Rei Ao didn't spare them another glance. He simply took Irisviel's hand and, as if no one else existed, walked toward the door.
As he passed the motionless Kiritsugu Emiya, his steps paused and he left him a loaded remark:
"Kiritsugu Emiya, if you're still clinging to that false wish, come to Fuyuki City.
"See what a true 'miracle' actually looks like. As for the Holy Grail War…"
"Heh. It's just a game."
With that, he and Irisviel gradually faded, as if melting into the air, and vanished from the warm room inside Einzbern Castle.
Left behind were Ahad—face ashen, seeming to have aged decades in an instant—and Kiritsugu, whose heart roiled like a storm-tossed sea, his convictions violently shaken.
They stood there, stunned, unable to come back to their senses for a long time.
The Einzbern plan had suffered an unprecedented, shattering blow before it had even begun. And on the chessboard of the Holy Grail War, a heavyweight piece had just been placed—one capable of changing the entire game.
The figures of Rei Ao and Irisviel were wiped away as neatly as if by an eraser, gone from that warm yet stifling room in the Einzbern castle. What remained were broken faith and boiling rage.
"No—!!!"
Patriarch Ahad let out a howl like a wounded beast. His withered body shook with sheer fury and fear.
Irisviel!
She was the most perfect "Lesser Grail" they had ever crafted for this Grail War—modeled on the Holy Maiden of Winter, Justeaze—into whom the Einzberns had poured immeasurable effort!
She was the key to reclaiming the Servants' souls and initiating the Greater Grail rite!
Losing her wasn't just losing a tool for a political marriage; it meant their Grail War plan had collapsed before it even started!
"Find her! Search immediately!"
"Mobilize every force, every bounded field, familiar, and tracking spell we have!"
"Turn all of Europe upside down if you must—bring Irisviel back to me!"
"And that man—I want him to pay!"
Ahad's voice was sharp and twisted. He had shed all his usual rigidity and calm, leaving only hysterical frenzy. Servants and homunculi throughout the castle trembled at his roar, then snapped into motion like wound-up automatons. In an instant, the frigid castle was filled with chaos and tension.
Kiritsugu stood where he was, brow furrowed. He had no interest in the so-called marriage—in fact, he found it repellent. His life had long been consumed by the vast, hollow ideal of world peace. Personal feelings were superfluous—dangerous baggage. To him, Irisviel had been nothing more than a means to an end, a cooperative label called "wife."
But Ahad's near-breakdown made him realize things were not so simple.
"Ahad-sama," Kiritsugu said, his voice just steady enough to cut through the old man's rage. "That woman called Irisviel—aside from being a marriage partner—what else is she, exactly, that could make you lose your composure like this?"
Ahad snapped his head around, bloodshot eyes locking onto Kiritsugu with a fanatical, near-desperate ferocity. He drew several deep breaths as if to steady himself, but his voice still quavered.
"Special? Of course she's special!
"She's the crystallization of a millennium of our craft—the true core of this Grail War—the vessel of the 'Lesser Grail'!"
"Lesser Grail?" Kiritsugu's pupils tightened. He vaguely recalled the term from scraps of highly secret records.
"That's right!" Ahad all but growled. "The souls of Servants defeated in the Grail War do not immediately return to the Throne of Heroes; they must first be recovered and stored in a special vessel!
"That vessel is the Lesser Grail.
"It is the key to initiating the final Greater Grail ceremony—to reaching the Root!
"Irisviel was created to be that vessel. Her body and her soul were adjusted to perfectly bear the Servants' souls.
"Without her, no matter how strong a Servant you summon, no matter how many victories you win, you cannot start the Greater Grail…
"Your wish is nothing but a castle in the air!"
The truth hit Kiritsugu like a bucket of ice water, chilling him to the marrow. Now he understood why the Einzberns valued a homunculus so highly—and why they had proposed a marriage that seemed unnecessary. It wasn't just to bind a partnership; it was to keep the Lesser Grail firmly under their control and ensure the plan's absolute security.
Irisviel wasn't merely a tool. She was the living, indispensable key to the entire Grail War ritual.
That man hadn't just taken a woman. He had snuffed out the Einzberns'—and Kiritsugu's—last hope of realizing their wish.
From deep within Kiritsugu surged an unprecedented urgency and an icy killing intent. He didn't care whether Irisviel lived or died. He cared about the Grail—about his wish for world peace. Anyone or anything that blocked that path had to be removed.
"I understand," he said, voice low and dangerous. The Command Seals on the back of his hand seemed to sense their master's resolve and grew faintly warm.
"I'll use every resource and contact I have to find Irisviel and that man. No one will stop me from obtaining the Grail."
His eyes turned cold and keen again, like a sniper scope. The faint doubts and hesitation from moments earlier were crushed completely. Whoever that man was, whatever uncanny power he wielded—if he stood in the way of peace, he was an enemy to be eliminated.
Seeing the same obsession and ruthlessness blaze up in Kiritsugu's eyes—so like his own—Ahad calmed a fraction. Panting, he gave a terse nod.
"Good… Kiritsugu.
"Find them. At any cost, take Irisviel back!
"All Einzbern resources will support you!"
~~~
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