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The following is a fan-based

FICTION

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Chapter 6: A Princess' Duty

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It takes a moment for a good person's naivety to rot and make way to something more sinister but purer within the goodness of one's heart.

A moment which can be characterized by extreme pain, extreme fear, and extreme upset. A moment where everything one knows goes blank as a single thought remains and it is not a normal thought. It's a brash one, a bold one, a desperate one. And that was, indeed, how it all changed for one Illyasviel von Einzbern.

The moment was clear in her mind- it wasn't the first day her parents were out for their mission to win the Holy Grail War, it was the last day they were deemed by her great-grandpa as her parents. The pure confusion was matched by equal dread when she heard a single resolution over this failure: If Irisviel failed, then her daughter wouldn't. And Acht was willing to take steps to ensure that.

Illya was no normal child. That much she could say by two things: she learned fast and she remembered details quite vividly.

And when it comes to the process to create a Lesser Grail out of a 'Justeaze-model Homunculus', Illya was not ignorant of the implications of such demand. The strain it would lead to one's body was not unfamiliar through the attempts of her grandfather to have a 'spare sacrifice' and how Illya found her in a pool of her own blood and despair.

She just followed her grandpa, she saw him doing things to the maid, and then... it was just the two of them. The old patriarch is missing due to disgust over his own failure, but mostly over the 'failed homunculus'.

It was a muted sight, it was so dreadfully concocted to bring her in a state of dreadful fright and worry over someone that she didn't know. It was the look on her face. Normally stoic, the maid with short hair looked absolutely devastated. Her face struggled between preserving the primal order of being calm, and the natural reaction of being subjected to torture. Bits of her body were exposed as her circuits, quite a few fried by the effort enforced by her grandfather.

Illya remembered how trembling her voice was, how morbidly curious and yet horrified her tone manifested.

"A-Are you okay?"

An innocent child shouldn't be subjected to this, but the lack of a worded response set her up to know more about it. Two maids by the entrance were willing to listen to her demands: "H-Help her, give her a bath and then bring her to me."

Mama taught her so much about the real world, and yet so little.

In Illya's naive self, there were answers that she needed. Her curiosity would be what would undo her childhood faster than anything Acht had originally planned for her. The 'puppet' knew a lot and she told her so much. But the greatest knowledge she provided was one thing that she had only suspected on the surface: Her grandfather was not a good person, and Acht would be keen to do the same to her if needed.

The broken maid would then be given her uniform and ordered to stick by her. A name was given to her at this, Leysritt was thus named as such, and the usually calm and blank look showing gratitude beyond comprehension. It made Illya warm inside, and she knew she did the first mature good thing she could hope to do.

It was just the beginning, but she didn't expect the next step to come the very night Acht had planned to turn her into his newest gamble. Illya knew the truth, and that wouldn't do. She wasn't going to die, she wasn't going to be shackled any further, and she would be returned to her parents at once.

While it would be true to say that all maids within the castle held a superior might compared to what Leysritt could offer, the same couldn't be said when they were put against her Berserker. A Servant that came to be through a dumb chance within a major experiment. Illya started to dig into the matter of having a proper guard. She relied on Leysritt, but they both knew that when it came to physical defense that wouldn't work well on their part. Thus, Illya invested time and effort in getting the ultimate guard- a Servant.

The fact it was a Berserker surprised her, but it was also true that the result almost risked botching the whole attempt due to how grand the cost was to keep the Servant energized and ready to fight. The five batteries that were stolen by the workshop for homunculi burned up quite fast and were close to depleted by just two days of intense strain without the Servant doing much within his Astral Form.

Herakles, the legendary Demi-God from Greek Mythology known for his impressive strength. Illya deemed him flawed by design through the Holy Grail's limitations. Which was reasonable but also not. Illya wanted a perfect guard, not a tool for competition. More books and more experimenting ensued, by the time Acht was ready to use her as a toy was around the time she had found a way to circumvent the extreme energetic needs of the Servant by 'shedding' some of his traits off. The Mad Enhancement was the toughest element to remove, but it was weakened enough to allow the Berserker to have greater control on his energy output.

And when the night came to change the world, Illya struck with ferocity not even she knew to have. Acht's ambitious plans crumbled right as his broken body laid down as the child he had wanted to change stood over it. For a moment, he admitted, he was blessed with Justeaze's scowl. It infuriated Illya to the core. But it didn't matter to her- Illya was free and she would now look into finding her parents.

But that's where the last mistake, the one where true knowledge became a burden compared to ignorance, was made. She looked into Acht's office, the room now accessible as she was now the 'Head of the Einzbern Clan'. Despite being barely ten, Illya was now in charge of the castle. She was no longer a princess, but the queen. And it sounded pout-worthy considering she loved being called a 'princess' by others.

Still, she had a job to do and she went on to dig into what paperwork Acht had been perusing as of recently and... a small stack of papers, a mixture of letters, notes, and orders from Justeaze together with a strong-worded letter from Kiritsugu. Her Papa didn't forget her, so she had been right despite Acht's attempts to make her parents sound like uncaring fools.

They cared. And so much. There were two lines at the end of that letter which were from her Mama. The begging, it struggled against her heart but... Illya made the stupid move of reading Justeaze's works and see why she couldn't go back just yet. Not because of a physical issue, but rather for one truth that she was sure not even her parents knew about.

The Holy Grail was not a proper Wish-Granting device. It was a specific one. It needed a single wish or it wouldn't work properly. Illya was confused by the notion, but the truth was manifested through the centuries-old secrets the Einzbern had kept to themselves. The reasons that led to the creation of the Holy Grail, their dreams and hopes- all twisted and turned by time, external meddling and greed from all sides.

To change the world! Such a foolish expectation which Justeaze confirmed as unreachable. Not for a lack of trying, but for a lack of scope. The Holy Grail's potency didn't provide a barely-explained gift the means to fully manifest without forcing the world itself to pay the price. The more Illya read, the more a sense of duty manifested before the fact that this could end up poorly if she ditched the post.

Acht's last comments on his plans for the next Grail War worried her the most. Her Papa and Mama didn't know that their efforts to stop the war had failed miserably and that it would happen even sooner than expected. Which is why Illya took the burden to be the one to end it herself and bring a closure to the war by her own hand. She had one of the strongest Servants she could ask for... but she lacked the means to further achieve victory.

Eight years later and she was in Fuyuki with a clear plan in mind and a new advanced body provided by one Touko Aozaki in exchange of some unused Homunculi-related books, Illyasviel stood by the window of her room in the castle that was once used by Justeaze to wage war on her enemies and former friends.

Illya's plan was one and the same- get the Grail, destroy it, and then retire to her family. They would want her, they cared for her, and... they would understand her reasons. She was now in a safe condition to enjoy a full life, her duties as a Lesser Grail provided to an incomplete Homunculus body that was inactive at the moment, and her job was particularly simpler compared to those other Masters in this War.

"When shall we strike, Master?"

Heracles' voice broke her from her thoughts, a small smile manifesting on her face as a single response came through her lips.

"Tonight."

Tonight we shall demand a proper welcoming party.

AN

The Princess of the Einzbern is not a naive child, and while Heracles sounds broken he is quite far from it. Especially due to his Noble Phantasm having been severely weakened due to its energy demand and the lack of Mad Enhancement lessening his determination to go all in against all opponents.

BTW, if this was the Eroge, there would be a proper Illya Route due to these changes. I don't need to explain why.