["Blue" Servant, answering the summons to arrive.]
["Are you my Master?"]
["It seems unnecessary. Someone who doesn't even understand the basics of the Holy Grail War, who can't even check their Servant's information, dares to covet the Greater Grail..."]
["Though I don't know why, the Greater Grail belongs to me alone. My apologies, but as fellow competitors, I must ask you to die."]
["Saka… tsuki…?"]
Memories from a distant past surged like tidal waves. Sakatsuki closed his eyes in contemplation and quickly realized where his doppelgänger had arrived.
The Greater Grail. The Yggdmillennia.
The strange faction of "Blue," and the soon-to-emerge "Black" and "Red."
Fate/Apocrypha.
An unprecedented Holy Grail War—a battle between fourteen mages and fourteen heroic spirits, revolving around the Greater Grail, salvation and destruction, the clash of saints.
Then, as the unexpected "Blue" faction, as Assassin Sakatsuki, what role would he play in this?
What could he gain from this great war?
Sakatsuki withdrew his gaze from the vast starry sky, lowering his eyes to the lifeless earth and depleted ley lines once more.
He had already decided not long ago—he would save this world.
Thus, his Assassin self would carry that obsession, treating Masters who sought the Greater Grail as enemies, slaughtering them without hesitation.
Because the Holy Grail was one of the ways to save this world.
Even a machine that can no longer cycle will rumble to life for a while when connected to a power source.
Moreover, in that world, there existed saints who pursued humanity's salvation—Amakusa Shirou Tokisada…
With a flick of his sleeve, the Holy Grail obtained from the holiday island was tossed by Sakatsuki into the heart of the ley lines.
"You…!" Julian, kneeling on the ground, looked up in disbelief. "You know this world is beyond saving!"
"I told you, that's what you think." Sakatsuki clapped his hands lightly, his tone indifferent. "Not me."
Without further explanation, the white-haired, golden-eyed youth approached Julian, staring straight into his eyes.
"Tell me, have you given up?"
Given up? Given up on this planet?
Impossible!
This was his homeland, the place where the Ainsworths thrived—a sense of belonging that a time-traveler like Sakatsuki could never understand!
"How could I just give up?!" Julian, his face dark with frustration, clenched his fists. "Tell me, Sakatsuki! What method do you have to save this world? Tell me! No matter the cost!"
To save this dying world.
At least in this regard, Sakatsuki and the Ainsworths shared common ground.
"Good. This Holy Grail will buy us more time to prepare." Sakatsuki raised an eyebrow, the weight of saving the world stirring something fierce within him. "Until then, Julian, I return the exchange cards to you.""
"...What do you need us to do?"
"It's quite simple—to record, to document the data of this planet: how many leylines have dried up, how many still remain, to what extent the mysteries have faded, and how the three major branches of the Mage's Association are reacting... Julian, I need you to build an archive of this planet!"
To have the Ainsworth family measure everything in this world.
Clearly, this was a task so vast it could drive one to despair. But for Julian, he feared not the effort—only the loss of direction.
Now that the Ainsworths had already failed, he chose to place his hopes on this confident young man.
"Very well, I'll trust you this once, Sakatsuki. So, what will you do?"
"Me?" Under Julian's gaze, Sakatsuki tilted his head back, stretching his arm toward the star-studded night sky. His tone was ethereal, yet it sent chills down Julian's spine.
"I will obtain the second Holy Grail. Then, using another planet as the testing ground, I will explore new possibilities for humanity..."
Heavens Feel—the Third Magic: Materialization of the Soul.
Storing memories and consciousness within a pale golden orb, entrusting it to the threads of causality, Sakatsuki closed his eyes and began the surreal journey through time and space.
Then, let it begin.
—A war of destruction, waged for the sake of salvation!
***
At the entrance of the destroyed family's residence
Almost the instant that name was uttered, the Assassin's movements faltered slightly before quickly resuming.
Outwardly, nothing seemed amiss, but the Assassin had already shed ignorance and reclaimed their true self.
Surveying the scene—mountains of corpses, rivers of blood—the family that summoned Sakatsuki could never have imagined that the moment he appeared, the demon would claim everything from them, denying them even the taste of vainglorious triumph.
Sakatsuki felt no remorse for this.
He had long since made it clear: this family had practiced black magic for generations, each member steeped in bloodshed. Not to mention...
"You were the ones who stood in my way."
Offering this perfunctory eulogy, Sakatsuki flicked the "Cloak of Hades" aside and casually took a seat beside the still-warm corpses.
As an Assassin, he could sense many of his abilities had changed, along with an inexplicable feeling of being constrained.
If he didn't examine them carefully, he'd be at a severe disadvantage against top-tier Servants.
And so, while waiting for something, the newly born Servant curiously explored his own capabilities.
First and most critically for Sakatsuki—he had lost his key skill: [Dragonkind Modification · Altered].
This meant an overall reduction in his physical attributes, a fatal blow to his magecraft.
Even with his memories and magical knowledge intact, he could no longer wield magecraft as freely as his original self, lest he drain his own life force.
His degraded Noble Phantasm, [Magecraft], now reduced to Rank B and stripped of its detailed branches, told the whole story.
And then...
With a twist of his wrist, two uniquely designed pistols appeared in Sakatsuki's hands—one nearly blending into the darkness, the other gleaming with a cold, ghostly light.
"...Aren't these Black Archer's weapons?"
Kanshou and Bakuya—the favored weapons of a certain red bowman. Yet, after his Alter transformation, these blade-based Noble Phantasms had taken on the more modern form of saber pistols.
As for its power, every man understands this principle—strength isn't what truly matters.
What's important is looking cool—that's a lifetime pursuit (emphatically)!
After fondling it lovingly for a moment, Sakatsuki deftly opened the Servant status screen, intending to check...
Uh...
Something seemed off.
Beneath his hood, the young man's expression froze, his lips twitching slightly.
The impression of the Fourth Holy Grail War was so deeply ingrained that he instinctively chose the Master's method of operation.
But the problem was—who was the Servant?
It's me!
Me!
I'm the Servant here!
Damn it! How the hell can a Servant even check a Servant's status screen?! The Fate Compendium shouldn't have followed me here either!
A torrent of curses flashed through his mind as Sakatsuki guiltily closed the screen, shifting his focus inward. Soon, he found the answer—
[Double Existence: EX]
[If ordinary Double Summon allows manifestation with the skills of two Classes, though this does not apply to the Three Knight Classes or special Classes.]
[However, under the influence of a certain power—or perhaps a curse—this skill has been elevated to its highest rank, undergoing a qualitative transformation. This results in the dangerous phenomenon of "Master and Servant merging into one," meaning a Servant with Master traits, or a Master with Servant traits...]
[Those possessing this skill will become the nightmare of this Holy Grail War.]
Clatter.
The beloved gun he had been holding moments ago fell to the ground. Sakatsuki opened his eyes, his expression strange, yet an uncontrollable smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.
Unlike the Empress's Double Summon, Sakatsuki's EX-ranked skill had actually fused the traits of Master and Servant!
This also explained why he could obtain Command Spells from the old man's hand—because he was his own Master!
Moreover, this meant—
"Summon... a new Servant..."
He murmured as if in a daze, but the next moment, Sakatsuki reined in all his emotions, pulling up his cloak to conceal his form.
The Assassin-class's unique Presence Concealment skill, combined with his Noble Phantasm, "Cloak of Hades," made this assassin vanish from the intruder's sight as if he had evaporated into thin air.
"The prey... has taken the bait..."
Watching the magus who had cautiously pushed open the door only to be struck speechless by the sight before him, Sakatsuki's eyes gleamed as he silently advanced.
Killing all the witnesses who had summoned him in an instant—the assassin had done well enough. But back then, he hadn't truly been Sakatsuki.
Had the real Sakatsuki been present, he would have known that such a commotion would alert every magus in the vicinity.
And among them, a certain association maintaining the mysteries would never be absent.
Sakatsuki's target was none other than this world's Mage's Association.
Gazing at the terrified overseer from the Mage's Association, Sakatsuki soundlessly drew his Kanshou and Bakuya (Gun Form) and flicked off the safety.
—Bang!
This was the final lament of the nameless family that had been obliterated.
***
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