormitory...

Several minutes ago, with Manaka and Ayaka...

The ghost of a stabbing pain ran through the back of his head, it had been as if this was a bottle with gas imprisoned in it and it had been forcibly released, sending the cap flying.

Memories, they were not a huge amount; but their value was enormous. A little over two weeks they came back to her mind, no, the memories she had before, the prefabricated memories of those two weeks, were forcibly displaced once the real ones resurfaced.

She was very small, so, the memories were not entirely accurate. However, they were accurate enough for her to understand the situation:

When she was a child, she, her older sister, and her father, had moved from Tokyo to Fuyuki, it had to do with a ritual that her sister was going to participate in, the war for the holy grail, she didn't quite remember; but she remembered the basic rules: 7 magus, 7 heroes, one survivor. She didn't have much knowledge about how the ritual was conducted, her sister was the one who participated, not her, so, she was an observer during most of it.

Because they had moved, she didn't know anyone at her new school, and when the ritual escalated, she wasn't even allowed to go to school. Seeing that she was sad because she was alone, during the first days of the war, her father asked her sister to take her to a nearby park so that she could distract herself a little, and it was there that she met her new friends: Tachie and Shirou.

During the two weeks that the ritual lasted, she played practically every day she could with her new friends, who were also her neighbors. Her father didn't like this, because the ritual was very dangerous and they could be attacked at any moment; but, to her luck, after a few days, her sister started to cheer up around her new neighbors, so he supported her when she wanted to go out and play with them.

All was well, at least, until the end of the ritual...

He didn't remember everything exactly, however; it seemed that his sister had disappeared and his father set out to look for her, as the ritual had become too dangerous, he decided that keeping her by his side was as risky as leaving her alone. So he put her in the car and they set out to look for her sister.

In the distance, she could see something terrible happening: the residential area where she lived, which was near a hill and on top of which was a large theater, was engulfed by a terrible blackish red "sea" that began to emanate from the hill. Like a wave of lava, it began to consume and incinerate everything in its path. For a moment, near the top of the hill, she watched as a reddish glow rose up like a whirlpool colliding with a golden glow and the hill from which both were produced was reduced to nothing in a matter of seconds; however, this did not stop at all the sea of black lava that seemed to increase the more it consumed.

Her father took her to, practically, the other side of the city, there was a large mountain, the two of them climbed some stairs until she could glimpse a huge temple; however, they did not enter inside it, but diverted until they entered a cavern inside the mountain.

Ayaka would never forget what she felt when she entered that cave, a shiver ran through her body. When they went deep inside, what awaited them was a bewildering sight:

Magical circuits were glowing inside the cave, forming a sort of magical circle. The accumulation of mana in the air was insane; however, that wasn't the most disturbing thing, there were four people and one... thing.

In the center of the magic circle were Manaka and Shirou, behind them was a kind of huge golden spherical rock, in this were carved the figures of several women. It glowed with a golden and greenish light.

In front of his sister and her friend, there were two men: one of them wore a white suit, had fair skin, and long, white hair tied in a braid...

On the other hand, in front of him was a man with brown skin, his hair was very similar to the other man's, but he wore a very peculiar outfit, much more colorful and difficult to describe.

They both looked tired, and it seemed that they had been facing a formidable enemy; nevertheless, they both maintained a calm demeanor.

Surely the opponent they were facing was that thing that stood between them and their sister, a huge scarlet reptilian looking being with long arms and 7 huge open mouths, these were full of fangs and stood against the two men.

Her father tried to reach her sister, but the fighting between those present resumed; a fierce combat that was beyond her comprehension, something she simply could not describe in simple words. Both she and her father could do nothing but watch the fight and stay away from it.

Her sister looked tired, she seemed to be supporting the monster at the same time as she tried to use the strange rock behind her person. Shirou, on his side, was staying as far away from the fight as possible, in fact, he was the closest to the giant rock.

However, despite the efforts of the two men, the battle was being dominated by his sister and the monster; at least, until he arrived. A huge burst of light entered inside the cave, driving the monster back, if I had to use one word to describe the newcomer it would be: a knight, he had short blond hair and his eyes were green, he wore silver armor with blue robes.

However, he was visibly wounded, much of his armor was in tatters. And blood gushed from deep within his wounds, yet he stood between the two men and the creature. In silent agreement, it seemed, the white-robed man and the silver-armored knight had decided to face the thing together.

She watched the rest of the fight for a short time, but every attack that was launched by the combatants shook the cave. Her father made a last attempt to reach his older sister; but it was a suicide mission, seeing that the cave was going to collapse, he decided to get her to safety, so he pulled her out of the cave before it collapsed. The only thing he saw before passing out from all these events, were two successive glows.

When she woke up, she was in a different place from that cave, a hotel room, her father seemed melancholic, gone, as if part of his life had vanished or had been taken away from him, later, she would discover that her sister died in the cave collapse, and not only that, her house had been destroyed due to the black tide that she had seen in the distance. This "sea of lava" caused a huge conflagration that killed over five hundred people, among whom were her friends, and destroyed over 134 buildings.

Maybe her current self could handle this information and deal with it somehow; but for her younger self it was different, she could not handle it, her friends, her sister, her house, everything was completely destroyed in one night. She went into a kind of state of shock, almost a coma, caused by the post-traumatic stress of everything she had lived through in such a short time.

The last thing she remembered was her father's desperate face, he was constantly trying to get her back to her usual state, but that was not possible, it was simply as if the ability to feel had been taken away from her.

It hurt; but less, the pain was slowly diminishing. She opened her eyes; but what she observed made her wonder if she was still asleep, a few meters away from her person, was the face of her sister, yes, it had to be her sister. There were obvious differences from the memory she had etched in her mind; but this was obviously because of her growth, the image of her sister was that of a girl who was just beginning her adolescence, a graceful young fairy, while the girl in front of her was easily in her late teens, about 19 years old, and had the beauty of a fairy queen. Still, she hadn't changed so much to be unrecognizable, in fact, if from her point of view, her sister was already amazing and radiant as a child, now as an adult, she was even more so.

She wanted to say something; but the words stuck in her throat.

-Are you all right? -asked Manaka. Seeing that her sister was not responding and was in a kind of trance, she began to worry. Aya? Are you all right? Answer me. The witchcraft wasn't supposed to cause you any permanent damage, it would only make you faint if someone tried to make you remember. After I interrupted her, all the effects should have started to wear off gradually, shouldn't they?

However, the chestnut was still not able to come to terms with everything that was happening. In the end, the only thing that escaped from her mouth was a simple word. O-Onee-chan? Is that y-you?

Hearing her little sister's voice, Manaka visibly calmed down, she let out the air she was holding in her lungs and gave a small smile. Yes, it's been a long time, Aya.

H-H-Huh? B-but, I remember, the cave de-collapsed, you and Shirou w-were inside and... -As more words came out of his mouth, tears sprang from his eyes and his voice trembled more and more. The ca-knight, the kiss-beast with mouths, all those things... I-I...

"I see, I didn't think anything of it at the time; but she was there too." Manaka thought to herself as she recalled the events of almost a decade ago...

After Shirou managed to get her to open up to him a bit, the redhead told her about his family's goal, to create a sword superior to any other, one that could cut through anything, the pinnacle of the concept known as a sword. She told him it was a huge goal, though deep down, she had written it off as impossible, not even she could accomplish what that sword should be able to do on its own... She had her limits, and the quantum blocks were within these.

And, it was then, when she realized what she had just found, it was as if fate was inviting her to challenge him, she had found someone with a goal that even she could not easily achieve, and that person was her new friend, so, holding on to this small glimmer of hope, she decided to make Shirou's wish come true.

To that end, she became much more involved in the second part of the war. Manaka decided to investigate the grail system, it wasn't exactly the same as the one she had seen in various other realities, so she had to make sure she understood exactly how it worked. Using Assassin's stealth and her own skills as a magus, she managed to find the location of the cavern on Mount Enzou quickly and learned the workings of the ritual by studying the magical circuits found there.

The Einzbern's vessel, the lesser grail, was nothing more than an artifact that helped them control the true grail, the great grail, which was located in the cavern on the mountain; however, she also noticed several flaws in the ritual, including the corruption of Angra Mainyu, so she decided to take it upon herself to fix them before the war reached its peak. Manaka managed to understand that Ruler was a security system that the Einzbern planned to use to eliminate the corruption of the grail and carry out the ritual; however, she also managed to discern that the Ruler that was summoned was an aberration that wished to use the grail to accomplish its own goals. Knowing this, she decided to purify the grail on her own, or, rather, to remove Angra Mainyu's soul from the system.

Unfortunately, things did not go as she planned, she only had a week to try to purify the grail, because everything accelerated in a single night. Lancer had died days before, and that night, Rider followed him, shortly after, so did Berserker, everything happened in too small an interval of time and Manaka was forced to take desperate measures.

She had managed to correct the flaws in the system; but the corruption of Angra Mainyu was too great, it had been fomenting for decades, and with the little time she had, all she could do was sever its connection to the core of the greater grail and confine it to the lesser grail. She sent Assassin to steal the lesser grail, this she did to buy time, it was a distraction, and it worked. Saber, Archer and Ruler, chased Assassin and tried to retrieve the minor grail, while she manipulated the major grail directly.

She knew that using the grail in that state was very dangerous; however, it was her only chance. Regardless of the disaster it might cause...

Finally, the final event of the fourth holy grail war took place. She had brought Shirou with her to see the moment when she would fulfill her wish, but, she did not count on Caster and his master being able to locate her and deciding to go after her rather than the lesser grail. Thus, she was forced to fight Caster as he tried to manipulate the holy grail, and not only that, her distraction was not eternal and, despite Serenity's best efforts, she ended up being killed, besides, something strange happened with Archer's soul, which should have been defeated; but he did not return to the great grail.

Beginning to feel cornered, it was only a matter of time before Ruler and Saber also appeared, so she was forced to indulge Alaya to some extent. She summoned the beast, using some of the grail's power to summon it, which also caused her summoning to be incomplete; but it didn't matter, she just had to buy time, so while the beast dealt with Caster, she concentrated on manipulating the grail on her own, however, to her misfortune, Saber was able to reach the cave by breaking through the traps she set, which Ruler was unable to do without the depletion of his command seals.

Be that as it may, in the end, Saber and Caster collaborated to fight the beast and against it, finally, Saber, supported by Caster, used her Heroic Treasure to try to finish off the beast and the grail; however, something happened, and, unbeknownst to her, terrified by all the things he had seen, Shirou moved as far away as he could from all the people and, by mistake, ended up touching the great grail, seconds before Saber fired her Heroic Treasure against the beast and it attacked him accordingly.

Manaka didn't know what wish her lover made, but after that, the war ended, she didn't know exactly what happened, but they were transported to the residential area. She fell into the sea of mud that emerged from the lesser grail, although she was saved by the beast; however, the manipulation of the great grail, the summoning of the beast, and the combat against Caster and Saber, left her totally exhausted and quite injured. Shirou was also transported, and she saw how he ended up falling nearby, she didn't know what happened to Saber and Caster; but they probably disappeared after that, on the other hand, she also didn't know what happened to the other magus, whether he was hit by the beast's attack, crushed by the rocks, or was transported and, like her, fell on the agglomeration of curses.

In short, after all this happened, she didn't know what had happened, beyond the fact that Shirou had somehow saved her and that she had lost her memory. Only after seeing the boy's memories did she more or less understand how she had ended up in her current situation. And finally, after her return, she was able to fully understand the story by using her clairvoyance. To her misfortune, many things that she believed, should have happened, did not happen, and now these would further complicate her future, her encounter with Gilgamesh was proof positive of this.

She shook her head and concentrated on dealing with what was in front of her, Ayaka found herself sobbing facing the memories she had kept sealed for almost a decade.

To the chestnut's surprise, Manaka placed a hand on her head and began to caress her. You faced a lot of things, didn't you? -she slowly stroked her slowly. Forgive your irresponsible big sister, I let you deal with all this for these ten years.

-B-But h-how? You and Shirou-kun! -At that moment, Ayaka realized what her memories meant. Wait... How did he survive?

-It's a long story... But, if you want... I can summarize it for you...

Although the girl was silent for a few seconds, finally, she nodded shakily. P-Please.

-Well, I guess, in that case, there are some things you should know Aya-chan. You do know that I'm pretty good at spellcasting, right?

"That would be an understatement, Onee-chan...". Ayaka thought as she nodded.

-And, despite that, I was never interested in reaching the goal of all magus," Manaka stated.

-Huh?

The young blonde smiled- Are you surprised, Aya-chan?

She nodded quickly, wasn't that the reason why her sister had participated in the war? Wasn't that the reason why they moved and got involved in that ritual that ended in that disaster?

-But still, it's the truth," she answered with a nostalgic look and the same beautiful smile that Ayaka remembered. I participated in the war because Otou-san wanted me to participate, and I couldn't... No, rather, I saw no reason to refuse.

Ayaka nodded, more or less, she understood what her sister was referring to, in normal magus families, for a son or daughter to rebel against their father is something extremely complicated, and in the case that it is possible, it will surely involve the total severance of ties with this one, in the worst case, there could be one less member in the family. But the case of her sister was slightly different, because her sister was really amazing, totally out of this world, so she was sure that, even if she refused to follow her father's orders, he would not break his relationship with her sister, and, by the same token, she was sure that her father would not stand up to her.

-At first, I participated without paying much attention to it; but then some things happened that made me rethink my participation in the war.

-Some things? -Which ones?

If his sister's smile was beautiful, it now became resplendent. Shi-kun and Tachi.

-Shi-kun and Tachi-chan? -Ayaka said the names without realizing how she had referred to her two childhood friends, when she realized it, she looked a little puzzled; but then she realized, it was so... natural, nostalgic, as if a small warm feeling ignited deep in her chest.

Manaka nodded- You see Aya-chan, despite this wrong of me to say, your Onee-chan can be considered really amazing, but even I have my limits, you know?

-Huh...? Really!? -asked the brunette totally astonished, from her point of view, something like that seemed to be impossible.

Manaka let out an adorable little giggle, "Is that so amazing?

Her sister nodded fervently.

-I understand... However, that's just the way it is, I have my limits too. -Then she sighed, "You see, as I said, I had no motivation to participate in the war; but, when I met Shi-kun, and he told me about his goal, I decided to help him.

-Really? But wouldn't that mean disobeying Otou-san? -asked the young woman in astonishment.

Manaka nodded, "Yes... but I was sure he would forgive me in time. -Even though that was probably true, that didn't mean her father wouldn't be extremely angry with her. You know, Shi-kun's goal, it's not something I can accomplish on my own.

The normal people who spoke of ancient swords did not include swords like Balmung or other magical swords, after all, these were just fantasies, weren't they? But for those for whom fantasy and reality were sides of the same coin, those words had a profound meaning.

The ultimate sword, the ultimate sword, if what Shirou had told him was correct, what he sought to attain was the pinnacle of the concept, something that could not be obtained at present, something that could only have existed at the beginning of time, or something that would be attained at the end of time. From his point of view, something like that should be at least equivalent to true magic today, and should only be possible to attain in the same way that one of these was attained.

Even though her beloved sister was amazing and unmatched in her eyes, something like that should not be possible for her, or at least, not without help.

-So, you decided to use the grail to help you fulfill Shi-kun's goal, Onee-chan?

Manaka nodded happily. That's right, Aya-chan. What you saw was the end of the war.

-So, who were they? There were three men, and... that thing... Was it a hydra? No, a dragon?

Manaka placed a finger on her cheek and made a further reminder. Well, by the three men, I guess you must mean Saber, Caster, and Caster's master... As for that thing... -Manaka smiled childishly. The hydragon from your point of view," Ayaka blushed. You could say it was a familiar I used to keep the other three at bay.

-A familiar... That thing was a familiar!? -Ayaka exclaimed in surprise. She wasn't part of the Zoology Faculty, and her sorcery wasn't related to summoning familiars either; but still, something inside her, something deep inside herself, deep inside her humanness, made her believe that something like that couldn't be considered simply a familiar.

Manaka smiled, "I understand that you are surprised and scared; but you know, I was facing two heroic spirits, who can be considered as the pinnacle of familiars for current magi. To face something like that, don't you think I would need something impressive to stop them?

Although hesitantly, Ayaka nodded I understand her reasoning.

-Well, a lot of things happened at the end of the war, I was about to win; but, in the end, I ended up in a sort of coma for some time...

This surprised the chestnut- "B-But! Otou-san looked for you in all the hospitals, you weren't in any of them.

-That was because I didn't end up inside a hospital, Aya-chan. But it doesn't really matter, the thing was, I was in that state for a while...

Manaka was silent for a few minutes, Ayaka was waiting for her to continue, but there seemed to be some reason why she stopped, so she asked. And what happened after that?

-Well, I managed to get out of that state and I thought about going back... -Then she smiled a smile that was hard to describe for the chestnut, but she could see a mixture of emotions behind it. As you can guess, I decided not to return.

-W-Why...?

Manaka sighed, "Because I was selfish... I... I felt I had no reason to come back. I'm a terrible big sister, aren't I, Aya-chan?

Although surprised by her words, Ayaka was quick to deny them quickly. N-No, of course not, Onee-chan. You're amazing! -Ayaka tried to focus her thoughts and, for an instant, she managed to remember those good times she spent with her sister, like those times when her sister cooked for her...

-Your smile is always radiant and cheers up others, you are an incredibly talented magus, you are able to cook very well and you cooked several times for me, you also accompanied me to play in the park and... -To her surprise, her sister silenced her with a hug.

-And... in spite of that, I abandoned you. And, in spite of that, when you told me to please not die and to promise that I would come back, I just thought of making use of you... -Manaka began to stroke her head- -The you back then probably didn't realize my intentions; but the present you can guess them, can't you?

I-I-I... -It was strange, in the past, she had already experienced something like this. Her crying, her sister caressing her head, it was just like back then? No, it wasn't. Just as Manaka had said, she began to realize what her sister's intentions might be after a while, and, perhaps instinctively, her younger self as well. Knowing this, shouldn't she be angry, shouldn't she reproach her sister? But then, why couldn't she? Once again, she tried to retort. N-No, you...!

Manaka smiled, "Don't worry, you don't need to deny it, I know. After the war, I went on with my selfishness, so I looked for Shi-kun. -Then, her sister's smile changed a little, showing an irony she didn't possess before. But he didn't remember me, nor did he remember anything of what we had lived through, seeing him was too painful, so I walked away... -Manaka sighed, "I had no reason to stay, so I traveled for several years, away from you and Shi-kun, looking for something new to live for. And, ironically, almost a decade later, I was reunited with Shi-kun and, this time, he was able to remember me. After some back and forth, he convinced me to... well... come back...

Manaka was silent for a few minutes, she expected her sister to burst out in some way, to reproach her, blame her or something. But, not to her surprise, Ayaka didn't, she probably could have if she had put her mind to it; however, it seemed not to be the case. So she continued talking...

-Hmm... Aya-chan, I know that I have no right to come here and keep calling myself your sister, so, if you ask me to stay away again, I'll do my best to comply. I know that, both when I was by your side, and when I left, I did nothing but be a problem for you -Ayaka again made a gesture of wanting to contradict her; but Manaka silenced her by putting a finger in front of her lips-. I told you that a long time ago, didn't I? You don't need to lie to me, I don't like liars... I know exactly how you feel. So, well... It's up to you to decide now, Aya-chan. Like I said, if you want, I'll stay away; but, if you allow me to come back, then I... I... -For a moment, the words were stuck in her mouth, what would she do? What could she do to make up for all the bad things she had put her sister through? Finally, the words came on their own. I promise that this time I will indeed behave like the amazing Onee-chan you always say I am, I promise that this time, I will... never again let you feel alone.

Once again, the room was completely silent. At first, Ayaka was trembling and her heart was pounding; but now, there was none of that. Manaka looked down; however, she wasn't able to see her sister's expression because of her hair, what was going on, why wasn't Ayaka saying anything? After a moment, it was her heart that began to flutter, what would Ayaka answer? Would she accept her or reject her? And what would she do if it was the second case? For a moment, she was tempted to look a little further to find out the answer, but nerves made her unwilling to do so. Still, the doubt gnawed at her, maybe if she took a look she could...

But in the end, before she could make up her mind, Ayaka answered in a whisper-. In the end, you kept your promise?

-Huh?

-You took too long, Onee-chan... -To Manaka's surprise, Ayaka looked up, her eyes were irritated and her cheeks were moist, but she was trying to smile. W-Welcome back.

For a moment, Manaka remained silent; but then she gave a small smile. I'm home, Aya-chan, and I'll be sure to keep my promise...

There were worlds where her relationship with Ayaka wasn't necessarily bad, but it was... normal, relatively normal for who they were, and she was sure their relationship could become good, a good relationship between two sisters. Maybe again it was just her fantasies taking shape, an indirect form of rebellion, or something else; but she decided she wanted to get something like that...

Meanwhile, in the corridors of the dormitory...

Shirou was walking in the direction of Caules' room along with Illya; however, on the way...

-Shirou?

-Hmn?

The redhead and his sister turned to see Gray walking up the stairs and into the dorm hallway.

-G-Gray? -Shirou stared at his companion, there was something strange about her.

"Gray?" Ilya thought as he watched her approach and watched his brother's reaction.

-Flat was right... -she said coming closer.

-Flat?

The gravedigger nodded, "Yes, he was running out of the dormitory and I ran into him on my way here, he told me you were already back.

-Oh, I see...

Gray approached and, again, he kept noticing something strange about her; but he couldn't identify what it was.

-Shirou? -To the boy's surprise, Gray approached with a slight frown.

-Yes?

-Did you get into some trouble?

-Huh?

Gray put a hand to his chest, "I wasn't worried about the rumors that were going around the Tower, thanks to Avalon, I knew you were okay; but... there was a moment where the bond weakened a lot, to the point where I could barely feel it. So, did you get into any trouble?

For someone who generally had a somewhat gloomy aura and who also tried to go unnoticed as much as possible under her hood, the look she was giving him was really firm... Wait... Hood...? Shirou blinked, and the image of the girl didn't disappear, what was going on...?

-G-Gray? -asked the surprised boy.

-Yes?

-Your hood...? You're not wearing it...?

Gray looked down slightly. W-Well, y-yes. The master is not so concerned about me showing my face, because my resemblance to the King Arthur he knew is not so profound due to our differences, and I... Well... -Gray instinctively felt the urge to hide under his hood once more; but he restrained himself with all his might. I decided that it was no longer necessary for me to wear it all the time...

Shirou smiled, "I see, I think you look good like this...".

Gray gave a small smile-. T-Thank you.

Shirou was going to say something else, however...

-Uk! -grunted the boy, for some reason an elbow had impacted with some force on his side. Shirou turned his gaze to discover that the elbow belonged to his sister, who averted her gaze and had a slight frown on her face. "Oh, right! Gray, may I introduce her, this is Fillia, my personal maid?

This surprised the young gravedigger. S-Personal maid?

Illya smiled and curtsied. My name is Fillia, how do you do?

-I guess maybe you already heard it from Caules or Luvia; but during the vacations I visited my older sister, she is the head of the Einzbern family, a family of alchemists, she created Fillia for me as a gift.

-Oh, I understand... And, likewise, Gray, delighted -Despite all the things he had experienced in the last two years, Gray thought he would never quite get used to this sort of thing. By the way, you still haven't gotten back to me... Did you have any problems?

Shirou swallowed, seriously, for someone like Gray, his look really caught the boy off guard. Well, I had a little fight...

Gray gave a small sigh. You and the teacher are alike in that way, you both tend toward trouble.

-Sorry about that, I try to avoid it...

-By the way, Shirou, have they told you yet?

-About exploring the labyrinth?

Gray nodded.

-Yes, the Queen informed me early. -Then he remembered something he wanted to ask the girl. By the way, Gray, you've known Miss Adashino for some time, haven't you?

She nodded, "Yes, since the events at Adra Castle.

-Is it true that she was related to Heartless?

Gray nodded, "Yes, she was related to Kurou Adashino.

-Kurou?

Gray nodded, "Miss Adashino told us days after our trip on the Rail Zeppelin, Heartless' real name was Kurou Adashino, and as I told you after we got off the train, he was Miss Adashino's half-brother.

This surprised the red-haired man, Heartless / Kurou acted as a sort of intermediary between Atlas, the Einzbern family, and the members of the Church. While the exchange of messages was not as continuous as the respective parties would like, as Kurou had to watch out for the Harwey's and Shielder, even so, he still served that function and, now that he had been killed by Shielder, there was no longer any way to find out what state the ritual was in.

Besides, this made Shirou wonder one thing: "What was Kurou's motive for carrying out this plan and why did he take such a risk on the Rail Zeppelin?" the boy thought. If so, I may have to go to Atlas on my own... -He whispered, although it would be obvious that the war would start with the manifestation of the Command Spells, they could not afford to wait for that moment.

The moment the Association, the Harwey's, and other organizations, realized what the final holy grail war meant, they would do anything to participate, even if it meant tracking down and killing the masters, before they could even summon the servants, and, in the case of the three founding families, who were prioritized for inclusion in every war, they would be sitting ducks.

-Going to Atlas? You too? -Gray asked.

-You're going to Atlas?

Gray nodded, "Yes, for two reasons: you see, the Clock Tower and Atlas have been estranged for a long time due to differences in the study of Wizardry; according to what the master told me; but a few years ago now, communication has diminished immensely, so they send us to investigate. That is the secondary reason...

-The secondary reason...? And the main reason?

-Well, the truth is that the Clock Tower is taking advantage of the fact that my village has a Contract with Atlas and that I need to go and have Add checked.

-Add was created by Atlas?

-Something like that, Atlas contributed in its creation, as I understand.

-And, is there something wrong with Add?

Gray lifted the box and watched as Add seemed to be sleeping, or suspended rather. I'm not sure; but Add is part of a seal, so to speak. According to what the professor taught us, seals weaken over time, or if they are removed and replaced several times, that's why we need to make sure he's okay, since I've been releasing him several times...

-I understand. I wanted to avoid going to Atlas if possible; but I don't think I have a choice...

Gray gave a slight smile. In that case, we could all go together.

-Of course, it would be better if we did. When do you plan to go?

-In a few months. I'll inform the teacher that you're coming with us...

-I understand, thank you.

The conversation went on for a few more minutes, until one of the doors in the hallway opened.

-Shi-kun? -Manaka stepped out from behind it, followed by Ayaka.

Shirou turned to see the two sisters approaching. Mana, Aya, did everything go well?

Manaka smiled and Ayaka gave a slight nod.

-By the way Gray, this is Manaka, Ayaka's older sister.

Manaka looked at the girl and got a bad feeling; she possessed a similar appearance to Altria Pendragon, and while, in this world, Shirou had yet to meet The King of Knights, and she would do her best not to let them meet, that she had met "a distant relative of this one" was obviously an irony of fate that she had to watch out for. Still, she would try to get along with the girl, she was a friend of Shirou's, so she had to try to be as friendly as possible. As long as she was just that, Shirou's friend, then there would be no problem, so she smiled- My name is Manaka Sajyou, I'm Ayaka's older sister and Shi-kun's childhood friend, nice to meet you.

-Delighted, Gray... -said the tomb guardian in a somewhat mournful tone, even if she didn't realize it herself.

-Illya is waiting for us in the lobby; but before that, I need to go to Caules' room, could you wait for us at the reception until I'm done? -said the boy.

Manaka nodded.

-I will accompany you to the exit... -said Ayaka.

Shirou turned to Gray, "I'll see you tomorrow?

Gray nodded and gave a small smile. Yes, see you tomorrow.

With that said, the four of them left. Manaka and Ayaka accompanied them up the stairs to the next floor...

Before a second nudge went to his side, Shirou took it upon himself to introduce "Fillia" to his classmate, she responded a little more nervously than usual, so the boy asked her-. Are you all right, Ayaka? asked the red-haired boy.

Ayaka nodded, "According to my sister, dad put the curse on her so she wouldn't remember the traumatic events in which the war ended... S-Shi-kun...

-Hmn? -Shirou saw how the girl had a lowered gaze and a somewhat nervous smile- -You know, Mana says it so naturally that I never realized how embarrassing it sounds, don't you mind?

She shook her head.

-In that case," Shirou smiled, "I'm glad we've found each other again too, Aya...

-Me too.

After reaching the end of the hallway, the group separated again, Manaka and Ayaka descended to the first floor, while Shirou and Illya went up to the next floor. The two of them decided to walk slowly to have time to talk.

-So, what do you think of them? -asked the boy.

-Hmm... Are Manaka and Ayaka really sisters? -asked Illya intrigued.

Shirou smiled, "I know they don't look much alike, but well, nothing says siblings have to look alike.

Illya nodded, "Yeah, I guess you're right. It's just... they're so different from each other.

Shirou frowned. Yes, there are reasons why they're almost opposites...

-Hmm... From your expression, they must not be positive reasons.

-No, unfortunately, they are not. It's something we'll have to deal with sooner or later...

-Well, if you need help with anything, just let me know. I'll do everything I can to help you. -Illya smiled.

-Thank you.

-On the other hand, if there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that Tohsaka and Edelfelt are family.

-Hmm...? Are you sure? The truth is, ever since you told me about the rumor, I've been considering it; but since I don't have any definite proof...

-Although, while it's true that I don't have any definitive proof either, there are too many things that indicate that they are. Their sorceries are too similar, and even for magus who study the same branch of sorcery, it's a bit strange. As for physical appearance, they also have an obvious kinship; but what gives me certainty that they have to be related is something else, something I was able to confirm today when I saw her fight.

-What?

-Tohsaka... She is extremely talented.

-Well, yes, I think that's obvious...

Illya pouted. No, Shirou, you don't understand. The quantity and quality of magic circuits Tohsaka must have are too high for a family like yours.

-What do you mean?

-As I understand it, the Tohsaka are a family around 200 years old, you can't exactly say they have no history; but still, compared to the older families of the nobles, those 200 years are nothing.

Shirou nodded, if he remembered correctly, the youngest noble family was at least five hundred years old, more than twice as old as the Tohsaka family. Still, although they only started practicing 200 years ago, I understand they've been a family longer than that.

-Even so, they began practicing sorcery seriously with Nagato Tohsaka, their first representative in the Magus World, who was mediocre, so I really don't think the years before they entered our world are worth considering.

-On the other hand, I understand that the first chief's daughter was much more useful and talented," the red-haired man countered.

The young Einzbern smiled sarcastically. Compared to the first chief, almost any magus would be more useful than him. Though it is true, his daughter was more useful and talented. For the Tohsaka, she must have been a blessing, and yet to manage to sire someone like Rin in only six generations, a blessing is not enough. It should have at least taken them twice as long with any luck. -Illya then sighed. At the end of the day, magic circuits are an extremely complicated thing to artificially augment, so they can only be reliably augmented with time and a lot of luck. Magi will do almost anything for the chance that their descendants will have even a few more magic circuits than they do.

-So, what you're saying, is that, for someone like Rin to have been born, it must have been a great blessing, or...?

Illya smiled. Or, more likely, a union with a family that came to power during the renaissance, between the 15th and 16th centuries, and who, from then on, thanks to their spell-scavenging lifestyle, have only increased in power. Together with the blessing that was Nagato's daughter, I think that's what produced something as extraordinary as Rin Tohsaka. Don't you think this explanation is more feasible?

Shirou nodded-. I suppose so, besides, the Edelfelt came to power at that time; but it is likely that they existed long before that, besides, the war where the Edelfelt and the Tohsaka might have united, was not that long ago, only about two generations ago. And Rin's father was also a rather dangerous magus, from what dad told me...

Illya nodded.

-Although... bonding with an older family, could it really speed up a young family's development that much?

Illya nodded fervently, "Of course, Shirou! For example, your family is about 500 years old, isn't it?

-Yes, although my magic circuits are average in quality and a little above average in quantity, despite my family's years.

-That could be due to many factors, things like, your family has gone into a slow decline, as happened to the Makiri, or they simply aren't known for producing offspring with large numbers of circuits. There is also the possibility that they have not bothered to improve their circuits over time, due to their trade as blacksmiths.

Shirou nodded.

-The point is that your family is a good example, because in terms of quality and quantity of circuits, they are considered the same as a new-age family.

-I understand.

-Okay, so now take... a...

-Who? -asked the interested boy when he saw the expression of confusion on his sister's face, now that he thought about it, because of how the Einzbern had lived, she should not know many magus families, even though she talked like an expert about the magus world.

-A... My family! M-My family is over 2 millennia old, it will easily not lose to any Lord's family in that sense, besides, even if we have not developed in the same way as the rest of the traditional magus, in terms of quality and quantity, we won't lose either, I, who was born naturally, am the living proof of that.

Illya seemed to want to maintain the position of authority and wisdom she had been displaying throughout the conversation, so while he could have suggested using other examples he had actually met today, he decided to keep quiet as he saw how his sister had made an example of his family out of sheer nervousness, and was now trying to convince him firmly of how amazing the Einzbern were. Yes, I know. Not for nothing are they descended from wizards of the Age of Gods.

Illya nodded again decisively. Exactly, which is why, for example, if a family like yours with an average potential in terms of magic circuits, and a family as old and with as much potential as mine, were to unite, I'm sure, the next generation, would be a magus with incredible magic circuits, the only way that wouldn't happen, is if we had the worst luck. Literally, what would take your family centuries, maybe more than a millennium, to achieve, they could achieve with a simple union and in just one generation. Do you understand? Do you know how many magus would kill to have this opportunity?

-Many, many more than I would like them to be," the boy replied with a frown.

-For a family with a poor bloodline, joining with a family of an ancient lineage is surely the luckiest thing that could happen in their lives. But precisely because it is so extraordinary, it is almost impossible to happen. After all, what would a family with an ancient lineage gain by joining with a family of a recent lineage?

llya nodded her head, "I don't know much about this factor, because it was something that father researched before participating in the war and left in the castle archives, and since I wanted to know everything about it, I decided to read it. According to what it said, Tokiomi Tohsaka, Rin's father, married Aoi Zenjou, who came from a family that possessed a magical factor that allowed mothers to have children with great potential. The problem is that this family, over the years, it happened to them like the Makiri family, and they ended up becoming an ordinary family, so, whether this factor was miraculously activated for Rin's birth is unknown to me.

-Hmm... Maybe in the end it was a bit of everything at the same time?

-It could be...

After so much talking, they hadn't even realized that they had arrived in front of the room a few minutes ago.

-Well, here we are. Are you ready, Fillia?

...

Seeing that his sister didn't answer, the boy turned to her. Fillia?

Illya had her eyes lowered, for a moment, she went over the conversation the two of them had had, she still wasn't used to acting as "the personal maid" and was afraid of making a mistake at a crucial moment. To her good fortune, she didn't; but she realized that, in a certain part of their conversation, she might have said something that to magus could be considered an indirect suggestion, a very embarrassing and problematic suggestion. Fortunately, it seemed that her brother had not noticed, and at this point, she was thankful that politics was not so good at it, so, she decided to act as if nothing had happened.

-Oh, yeah, right. Let's go...

Shirou nodded and knocked on the door, with a slight creak, it opened. Behind it, a clump of light brown hair appeared...

-Shirou? -Sieg asked a little surprised.

-I'm back, Sieg, how have things been?

Seeing that it was his friend, Sieg smiled and opened the door. Well, no big problems, although I think Caules had a little friction with the Musik heir, but he tried to keep me from noticing.

Shirou frowned. I see...

-Sieg, who is it?! -Caules approached the door when he saw that Sieg was taking a long time to return. Shirou, I didn't know you were back!

The red-haired man nodded with a smile, "I came back yesterday, I've been tidying up some things, so I hadn't been able to come and talk until now.

-Oh, I see, so you want to come in?

Shirou nodded, "Yes, besides, I have to introduce her," said the boy pointing to Illya, who had remained quiet behind Shirou waiting for her moment.

The two boys came out of the room and, upon seeing Illya, surprise filled them both.

-E-Einzbern? -asked Caules.

-My name is Fillia, how do you do? I am Shirou's personal servant...

-Ah, pleased to meet you, Caules Forvedge.

-Sieg...

-Remember my message? -Shirou asked Caules.

The boy nodded, "Yes, you said you were coming back soon with your sister, didn't you?

-Yes, and well, as you know, the Einzbern are some of the best homunculus producers and from whom the Musik got their research, so I thought that if I brought Fillia with me and she analyzed Sieg, maybe we would discover a way to extend his life.

I-I-is that possible!? -Sieg asked, impressed.

-Well, I'm not sure; but we'll only know once we try it...

-In that case, please come in," said Caules.

After the four of them were inside the room together, Illya proceeded with the examination.

-Okay, first, take off your clothes.

-Huh? -said Caules and Sieg.

-The clothes will get in the way of my analysis.

-B-But... -Sieg exclaimed.

Illya sighed reluctantly, seeing Sieg's naked body was nothing special to her, how many times had she seen naked homunculi in the minting tanks? Something like that wouldn't generate any reaction in her- Please, don't waste any more of my time, get naked now, will you?

As if he had suddenly gone into a trance, Sieg nodded his head. Yes, I understand.

-Mystic eyes? -asked Caules in surprise.

-I didn't know you had mystic eyes," Shirou said in surprise as well.

Illya nodded, "They are mystic eyes of bonding, I linked your will and mine. They are not very powerful, as they were artificially created using my family's sorcery; however, for people with low magical resistance or people not trained to defend against the intrusion of magical energy, like normal people, they are effective enough." She transferred her thoughts to her brother.

"I understand."

Once Sieg was left in his underwear, Illya began to analyze him with her Structural Analysis. Illya's Structural Analysis was extremely advanced, not to the point that Shirou reached with swords, obviously, that was almost a miracle for his status as a specialist; but of the most advanced that could be achieved through normal means. The amount of information that Illya obtained, was much greater than what his brother would have obtained if he had been the one to perform the analysis, not because one could use sorcery at a higher level than the other, but because the compression of both in this subject was too unequal. Shirou had only learned enough of human biology to be able to strengthen himself without making mistakes that could harm him, Illya, on the other hand, due to her work as a homunculus minter, knew the human body like the back of her hand.

It took the young Einzbern only a few minutes to find and analyze each and every one of the different mistakes the Musik had made during Sieg's minting. Finally, having finished her task, she sighed heavily. Well, you can get dressed now.

Sieg nodded and began to dress once more.

Shirou looked worried. From your expression, how bad is it?

-Hmm... Let's put it this way, if Lady Einzbern were here right now, and saw Sieg, she would feel the great urge to go to the Faculty of Politics, find the Musik heir, and publicly slap him for allowing such a poor job," Illya replied with a frown and a look like ice.

-S-So bad? -asked Caules worriedly.

-I don't even know where to begin. For starters, it looks like it wasn't created to be used as a full-functioning homunculus, but to function as a magical power battery, its magical circuits are top-notch; but everything else is terrible. His body has numerous defects, did he receive some kind of treatment or something?

Caules nodded, "Yes, I did everything in my power to keep him from dying after he came out of the tank.

-Hmm... While they weren't a big deal, considering his flaws, it's likely that that care was what allowed him to survive long enough for him to get used to the outside. Can he use sorcery?

Shirou nodded. Yes, Logical Path, and I taught him reinforcement.

-Logical Path... -Illya frowned and clenched her fists. Even with his first-class magic circuits, he probably can't perform high thaumaturgy due to his defects, on the other hand, I think two and a half years is the maximum of his life expectancy, and when he reaches two years old, he's likely to start losing his motor functions...

-Can you do anything? asked the red-haired man.

Illya nodded, "Yes, but, to begin with, he was not created to live for a long time, and besides, there are several defects that, at this point, are irreparable. So the years gained won't be many...

-It doesn't matter, even one year is good! -Caules lowered his head and bowed. Please help us!

Illya smiled, "Well, in a sense, it's our fault that the Musik did something like this, we never thought they would put the research we gave them to this kind of use. So don't worry, I'm sure Lady Einzbern will be willing to help you.

-Thank you very much!

Shirou turned to his sister. How many years do you think Sieg can win?

-Hmm... Half a decade, that's the most I can guarantee.

That made Caules smile. Did you hear Sieg? You can live seven more years.

However, Sieg didn't answer, he was still in a trance...

-Oh, sorry, I'll release him now... -replied the young woman a little embarrassed.

-What happened? -asked the homunculus in confusion.

-The exam is over," explained Shirou.

-Huh? But when did it start?

Caules just smiled, "It doesn't matter, Sieg, you can live 7 more years.

-Really? -Sieg asked with wide eyes.

-Yes, but you'll need treatment as soon as possible," Illya said.

-In that case, you'll have to come to the workshop," said Shirou.

-To the workshop? asked the brown-haired man.

Shirou nodded, "I live at the Marbury Workshop now, so between the three of us and my sister we can set up a time for Sieg to stay here from time to time for treatment.

Caules nodded, "Yes, that would be best.

-Excuse me for interrupting you, Shirou, but I think we should hurry, we're keeping the others waiting," said Illya.

-You're right, shall we talk more about it tomorrow?

Caules nodded.

-See you tomorrow then, Sieg.

-See you, thanks to both of you," the boy replied with a sincere smile.

-No problem.

-It's a pleasure to help the friends of my... a-amo," Illya replied.

Finally, the four of them said goodbye and the two siblings were alone again.

-That was a bit embarrassing... -whispered Illya.

-Sorry for putting you through that, hopefully, it won't be for long... -Shirou turned to look at his sister with a frown still on his face. Something wrong? You clenched your fists when I talked about the Logical Path.

-The Logical Path... It was the type of Sorcery we developed for the tuner homunculi, it was supposed to be a way to help them deal with the current society...

-So, Sieg is a tuner homunculus?

Illya nodded- Maybe that's why it was much easier for him to reach self-awareness, the goal of those homunculi is to function in society, after all.

-But I think Sieg is much more developed than any of the tuner homunculi I saw in the castle.

Illya nodded, "Yes, perhaps it is because, while he was created as a tuner homunculus, he was not created to be used as a tuner homunculus. Instead, it was created to be a battery of magical energy, which is why its magical circuits are of such a high grade and its comprehension ability is excellent; however, the cost of that is...

-Its short life expectancy...

-Even if the Musik hadn't done such a horrible job, I'm sure homunculi like Sieg won't live for long. Maybe a decade would be the maximum if I were the one to coin them...

-Are you all right? -asked the worried boy when he saw his sister's clenched fists.

-Remember what we talked about at the castle?

Shirou nodded.

-Well, a homunculus fulfills its task with devotion until its last days, no matter what kind of task it is; but... To be mere disposable batteries, not even allowed to experience the world, with such a low life expectancy... It's very cruel, they are unlikely to reach self-awareness that way, and even if they do, as was the case with Sieg, they will only live for a couple of years before they die. In fact, once they have realized that using tuners as batteries will cause them to develop self-awareness at an accelerated rate, they will probably stop using homunculi of this type, because, naturally, these will try to run away, just as Sieg did.

-They will replace them with more basic homunculi that can do nothing but wait until they die without any objection...

Illya clenched his fists and nodded, "I really want to go and hit the Musik right now.

Shirou approached his sister and hugged her. Considering who they're working with, maybe you'll have the chance to do it in the future...

After a while, they both separated and continued their way to the lobby, once everyone was gathered, they said goodbye to Ayaka and Rin, and left back to the Marbury Workshop.

Chapter 22, Classes and preparations.

The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon...

Shirou had gotten up very early, the sun had not yet peeked over the horizon, it was his daily routine, after washing up, he would head towards the huge grounds of the Marbury Workshop. In previous months, he would have headed straight for the kitchen; however, now he had two problems: Manaka and Sella.

Manaka liked to cook and, since she had regained her fitness, she had been constantly trying to cook for him. Not that he disliked someone cooking for him; but cooking was one of his greatest hobbies, so, at first, he thought that they would constantly fight for dominance in the kitchen; however, his friend knew him very well, she was more than willing to share the kitchen with him whenever he asked her to, thus, this had become a time of enjoyment for both of them. On the other hand, Sella was the lady in charge of taking care of his sister, so, before they both rescued her from the old castle, she was in charge of most of the household chores, as well as preparing many of the meals, in short, she was his real rival in the kitchen.

To avoid conflicts, which there were, they had no choice but to make a schedule, each of them would be in charge of preparing one of the three meals of the day, and each day the meal they would prepare would vary. In addition, Shirou also had to divide the household chores with Sella, fortunately, the Marbury Workshop was large enough for both of them to clean to their liking.

Unfortunately, today was not his day to make breakfast.

If Shirou didn't have any other work, he would probably go crazy, however, to his luck, he had plenty of work to do. For starters, there was his daily training routine. Which he was already used to doing and, thanks to the vastness of the terrain, this routine was now more extensive.

After performing his daily exercise routine, as well as a long jog, he set about his swordsmanship training. Since his grandfather had begun to train him, he had had one objective and, later, a secondary one was added, these were: the closest, to call it somehow, was that his cuts were so sharp and clean that they could reflect reality, as if it were a mirror, on the other hand, the second objective, was to be able to cut causality, all this of course, without counting his final goal, to create the ultimate sword that could cut everything, including destiny.

At this moment, his cuts were so sharp that, if he made wide cuts, he was able to create a distorted reflection of the place where he made the cut, however, this only remained for a few seconds and was not an exact reflection, which meant that he still needed to polish them even more; also, a problem that he had noticed when trying to reflect reality with his cuts is that, he could only achieve it using reinforcement, otherwise, he would lack strength and speed. On the other hand, as for cutting causality, that goal was still somewhat far off, although it was not entirely due to Shirou's lack of skill, and; however, he still lacked further polishing to achieve such a feat...

-You have progressed quite a bit," his grandfather commented as his descendant wielded one of the copies of Kokorozashi over and over again. The blade his spirit carried was stuck a few meters away, so that he could observe the training. His grandfather was a spirit possessing the sword, although he was tied to it, that did not prevent him from manifesting near it so that he could perceive the outside. Although, of course, Shirou could not see it, since he did not have an affinity with spirits, he could only perceive it if he made previous preparations for this.

His grandfather's condition was currently quite... Conspicuous, at least, for what it should have been. His grandfather had died 500 years ago now, and had lost his anchor to the world due to this; however, due to his absurd stubbornness, his last sword became an acceptable anchor to keep him attached to this world, this was known as Spiritual Possession. However, his grandfather was a special case, a case that any member of the Spiritual Evocation Faculty would be happy to investigate. This was because no Spiritual Evocation Sorcery of any kind had been used to bind his soul to the sword, it was something he had achieved by sheer mixture of his absurd skill and stubbornness, something truly astounding for modern day magus. Unfortunately, his grandfather's abilities had limits, and of course, he could not prevent what would begin to happen to his soul once it lost its original anchor. Rot, once the soul loses its original vessel, even if it finds a new vessel to attach itself to, the soul will begin to degrade as the rot progresses. This had happened to his grandfather as well, and, in fact, because his soul was bound due to special circumstances, his spiritual possession was even more imperfect than that of the magus who studied that branch of sorcery, the fact that he had endured so long with an imperfect possession was due to two reasons:

The first was the purity and weight of his soul, this must surely be at a higher level than that of the rest of the common humans, Shirou was sure that, with the fame of his grandfather's katanas, if he did not lack the heroic feats necessary to make him a hero, it was likely that he could become a Ghost Liner. The second was the protection Lady Kanon had bestowed upon him, which preserved his soul better than expected.

Still, it was inevitable that, sooner or later, his grandfather's soul would reach its limits. Shirou really didn't know how much time he had left, so far, he had shown no signs of great degradation that would give indications that he only had a few years left; however, for his grandfather, that didn't matter, because this would be his last attempt to complete his goal.

500 years, his grandfather had lived through 500 years of continuous failures, and yet, due to his absurd stubbornness, he had begun again and again molding his descendants to be able to forge it, his aspiration, his ideal sword, the great sword Kusanagi. After many attempts, in the end, his grandfather and his descendants half achieved their goal in the last few centuries, a couple of generations before Shirou's birth.

His name was Tsumukari Muramasa, referring to the original Kusanagi, a recreation of the divine mystery. Muramasa's ideal sword was not a weapon that cut through flesh and bone alone, but was a sword that could purge resentment, ties, fate, destiny, causality and the idea of karma. Whether Tsumukari was a faithful recreation of the original Kusanagi was a mystery to all, after all, such a mystery had only been witnessed in the Age of Gods; however, at the very least, it was capable, with a single swing, of cutting through time and space. The problem was that, being a recreation of a divine mystery, even if it was created by human hands, it needed a user who was more than just human to wield it.

Faced with this problem, some of Sengo's descendants began to come up with ideas on how to wield the sword; however, his grandfather was adamant that the important thing was that the sword was complete, because yes, it was not. Although his descendants considered it a great achievement, the sword was still a failure in his grandfather's eyes, it was capable of cutting space and time; but it was still not capable of actually cutting fate, so, the first Tsumukari, which they ended up calling Proto-Tsumukari, was not complete and, like the rest of the swords that were failures, it was destroyed. His grandfather sometimes thought that, if he were in full strength, and, with the five hundred years of experience he had accumulated, perhaps he would be able to complete it, unfortunately, that was not the case.

Finally, a few generations later, came what the old blacksmith had been waiting for, that is, Shirou, because yes, he already knew of the birth of his descendant. How he knew, was due to the values his grandfather possessed, he, who had always had his eye on karma, near the end of his life, was able to observe the consequences of his own actions, he observed his own future, and there he saw him, a descendant of his wielding his ideal sword. Maybe that was why something like Kokorozashi could be created, maybe that was why, despite 500 years of failure, he never gave up. Muramasa knew that, what he had seen, was not the will of some deity or some superior force looking down on him, he knew that what he had seen was the consequence of his actions, and if he wanted to see it come true, he had to achieve it with his own hands.

And that was why he didn't worry about how his descendant would handle the sword when they met, he knew he would get it somehow, what he had to worry about, was that they would be able to create such a weapon. However, Muramasa was worried that, since what he had seen were the consequences of his own actions and not something else, they would not have been "heavy" enough to secure his dream; however, when Shirou held Kokorozashi for the first time, all doubts in his heart were dispelled.

The boy's life was saved by the sheath of a legendary sword, he merged with it and lived acting as a sword to this day. Shirou was mediocre in most arts because of this, but in his area of expertise, he could be considered a prodigy, it was his talent in that one area that allowed him to create Neocaliburn, and what had recently allowed him to forge a high level cursed sword such as Watsugunairui. Now he was sure he would be able to forge it; but the question he was currently asking himself, would he be able to create it in time? For now he knew that a storm was brewing above them, and his grandson needed all the tools he could get to survive this one.

Unbeknownst to the old blacksmith, who worried whether his grandson would be able to create his ideal sword in time, Shirou found himself worrying whether he could create his own ideal sword, for, perhaps at one time, his grandfather's ideal sword and his were the same sword; however, as time passed, their ideal sword had differed. Muramasa was a blacksmith tangentially related to sorcery, not a magus per se, so, when he heard his grandson say things like: "the ultimate sword" "the last sword" he imagined that both were referring to the last sword they would create, their greatest work; however, Shirou was a magus, a third rate one; but a magus after all, so, the words, last and ultimate, carried a totally different meaning for the red-haired man. Unbeknownst to the old man, the magus and the blacksmith within Shirou had converged on a single goal, one that his ancestor would not imagine possible even in his wildest dreams.

At this moment, Shirou decided to put his worries out of his mind and approached one of the logs that served as firewood for the workshop, he braced his body as much as possible and, from a distance, made a wide cut, despite the distance, the force of the cut was so great that it reached the log and chopped it into pieces; for a few moments, he could see the image of the log after he had cut it, just as it had been before the cut; but once again, distorted.

The boy frowned. There's still a ways to go...

-However, you are on the right track," Muramasa spoke again.

-Thank you grandfather, though I'm still a long way from cutting things like causality.

-Well, that's not entirely your fault...

The boy turned to Kokorozashi. Hmn... What do you mean?

-I mean, it's not only your lack of skill's fault, it also depends on the blade you're using, you need a sword that's capable of cutting it, obviously.

-Huh? So, why didn't you tell me before?

-Two reasons: The first is that, even if you had a sword with the ability to cut causality, it would be useless if you don't possess the necessary skill. The second is that, when I told you about it, you also didn't possess the ability to forge a sword with the necessary ability that would allow you to cut it.

This made Shirou wonder, "And now?

-You're still lacking; but you're much closer than before.

The red-haired man nodded, "I see, then I'll wait for you to tell me when I'm ready," Shirou let his sword dematerialize from his hands and walked over to where he had hung several targets, these were placed on other of the huge timbers.

He projected the bow he had created several months ago, he also projected a sword and set out to use the intermediate step between Projection and Reinforcement, Alteration, to modify the shape of the sword and make it resemble an arrow. He projected two more swords, all different from each other, and altered them to make them resemble arrows, then prepared to launch them all, one after the other.

The swords flew in a rapid flurry towards their respective targets. Of the 3 that were launched, two hit their targets and one was deflected. Shirou sighed, his transition from the Japanese style of archery to the Western style was somewhat complicated; but less so than he expected, thanks to the fact that even if in the Kyūdō it didn't matter if the arrow hit the target or not, his arrows always succeeded. The problem he had at the moment lay in speed and movement, in a real combat he could not take his time to prepare the shot, he had to be quick, also there would be times when a single "arrow" would not be enough, so he had to learn to shoot several, one after the other, as for the movement, although if it was a short distance combat he would use his sword, if it was a medium distance combat against an enemy, he would like to have both options: Shorten the ground and use his sword, or fight with his bow, and the latter would not be possible if he was forced to stay in one place.

Therefore, Shirou used the timbers and targets, positioning them so that he could run between them while shooting at them. This time, one hit the target, and the other two, while hitting the targets, missed the center.

Shirou clicked his tongue and set out to continue training, he would switch the woods and run in different patterns as he shot. When he got frustrated with the bow, he would resume training with his sword and, over and over again, repeat the same cut, later, he would use the timbers to practice various attacks against dummy opponents.

All this while remembering his fight against the Dragon Slayer. Siegfried, in his mind, looked like a human wall, a fortress made man. He was stronger than him, tougher, and also faster, and worst of all, he had faced a masterless Siegfried, and from what Illya had told him, servants needed a master to reach their full potential. Without a master, or with a poorly qualified master, their stats would drop proportionately. He faced a weakened Siegfried while being reinforced by Manaka and, even so, only won because the knight ran out of mana and was forced to disappear, not to mention that the knight had done everything possible for him to achieve victory. In short, Siegfried had let him win.

Shirou vividly remembered his battle against the knight, every blow, every move, he tried to replicate them; but then he gave up, realizing that it was in vain, he could replicate his techniques and fighting style if he projected Balmung; but from that to learning it on his own was a long way, they were two completely different things. And that was not what he had to do, not with the weapons he currently possessed.

Fighting with a katana was not the same as with a western sword, although Neocaliburn was a strange intersection between both types of sword, it looked more like a western sword than a katana.

In fact, the only thing it had of katana was its shape, which had a single edge, this produced some similarity to the shape of a Katana; but without being one, because it was much longer than a Katana, even the Nodachi, which were the longest katanas in existence, with about 120 cm in its entirety, were shorter than Neocaliburn, which counted with 145 cm. Its blade was only similar to that of a katana in shape, and only to a certain extent, for it was not wavy as was common, but straight, as well as being wider and thicker, as well as heavier.

He always felt that he was limiting himself, there were things he could not do with the recreation of the legendary sword, that he could do with his katanas. And, although he knew how the King of Knights himself had wielded the original blade, he could not copy it one hundred percent with his new version.

Through their combat, Siegfried had shown him how a Western sword should be used, so much so that his blows were etched in his memory. But she had already realized that she could not imitate him either. The differences between him and the Dragon Slayer were too many for both of them to fight in the same way.

So, Shirou realized that he should not imitate, neither the Dragon Blood Knight, nor the King of Knights, he had to create his own style with his swords, one that was appropriate for them and for himself, an average between what could be done with both types of weapons, more agile and faster than with a Western great sword; but somewhat less strong and forceful, and much less fast and agile than with a Katana; but also much more forceful than with them.

In addition, he set out to try something new, Neocaliburn was a bastard sword, not quite a sword, so he could use it with one hand; however, his skill and strength were reduced. Although the Reinforcement allowed him to achieve the strength he lacked with one hand, he never clearly saw a reason to use it this way, at least, until now. Shirou took Neocaliburn with one hand and Watsugunairui with the other, he bolstered himself to be able to use both weapons properly. He then set about practicing for hours with both, until he simply couldn't anymore.

What he was attempting to do was a daisho, in Japan that was how it was called when a samurai carried a large sword, i.e. a katana or nodachi, accompanied by a shorter one, a wakizashi, one in each hand.

Shirou had made Watsugunairui with this in mind, this was a totally black katana; but not just any katana, it was a Wakizashi, a shorter than average katana, about 70 cm in its entirety, this made it a particularly longer Wakizashi than the common ones, which measured at most 60 cm. He had compacted the curse as much as possible to create it this way, and cremated the rest of his father's body, as it was very dangerous to bury it, because the curse could affect the earth in a very negative way, and more so with a ley line nearby.

This was the style he was trying to create, one that would allow him to control the distance and pace of combat, thanks to the combination of his two weapons, which were almost opposite each other. One was long and the other small, one was a sacred sword and the other was a cursed sword, one carried the light that burned all evils, and the other carried those evils.

After much training with his swords, he finally set out to practice his aim with the Black Barrel. And, after he was satisfied, he stopped for the day, by which time the sun was clearly rising on the horizon. If he had gotten up at four-thirty, it must now be close to eight, his first class started at nine, so he still had time.

-How was it? asked the red-haired boy to his grandfather.

-Hmn... I can't give you a clear answer, I can only help you as far as my knowledge goes. You are creating your own way of fighting, so only you can know what is right and what is wrong. However, I think you are on the right track...

-Thank you grandfather.

Before he could say anything else, Leysritt approached the boy.

-Shirou, breakfast," said the homunculus.

-Thank you Liz, I'm on my way.

Leysritt nodded and withdrew, for his part, he set out to collect his weapons and headed towards the workshop, after taking a bath, he went to the dining room and set out to have breakfast with the rest of the inhabitants of the workshop.

Finally, after breakfast, the members of the Marbury Workshop got ready to talk about their plans for the day...

-Today will be a somewhat complicated day," said Manaka.

-It will be a busy one," said Illya.

-Shall we go over our plans? -suggested the boy, it was a routine he had inherited from Kiritsugu.

-Of course," replied her friend while her sister nodded.

-Well, in my case I have to attend my respective classes, while you must take the exams to join the Clock Tower. We must also buy the materials needed for the new mystic code and for your alchemy, Illya.

-Will you be all right, Filia? -Illya asked, after all, it was not she who would be performing the test, but her maid.

And Fillia smiled in response. I can assure you that I will live up to your expectations, my lady.

Illya nodded and turned to her brother. In the afternoon you are also going to see a doctor, aren't you, Shirou?

-Yes, I need to discuss some things with him.

-That should be all, right? -Manaka asked.

Shirou nodded. Yes, at least for now.

-And how's your training going? -asked his sister.

-I think I'm making progress; but I'd like to be able to face a real opponent and not just practice with the logs.

-Hmn... -Illya thought for a few seconds, then smiled, "I know! Why don't you train with Lys?

-Lys? Are you sure?

Illya nodded. Lys was able to face Saber momentarily, and she's made for combat, she'll be a good training partner. You don't mind, do you Lys?

Leysritt shook her head.

Shirou smiled. That will be very useful, thank you.

The homunculus nodded.

-I could also create some golems for you to practice on multiple enemies," Lady Einzbern suggested.

-Can you do that? -asked the boy.

-Of course, I keep all the Einzbern family research in my crest," she said. Although it's true I've never done it before... B-But I should be able to, I mean, minting homunculi is something higher level, so a few crude golems shouldn't be a problem.

-I understand...

-Speaking of spellcasting, would you like me to tutor you, Shi-kun? -Manaka asked.

-Tutor?

The girl nodded, "Yes, I told Ayaka that I would help her with her sorcery. So I might as well help you.

Manaka knew about the inferiority complex her sister possessed because of her abilities, at first, she thought of holding back so that her sister's inferiority complex would not increase; but then she realized that this could bring an adverse effect. If her sister didn't know about how good a magus she was, then hiding her abilities might have worked; but, since Ayaka did know how good she was, then she would know that she was holding back because of her and would blame herself for this. So Manaka decided to use another way, she would try to help her sister in any way she could so that Ayaka would get better on her own. Of course, she had to be careful that Ayaka didn't think her accomplishments were just because she helped her, as that would also backfire.

-"But you know that when it comes to spellcasting, I find myself very limited to the ones I can learn as such... -the boy replied.

-But that doesn't mean I can't help you, I'm sure I can teach you a thing or two," the girl declared.

-What do you mean?

-Hmn... -Then she smiled, "You remember when I reinforced you to help you face Siegfried.

The redhead nodded.

-I can help you to improve the effect of your Reinforcement; besides, I also have a great knowledge of runes, I could teach you some.

-I understand, in that case, I would be very grateful, Mana," said the boy with a smile.

She nodded smiling too. You're welcome, I'll do my best to help you both. Besides, we can take advantage of the time and I can teach you while we create your new mystic code.

Hearing this Shirou looked at her in surprise, "I'll help you create it?

-Of course you will, silly," she replied with a smile, "I can take care of some of the creation of the new mystic code, but I don't have the forging skills to complete it.

-Forging skills? -At that moment Shirou couldn't help but smirk as his eyes sparkled. Are you saying that the mystic code we are going to create is a sword?

Both Illya and Manaka couldn't help but smile at the boy's excitement at the idea of creating a new sword.

-Fufu, something like that, you'll see...

With that said, the group prepared to leave for the Clock Tower. Not yet having his mystic code, he had to choose between which weapons to take, seeing his inability to decide, his ancestor told him to leave Kokorozashi; for, while this was a sword of great quality, he had no special combat skills and, if he got into a fight, any of his other weapons would be more useful. Shirou was resilient to abandon his ancestor; but he understood the reasoning behind his words, so he took his other three swords and the Phantom Punisher.

Finally, they were all ready and left the workshop, again, Manaka took it upon herself to take them via Space Transport to the nearest London Underground station, after that, they took the tube to the vicinity of the Clock Tower's main building, when they arrived at Mystile, they were forced to split up, Shirou had to attend his classes, while Manaka and Fillia had to take their exams to affiliate with the Tower and be assigned to some rank. That said, the six agreed to meet once Shirou's exams and classes were over, Leysritt and Sella accompanied Fillia and Illya accompanied Shirou.

Thus, Shirou headed towards his first class together with his sister, as usual, this was the General Fundamentals class. This time, the lecturer was not Lord Trambellio, but Professor Craig, another of the great lecturers of the Tower. There he met Ayaka, as always...

-G-Good morning, Shi-kun -said her friend, apparently still a little unaccustomed to referring to him that way.

Truth be told, if he was honest, it was a bit embarrassing when she referred to him that way, Manaka made it so natural that it didn't count, although, to her good fortune, there was no one in her class who knew what it meant, or, rather, who could even halfway accurately translate the meaning of the way she referred to him. On the other hand, at least they called him Shi-kun and did not use chan, as was the case with Merem.

-Good morning, Aya... -Then, the boy frowned slightly. Come to think of it, yesterday I didn't have time to introduce her to you, this is Fillia, my sister created her to act as my servant.

-I'm delighted," Illya replied with a smile.

-"Likewise, Fillia-san," Ayaka replied, "My sister told me yesterday about your trip to Germany, and I was able to meet your sister as well. She is...

Without Ayaka telling him, more or less, he knew what she meant. I understand what you mean, but, although she seems to be quite cold, in fact, she can be quite candid. She's just, well, you know...

Ayaka smiled nervously, she knew the word her friend had in mind was magus, but, obviously, she wouldn't say it in a room full of, precisely, magus. In fact, not many magus would scorn the term with another member of the community present, even if it was in a roundabout way; but Ayaka and Shirou were slightly different from common magus, and more importantly, they were friends, something that among magus was a great rarity, as it implied a rather high degree of trust between the two.

They both sat next to each other and began to listen to the class on Contagious Sorcery.

-Onee-chan is taking her exams? -asked the brunette.

-Yes," answered the red-haired boy, "I don't know when she will finish, the exams get longer the more skill the examinee demonstrates.

-Then onee-chan will never leave that room? -she said with a slight smile

Shirou chuckled slightly. Probably.

They both listened to the class as usual and parted after it was over, telling each other that they would see each other again in Lord El-Melloi II's class.

Afterwards, Shirou and Illya made their way to Mineralogy class, where everything went as normal. After this, they had a large gap between classes, knowing several of the events they would have to face in the future, the siblings decided to look for information that could help them deal with these, whether it was information about Aozaki Touko or Atlas.

For this, they decided to go to two faculties of the Clock Tower: the Faculty of Archaeology and the Faculty of Lore.

The first was designated as Department Number XI and is the Faculty of Astaire. It is the Department of Universal Research, which extensively studies all historical and world affairs. The university town of the eleventh faculty is known as Rocks Road and earned its name because its streets are made of bricks and stone. Rocks Road is an area removed from the power struggles of the rest of the association, and is made up of a group of pure academics who study archaeology and nothing else. Lev Uvall is the director of the research building, which looks like a mansion of over 661 m², in short, a small castle.

To them the information that this was a place far from power struggles did not come as a surprise, after all, the Faculty of Archaeology belonged to the Melustea family, leaders of the Neutral Faction, those who were not interested in power struggles and just wanted to research in peace.

Lev Uvall, whose real name was Lev Lainur Flauros, according to what they had heard, was a devoted, persevering, and purely logical man, a pure academic magus. All his efforts were devoted solely to his theory and sorcery. In short, a fairly ordinary magus, perhaps a bit fanatical towards Sorcery; but nothing beyond that.

Or at least, that was what they had been told, neither of them had met the man, they had merely heard of him, and their real reason for coming here was because, perhaps, they could find out something about Atlas, and because this was the department where Aozaki Touko once worked.

The boy set out to investigate what was known about the elusive magus, accompanied by his sister, and together they discovered some interesting things:

Aozaki worked alongside two magus in the department, one of these was Cornelius Alba, a direct descendant of the Renaissance Era scholar and magus Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim.

This was curious, because it was said that the internal structure of the Seventh Labyrinth probably corresponded to Agrippa's Theory of Planetary Magical Formation. For a moment, he thought about seeking out Cornelius for more information, according to what the report said, the man was also an enforcer, so he must have been at the Carillon Observatory, where his adoptive grandfather's body was kept.

Shirou read on and was surprised to learn of some events: Alba participated in the cleansing of vampirism initiated by her adoptive grandfather, Norikata Emiya, on the island of Alimago. The members of the archaeology faction called it: "the best moment of her life".

Now that he thought about it, from that "cleansing" his father would meet his teacher, they would travel together until he ended up becoming the Magus Assassin, which would be the best time of his life, as a Freelancer, of course, much later, he would spend a decade with the Einzbern and, in his own words, soften quite a bit, that would be his twilight, and, finally, there would be the Kiritsugu he knew.

This would be the Kiritsugu who went through everything known as the Fourth Holy Grail War and, if what he had read was correct, the Kiritsugu in his best years had almost nothing to do with the one he knew, even when he returned from retirement, his father was certainly not as paranoid, cruel and ruthless as he was spoken of. From his point of view, even if it pained him to admit it, his father was a broken man who had lost everything and who lived clinging to some small hope of regaining what he could still regain.

To leave a man like that, such was the hell called the Fourth Holy Grail War.

Shirou pushed these thoughts out of his head and continued his reading about Alba. After he finished reading, he decided to give up looking for Cornelius, the enforcer had taken a trip to Japan a little over half a decade ago and had not been heard from since.

The other magus Red worked with was no less interesting. His name was Souren Araya, he entered the Clock Tower along with Touko Aozaki and Cornelius Alba. Apparently, at first, Touko and Araya were interested in each other as compatriots and began to exchange views as two people with similar ideals. According to what the records said, Souren tried to reach Akasha by tracing the roots of the soul, something that is there but at the same time is not, to reach a group consciousness. For some reason, this brought back memories to Shirou of a certain anime that Caules had lent him a few months ago, didn't this sound a lot like a certain instrumentalization project? He shook his head, he didn't have time to think about nonsense. Be that as it may, Souren was recognized as a genius just like his two companions, even being a magus with an only slightly above average amount of circuitry; however, as with Cornelius, nothing had been heard from him for over a decade.

Finally, and to their misfortune, they found nothing more about Aozaki, apparently, she was going back and forth and, at times, was hired by various organizations, those were her movements since her Sealing Designation was removed three years ago. On the other hand, they also found no more information about Atlas than they already knew.

He stood up and inadvertently bumped into someone carrying a stack of books, knocking some over.

-Excuse me! -said the boy as he hurried to pick up the books he knocked over and return them to the person he had bumped into.

-Let me help you, master -In the end, the word master was too embarrassing for Illya to say without stuttering, so she had decided to call him master.

-"Easy, I wasn't looking where I was going either," replied the person she had bumped into.

Shirou and Illya handed the books back to the man and watched as he walked away with a stack of books in his arms, apparently a man in his 30's, with wavy brown hair. He was wearing a green coat with a hat of the same color, as well as a suit underneath it, along with black boots.

-Hmm... That man must value the past a lot, don't you think? -said his sister.

Shirou nodded, he agreed, even for an average magus, the boy considered the magus' attire to be extremely old-fashioned.

Without giving it much thought, they both continued on their way.

Finally, after a somewhat long journey, they arrived at the Sixth Department, the Brishisan Faculty, another of the Neutral Faction's departments. Since the founding of the Clock Tower, it has been known that Lore's department is the department with the smallest number of students. They deal with relics that are not of this world and report directly to the Director of the Clock Tower.

He had hoped that he could find some information about the artifacts kept in Atlas; but, unfortunately, the Lore Faculty is a very closed department in itself, and directly under the supervision of the Director. Getting information about anything from this faculty was quite complicated; moreover, from the beginning, getting information about Atlas was nothing more than a small hope, after all, everything built in Atlas is destroyed in Atlas.

Although, at least he hoped that the boy who attended them had addressed him...

When he tried to ask a guy a little younger than him if the faculty knew anything about the artifacts that were kept in Atlas, he didn't even pay attention to him, it seemed as if he didn't even want to give importance to communicate with them.

So, in the end, they ended up giving up, they were running out of time and he had to attend his next class.

-Hey, Shirou, isn't there an Alchemy or similar department inside the Clock Tower? -Illya asked with a frown.

-Now that you mention it, there isn't... -Alchemy was one of the great thaumaturgical systems within Wizardry, in breadth, it should not lose against other thaumaturgical systems such as "Black Magic", Witchcraft, Spiritual Evocation, Curses, among others, so, now that he thought about it, it was strange that there was no Alchemy department. I wonder why that is, I mean, maybe it has something to do with the existence of the Atlas Alchemists, and, now that you mention it, I think there was another alchemist organization out there.

-So where do the alchemists who enter the Clock Tower go?

As the two headed toward the main building, the two brothers had this conversation.

-If I remember correctly, some go to the Mineralogy Department, and some go to the Creation Department. Are you interested?

Illya smiled, "Of course not, as their servant, I could not enter either of these departments; but Lady Einzbern is different, even if she wants to stay out of Tower affairs for now, it is unlikely that she will be allowed to do so for long.

Shirou nodded reluctantly, his sister was right. With the lineage of the Einzbern and the common behavior of magus, things like, propositions and the promise of an alliance, he was sure would happen sooner or later, though of course, that was the best case scenario, the worst was the possibility of kidnapping. For a moment, he began to whisper. I may have to use the infamy of the title, Magus Assassin, just as father used it to protect me, I may also have to use Watsugunairui sooner than expected... -Unknowingly, Illya smiled and held his arm, for a maid, that would be inappropriate, but as they were not surrounded by magus, little or nothing mattered to the girl, that was also why she called him by name. Something wrong? -asked the confused boy.

Illya denied, keeping her smile on. Nothing special... -She didn't particularly dislike this overprotective side of her little brother.

They both returned to the main building of the Clock Tower to attend their next class, this one was the least expected by him, if he was honest with himself, the politics class.

Politics, it was considered the Thirteenth Department, this was open to those who wished to pursue the subject, this department was more of a social science than a discipline in the pursuit of mysticism. As a result, it was not included in the Twelve Faculties, having been removed as an academic faculty in the 17th century. It is also where the lords learn to govern the Clock Tower, in addition, it is in charge of the patents of Magic Formulas.

And, precisely because of this penultimate point, is that he was not enthusiastic about participating in the politics classes, if there was one place within the Association where he would not be wanted, it would be this one. It was literally the place where the heirs of noble families and the next Lords studied. And he is, in the eyes of these nobles: the son of a heretic, with a family of a few centuries, on the one hand, or of non-existent achievements, on the other; as well as a dangerous mercenary. If he was excluded in some classes, in this one, he would either be totally excluded, or directly someone would try to go against him; however, the second option was less likely, at least directly, both because of his affiliation with the Queen, and because of the rumors that hovered around him.

Finally, Shirou and Illya arrived at the large auditorium and, to his misfortune, everything went just as he anticipated, the stares were on him, and they were not exactly looks of sympathy or acceptance. The fact that he already knew some of those present and had not specifically gotten along with them, such as Goredolf Musik, did not help the cause either.

Fortunately for him, he had already gotten used to this, it had been more than half a year since it was discovered that he was Kiritsugu's son, and just as Kiritsugu had prepared him for things like using firearms, or other more obscure things like... well... for example, killing, should he have to, it had also prepared him to deal with magus behavior, at least, as much as possible.

So, ignoring the attitude of the magus in the auditorium, he sat in one of the far corners of the auditorium. It looked like the class would take a few minutes to start, he didn't expect anyone to sit around him, besides Illya who remained standing behind him, so he was surprised when someone did.

-You know, of all the possible places where I thought we would meet again, this one never crossed my mind, Emiya," the girl said with some irony.

Shirou smiled, "You're not the only one, it's a pleasure to see you again, Lord Animusphere. -Although he and Marie had agreed to take less formalities, they were now surrounded by magus of great lineage, and had to keep up appearances. Are you sure this is the right thing to do?

Marie played it down. You know, rumors and information spread quickly through the Clock Tower, for example: the murder of Ainnash and our association during the Rail Zeppelin...

-I see, in short, there's no point in hiding our association if it's already been exposed. Isn't it?

Marie nodded- Exactly, for our luck, your association with the Queen is also favorable to me, after all, if someone criticizes me for associating with you, they would also criticize Lord Barthomeloi.

-I understand, everything has been fine since then? -said the boy as he looked at several of the magus and they averted their gaze. I expected more... Well...

-If you wonder why they fear you more than they loathe you, it is for the same reason, rumors and information travel fast, including the murder of the head of the Einzbern family by the Emiya family, even if it cost the life of the previous generation of the Magus Slayer. -Marie stretched out her arms in a slightly exaggerated manner. The Emiya killed the head of the family related to the Magus of the Third Magus and somehow the next leader of the family formed an alliance with the last Emiya, plus he managed to get her to affiliate with the Tower. Those are the whispers spoken about you since yesterday.

-Is it so shocking as to cause this reaction? Compared to what happened at Aylesbury or the Rail? -asked the boy in surprise.

-And those two events have something in common, those killed were not of magus, but of dead apostles, perhaps this made them unconsciously believe that the sixth generation of the Emiya family was more of an Apostle Killer than a Magus Killer; but that you were involved in the murder of the former head of the Einzbern was like a bucket of cold water in their face. -Shirou and Olga Marie turned to the right where they heard a familiar voice. It was the El-Melloi princess, Lady Reines...

-May I join them? They seem to be having an interesting conversation.

-As you wish... -Shirou said a little surprised.

Marie shrugged her shoulders. It doesn't affect me in the least, although, in the eyes of the other magus, this might look strange.

Reines smiled, "Not at all, Emiya is my dear older brother's student, there was some commotion, both inside and outside my family, when we found out where he came from, but still, my brother decided to remain his teacher, so there shouldn't be any commotion about me joining him.

-Well, I guess that explains why everyone has those reactions," the boy whispered.

-You're in a pretty special position, you don't have a good family lineage and you're a dangerous mercenary; but somehow you managed to get where you are through achievements and connections, it's normal for magus from many families to be afraid of such a hasty development of things," Reines explained with a smirk. I was planning to play a little joke on you as a reward for having come so far; but I think the biggest joke they could have played on you was to put you in this situation.

Shirou smiled in a resigned manner, he wasn't interested in political power or climbing the Clock Tower. So for the boy this was more of an annoyance than anything else. Besides, something told him that politics wasn't something he was good at; but it's not like he had any other options either...

-That's probably why you're here," said Marie.

-Huh? -exclaimed the boy.

-Precisely because of the position you're in, you'll have to deal with Tower politics. And what better place to learn how to do that than in the Policy Department? Which is right under the direction of the person who hired you," Marie explained. Although I understand why this suits the Queen, it is rare for her to help you even in this area, what she should care most about is your skills as an assassin, not your skills in politics.

-In her own words I am: "An interesting experiment. Through you, I am testing whether a family of heretics can be reconverted into a decent family, as long as, they have the right heir."

-I see, it seems to be something the Queen would do? -Reines said, then she smiled, "You seem to be doing your part, even though it may turn out to be the opposite.

-Hmm?

-Bringing in a personal maid? Wouldn't be a bad move for anyone else; but for you, you might just meet with greater opposition.

The red-haired man knew what the Lady was referring to, thoughts like: how dare that heretic have servitude? They would probably go through more than one magus' head, honestly, he hoped Luvia would show up here, they were both in the same position, though of course Luvia had a higher status thanks to her family's history with the Tower, maybe she could teach him a thing or two about dealing with upper class magus. Unfortunately, it seemed that his companion would rather save herself the trouble of attending this class, and he didn't blame her for that.

Finally, he decided what his course of action would be, at first, he intended to keep a low profile and go as unnoticed as possible, unfortunately, with a Lord on one side and a future Lord on the other, that was now simply impossible-. Lady, if I were to take into consideration the opinion of any member of this department, with the sole exclusion of the Queen, then I wouldn't even think of stepping foot in this hall; however, as it was precisely the Queen who asked me to attend, and as I couldn't care less about the opinion of the other members of this department, I will take the trouble to properly enjoy this course.

Shirou did not shout his words; however, they were said loudly enough to be audible to the rest of his classmates, which obviously caused a look of contempt on the faces of many of them.

Olga Marie smiled a smile of pure resignation. So you've decided to make it so?

Shirou simply nodded, it was never really in his plans to change the high status magus' view of him, it would require too much effort for something he didn't think would be worth it.

The one who smiled broadly was Reines. Well, at least it won't be a boring course.

Shirou thought, for a moment, that this decision would cause the two girls to leave his side; but to his surprise, they did not. After a moment, he understood, these stares were directed at him, not them, which lessened the impact on the two, and even if they were, both girls were, without a doubt, the highest status people within the room, how could the stares of magus of a lower status affect them in any way? In fact, probably the reason why it was only most of his companions and not directly all of them who gave him dirty looks must have been because the rest had some connection to the El-Melloi or the Animusphere, and obviously they wouldn't dare judge people related to the heiresses of two of the great families.

At that moment, the conversation stopped when the door of the auditorium opened, subsequently, a young man entered. He was a handsome young man with red hair, as well as a strong and haughty look, along with refined features. The very moment Shirou and Reines saw him, they frowned and showed a slightly displeased expression.

Marie smiled, "Is that Bram Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri? The brother of the late Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri and the successor to the head of the Spiritual Evocation Department, isn't it?

The two young men nodded slowly and in disgust.

Although the El-Melloi family and Sophia-Ri are allied families, due to an argument Reines had with that family, the two have been on bad terms until the present day. On the other hand, Bram's late sister was also the fiancée of the former Lord El-Melloi, and both were killed in the fourth holy grail war by Kiritsugu and his apprentice, not much explanation is needed as to why Bram is not the red-head's biggest fan.

It seemed that, in addition to teaching in the Spiritual Evocation Department, Bram would also be teaching this section of the Policy Department, which was not very extraordinary, being a successor to the Lord's position himself.

Seeing the expression of her other two classmates, Marie couldn't help smiling slightly, "It looks like this course will be interesting.

However, before Bram could begin his speech, the door opened after a light knock.

-My apologies, I'm still not entirely familiar with the department, may I come in?

Asked the boy who had opened the door, he was a young man with long blond hair and blue eyes. He looked to be about 16 or 17 years old, he was wearing mostly white clothes, with a long coat of the same color and a strange looking staff.

-Oh! Young Kirschtaria, of course come in, the class hasn't started yet," said Bram with a smile.

-Who is it? -asked Shirou.

Reines smiled, "Kirschtaria Wodime, born of a thousand year old magus lineage. He enrolled in the Tower's Faculty of Astronomy and is considered a jewel within it. -Then, she approached Shirou and whispered in his ear while slyly pointing at Marie, "It is said that, were it not for the early death of the previous Lord Animusphere, Kirschtaria would have easily become his main disciple, moreover, some say that he even has more potential as a Lord than the current Lord.

When Shirou turned to Marie he saw her with a frown.

-You are right Lord Animusphere, this course will be interesting," Reines exclaimed with a smile, much to Marie's chagrin.

However, when Bram saw her, he asked her to lower her voice, because the class was about to start, to which Reines replied with a fake smile.

In the face of all these events, Shirou could do nothing but sigh. Rather than an interesting course, I think this is going to be a very long course...

Even if they wouldn't admit it, similar thoughts went through the heads of the two girls. So, the three of them sighed and got ready to listen to their first class...

It had been, fifteen minutes since the class had started, and the redhead realized something, now that he thought about it, while in the other classes he didn't mind his sister sitting next to him; however, precisely because of what this class was, he couldn't allow it, because she was his servant, and more so with the teacher they had; but he also didn't want to leave his sister standing in the same place for two hours.

After a few minutes of thinking about it, a simple chair materialized next to Illya, she didn't have to look at her brother's face to know it was her thing, so she simply smiled and sat down to listen to the class as well.

Inwardly, Shirou sighed, if from now on for every action he had to do he had to consider the reactions of others, then he was beginning to understand why for some people politics was an art, and for others a nuisance. Fortunately, he could project everyday objects to the level of the tracing as long as they were extremely common objects, otherwise he would have to project that chair with Gradation Air, which would cause his sister to end up on the floor sooner or later when it vanished.

...

After two hours, the class ended.

Shirou also understood why the Politics Department did not count as a faculty, while all the faculties were related to Sorcery in some way, the Politics Department did not deal with anything related to it. Also, now he understood why it was the department where the next Lords learned how to govern, as well as other prestigious families, it was all about how to behave, laws, economics, statutes, etc.

All this would be very useful for the heirs of great families and for the future Lords; but, for him, who was an heir of an infamous house, and the last of these, who would not rule anything relevant, all this was mostly useless. The only good thing was that he would learn better how to relate to magi of higher status, which was the Queen's goal, but beyond that, it was a waste of his time, he would not neglect the classes because it would annoy his contractor; but one thing did not take away from the other, at least, from his point of view.

After finishing, he said goodbye to Lord Animusphere and, together with Lady Reines and her sister, they headed towards the Faculty of Modern Wizardry. Once they arrived, the three of them parted ways, Reines headed towards her office and Illya and Shirou towards their next class.

When they arrived at the El-Melloi classroom, everything seemed relatively normal, save for a few exceptions from the boy's point of view: Svin was no longer present having graduated from this course before the vacations, Gray was no longer wearing his hood, and some of his classmates looked like they would not be attending this course, they were. ...ah yes, the Ainsworths, if he remembered correctly, he hadn't had much contact with them, because, on more than one occasion, he had caught them watching him or Rin, and this gave him a bad feeling; but it seemed that it was only a false alarm.

He was reunited with several of his classmates, although because the class started almost after he arrived, he didn't have time to greet them, it started and continued for the next two hours, and this time, he had no problem telling Illya to sit next to him.

...

When it was over...

Shirou sighed and plopped down at his desk, today had been as exhausting a day as the previous one, though for different reasons, and what was worse, it wasn't even over yet.

-Are you all right? -Gray asked, as always, she sat on one of his sides.

Shirou nodded, "Yeah, just a little tired.

-The course is just starting, you'd better take better care of yourself," said Caules approaching along with Sieg. You should have rested more during the vacations.

Shirou showed an expression of pure resignation, he would have done it if he could. Good morning, Caules, Sieg.

-Good morning, good morning too, Fillia," said Caules.

-Good morning," said Sieg.

-Good morning to both of you," replied Illya.

-Mm... And now that you mention it, I didn't ask you yesterday, how was your winter vacation? said the red-haired man.

Sieg smiled, "Well, Flat invited us to something called a New Year's Eve party.

-I see, I was happy for you.

-And what did you do in Germany besides visiting your family? -Caules asked.

"Together with my father and my childhood friend I had just reunited with we invaded the territory of a thousand-year-old magus family, I fought a squad of homunculi, I helped my father assassinate my grandfather-in-law, and I ended up fighting a Ghost Liner, and at the end of all that I found out that a future war for the future of humanity will take place and I must help my sister survive this one? I can't say all that, can I?". The boy sighed internally. Besides visiting my sister, not much, I practiced my sorcery, reconnected with a friend, and little else.

This surprised those present, though for different reasons.

-Do you have an older sister, Shirou? -Gray asked.

The redhead nodded, "Yes, as a matter of fact, she was with me yesterday, but she wasn't by my side when we met. She came back with me and we're supposed to meet back here in a few minutes.

-Now that you say that, does that mean the problems you told me about were solved? -Caules asked.

-Well, something like that," he answered with a small smile, "You could say that Fillia's presence as my servant is partly a proof.

-Fortunately, the problems between the Einzbern family and Emiya are in the past," Illya supplemented.

The conversation about the Einzbern made Sieg look a bit thoughtful. If your sister is an Einzbern, then, she is also...

-A homunculus?

Sieg nodded.

-Not exactly, she was born to a homunculus and my father," Shirou replied.

-Do you know them Sieg? -asked Caules.

Sieg nodded with a slight smile. Yes, it is within our basic knowledge, perhaps it is because the Einzbern are our original creators.

-Hmn... So, in a nutshell, did you just unlock the sister and servant's route, Shirou? -Flat said, approaching the group.

-The sister and maid route? -Gray asked in confusion.

Shirou covered Flat's mouth and replied nervously. N-Nothing.

Caules couldn't help but show a small nervous smile.

-By the way, where's Rouge? -asked Flat.

-Well...

So focused were they all on their conversation that they didn't notice when four people entered the room. Leysritt and Sella decided to stay in front of the door waiting for "their mistress".

The first to notice, was Lord El-Melloi II. He was not surprised to see Fillia, for he had been surprised when he entered the auditorium for the first time that day and saw a younger version of the woman who had accompanied Saber during much of the war. Later, he would learn that Saber's true master was none other than the Magus Slayer, and that the woman was nothing more than a distraction, a homunculus created by the Einzbern.

-Excuse me, is this the El-Melloi room? -asked the young Einzbern.

Waver nodded, "That's right, I am Lord El-Melloi II, and you?

-My name is Illyasviel von Einzbern, pleased to meet you, Lord El-Melloi," Fillia answered.

-II, please. If you don't add it, the title is too heavy," Waver adjusted his glasses. What brings you here, Lady Einzbern? And to...?

-Oh, excuse me, my name is Manaka Sajyou, I am the older sister of one of your students, Ayaka Sajyou. I and Lady Einzbern have come to look for our respective siblings, if you don't mind?

This caught the Lord's attention, while he knew that Ayaka had a sister, from what he understood thanks to the girl's documents, that sister had died almost a decade ago.

-If you don't believe me, you can ask her, can't you, Aya?

The Lord turned to see Ayaka approaching. Sajyou? -Waver asked.

-Excuse me master. It is as you say, she is my older sister," said Ayaka.

-But, according to your papers...

The girl looked at him a bit nervously, "I know what you mean, honestly, I didn't know she was... H-how should I put it...? -Ayaka was trying to explain herself in a somewhat pitiful way.

-Alive? -said Manaka nonchalantly and with a smile, "Fufu, well, it's something we just corrected. You of all people should understand that what we witness is not always the truth, precisely for us magi, the fine line between reality and fantasy is sometimes indistinguishable, Lord El-Melloi II.

Waver nodded at the girl's words.

-Miss Einzbern and I have just joined the Tower, so we are likely to see each other more often," the girl also explained.

-So that's how it is... -said Waver still unconvinced, then he turned to Fillia. As for Lady Einzbern, I must assume that her brother is...".

Fillia nodded with a calm smile, "Yes, he's probably the same person you're thinking about. -Afterwards, she briefly analyzed the Lord.

-Is something wrong?

The girl shook her head, "No, I was just thinking that you are a very interesting person Lord, you were the least likely answer.

-The least likely answer? In what terms?

-The fourth war," this briefly tensed the young Lord. That my father or an executor of the Church survived is not strange; but that a novice magus managed to survive that event, instead of two Lords, is almost ridiculous, don't you think so too?

To her surprise, Waver was not irritated, far from it, instead, he gave a small smile. I cannot deny your words Lady, my participation in the war exemplifies how important it is to invoke the proper heroic spirit.

-The King of the Conquerors, is it not? I suppose a heroic spirit like him is almost a pass to the finals of the war. -Then Fillia showed a curious expression, "I understand that you intended to participate in the Fifth Holy Grail War, until you found out that this was impossible, isn't it?

Waver nodded.

-But I also understand that your goal is not the grail itself, but to invoke the heroic spirit again, for that goal, wouldn't it be enough to participate in a fake war for the holy grail?

Lord El-Melloi II gave a resigned smile, as if evoking old memories. He was the Great King of the Conquerors, Lady. His goal was cut short at the end of his life and Babylon saw his death. -Waver let out a small wry laugh. In the fourth war, the tragedy was repeated and, again, it was Babylon who saw his downfall. Ironic; but I'm sure he knew that, and yet he carried on...

-And what do you mean by that? -Fillia asked interested.

-If I were to invoke him in a lesser war than the one we participated in, as a consolation prize, I would be insulting the King's will and courage. I am sure he would reprimand me.

-I see, the King of Conquerors, he must have been a surprising servant.

Waver nodded

-Well, who knows, perhaps in the future he might meet him again, for a conquest even greater than all the ones Iskandar has fought for," the girl whispered.

-Huh...?

Fillia shook her head and smiled in a way that hid her true intentions. Nothing, just wait and see... If she didn't spend all her luck in that war, maybe she can see more legends come true in front of her eyes...

-Shi-kun! Bored with the conversation between Fillia and Waver, Manaka rushed over to the red-haired man's group.

-Miss Sajyou, don't be rude by leaving us without saying goodbye! Besides, he's my brother, I'm supposed to be the one to go look for him! -said Fillia before chasing after Manaka. We won't see you later, Lord.

Ayaka nervously watched the interaction of the three of them. Excuse them, master.

Still a bit confused, Waver played it down, though, deep down, he took it upon himself to consider the girl's words. He was not the first person who had hinted that possibility to her.

With Shirou...

Manaka approached his friend with a smile. Shi-kun!

-Shi-kun! -asked both Caules and Flat.

"Oh right, Caules and Flat like video games and anime, so, they know what it means when she refers to me that way!". To avoid further trouble, he decided to act fast, knowing Flat, letting his imagination take flight would be very problematic-. Guys, this is Manaka Sajyou, she's Ayaka's older sister and... my childhood friend.

-Childhood friend!? -Flat shouted.

-That route too... -whispered Caules. The sister route, the maid route, the childhood friend route, all open after the vacations, the amount of raised flags needed to do that? Wow, now I understand why you are so tired? -Caules analyzed.

Flat nodded in approval. However, Shirou, be careful, opening so many routes in such a short time can result in a dead end, you might even raise a black flag.

-I don't understand, what do you mean by routes? Sometimes the master also mentions them while complaining about why you had to lend him those kind of games, Flat," explained Gray even more confused.

Flat perked up and said, "Don't worry Gray, I'm sure the master deep down likes them! As for the routes, you see, in Japan there's a very popular type of game called Vi-Novels," Flat said.

However, Shirou covered his mouth preventing him from continuing, "Nothing! Stop talking as if my life was a galge! -Shirou exclaimed in frustration.

-Hmm... You're right, it would be very sad if a person's life was a galge... -said Caules.

Flat, who had managed to escape from Shirou using a type of sorcery that the red-haired man was unaware of, nodded with understanding. Yes, you're right, at the end of the day, a galge is just a galge. Shirou's life has to be an eroge, or it would be too sad.

-Eroge? What is that, Shirou? -Fillia asked, coming closer.

-Lady Einzbern? -Sieg asked.

-Do you know me? -asked Fillia in confusion.

-Ah, right, none of you were able to meet her yesterday, let me introduce you to her, this is my older sister, Illyasviel von Einzbern. -Shirou sighed. Illya, Manaka, these are my companions, Gray, whom you met yesterday Mana, Flat Scardos, Sieg, and Caules Forvedge Yggdmillennia.

-Oh, I see, nice to meet you. Shirou already informed me of your situation, I have decided to help you and cover for you against the Musik.

-Nice to meet you too," said Manaka.

Caules gave a slight smile. Pleased to meet you, and thank you very much, Lady Einzbern.

Understanding her situation, Sieg bowed and thanked her deeply.

-Pleased to meet you," Gray said.

-Likewise," Flat said with a smile.

-I wish we could talk some more, but we have to go shopping," said Fillia as she took her "brother" by the arm.

Which made Manaka frown for obvious reasons. However, knowing that it was all acting, she calmed down quite a bit, she couldn't make a scene right now either.

Illya, on the other hand, couldn't help but show a pout, she was annoyed, she understood the purpose of this plan, however, it really bothered her, she was the one who should be holding his arm, she wanted to talk normally with him and go out together to have fun, after all, she was his real family. At first he thought this would be simple, but after having to pretend all day today, he was beginning to wonder how long he had to put up with this. For the first time, he wished the war would come soon, once it was all over, maybe they could disappear from the magical point of view and live peacefully. After all, neither of them had really dedicated their lives to the study of sorcery.

-You're going to Mining Town, aren't you? -Gray asked.

Shirou nodded, "Yes, we need some materials... See you tomorrow?

The four of them nodded and said goodbye, thus, the other four separated from the rest of the group, met Ayaka and Illya's maids, and headed towards the mining city.

The Mining City is the first stage of Albion's Tomb, upon which the Clock Tower is built, part of the corpse of a mountain-sized dragon that did not venture to the Reverse of the World with the advent of the Age of Man, and then died trying to dig to it. Because it was too troublesome for the extractors to return to the surface, they built a living circle, which then became a kind of street, so that, over time, it became the second floor of the ruins. In a sense, it is another academic city. Most of the monsters do not appear under the light of the large crystal of the city, so safety can be guaranteed inside the city. This tomb stage is about 10 km deep.

In addition to all this, it is one of the best places to get materials, as these are extracted from the depth of the tomb. It is built like a huge labyrinth, and is the source of many mystical resources for the magicians of the Clock Tower, as well as being home to numerous magical beasts. The deeper one delves into it, the stranger things become, as the Reverse of the World gets closer and closer, and, the deepest part of the tomb, is inaccessible to the magi.

On the other hand, although it was one of the best places to get materials, getting into Albion's Tomb was not so easy. There are only four recognized entrances to the Albion Spirit Tomb in all of London; however, over time, numerous portals have appeared leading from the tomb to the surface, which has caused numerous disappearances and burials, as well as a large influx of illegal smuggling of materials. This has resulted in the Administration Branch of the Secret Autopsy Division exercising strict control over all persons and materials taken from the tomb.

He had obtained special permission to access the first stage of the Tomb, presumably, this would be as far as he could get with the help of a Lord, after all, unlike most Clock Tower organizations, since it was created to prevent any Lord from monopolizing it, the Secret Autopsy Division does not give much weight to the lineages of those involved. Instead of magus, it would be more accurate to call them Archaeological Spellcasters.

The one exception that allowed him to go further was when he had to retrieve the body of his grandfather by order of the Queen herself, for it was in the Carillon Observatory, which was on the fourth stage of the Tomb, and he was accompanied by enforcers at all times, both on his journey there and back.

Without giving it any more thought, the group went into the Mining City looking for the materials that Manaka needed for the creation of the mystic code, whatever it was, because no matter how or how many times Shirou asked her, she refused to tell him what it would be like, stating that it would be a surprise. In addition, they also took the opportunity to buy the necessary materials for Ayaka's Formalcraft and Witchcraft, as well as Illya's Alchemy.

Speaking of the latter, taking advantage of the fact that most of the magi in the Mining City didn't care much about the lineages and the relationships between them, she took the opportunity to be able to act more normally by having more freedom.

After the shopping time was over, the group split into three:

After Shirou convinced his sister that he was simply going to pay a brief visit to his doctor and that it was not worthwhile for her to accompany him, as well as taking advantage of the latter's tired state after a long day of shopping, Illya, Sella, Leysritt, and Fillia, set out to return towards the Marbury workshop.

On the other hand, Ayaka returned to the Norwich dormitory, but not before agreeing with her sister and her friend to visit the Marbury Workshop on weekends so that, together with Shirou, they could begin their tutoring with her sister.

And finally, Shirou and Manaka headed for the outskirts of the city, towards Pieceman's office.

-Is this the place? -Manaka asked with a confused expression. It doesn't look like an office.

-That's the point," replied the red-haired man. After the terrorist attack he suffered many years ago, Pieceman decided to go unnoticed as much as possible.

-I see, I guess that makes sense... -This was something she already knew, and she had to admit that, the first time she observed the story of the Pieceman of this world, it took her a bit by surprise, maybe things could be even more different than she initially considered.

So, the two teenagers approached the office door...

Knock, knock, knock!

After several minutes, a gray-haired older man opened the door.

-Hmn... You're on time, good, come in," said the man.

-Thank you, this is Manaka, a friend.

Pieceman nodded, "Your father has already paid for the surgery, so everything is ready. I still don't understand why both of you are asking me for something like this; but knowing the other side of the coin; I'd rather not risk it.

Pieceman did not have full knowledge of the Magus World, he was simply a neurosurgeon who, over time, diversified into various areas of medicine, and, after being saved by Kiritsugu's teacher, saw certain things he should not have seen. In the end, he was hired by both Natalia and Kiritsugu during the years that followed, and ended up learning several things...

-It's necessary material," Shirou replied. Mana, could you wait until the operation is over?

The girl nodded, "Sure.

So, Shirou and Pieceman headed towards the surgery room.

-A rib, isn't it? -asked the doctor.

Shirou nodded as he finished putting on his gown and prepared to style himself. That should be enough.

-Well, in that case, let's get started.

An hour later...

The anesthesia wore off and Shirou opened his eyes in the middle of the hospital room. The bright light hit him squarely in the face...

-The effect of the anesthesia lasted less than it should have, fortunately, we're done now. -At his side, the man had a wrapped package, he handed it to the boy. I can't believe what you told me was true, as soon as I finished extracting it, the wound started to close on its own.

Shirou nodded as he prepared to get dressed. Yes, unfortunately, it doesn't take away the pain.

-Does everyone have...?

The red-haired man shook his head, "No, Kiritsugu didn't, remember?

The doctor nodded. Yes, you're right. A unique trait?

-Yes, and unfortunately, it's not replicable, it's not unique to my body per se; besides, it only works under certain circumstances.

-How convenient...

-On the contrary... -After getting dressed, the boy asked, "Can I go and see her?

-Of course, although her condition has not changed at all.

So, they both left the surgery room, in front of the door of the surgery room, Manaka was waiting for him.

-Did everything go well?

Shirou nodded, "We'll be leaving soon. There is one person I have to see before we leave.

-A patient?

Shirou nodded. Can he come? -he asked the doctor.

-I don't see why not, she is completely isolated.

Thus, the three of them headed towards the room where Pieceman's special patient was.

When Manaka saw her, he couldn't help but show a smile with some irony, although he tried not to show it.

-This is Hakuno, Hakuno Kishinami," his friend introduced her. She has what is known as "Amnesia Syndrome", Pieceman is in charge of treating her.

-I... I understand," Manaka whispered, "Who knew, of all the places you could end up, you ended up being treated by Pieceman, Hakunon.

The red-haired man turned to the doctor, "Is it still a long time before he wakes up?

He shook his head, "The treatment itself is over, now we are monitoring its effectiveness, things like: that the syndrome has been properly eliminated and that it doesn't resurface somehow. It's quite a complicated disease and difficult to predict, even if we know what it does, we're still not entirely sure how it's spread, nor how to prevent it, besides, we don't know if, once it's eliminated, it can resurface, so I'm taking all possible precautions.

-So?

-A few months...

-I understand.

The man approached the sleeping girl. The problem for her will start later...

-What do you mean? -Manaka asked, feigning ignorance.

-Amnesia syndrome is a disease that violates the nerves of the brain and, in the end, those affected lose all awareness of their memories, this causes them to end their lives sooner or later, one way or another. Even if we cure her, this girl's memories will not return. If we had interfered when the syndrome started to manifest, we might have been able to save her memories, or at least a part of them; but because of the difficulty in diagnosing the disease, and because the vaccine was not ready when the disease was diagnosed, that was impossible for this girl.

-What will happen once she wakes up? -Shirou asked.

-Well, after all the research finds its end, and it has been concluded that the vaccine is all effective, there will probably be some interviews and then...

-After?

Pieceman sighed- As I said, it is a dangerous disease, difficult to diagnose, almost all of its carriers end their lives before they can be intervened, to our luck, it was not their case. Since Japan does not have the technology to treat it, and of the few diagnosed patients still alive in the world, she was brought here specifically to be treated and to help with the development of the vaccine. While she is likely to be granted a temporary visa for the duration of the hype surrounding the discovery of the cure, she is a foreigner, she does not have a visa per se, let alone English nationality.

-She will be deported," said Shirou as he looked at the girl's sleeping face, fortunately, things like visa and nationality were things Kiritsugu had taken care of and he didn't need to worry about, something similar was the case with Illya and Manaka, granting a study visa to magi associated with the Clock Tower was common for the Magus Association. You told me his family was dead, his whole family?

-It seems so, if she has more family, they don't seem to want to take care of her, apparently, the girl's parents decided to completely disassociate themselves from their respective families... So, what happens to her after she returns to Japan, is unknown to me.

-I understand...

"Haaa, I know that look." Manaka sighed internally, she knew what Shirou was thinking, and also what it would cause.

After that, they both left the office, thanking Pieceman for his help. Shirou also asked the doctor to let him know when the girl would be discharged.

Thus, the two returned to Marbury's Workshop, as they rode the London Underground, both lost in thought.

Shirou was thinking about Hakuno's situation, about how to help her and, little by little, he was forging a plan, although, in the end, it would depend on Hakuno's own decision whether it would be carried out or not.

On the other hand, Manaka was also deep in thought. The signs were there, and she saw them clearly, she didn't even need clairvoyance to predict what would happen: She, Ayaka, Sieg, Kishinami Hakuno, Waver Velvet, Twice H. Pieceman, Flat Escardos, Illyasviel von Einzbern and, finally, he, Emiya Shirou. They all had one thing in common, at some point, on various worlds, they were all masters in a war for the holy grail. And, strangely enough, before long, there would be a new war for the holy grail?

Was it all just a big coincidence? She knew it wasn't. Was this Alaya's plan, Gaia's plan, or someone else's? Manaka, after much analysis, already had the answer, yes and no, it was a mixture of many factors. Although, in the end, these did not matter to her, what really mattered to her, was only one thing: she could not afford to lose this time. She didn't just mean the war, she meant the life she now possessed, the future she could now shape, this little glimmer of hope. For that, she would play all her cards, and she was determined to do whatever she had to do to achieve it, she was nobody's pawn, so she would fight for herself and for the life she now possessed, that was why she wanted to teach Shirou and Ayaka, as a way to increase the odds of survival for both of them.

She didn't know if the three of them would enter the war as masters naturally, it all depended on the odds; but since it was in her best interest for them to do so, whether naturally or not, she would see to it that they entered the war as masters. About the others... At first she thought not to influence their future, but considering the scale of the conflict, except for Pieceman, it suited her to have them participate on her side.

In Pieceman's case, on worlds near the axis of the trunk of the Tree of Time, the worlds of what is considered to be the Correct History of Mankind, generally, Twice H. Pieceman was born in 1970 and, in the place and year of his birth, there was a war. It was usually a clash between ethnic groups organized by the major powers, a proxy war. He usually ended up as a war orphan and was later adopted. He would become a leading scientist in the fields of advanced neurosurgery in the second half of the 20th century and also a pioneer in the science of digital hacking. He discovered a cure for the disease known as Amnesia Syndrome and, after becoming a scientist, risked his life to save others. In 1999, Twice was called to a city in the Far East to treat victims of a disease and died in a bioterrorism attack.

But in this world, that story changed slightly. Pieceman was not born in 1970, but much earlier, in 1999 he does not suffer the bioterrorism attack, but in 1970, the year of his birth in other worlds, besides, in this world he does not die, but survives and, ironically, becomes the one in charge of saving the life of the one who, in other universes, would be his greatest opponent, Kishinami Hakuno, the squirrel or Hakunon for friends.

In addition to evidencing how twisted the worlds could be, it also evidenced something else; even if all of those mentioned were somehow related to the holy grail war, it was unlikely that they were all naturally involved as masters. After all, the war in which Pieceman and Hakunon participated was a very special one, and besides, even if one of them managed to participate, she doubted it would be Pieceman, in this world he was already almost an old man, and one not related to the world of sorcery, his chances of both being able to participate and his chances of surviving, were almost nil. As for Hakunon, she had decided that she would influence in the event that Hakunon's odds of participating naturally were not high enough, and if her plans went as she hoped, she would participate as a member of Shirou's faction.

As for Pieceman, she preferred that he not participate, and so she would not influence, for, the doctor's mentality about war, could become quite problematic, and she preferred not to have to deal with that.

-Are you all right, Mana? -asked the boy. You're frowning.

-Oh? Uh, yeah, sorry, I was lost in thought.

-Well, if you say so...

After getting off the station, they decided not to use the Space Transport and, as they walked, they began to talk about many things: the Clock Tower, the current world, the upcoming holy grail war, etc. With all the events that had happened today, they had hardly had time to have a good talk like this.

-What's the matter, Shirou? -she asked as she saw the pitiful expression his friend was exhibiting.

-Mana... you, me, Aya, we were able to survive the Fourth Holy Grail War...

Manaka nodded.

-Do you think... Do you think Tachi could have survived too?

Tachie, whom they called Tachi in friendship, she remembered for various reasons. Though it was brief, she was his first rival for Shirou's heart, as well as a constant torture on his conscience. If not for the short time they were together, how complicated the war was, and most of all, Shirou's personality and the fact that Tachie was always by his side, that she didn't have time to "deal" with the girl. At the end of the day, as much as it bothered her to admit it, if there was anyone close to her crush's heart, it was Tachi, and it was also no mystery to her that Tachi had the same feelings as she did for her crush.

At the time of the war, if she was honest with herself, and if she could have made the war go the way she wanted it to go, then she could have killed or cursed Tachi without remorse just to have her lover's heart all to herself. At present, the memory of the girl caused her pain and was a constant ache in her conscience; for she did nothing to save her from the most likely future she knew Tachi would have, and she felt some remorse for the simple fact that she had considered wiping her off the map in order to achieve her goal. She and her sister were the reminder of what she could become, her only consolation, was to tell herself that she had done none of those things, that they were simply possibilities, and as long as she had no influence, all would be well.

Now that she thought about it, bringing the three of them together was even more twisted than she had initially thought. Like them, Tachi also didn't have the happiest future on most worlds where the fourth war was taking place. On these, more often than not, Tachi would end up dying as just another victim of the disaster caused by the grail mud, on even more tragic worlds, her body would be desecrated by a magus and used as a sort of demi-servant, brought back as a zombie of sorts.

Manaka stifled a dry laugh, the three destined to die, or lead pitiful lives in many realities, were reunited in a dying world becoming friends and somehow; they had escaped their respective fates.

She looked up at the slowly rising moon and replied, "Who knows? In this world, many things I thought impossible ended up coming true, even if it is but a taste of the dismal future that awaits us, it still remains something that cannot be denied. Maybe... maybe for her too... -Manaka neither confirmed nor denied anything, she knew the truth; but to give her friend hope only to have it crushed by Tachi herself was too cruel.

Shirou couldn't help but smile too-. I hope so...

"Be careful what you wish for, Shi-kun."

...

After the long walk, the two arrived at the Marbury Workshop. In the foyer, they met Sella.

-Welcome back, Mr. Emiya, Lady Sajyou," Sella spoke politely.

Shirou had tried to get them both to call him by name and save the formalities, and while it seemed to have worked with Leysritt, Sella seemed to be a hopeless case.

-Thank you, Sella," Shirou replied.

-We're back," Manaka replied.

Sella nodded and proceeded to say, "I took the liberty of preparing dinner, as they were both quite late in arriving. Please proceed to the dining room, my lady is waiting for you there.

Although somewhat tired from the walk, the two decided to go to the dining room upon seeing the woman's insistence. Perhaps something important had happened, something Illya wanted to inform them about. At least, that was what Shirou imagined, because Manaka knew what it was about, she mentally prepared herself, this meeting would largely define many things that would happen in the future.

In short, this was something important, so important that Shirou would have wanted to be informed beforehand. Once the doors to the dining room opened, the boy could see his sister sitting in one of the dining room chairs, she was happily eating sweets with a certain ancestor he knew very well.

When his presence was noticed in the room, all eyes in the room turned to him, with the sole exception of Manaka, who was staring at Altrouge.

Altrouge smiled, "It hasn't been long Shirou; but things seem to have taken an interesting turn in just a few days. I expect you to fill me in on the latest developments, your sister has insisted that you be the one to do so.

The boy was paralyzed, not because of Altrouge's presence per se, but because he knew what was coming his way. Manaka walked beside him, and when their eyes met, the temperature in the dining room dropped several degrees.

Well, if she looked on the bright side of things, if the workshop blew up, at least she wouldn't have as much trouble as she would have if this encounter took place inside the Tower.

Obviously, this was nothing more than a way to ignore the question that inside him was being shouted to the four winds: How the hell would he get out of this...?

Omake:

The boy was paralyzed, not because of Altrouge's presence per se, but because he knew what was coming his way. Manaka walked beside him, and when their eyes met, the temperature in the dining room dropped several degrees.

Well, if she looked on the bright side of things, if the workshop blew up, at least she wouldn't have as much trouble as she would have if this encounter took place inside the Tower.

Obviously, this was nothing more than a way to ignore the question that inside her was being shouted to the four winds: how the hell would she get out of this...?

Manaka fixed her gaze on the ancestor-. Yaro... ALTROUGE! -Later, she entered the dining room and began to approach.

Altrouge smiled and showed a smug expression. Oh mukkata kuru no Ka? Nigezu ni kono Altrouge kuru no Ka?

Mánaka moved even closer and clenched his fists. Chikadzukanakya teme o buchi nomesenai Dana.

Altrouge narrowed his eyes and, with a slightly exaggerated pose, invited her to come even closer. ~OH OH de wa juubun chunu suka na yoi

Omake V2:

The boy was paralyzed, not because of Altrouge's presence per se, but because he knew what was coming his way. Manaka walked beside him, and when their eyes met, the temperature in the dining room dropped several degrees.

Well, if she looked on the bright side of things, if the workshop blew up, at least she wouldn't have as much trouble as she would have if this encounter took place inside the Tower.

Obviously, this was nothing more than a way to ignore the question that inside her was being shouted to the four winds: how the hell would she get out of this...?

Manaka fixed her gaze on the ancestor. So you finally show up, ALTROUGE! -Later, she entered the dining room and began to approach.

Altrouge smiled and showed a smug expression. Oh, so the owner of your nightmares approaches me, Shirou?

Mánaka moved even closer and clenched her fists. I have to get closer to show Shi-kun who's the best waifu!

-Huh? Waifu? -asked several of those present.

"Oh, right, the deformation of that word just happened last year, it's still a long time before it becomes famous...", thought the girl-. Cof, cof... I mean, I have to get close to show Shi-kun who's the best girl to be his partner!

-Ahhhh!

Altrouge narrowed his eyes and, with a slightly exaggerated pose, invited her to come even closer. ~OH OH Then come closer! Come closer to your defeat!

Chapter 23, Conflict.

Shirou opened his eyes with difficulty, his whole body ached, apparently he was in bed in his room. How had he gotten here? He couldn't remember, the only thing he remembered was, ah yes, yesterday.

Like a mist, painful memories began to come back...

Shirou stood at the dining room doors, next to her was her childhood friend and, inside the dining room, seated around the table, were: his sister, who was eating sweets and talking animatedly with the apostle, Leysritt, who was standing behind Fillia, and the latter was at the head of the table, she seemed to be playing her role as Illyasviel von Einzbern, finally, Altrouge was next to his sister, chatting and eating, and, on her legs, was little Fou.

Shirou tried to look as calm as possible, although inside he just wanted to run out of the dining room and not look back. R-Rouge, I didn't know you were already back -In an attempt to avoid trouble, the redhead held her friend's hand tightly. In a normal situation, she would love this; however, at this moment, she almost wanted to let go.

He and Manaka proceeded to sit down.

-I rushed back sooner than planned," she said with a smile; but it faded soon after. Unfortunately, I have to bring you up to speed as well.

Shirou looked at her confused; but nodded, "By the way, this is...

-The girl who used to come out to scare and threaten you in your dreams. The owner of your nightmares, isn't she? -said the ancestor as she looked disdainfully at Manaka. Even if we never saw each other as such, the unpleasant feeling is undoubtedly the same.

Cold sweat ran down the back of the boy's neck. W-well...

-Shi-kun... -Manaka whispered.

-Y-Yes?

-You still think it's best to reveal the whole truth to Lady Einzbern?

Illya watched the conversation with interest when Manaka mentioned it.

Shirou nodded, "Yes, I think it's best..." The magus smiled.

The magus smiled, "So...". -Manaka bowed "respectfully" and said-. It is a displeasure to meet... the Bloodsucking Princess who almost ended up killing the person I love.

If the atmosphere was cold, now Shirou felt like he was at the North Pole. And it wasn't even just Altrouge and Manaka who were provoking him...

Altrouge got up and stood a few feet away from the magus, it looked like they were about to crash into each other.

Shirou swallowed and stood between the two women. I understand that you two don't get along; but, remember what we talked about, you both promised me that you would try to put up with each other, so, please, let's sit down and talk about this, shall we?

The two looked at each other and it seemed that, despite the boy's intervention, neither of them wanted to give in; but, to their good fortune, the sister factor kicked in to save him

Fillia, who had raised an eyebrow when the word bloodsucker was mentioned, at the mental command of her mistress, intervened. Brother, what do you mean by telling me the truth? And why did Miss Sajyou just call your apprentice a bloodsucker?

Shirou took the opportunity to grab his friend's arm directly, which made Altrouge narrow his eyes, and pulled her so that they both sat around the table, the Princess, on her side, sat in front of them both, and the boy tried to ignore the atmosphere and the death stares their companions were sending each other.

-Well, since we're going to unveil everything, then the first thing I have to do is introduce her. This is my older sister, Illyasviel von Einzbern," Altrouge was about to explain that they had been introduced before, but when the red-haired man addressed not Fillia, but the maid who had introduced herself as Fillia, she held back. The one you met as Illya is actually Fillia, who is playing the role of being her double, this for a reason I will explain later.

Without saying anything, Altrouge nodded.

Illya, on the other hand, looked a bit puzzled. Are you sure about this, Shirou?

The red-haired man nodded, "Yes, I think that not revealing it now would bring us more trouble in the future. -Then, he began to introduce Altrouge. Illya, this is "Rouge Crimson, my apprentice", or at least, that's what everyone thinks, her real name is Altrouge Brunestud, Princess of the Dead Apostles.

For a moment, silence reigned over the entire dining room. Everyone present took this information differently, Sella and Fillia were equal parts dismayed and concerned, Leysritt and Manaka didn't seem to mind, though for entirely different reasons.

Illya, on the other hand, was shocked; however, this was short-lived, as her curiosity overcame her concern. Hmm... Well, that explains a lot... Although I also imagined her differently... -Illya began to stare at the Princess. Kiritsugu was right, you did abandon your eyes on the Rail, didn't you?

This surprised both Altrouge and Shirou.

-W-Wait, did you know that? No, more importantly, did Kiritsugu know!?

Illya grinned mischievously, "Don't underestimate daddy, Shirou. While he wasn't sure, he had his suspicions, however, it seemed so ridiculous and fanciful to him as to be true, so, he only tangentially mentioned it to me. On that note, this all really doesn't surprise me, and I'm also glad I don't have to worry about the Mystic Eyes of Enchantment... I understand that you couldn't tell dad, but it's obviously different with me, so why is the Princess of the Dead Apostles pretending to be your apprentice?

Shirou was still shocked by all this, how much had he really been able to hide from Kiritsugu?

Altrouge, on the other hand, held back his laughter. W-Well, it seems that, although rusty, your old man was still living up to his reputation.

Shirou sighed and could do nothing but nod resignedly. I guess so... As for your question, Illya, what I'm about to tell you right now is a secret for everyone, do you understand? It's really important...

-How important? -asked the girl.

-Like the war or my reality marble.

Seeing that this was no ordinary matter, Illya decided to be serious. I see, in that case, tell me about it.

Shirou sighed, "You see, it all started with the end of the Fourth Holy Grail War...".

So, Shirou summarized to him how the last Holy Grail War had ended, how he lost everything to that war: his family, his friends, "and his memories". He told him about how Kiritsugu saved him and how he was reunited with his past, also how he promised his adoptive father to help him to reclaim him and, finally, he got to the point of telling him about Aylesbury, and everything that happened back then, the only thing he didn't tell him was about Fou's true identity; for, honestly, he doubted he would believe him and, in case he did, it would only be one more worry for her. Likewise, he explained in more detail why he did not reveal this to Kiritsugu; for he knew what was, in the beginning, both his father's childhood wish, and his wish in the fourth war, and he believed that, if he told him everything that was going on, Kiritsugu might come to believe that Shirou would follow a similar path to the one he ended up walking, and would surely blame himself for it, even if the red-haired man had no particular desire for heroism...

Due to the long time it took Shirou to explain everything, Sella had already finished preparing dinner and brought the food to the table.

For her part, Illya carefully analyzed the information she had obtained, much of what Shirou had told her, she knew to a greater or lesser extent. Whether it was from things her grandfather had informed her of, or from the talk she had had with Kiritsugu before his death. However, she didn't know the details, nor did she know her brother's point of view, so, this served to broaden her outlook.

-That's quite a bit of information, Shirou... -said Illya as she held her head in both hands. You're saying that the world is destined to be destroyed by a series of future calamities. Moreover, among these are the Ultimates of every planet and an alien menace that destroyed civilizations in the past... R-Really you're talking about that? I mean, even for our world, what you say sounds like that kind of crazy stuff that would happen in the Age of Gods. In fact, even if you confirmed Dad's suspicions to me, is she really who she says she is? -Obviously, Illya was referring to Altrouge.

Knowing that, even to the Magus World, this all sounded crazy, Shirou turned to Altrouge. Would you please?

The princess sighed and raised one of her hands, suddenly, her hand transformed into a vampiric claw.

-She really is an Apostle! -Illya exclaimed. So, it's all true?

Shirou nodded.

Illya seemed to want to ask more questions; but Altrouge ignored his curiosity and asked the boy. Okay, now it's my turn, what happened while I was gone?

Once again, Shirou took a breath and began to explain the recent affairs, he told him about Manaka's reappearance, omitting her state of undress, about the raid on Einzbern castle, the fight against Siegfried and, finally, everything related to the new war...

Now it was Altrouge who had his hands holding his head. WAIT, WAIT, WAIT... S-So, you're telling me that the Moon Cell or whatever it's called, that-that thing really can be used as an omnipotent device capable of miracles, i-is it serious?

-You skipped the part about magus war, heroic spirits, and that only the last one standing will be able to use the Moon Cell," Shirou reminded him.

-Those are trifles in comparison, we can take care of that! What matters is that there is something that could help us survive everything that's coming, IT'S LIKE A CAKE FALLING FROM HEAVEN!

-Well, yes... -Shirou nodded, he really didn't know what to say, it seemed that Illya and Altrouge were about to explode, each for their respective reasons.

-I already knew about the existence of the Moon Cell, but I never thought it could really... -Altrouge lay down at the table and, for several minutes, an awkward silence filled the dining room, until she spoke again. Shirou... We are going to participate in this event, aren't we? -The Princess's voice sounded really sweet, too sweet, almost reminding her of Manaka. She fixed her gaze on him and leaned over the table placing her hands on his shoulders, her eyes glowed with a reddish hue... Well, actually, her irises glowed a shade of crimson, while, around her pupil, a halo of multiple shades of red, bordering on orange, was created.

To the boy's surprise, Manaka stood up and a huge number of magic circles appeared on his back, filling almost the entire room. Shirou recognized them as the same spell she had helped him with during the invasion of Einzbern castle.

Manaka spoke with an icy, cutting voice. Up until now you whipped Shi-kun around as you pleased; however, that only happened because you were too strong in comparison... -Then, she smiled, it was a strange smile, it seemed warm, but it chilled the bones of several people present. However, with me here, don't think I'll let you go on doing as you please.

Altrouge did not back down, as if little or nothing mattered to him, and the three magus began to notice how something began to cause the space around them to change slightly.

Shirou swallowed saliva, he had rarely seen Altrouge like that, and it was also the second time he had seen Manaka demonstrating how dangerous she could be, only this time it was partially towards him, being close to Altrouge.

He broke away from the Princess and took Manaka's hand, asking her with his eyes to sit back down, her friend did so; but the magic circles didn't disappear and kept pointing at the ancestor at all times-. O-Of course, Illya is bound to participate in the war, so I can't leave her alone. I have to be with her and protect her," the boy replied to the Princess.

The ancestor nodded and then turned to the last Einzbern. Illya, right?

The girl looked at the Princess, her gaze chilling his bones, the tension could be felt in the air, her smile was too sweet to assume anything good. Y-Yes...

-You don't mind if we use the Moon Cell to save the planet, do you?

Illya had probably never felt so much fear in his life, except maybe for the time Siegfried had almost taken his head, but at least that time he had been quick. No... not at all...

-Good. Then, it's all decided, we'll participate in that ritual and achieve victory," Altrouge declared, his tone of voice was dry; but Shirou managed to notice a glimmer of emotion in it.

Shirou could not help but sigh, he knew the reason for the ancestor's behavior, so, in an attempt to appease the situation, he exclaimed-. We will succeed, your efforts will not be in vain, Altrouge.

-Huh? -exclaimed the apostle, his words catching her off guard.

-You've been fighting to prevent the end of the world for many years, haven't you? Now, the power to do so is within our grasp. We will not fail.

Seeing the boy's smile, Altrouge couldn't help but be a little embarrassed by the attitude she had taken, she sighed and returned to her usual demeanor, once again smiling her playful smile. Yes, you're right, at last, after so many years...

Inwardly, Manaka sighed. Even if she hated the woman in front of her, she couldn't deny that they both shared the same desire, and honestly, she hoped that using the Moon Cell would be enough to change the fate of the world; for, if a Quantum Lock was present, not even the Moon Cell's ability to interfere with reality could do anything against it.

-Sorry for getting you into all this trouble, Illya. Kiritsugu said to protect each other; but, even so, I'm getting you into all this mess... the red-haired man apologized,

The girl was still quite affected by the development of everything that had happened; but, seeing the pitiful look of apology that her younger brother was giving her, she couldn't help but feel that this was the moment where she had to assert herself as an older sister.

Illya took a breath of air and answered him as calmly as possible, "Relax, it doesn't really change anything, I still have to participate in the war whether I want to or not. That the world as we know it is going to end is something that has been known for several decades, I just... didn't expect that, behind the end of the world, there would be all this. I don't really care about the wish to the Moon Cell, I just want to live together with you, Sella, Leysritt and Fillia, in peace. So I'm not against using the wish to secure our future.

Altrouge smiled and, to Illya's surprise, began to stroke her head. The young Einzbern really didn't know what to do, the same woman who had almost given her a heart attack was now gently stroking her head. Good girl, I'm glad you have more sense than your brother.

-Hey," Shirou protested.

-I won't deny that sometimes your little instinct for self-preservation worries me, Shi-kun," Manaka stated, not that she didn't know why this was; but it didn't make her worry any less.

-You too Mana!?

However, her protest fell on deaf ears when Altrouge decided to continue. Well, I guess it's my turn now...

-Hmn? What do you mean? -asked the boy.

The Princess's smile disappeared, "Things didn't go the way I wanted them to at the meeting...".

This caught the attention of those present.

-What meeting? -asked Lady Einzbern.

-Altrouge was away because he needed to attend a meeting with the rest of the 27 Ancestral Dead Apostles," explained the boy, then he turned to the Princess. If things did not go as you wanted, don't tell me that... Are they planning to take revenge for Einnashe's murder?

This worried Illya and Manaka, would the ancestors come looking for Shirou's head?

Altrouge gave a nervous smile. Well, not exactly. Rather, if they come for your head, it will depend on your decision.

-What?

-It was decided that you have two choices: Join us... or, well... die.

This stunned the rest of the people in the room.

-Excuse me?! -Shirou asked, "What do you mean, join you? How did it come to this?

Altrouge sighed, "Well...

At some point in the conversation, PM had moved to the boy's lap and seemed to demand that he give him more food as if he was demanding payment for something. By the time Altrouge had finished explaining what had happened at the meeting of the 27 Ancestral Dead Apostles, dinner was over.

-And that was what happened...

Now it was Shirou who had his hands on his head. But, I can't become a dead apostle! I am the Queen's executioner, who precisely hates all dead apostles, and not only that, my most powerful weapon is a sacred sword and my most powerful defense is also a sacred relic, if I become an apostle, it would be counterproductive for me.

-I know, that's why I asked for time and used everything that happened with Louvre to get it granted. -I didn't specify how much time I needed for you to get stronger, it could be a year, two, three, a decade. In fact, to reach the level needed to properly occupy a position within the 27 you need at least a thousand years. For the 27 Ancestral Dead Apostles, the time intervals, what is long and what is short, is very relative. Simply put, it's a play for time.

-¿Y? -Manaka asked.

-Hmn? -exclaimed Altrouge.

-It doesn't matter if the time is a year, a decade or a thousand years, sooner or later, you will have to fulfill what you said and turn Shirou into an apostle, what will you do then, bloodsucker? -asked the girl with venom in her voice.

Altrouge frowned. Hmn... Who knows... I'll have to see when the time comes," He then smirked, "What would you do, kill all 27 of them?

Manaka replied with a similar smile. If it's to protect Shi-kun, I'd be more than willing, and considering who are the most dangerous to him, I think I should start with the one in front of me.

-Ohhh...? -Now it was Altrouge who stood up, and Manaka wasn't far behind. When Shirou told me about you, you seemed to be a wolf in sheep's clothing, but you seem to have dropped the act... What happened, you faker, did you see that your pathetic act was useless and decided to show yourself as you are?

Shirou was really stressed at this point, he knew it was impossible to stop these two, he didn't have the power to do it; but he couldn't let them do whatever they pleased either, seeing that conflict was imminent, he signaled Leysritt to get Illya out of the place and set out to try to stop his two companions from killing each other. To her surprise, Fou also moved to stand at her shoulder.

-Well, in that meeting, you showed yourself as you are, treating Shirou as nothing more than a tool," Manaka flashed an icy smile. Show me as I am? Fufu, you don't know what I'm capable of yet; but... -The magic circles glowed brightly. Do you want to find out?

-Show me! -Altrouge roared in counterpoint with a defiant smile.

Shirou, bracing his whole body just in case, tried to get between the two, knowing that they were unlikely to attack each other as long as he was in the way; but, it all happened in a matter of seconds, too fast. Having circulated his Od in his eyes, Shirou unconsciously activated his mystical eyes, and then, he could see him for a few moments...

The air "turned" into sharp blades, these were hurled against Manaka like a hurricane and, on the contrary, beams of light emerged from the magic circles in the direction of Altrouge. And, to the boy's misfortune, he was almost in the center of it all... Or was he?

It was strange, he was there, right in front of himself about to be pierced by the attacks, but, at the same time, he wasn't, and what were seconds turned into minutes from his perception, he knew that his mystical eyes allowed him to better handle information that his brain couldn't handle, like, for example: high speed movements; but, even so, he didn't understand why he was seeing himself, it was like seeing himself reflected in a crystal right in front of himself, or something like that, maybe it was a side effect obtained by becoming hybrid eyes?

He shook his head, "he had time", but not enough time to ask himself these questions now, he quickly analyzed the situation, knowing that it was impossible to stop his companions, knowing that he was going to be hit and that it was practically impossible to avoid it, he did the only two things he could: He stopped in mid-run and tried to jump backwards to get out of the area of effect of the attacks, even if he knew it was practically impossible to escape completely, and, knowing how Avalon worked, he covered his head as much as possible, as Avalon's abilities would do as long as his head was intact.

He closed his eyes, he saw nothing, for him everything was darkness. And suddenly, all he felt was a sea of pain, from all sides, he felt how, despite the Reinforcement and the Protective Runes engraved on his clothes, part of his body was burned and sliced in opposite sides.

A horrible scream of pain shot through him from deep inside him until it completely filled the dining room. The pain seemed endless, it reached a point where he stopped feeling and simply fell into darkness, he didn't know if he had died, or if he had fainted, he couldn't feel anything... the only thing he heard before everything plunged into the abyss, was a single sound...

-FOOOOUUUUU!

That was as far as his memories went, the rest was painted in black.

-I suggest you don't move," Shirou raised his head, next to him were Sella and, leaning on his bed, was Illya sleeping. Her body is still in a very delicate state.

-Sella, what happened?

As she prepared some concoctions, she answered, "We left the room before the crash, we felt the workshop shake from the other side. We were afraid to go back inside, so we waited for several minutes; but finally my mistress became impatient and went inside the room...

It was strange for the boy, for the first time since he met Sella, he saw her show different expressions beyond her usual serious demeanor: Disgust, terror, sorrow, and other feelings he could not identify were exhibited on her face...

-What we saw there, it was horrible. The dining room was completely destroyed, it almost looked like it was going to fall apart; but...

-But...? -asked the boy.

-The worst of all was his state at that moment, much of his body was burned, it even seemed that, in some parts of it, some lightning bolts went through him; on the other hand, the other half seemed to have been cut by an infinite number of blades. The only completely intact part was his head...

Just hearing it made the boy swallow saliva and numerous shivers ran through him. It wasn't the first time he had been on the brink of death, he had been run through by Altrouge, impaled by Einnashe Forest, cut in multiple places by Siegfried, etc, and, still, suffering mortal wounds was not something he could get used to.

-It seemed that our two previous guests, were desperately trying to heal him and, despite the sorry state he was in, it was apparently working. -Sella restrained herself from saying the next title sarcastically; but some venom seeped into the tone of her voice. Her childhood friend seems to be a magus extraordinaire in Healing Sorcery." Again, she restrained herself from saying the next title disparagingly. His other associate seemed to be able to heal him in a way unknown to us. All this, plus Avalon's protection and healing, were able to save him.

-I understand... Wait, you said previous guests? -Now that Shirou was looking around the room, it was true, neither Altrouge nor Manaka were there. Where are they?

-Leysritt is guarding the door of the room and Fillia is cleaning up the mess, the other two are outside the workshop, they were expelled after what they did.

This really surprised the redhead, expelled? By whom? He didn't really see Sella, Fillia or Leysritt as having the capacity to expel those two, unless... They decided to leave on their own? Knowing those two, he doubted it, so he decided to ask the question that was on his mind?

-W-Who expelled them?

Sella stopped after giving him the concoctions, for a few moments, silence filled the room, in the woman's face was glimpsed a complicated expression, it seemed a strange mixture between fear, satisfaction, and amazement.

Then she turned to Illya. My lady.

-Illya...? But... How?" asked the boy in equal parts confusion and amazement.

Then Sella began to tell him what had happened…

Sella, Illya, Fillia and Leysritt had just left the dining room and, just a few seconds later, a huge and powerful rumble originated from inside it shaking the whole workshop. The walls shook and the ceiling creaked fiercely, for a moment, they thought the workshop would end up falling on top of them; however, being a magus-built workshop, it was made strong enough to withstand the blast.

For several moments, silence filled the hallway, it was an uncomfortable, apprehensive, and terrifying silence. For amidst the sound of the great explosion, a scream of terrible pain filtered through and reached the ears of all four of them...

Illya found herself trembling slightly, this feeling was similar to the one she felt when her life was about to end inside the castle. But it was worse in a way, at least there, everything ended quickly; but now she was outside the dining room, the seconds were passing and each one seemed to last an eternity; but she didn't want to go inside, she really didn't want to; because she knew that the scream of pain she had heard inside the loud explosion, came from her younger brother.

She was afraid, her mother had left her when she was a little girl, Kiritsugu vowed to return; but for a decade she heard nothing good from him, in fact, all she heard was that she had been replaced, at that time, all she had was her grandfather, and while their relationship wasn't good, at least she knew she wasn't completely alone. Sella, Leysritt and Fillia were her greatest companions and friends; but as such, they were not her family per se. After her grandfather had been murdered by her father, and his father had died without her being able to do anything to stop it, she had clung to his last words...

"In the magus world, betrayal is the general rule, but you are family, even if you don't share blood ties, that doesn't matter, take care of each other, stick together and look for a future, if I have one wish, it's that you will be happy."

So he decided to trust Shirou and accept him as his brother, he was the only family he had left. And so far, he had trusted her and showed that he wanted to protect her, just as her father had wanted.

If she went into the dining room, if Shirou wasn't... if he wasn't... alive, the mere thought of these words made her shudder, she would be left alone, all alone.

-M-My lady... -Sella whispered, her calm demeanor barely holding on. We must go in...

She knew they should; but, she couldn't, her legs were shaking too much. However, at that moment, a hand rested on her shoulder...

-Lys? -Illya asked.

-I... I'll go first," her friend declared.

Illya bit her lips and nodded, "Please...".

So, Leysritt made her way to the dining room, she was followed by Sella, Fillia and finally Illya.

There they saw him, lying in a corner of the dining room, part of his body was burned and cut. Around him were both Manaka and Altrouge, both seemed to be desperately trying to heal him in various ways while the light of Avalon shone from inside his body. Next to the three, stood Fou, licking the pool of blood in which he had bathed and which gushed from the boy's body.

Sella and Fillia rushed to the scene and could see how, in some almost miraculous way, the efforts of the two women added to those of Avalon seemed to bear fruit and the boy slowly returned to normal. Leysritt stayed by Illya's side protecting her, and as for her, she did not move from her place, the very moment she saw her brother's state, she was paralyzed, for her, her worst fears came true.

First her mother, then her grandfather, then her father, now her brother, were all of her family members destined to abandon him? To die before her? No matter what she did, was she destined to be alone? The words loneliness and abandoned were repeated hundreds of times in her head, all the while the image of what, she believed, was her brother's corpse, stuck in her mind.

Unbeknownst to her, the young Einzbern spent several minutes in that kind of trance, until the screams brought her back to reality.

For Sella and Fillia, they watched as, after the women managed to stabilize Shirou, at least enough so that his life was not in danger, the two started arguing again, however, this time they were arguing blaming each other, insulting each other for what had happened.

For Illya, the only thing she could hear were the screams of these two, she didn't know why they had argued again, no, rather, she wasn't interested in why they were arguing. The only thing that was engraved in her mind was the image of her brother's corpse, after seeing it, she stopped perceiving what was really going on.

Consternation... Trance... Dormant memories...

Alone again, and abandoned...

Her brother had died...

Again, alone and abandoned...

Now she had no one from her family...

Once again, alone and abandoned...

All because of her supposed friends...

Again, alone and abandoned...

And, even after they had killed him, they were arguing again.

Shut up...

Illya clenched her fists, the shouting increased...

Shut up!

She didn't want them there, if she was destined to stay alone then she didn't want them there, she just wanted them to leave...

Some memories flashed through her mind, memories implanted from even before her birth, a formula, an equation, a thaumaturgical foundation...

The screams increased even more...

Shut up!

Tears began to slide from her eyes, the magic formula, the memories of that "saint", shone brighter and became more lucid inside her.

The girl's magic circuits were strongly activated and the magic crest of the Einzbern shone all over her body. The sound of a tinkling sound... a magic circle manifested below her surrounding her person and Illya simply could not contain herself...

-SHUT UP! -The shout of the Einzbern heiress, the last remnant of the Third Magic, completely silenced the discussion of the other two.

By the time they both turned to the young Einzbern, they noticed something that stunned them. Illya was crying as she was lost in her anger, from the magic circle at her feet, what appeared to be huge greenish petals of a large flower emerged, all of them, surrounding her.

Made of magical energy, a heavenly garden manifested around her.

It was strange that such a beautiful image should strike such terror into the hearts of the Princess and the Mage. When Illya shouted at them to be quiet, for a moment, they both felt their souls begin to detach from their bodies.

-The Third Magic!? -Manaka asked in astonishment, although she knew of this possibility, it was so remote that she had not paid much attention to it.

The Third Magic, Heaven's Feel, the magic that allows the materialization of the soul. The third stops the inevitable dispersion of the soul once it no longer has an anchor in the world and essentially transcends it to a higher form of existence. It is a magic that realizes true immortality by transcending the soul of a being to a higher dimensional plane capable of interacting with the material world as if it had a body, without having to return to Akasha. Thus, the practitioner acquires an unlimited source of magical energy because the soul will become analogous to a perpetual motion machine; but, in order to achieve this goal, the soul must first be extracted from the body it inhabited, and that was what was happening at this moment.

...

Manaka knew the 5 Magics well; however, her relationship with them was... Complicated. The magics can be considered as the power to "change the world", to "influence reality", having reached the origin. Therefore, magicks are a power that opposes humanity and the world alike. Magicians must reach the Root to obtain a magic, whether the magic is the apex of the path they followed to reach the Root, as is the case with the Second, Third and Fourth, which were created as a means to reach the Root and became magics at the end of that path, or, like the First and Fifth, which used an already existing path, known as Akasha gate or Ymir gateway depending on the cultures, and at the end of this path reached the Root and claimed Magic. These paths are closed for good once used, and, in the case of attempting by a method or theory already used, as is the case with the Second, Third, and Fourth Magic, a Magic cannot be obtained.

In her case, she was not a mage in any of those senses, though due to what she was capable of doing she should still be considered one, for she never created a path that would allow her to attain a magic at the end of the journey, nor did she use a pre-existing path to attain a magic, instead, she was born with a body connected to the Root. This brought equal parts advantages and disadvantages. Among the advantages was the fact that, unlike the other mages who used either of the two aforementioned methods, since her path to the Root, which was her own body, was constantly open, so to speak, she could influence reality in multiple ways, which could be translated as the use of multiple magics, including magics other than the current 5. However, this also brought disadvantages, one was that since her body was the one connected to the Root, plus this in itself could be considered a gateway, how much she could take advantage of this pathway, depended on her magic circuits.

Magical circuits are a pseudo-nervous system that propagates through the human body and what qualifies a person to be a Magus. The Magical Circuits reside within the soul of the magus, and what is found in the body is just a physical expression of them that spreads throughout the body in a manner similar to the nervous system. That which is classified by its quality and quantity, are these physical expressions and, being in contact with her body, a Gate to Akasha, her circuits possessed a quality never seen before, being able to handle the power of a path to it, but to her misfortune, she was unlucky in the area of quantity, having less circuits than average, the quantity was not related in any way to her body, but to her soul, and it was something she could not change, so she was limited by it.

This meant that she was not able to use her path to the best of her ability, so her ability to interfere with reality also had its limits, and those limits, for example, did not allow her to overcome a quantum lock. If she compared herself to the other mages, she could make a more or less exact simile with the mages of the old RPG games: the users of the five magics were White or Black Mages, and she, on the other hand, was the Red Mage. She could use any of the Five Magics, but probably could not bring them to the same level as any of the original users of these, on the other hand, unless they managed to reach Akasha again via another path, none of the mages could perform magic other than what they had obtained.

The last advantage that her birth status owed her, was that, as far as sorcery was concerned, she could say that she was superior to any of the current Five Mages. That is, Magic allowed you to influence reality in a specific way, but it gave you no advantage when it came to Sorcery. An example that made this easy to understand was Aoko Aozaki, she was the Fifth Mage, a user of Blue Magic; however, other than that, Aoko could be considered inferior as a magus to many of the Clock Tower's lecturers, by the way, Waver didn't count, he was a special case. So far, Manaka had seen three types of cases with Magi: The first was Aoko, a user of the Fifth, which she could use as she pleased; but she was inferior to many magus in Sorcery. Then there were cases like Justeaze, she was the opposite case, as a magus, her abilities in Sorcery were superior to those of the Original Wizard of the Third Magic; however, as a Mage, her ability with the Third was inferior to the Original Wizard. And finally there was Zelretch, he was the user of the Second Magic, which he mastered to perfection, and, furthermore, as a magus, he was so absurdly talented as to have earned the title of Mage Marshall, literally the magi in the Clock Tower were fighting to be his pupils, in short, he was the complete package. And yet, even he could not compare to her as a magus, for thanks to her special condition, she could use and master all the existing sorceries.

And, the last disadvantage she had seen of her birth state, was that, since her abilities were closely tied to her body, if she left it for some reason and failed to return to it, her abilities would be greatly diminished. For example, she would lose the ability to see through everything.

...

What was happening worried the mage, if Lady Einzbern didn't control the Third Magic well and used it incompletely, it was possible that their souls would leave their bodies and, if they didn't recover them in time or get a suitable anchor for their souls, they would end up returning to Akasha eventually.

-L-Lady Einzbern, control yourself, if you lose control, all of us present could...

-Shut up! Neither of you has the right to ask me for anything! Because of you Shirou is in this state! Get out of here!

Once again, those present felt as if they were losing the strength in their bodies, very slowly their souls were being detached, all this while the garden was expanding all over the dining room.

-... P-PM," Altrouge whispered as she made her way towards Fou, even she was a little worried about how the Magic was affecting her.

-Fou?

-Please...

Fou was the one who cared little to nothing about the presence of the Third Magic, for him, it was enough to exercise his authority and it would all be over. He jumped towards Altrouge, and the latter grabbed Manaka's shoulder.

-Hey! -exclaimed the magus.

-Do it," commanded the Princess.

-FOUUUU!

In a flash, all three disappeared. The only ones left inside the dining room were: Shirou, Leysritt, Sella, Fillia and Illya...

-After that, my lady fainted for a while, we brought him here and watched over his recovery. -Sella turned to Illya. After she woke up and we explained to her that you were still alive, she refused to leave your side.

Shirou stared at Illya, she was sitting in a chair next to his bed, apparently she had fallen asleep again after waiting so long.

-Ouch... -Shirou felt a slight bump on his head, he turned to Sella, who had given it to him.

-Sir Emiya, I am not as easy to convince as is the case with my lady or Leysritt, and I am not obliged to act like your sister either, as is the case with Fillia, so I can be clear with you: I do not like you yet; but, your presence makes my lady happy. She had the misfortune of seeing how almost all the people she could call family died and, currently, you are the only one who remains alive and whom she can call family, you must realize that you are no longer alone, now you have someone who depends on you, that's why you cannot put yourself in danger like that without thinking about the consequences. -Sella's gaze was cold. If you make her go through the pain you made her feel tonight, I will see to it myself that you will never see her again, do you understand me?

Shirou merely nodded, not because he feared the homunculus' actions, but because he believed she was right. Seeing how Illya clung to him and, after hearing what Sella had told him, he couldn't help but see himself as an irresponsible idiot-. I understand...

Sella nodded, she walked over to her sister and gently moved her. My lady, wake up, your brother is already up.

Illya started to open her eyes, seeing her brother watching her, she couldn't help but throw herself on top of him to hug him.

-S-Shirou...! -The girl moaned as warm tears spilled from her eyes.

-I'm sorry Illya, I... I acted like an irresponsible idiot.

Illya tried to look angry, but the smile of happiness and the tears coming from her eyes betrayed her intentions. Exactly, you can't put yourself in danger like that, you can't leave me like that! Do you understand? Don't do it again, as your sister, I forbid you! Do you understand!?

Ilya's voice seemed to want to show security and anger; but seeing his sister's look the only thing he could notice was anxiety, her tone of voice was almost desperate. Shirou swallowed saliva, it was obvious that his sister was not used to this kind of situations, and he didn't blame her, she had been locked up for almost all her life; however, he also knew that, with the way things were, leading a safe life was practically impossible for him, even so, he also understood that it was one thing to be forced to lead a dangerous life, and quite another to throw himself into danger without having any plan as he had done last night. Even with Avalon as a backup, he could not continue to act like yesterday, in order not to make one of the last people he could call family suffer more, he had to act more, but... For a moment he stifled a dry laugh, he had to act more like Kiritsugu-. I... I will do everything in my power not to put myself in danger irresponsibly.

At this answer, Illya frowned. You didn't promise not to.

Shirou gave a small, guilty smile. Sorry; but we're going to war and we live in a world of Sorcery, it's almost impossible for me not to put myself in danger...

-Then I'll summon a powerful servant to protect us all! -she answered.

-Even so, I am a Freelancer, many of the jobs I will be doing may put me in danger...

Illya lowered his gaze. So, it's not possible... Is it?

The red-haired man shook his head-... No, unfortunately not... -Shirou began to stroke her head in an attempt to reassure her, then he gathered all his willpower and said firmly. I can't promise you that I won't put myself in danger in the future; but... From now on, I promise you that, no matter what danger I am in, I will come back to you. Will you believe me in this?

Illya looked unsure; but she wiped away her tears and tried to sketch a small smile. All right... I'll believe you... But don't disappoint me.

-I won't... -Shirou looked down.

-What's wrong? -Illya asked worriedly.

-Illya... About Manaka and Altrouge.

The girl's face frowned instantly, she showed an extraordinarily cold look, it was no mystery to the boy what feelings his sister harbored for the two girls-. Yes?

Shirou sighed-. I understand that you don't like them after this; but, they really don't want to cause any harm to either of us, at least, not intentionally. What happened yesterday, it was the fault of all three of us.

-No! It was clearly their fault, you didn't do anything wrong!

He shook his head, "No, I knew this would happen... I was naive, I thought I could get them both to, well... tolerate each other. If I had been smarter, I would have taken them somewhere else, or tried to stop them in some other way, if I had had a plan in place...

-They are both adults Shirou! Older than you and me, they should be able to think before acting.

-Yes, I'm not defending them in that sense; but...

-But you want me to let them stay by our side... Don't you? -asked his sister with frustration filling her voice.

The boy nodded, he knew that his feelings would not be enough to convince his sister, he had to back up his request in a logical way-. As you know, Lady Kanon forced Manaka to stay by my side, we can't be separated, even if we want to. As for Altrouge, she and I have a contract, and while I'm not entirely sure what it's about, I'm sure she won't allow me to separate from her without both of us having completed our goal.

Illya frowned, she already knew about Manaka's condition, as for Altrouge, not for nothing was she considered the Mistress of Contracts; but, still, it didn't seem to her that they could have them here without some measure of security, she simply couldn't wipe the slate clean to pretend yesterday never happened- ... ... If I'm honest, I don't want them to come near us, and if it's up to me, they can take their problems elsewhere. -Then she sighed, "But I also understand that this is bigger than us, and we just can't let go that easily, can we?

-No, we can't. Not if we want to have a future," the boy replied, shaking his head.

Illya nodded, he didn't like it; but it's not like he had the power to face those two either. But the moment she thought this, she remembered part of what had happened last night... She... had used her, hadn't she? She had been in a state of trance and anger the night before, but after waking up and before going back to sleep, she was able to sort out her thoughts, she had been able to momentarily achieve her grandfather's goal, no, of all the Einzbern, she had used the Third Magic, hadn't she?

At first, she didn't know what to do about those two, trusting the two women to behave and not have a fight again was both irresponsible and stupid after what they had shown last night, she had to have a safety measure, a way to be able to deal with both of them in case they were about to unleash a disaster like last night, to prevent the same thing from happening again, something she could use as a threat that would force them to think before they acted, not only to protect her brother, but also to protect herself and her maidservants, but for Shirou's warning, they could have ended up the same way he did and, unlike Shirou, they had no regenerative ability whatsoever.

And then, the Third came to her mind, she didn't really know much about it, that is, she knew about how it was used in the grail ritual and she knew what the pinnacle of its power was, the reason why it was considered a Magic; however, her knowledge ended there. However, there was one thing she was sure of, the Third Magic was a powerful enough tool to make those two retreat, she really didn't know how useful it would be against them; but to her luck, the Third was one of the Three Magics that was reached as the apex of a path that went all the way to the root and, in the course of that path, various ways of using the aspects of this Magic must have been found, hence, compared to the First and Fifth, that its users had to research the different aspects of these and how they could be used in different ways, that must have been done by the original user, and her grandfather had kept that information.

She didn't know how useful the Third would be, but she was an Einzbern, they weren't made for combat, and this magic was the only thing she could hold on to. She didn't want Shirou to get the wrong idea, after yesterday, those two had gone straight onto her blacklist, and she was only willing to let them stay close because circumstances forced her, so she spoke plainly to him-. Still, don't misunderstand me Shirou, even if I let them stay, I won't tolerate them causing a disaster like this again, if they act like this again, it doesn't matter if it's an incredibly powerful magus or the Princess of the Dead Apostles, if I extract their souls they won't be able to do anything. And I'm more than willing to do that, do you understand?

The boy nodded nervously, the fact that his sister agreed to allow them to stay in the workshop was good enough, still, he thought to himself, "Well, I really don't think Fou would allow you to do that, but it's better if you don't know." On the other hand, the boy was worried, Illya obviously didn't like Manaka and Altrouge, and now he had a weapon that could affect them, maybe he wouldn't have to stop only those two anymore-. I-I didn't know you could already use the Third Magic, Illya.

Illya smiled nervously- R-Really, I didn't either...

"Huh?"

-Remember when we read Grandfather's reports?

Shirou nodded.

-In them he said that, when I grew up, by studying the files my grandfather had on Third Magic, Justeaze's memories should awaken within me to help and guide me; but, even though I began to study the basics of it, I didn't see myself with the ability to use it, I couldn't even do the most fundamental of it, so I thought I had been a failure; however, yesterday that changed.

-Did the memories awaken? -asked the boy.

Illya nodded, "I think it was the shock and the mix of emotions that uncovered the subconscious memories...

-So, can you use it?

-Hmn... I'm not sure. At least I don't think I can use it in its entirety, I think I've only just begun to climb the mountain known as the Third Magic. I still have a lot to study and learn; but I think Justeaze's memories will help me from now on, or at least I hope so...

-I see, in that case, I'll take care of talking to Manaka and Altrouge, I'll let them know of your warning.

Illya nodded, looking serious. I won't let something like yesterday happen again, from now on, I won't just stand by and watch.

Shirou nodded.

-My lady, breakfast is ready. Please accompany me to the kitchen, I will ask Fillia to bring the food to your brother. -Sella had remained in the room and observed the entire conversation; however, she had stepped aside allowing the two siblings to speak.

Although Illya was reluctant to move away from Shirou, she did not want to give Sella, Leysritt and Fillia any further worries. Thus, Sella opened the door to the room and everyone could see Leysritt on the other side, she left the room and Illya hurried to follow her; however, before before before she left...

-One last thing Shirou?

-Yes?

Illya took a breath and, with a smile too sweet to be true, said-: When you talk to those two, give them another message from me. It's obvious that those two have feelings for you, so tell them: that I don't intend to give my dear brother, my only family, to any woman who can't control herself and ends up hurting him because of it! Be sure to tell them that I don't care if it's an ancestral princess or a childhood friend with extraordinary powers, if they want my approval, they'll have to earn it. Otherwise they'll have to sleep with one eye open," Illya closed the door.

-Huh? At what point did she...? -wondered the boy in shock.

"Well, I have to give it to her, she knows what she wants and is willing to back up her words, even if it's complete madness to do so. They may not have blood ties; but they're certainly family, they're both crazy, or just plain stubborn." A Princess's voice echoed in his head.

Shirou couldn't help but sketch a small smile. "Maybe a little of both, I thought you left...?".

"I did, I thought the only way to reassure your sister was to disappear from the place; but it was only for the first few hours, then I came back without her discovering me... We couldn't leave you in that state after all."

"Are you here?"

Suddenly, the dawn light coming through the window "bent" to show Altrouge's figure.

-Since when are you capable of doing that? -asked the boy.

-Since always, but thanks to you, I can do it more easily now.

The Princess nodded, "Yes, it's thanks to the mystical eyes you got for me. Now that I remember, I never explained to you what they do, did I?

He shook his head.

She smiled in a strange way, as if she felt both relieved and guilty at the same time. Well, this is not the time to talk about this; but I'll give you a quick summary: As you know, mystic eyes grant the power to interfere with the outside world in some way, the rainbow-ranked ones are also known as the greatest controller of the human body. Tell me, Shirou, why do you think Rita made it a condition to kill Einnashe Forest in order to give me these mystic eyes.

He recalled that moment, even though it seemed like yesterday, it had already been a little more than a couple of months since the trip on the Rail. Hmm... I think he said he didn't think I'd make it. So, I guess... He just didn't want to give them to you, did he?

Altrouge smiled, or at least tried to; to Shirou, that had been the fakest smile he'd ever seen on his face. Exactly, she didn't want me to get these mystical eyes, precisely because of how much they would help me. You know Shirou, maybe because of who I am, I'm very very unstable, that has become, both my greatest power, and my greatest weakness. That's why I can't generally use the natural abilities of my kind, like, for example: A Manifestation of fantasy.

-I understand, I guess if you're telling me this, the eyes? Have they helped you with that?

-That's right, do you remember how Father Karabo's eyes worked?

The red-haired man nodded, "Yes, the transient eyes, they allowed him to see the past; but they are also capable of reproducing recorded effects, like a knife cut in the air, which takes place in the past and brings them to the present.

-Exactly, Karabo's eyes can transcend the time axis. My eyes can also do something similar; they allow me to transcend my own probabilities.

-How? -No, rather, what does that mean?

Altrouge frowned, explaining it was a bit complicated. It means that they allow me to perceive my own limits and transcend them, overcoming my probabilities across the axis of time, allowing me to reach my ideal self, and reflecting it in the present. In this way, I am able to overcome it, my instability.

-And in this way you can use a Manifestation of fantasy without any hindrance.

Shirou understood what the Princess was referring to, for he had studied what Manifestations of a Fantasy were in the past, when he was receiving lessons on what a Reality Marble was with Altrouge, and now he had understood what the Princess did at dinner. I see, that was how you were able to transform the air into a hurricane of 'blades'.

-Well, it's not the only way I can do it, but it's the way I did it this time. The Manifestation of a Fantasy is the ability to materialize a vision. With it I can connect my will with nature, as a means to interfere with probabilities and transfigure the surrounding world to my will according to my worldview. While I can transfigure the whole world after I have unfolded it, I can also put it to a more minimalist use, transfiguring only one aspect of the world, such as light, distorting it to avoid being seen.

-And that's how you hid yourself?

-Yes... -Altrouge approached him, once again she was smiling a false smile. She had spent the night outside the workshop; but it wasn't like she had been doing anything, she had had a long discussion with Manaka. In this one, many things had happened, among which, she had clarified certain doubts she had, the first and most important, was who her enemy really was, after yesterday, she could tell that her enemy was powerful, and that she probably wasn't even fighting seriously yesterday and yet, she wasn't very experienced. The girl was smart, manipulative, and cunning, she wasn't going to deny that, but even so, she still seemed to be an inexperienced teenager who didn't know how to deal with certain things, like her strong feelings.

She easily defeated her using her own arguments, the girl obviously didn't want Shirou to perceive her as a monster, and as for her, she didn't care in the slightest if the redhead saw her that way, mainly because it wasn't worth hiding it, who didn't know her? She was the Princess of the Dead Apostles, the owner of Primate Murder, trying to hide who she was and what she looked like was nothing more than a childish fantasy. Besides, if Shirou could not accept her as she was, then their relationship never had a future. In this way, she consolidated herself as a monster that would not change and destroyed Manaka's argumentation in that way, subsequently, she came to this room with the same mentality of imposing herself just as she had done hours before, and ended up listening to the conversation between the siblings.

And as she listened to the conversation, as she saw the red-haired man trying to defend the indefensible, as she saw him damaged by her own hand, all her determination began to crumble. She wasn't as inexperienced as Manaka in love; but she still was in several ways, mainly because she had never given love any importance, she didn't need it, she had many more things to take care of. And that inexperience had worried her, and now, after what she had done, she understood that her inexperience had already played against her, the feeling in her chest made it very clear to her.

Still, what was he to do? There were some of Manaka's words that had affected him, one of them was that, in comparison to the blonde, she had done less for Shirou in all that they had been together. The second, and more painful, was that Manaka had told her something very true, in the meeting, she had treated Shirou like a tool, and in a way, he was; but that didn't make her feel any less guilty. On the other hand, treating him this way was so she could protect him, wasn't it? At first she thought so, but now that she was repeating it, wasn't she protecting herself as well? After all, in the state she was in, Shirou was a weakness, an easily exploitable weakness, how could she, the Princess of Blood and Contracts, allow such an obvious weakness? The world of the Dead Apostles was not so simple, you constantly had someone trying to put a dagger to your throat and take any opportunity to snatch your position, a weakness was not a luxury anyone could afford, she knew this, but what would she do with this weakness? She couldn't just dismiss it, well... Wasn't it because of this boy and the feelings he had engendered deep in her chest that she had risen again after fighting a losing battle from several decades ago?

She wasn't sure what to do, she didn't want to show weakness; but she no longer had the will to impose herself before the boy, quite the contrary, she wanted to apologize, to let him know she was sorry, but it was difficult to do so without conveying weakness, her gaze wandered around the place while avoiding the boy's gaze, she was trying to maintain strength; but, from the red-haired boy's expression, she was obviously not doing a good job, finally she swallowed saliva and said-. Shirou, about last night...

The boy was about to say something; but the princess silenced him with a finger. Let me finish, I was interrupted yesterday. -Altrouge simply could not tolerate any more of the boy's kindness, every kind word from him would only sink her further.

Seeing the seriousness with which she spoke, he could do nothing but nod.

-Shirou, I don't want you to misunderstand me. Yesterday the brat said that, during the meeting I talked about you as a tool, and while it's true, I didn't do it just because I see you that way. I really did it because, while I see you as the person who will help me achieve my goal, I care about you, and if I were to reveal what you mean to me, it is very likely that members of the apostles who detest me, like Gransurg or the old man, would mark you as a target. And that's not something I can afford.

Shirou was silent as he listened to the explanation, if he was honest, he wasn't going to deny that, when he heard Manaka's words, they hurt him a little; however, due to the quickness of the situation, he couldn't assimilate them well, and now that Altrouge had explained his reasons, he couldn't help but feel a little nervous about them.

-Don't think I don't have plans in the event that I am forced to turn you, either; at worst, my plans were not to turn you into a dead apostle as such, but to imbue you with vampiric characteristics.

-Huh? What do you mean? -asked the boy.

-Van-Fem was mistaken, he believed that I had formed a contract with you with the objective of, in the future, making you one of us; but it is not so, our contract only serves to increase your survival. It allows us to communicate with each other over short distances; moreover, the way I healed you after our first confrontation, and the way I did it last night, are also part of the contract. As long as we are close, it allows me to transfer your wounds to myself, and thanks to the Restoration Curse, they heal immediately.

-So you just played along?

The princess nodded. It was the safest way to protect you.

-What about imbuing me with the qualities of a vampire?

She smiled, "Although we call ourselves the 27 ancestors of the dead apostles, we are not really all dead apostles as such. For example: Fou is considered one of us; but simply because he has developed a taste for blood by imitating me. On the other hand, ORT is also considered one; but only when we discover that he has vampiric qualities, having murdered and devoured the previous fifth ancestor. Even Einnashe's predatory forest was not as such an apostle, but a bloodsucking ghostly species. do you understand?

-I think so, I have seen something like that before, for example: Altria, she was a human being imbued with the qualities of a dragon; but how do you plan to imbue me with the qualities of a vampire?

Well, the fruit of is the most feasible option; however, it is also a very dangerous option. It is rumored to give temporary immortality, having become the essence of the blood harvested from the victims of the forest and the thousands of animals that once inhabited it. However, the fruit also gives birth to vampiric forests, whether this is because of Einnashe's blood or because of the nature of the bloodsucking tree is not known; but considering this, it is unlikely that the fruit alone grants immortality. Even we cannot be sure that it is only temporary, or if it is, we cannot know how long it will last. We can only speculate; but it is the option we have most at hand and, despite how it sounds, it is a relatively safe option compared to the others.

-This would only be in an emergency situation, right?

She nodded- At least for now, that should be enough...

-For now?

Altrouge frowned. Yes... You see, while at the moment we're just a bunch of eccentrics who are united by drinking blood, we weren't always like this, belonging to the 27 is basically belonging to the elite of the dead apostles, in that sense we're very similar to the magus, and obviously, we have some characteristics that identify us.

-Which ones?

-The Blood Notion; the hemonomical principle." Seeing the boy's expression, Altrouge began to explain. It is a characteristic of the 27, it is the blood that makes an apostle dead, it is said to be "the mandate of the original cause engraved on our souls" it is something like a crown for the 27, and drinking this blood will elevate the apostle regardless of rank to the highest rank. Generally for it to work well, the apostle must be at least a millennium old, if not, well, he will be crushed by this one. As for how it works and what it allows us to do, it's a very long explanation, so we won't cover it for now, it would take longer to have to explain to you how the Principles work. Because of the need for a millennial base, that's why old Ortenrosse didn't mind leaving it up to me to decide when to convert you, his plan was as clear as crystal: First I must transform you...

-Wait! Wait! Wouldn't that turn me into a Dead Man!?

Altrouge looked at him blankly; but then smiled, "That's right, you don't know how the Dead Apostle society and its growth process works to any great extent, you only know the basics, right?

Shirou nodded, "Yes, and from what I understand, you transforming me would turn me into a Dead, and then, with a lot of luck, I must spend several centuries as a doll without consciousness until I am able to grow and transform into a true apostle. Obviously I cannot do that!

Altrouge laughed. Okay, since it is possible for you to become part of our society, I will give you an extended course of our growth process. Our growth process is measured in stages, the first one you already know, the Dead:

Rank 1; The Dead: They are nothing more than puppets, they are a corpse without a conscience acting according to the will of their master.

Rank 2; Ghouls: They are corpses that mimic the form they had in life, possessing a will but unable to formulate coherent thoughts. While their master's magical energy prevents them from decaying, their insides have completely disintegrated. As the decomposition of the brain causes them to instinctively seek flesh and blood, it is more savage than a simple corpse of Rank 1. They could be described as soldiers. If we put it in military terminology, the Undead are cannon fodder, while Ghouls are foot soldiers.

Rank 3; The Undead: From this point on, this is when a creature can finally be called a vampire. They are living corpses, Undead. Although they have not fully regained their mental faculties, they can simulate a human lifestyle on their own. They are high-ranking soldiers whose brains have been reconstructed after death. They are undeterred by sunlight, but require periodic embalming treatment to conceal their true nature.

Rank 4; The Nightkin: They are Undead who act as novice vampires while maintaining their original personality. They are half-human vampires whose inhuman physical abilities are obtained at the cost of experiencing extreme coldness and thirst. A low-ranking knight, so to speak. When those of Rank 6 and above carefully drink the blood of their prey, their victim begins as a vampire of this rank. They become anemic in the sunlight, though it does not yet burn them. In the World of Sorcery, one is considered "a person" up to this rank. A vampire who has reached rank 4 can now survive away from his father. From his point of view, it would be like having changed from an "object" to a "living being", in a sense.

Rank 5; Nightmare: At this point the curse within their blood allows them to manifest special powers that are derived from their vampire parent, or may arise from themselves. They are like high-ranking knights, in short, full-fledged vampires.

Rank 6, Lower Rank Dead Apostles: These are completely self-sufficient apostles. Although they can create children through raids as blood drinkers, they cannot sire a child that can exceed this rank, what you would call a limit for upstart apostles.

-"Upstarts? -Shirou asked.

-Oh, the apostles that arose during the Age of Gods are called elders, only 5 have that title, all others are considered upstarts, you could say it's a way for the older ones to rejoice over the younger ones. Shirou, if you are bitten by one of the apostles of the first three ranks, you start from rank 1, if you are bitten by an apostle of rank 6 or higher, you start as an apostle of rank 4, and, the apostles of the highest rank, like me, when we convert someone, these obligatorily become of this rank, of rank 6, in other words, you would not have to go through the process of growing from the first ranks. Do you understand?

-Yes, although I hope we don't get to the point where I actually have to convert.

Altrouge said nothing, in fact, for a moment he frowned, but then continued with his explanation...

Rank 7; Higher Rank Dead Apostles: These are apostles who were recognized by an Ancestor and granted additional abilities. Although they share part of the name, this rank is of a completely different scale than the previous one. To attain this rank is to become a poison that pollutes the earth simply by existing.

-Huh? Really? I thought the ancestors were a force that helped the planet?

Altrouge raised an eyebrow. I think you are confused, the true ancestors are a force produced by the planet to aid its survival. The dead ancestral apostles are, by nature, a danger to humanity and a poison to the planet. -Then she lowered her gaze. In that sense, I suppose part of me is, too... -Altrouge shook his head, "Well, I'll go on with the explanation...

Senior Dead Apostles are a heresy that ordinary Enforcers can't fight, they are noble vampires allowed their own free will. Senior Dead Apostles do not show absolute obedience to their parents and, given the opportunity, can defeat them and inherit their curse. However, even if they obtained the same "freedom", there is a great difference in the years the ancestors have lived, making it difficult for a senior dead apostle to surpass the scale of an ancestor's existence.

Rank 8; Successor: Successors are talented vampires chosen by an Ancestor as their own successor. They are, technically, a prince or princess, so to speak.

-Like you? -Shirou asked curiously.

Altrouge could not contain his laughter, "No, of course not, if ancestors are kings and queens, and successors are princes and princesses, how can I who am considered an ancestor be considered a successor? My title is more of a homologue to the Princess of True Ancestors, reflecting my relationship with Crimson Moon.

-I understand...

-Well, then I'll continue, I just need to finish explaining this rank and the next one...

Among the Ancestors there are also some who were captivated by beings who were not vampires and unexpectedly elevated them to this rank. In the past there were at least two successors per Ancestor; but nowadays, due to numerous circumstances, that number has diminished quite a lot, for example: at present I do not possess any. It is even said that some successors were created in imitation of the True Ancestors. In short, they are apostles who are in a position to inherit the Blood Notion of an Ancestral Apostle after the destruction of that ancestor.

Rank 9; Ancestor: This is the last rank, the title refers to the old Dead Apostles who broke free from their role as emergency rations of The True Ancestors and achieved victory in their struggle for independence as completely distinct beings.

-I guess it's just in title, that is, you weren't created as an emergency ration, according to what you told me.

Altrouge nodded, "Exactly, while the title refers to the first dead apostles who became independent, obviously, not all members of the 27 are part of these dead apostles, and not only because some were destroyed over time by various organizations, especially by the Church, but some were simply born for a different purpose, like me, Merem, Blackmore, etc.

However, we are all the same in the sense that we are long-lived beings who take the life of humans and give rise to Rank 6 Dead Apostles. We were the ones who established the structure of the apostle society that exists to this day. The scale of our existence differs from one to another, but, as I explained to you before, we can be classified as the "Elder Ancestors", who have been active since before the Common Era, and the "Upstart Ancestors", who emerged in the Common Era.

-I think I understand everything now, so, for example, Einnashe Forest would be considered rank 9, Louvre would be considered rank 8, and their children? Rank 7?

The Princess shook her head, "No, under normal conditions, Louvre would be considered rank 7; but because the powers of the apostles are strengthened when they are close to their relatives, as long as he was together with his children, he would attain enough power to be considered rank 8. His children, on the other hand, were only rank 6," Altrouge then sighed wearily. That's a good summary of all the ranks, and as I was telling you, Ortenrosse's plan is for me to convert you, you will be reborn as a rank 6 apostle, after that, you will gain a millennial base and, with your abilities, plus the increase in power you will gain by the simple passage of time, you should consider yourself fit to be a successor. Then, he should give you the fruit, and, if lucky, it will have Einnashe's Blood Notion, which will officially make you his successor. This would guarantee that you will be a powerful apostle who could hold his position for many centuries, and will strengthen the stability of the organization.

-Are the 27 unstable? -asked the astonished boy.

More or less, the reason why we became such a trigger-happy group is due to multiple circumstances: our world is not very friendly, there will always be someone wanting to remove us from our throne, we also have to deal with the Church and, in addition, from time to time, magus organizations like Atlas or people like Lorelei also decide to hunt us, all this added to the fact that, little by little, the mystery is leaving the planet, which weakens our existence as beings related to it, has caused that we have had to fill some positions within our organization with not dead apostles per se, but similar bloodsuckers of a similar level to the Ancestors. -Then the Princess sighed- -However, it seems that the old man is trying to bring the organization back to its origins, Einnashe has already been eliminated, and there is a successor available, new dead apostles with potential are appearing, so it is likely that those who are not and belong to the organization will be unknown as such as time goes by.

-FOU! -Fou barked as he cocked his head to the side, as if he was annoyed by this information.

The Princess smiled and petted him, "You don't need the number one spot to prove to any of them that you're awesome, PM. Didn't you join just on a whim to begin with?

Fou cocked his head as if giving Altrouge a point, it was true, PM wasn't properly considered a Dead Apostle, that would mean he'd lose his post in "a little while". But, it's not like that mattered to him, after all, it wouldn't change who he was at all.

-In the event that the fruit does not possess Einnashe's Blood Notion, then you will have to create one of your own over time, which will grant you a Principle, and that will end your mating in the 27," she explained.

-Principle?

The Princess nodded, "The Principle is a curse of sorts, it manifests as a unique power different from the rest of our abilities as Dead Apostles, the Principle is related to the Blood Notion and is usually passed on to the heir of it. -For a moment, Altrouge paused, "You know what? At this point I'd better explain it all to you. The Sanguine Notion creates a singularity that paints over the physical laws of the planet, it is a "truth" that acts as the basis for the "thirst" of the Ancestor, wherever an Ancestor asserts their Sanguine Notion it becomes their territory and subject to the influence of the Principle.

-So, are they like Reality Marbles?

-Similar, but not the same. A marble is something much more complicated to obtain, it is practically random, it is "normal" for one of the 27 to obtain them due to our long existence, but it is only normal compared to the possibility of a human obtaining them, not all members of the 27 have one, while the Sanguine Notions and, therefore, the Principles, are something that can be obtained with time and research. Also, while the marbles overturn the laws of the world, the Sanguine Notion only overpaints them, they are on two different scales.

-If that's true, then apostles having a Sanguine Notion and a Reality Marble at the same time? -Shirou's eyes widened as he saw what this could mean.

-"Monsters of an enormous level, in a nutshell," Altrouge confirmed. Reality Marbles can overturn laws; but the new laws established by each Reality Marble are unalterable to its user, but, with the principle, you are able to overpaint these new laws and influence them, being able to give enormous variability to your Reality Marble. Although of course, this depends on how the Principle overpaints the laws of the world, perhaps some are incompatible or very difficult to use at the same time.

-And you, do you have one? A Principle? I have never seen you use it.

-Of course I have one, it just hasn't been necessary for me to make use of it since I met you, for now I'm getting used to my new eyes, so I've been leaving it a little aside for now, if necessary, I'll make use of it.

-And what is it? -asked the boy curiously.

Altrouge smiled, for the first time he smiled sincerely. You'll see, for now, I want you to look forward to it...

Shirou frowned. Well, now that you've told me all this, I understand why Einnashe's blood was able to turn a simple bloodsucking tree into the monstrosity it ended up being.

-That's right, and yet the Predator Forest was both strong and weak at the same time...

Shirou nodded, he knew what the Princess was referring to, the forest was really dangerous, it nullified sorcery, it could attack you from all possible places, it could manipulate much of the environment against you, it was almost untraceable, and it couldn't be killed by conventional means. He only had a chance thanks to Volpar, a specifically anti-ghost species weapon, and, even so, to kill him, he needed something more powerful, like Neocaliburn, and even with this, the original tree was able to survive and only died from the shot of the Black Barrel, a weapon specifically made to assassinate immortals. However, it was weak in the sense that it acted like a wild beast, without reasoning, which made it extraordinarily predictable, and made fighting it much easier and was one of the main reasons why it was able to defeat the forest, if it had seen it as an enemy from the beginning, if it had attacked it with all its might from the moment it entered the forest, if it had fought strategically once it reached the clearing in the center of the forest, its death would have been almost certain.

All this made the boy realize something- But if the fruit had the Einnashe Principle, then the forest had it too? The forest itself seemed to be a reality marble, but that was because of the nature of the ghostly species? I'm not sure if there was a sanguine notion within the forest.

The Princess shrugged her shoulders. I should have had it, but considering it was a wild beast, even if I had, it's possible I didn't know how to use it properly. -Then she frowned. Although, now that you mention it... I don't remember what Einnashe's abilities are, in fact, I remember almost nothing about him, just, well, his name... I don't get it... -Later, she shook her head and her smile dulled once again, she had remembered that she had other things to talk about-. We can talk about this later, I... I have to apologize, for my actions last night, your sister is right, I didn't control myself as I should have. You know, Shirou, it has been little, but... These months have been really valuable for me, all my attempts to fight against the end of the world have ended, or will end, in failure?

-Will they end? What do you mean? -asked the boy confused and somewhat worried.

Seeing his look, she smiled, "Relax, I'm not referring to us, but to another of my attempts, this one is not finished; but, if I'm honest, I doubt I'll succeed. As I said, these months have been really important for me, after the deception and failure that was the ritual, this time has been a breath of fresh air and, as time went by, I started to believe we had some kind of chance, and now that you have told me about the war, I really believe we have a chance...

-I'm glad...

To his surprise, she moved very close to him. But don't get me wrong, that's not the only reason these months have been important to me. The reason why I got so upset yesterday is because the brat talked about our relationship as if it wasn't important to me, and even though I told you that now we would start our new game, I assure you that I'm very serious about it. -At the end of the day, the reason why I can't allow other apostles to come after you is because, in the end, I'm sure I'd get carried away by my feelings, so I'd end up declaring war on everyone without hesitation, and that would cause a conflict between factions, and with the world coming to an end, I don't really care much about the consequences. -Altrouge leaned close to his ear and whispered, "That's how important you've become to me, feel grateful. -This was the answer she had come to, she could not allow herself to show weakness at this moment, during her intimacy with the boy it was different; but at this moment, they were not alone, and she was walking a tightrope; but neither could she allow the boy to believe that she did not care, by telling him what she was willing to do for him, she hoped it would be enough.

To which, he couldn't help but smile nervously, after all, even though he was flattered by the girl's words, that didn't stop that because of him a war between ancestors could be waged-. I-I do.

-HMN! -A grumble filled the room. When the boy turned around, he could see Manaka with her hands on her hips and a frown on her face. Just because we've come to an agreement, doesn't mean I'm going to let you do whatever you want.

-You're annoying... -Altrouge replied with a frown.

-M-Mana, where have you been? And what do you mean...? -Shirou found himself breaking out in a cold sweat again, if anything happened, this time, he would definitely run.

His friend turned to the Princess and said-. It's my turn, I'll explain.

-Hmn... Well... in that case, I'll leave you two alone," Altrouge walked towards the door of the room.

-Wait Altrouge, where are you going? -asked the boy even more worried than before, she was heading inside the workshop, and he didn't want to see another confrontation between her and Illya.

She turned around before leaving the room, "What's not obvious? I'm going to win your sister's approval?

Manaka looked like she wanted to say something; but Altrouge stepped forward, closing the door before she could reply.

-What a nuisance... -said the girl.

-I won't deny that she is someone who goes at her own pace and always does what she wants..." replied the boy. -What did you mean by explaining to me?

Manaka sighed before speaking, then, she lowered her gaze, just like the Altrouge, she couldn't focus her gaze on the boy. Internally she was nervous, very nervous, the talk she and the Princess had had caused some of her confidence in her performance to begin to crumble. It was strange, now that she analyzed it, Altrouge questioned her acting and destroyed her arguments with a very solid truth: while she wanted to hide her ugliness from the one she loved, Altrouge didn't mind Shirou seeing her as she was, the good and the bad, and the boy seemed to accept her equally.

Ironically, despite that, Altrouge could not assert himself in the same way he had done with her during their meeting, because of the strong feelings he had begun to engender; but, on the other hand, she did have to. She could practically see through everything, basically she could be considered omniscient, she was extraordinarily powerful, and she could access information that almost no one else could, before what ended up happening last night happened, she already knew this future and obviously had the capabilities to change it, despite it being the most likely future; however, when the time came, she couldn't do it, not because she didn't want to or didn't have the capabilities, but because, no matter if she already knew the future, no matter if she could change it by taking a different route, no matter how powerful and skilled she was, she was still human, and as a human, she was very susceptible to her feelings and emotions, just as a certain King was very susceptible to his ego. In the end, she couldn't overcome her feelings and ended up letting herself get carried away by them, her ability to see beyond the ordinary was a double edged sword, seeing all that Shirou and Altrouge had been through, and seeing how their relationship would grow stronger in the most likely futures, added to the Princess' provocations, plus the anguish of their endings in other timelines, made her unable to control herself in the end.

After their talk, she pulled herself together, trying to change what had happened, would only bring her more trouble in the future, Lady Kanon's protection was a real nuisance, so she preferred to pull herself together after the accident, all was not lost, she knew Shirou could forgive her, and that she had to improve from there. As much as she hated to admit it, the Princess' words held some truth, she couldn't keep showing Shirou only what she wanted him to see, she had failed in that aspect since their first meeting, trying to hide it now was futile. At first, she didn't even have the courage to go back into the workshop, perhaps staying away and helping him from afar would have been best; but only half of her would consider this option, the other half couldn't bear to be away from the one she loved and after her talk with her enemy, she had made her decision.

Manaka took a breath, she would be selfish, selfish enough to force herself not to run away, even if she thought she didn't deserve to stay by his side. Yes, she would be selfish enough to stay by his side; but not selfish enough not to show regret. You see... After what happened yesterday, after hearing Lady Einzbern's words, and after Gaia's Beast pulled us out of the workshop, the bloodsucker and I had a talk...

- "Talk?" -asked the red-haired man in surprise.

Manaka gave a nervous smile. Well... Something close to a chat, more like a discussion. But that's not the important thing, the important thing is that, even though we detest each other, we both agree on one thing: neither of us wants you to get hurt, and right now, we have a bigger goal that requires us all to work together. And yesterday... yesterday we were the ones who caused you to be like this today. So, after talking it over, we came to an agreement of sorts: We'll tolerate each other until we accomplish our mutual goal, and if at some point, we can't stand each other, we'll work it out without involving you, and without going to extremes.

Shirou raised an eyebrow and narrowed his eyes. By not going to extremes, you mean you won't kill each other, right?

-Well, yes, at least, for now. She can't kill me because of the karmic bond between us, and I can't risk killing her without knowing what kind of contract she formed with you, I just know it's a pretty intimate contract, so I can't take the risk of killing her. -This, in fact, was an excuse, she knew well what was the contract they both had; but I couldn't kill her for other quite obvious reasons, among these, Shirou's reaction was the most important. Because of this, neither of us can risk killing each other, considering the possible consequences...

Shirou let out the air he was holding in his lungs. I see, I'm glad they came to an agreement.

This way of acting, not caring about her own safety, even though she was already used to witnessing it, didn't make her any less angry-. Just because of you, what did you think, putting yourself in danger like that?! -the girl asked angrily.

He looked down in embarrassment. W-Well, I couldn't let them kill each other.

She sighed resignedly, she couldn't say she didn't expect this from him, after all, she had seen the suicidal actions he had taken in other worlds to protect the people he loved... or complete strangers at worst. Then, she took even more courage, she had already shown selfishness by returning to the person she had hurt; now she had to let him know that she had not returned as if it was nothing, that she was sorry for what she had done- I have to apologize too, just like the bloodsucker, I too got carried away...

Once again, he tried to speak, and once again, the woman in front of his bed, this time Manaka, shut him up with a finger, for the same reasons as Altrouge. Kindness given when you don't deserve it hurts more than any insult or reprimand.

-Please let me explain," she asked him.

So, under her friend's pleading gaze, he was forced to shut up and listen.

-We both hit each other yesterday where we thought we would hurt the most. And I got carried away by her words too, and in the end, she won...

-Huh? -exclaimed the boy.

-I showed you that she was right, in that sense, she won.

-I don't think that you...

She shook her head as she smiled sadly- -Don't say it Shirou, I know you mean it with the best of intentions; but, I know who I am and what I'm capable of, I know it better than anyone else- she objected- -And, besides, I promised myself that I would never do anything that would make you hate me and that I wouldn't hurt you in any way either, and yesterday... I didn't keep it.

-Still, I know you didn't mean to hurt me," the boy objected.

She laughed. I know, the fact that you treat us like this, even if we are the monsters we are... You're either too good, or too naive, Shi-kun.

He frowned as he answered her. I know they're both dangerous, that's not something I'll deny; but you've given me no reason to consider them monsters.

Manaka lowered her gaze with an uncomfortable and pitiful smile. We've done it foolishly, several times in fact. You've always known that, haven't you? That part of me that I've tried to hide from you?

-I... -The words didn't come to the boy, how could he go on? He obviously knew that his friend was extraordinarily dangerous, and of course he knew that there was something that made him shiver from time to time; but just as she had her reasons for hiding that part of herself, he had his reasons for ignoring that part of her. However, if she asked him directly, then he couldn't deny it, it would only hurt her more.

Shirou gave a slight nod.

-That you didn't notice, or that you didn't want to notice, only meant that you were as twisted as I was. -Then she smiled slightly. But I don't care about that, because I am too, it's not something I can deny. I have decided that I will do whatever I have to do to protect you and fulfill your dream; however, I have also decided that I will not do anything that will make you hate me. Not even by mistake will I ever hurt you again. It will be a little difficult and new for me; but bear with me, can you?

Shirou sighed, there were times when he really couldn't understand them no matter how hard he tried. Only if you both have patience with me, I'm not the type of person to stand still while my close ones are in danger.

-I know, that's also something I like about you. -With a true and unburdened smile, she headed for the door. Rest for today, your body still needs to recover. And I also have to apologize to Lady Einzbern...

He nodded and lay back down on his bed, that day went very slowly for him, he could not relax not knowing how the talk between Manaka, Altrouge and Illya would turn out, however, later, Leysritt brought him his breakfast and he could start to relax seeing that the workshop had not been blown up... Later his grandfather was also brought to him, to say that the old master blacksmith was angry at his descendant's actions would be an understatement, he went on for over an hour berating him, the worst part was that, in most of his statements, he was right.

Finally, the day passed and, the next, he went back to classes, everything was relatively normal, only now Altrouge had returned with him, and not to leave him alone with her, Manaka came too.

She and Ayaka were resuming their relationship, and the contrast between Manaka's outgoing personality and Ayaka's introverted one could sometimes generate quite funny situations.

"Illya" also wandered around the Tower from time to time, mostly around the Creation Faculty or the Mining City when she was allowed, occasionally accompanying him to his classes, and other times deciding to explore London, all while being accompanied by Sella and Leysritt. Meanwhile, the real Illya always accompanied him as his servant, and both had decided not to tell anyone about the Third Magic; foreseeing how this might affect the Tower. Fortunately for both of them, Shinji didn't seem to have any intentions of approaching, although, at times, Shirou could see him watching them from afar.

All in all, most things were relatively normal, most of their classes continued quietly, with the exception of the politics classes, where the next Lord of the Sophia-Ri family was wasted no opportunity to make his class a real nuisance for him and Reines.

Since they no longer saw Svin in El-Melloi's class, they tended to meet outside of it, usually to talk about classes or to go out and do something, mostly to show Sieg "new" things, though at the rate they were going, London would get too small for them sooner or later. Flat had suggested taking a trip to various places around the world, just like their teacher did, in case they outgrew London.

Rin usually came to do homework or to try to advance their joint project, unfortunately, she had not been able to make a new prototype of the bejeweled sword. This was because the materials needed to create the sword were extremely expensive. To the point that just creating two prototypes had put Rin in jeopardy financially.

He asked the girl why she had to perform her sorcery with something as expensive as jewelry. To which she replied that the Tohsaka family was a lineage with the Conversion Attribute, which influences the storage of magical energy in objects. Compared to other mediums, the most compatible storage space for the Tohsaka family is precisely jewelry, while storing energy in other things is more difficult for them. Specifically, Jewel Sorcery is the type of thaumaturgy that involves transferring magical energy into jewelry for use as mystical codes of limited use.

He asked her if she could not use some other type of mineral and use the alteration to give it jewel-like properties. But she was reluctant to do this, for no matter how much she altered the object to give it the properties of various jewels, the effectiveness of her sorcery would be quite diminished. Besides Luvia would mock her if he discovered her. However, she had to admit that she would rather decrease the effectiveness of her sorcery, at least for practice, and risk being discovered by Luvia, than having to take more extreme measures, magi with great financial problems were known to be forced to sell their fluids to make money...

On the other hand, Ayaka used to come on weekends to her tutoring classes with her sister, she practiced Formalcraft. Which was a method of doing Sorcery using mana instead of Od. The caster comes into contact with the mysteries through processes established in ancient times, such as sacrificing a chicken or praying in a magic circle all night long, that sort of thing. Since the magical energy does not come from the caster, and only the ritual, or rituals, need to be performed, it is popular with magi who lack power due to weak bloodlines. Still, knowledge is an important requirement to perform it.

Ayaka's Formalcraft allowed for the conversion of elements. A positive sorcery. Ayaka, though, called it: "thaumaturgy for fools". Still, his Gradation Air was also considered as useless thaumaturgy, and thanks to his own version of it, The Tracing, he could faithfully copy relics of antiquity unattainable for current magi.

Manaka also decided to help him with his spellcasting, teaching him a higher level of the common reinforcement that, while not yet mastered, he was improving step by step. In addition, she began teaching him about runes and, to say that her friend had "some" knowledge of runes, was an understatement.

Runes were one of the Thaumaturgic Systems that originated in Scandinavia during the Age of the Gods, and are symbols that, once inscribed, automatically generate the mysteries according to the meaning they represent. They are composed only of lines and have a similar mechanics to the magic crests. Unfortunately, the use of Modern Runes is quite unpopular within the Magus Association.

It was possible to affect a target with a rune inscribed at a distance, but the success rate is low with a target that possesses magical circuits, due to the resistance it may have to the intrusion of magical energy, in this case, the rune must be inscribed directly on the body. If used in combinations, it is possible to create bounded fields with them.

There are three types of runes: The Primordial Runes which were said to have been created by Odin himself. The Ancient Runes and the Modern Runes, which are mere imitations of the previous ones.

Obviously, he used the Modern Runes, the knowledge of the Ancient and Primordial Runes had been lost with the passing of the centuries, or was jealously guarded by the families that used them.

Precisely because of the latter, he had no idea how Manaka had knowledge of the Ancient Runes, because yes, she did, she confirmed it to him when she told him that, one of the runes she had taught him before, was one of these. If she had revealed this to him earlier, he would have questioned her immediately, this had nothing to do with being a prodigy or not, and while he asked her, she evaded the question, for a moment he was tempted to dig further, Manaka could be like an impregnable fortress when she wanted to, and if she decided to keep quiet about something, he didn't know who could make her talk, except, and ironically, him, for his friend was really soft when it came to her person. However, because of what had happened a few days ago, Shirou didn't want to push her too hard, it seemed like she was finally starting to open up to him and he didn't want to ruin it.

She learned several things about Runes from her friend; but, unfortunately, things were not as easy as she expected. To achieve anything in this world you need two things, talent and effort, if you totally lacked one, it didn't matter what you did, you were unlikely to reach the top, this obviously applied to Sorcery, and that didn't exclude Runes. These were a way to supplement his few areas of expertise, learning Elemental Sorcery would take too much time, time he could spend on something more useful, Runes were that something, with the exception of Elementals, generally, these caused him no problems; but this was because he used the more degraded version of these, according to his friend, once he started learning Ancient Runes, the level of difficulty would increase tremendously, both in learning and use, let alone Primordials. With her limited talent for these, it was more profitable to master only the Modern Runes she knew, and the occasional Ancient Rune that was simple and could be of use to her. The example she gave him was the Rune she had taught him, CWeorþ, this was the Ancient Rune she had taught him, he had used it to burn down the clearing in Einnashe Forest; however, if someone with more talent and skill had used it, it would have caused far greater devastation, the time it would take Shirou to master CWeorþ, which was both an Ancient Rune and an elemental one, would be too ample compared to what it would take him to achieve the same effect by Tracing some sword with fire-retardant properties. Also, the last problem with runes was that these also required mana and an Ancient Rune spent much more than a modern one, in short, it wasn't something he could use in abundance like his Projections.

This caused him to concentrate even more on his area of expertise, Tracing.

This differed greatly from conventional Projection in that it not only reproduced the form and substance of an object, but also its entire history.

For this he divided the process into several steps:

Judging the concept of creation.

Hypothesize the basic structure.

Duplicate the materials of its composition.

Imitate the techniques of its manufacture.

Sympathize with the experience of its growth.

To reproduce the accumulated years.

To excel in all manufacturing processes.

Objects created with his tracing are slightly inferior to the originals, due to the fact that only a certain amount of information can be gathered using only sight, and Heroic Treasures degrade a "rank" when he projected them. The only exception to this was Avalon, which he could replicate perfectly due to the fact that his body retained a complete record after being fused with this one for nearly a decade. Or at least, so he thought...

After putting his blacksmithing skills into practice, he analyzed the two variants he had discovered of his Tracing. The first, the common one, allowed him to forge something, and these copies were slightly inferior to the originals. And the second is the projection of the creations or recreations that he himself had forged, these, unlike the rest of the projections of other swords, are not inferior to the originals, because he possessed all the information necessary to project the object identically.

His projection had improved over time, while he had always been good at projecting any bladed weapon, the stability and durability of his projections varied depending on what he was projecting. At least until he discovered that his tracing was directly linked to his reality marble, since doing so thanks to Altrouge, the stability of his projections and his abilities to project had increased substantially.

Unfortunately, there were still things he had a harder time projecting, i.e. projecting Kokorozashi was not the same as projecting Balmung. And some weapons were more complicated to use due to their high mana cost.

About his reality marble, progress was really slow, not for nothing was it considered spellcasting close to true magic. In a way, he felt that his reality sphere grew the more he grew, he could feel it developing with every sword he stored, be it an ancient relic like Caliburn, or one of his creations; but there were also events unrelated to swords that affected his reality marble, for example: the Emiya crest, once this was completed and engraved on his chest, he felt that as he studied more of the temporal manipulation research engraved on the crest, this knowledge affected his inner world. Now when he dreamed of this one, he could glimpse translucent gears filling the sky.

However, he was still far from being able to manifest it at will, and that is why, what he was doing at this moment, was so important...

He was in his workshop, more specifically, in his forge. The constant sounds of hammering could be heard for several hours, as well as the sound of the oil tempering the steel... Until they finally stopped...

Shirou wiped the sweat from his brow as he admires their work...

-I must admit, you guys have some interesting ideas... -said Altrouge as he admired the new sword he had forged.

This sword was special compared to the others he had created so far. At first glance, this one looked no different from an ordinary sword, except for the steel it was made of, Damascene Steel, but other than that, it was a standard sword; However, this simplicity facilitated part of its functions, because the important thing about this sword was not its shape, but what it was made of, this was the closest sword to his person, made using his "flesh, blood and even his soul to create it", forged by the same method with which the Bullets of Origin, the Phantom Punishment, Watsugunairui Muramasa, etc. had been created.

Having been created from himself, it possessed several special qualities, for example:

It was one of the few projections that he could perform without any degradation, as he possessed all the information possible to replicate it perfectly.

In addition, for any other magus, it could be used as a wand for Projection Sorcery. When used, it allowed the projection of swords of the same quality as his Tracing, thanks to the fact that the sword was directly connected to his inner world; however, it had its limitations, such as the fact that the sword to be projected had to be registered inside his reality marble, since the information to create it was extracted from it, which allowed the projection at the level of the Tracing.

However, for him, this sword was more than just a simple wand, another of the properties that it possessed by being made of himself, was that it could be used as a catalyst that allowed the invocation of his reality marble through it. However, because he was not the focus of the manifestation and he was only using a part of himself to summon it, it could not manifest completely, but that was not a problem for him, as this sword had been created with the objective of being used as a projectile thanks to the Alteration, so, once it hit its target, it could manifest what little it could harness to explode from the inside out from the inside of his opponent.

Shirou could use it as an arrow thanks to Alteration, however, since he had had that crazy idea of "shooting swords as bullets" he had also practiced how to alter them to that level, his results had been, varied... The level of alteration he had to perform was undoubtedly greater; however, unlike when he altered them to be arrows, he did not have to worry so much about their shape being as aerodynamic as possible, he only had to imitate the bullets of the calibers he already knew; however, that did not mean that he did not encounter setbacks.

The first was that he had to make sure that the structure of the swords did not collapse under the high level of alteration, fortunately, what he was altering were legendary swords, most would not break easily, that, plus a bit of Reinforcement, had done the job. However, having altered the swords to become bullets, they were extremely heavy, so he had no choice but to find a method to reduce their weight, at that moment he was extremely grateful to have Manaka as a tutor and to have decided to study runes, for others to do this might have been something inconsequential, but for him, who did not know how to do it, it was a real problem.

Unfortunately, even though he managed to get the weight down, the explosive charge needed to make the bullets shoot out with the necessary power was much larger than normal pistol bullets, and even revolver bullets. He had used a special explosive charge, made with materials from the magus world, or in short, materials taken from ghostly beasts, that would allow enough power to fire these bullets. In the end, their bullets looked a lot like the .30-06. caliber, which was obviously intentional, but they were much more powerful than this, without the need to oversize. This brought a new problem, the Thompson could withstand the new bullets, but just barely, as they put too much pressure on the structure and, unless it was reinforced, it would eventually break after a few shots.

This brought a new headache for the red-haired man, he needed new weapons. He had not yet addressed this point, it was a headache he would leave for later.

Fortunately, this problem was only with the Thompson. Atlas's trusty gun seemed to have no trouble handling any caliber he introduced to it. The gun itself was strange in several ways, it seemed to be able to accept different calibers, as long as they were within a minimum and a maximum, for example: it had no problem with the classic 30-06 Springfield caliber, just as it had no problem with using the .444 Marlin or the 50 BMG, it seemed that the inside of the barrel adapted easily and perfectly to all of them.

In itself, the Black Barrel looked very much like a standard hunting rifle; however, it did possess some differences, such as: its size, the Black Barrel was somewhat larger, and its barrel was reduced in length; but it was more robust in comparison. This, at least when idle, as the barrel lengthened when the true purpose of the gun came into function. The weapon itself was almost entirely black and had a somewhat heavy weight for its size; however, its accuracy and effective range were absurd.

He would thank any Altas alchemist for creating such a versatile weapon.

Finally this brought another problem to the boy, unlike when he was shooting arrows in the shape of a sword, he could not do it continuously with bullets, why? Because projectiles are more than just bullets, they are made up of different parts: the bullet, the sheath, the explosive charge, etc. In short, he would have to prepare them and have them ready before he could use them as such, which prevented him from being able to fire them continuously.

Finally, the sword he had created had one last peculiarity. Adaptability, it was an extremely adaptable sword and possessed a great facility for alteration, this, along with the connection it had with its internal world, allowed it to obtain characteristics of the weapons within it by invoking said characteristics on itself, rather than alteration, it could be said that the sword partially overwrote itself. Obviously, this had its limits, the sword could not overwrite itself to the point of completely replicating the weapon it was imitating, thus, it was unable to perform at the same level as them, but, on the other hand, being able to inherit the characteristics of the weapons within his internal world, he did not need to project them, thus, he only had to bear the mana expense required for his weapon to overwrite itself, which was less than the one he would use to project a weapon from scratch.

It was also capable of obtaining more than one characteristic from more than one sword, but its structure did not allow the invocation of a large number of these, according to his experiments, the maximum number of characteristics that could be invoked without endangering its structure was three, and in the case of opposing characteristics, it was reduced to two.

In a sense, this sword could be considered the first prototype of the sword that Shirou sought to create, as for its name, the boy had just learned of it a few days ago, however, he was not yet able to reach it naturally, that is, to use his reality marble, for the name of this sword was the same as that of his inner world, since the sword was just another way of expressing it, hence, they shared the same name.

-Will you really be able to manifest your reality marble through this sword? -asked the Princess.

-Well, that's the plan? -answered the boy.

-And how will you do it?

-Kiritsugu's Bullets of Origin were of instant use, they took effect just by coming into contact with the magic circuits; but this sword is different, it works as a catalyst external to myself, I need to manifest my reality marble when it's inside the enemy's body.

-How?

-When I try to manifest it, some words come to my head, I think they work like an Aria.

-A spell?

Shirou nodded, "Something like that; but it's incomplete. I feel it has yet to develop, so when I try to manifest it my reality marble becomes unstable and I can't expand it. However, all I need is to be able to manifest a small part of the marble inside the target's body, that should be enough to cause lethal damage. So I've thought of using the first part of the aria and probably the final part, omitting the rest, that should be enough to make it manifest.

-I see, to think you could use a reality marble in this way, in his better years, your father must have been a killer to be feared.

Shirou nodded, "He was, by the time you met him, he had decided to retire and only took less dangerous jobs, although, if you ask me, I prefer the Kiritsugu I knew...".

-Shi-kun! -Manaka's voice echoed in the room as she entered the forge. Is everything ready?

-Yes, here it is," Shirou raised his new creation, these were two short curved swords, similar to falcatas, on their blades the colors black, silver and red blended together.

The purpose of these weapons was not to be used for close range combat, although they could be used for this, what they were to do was to open an opening in the space itself. In this way, a fissure was opened that connected to a pocket of imaginary numbers; however, the purpose of this was not to store things, but to be used as a kind of "shield" against long distance attacks. The fissure would absorb the attack protecting him from it, although, of course, there was a limit to how much the pocket could absorb; but in general, it would work with many types of ranged attacks, as long as, he made the cut before the attack hit him. The size of the crack depended on the size of the cut made.

He called this set of swords Gaps, since their purpose was precisely to create fissures that he would use as a shield. Although these were only half of the mystic code, the other half were the gloves that Manaka was giving him.

These gloves were made by Manaka to be very comfortable, for when he wanted to use a sword or a bow; but also enormously resistant through the runes he had engraved on these; however, that was not the most important thing...

-Then, each of the fingers of the gloves is linked to a pocket of imaginary numbers, and I just need to apply my Od on the specific finger and draw a line for it to open, isn't it?

Manaka nodded- Yes, just like with your swords, these give you access to ten mini pockets, the only difference is that the space opened by the Gaps is much larger than those opened by your gloves; besides, the gap opened by your gloves is an inert one, where you can deposit your objects; but the one opened by the Gap in your right hand has the property of absorbing, and the one in your left hand regurgitates what you have absorbed, since both are connected to the same pocket.

Shirou admired the gloves for a moment before putting them on. I see, I'll have to practice using them. Thank you Mana, I think this will be all... Are we all ready? -asked the boy.

-Yes, Lady Einzbern is waiting for us in the foyer," said her friend.

Shirou nodded, "I understand, just let me put all my equipment away and I'll come with you.

They both nodded and, with some resilience, left the forge with an almost palpable atmosphere of displeasure between the two.

Shirou sighed, "I hope someday you two can get along...".

So the boy got ready to put his things away and head towards the hall, today was the day where he would enter the seventh labyrinth of Alcatraz...

Omake: The Importance of Jewelry (canonical)

A rumble echoed through the Marbury Workshop from the courtyard of this...

Remember remember ...

Shirou and Rin coughed uncontrollably as they shook off the dust and dirt.

-Dammit, we knew it would happen but I didn't think the explosion would be this big... -grunted the boy.

-Well, at least we got that out of the way," Rin complained, "We knew that using altered minerals with jewel-like properties would decrease the efficiency of the spellcasting, they're not good enough to be used in something as advanced as the Enjoyed Sword.

-Now that you mention it, if it is due to alteration that the efficiency of the materials decreases greatly, why not do it with Graphite? The level of alteration would be much lower than with other materials and you could turn it into diamonds," asked Altrouge who had arrived on the scene.

-The Jeweled Sword needs more than one type of jewel," Rin answered.

-Then sell them and make a profit, or better yet, create a partnership with Illya and with their alchemy they can sell a multitude of jewels at the same time you get a large amount for your Sorcery.

Rin gave a look of complete pessimism.

-Hmm, what's with that look, isn't that a good idea? -Altrouge asked confused, her area wasn't Jewel Sorcery.

Shirou smiled awkwardly and began to explain, "You see Rouge, it's not that simple. For starters, full transmutation from one element to another is High Thaumaturgy, which makes it require large amounts of magical energy and a pool of materials, unless you have a suitable place, performing transmutations in large quantities is extremely complicated and expensive, and even if you possess one, with the phenomenon of weakening ley lines, it's not something you can do forever. Also, jewels made by transmutation are not exactly suitable for Jewel Sorcery, the reason being that unless you transmute minerals with high levels of mystery, if you just transmute normal minerals, then what you will get is a normal jewel, and these have no real value for this sorcery.

The jewels sought after by practitioners of Jewel Sorcery are those that have been for years under the earth in contact with nature spirits and have been imbued with their power, or those to which magicians have deposited enormous amounts of magical energy over time. But, obviously, jewels with these characteristics are extremely expensive and, while there are many minerals with these characteristics that can be transmuted to give decent results... Well, well, obviously these are not free, and also you have to talk to an alchemist and these will not work for free under normal conditions, so, in the end, the price difference between this method and simply buying a suitable jewel, is not very high, at least not enough to be profitable.

With every word Shirou said, Rin's heart felt like it was pierced by one arrow after another.

Finally Shirou said. Rin, for example, has an annual income of over 100 thousand dollars, and yet she is constantly under-resourced just by buying a few pieces of jewelry of a decent standard. The normal jewelry she uses in her spellcasting is worth about $4500 each, while the jewelry used for powerful rituals is valued at least $100,000 each, and obviously, for a single ritual you need several of these.

The most cost effective way to execute this method is with minerals such as graphite, as you don't need an alchemist to get diamonds, but the diamond market is pretty tough, one simple failure and your price will plummet, plus it seems that synthetic diamonds are starting to make a dent in the market, which will eventually devalue them even more. A 2-carat diamond can be worth anywhere from $3,000 to $60,000, provided it has the right characteristics, and to achieve these characteristics you'll need a high level of alteration. And, even then, you'll need to sell at least two of these to get a single jewel suitable for a ritual, and since you need multiple of these, you'll need to sell multiple diamonds of these characteristics. Oh, and obviously you won't only perform a single ritual in your lifetime as a magus, will you?

Altrouge nodded and Shirou continued with the explanation. This translates as producing and selling several diamonds for a single ritual, and many more for multiple rituals.

-I understand. -Altrouge didn't even flinch, to her those figures were no big deal.

Shirou finally finished his explanation, unaware that Rin was almost agonizing over his words. Oh, and in the specific case of the Enjoyed Sword, after creating two prototypes we have concluded that even using all of Rin's most powerful jewels, valued at 2 million dollars, we won't have enough materials to make a proper recreation of it.

Suddenly, Shirou felt a trembling hand hold him. Sh-Shirou, I'm glad you're paying attention to our classes, but please don't explain all that while I'm here as if I'm not involved... -begged her friend.

Shirou smiled nervously-. Sorry, I just thought that if I didn't explain, I would have to become a plant licker for you to forgive me...

-You don't mean bootlicker? -asked Altrouge in confusion.

-No, no, I mean to be a plant licker of the... -However, the boy was stopped by his friend's strong grip.

With a dangerous tone of voice, Rin said, "Shirou... Do you remember what you promised about that time?

-H-Hai... -Shirou calmed down and tried to continue the conversation. But, you know Rin? Maybe you should give it a try, it might help you as long as we split the profits, since it's not something illegal. It might not save you from your financial situation, but it will serve to appease it and, over the years, you could build up a fund that would allow you to secure a more stable financial state. You know, in case you need a lot of materials for a big ritual, or for an extremely expensive creation, like the Enjoyed sword.

-Well, with your help the probability of profit increases, and the materials for your swords are also quite expensive, right? -Shirou nodded, "In that case we could sign another partnership, Shirou. It won't make us rich, but at least it will loosen the noose around our neck a bit.

Thus, master and apprentice completed a new partnership.

Shirou sighed, "Being a magus is a luxury, don't you think?

Rin nodded tiredly, "Yes, it is...".

Altrouge frowned, making a thoughtful gesture, then opened his eyes wide and smiled-. Hey Shirou, if what you need are materials, you can ask me, I don't mind helping you and remember that I am... Hmm!

Shirou quickly covered the ancestor's mouth, "I know your family has influence in the materials market, Rouge! But I would be a disgrace of a teacher if I allowed my student to pay for my work!

Chapter 24, Labyrinth of consequences.

Illya finished preparing to leave for the Seventh Alcatraz Labyrinth, Sella, Fillia and Leysritt were already prepared, she didn't know if the ancestor or Sajyou were ready; but she didn't care either, in fact, if they didn't accompany them, they would be one less worry for her. I mean, they were already going to go to a place full of enemies, it was better not to take two more possible enemies.

With everything ready, Illya took a small bag with everything she had prepared, this was a gift from Sajyou as a form of apology for what she had done, she was tempted to reject it; but it was something very useful for her, besides, she didn't want to cause trouble to Shirou. It was obvious that the situation they were in put a lot of weight on her brother, and she didn't want to be part of that weight, she wanted to help him carry it, something that, apparently, the other two also seemed to want to do in their own way. After verifying that everything was ready, she rushed to the foyer of the workshop, there were her three ladies-in-waiting, she sketched a slight smile when she saw them; but it died quickly when she realized that not only they were there, a few meters away, there was Sajyou too.

Noticing his presence, Manaka smiled and greeted him...

-Good morning, Lady Einzbern.

She frowned slightly, she had already made her position clear on how she felt towards her and the ancestor; but it seemed that both Manaka and Altrouge were still acting friendly towards her, even though she clearly stated that she did not like them and preferred them to stay away from her family, even when they were not keeping up the charade for the sake of her brother's well being.

The atmosphere became uncomfortable around five o'clock.

With the cordiality she had been trained to show, she answered the greeting coolly. Sajyou, where is Shirou?

Manaka frowned, "He is in his workshop, he wanted to show the bloodsucker his new creation. I've been waiting for both of them to return to give Shirou his new mystic code; but they're taking a long time.

-I see. -Illya turned to Fillia. Fillia, could you go get him?

-Don't worry, Lady Einzbern! I was planning to fetch him myself," the mage interrupted.

-I would prefer Fillia to go, thank you," Illya replied curtly.

Manaka replied with a false smile, "I don't think Fillia-san will be able to prevail against the bloodsucker, if we want to leave quickly, it's better if I go, don't you think so?

Illya made a small grimace for a few moments; but he understood the girl's reasoning. If there was one thing she had learned from the ancestor, it was that she was the type of person who went at her own pace and always did what she wanted.

Lady Einzbern could not help but sigh. Well... I'll take care of it.

Manaka smiled, "Leave it to me.

Illya narrowed her eyes as she watched the girl leave for the basement, really, dealing with the two of them was a hassle, it would be easier if they treated her as coldly as she treated them; but no matter, she made this decision and she planned to keep it; however, as time went by, Shirou was realizing that they were not behaving normally when they were together. But she would keep up the charade of "good living together", because she didn't want to add more weight to her younger brother's shoulders, was what she decided after she couldn't convince him that day...

Illya had left the room where Shirou was resting, she remained for a few minutes standing in one place with her eyes lowered and her face showing an evident concern; but, what was more noticeable in her look, was her displeasure for the current situation.

-Are you sure about this, my lady? -Sella asked when she saw Illya's pitiful expression.

-No... -Illya restrained herself from speaking aloud so close to the room. Of course not; but what can I do?

She had just spoken to her brother, tried to get him to agree with her, to keep Altrouge and Manaka away, that both were walking dangers that could cost them their lives. But, to her chagrin, her brother had given her good reasons why she could not part with the two, not only because of the karmic bond the Bodhisattva had placed between him and his supposed friend, or because of the contract he had with the Princess of the Ancestral Apostles, but that, if they decided not to work with them, it was likely that the end of the world was inevitable

Illya frowned, unable to convince her brother of the danger these two posed, all she could do was be prepared to make good on her threat, she would not allow them to put her family in danger again. The Third Magic, was the only way she possessed to keep those two in check, for, one was an extraordinary magus and the other was an ancestral vampiric Princess, she had no chance against either of them by normal means, she couldn't just use any spell to deal with them in case they got out of control, the Third seemed to be the only means to deal with both of them.

The young Einzbern sighed, it was quite clear that Shirou really cared about Manaka and Altrouge, despite how dangerous they were, and while she believed that keeping them away was the best thing to do, Shirou disagreed. However, in this situation, she had to take her brother's decisions into consideration with extreme care, it was obvious that he had a serious problem with his self-preservation instincts, it was almost as if he didn't value his own safety, and while it was one of the things Kiritsugu had mentioned to her before he died, she never thought it would be that serious, I mean, who the hell would want two people who almost ended his life by his side? It was simply irrational.

In the end, she could do nothing but warn him half jokingly half seriously what she would do if those two ever got out of control again. She couldn't let the two of them continue to do whatever they pleased, nor could she drive them away of her own free will, let alone do it by force. But she wouldn't give up, she was supposed to be the older sister, she was supposed to take care of Shirou and not vice versa. Now that she had realized that her brother had this problem, she had to act, from now on, she would have to worry twice as much, worry about both of them, because her brother was not capable of worrying about himself. She would no longer let him simply be in charge of protecting her, she could have been the princess trapped in the castle, but that had already changed, and now she had to change the fact of just being an observer...

She sighed, "I have no choice, I'll have to put up with them; but I won't let them endanger Shirou or any of us again. -Illya turned to her caretaker. Sella, before I go to breakfast, I'm going to get some things from my room, wait for me in the kitchen please.

Her maid nodded and headed for the kitchen.

-Fillia, are the materials I sent to prepare ready?

-Almost all of them," answered her double.

-In that case, I'll take care of getting them ready.

-As I ordered." After this, Fillia went to take care of her duties.

-Lys, can you come with me? -Leysritt nodded and said no more.

So, Illya, followed by Leysritt, went to her room. There she took some reports that she kept jealously in her own safe, they were reports about the Third Magic, not about the magic itself, this she had inherited directly through Justeaze's memories, but about its applications, its different aspects, as well as how to use it, all this was information written in the handwriting of the Original Third Mage, and it had been inherited and kept jealously by her family. At first, she planned to research the Third out of respect for her grandfather's efforts; but she never thought she could actually get to use it, and this was only reinforced as she saw how her studies progressed... In fact, even if she could, she had no real reason to learn it, at least, until today.

She knew what the apex of the Third Magic was, and precisely because of that, she knew that its direct offensive potential was not where the true potential of this Magic lay per se, but that didn't mean it couldn't be used offensively. The Third was not made to harm others, quite the contrary, it was a magic achieved to save humanity, allowing them to transcend to a new plane of existence. She cared little or nothing about this, the Third also allowed the separation of the soul from the body and, if she did not use it to its fullest, these souls would not reach a new plane of existence, instead, they would be returned to Akasha. This would be a kind of attack almost impossible to block, even for those two monsters.

Did it hurt to transform a mystery that was created to save lives, into a weapon to end them? At first she considered it a bit, but then, she honed her resolve, she had made up her mind, she would not become the new Mage of the Third Magic out of respect for her grandfather's wishes, nor for the Einzbern's goal of saving humanity. For over a decade she had lived by someone else's wishes, now she would be selfish, she would become the Mage of the Third to save the people she loved and to destroy those who dared to harm them.

However, nothing was as simple as it sounded, yesterday she had proven that she had the ability to use it; however, between being able to use it, and being able to use it properly, there was a long stretch of difference. She could use it, that much had been clear, but could she control it? And at what level could she use it? Those questions were a different matter, in fact, yesterday she had gotten a half-answer, for, after she had awakened, Fillia informed her that the Third Magic not only affected Manaka and Altrouge, it also affected Fillia, Leysritt, Sella and, probably, Shirou as well. That is, if she had continued, Manaka's and Altrouge's souls would not have been the only ones to return to Akasha. In short, she could use the Third Magic, but she had no control over it, trying to use it without having full control over the magic was in the extreme irresponsible and dangerous, it could save someone, or it could also end her life. This was extremely annoying, because the best way to protect himself and others was to use the third one to make everyone immortal, however, for now, that was out of the question. The best he could do now, was to gain control of the Third bit by bit, starting with learning to use aspects and other forms of it before attempting to use it to its fullest. As for at what level he could use Third Magic, that would only be discovered when he first used it in all its glory.

The young Einzbern was so focused on her thoughts that she did not notice something crucial; but, after a few moments, it was impossible not to notice it, the floor had been covered by the mist and, there was something... Something was watching her, behind her, she didn't know what it was, she wasn't sure if turning around was the best option, however, before she could make a decision, that which caused her that unpleasant sensation, disappeared. Lady Einzbern turned quickly to observe how there was nothing from the place where she felt she was being watched, but she was sure that there was something there, it was impossible for her, as a magus, not to have felt it... It was then that something her grandfather had casually commented to her in the past came to her mind, in case she had to use the Dress of Heaven to use an incomplete form of the Third, he explained to her that she should be careful, for as far as she knew, the Counterforce did not like the use of Magicks, being something that surpasses both humanity and the planet, and, it was said that, those first time Mages who acquired a Magic, were killed by a "Red Shadow", obviously there were not many testimonies about this nowadays, after all, the number of Mages was extraordinarily low, but, in the past, when it was easier to obtain a true Magic and, at the same time, it was also easier to see one of these die, these "rumors" did not seem to be just simple rumors. In her case, she had not just acquired true magic, but had just inherited it; but it seemed that, whatever was watching her, did not make a difference between one term and the other. It didn't attack her, it only manifested itself when she thought of using the Third to make them all immortal and, the moment she dismissed the idea as too risky, whatever was watching her backed off.

Illya sighed, cold sweat was running down the back of her neck, the feeling that thing had given her had left her very nervous, but she resumed her walk, it seemed that taking advantage of the Third would have more risks than she had initially assessed, maybe Blue and Kaleidoscope could deal with whatever this thing was, but she knew that wasn't her case, she had to master the Third and not use it irresponsibly, unless she was prepared to face the consequences. She headed for the kitchen, on her way she passed the dining room which must have been trashed and to her surprise it was mostly intact.

Around the head of the table was Altrouge, sitting in one of the chairs. They both stared at each other for a few moments, until Altrouge motioned for her to please sit down.

She frowned and sat down on the opposite side of the table from the Princess.

-You're pretty smug, to return without permission to a house you were kicked out of," Illya commented.

Although a bit surprised at first, Altrouge just gave a competitive smile. But I have the owner's permission, I just spoke to him, by the way...

The look of disgust was palpable on the latter Einzbern's face. So what do you want? I'm not in the mood for hints or formalities today.

-I'm glad, I've always preferred the direct approach.

Sella returned to the dining room from the kitchen and prepared tea for her mistress... and, albeit a bit resiliently, for the Princess.

-So? What do you want?

-I suppose... -To the young mage's surprise, it seemed the Princess didn't know what words to use. Well... As you defined it, to apologize and win the sister's approval, I suppose... or something like that...

Illya narrowed her eyes, "So you were spying on us?

-Well, not exactly, let's just say I came in the middle of a certain conversation and, not wanting to interrupt such a demonstration of sibling love, I decided to keep quiet and wait my turn...

Illya "rolled" her eyes, "What a polite way to admit that you were spying on us...". -Altrouge just smiled, "Well, anyway, Sajyou is probably coming too, let's wait for her, I don't want to repeat myself twice.

-Oh? Well, as you wish... -Altrouge replied with a smirk.

And, just as she had predicted, Manaka showed up several minutes later. She looked in surprise at the tense situation in the dining room. Lady Einzbern? -Then she turned her gaze to the other inhabitant of the dining room and her tone was filled with venom. Bloodsucker...

Altrouge paid no mind to the derogatory way the mage referred to her and, instead, welcomed her, like an adult having fun teasing a small child. We've been waiting for you brat, sit down, little sister wants to tell us something.

Though hesitant and on alert for the situation, Manaka sat down to watch this all unfold.

Illya took a deep breath and then stated in a cold and blunt manner, "I refuse to accept any kind of apology you want to offer me. I'll be honest, I can say with all the certainty in the world that I detest you both, thanks to you I almost lost my only family, and I probably won't ever forgive you for that. But, unlike you, I can control myself, and I have my brother's feelings in mind, so this is what we will do: as long as Shirou is around, the three of us will act as if we put up with each other, at least, enough so that he won't feel bad; but that will be it. I don't want you here, and I only accept you out of obligation, and I hope that my brother will someday realize how truly dangerous you are and get away from you of his own free will. Yesterday you proved that you represent a clear danger to his life...

A cold silence fell in the dining room, at least, until Altrouge broke it with a vain attempt to hold back a laugh, to the surprise of the other two.

-You... You really are interesting, you know that? -he said, holding back his laughter. Yes, I quite like you, sis... -declared the Princess.

-What? -asked Illya dumbfounded.

-Nothing, nothing, it's just my honest opinion. -Altrouge wiped the tears from her eyes. All right, I agree to your terms.

-Wait, just like that? -Manaka asked in surprise.

-Of course, why not, even if I want to have a relationship with Shirou, it's something between me and him. I don't really need the big sister's approval. But, I like the way she made things clear. -Altrouge smiled and proceeded to say something else. Sis...

Illya frowned. Don't call me that.

-I refuse," Altrouge responded unceremoniously, to which Illya bit her lips. I think you should keep acting like this...

-What? -asked the young Einzbern in surprise.

Altrouge smiled, though this smile carried no ill intent or mockery. Shirou... he's as twisted as me and the brat. His sense of self-preservation is minimal, and he is capable of ignoring that we are monsters because of the feelings he has for us. I know this because my instinct for self-preservation also shows quite little, though of course, in my case, it's because I'm so hard to murder; but, with Shirou it's not like that, and having someone who cares about him and thinks things through before acting; but who is controlled not to harm him, seems to me the best thing you can do.

Illya narrowed her eyes, she really didn't understand this woman, she could go from showing a murderous and terrifying aura to a clear and friendly smile, she could say nonsense idiocies one moment and then speak wisely the next, I really didn't understand her-. Well then, are you okay with this too, Sajyou?

Manaka lowered her gaze, "Shirou can be very naive in some ways; but sooner or later he'll figure it out, I'm sure.

-If that's the case, we'll deal with it when he realizes it; but right now this is the best we can do for him," Illya declared. Of course, if you really care about him...

She bit her lips, her mind was still analyzing everything that had happened in the night before and now in the morning. Her conversations with Altrouge and Shirou were still running through her head. Well, I understand...

-In that case, all is said and done," said Altrouge, "I'll even act like I hate the brat to make the charade more truthful.

-I hate you," Manaka declared.

To which Altrouge laughed, "I would if you were a worthy opponent as I thought you were... But you're just a brat.

Manaka clenched her fists and, for a moment, was tempted to drop all her anger on the ancestor; but this time she restrained herself, remembering that not holding back was what got her into this situation in the first place.

Thus, breakfast continued in silence among the three of them, while a strange atmosphere surrounded them, heavy, on Illya's and Manaka's part, and strangely animated, on Altrouge's part. This ended and both Altrouge and Illya got up from the table and left the dining room. In the end, the only one left was Manaka.

The young magus remained silent at the table, her eyes looked empty, as if she had no emotions, her mind wandered and she could not really concentrate. She had just had a conversation with Shirou and, contantly, one same question kept repeating in her mind:

"Was it okay?".

She had revealed it to the boy, for a long time she had been trying to hide that part of herself, showing him only what she wanted him to see, her innocent side, even when she was in that terrible shape with which she reunited with her friend after so many years. She also tried to be as helpful to him as possible while worrying about the crazy things the boy was doing, once he regained his physical form. But now that she had revealed that side of herself, none of that mattered.

She often wondered to herself if she was really the same as her other versions in terms of how far she was capable of going in order to accomplish her goals, that is, she never got to do several of the things that her other versions did. She had not attempted to sacrifice Ayaka, nor did she butcher her father, she did not kill Nigel Saward, she did not traumatize Elza Saijo, nor did she cause Caster to betray Reiroukan and, as I kept looking at other lines, many I did not do this became present; yet, even so, she murdered Kiritsugu's apprentice, and, worse, knowing what would happen, did nothing to prevent the destruction caused by the holy grail's mud, in fact, she took advantage of that to seal Angra Mainyu's soul in the Einzbern's vessel.

However, she shook her head, it had already become clear to her how dangerous it could be to not keep her clairvoyance in check. There was no point in continuing to worry about comparing herself to her other versions, nor comparing Shirou or other people to other versions of themselves. She was herself, she had to stop worrying about other lines and worry only about her own world.

"Was it good?" The question repeated itself again in her mind, and every time she tried to find an answer to it, her conversation with the ancestor came back to her mind...

Manaka, Altrouge and Fou appeared after a flash many meters away from the Marbury Workshop, it was night and not yet dawn.

Altrouge let go of the mage's shoulder and, with an expression incomprehensible to the mage, walked a few meters away while he saw the workshop in the distance.

-It's all your fault... -Manaka whispered with contempt. She looked down, her eyes shadowed by her hair and her fists clenched tightly.

-I wonder if that's true? -Altrouge replied.

-Obviously it is! Thanks to you everything is ruined! All my efforts were for nothing? -replied the girl.

Altrouge smiled, "Ruined...? I thought you'd given up your little act. Besides, thanks to the way you first introduced yourself, Shirou always knew that part of you existed.

-Little act...? -Manaka clenched her fists tighter. It's true that I presented myself in a terrible way the first time; but... I did my best to clean up that first impression! I advised him when he faced the Predator Forest, I helped him in the raid on Castle Einzbern, I healed his sister's homunculus when she was on the verge of death, I'm even going to create a mystic code for him and teach him how to improve his spellcasting, I've done more than you've done in less time!

The Princess frowned. Perhaps... -whispered the ancestor, looking a little annoyed, to Manaka's surprise. But still, here we are.

-And whose fault is it? Everything I did was useless thanks to you!

-Oh yeah? What a pity... -she scoffed.

The mage squeezed her hands so hard that it seemed they would bleed. AAAHHhhhh! -In the end, she couldn't help but let out a scream of pure rage and impotence and three magic circles appeared on her back, these shot rays of magical energy in the form of violet light against the ancestor.

-Again with that? -Altrouge asked as she dodged them having partially released her first stage. For a moment, she could see her opponent's shadowed expression. She expected to meet a look unhinged by anger; but instead, what she saw surprised her reluctantly: Manaka was not unhinged by anger, instead, small tears were spilling from her eyes as she fired bolt after bolt in an attempt to let off steam, from Altrouge's point of view, it was a rather pitiful expression.

For a moment, it reminded her of a certain ancestor's expression when she was tricked by a crawling snake. She couldn't help but frown, what was this, pity? Just because the girl reminded her of the other brat from many years ago? This couldn't be coming from her, really? Shirou was becoming a bad influence on her.

Altrouge lost all will to fight, at first, she thought she would be facing a formidable foe in all aspects, and while the magus in front of her was powerful, and something told her that she wasn't even fighting with all her might, she was quite pitiful in other aspects. She seemed more like a girl who didn't know herself well, or rather, a girl who rejected herself, than what she thought she would be in the beginning. It was no longer possible for her to see her as a real opponent, at least, not in a fight for the redhead's heart, if they had to fight for another reason... Well, she wouldn't deny that it would be an interesting battle.

The Princess sighed and while dodging her opponent's attacks declared-. It wouldn't do any good, you know, your relationship was destined to fail from the beginning.

Those words only made the mage angrier. Do you think I don't know that?

Altrouge smiled, "Well it seems you don't, you may be really powerful, I don't deny it; but it seems you're still a child when it comes to relationship knowledge. A relationship based on lies will never get far, and if it does, I assure you, sooner or later, it will fail one way or another...

-Huh? -Manaka exclaimed, she thought the ancestor was referring to something quite different. What do you mean...?

The Princess snorted, "Haven't you noticed? Shirou may be innocent in some ways; but he's not an idiot, in fact I dare say the opposite.

-What do you mean?

-At first I thought he was very dense, but after I brought it to his attention, I realized that he wasn't quite like that. It's true that he doesn't know how to deal with some emotional issues, but it's not because he's an idiot, it's because he never gave them importance, neither to romantic relationships, nor to what other people seem to look for in him, in his head is only his goal, he's the kind of man who sets his sight on his goal and, unless someone forcibly diverts it, he doesn't care about anything else. For him, everything else is secondary, maybe even tertiary, but once I caught his attention, he began to give more value to what for him must have been unimportant things. I'm sure he knows about my feelings, about yours, and even about the feelings other girls may have for him, whether friendship or romantic, but he didn't give them the importance he should. Nowadays, that has started to change, he knows that you have been hiding things from him, do you understand? No matter how hard you try to gain his trust, as long as he knows you keep secrets from him, he won't trust you at all.

-W-what? How do you know that? -asked the dismayed girl.

Altrouge smiled a superior smile. How do I know? It's easy, he trusts me enough to talk to me about this sort of thing. So he told me...

Manaka frowned and decided to stop his constant attacks for a moment.

-To me, you're not even a rival, even Gray poses a greater threat to me than you. Because your relationship with Shirou will never work as long as you keep keeping secrets from him.

"Gray... I guess I'm not impressed that she too...". Manaka masked her thoughts and let out a wry smile. You say that as if you really care about him, when all you do is use him as a tool, you're just a monster who lives for the sole purpose of feeding off humans, one way or another.

Altrouge was visibly annoyed by how the mage described her relationship with the boy; but, instead of attacking her, he decided to continue destroying her ego-. My relationship with him is something that only the two of us can define, but in the second thing you are right, I am a monster in the eyes of humans, I live because I feed on their kind, my kind itself was created to destroy mankind, and more importantly, Shirou knows it...

-Huh? -Manaka exclaimed in surprise, why did she admit it so readily, why didn't she deny it?

-Why do you have that surprised expression? Did you think I was trying to hide it? -Altrouge shook his head, "Not at all, I'm me, and I don't intend to hide or pretend something I'm not, and like I said, Shirou knows that. He even knows that when I say I want to save the world, I mean the planet, not humanity. -Once again, she smiled superiorly. And yet, while I can't say he's crazy about me, I can say, without a doubt, that he has feelings for me. Even if he is a monster...

Manaka bit her lips. What about that...?

-Tell me something brat: Are you really seeing the Shirou in front of you?

This confused the magus. What do you mean?

The princess frowned. Hmn... It's hard to explain; but... I feel like you're not seeing the same person we're both trying to conquer. For some reason, I think you see Shirou as if he's some sort of hero of justice, someone who doesn't allow or tolerate evil, and you try to act as "good" as possible. As if you fear that if he were to label you as "bad" he would instantly despise you and walk away from you.

These words hit the mage hard. "Is that true, am I really not seeing Shirou, could it be that I? I've lost myself by comparing him to his other versions?".

As Manaka rambled on, Altrouge continued speaking-. While it's true that Shirou is someone who won't be silent when watching someone do wrong or seeing someone need help. I don't see him as some sort of vigilante hero, you know? If he were, it's unlikely our relationship would have worked out the way it has. And I think the same goes for you...

-With me?

The Princess nodded and said. First you show yourself to be a monster, then you try to be good and pure, then you lose control, you're like a pendulum swinging back and forth. Do you really know who you are? Or are you going through one of those silly stages humans go through where they try to look like someone else or compare themselves to others and don't accept themselves as they are? Puberty, that's what they call it, right?

-Who... am... I... me...? -she whispered, but then shook her head. No, wait! Why are you telling me this?

PM's owner sighed again. I don't even know, you just look too pitiful, crushing yourself when you're like that is no joke. -Altrouge looked at the workshop again, "It's going to be dawn, and you're not worth fighting with, I don't even consider you a good opponent, like I said, you don't stand a chance as long as you keep going like this.

-Wait, where are you going? -asked Manaka.

-What's not obvious? I'm going to Shirou, I have to apologize for the mess I caused, besides, thanks to you, I couldn't finish talking to him. -Altrouge turned to the little Fou, "Will you do me a favor PM?

-Fou! -To his surprise, Fou turned his head in the negative.

-Oh come on, are you still mad because I didn't take you to the meeting? I told you, if I had taken you, things would have gotten more tense.

-Fou Fou! -It looked like the little guy wasn't going to budge.

-Oh? Are you also angry about what Ortenrosse brought up?

-FOU! -PM nodded fervently as he closed his eyes.

-Well, but that's not my fault, besides, you don't need the post to let everyone know how awesome you are...

Fou opened one of his eyes as if telling him to continue.

-Well, let's make a deal, I'll give you a bigger share of whatever Shirou prepares for us.

Fou opened both her eyes analyzing her owner, seeing that she was telling the truth, she jumped up to her shoulder. Fou!

-Oh yes, a few last things: if you try to erase her memory I'll rip your head off. Also, since we're forced to live together, let's try not to kill each other, it's not like I think you can kill me, but... Well, I have a contract with him and you have that karmic bond, so we'd better hold back for now. -Altrouge said goodbye to the girl as if she hadn't been his enemy in the first place. If you really trust Shirou, put your pathetic act aside, only then will you be a good enough opponent to make it fun to crush you. Take it as advice from one monster to another.

Thus, the two disappeared in a bluish-white flash leaving the magus all alone...

Exhausted, confused, and frustrated, she sat down on the grass and covered her face with her hands. All her plans had been destroyed in a single night and by sheer impulsiveness.

It had all failed, again...

She pulled her hands away from her face and pressed them tightly on the grass.

Manaka took a breath and calmed down, she had to plan what she would do from now on. She had to plan...

For a moment, she thought about showing herself docile to Shirou and her sister, create some distance to show that she was sorry for her actions and thus slowly win back their trust. In fact, at this moment, she did not have the confidence to show herself in front of both of them again in such a blatant manner.

Then, she shook her head strongly, that wouldn't work, and all because of the bloodsucker, she planned to take distance, but she was sure that Altrouge would become even more attached to Shirou, pushing her aside

She thought of several more strategies; but, try as she might, she only saw failure in her future...

She almost felt like that time a decade ago, she hadn't been able to summon Arthur, she had summoned Serenity and she had already gotten her wish, winning the war was meaningless to her, and, the only thing she could think of, was to force history to resume its cause by snatching Arthur from the Magus Killer; However, doing so was more difficult than saying it, not because she didn't have the power to carry it out, but because it was complicated to do it the way she wanted to do it, to get what she wanted, she not only needed to snatch him, she needed to do it in such a way that The King of the Knights would not see her as an enemy, so that she could have a chance to win his heart, unfortunately, that wasn't easy, even if she hadn't had that foreseen moment of "love at first sight" she was sure she could fall in love with Arthur once they met, but making Arthur fall in love with her after being snatched, was another story.

Arthur was not like Paracelsus, he would not succumb to his influence and betray his master, as for trying by magical means, the King of Knights magical resistance would not make this simple, this was not at all inferior to Siegfried, in fact, it could be considered more effective in some ways, it would negate all modern sorcery, not like that would limit her in the extreme, but what did was one of her opponents, The King of Sorcery. She also could not take advantage of the problems between servant and master as it was in the case of the Dragonblood Knight, she was sure that Arthur could accept Kiritsugu's methods in order to achieve his goal, he might not approve of them, but he was not naive enough to believe that a utopia could be built without sacrifices. In the end, seeing that her chances of obtaining a fairytale romance were becoming less and less likely, she considered more drastic methods, things like hypnosis would not be enough, manipulation of her memory would be more effective; but then again, her opponent wouldn't let her do what she wanted, something like that would allow her to hold Arthur in the palm of her hand, something that would put Solomon at a disadvantage, he would intervene to prevent it, she knew that, she might even go so far as to make an alliance with Arthur and Kiritsugu to deal with her, and while she was an amazing mage, she wouldn't say something like she could deal with the King of Sorcery with ease either. In the end, before she could put anything into practice, their encounter happened...

It is said that an action is worth a thousand words, her encounter with Shirou was able to put this meaning high. Basically, by meeting him, she was offered what she was looking for in the first place, she might be able to accomplish something worth her life, the only difference is that it would not be Arthur for whom she would do it. This brought doubts to the little girl's heart, but, looking at her current situation, knowing that she could get something like what she had been looking for without the need for drastic methods and with more security, was something she really appreciated, the intention behind the gesture may not have been the appropriate one, but the gesture itself, for her, who believed she was almost between a rock and a hard place, was worth more than anything else.

It was not love at first sight, and she did not even think of comparing the King of Knights to the boy she had just met; however, his offering her this path which she had absolutely ignored was enough to win her devotion. Perhaps she could not be the fairy princess who would live happily with her knight in shining armor, but that did not mean that she could not achieve happiness in another way, if a person could only be happy next to a single other person, the world would be too cruel. After hesitating for several days, he finally made up his mind, he let go of those feelings of a first love that couldn't be, and concentrated on obtaining his happiness in another way and with another person, now that he reminisced about it, maybe it was the most mature choice he made in his life. At least he wasn't currently a zombie, right?

A small smile glimpsed on her lips, she polished her resolve a little more. She hated to do things by halves, she could never begin her journey together with Arthur, but she had already begun one together with Shirou and, after this decade, even if most of it she found herself sleeping, she would no longer turn back, in fact, if Shirou could accept, both the good and the bad from her, she would love him even more than she ever thought she could. Even if Arthur was summoned and magically fell in love with her, she would not waver, she had already chosen her path, and once her decision was made, she would not easily change it, in that sense, she could be more stubborn than her lover.

Además, las palabras de la chupasangre todavía se repetían en su cabeza. Despreciaba a Altrouge, todo lo que había logrado se había ido al traste gracias a ella; pero, aun así... Incluso si no le gustaba admitirlo; ella dijo algunas cosas que le llamaron la atención.

—¿A qué Shirou estoy viendo?

El Shirou que estaba a su lado no era aquel que decidió ser un héroe por el amor hacia "aquel" legendario Rey...

Tampoco el que aceptó sus ideales aun después de haberse enfrentado a su posible funesto futuro...

Ni el que los desechó por el bienestar de otra chica con un lado oscuro similar a ella...

Mucho menos aquel que decidió sacrificar y traicionar al mundo convirtiéndose en un villano con tal de salvar a la persona que era realmente importante para él.

Si bien Shirou comparte similitudes con sus otras versiones, la ancestro tenía razón, él no era la persona que ella estaba viendo. Ella estaba viendo a la existencia conocida como Emiya Shirou en su totalidad, no al Shirou que había conocido como individuo. Finalmente, ella comenzó a entender de donde vinieron sus errores...

—Y quién soy...

Es cierto que sus actos habían sido contradictorios. Al principio se mostró peligrosa para que Shirou la tomara en cuenta y se alejara de Ayaka. Luego intentó mostrarse inocente tal y como sus otras versiones habían hecho con Arthur. Al saber que él recordaba sus interacciones previas, ella volvió a actuar, más o menos, como actuaba la primera vez que le conoció. Todo esto mientras se comparaba con sus otras versiones en un intento de no parecerse o acabar como estas. Y al final, fue impulsiva y terminó revelando lo que había estado negando...

Ella no pudo evitar reírse, en medio de la nada, acostada en la grama, comenzó a reírse descontroladamente, finalmente lo había entendido, era tan... tonto, no podía creer que le había pasado algo así.

¿Por qué no se había dado cuenta antes? La respuesta era clara, porque era humana. El multiverso era increíblemente amplio, tal vez no todos los mundos podían existir, y solo aquellos donde la humanidad prosperaba a un ritmo aceptable no era podados, pero no era como que eso limitara drásticamente las posibilidades, había mundos donde ella no conocía a Arthur y vivía su vida teniendo una relación normal con Ayaka, mundos donde Shirou no se convertía en un héroe de la justicia y, si bien podría ser huérfano por otras razones, vivía felizmente con su familia adoptada ajeno al Mundo de la Hechicería, incluso había mundos más audaces, mundos donde ella conoció a Arthur y obtuvo un happy end, mundos donde Shirou siguió el camino de héroe de la justicia sin necesidad de convertirse en un Contraguardián, ¡maldición! Incluso había mundos donde abandonó este camino y logró salvar y enamorarse de aquella mujer con un lado oscuro similar a ella, había mundos y mundos, entonces, ¿por qué ella no se fijó en esos mundos? Esto también era claro, porque la humanidad tiende a darle importancia a las peores cosas, ejemplo: las peores noticias siempre llaman más la atención, los peores recuerdos se quedan gravados en las memorias de las personas de forma mucho más profunda que los recuerdos felices, entre algo bueno y algo malo, a lo malo siempre se le prestaría mayor atención y se le daría más importancia, esto era parte de la naturaleza humana, y ella no era la excepción. Con tantos mundos, incluso si había una cantidad incontable de mundos donde ella podía ser feliz y estos no necesariamente eran mundos divergentes, estos no llamaron su atención, los que llamaron su atención, fueron todos los mundos en los que ella no quería que su vida se convirtiera.

Fear, fear, these emotions were the reason, it's not like she didn't know about these happy worlds, it's just that, compared to the worlds where things went wrong, these seemed to be almost unreal, unreachable. The fear that her world would turn into one of the "bad worlds" made her pay attention mostly to them, because, knowing those worlds, she should be able to understand how to avoid them, right? And, while it was correct to a certain extent, by going so far into these worlds, she lost sight of not only the world, but also herself, Shirou, and many other things.

While she was like Flat, which was hunted by the Counterforce on most worlds where she did not become a student of El-Melloi II due to her chaotic nature, but that did not mean that worlds where she was not hunted did not exist! It was true that the odds were not in her favor, but they were far from putting her in a situation where she couldn't win, but she got so deep into the "bad endings" that she began to believe that was the case.

She had to change her point of view, her way of looking at things, no longer fixate on the negative worlds, wasn't it better to set her sights on the better worlds? On the better futures, and, even if his ideal future didn't exist, then he just had to create it with his own hands, wasn't that better than fixating on his misery throughout the multiverse? She was no longer to fixate on the miserable worlds, the better worlds were to serve as her inspiration, and her world was to be her focus. And, with this in mind, she began to analyze...

Your relationship is destined to fail...

She bit her lip, the words still echoing in her mind. But they were wrong, their relationship was not destined, it was simply highly likely to fail if she continued that way, it wouldn't.

A relationship based on lies will never go far and if it does, I assure you that, sooner or later, it will fail...

Maybe that was true; but could Shirou love her in spite of what she could become? The answer didn't take long to come, yes, the Shirou she knew could come to love her even with her ugliness, he would probably take it upon himself to hold her back if she went overboard, but he would love her even with that.

Your relationship with Shirou will never work as long as you keep keeping secrets from him.

It could be but would it work if she risked showing Shirou who she was? This answer was a bit more problematic, not even Ayaka or her father fully knew what she was capable of, but it was obvious that she would have to reveal it sooner or later to the boy, what would happen next? She didn't know, and she didn't want to find out with her clairvoyance, all she could do was take it one step at a time.

Do you really know who you are?

Yes, she knew, not looking at her other versions, they might have the same existential basis, but they had led different lives, and that already made them different. Their life was their life, their decisions, theirs alone. Instead of looking at not being like her other versions, it was better to just set her sights on what she wanted to be.

Yes... this was what she had to do, she was sure; but she had to do it right, otherwise, she might lose the opportunity to regain her crush's trust and despite having come to this resolution, deep down, she was still very afraid of what she was planning; however, for desperate situations, desperate measures are required, she would be selfish this time. She trusted him, she had to do it, at this point, it was the only thing she had left...

You don't stand a chance as long as you go on like this.

...

...

The girl smiled. I'll make you regret saying those words to me... -Manaka let out a sigh as she stretched. She got up from the grass, dawn was starting to break. Between the late dinner, the mess, her conversation with the bloodsucker, and her own ramblings, the night had come and almost gone.

Now the light of a new day was shining on her back.

She was mentally exhausted, in a matter of hours, too much had happened. But this kind of unexpected change was something magus were used to, now she had to adapt to the new situation.

Her gaze fixed on the workshop at a great distance, she stiffened her resolve and walked towards it before disappearing in a flash, "I'll do it right from now on .

...

"Was it good?"

Again, Manaka asked herself the same question as she stopped rambling about what had happened the night before, she stood up from the table, the effects of the Bloodsucker's Vision Manifestation were wearing off and the dining room was returning to its shattered appearance. She shook her head, "It doesn't matter anymore, I've made my decision, now I must act accordingly."

She had to reveal to him little by little the secrets she had been keeping from her lover, in this way, she would manage to regain his trust. As for Lady Einzbern, while she expected a rejection upon his return, she did not believe he would be so forthright, in her case, she would have to be on the lookout for any opportunity that presented itself so that she could regain his trust.

Finally, with her intentions set, she too left the dining room.

Weeks passed, until the day of the labyrinth raid arrived.

The boy got ready to put his things away and head towards the hall, today was the day where he would enter the Seventh Labyrinth of Alcatraz... However, as he did so, he couldn't help but frown as he began to ramble.

-Are you going around in circles again? -asked his ancestor as he watched him put away his weapons.

-It's something I have to resolve and it revolves around me, it's not something I can just forget or overlook grandfather, not anymore.

-That's right, but brat, no matter how many times you turn it over, you already know the answer; you just don't have the confidence to carry it out yet.

Shirou sighed, his ancestor was right. It had been almost two weeks since the terrible accident inside the dining hall and, even to this day, he could still see its consequences. He was the type of person who only looked at what he wanted to achieve, but lately he didn't have that luxury and, when you live several years surrounded by magus, even the most clueless person can become skilled enough to realize when something is wrong and is trying to be hidden and, a few days after his recovery, he realized that something wasn't right.

While his life outside the workshop was relatively normal, that is, as normal as it could be for a magus, along with the rest of his acquaintances, friends, and classmates, inside the Marbury Workshop, it was very different.

It was hard to tell, but he could feel it when they interacted. Illya had become much more attached to him and seemed to be much more protective, perhaps she was assuming her role as big sister? If that was it, it didn't particularly bother him, she was also devoting herself to no end in learning Third Magic. Her relationship with Manaka was complicated, there was no radical change; but she felt there was something different in the way they interacted; however, she didn't know exactly what, though she could tell it felt better that way, it felt closer to how they interacted when they were younger. Finally, Altrouge, his relationship with the ancestor was still the same, or at least, he thought it was...

And, while none of this seemed to justify the paranoia that was building, he was sure that something was truly wrong, there was something in the atmosphere, something didn't feel right.

In the end, seeing that he couldn't even concentrate to forge a simple knife, much less the bullets or swords he had to create, his ancestor decided to help him. If everything was apparently fine while he was present, what happened when he wasn't? So, one day he casually left his ancestor in a room with the three girls and, later, Muramasa told him how radically the attitude of the workshop members changed after his departure. Lately, Muramasa was less active than in the past, strangely similar to Add, hence, it was easy to forget when he was active and when he was not. This did not affect Manaka, who realized the situation, but deliberately allowed it for her own reasons. Altrouge noticed it a bit later, but because the charade was not something she really considered important, she didn't really care if Muramasa saw the way the three of them acted when Shirou was not present. The only one who might have really cared, was Illya, but since she wasn't that familiar with Grandfather, she was the only one who didn't really notice that he was present.

-Shirou, you're taking too long!

-I'm coming! -Shirou sighed, his relationships had changed, of that he had no doubt, even his relationship with Altrouge changed after the accident, though he didn't get a glimpse of it until he talked to her just a few hours ago...

He decided to stop rambling, and rushed into the foyer, again he was met with the same strange atmosphere that had filled the workshop since the incident.

-Ready? -Illya asked with a smile.

He smiled too and the group left the workshop, so Manaka transported them to the London Underground. They boarded the transport to the outskirts of the city. To everyone's good fortune, Sella knew how to drive, as everyone else was, or looked, underage, and he didn't trust leaving Altrouge behind a wheel even if he changed his appearance, Manaka was 19 but had never driven before, Illya was still a few months shy of 18, and the other one who could drive would be Fillia, but considering they would be meeting Lord El-Melloi, it was best that Sella took care of this.

Thus, they moved to where the entrance to the Seventh Labyrinth of Alcatraz was supposed to be. On their way, Shirou couldn't help but think about their situation again, he had tried to talk to the three of them during the two weeks that had passed since the incident; but when they were together, they avoided the subject, and to his misfortune, because of how attached they were to him, it was difficult to be able to face them alone; However, he finally managed to talk to Altrouge privately through his contract and got her to explain what had happened, and not only that, he also discovered that not only had his relationship with Manaka and Illya changed, but also his relationship with the ancestor had been affected. ..

-We arrived... -Sella spoke.

Sella was right, they had reached the vicinity of the labyrinth, she had rambled so much about how to face Illya and Manaka that she paid almost no attention to the whole journey. The only thing that managed to catch his attention momentarily, was the ferry ride.

They were in a rural area, far from any civilization. In the distance they could see a huge cavern, the entrance to the subway labyrinth of Caubac, and in front of it stood Lord El-Melloi II and his apprentice, and classmate, Gray.

-Master! -the boy greeted.

-They arrived... -spoke the young Lord to his apprentice.

-Good morning, Lord El-Melloi II... Y... Gray, right? -spoke Fillia.

The tomb guardian nodded her head. Good morning...

-... Likewise, Shirou, Lady Einzbern, Sajyou, Crimson," replied Waver while nodding towards Sella, Leysritt and Illya as a silent greeting.

Manaka nodded with a smile. Likewise.

-Hello, Lord, Gray... -Altrouge replied, surprisingly serious.

-Good morning Gray," said the boy.

-Good morning... -Gray said with a slightly lower tone of voice and a small smile at the redhead, which did not go unnoticed by the other two.

-So this is the entrance? -said Shirou.

A huge cavern loomed in front of the group.

-Yes, it is a mystical cavern that functions as the entrance to the subway labyrinth.

-Excuse me, but does anyone know how big the labyrinth is? -Illya asked.

The Lord shook his head, "All the investigators that have been sent out are presumed dead, none have returned after entering, and this has also happened with independent explorers, as well as several grave robbers.

-And what about this one? -asked the girl.

-Well, only what Faustus wanted to reveal," answered Shirou.

-He's the apostle who started this fake war for the holy grail, isn't he? -Gray asked.

Altrouge shook his head. He is not an apostle. He's a lamyros, the Mediterranean term for a lamia; a type of vampire that is different from the dead apostles, being instead a ghostly, high-class species.

-"I'm surprised that the Twenty-Seventh Apostle allows Faustus to do what he wants with his labyrinth," said Shirou.

Altrouge smiled, "Well, not that he can do much, he's been missing for the last few centuries.

Waver nodded, "According to my research, he's believed to be dead already.

"Is he really dead?" The boy asked.

"No, not at all, he's an idiot in a sense, so in some ridiculous way he created a labyrinth and ended up locked inside it. Since he has been locked up for over a century we thought he was dead; but, surprisingly, he reappeared during the meeting of the 27. We don't know how the hell he has stayed alive; but he has." Princess replied.

"And why hasn't he done anything about Faustus?".

"Well, I think for two reasons: The first is that Caubac is still locked inside the labyrinth in which he is trapped, he can communicate with the outside world in certain ways; but, I don't know if he can affect the world outside the labyrinth."

"And the second one?"

"Caubac has built several mazes throughout his life and Wolfgang is seen as an insect from our point of view. It would be enough for Caubac to get out of his labyrinth and, if he wanted this labyrinth back, Wolfgang would have no choice but to give it up, so he really shouldn't be in a hurry, he can take it back whenever he wants."

"He is very powerful?".

One step away from reaching the level of true magicians."

"I-I see... That's really impressive."

Altrouge nodded slyly. "He's a troubled individual."

-The labyrinth seems to be designed to devour anyone who enters it. Its internal structure probably corresponds to Agrippa's planetary magical formation theory, in which the natural world was combined with the celestial and divine through the participation of Neoplatonic ideas. Although there are many other hypotheses, this whole story has not yet been clarified and the Association has not even made an official statement about it," explained Waver.

-So, in short, once we get in, we can't get out," Illya concluded.

-The only way out is probably in the deepest part of the labyrinth," replied the Lord.

-Where Faustus is probably also to be found," declared Altrouge.

-So, the only way to escape will be to defeat him? -Gray asked.

-It's likely, maybe you can still get out through the entrance, but... -answered the Lord. Well, we don't know what will be waiting for us inside the cavern, it is a labyrinth created by one of the 27 Dead Apostles, it must be full of lethal magical traps and bounded fields. So, you must stay together and make sure not to get separated, otherwise, you may end up getting lost and we will not see you again. If that is the case, make sure you continue to go deeper into it, you should find each other sooner or later.

-Will you stay at the entrance of the labyrinth? -asked Fillia.

Waver nodded, "Yes, like you Lady, I have no prominent combat capabilities, if I were to accompany the group, I would be nothing more than a hindrance.

-Hopefully we can communicate within this one," the red-haired man said.

-We'll only know once we get inside... However, I think I can use familiars to carry a message to the outside," Manaka declared.

-Well, let's get closer then...

Shirou and Gray moved first, followed by Altrouge and Manaka, further back followed Sella, Fillia, Waver and Illya, who curiously carried Fou on his arms, Fou seemed to be the only guest in the workshop that Illya seemed to get along with and Altrouge allowed him to hold him, finally, Leysritt was bringing up the rear.

Thus, the group carefully made their way inside the cavern; however, the moment the entire group was inside the cavern, a magic circle began to glow on the floor on which all the members of the group were standing.

-What's going on? -Illya asked.

-A magic circle, is it creating a bounded field? I wasn't even able to make it out until it started to work! -said Waver.

-A trap! -Shirou exclaimed.

-This is a space transport circle! -Manaka shouted.

Gray tried to pull Add out to absorb the mana from the circle; but it was too late, for at that moment the glow became so intense that it dazzled everyone present, when it stopped, the whole group had disappeared...

Gray opened her eyes, she was inside the great subway labyrinth, this was inside the huge mystical cavern, moreover, it was divided into several floors. To her eyes it seemed that this floor of the labyrinth was made of stone blocks, it looked like a corridor of those dungeons that she sometimes saw her master playing.

-Master... Shirou!?

The rest of the group had completely disappeared, at this moment, there was only her and Add.

-It seems we are alone... -said the girl.

-Why are you nervous, Gray? Have you gotten so used to being with people that now you're afraid to be alone again? Hihihihihi... -Add teased.

For a moment, Gray felt the urge to shake Add as he did when Add annoyed him; however, to Add's surprise, the gravedigger simply smiled. Not at all, after all, I'm not alone, you're with me, right?

For a moment, Add remained silent for several minutes-. ... ... ... Gray?

-Yes?

-Are you all right...?

Gray looked quizzically at her oldest friend, seeing that he was serious, she simply nodded, then tried to use her cell phone; but there was no signal. Come on, the teacher warned us what to do in case this happened. We just have to make sure we go deep into the labyrinth, then we will meet them sooner or later.

The tomb guardian and her companion entered the labyrinth, with Add already transformed into his scythe form, they walked for a while, avoiding several magical traps, these appeared to try to harm them from time to time, fortunately, Add's ability to absorb mana made most of them mostly useless, until...

-Gray, did you hear that?

The gravedigger nodded, she held tightly to the mystic code and prepared to face whatever was stalking them.

A huge insect-like being with eight legs appeared with a leap in front of Gray, this did not seem to be a biological entity, although it appeared to be similar to a spider with many eyes, at first glance, it was much larger than the girl, it seemed to measure between two to four meters. It also seemed to weigh an enormous amount, if the cracks in the ground were indicative of anything. On the other hand, it had an ochre color and greenish eyes.

With a great swiftness, the being charged with one of its huge paws towards the tomb guardian.

Gray jumped backward to dodge the terrible lash of the giant creature's great paw. The girl staggered as the earth shook at the lash; however, she recovered as quickly as she could and lunged at the creature swiftly, as the blade of her scythe slammed into the creature's paw, a metallic sound echoed at the encounter causing the girl to recoil.

"I figured as much, it's not a living thing, it's an automaton."

Once again, the creature launched a ferocious lash against the girl; however, this time it was not a single paw, but three, Gray managed to dodge two of these; but the third was too fast for her, fortunately, she managed to transform Add into her shield form. And, with this she managed to block the attack; however, Gray was thrown several meters backwards.

She fell against the ground and analyzed the giant creature. "If what the master taught us is true, then the weakness of the automatons is...".

Pamp; Pamp!

The creature fired a volley of magical bullets and Gray raised his shield to defend himself. The energy the bullets were made of was absorbed by the mystic code increasing its size.

"The weakness of automatons is...". At this moment, she was scolding herself for her reluctance to study sorcery. However, looking at the magic bullets, she remembered, most automatons had very low magic resistance.

Gray backed away from the creature, taking as much distance as possible- Addd! Bow.

-Got it!

In this way, Ad once again transformed his form, this time obtaining the appearance of a bow. Gray held it and aimed at the creature's joints, when she was ready, she fired an arrow made of mana directly at it.

The creature took the hit and, surprisingly, was slightly stunned. Gray began to shoot more arrows; but, seeing that it was in danger, the automaton began to jump up and shield itself with its front legs as it rapidly approached towards the girl.

Gray frowned slightly, in a matter of a few seconds, the giant automaton had closed the entire distance she had gained.

Once again, the creature attacked him again, though, this time, it used four of its eight legs. Knowing that dodging it by normal means would be complicated, and that she had not absorbed enough magical energy to be able to increase her physical capabilities to the point of matching the creature, the girl made a much riskier decision, she transformed Add into her kusarigama form with grappling hook and threw the latter towards one of the back legs the automaton was using to support itself, using it to propel itself towards this one...

Crash!

The creature's massive legs slammed into the floor of the subway labyrinth, cracking it to pieces. Fortunately, Gray had propelled herself using her hook and passed underneath the creature placing herself behind it, thanks to this, she could notice that, compared to the rest of the automaton's body, this one seemed to be much more unprotected on its torso.

Taking advantage of this, Gray transformed Add back into his bow form and prepared a powerful arrow made of magical energy, as fast as possible, the automaton turned his huge form to look for Gray and try to attack him again; however, at the moment he turned around, he received a huge impact on his torso that made him retreat several meters backwards.

CHRirRirRSisS! CRisSHih...!

A horrible metallic screech echoed throughout the place as the creature stopped moving. Gray watched the automaton and slowly approached...

Carefully, the tomb guardian analyzed the giant creature; however, the moment she approached this one, one of the giant paws headed towards her at high speed, the girl tried to dodge the blow; but the automaton was too fast...

Suddenly, she felt a tug on her arm and heard the sound of steel clashing against steel.

In front of her someone appeared, this person moved her away from the attack range of the huge automaton, dodged its leg and, with his sword, pierced her torso tearing out part of what seemed to be its core or engine.

-You have to be careful, these things don't stop moving until you rip out their engine, even when they look dead... -said the man without turning around.

-I-I understand, thank you very much," replied the girl.

-I'm glad you are well, Lady...

The gentleman turned around; but when he saw the girl's face his words died in his mouth. He was a young man, with long silver hair that matched his armor of the same color, this was complemented with a green cloak with golden edges, this cloak matched the eyes of the knight, of the same color, in his belt he carried a sheath for the sword he was using.

For a moment, an awkward silence surrounded the two of them...

Gray, who did not understand what was happening, broke the silence with some awkwardness-. S-Sorry... Is something wrong...?

The man tried to answer; but, try as he might, his words died before they could be uttered, one question kept repeating itself in his head: Why? Why, in front of him, was a person with a face so similar to that of his beloved King? And, more importantly, why, despite looking so much like him, was this person clearly a woman? All these questions made it clear that this person could not be him and, even so, the similarity in his appearance was all too evident, no, it was not just that, it was distant; but he could feel it, faintly, the energy of his legendary spear, upon which he, along with his brothers-in-arms, placed the Thirteen Restraints.

It should not be possible and, even so, he could not deny it either, in the end, only two words came out of his mouth, nervous, as if he wanted to check that what was in front of him was not an illusion of that witch. After all, he had seen him die at the end of the battle of Camlann, right after returning the sword-. It can't be, my... My king? Are you...?

Chapter 25, Between the goddesses and Gaia.

Deep in the labyrinth, a man narrowed his eyes...

He possessed the appearance of a typical, standard vampire: blond hair and reddish-colored eyes, in addition, he also had an extremely pale skin tone. He wore mostly black clothes, and these were very reminiscent of those worn by aristocratic nobles long ago.

-This is extremely disconcerting...

In front of him was the sub category of the holy grail that he had created and installed inside the labyrinth; but, this one looked strange, disturbed or, better said, altered.

-This happened when this new group entered the labyrinth...

The man analyzed the new subcategory of the holy grail and, in doing so, he realized several things: In the beginning, he had created this holy grail to be different from the original war in several ways...

The first thing, was that not 7 servants would be summoned, but 5, the Lancer class and the Rider class would be excluded. The second thing is that, the servants would not necessarily need a master to stay inside the labyrinth, thanks to a series of mystical codes and ghostly beasts scattered throughout the labyrinth, they could exist on their own, since both would provide them with mana when obtained or defeated, so the labyrinth could summon them and they would stay without the need of a master. But now, the grail's sub category had been altered, and worst of all, it happened right under their noses. A wave of mana intoxicated the room and, to his surprise, he was forced to leave the room, being sent flying out of it, once he managed to return, he observed the transformed and mutated grail, but the worst thing about this transformation, is that he had no idea how or why it had occurred; however, he had a theory of who had done it, or should I say, what had done it...

-Such a large amount of mana couldn't have been sent by anything else; besides, my senses as a ghostly species allowed me to feel it clearly, if I could harness something like that, maybe I wouldn't have even needed to install this ritual... No, more importantly... Why? -He didn't understand, he really didn't believe what was happening in front of his eyes- Why did Gaia's Counterforce want to modify this war? What have I done to get their attention? -He walked across the gigantic room with his chin hanging over his chin. It is true that the ritual weakens the ley lines; but thanks to the restrictions I put in place and the way the labyrinth works and was built, they have not yet entered a critical state of weakening, so it is too early for Counterforce to intervene, she should not have noticed the ritual yet. It has to be something else... I have been carrying out this ritual for some time, if Gaia's Counterforce already knew about the ritual and didn't want me to carry it out, then it would have stopped me long ago. But that's unlikely, and, if I wasn't the one who brought it to their attention, then...

It must have been them, the group that had just gone inside the labyrinth. They must have attracted the attention of Gaia's Counterforce; but why, what was so special about them? No, that was not the worrying thing, all of them, the five servants that populated the labyrinth before the arrival of the group, had been forced to disappear the moment the ritual was modified and, even worse, he was not able to understand how this one had done it; however, he understood something, the holy grail he had created was no longer the same, it had become much more powerful than it should have been originally.

-This can be really troublesome," exclaimed the man in disgust.

He was no fool, he had not started this war inside the labyrinth for something like a wish he knew that clearly this sub grail could not grant him. The limitations he had imposed within the ritual had their good foundations, these were linked to the way he could reach his goal in the best possible way: he planned to succeed Mr. Alcatraz by performing magical experiments as the new dungeon master of this labyrinth, he planned to ascend in the evolutionary line, becoming an elemental, so as to attract the attention of one of the ancestral apostles, then he could be converted and, with his background, it should not take him long to be able to reach a position within the organization.

His experiment was that, inside the labyrinth, the heroic spirits would be summoned and he would defeat them, tearing out their magic cores and, with them, he would quickly become stronger. In this way, he should be able to gain more than considerable power, enough to ascend. This, added to the fact that he had taken possession of one of Alcatraz's labyrinths and modified it to his liking, making it his own, should be enough for him to be recognized as the most suitable successor to the missing labyrinth master.

Obviously, he had no knowledge of what had happened at the last meeting of the 27 Dead Apostles. But he was aware that, in the last century, no one had seen the Twenty-seventh Ancestor of the Dead Apostles. And, with this one missing, and presumed dead, his position was vacant, and he had planned to claim it.

In order to obtain the necessary power without taking risks, he had limited the number of servants to five, as he was confident he could deal with five servants; but he was not sure he could deal with 7, furthermore, he limited the servants the labyrinth could summon, ensuring that he could not summon the higher ranking heroic spirits. Of course, this limitation could be overcome if a master went inside the maze and used the catalyst of a very powerful servant or something like that; but usually, before they could get to that point, they became raw material for the maze. Another limitation that the labyrinth indirectly placed on the servants was that, having no masters, and relying on the consumption of mystic codes and ghostly beasts, they had to watch their mana consumption very carefully, so they could not afford to fight with everything they had without being at risk of disappearing.

However, now that the grail had been modified by the power of Gaia's Counterforce, he was more than certain that it was now capable of summoning the 7 servants and, probably, more powerful servants than he had planned for them to participate.

This worried him too much, his experiment could get out of control and he could pay dearly for it. The only good thing was that, since he was not interested in the masters, but in the servants, once they were summoned by the labyrinth and exhausted their mana, they would disappear, so dealing with them was no different from a fight of attrition, and he had the advantage in this type of confrontation. Although of course, this did not happen with those who were summoned by masters, as long as they could provide them with mana, of course. And so far, there were already two "servants summoned" by the new invaders of the labyrinth.

However, the conditions under which both had been summoned were, to say the least, curious, or rather, worrying. The first one had been summoned unexpectedly, or at least, it seemed so, a girl was facing one of its eight-legged automatons and, when it caught her unawares and was about to end her life, mysteriously, the labyrinth created a magic circle near her and, unexpectedly, the labyrinth had summoned a servant; but it had tied it to the girl. This was not normal, someone was manipulating the labyrinth; but that should not be possible, he had remodeled it and was the being with more authority within it, the only one who could surpass his authority, would only be the very builder of the labyrinth, Alcatraz; but he had disappeared for a century and was presumably dead, so that was not possible.

On the other hand, the conditions of the summoning of the second servant, if one could call whatever it was that was summoned that way, were even more worrisome than the possibility that someone might be manipulating the labyrinth outside of its control. It had been summoned; but, it was not identified as one of the 7 classes in which heroic spirits could be summoned and, what's more, the amount of magical energy that Gaia's Counterforce forced into the summoning was far, far greater than any other he had ever seen. And this was not even the worst of it, he could observe the entire labyrinth from this room and, when he observed the moment of the summoning, the servant did not appear... No, the servant was indeed summoned, he was absolutely sure of this and, even so, the servant was nowhere to be seen.

This made him wonder several things: maybe the summoned servant had some kind of ability that made it imperceptible to the naked eye or something like that? But the Assassin class was still empty?

But, that didn't really matter, whatever it was, Gaia's Counterforce taking the ritual and forcibly making it his own was not a good thing, and could cost him his life in the worst case scenario. He could destroy the grail subcategory to end the experiment immediately, though of course this would be an action of last resort and, even so, he decided that it was best to watch his back...

-At this point, I cannot allow the experiment to get out of control, much less now that I have lost control of the grail.

The room was slightly modified to recreate a summoning circle.

-Better safe than sorry...

Having said that, the circle began to glow...

A few minutes ago...

-Ouch... -Illya groaned while rubbing her head, she opened her eyes to realize that she was inside the labyrinth- Shirou, Sella, Lys, Fillia? where are they?

No one answered, she was all alone...

-It can't be... -she said worriedly.

The young Einzbern watched uneasily what seemed to be the labyrinth built with stone blocks inside the mystical cavern. Although she did not show it, she was quite nervous, she was alone, in a labyrinth full of lethal magical traps and bounded fields, and it was almost certainly inhabited by a multitude of creatures, probably aggressive ghostly species.

And, while she possessed the means to defend herself, she had no confidence that these were good enough to protect her and allow her to fight something like a dragon or a hydra, or who knows what else the labyrinth might harbor. Besides, she had not yet mastered the Third Magic, in her current situation, this would not be a useful weapon for her to defend herself against many of the enemies that probably inhabited the huge labyrinth.

And all this without counting that, within it, a false war was being waged for a false holy grail. Which meant only one thing: servants, the memory of the Dragon Slayer Knight was still fresh in her mind, his magna-sword being wielded to take her life, had it not been for Siegfried's nobility and desire for justice that came before his grandfather's orders, she would have died without a doubt.

Illya was sure, she could not face that kind of beings, simply, they were not at her level, probably no average magus nowadays could face them. Only a small group of exceptions, like her brother, the Queen, or the Enforcers, and, perhaps, the true mages, could do it and, to her misfortune, she couldn't consider herself one of these exceptions, at least, not for now.

Besides, now that she had studied the Third Magic in detail, she realized several things she was unaware of before.

Illya frowned, this was her fault for not having studied magic more closely since she first read the files, though, in her defense, her area was Alchemy, not Spiritual Evocation.

The Third Magic allowed her to interact with souls and extract them from their container, the body, that was correct; but, she did not take into account something very important: the extracted souls do not return to Akasha immediately, depending on what type of soul it is, how powerful it is, they can take more or less time to disappear and, while they remain in the world, they are considered spirits.

There are several types of spirits and, although they can be found everywhere, only those humans who possess a spiritual affinity can perceive them. Spirits are generally harmless to people, but those of the elemental class are of such a dimension that they can interact with people by taking a physical form, the so-called: Spirits of the Transcendent Class.

Ghosts, Wraiths, or Human Spirits, are souls of dead people, or people who lost their physical body for some other reason, who remain attached to this world due to all sorts of things, such as, for example: past grudges, regrets, unfinished business they had during their lives, etc. As such, they tend to haunt places, items or people that are related to their unfinished business. Areas filled with grudges and remnants of strong regrets are like Reality Marbles to these spirits. Normally, direct physical interference by these ghosts is low. As spirit bodies, they usually have to act through some kind of medium, bringing it under their dominion, in order to perform interference.

With human spirits, the time it takes for them to disappear can vary quite a bit depending on certain conditions, for example:

A soul that, after losing its original body, and is not able to encounter one of these unique places for wraiths, that does not devour other people's souls and emotions, tends to disappear more quickly.

Another thing that affects the spirits are the characteristics of the soul that died, the greater the purity, density, strength and solidity, the longer they can endure in the world.

Finally, a soul that can get a suitable anchor to replace its body, while it begins to rot and will eventually disappear, is able to extremely lengthen its stay in the world. An example of this case, and one of which Illya was unaware, was Zouken Matou, a prominent magus of the Makiri family who had modified his body through his sorcery to use familiars in order to keep himself as long as possible in the world of the living, he was about three hundred years old when the ritual was first initiated and, by the third holy grail war, was already considered practically a wraith, at which point, a little over 70 years ago, he ceased to be a human and became a being closer to a monster. Illya did not know it; but Zouken was already 500 years old and, although he was more dead than alive, he still remained. This meant that, using the right means, a human's soul could last for about half a millennium after being detached from the body, or bound to a body made of maggots, as was the case with the old magus.

The good thing about using the Third Magic is that, being transformed into wraiths, they cannot interact with the world without possessing a vessel, so they are harmless until they do. However, in the case of Manaka, who she planned to use it on if she ever endangered Shirou, herself, or any of her ladies again, this could become problematic; for, before disappearing completely, it could possess someone and attempt to harm them.

Once a soul possesses a new body it can only take on its own form, overwriting the body regardless of its quality, so, except for the rot, if she obtained a new body, she would not be greatly affected. Obviously, Illya had no knowledge of the physical connection Manaka had with the Root, nor of the effects of separating her soul from her body and having to attach it to a new body. So, in her eyes, Manaka was just like the rest, she would have to make sure to destroy her body once she extracted her soul to make sure it could not return immediately, and she would have to research some way to deal with the latter so that it would not bring her further problems in the future. All this of course, in case she was forced to make good on her threat.

With the servants it was different, their souls were not of the same rank as that of humans, they were in a league of their own, they were heroic spirits. This aspect of the Third Magic probably did not have a detrimental effect on them, for while it allowed him to extract souls from bodies, the servants were themselves spirits. While these could take physical form, they could also return to a spiritual state, and they would not return to the throne if their soul was extracted from their bodies because their anchor to the world was not these, but the pact they shared with their summoner, that is, their master, so even if she extracted their souls with the Third Magic, they would still exist and could return to physical form as long as the pact with the master was maintained... Or at least, so she thought initially...

In his eagerness to understand the full potential of the Third, he also decided to reread the method of summoning servants, and then he realized one thing. For the invocation of the heroic spirits they needed a vessel, a class, which acted as a passport to stay in the present age together with their master, and once they manifested physically, they obtained a spiritual core, this was their center, their heart, and, upon taking form, the material body enveloped that core. In short, if she separated their souls from their material body when they were materialized and, in that period of time, attacked the spiritual core of that body, destroying it, the servant would lose his vessel and, therefore, would no longer be able to materialize and would be completely defeated.

Illya had a bittersweet feeling inside her as she carefully made her way through the labyrinth, once she researched all of this, she realized that things were not as simple as she had initially planned.

She would have to find a way to deal with Manaka's soul once she had used the Third magic. And indeed she had found it, the Third Magic could not only unbind souls, this was only one aspect of it, and another aspect of the Third was its opposite, this was capable of reattaching a soul to an anchor and unlike spiritual possession, this one could do so without the soul starting to rot. What she had devised was simple enough, attach Manaka's soul to an unsuitable body. Normally a soul, when possessing a body, uses the Soul Genes to overwrite it, regardless of the quality of the original body, but this only applies to suitable vessels. If a used or poor quality vessel is used, the overwriting process can have mishaps, and, in the event that an unsuitable body is used to act as an anchor, rather than a means of interfering with the physical world, it will become a prison within it. An example of this was Grandfather Muramasa, who used a sword to keep himself tethered to the world of the living, but other than being able to remain, he was unable to do almost anything else.

The problem was that she did not possess enough control over the Third to do something like that yet; however, there was a method by which she could achieve this without an indefinite period of training, an ancient mystical code passed down in her family that her grandfather had told her about earlier, The Dress of Heaven. But there was a problem, and that was that this mystical code currently constituted the body of one of her closest friends, Lys, and getting it back would cause her to lose her body. She was not willing to sacrifice her friend in order to obtain the power to protect herself...

After thinking this, Illya stopped and felt the compelling urge to smack her forehead very hard, "What a fool, stop thinking like some random magus Illyasviel! You're not just a magus, you're the Third Mage, if you're worried about Lys losing her body just mint a new one and use The Dress of Heaven to bind her soul to it!". She chided herself internally, once she got out of the labyrinth and met her friend she would propose her plan.

She sighed heavily, disappointed in herself, then her thoughts raved to her biggest headache, Altrouge. This was the case that angered her the most. The Princess of the Apostles was not a human, her soul was also on another level. She didn't really know how long it would take for the soul of a dead apostle to disappear; but it was her understanding that a wraith was part of the 27 Ancestral Dead Apostles, so she did some research on this one...

Stanrobe Calhin, he was an ancestor who currently existed as a ghost after being destroyed by the Church eight hundred years ago, and it is said that he will still survive for another two hundred years before he disappears completely.

A thousand years, the apostle would survive for a thousand years before disappearing, if she took this as a reference, Altrouge would survive for a minimum of a thousand years before disappearing. But that wasn't the worst of it, if she resumed her true body, not only would she return with full power, but unlike Manaka, she would be able to sustain herself indefinitely by being an apostle. The soul of the apostles was already rotting with the passage of time, and they devoured the vital energy of humans to slow down this rotting and thus live for eternity, if she applied the Third Magic, the speed of the rotting in the Princess' soul would increase; but if she regained her true body, she could slow down this rot by devouring the life energy of other beings, in short, the only harm she would cause Altrouge, is a greater need to drink blood to stop the advance of an accelerated rot.

This could be avoided if she destroyed his body; but there was a problem: It was well known that the first 10 members of the 27 ancestors of the dead apostles could not be eliminated easily, they had become mysteries of a great magnitude and, the only way to kill them effectively, is to use a mystery of greater magnitude, that is, Illya could only destroy his body if she used something of that level and, to her misfortune, she did not possess anything of the sort. Unless she convinced Shirou to kill him just like he killed Einnashe's Predator Forest...

-What nonsense am I thinking...? -Illya sighed, it was obvious that wasn't going to happen, Shirou had already made his position clear.

possibility that it might also happen with the Princess; but if that were the case, then Altrouge could murder her even as a wraith.

And this was not the worst of it, for Altrouge was no ordinary apostle, she was half apostle and half true ancestor. True ancestors were categorized as elementals, more specifically, nature spirits of the transcendent kind. These are separate terminals shaped by the will of the world as a defense against the resource-plundering actions of humans, or the like. Although they are anti-human in origin, the Counterforce of Alaya does not see them as direct enemies, as they are extensions of the world and mediators of nature before they are enemies of humanity.

In a broader meaning, the transcendent type, refers to sentient species whose existence occurs on a different scale than that of humanity. The dead apostles qualify as "transcendent type" under this definition. Strictly speaking, however, according to their criteria, the dead apostles would simply be "self-described" as transcendent, and not transcendent per se.

What was important about this definition? That supernatural entities who are known to be part of the transcendent class can receive a body made of flesh from the planet. In other words, even if she managed to destroy her body, there was the possibility that Gaia would provide her with a new one, and considering that the Princess is working to save the world, this was quite likely. Or there was even a simpler option, that instead of waiting for the planet to provide her with a new body, she would simply possess a suitable vessel to return.

The only solution she had found for this was the same one she had found for Manaka, to attach her soul to an unsuitable vessel. Come to think of it, it could be quite an effective threat. Something like: And if you do it again, I'll lock your souls in a toilet brush until you learn to control yourselves! Or something like that... -Illya couldn't bring herself to crack a smile as she imagined those two locked in cleaning supplies.

However, her smile died quickly.

Slash!

A large number of swords erupted from a magic circle and pierced the familiars she had created who were ahead of her at all times.

She was very worried, while her greatest weapon was capable of helping her deal with these two troublesome women, one thing was theory and another was practice. It was unlikely that the two of them would allow her to do what she had planned with ease, they would probably try to knock her out before she could pull it off, and she, like most Einzbern, were not acta for a direct battle, which was why the Einzbern always lost in the holy grail wars. While he could defend himself very well in a magical battle, against those two... Illya sighed in frustration, she had to become stronger and soon, she needed power so she could manage to defend herself and the others...

She stopped, she could feel it, a huge concentration of mana in the distance, and it was moving...

-A ghostly species... -Illya paused inside the labyrinth and began to weigh her options, she could take her chances and fight the ghostly species, after all, while she wasn't battle oriented, it didn't mean she didn't have offensive spellcasting. Maybe she couldn't do much against a Servant or the monsters she lived with at home; but, if it was a mere ghostly species... Lady Einzbern shook her head, "I can't let my pride get the better of me...".

Illya took out various materials from her bag and began to draw a summoning circle, if what they knew was correct, then she should be able to summon a heroic spirit within the labyrinth. To her misfortune, she did not have a catalyst with her, she would have liked to have been able to bring the Das Rheingold with her; but this was an endless mountain of treasure that provided great wealth and in return curses its owner with great misfortune, in short, it is not something that can be carried on her person just like that.

To her good fortune, at least the heroic spirit she was summoning would have great rapport with her. And most heroic spirits should be able to deal with a ghostly beast.

Once the circle was finished, she began with the ritual...

"Let iron and silver be the essence;

Stones and the archduke of covenants as foundation;

Let a wall be raised against the wind that is about to fall;

The cardinal gates close;

Let the path divided in three, reach the realm from the crown that rotates;

Full, full, full, full, full, full, full.

Let it be declared now; Thy sword shall guide my destiny;

Answer to the standards of the holy grail, if you are willing to obey this will and this truth;

An oath shall be made here;

I shall obtain all the virtues of heaven...!;

I shall have dominion over all the evils of hell!

Now, our destinies are united, come to me from the circle of balance!

Protector of balance!

As Illya's chanting increased, the circle glowed brighter, a concentration of mana such as she had never felt before, not even when her grandfather summoned Siegfried, became present. A huge glow filled the whole place and a gigantic roar echoed in the area.

Illya felt a giant shiver run through her entire body, at the same time, she felt a simply absurd amount of mana permeate her, for a moment, she was completely out of breath, she couldn't breathe and honestly, she thought she was going to die. She fell flat on her face as she writhed as if she had been thrown into a boiling frying pan, but this quickly stopped to give way to a rapid drop in her temperature, for an instant, she could see her breath coming out of her mouth like mist. The pain first became present, then doubled explosively, and without even waiting for her to get used to it, the pain exploded a third time. The pain she felt was so much that she didn't even have the strength to scream, she felt like a vessel being filled, a dam into which three different powerful rivers flowed and which was doing its best not to break into pieces. Finally, after a few minutes, all the pain stopped with the same speed with which it had appeared in the first place, and Illya was able to regain control of her body. She had to close her eyes to avoid being blinded and, instinctively, to endure the fleeting; but terrible pain that came over her.

What had happened? She did not observe these reactions when her grandfather summoned the shadows or Siegfried; however, she did not have time to analyze it either, at this moment, the rumbling and concentration of mana must have alerted the ghostly species nearby. She opened her eyes, once this was done, she expected to find the servant that had come to her call, it must have been a powerful one, if the amount of mana that had invaded the place told her anything; however, what she found was...

-What...?

Nothing, she got up to see how the summoning circle was frozen; but there was nothing on it.

-What happened? I-It can't be, I... Did I fail? -Illya approached the circle staggering. But... How? I'm sure I summoned something...

Crash!

-H-Hmn...! -Illya turned and held back a gasp at what she was seeing.

The block floor that the labyrinth inside the mystical cavern was made of cracked and, in the distance, the young Einzbern watched as a ghostly beast approached. What she observed was...

-That's it... A-A monstrous beast! A chimera?!

Many of the ghostly species fall into the category of magical beasts, also considered to be demonic, which is the common designation for all creatures that do not fit into the ordinary biological classification for living things and those that do not fall into the normal ecosystem. These can be classified into three categories, which change as the creatures age and increase in power to become higher existences. At the lowest rank are Monstrous Beasts, which then transform into Ghost Beasts and, in the end, become Divine Beasts.

The millennial rank Phantasmal Beasts and Divine Beasts are similar to true magic, so they cannot even be harmed by mysteries at the Sorcery level.

Chimeras are creatures within the rank of monstrous beasts that make up most of the magical beasts still left in the world. They are formed from the mixture of different species that have existed since the Age of Gods, and live in currently undeveloped lands that mankind cannot reach, for one reason or another.

The one in front of me had brown fur, large claws and fangs, horns, six eyes, and a scorpion-like tail. It was between three and six meters tall and must have weighed several tons.

However, Lady Einzbern noticed that this chimera was not exactly like the original chimeras, these must have been synthetic beasts. These were the product of a process that created chimeras artificially. If she remembered correctly, this process was controlled by a master within the Animal Department, also known as Zoology, of the Clock Tower. But, if this was true, synthetic chimeras needed materials to be created and, if they were created within this labyrinth, the only place they could obtain the materials from was...

Illya swallowed saliva. The labyrinth probably uses the intruders as a kind of raw material to create them.

The chimera noticed her in the distance and, for a moment, stood analyzing her briefly.

Illya began to think at high speed, trying to analyze her situation. What could she do? She doubted she had the offensive potential to take care of the chimera by herself, if she could use the Third Magic efficiently, then everything would be simpler, she could separate the soul from the body, then destroy the head of it, and everything would be over. But, she was not yet at the level where she could do it instantly, it took several minutes to manifest the heavenly land, the garden, and, even more, to extract the soul, on the other hand, ascending souls to a higher plane was something she had not yet attempted because of her lack of control.

GRRRR!

The beast roared and began to run at high speed in his direction.

Since the Third was not yet a practical choice for her, she had but one option left: use her familiars as a distraction and flee as fast as possible, trying to lose the chimera inside the labyrinth.

With great agility and speed, she took a good amount of wire that she had brought inside her bag and used it to shape her familiars, at first, she used her hair to create them; but, after searching inside several files, she found that her mother created them using wire, and she did not hesitate to try to make the change of materials. She succeeded, but she realized that the ones created with her hair were more effective, as this was a better conductor of magical energy than wire, despite this, she preferred to use wire as long as she could do it, she was not a fan of going bald.

She created 4 ibis and ordered them to shoot at the chimera to get its attention, they did so, the magical bullets of the familiars flew to the chimera, hitting it hard, they stopped its passage and raised a large cloud of dust, Illya didn't even think twice and ran away, but not before ordering her familiars to shoot again at any movement.

And this proved to be the best course of action, for, several seconds after the impact of the shots, the chimera broke through the dust cloud at great speed, although the attacks had damaged it, they had not disabled it. The ibis attacked the chimera in an attempt to stop it; However, these could only give more than a few minutes of advantage to the young Einzbern, because the chimera rushed against them, the relatives were fast enough to dodge the first attacks, but in the face of consecutive attacks, They ended up succumbing to the ferocity of its enormous fangs and sharp claws, however, before they were completely destroyed, Illya ordered the remaining ones to transform into their Degen (Swords) form and they stabbed the beast's legs, damaging its limbs and slowing it down.

Meanwhile, Illya was running as fast as her body and strength would allow, she strengthened herself to be able to cover as much distance in the shortest time possible, but, little by little, after running for several minutes at her maximum speed, the burning in her legs was starting to take over, she was short of breath and her chest ached; but that wasn't enough to stop him, he could hear the giant creature roaring angrily, he didn't know if it was far or near; but he wasn't going to turn his head to find out, it seemed that the damage to his limbs hadn't been enough to slow him down for long. After walking away and catching her breath, she considered starting to train with her brother to increase her stamina and from her bag she pulled out some sort of bluish powder and sprinkled it as she ran at a slower pace...

"This should disguise my smell."

Left, right, right, right, left, she had no idea where she was running to, but it was either that or the chimera's claws; however, despite all her efforts to lose her inside the labyrinth, luck was not on her side...

-It can't be...

What was in front of her, was a huge wall, it was normal for the labyrinth to have paths leading nowhere and, to her misfortune, Illya was unlucky enough to run into one of these. Without a second thought, Illya turned and began to run back on her heels, if she was lucky, she could turn in the opposite direction she took the last time; however, once again, luck did not smile on her...

Carefully, she walked on her steps, and after several corridors, when she reached a corner, she poked her head into an intersection she had taken before and, to her misfortune, a few meters away, there was the giant artificial chimera trying to locate her by sniffing all over the place, its six eyes moving in different directions trying to detect her.

For a moment, she wondered if some deity of misfortune that had not transcended the Reverse of the World was toying with her, and she was tempted to curse it, and she would, if she didn't have a monstrous beast that was made using humans as raw material trying to devour her.

Once again, Illya analyzed the situation and saw only one option to get out alive: try one more time. On his own, it was impossible to be able to fight the chimera in such an enclosed environment, he had to summon a servant or he would be in big trouble.

Trying not to make as much noise as possible, Illya moved as far away from the place as she could and, once again, using the remaining materials brought in her bag, she rewrote the summoning circle. So, again, Illya started with the ritual, it would be an all or nothing, the moment the chimera felt the accumulation of magical energy, it would come for her.

The summoning circle glowed again as the aria advanced, finally, a great flash of light flooded the place and, for the second time, the young Einzbern was forced to cover her eyes so as not to be blinded, inwardly, she prayed that something would appear this time and, again, to her misfortune, something appeared; but it was not what she expected...

-Huh...? -exclaimed the young mage in surprise.

-Wooof," cried a large dog standing on the summoning circle in a friendly manner.

What Illya had in front of her was a hunting dog, a large light brown canine with certain areas being lighter.

-H-Hey, s-stop, y-you're tickling me... -she laughed as she tried to get the hound to stop licking her, for some reason, having him around gave her a sense of strange tranquility. Huh? Why am I wearing these clothes? -Due to the chase, the young Einzbern hadn't noticed that, since her first summoning, her attire had changed.

Crash!

The dog stopped licking her face and all sense of calm Illya had felt dissipated as she saw the chimera approaching from the last intersection she had taken. Just as he had assumed, the synthetic beast moved towards where the mana had accumulated and eventually tracked him down.

"W-what can I do? I tried again and no servant came to my call, and that thing won't give me time to try a third time. w-what do I do?".

She was totally cornered, her attacks were not effective enough, and the Third Magic was not viable, she was totally out of options and, surprisingly, she did not despair, she was scared, yes; but she would not allow this to overcome her, this magical beast was nothing compared to the monsters she had in her house and had to deal with during every day.

To her surprise, the dog leapt towards the giant creature.

-Grrrr... -growled the hound, challenging the beast.

-H-Wait, you can't take that thing on! -shouted Illya; but without daring to approach the magical beast.

To the girl's surprise, the synthetic chimera was wary; but it snarled back at her. GRRRR!

Despite the bestial roar, the hound did not panic or back away.

-GROOAARR! -At the hound's challenge, the chimera roared and lunged with a large paw at the dog, although the dog jumped backwards to avoid it.

The chimera tried to attack it with the sting of its venomous tail, but...

Bam!; BAM!; Crash!

Illya created four more familiars, two took the form of Ibis and fired magic bullets at the chimera, the other two took the form of swords and launched themselves at the chimera and stabbed it in the side. However, this was not enough to stop the beast, which continued to attack the dog again and again.

Illya kept trying to stop it, and while his attacks were having an effect, hurting the creature, they did not cause enough damage to stop it.

"He won't be able to keep dodging the chimera forever, you know?" a voice echoed inside the young mage's subconscious, this one seemed to be brimming with courage and bravery.

"Huh, who are you, how are you talking directly to my head?", Illya asked as she tried to defend the dog.

"Right now, that's not important, you wanted power to stand up to those monsters, we were the answer to that request," a second voice, different from the first, answered her. This one had a strangely maternal, loving tone.

"Enough talk, your enemy will end up killing you if you don't take action immediately, what are you waiting for, order your familiar to attack!", ordered a third voice, this one was much colder and more ruthless than the others.

All of these seemed to belong to women.

"Order him? He's a hound! What can he do against a chimera!", Illya asked.

The first voice let out a small laugh. "Relax, we'll take care of that, for now, just command him to stop defending himself and attack. I'll tell you the words to command him to do so, these are..." the vigorous voice spoke.

The hound jumped and evaded both the fangs and the sting of the chimera; but it was obvious that it would soon be cornered by the magical beast.

Suddenly, Illya's reddish eyes changed color to an icy blue, she felt how, for a few moments, she lost control of her body as she said-: Howl my friend, my power, Optateshke Okimunpe!

Suddenly, the brown-furred hound began to transform, its fur whitened and blue markings began to appear on its body, its size increased and, from one moment to the next, the hound totally changed its appearance to become a huge polar bear.

"I really don't agree with you turning him into a bear...", the voice that seemed to be vigorous by nature, was dejected.

"If it's the familiar of a goddess, a large and fierce appearance is quite appropriate, but it won't do for it to be a ghost or a mythical beast," the cold voice spoke.

"That's true, relax, your friend is still the same despite his new appearance," said the loving voice.

"I guess...", replied the first one dejectedly.

"Good, now the words with which you will crush your enemy are: ...". Spoke the cold and merciless voice.

A bow appeared in Illya's hand and she declared- Freeze, forces of heaven, Pohjola Fimbul!

As she said these words, the world immediately changed, it seemed that Ilya, the bear and the chimera had been transported somewhere southeast of Germany, the world became a complete frozen landscape with storms and mountains, it was not a Reality Marble; but it had a similar effect, it was the manifestation of the legend of the witch Louhi who sealed the sun and the moon in a cave, along with a part of the landscape imagined by Illya herself.

The chimera moved and tried to sting the bear, but it moved much faster than the bear, placing itself right in front of Illya and leaning slightly for the young Einzbern to mount it, the girl seemed to be in some kind of trance because she didn't hesitate for a second and mounted on top of it.

Once again, the chimera tried to attack the bear with Illya on top of it; however, the latter managed to dodge him a second time and, with a strong and powerful tackle, sent him flying by lifting him several meters into the air.

"Well, now leave it to me," spoke the voice that possessed a cold tone.

Despite never having used a bow in his life, "Illya" decided to use the one that had appeared in his hands, a completely white one and, with great skill, while riding the bear, he used the bow, firing an arrow made purely with ice magic that flew through the air and hit the chimera before it fell.

Once the arrow impacted the magical beast, the magical energy inside the arrow exploded turning into a giant icicle that impaled the creature holding it in the air.

"Now it's my turn!" spoke the voice full of courage.

The bear scaled the icicle with Illya in tow and, in the young girl's hands, the bow disappeared and its place was taken by a short sword. The same icy magic that had imbued the arrow surrounded the sword and Illya swung it expertly cutting off the head of the chimera that struggled futilely to free itself.

The bear fell on all fours with Illya on top of it, the chimera's head fell next to both of them. And, from one moment to the next, Illya's bluish eyes returned to their usual reddish color. Surprised and puzzled, she looked at the sword in her hands, then tilted her gaze to look at the severed head of the great chimera. Adrenaline intoxicated her and she couldn't help but have an ecstatic smile despite the danger she just faced...

Bang! Crash!

The young magus turned to watch as the icicle had shattered and the motionless body of the synthetic beast fell against the floor, cracking it and, finally, she saw how the manifestation of the legend began to disappear and the subway labyrinth resumed its usual appearance.

-I-I did this? -she asked in surprise.

"We did little one," one of the voices corrected her.

-Who are you? -asked the mage in shock.

"Oh, that's right! We haven't introduced ourselves," exclaimed the voice full of courage, "My name is Sitonai, I'm a Kamui, nice to meet you, Illya-san."

"You're right, my name Freyja, nice to meet you little one," spoke the voice denoting more affection.

"Louhi," replied the third one curtly.

Illya's mind was quickly processing the names he had just heard, he easily recognized the name Freyja, the goddess of love and fertility from Scandinavian/Nordic mythology, and Louhi's name sounded faintly familiar, he remembered she was a witch from Finnish mythology who was said to be an alter ego of the goddess Lovitar, he didn't know who Sitonai was or that she was a Kamui; but, considering that the other two were goddesses, it was likely that Sitonai was a goddess from some mythology she did not know.

"Why are three deities talking inside my mind? I thought all the divine spirits had traversed to the Reverse of the World...".

"Oh and we did; but we were brought back by the will of the world."

"The Counterforce of Gaia?".

"It would seem so. I was in reverse before, and all of a sudden I felt a tug from somewhere and lost sight of all my surroundings, when I came to myself, I was here. And by the way, it's not simply that we're talking inside your mind, it's that we're literally inside you."

"What?! But that's impossible, no human body can withstand the power of a divine spirit."

"Exactly, so you can consider yourself a true walking miracle."

"You called us unconsciously through the power of the will of the world, and we were brought by it. I must say that you really are exceptional, to be so compatible with three goddesses from different mythologies and to be able to put up with our spirits... It's not something many people can boast of, not to say practically no modern human, at least, not naturally."

Illya smiled unconsciously, proud of herself. But then she realized something, "And now they will always be inside me?" she asked worriedly.

"No, this is only temporary, as you said, it is impossible for the body of one human being to withstand the power of a divine spirit, much less three. We will probably disappear when the ritual ends."

"Oh..." The young woman lamented.

"Hmn! Planning to use the power of three deities to wipe out your enemies, how brazen...".

"I-I guess it couldn't be that easy...".

"Well, maybe we're only with you until the ritual is completed; but our spirits are already influ

Illya didn't know; but the goddess was probably smiling. "Yes, all in all, you desire power, not to wage war indiscriminately, but to protect the one you love, I might even give you a small blessing if your love is sincere, fufu."

"Yes! Yes! I agree too! I'll help you eliminate that witch-".

"Ahem!".

"S-Sorry Louhi, I mean, I also agree to help you to retrieve our dear otouto-chan, from the clutches of that scavenging brat and that bloodsucker."

"O-Our dear otouto-chan? Shirou is my dear otouto-chan!" the young woman replied defensively, not even wondering how the hell she understood Japanese...

"Oh come on... at this point we're almost the same person, we can share him, don't you think?".

"B-But Shirou is my only family, he's only mine, I've got enough to put up with with those two!".

"Oh my... I thought having such feelings for members of your family was frowned upon in this era; but I guess it doesn't matter since you two have no blood ties...", Freyja scoffed, "Maybe you need that blessing more than I thought...".

"N-No wait, I-I didn't m-I didn't mean h-he in that way; A-Although... N-No, I'm going to think about that right now!". Illya knelt down, or at least made the attempt, with her hands on her head, as if she was having an existential crisis; much to the accompanying bear's astonishment.

"Ah... What nonsense," Louhi commented, "I won't teach you anything, unless you're able to stay focused and take down your enemies without hesitation, So get a grip!".

"Y-Yes...".

"Good, then let's go find our dear otouto, he's no good if he's accompanied by either of those two, and he can be dangerous if we leave him alone, we'll teach you on the way."

To the girl's surprise, the bear leaned forward as if asking her if she could move forward.

-Yes, thank you very much...

Her familiar nodded and set out to guide her through the labyrinth, she didn't know where they were headed; but the bear was the familiar of a goddess, he probably knew more than she did. So, Illya set out to find her brother while listening to the lessons of the goddesses who now inhabited her very body.

Just after the magic circle had teleported the group, separating them, and sending them to different areas of the labyrinth...

The Princess opened her eyes, the glow of the magic circle she and the others had fallen into had momentarily blinded her, once opened, she could make out where she was.

It was no ordinary area within the labyrinth, it was a room made of "crystal" that seemed to be isolated from the rest of the maze. The only thing inside was a small round table, a chair, and an antique telephone on top of the table, one very similar to the one Zelretch had brought with him to the meeting of the 27.

She picked up the phone and got ready to answer it. It seems you have more contact with the outside world than I imagined, don't you, Caubac?

A slight chuckle could be heard on the other end. Well, even if I have no interest in the outside world, I'm still interested in the events going on in this one, though not yet enough to want to leave the place where I am at the moment.

-Oh...? And what is that world like?

-A world without change, it's a paradise for me, believe it or not. It's a place without morning or night where it's easy to lose track of time to the point where centuries can pass without you noticing. Why? Fancy a tea party and having a "girl talk" or something? I wouldn't mind inviting you, although I don't think it would be a world to your liking?

The Princess laughed at the invitation. I appreciate the invitation; but such a world is too quiet for my taste.

-Oh...? Then the outside world must be a paradise for you, I hear the chaos is increasing day by day.

-Not exactly, we are not all so carefree to turn a blind eye to the fact that the world is dying.

-Mea culpa, although, from what I see, she's not the only one who's relaxed.

-Huh? Her? -Who? -Altrouge asked, interested.

Caubac quickly denied. Never mind, but I'm glad you've relaxed too.

This surprised the Princess. Relaxed, me? What are you talking about?

Caubac blatantly tried to make her next words sound clearly like a mockery. Oh... you know... Although you're still leading your faction, you've stepped away from it a bit and decided to take a break, right? You've even managed to fall in love, and with a human no less, you naughty girl...

Fortunately for her, Caubac could not observe him at this moment, because the following words would not have the effect she would want if he saw the slight blush that adorned her face. What the hell are you talking about? Did you go crazy being cut off from the rest of the world for over a century? Or, are you going senile...?

At these questions Caubac could do nothing but laugh. Come on, come on, you don't have to lie to me, we are among "friends". You acted as if the new Seventh Apostle was just a tool for you during the meeting; but Zelretch has told me how you behave inside the Clock Tower when you are with him. Who knew that the great Princess of Twilight, the owner of the greatest human killer, the only one, with the exception of Arcueid, by the name of Brunestud, would fall in love with a human of all things. So many unexpected events, more and more I think that, maybe, it is not so bad to leave this paradise.

-Caubac... At what point did you and Zelretch turn into the typical old pranksters who watch from the window of your houses what's going on in the street and then gossip among yourselves? -In truth, this wasn't something she really wondered about, after all, if the Jewel Mage was known for anything, it was for taking an interest in mundane matters.

Altrouge's tone became heavier, he knew her well, if she continued down this path, she would only find misfortune; but the fun she was getting was more than enough payment to risk-. Oh come on, we just enjoy watching young people have fun. So what was it that made you fall in love with him? Was it because he managed to hurt you? If so, well... Well, I didn't know you had those kinds of tastes... although relax, I'm all for you trying multiple types of pleasures, you are "young" at the end of the day, I hear bdsm is very popular as a fetish nowadays? Or, maybe, that just caught your attention, and what really made you fall in love with him was when he agreed to murder Ainnash, since you would benefit from it after all, even if that put him in the crosshairs of the other senior apostles, Lord Rozay-en told me something about that too...

"That old man?" thought the Princess almost losing herself in anger.

-Come on, tell me, tell me... What is it?

-Caubac... -Now it was the maze builder who felt lucky not to be able to see her, he hadn't heard her speak in that tone since her fight against Arcueid-. If you say anything else stupid... Then you'd better clean your keyhole while you can, because when I'm done with you the only way you'll feel anything besides pain will be through BDSM! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!?

Silence filled the room for several minutes, until the comedian decided to answer in a small whisper...

-Yes, I'll keep that in mind Princess... -Caubac was stifling a laugh, obviously imagining the Apostle's outburst of anger; but he still decided that changing the subject was the safest thing for his physical integrity-. It's ironic, Arcueid told me something similar when I talked to her a few days ago as well, it seems that even though they both have relaxed having fallen in love with a human, they both still haven't lost their true nature...

Altrouge reluctantly sat back in his chair saving the information the comedian had just given him for later. So, why the fuck did you bring me all the way out here? You'd better give me a worthwhile explanation.

-Well, you see, something unexpected is happening inside the labyrinth, it seems that Gaia's Counterforce has taken control of the ritual that Wolfgang's brat is carrying out...