With the end of the Age of Gods, the decline of Mystery not only greatly reduced the power of modern magecraft but also meant that the 'Mystery' aspect of 'magecraft' itself became even more crucial—the fewer people who knew about it, the better the 'degree of Mystery' of the magecraft could be maintained.
Due to this constraint, no matter what kind of magecraft was used, its exposure would ultimately be minimized as much as possible.
Large-scale magical secret rites like the Holy Grail War were, of course, no exception.
To prevent the large-scale leakage of Mystery, it became a consensus among magi to avoid displaying magecraft in front of people as much as possible. For this reason, even the Holy Church, which was naturally opposed to the Mage's Association, would send people to supervise and prevent unnecessary leakage of magecraft.
—That's how it was supposed to be.
However...
"What in the world is that?!"
Somewhere in Fuyuki City, a young Clock Tower student, Waver Velvet—disheartened because his thesis views were completely rejected by his teacher, even publicly humiliated, he stole his mentor's catalyst for the Holy Grail War.
He only wanted to use this magical secret rite to make those who denied him see him in a new light. With such an immature, almost childish mindset, he participated in a 'war' whose brutality he couldn't even fathom.
But now, undoubtedly, upon seeing the exaggerated phenomenon visible to the naked eye in the sky and the terrifying magical energy fluctuations coming from that direction, no one could remain calm.
"That's probably a Servant battle."
Standing beside him, the rough, red-haired giant, hailed as the King of Conquerors, Alexander the Great—Iskandar—who was originally teasing his immature child Master, had an initially curious and rather relaxed demeanor. But after sensing the source of that strange phenomenon, his expression became serious and wary.
Honestly, he wasn't too worried about this Holy Grail War. After all, Iskandar considered himself to be a top-tier existence even among Servants. His trump card Noble Phantasm, 'Ionioi Hetairoi' (Army of the King), was undoubtedly an A++ rank Anti-Army Noble Phantasm capable of dominating a war in a normal Holy Grail War.
In a normal Holy Grail War, there would only be seven Servants. But the Great King's 'Ionioi Hetairoi,' with his Reality Marble and the Macedonian army that followed him, every single one of them was a Servant.
Although they lacked Noble Phantasms and class bonuses, Iskandar's army did not lack powerful Servants far superior to him.
Such a Noble Phantasm was undoubtedly a game-breaking existence and his greatest source of confidence, but...
"It seems there are two monsters in this war."
Extremely wary, yet looking at the brewing momentum, the Great King showed no fear, instead bursting into laughter.
"Idiot! What are you laughing about at a time like this?!" Waver fumed. With monsters like that, how could they possibly win?!
If he couldn't use his Master's Appraisal Eye to see his Servant's True Name, he would suspect he hadn't summoned Alexander the Great, but a big fool!
And what were the Masters of those two Servants thinking?! Making such a huge commotion, wasn't it completely obvious to everyone now?!
"Haha, boy! Isn't having such strong enemies something to be happy about?"
Iskandar, laughing heartily, slapped his Master down. Then, amidst the latter's angry little glare, he looked up at the strange sight, his heart filled with infinite heroic spirit.
"It is precisely such opponents that are more worthy of being conquered by this King!"
Almost all participants in this Holy Grail War were renowned heroes from history. That being the case, how could they cower because of powerful enemies?!
Of course, perhaps such cowardly rats did exist.
There were even many who felt somewhat 'faint' due to the actions of those two.
But it seemed no one, whoever they were, could stop this opening ceremony that kicked off the Holy Grail War.
The dark night sky enveloped the earth, torn apart by terrifying magical energy, and the clear moonlight shone on the sea.
Standing in mid-air, Gilgamesh and the verdant figure treading the earth exchanged glances, smiled at each other, and then.
"Ea, sing with all your might!" Gilgamesh declared.
"I am delighted," Enkidu responded.
"That I can once again compete with you like this, testing the superiority of our capabilities."
"Let me think, if I were to use the terms of this era..."
"I'm going full throttle, Gil!"
As heaven and earth changed color, a magical energy imbued with terrifying life force bloomed.
"I shall speak of the beginning. Heaven and earth split, creation lauded with naught. The world is rent by my Sword of Rupture. Nebula, coalesce. What is called heaven and hell is but the eve of genesis's finale!" Gilgamesh chanted.
"What awakens is the breath of the stars. I will walk alongside the people of the world, therefore—" Enkidu continued.
"Enuma Elish (The Star of Creation that Split Heaven and Earth)!" / "Enuma Elish (O Humans, Let Us Bind the Gods)!"
Named after the creation god in Sumerian mythology, an EX-rank Anti-World Noble Phantasm forged from the Clay Tablet of Creation.
And the 'Chains of Heaven,' Enkidu, forged by the Sumerian gods to restrain and link the King of Men, Gilgamesh—at full power, it was an EX-rank Anti-Purge Noble Phantasm.
The latter could convert the power of the Counter Force for its own use, to deal with world-level disasters. The greater the damage an attack inflicted on the world, the stronger this Noble Phantasm would become.
Therefore, this Noble Phantasm became one of the few that could perfectly counter the Sword of Rupture, Ea.
Two EX-rank Noble Phantasms clashed at this moment, the mere aftershocks of their released magical energy were enough to make hearts palpitate—not just in the area where they fought. It was conceivable that at this moment, the entire Japanese region had detected this terrifying energy collision.
As for the distant Mage's Association, although the range of influence of these two Noble Phantasms didn't extend that far, they monitored various parts of the world. Neither the Mage's Association nor the Holy Church could fail to detect a magical energy collision of this magnitude.
This, of course, included a certain instigator still far away in Germany.
"Yo... It's actually Enkidu, huh."
Lying leisurely on the ancient four-poster bed, comfortably enjoying the soft bedding, the girl, like a snow elf, watched the real-time broadcast in the magical mirror woven from threads not far away, looking slightly surprised.
"Well, it's not that strange... After all, that Goldie fellow is in this Holy Grail War, so it's only natural for something like this to happen." [Illya] casually bit into a crisp green apple in her hand, her fair little feet dangling, and pursed her lips.
"Such an opening ceremony is acceptable, I suppose."
"How is that acceptable?! Am I supposed to fight monsters like that?!" Beside her, a childish, trembling voice sounded—surprisingly, it was a girl who looked exactly like the one on the bed, making one wonder, 'Could these two actually be sisters?'
However, compared to [Illya]'s intrigued expression, the other girl had a tearful face, sitting there like a 'devastated' duck.
Little Illya's current mood could only be described as terrible, terrible, so utterly terrible!
She was clearly just an eight-year-old, according to the situation in Japan... no... even according to the environment she was from, she was an out-and-out elementary school student! But, such a self encountered a series of strange events.
She picked up a very bizarre magical wand that called itself Ruby, and then somehow ended up bound to it and became a magical girl—that was one thing. But then, before she could even figure out what was going on, she encountered an even worse situation.
According to the other [Illya], she had come to another world!
What was worse, she actually had to fight in something called the 'Holy Grail War' as some kind of 'Servant'—No way, no way! Illya is just an elementary school student, why is this happening?! Mommy! Onii-chan! Sella! Sob sob sob....
Looking at those two monsters in the magic mirror, Illya felt her whole life turn gray, like it was about to end!
No, if she had to face those guys, it should be said that it would end very soon!
Facing the teary-eyed little Illya, the considerate [Illya]—Mr. Jiang Qiao—handed her an apple and nuzzled her cheek. The former turned her face away.
"Really now, relax~ Don't you still have me~"
"If it weren't for you, how would I have gotten involved in such a ridiculous thing!" The crying little Illya angrily pounced on this world's 'self,' then thumped the latter's head with her soft little fists, furiously accusing this 'culprit.'
"It's a random system, I have no idea what will come out... Besides, in this situation, I'm the one who lost more, right? I was trying to summon a powerful Servant, but it ended up like this..."
The latter looked slightly helpless and glanced at Illya's status panel.
Illyasviel von Einzbern
Class: Caster
Strength: E | Endurance: C | Agility: D
Mana: A++ | Luck: A+ | Noble Phantasm: A+
Class Skills:
Magic Resistance B
Ruby's Infinite Mana Supply C
Lesser Grail A
Noble Phantasm:
Quintett Feuer
Rank: A+
Type: Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm
Max Capture Range: 1~999
Undoubtedly, a terrible status panel, perfectly fitting the class. Even a max-level Master like [Illya]—Mr. Jiang Qiao—couldn't salvage this for a direct confrontation.
The only commendable aspects were probably Mana and Luck... though for these two, the former was normally very useful, as stronger Servants tended to lack mana.
However—
The very weak little Illya had no means to effectively utilize this A++ rank mana. The Mystic Code 'Ruby' she used was a product of the Second True Magic, meaning Illya basically had infinite mana anyway!
And with her Lesser Grail trait, she didn't need mana at all. Just by being near Fuyuki City, she could connect to the ley line's mana, undoubtedly another source of infinite mana.
Due to a complete lack of magus aptitude, she didn't even have Territory Creation or Item Construction, which a Caster should inherently possess. Luck was a good attribute, but unfortunately, if her raw power wasn't enough, she'd just be a knock-off Astolfo.
And this Noble Phantasm—because she only had Ruby, her originally EX-rank Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm was directly downgraded to A+. This was already considering little Illya's abundant mana and long endurance.
Without a doubt, this little Illya was even worse than the one in Chaldea; she was a bona fide low-spec elementary school student!
Having to rely on such a weakling little Illya to fight this heavily modified Holy Grail War that he himself had further tweaked, even [Illya]—Mr. Jiang Qiao—felt like putting on a 'painful expression' mask.
However, being a man of his word, although he was quite... surprised by this summoning result, he accepted it.
Alright then... an elementary schooler it is. He wasn't aiming to win this Holy Grail War anyway. As long as he fulfilled little [Illya]'s wish to bring back her 'two daddies,' his mission would be considered successfully completed.
"Ahem, don't be so angry~ At least you came to this world, and you can save Irisviel on the side."
"Eh... Mom? What happened to Mom!?" Hearing this name from [Illya]s mouth, little Illya, who was initially dejected and completely lacking fighting spirit, paused, then became anxious, staring at the former.
In response, the smiling [Illya] slowly and concisely relayed the information to this elementary school Illya.
"You wouldn't want anything to happen to 'Mom,' right?"
Like a little devil, 'she' said so.
"How could this be..."
"No, we have to go save Mom!" Illya, having simply understood the situation, instantly changed her attitude from originally not wanting to participate in the Holy Grail War at all to—We have to win! We absolutely have to win!
After all, if they didn't win, wouldn't this world's Mom get a game over?
Although she was an Illya from another world, as a pure and kind elementary schooler who loved her mom, she clearly couldn't say no to an Irisviel who was about to get a game over, even if she was another mom.
"Ooh~ Illya's determined look is especially cute~"
Ruby, pinned under [Illya]s pillow, let out an excited sound.
Although it was excellent at manipulating the elementary schooler Illya, unfortunately, upon being summoned and trying to attack [Illya] at first sight—undoubtedly, it suffered a heavy blow from Mr. Jiang Qiao against 'perverted magical wands.'
However, this feeling of being used as a cushion seemed to excite this perverted magical wand even more.
"Hmph, hmph, aren't you all fired up now~"
[Illya] picked up an apple with interest and took a bite.
The latter snatched it away with a pout, took a bite, and then impatiently tugged at the former's arm, dragging the pajama-clad former to the wardrobe.
"Honestly, hurry up and get dressed, then come with me to Fuyuki!"