"Tohsaka, do you want to talk it over at your house? Then I'll go call Saber first."
After school, Tohsaka Rin suddenly called out to Emiya Shirou, asking him to come over to her house to discuss the Holy Grail War. With an extra Servant involved now, their next moves needed to be carefully considered.
Shirou had no objections. Whether it was at the Emiya residence or at Tohsaka's, they would be talking about the same thing. But first, he had to go back and call Saber—after all, unlike normal Masters and Servants, he couldn't issue commands to her directly through a Command Spell.
Rin covered her forehead and sighed.
"Sorry to trouble you. My Servant can't be contacted right now. I could force her with a Command Spell, but she's at least obedient enough that I haven't had to resort to that."
After the Archer incident, Rin had matured a little. At the very least, she no longer used Command Spells to threaten her Servants, even if they were unruly and refused to listen to their Master.
"I'll head back first, then. I'll drop by later."
"Alright, see you then."
After they parted ways at the intersection, Rin quickly headed home. Ever since the last incident, she had reinforced the magical barriers around her house multiple times.
Just thinking about that idiotic, low-ranked Servant made her angry. Not long ago, she had received a bundle of magical texts from the Matou family—among them, several rare tomes about Command Spell systems.
But they were practically useless to her. Her combat style didn't align with the Matou family's magecraft, no matter how expensive the books were.
Still, she hadn't come away empty-handed. Receiving those books made Rin think—if Kain and Rider were originally affiliated with the Matous, why would someone like Matou Zouken trade his precious books for hers?
That didn't match his personality at all. There was no way the old man would give up something valuable without scheming something in return.
And when had a Servant ever been able to carry out Matou Zouken's will like that?
The more she thought about it, the more suspicious it became. Emiya Shirou had mentioned earlier that Matou Shinji had transferred schools... which only fueled her suspicions further.
"I'm home!"
Rin kicked off her shoes, walked upstairs in her black stockings, and then—froze.
The moment she saw what was going on, her eyes widened and she pointed in fury.
"You—you damn idiot! You ignored my summons through a Command Spell just to do this?!"
"Damn it! I lost again."
The blonde-haired female Servant scratched her head and turned to Rin with a sheepish grin.
"You're back, Tohsaka. So… what's for dinner?"
"What's for dinner? Usually we just order out. Wait—no! Don't try to change the subject! What were you even doing today?!"
Rin leaned over to the blonde Servant's computer. But the software had already been closed, and Rin had no idea how to operate the machine. More importantly—why did she even have something like this in the house?
"Oh, you mean this?" the Servant said nonchalantly. "I bought it earlier today. I didn't expect your place to be completely cut off from electronics. It's like stepping back into the 1800s."
She stood up and suddenly hugged Rin tightly, practically burying the girl in her generous chest.
Rin flailed and struggled before managing to pull her head free. Her face was red as she pointed angrily at the carefree blonde. She opened her mouth to scold her—but no words came.
This was her weak spot. When it came to perverts or foul-mouthed types, Rin's combat effectiveness plummeted.
"H-Hey! I'm your Master! You should treat me with a little more respect!"
She was so frustrated she nearly used a Command Spell on the spot—but thinking of the Holy Grail War, she forced herself to calm down. She couldn't afford to waste a Command Spell on nonsense like this.
More than anything else, she wanted to redeem herself after the humiliation of Archer being forced to commit suicide.
She wanted to win.
A while later, Emiya Shirou and Saber arrived—right on time, along with the delivery driver.
"Excuse me."
Rin greeted them a bit wearily. "Welcome, Emiya-san. If you haven't eaten yet, join us. I ordered a lot anyway."
Rin Tohsaka had spent quite a bit of money today. Emiya Shirou stared in awe at the extravagant food boxes on the table—an eel banquet fit for nearly ten people. He usually lived on simple meals and rarely saw something this luxurious.
"Then, excuse me, Tohsaka," Shirou said politely.
While he was still being courteous, Saber had already seated herself at the dining table.
"Here's the situation: those two Servants likely belong to Matou Sakura. As for Matou Zouken and Matou Shinji, they're probably already..."
After dinner, Rin held a "strategy meeting" in the living room, sharing her deductions.
She had been thinking it over for some time and found this explanation the most reasonable. Her belief that Sakura, not Shinji, was the Master stemmed from two facts: first, the information provided by Shirou; second, that Sakura—her biological sister—had been adopted by the Matou family specifically to inherit their magical crest.
"You mean Shinji is... dead?"
Shirou frowned, shaking his head in disbelief.
"No. Sakura told me he went abroad to study. And Shinji is her older brother. Sakura has no reason to do something like that."
Though Shirou had his share of conflicts with Shinji, his upbringing made it hard to believe that such a tragic scenario—siblings killing each other—was possible. To him, Shinji was, at worst, arrogant and unpleasant, but not evil. And Sakura? She would never order a Servant to kill her brother.
"You really are naive. Maybe you should just quit the Holy Grail War and go back to being a good student."
The blonde female Servant, seated nearby, spoke up bluntly.
Shirou looked at her with clear disapproval. "This has nothing to do with naivety."
"This is naivety, kid. I don't know why you three even formed an alliance, but just a few sentences from you revealed your whole mindset. That's what I'm talking about—naivety."
"Forget siblings—sons have killed their fathers over this Grail. This is war. The only thing that matters is how to win. Tohsaka just shared some valuable intel. We should be thinking strategically. Should we eliminate one or two Masters now? Or gather information on the others?"
Rin glanced over at her outspoken Servant and sighed.
"Why are you suddenly acting so diligent? Besides, that information's not even all that useful right now."
"At the very least, we know where they are."
Rin propped her chin on her hand, thinking aloud. "That guy's Class is bizarre—Foreigner. I don't know what his Class traits or abilities are, but from the few times he's shown himself, he gives off Caster vibes. His magic is powerful—strong enough to overwhelm me without much effort."
"Saka... I mean, Tohsaka."
Emiya Shirou suddenly stood up. "Sorry, but I'm going to the Matou house. I have to find out the truth about Shinji."
"Huh? Isn't it obvious already?"
Rin felt a headache coming on. "There's no need to take a risk for someone like Shinji."
"I can't just let this go. Shinji's my friend."
With that, Shirou stood, bowed slightly in apology, and made for the door. Saber stood up as well, ready to accompany him.
The blonde Servant shook her head and muttered, "This guy isn't just naive—he's too righteous. Well, I guess that's fine in modern society. If he doesn't join the Holy Grail War again, he might make a decent lawyer. Or a cop."
"Emiya-san, are you really going now? It's too dangerous!"
Rin scratched her head in frustration. What was this guy thinking? This was supposed to be a strategy meeting—analyzing the intel and planning the next move. Why was he suddenly running off to the Matou residence?
If Rin had a choice, she'd put the Matou family at the bottom of the target list. Strength was one factor—but more importantly, the Matou Master was probably her sister.
"Sorry, Tohsaka. I just feel like I need to see this through."
Shirou looked back at Rin before leaving. It wasn't just about Shinji. It was about Sakura, too—the girl who used to visit his house every day, but hadn't shown up in several days now.
He didn't want to believe that Sakura had truly changed.
What if she was being controlled by her Servant?
It wasn't impossible. While most Masters could restrain their Servants with Command Spells, Sakura was... too gentle. Emiya Shirou could easily imagine a scenario where she couldn't bring herself to use a Command Spell at all.
Boom.
After apologizing and leaving, Emiya Shirou and Saber headed straight for the Matou residence. He hadn't invited Tohsaka Rin to come with him—it was far too dangerous.
"This guy, seriously…"
Tohsaka Rin couldn't help voicing her frustration.
The blonde female Servant beside her asked, "So, are you planning to go too?"
Tohsaka Rin replied, "If Emiya-san goes there now, there's bound to be a fight."
"Any lone Servant would strike if someone walked right up to their door. If it were me, I'd do the same."
"Then let's go!"
Tohsaka Rin clenched her fists, resolved.
"Fine, but don't even think about using a Command Spell to restrain me when we get there," the blonde Servant warned. "Otherwise, I won't be responsible for what happens."
As soon as she finished speaking, she stood up. In the next second, dozens of trees burst from the ground, surrounding her body and forming a full set of armor that encased her completely.
Seeing this, Rin widened her eyes in surprise. "Is that your Noble Phantasm—armor?"
"It's not a Noble Phantasm. Just an ability of mine that adds a bit of defense. Want some?"
"No thanks. I'll support you from a distance… Wait, what are you doing now?!"
"This is the fastest way to get there. Or would you rather call a taxi?"
Without further warning, the blonde Servant scooped up Rin and leapt out the window. With her speed, they could reach the Matou residence before Emiya Shirou.
"Mr. Kain, based on your suggestion, we can use the underground ley lines in Fuyuki City to set up a magical barrier. That way, even if all the other Servants band together against us, we'll have nothing to fear."
Medea's face was glowing with excitement. She had even removed her hood—something she rarely did. This new system of magical theory had benefited her tremendously. For the past two days, she had spent nearly all her time discussing magic with Kain.
In fact, Medea felt that if she could fully master this new system, she might even become a true Magician.
"A small portion of the underground spiritual veins doesn't affect the Greater Holy Grail," she explained. "But for Servants, no one can withstand a magical attack of this magnitude. If I'm the one maintaining the barrier, I can suppress them all."
Just imagining it thrilled her. The magical energy from sixty years' worth of accumulated leyline activity exceeded even her own peak strength. The Holy Grail used these spiritual veins to anchor itself to the Root, and now she would do the same to establish a magic barrier.
And with her magic circle structure inspired by modern magical circuits, once the barrier was deployed, its attack speed would even surpass high-speed divine words. Within the barrier, she would be virtually invincible.
Even spatial tearing would be difficult within it—Kain placed extreme importance on spatial integrity. Even as a temporary construct, the barrier's solidity would be extremely high.
"I'll leave this to you, Medea. The materials should start arriving in the next few days," Kain said.
He had recruited many impoverished students from the Clock Tower, offering them Matou Zouken's magic research as payment. This had attracted a large number of magi to craft magical gems.
With hundreds working for him, he'd be able to gather thousands of gems within days. Add in the other magical ingredients and the underground ley lines, and setting up a large-scale magic barrier would be a simple task.
"You can be bold now—Ruler's Command Spells can't bind you anymore."
Medea nodded. "Understood, Mr. Kain."
After returning from the church, Kain had begun researching how to nullify Command Spells. As a grandmaster of soul and consciousness, he quickly devised an effective solution:
He created a false consciousness—one that would receive the Command Spell, but had no control over the body's actions.
A single Command Spell had already vanished from the back of Matou Sakura's hand, proof that the experiment had succeeded.
"I've identified both a Servant and their Master. This guy is really brazen—walking around in broad daylight in some ridiculous outfit. I'll deal with him in a couple of days. Medea, Rider, I'm leaving this one to you."
Kain placed a file on the table. It was information gathered by private investigators. Most Servants stayed hidden, but some clearly didn't care about avoiding attention from ordinary people.
Kain had even spent a large sum of money to track down this strange Servant. Judging by the evidence, they had only been summoned two days ago—but their class was still unknown.
Medea silently accepted the assignment. Rider, on the other hand, replied sharply, "I'm not your Servant. Don't order me around."
Despite her protest, Rider still picked up the file and began reading. She knew full well that if she refused, Kain would just find other ways to force her compliance.
Kain had once asked Rider how she could see things clearly without removing her blindfold, but she had only scoffed and ignored the question.
"Someone's here—a Master and their Servant," Medea said suddenly.
Someone had triggered the security barrier she had set up, and she instantly sensed the intruders.
She hadn't expected the Master to be so reckless, brazenly walking into their territory without caution.
Kain paused for a moment in thought. "Find out who it is. If they're acting alone, send that Servant back to the Holy Grail."
…
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