Ten years of reconstruction. The Einzbern family's castle in Fuyuki had been completely revitalized.
The surrounding woodland had been replanted. The castle itself had been rebuilt with new, more durable materials. It wasn't as opulent or grand as the original, and it lacked the aristocratic atmosphere of the old structure, but in its place was a far denser network of bounded fields and magical arrays.
The Einzbern family had reflected deeply on themselves. After four consecutive losses in the Holy Grail War, they had begun to drift from the battle philosophy they had once started with.
Or perhaps they had lost any sense of playing fair from the moment, centuries ago, when they had first begun to hunger for a miracle.
They broke the rules. Every time, they tried to keep the best hand tightly in their grip.
The first war: they hadn't had the strength to act.
The second war: they finally found a crack in the rules.
The third war: they summoned something that should never have been summoned.
Then the fourth: they had the best player and the most capable operator, and fully expected victory. Instead, they suffered an unprecedented collapse, unable to even reach the top three.
In the end, it had been that one man who pulled off a last-minute save and delivered them something that was, at best, an ugly win.
And then, to their frustration and helplessness, according to the information provided by the Holy Church, that man had betrayed them at the final moment. In one sense, though, that particular war had almost nothing to do with the Einzberns or their summoned Altria Pendragon. She had basically been a bench-warmer in every team fight, so his dissatisfaction was understandable.
Yet they hadn't pressed the matter too hard. They hadn't sent assassins after the betrayer.
And then he had had the audacity to come after them instead.
He couldn't get inside the German Einzbern estate's bounded field, so he had ambushed their supply lines and destroyed the homunculi they were exporting.
This went on for years. The Einzbern family's internal economy had started to break down. Even their plans to purchase a catalyst for the Fifth Holy Grail War, including their search for Medea's catalyst, had been obstructed and delayed. He was like a cockroach that simply wouldn't die, and dealing with him had become an endless exhausting irritation.
The Einzberns had no shortage of money. Their wealth was sufficient to compete with even the Clock Tower's old families, and they could have bid on Medea's legendary catalyst. But money you can't spend is just paper.
That man had forced them into an open war of attrition.
Though from the outside, it simply looked like the Einzbern family was engaged in an escalating conflict with an unnamed individual. In reality, it had eventually settled into a negotiation.
They had both already taken losses. Continuing to throw themselves at each other would only add to the casualties.
A family of homunculi had no real concept of a traditional mage bloodline's honor. They just wanted to stop bleeding.
And for the other side, that mage-killer had no way to strike at the Einzbern family's core. They had no way to corner him, either. He couldn't win in direct confrontation, so he had simply sabotaged their external routes. Both sides were wearing each other down without touching anything vital. It was pointless.
The terms of their eventual agreement: that man and his daughter would be permitted to exchange letters with the Einzbern family once a month.
Until the day he died, that arrangement held.
"So this is where Kiritsugu and Mother used to live. It feels so much warmer than Germany."
The rebuilt Einzbern castle's doors swung open to admit a silver-haired, red-eyed little girl who immediately began happily wandering through the castle's rooms. It was smaller than the photographs suggested, and nowhere near as lavish as the main estate in Germany, but something about it made her feel at ease.
"Please don't wander, my lady. The Fifth Holy Grail War is about to begin. We need to check whether any of the other selected participants have placed surveillance devices here. The clan head has made it clear: this time, the Einzbern family has staked everything. Caution, care, and never underestimate the enemy..."
"Which room was Mother's? Was it this one? This one? Or that one? I want to stay in the room Mother used to sleep in!"
Watching her little mistress dart back and forth through the castle like a curious, irrepressible child, the homunculus maid standing at the entrance with luggage in hand could only sigh in exasperation.
Her name was Sella. Head maid of the Einzbern family, and part-time nanny and governess to their young mistress. She was one of the Einzbern's specialized combat maids, possessing Magic Circuits and physical conditioning far beyond those of ordinary humans, and one of the members dispatched to support Illyasviel von Einzbern in this Holy Grail War.
Following the Fourth Holy Grail War, the Einzberns had seethed over Emiya Kiritsugu's defection and grieved their own failures. They had come to understand, once and for all, that outsiders could not be trusted.
If they wanted to succeed, they would have to do it themselves, with their own bloodline, their own circuits, and their own creations.
So this Holy Grail War was different. The Einzbern family had drawn upon their true reserves, the full depth of a thousand-year-old magical lineage.
"You needn't be so guarded, Sister. This castle was completed two years ago, and we have been maintaining it day and night since. There's no chance of a surveillance situation happening here."
The other maid, standing to the side with luggage of her own and wearing a faint air of quiet blankness, offered her assessment.
Her name was Leysritt. Sella's younger sister, nanny and bodyguard to Illyasviel, and the one responsible for the new castle's day-to-day maintenance and operations.
"Are the weapons in order? What kind of condition are they in?"
Sella exhaled again.
"All the latest from America. G36 assault rifles, matching body armor, grenades, combat knives, pistols. Already distributed."
"And the Mystic Codes and magical armaments? Those are the only things that can actually contest a Servant."
"Same as always, the standard Einzbern loadout. As for the Clock Tower order, that came in two days ago. Sixty-odd rune stones, around twenty elixirs, the rest is still being inspected. Should be more than sufficient for anti-Spirit combat."
Among the Three Founding Families of Fuyuki, no contest in terms of wealth: the Einzbern family outstripped the Matou and Tohsaka families combined. Those two were local powers at most.
The Einzbern family was a genuinely prestigious bloodline, recognized even at the Clock Tower, founded by a disciple of the Third Magic. In terms of connections and lineage, there was simply no comparison.
That was precisely why Lord Kayneth of the Clock Tower had puzzled over it during the Fourth Holy Grail War, wondering what a family as distinguished as the Einzberns was doing playing alongside those two obscure backwater families. His conclusion had been that the Einzberns had simply fallen from grace, like a refined young lady slumming it with a pair of street thugs.
"Still, be thorough. The clan head's benchmark is that even against a top-tier Servant like Medea of the Age of Gods, we can provide our lady with meaningful combat support to achieve victory."
"And that's exactly why Sister talks too much like an old grandmother, which is why our lady doesn't like you."
At that, Sella felt the comment land like a physical blow. Leysritt raised her chin unaffectedly and continued her routine of lightly tormenting her sister.
"So what if it's Medea? Don't forget who our lady is summoning this time. A Heroic Spirit from Greek mythology. Even that great Servant would look pretty average standing next to this particular hero. Sister always worries about this and that, and keeps saying we should be cautious. Our lady is fully confident in the hero she's summoning, so naturally she doesn't appreciate the constant negativity."
"Ugh..."
Medea of the Age of Gods. The Holy Church's most decorated Servant from the Fourth Holy Grail War. The moment the Einzbern family had received word of her battle record, they had made acquiring her catalyst their first priority.
But Emiya Kiritsugu's covert interdiction had ensured that the Einzberns never obtained that legendary catalyst. It was arguably the single betrayal that stung the most.
Because you fought us in the Fourth Holy Grail War and lost, and then when we wanted to summon Medea in the Fifth to win, you blocked us. That was too much.
In the end, they were forced to settle for alternatives.
First alternative: Medea's husband, Jason, captain of the Argo. The primary strategy was going to be reason and emotion, an appeal to old bonds, forming some kind of alliance with Medea. But given the fact that the nickname was "the Betrayer Witch," and Jason's personal combat ability was also nothing special, that idea was abandoned quickly. They didn't want to surrender the initiative.
Second alternative: Medea's teacher, one of the oldest goddesses in legend, the goddess Hecate. The primary strategy: if Medea is this unbeatable, her teacher must be even more so. Could she fight three Knights at once in melee and win? The reality, unfortunately, was that you can't find a goddess catalyst just by wanting one, and whether a divine-rank being deigned to participate in a Holy Grail War was entirely up to them. Another abandoned idea.
The third alternative: one of Jason's companions aboard the Argo, famous across the world, theoretically capable of countering most Heroic Spirits from Greek mythology, a hero suited to countering even the Age of Gods mage Medea herself.
The great hero.
Heracles.
So everyone wants to play Greek mythology? Then bring out the Greek mythology slaying machine.
"Sella, Sella! I've picked my room! You and Leysritt should stay in the ones right next to mine!"
Bounding down the staircase with irrepressible energy, the small girl trotted up and cheerfully took hold of the beleaguered maid's wrist, then pointed at the rooms on the second floor.
"My lady, please do not run inside the castle! That is not becoming of a proper young lady!"
"...(sob)."
The silver-haired girl looked up at Sella with wide, tearful eyes, and the maid who had been about to say something further found the words dying in her throat.
"Please be aware, my lady, that this is Fuyuki City. Not the main Einzbern estate in Germany. There, we reign alone. Here, this is a battlefield where lives can be lost at any moment."
Helplessly patting her small mistress on the head, Sella felt increasingly baffled by the clan head's decision.
Placing her mistress in the role of Master for the Fifth Holy Grail War, with this particular disposition... Even knowing that her mistress would not hesitate to act decisively against enemies, and that in practical terms this war didn't require her mistress to put herself in direct danger, since her Servant and the combat maid corps would handle everything, and all she truly needed to do was supply magical energy and wait for the Grail to appear...
"I know, Sella. If we fail, there's nothing left. Like what happened to Kiritsugu and Mother. Illya won't get to be with them anymore..."
"That is not what I meant, my lady. Please trust in us. This Holy Grail War will be the Einzbern family's victory."
Sella composed herself and offered what reassurance she could. And it wasn't entirely hollow reassurance either.
Setting aside Medea as a variable, the Matou and Tohsaka families posed genuinely limited threat this time around.
The Tohsaka family had fallen so far they couldn't even afford a catalyst, and their head, Tohsaka Rin, was a thoroughly mediocre mage.
The Matou family was still reasonably well-funded, but their head was a girl of sixteen or seventeen. Matou Zouken, the Matou family's actual great mage, had effectively disappeared from the picture. They had nowhere near the menace they had projected in the Fourth Holy Grail War.
The Holy Church was historically neutral and not a priority concern. The remaining participants couldn't possibly match the Einzbern family's lineup.
Because this time, the Einzbern family had come prepared to fight even if the Servant fell. They had every intention of continuing the contest for the Holy Grail through Master-on-Master combat.
The Fourth Holy Grail War model of letting Servant strength alone determine who wins was history. This time, it was about family depth.
"Mm. I know. Illya isn't fighting alone. There's Sella, and Leysritt, and everyone here with me."
Tap. Tap. Tap.
A synchronized rhythm of footsteps from beyond the castle walls. The Einzbern family homunculi had assembled from their positions throughout the grounds, a procession arriving to swear their loyalty to the castle's new mistress. An army that could genuinely contest Servants.
Illya turned and walked out through the castle's front doors, looking at the dozens of expressionless figures kneeling on one knee in the courtyard, the enormous black figure at the head of the formation, and smiled brightly.
"We are the strongest. Berserker is the strongest. We are going to win this!"
That was an army in body armor, carrying full American-spec military gear and large-caliber sniper rifles.
Thirty-six of them in total, the Einzbern family's true reserve, the combat maids never offered for sale.
These were the specialized homunculi from legend, beings whose pure physical conditioning and Magic Circuit density put them on par with third-rate Servants. Their lifespans were only a year or two, but they had traded those short lives for extraordinary combat power.
Modern American military equipment. Clock Tower magecraft resources. A complete combat doctrine.
The Einzbern family had truly deployed everything this time. Win, or don't come back.
"Combat Maid Corps."
"Sniper unit, assault unit, and magecraft unit assembled and ready. Awaiting my lady's instruction."
Three maids equipped with different weapons stood at the formation's head, placing a hand over their hearts and bowing slightly in salute. The corps was divided into three squads, twelve per squad, each with a distinct role: anti-Servant engagement, Master assassination through sniping, and bounded field maintenance and logistics support.
In this Holy Grail War, any Servant whose stats fell in the second or third tier who dared to show themselves would face an immediate sniper response, their Master wrapped up and eliminated along with them.
This doctrine had been developed from the lessons of Emiya Kiritsugu's war. Conventional magical approaches were too slow. This Holy Grail War, the Einzberns wanted efficiency. No growth-type Servant was going to have time to develop at their own pace. Particular attention was directed at one name: Medea of the Age of Gods.
And anyone unfortunate enough to draw a Servant with low base stats could only blame their luck.
Though surely, after the lessons of the Fourth Holy Grail War, no mage entering the Fifth would be foolish enough to ignore their Servant's raw combat potential, right?
BOOM.
Tohsaka manor. Downtown.
One in the morning. A tremendous crash from the direction of the first-floor living room, as if something very large had fallen.
"Well, looks like I've drawn quite the Master. Oh my. This really is the worst possible hand."
"AAAAAH! My living room! My floor! My sofa and table!"
Before the white-haired man who had just been summoned could finish his sardonic remark, Tohsaka Rin came racing down from the second floor, saw that the living room had been reduced to rubble, the entire floor caved in, a large hole blown through the ceiling above, and debris scattered throughout, and immediately clasped both hands over her head and let out a piercing wail.
The white-haired man lounged with one leg crossed over the other on the partially sunken sofa, looking down at the dark-stockinged, red-clad girl before him with considerable self-satisfaction. He was, quite obviously, the culprit responsible for turning the living room into a disaster zone.
"My money! My furniture!"
Tohsaka Rin looked like she was about to cry, eyes completely vacant.
Why? How? She had followed her father Tokiomi's summoning method to the letter, timing it for precisely one in the morning to summon her Servant through the ritual circle.
So how had it ended up like this? Her Servant hadn't appeared inside the summoning circle but on the first floor instead.
"Oh... I just remembered. The house clock ran exactly one hour fast today of all days..."
She'd done it again. Tohsaka Rin felt deeply, bleakly awful.
Since the Tohsaka family had declined to the point where they couldn't afford a proper catalyst, she had opted for an affinity summon: using her personal red ruby as the anchor, standing within the circle herself, and attempting to call out to the legendary Medea of the Age of Gods, with whom she had shared a small but genuine connection years ago.
She wanted power, yes. But she also wanted that legendary mage to help treat her father.
In her mind, this was a mage from the Age of Gods. Omnipotent. A living legend. If only she could summon her, everything would resolve itself.
"Why isn't it that woman, then? My affinity with her isn't high enough? And not only did the summoning fail, why did my house have to get destroyed too?"
Tohsaka Rin breathed deeply, counting prime numbers in her head, trying to manage the growing storm of her emotions.
She had mentally prepared for the possibility that she wouldn't successfully summon Medea. What she had not prepared for was losing this much property. She was genuinely nearly bankrupt at this point. She had spent the last of the Tohsaka family's reserves on battle supplies for the Holy Grail War, meaning jewels for Jewel Magecraft. Now she had lost an entire living room, and she didn't even want to think about how many part-time shifts it would take to repair it once the war was over.
"Calm down. Calm down. Maybe I've drawn the strongest Servant there is..."
After nearly ten seconds of internal pep talk, Tohsaka Rin finally forced herself to straighten up.
"Let me just confirm, shall I. You are my Servant, yes? And your class is one of the strongest Three Knights, either Lancer or the most versatile Caster?"
"Lancer? Caster? What on earth are you thinking."
When did either of those become the strongest class? Shouldn't you be asking whether I'm the strongest class, Saber?
The white-haired man in red thought this inwardly with mild bewilderment, though he kept his expression perfectly composed.
"Servant, Archer. Although, what I would actually like to ask is whether you really are my Master. I couldn't even see you when I was summoned. That doesn't exactly inspire confidence."
"Archer? Not bad. Top three strongest class. Still a good card."
"...Don't ignore the second half of what I just said!"
Watching Tohsaka Rin immediately start pulling up his status display without a word, the man in red faintly narrowed his eyes.
In rather a hurry, wasn't she. Did she really care that much about a Servant's raw numbers?
"Strength D. Endurance C. Agility C. Mana B. Luck E. Noble Phantasm: Unknown?"
"Wait, wait, wait. These are Three Knights class stat values? Not a single A-rank anywhere?"
She had barely steadied herself, and now, after looking over the status of the white-haired, dark-skinned young man before her, with his white eyebrows tipped with lightning-bolt shapes and his red-and-black bodysuit and longcoat, Tohsaka Rin clutched her head and let out another groan of despair.
"Stats alone do not define a Servant. Fixating on numbers like this only makes you look less qualified as a Master. It makes me increasingly doubt your suitability."
The man in red gave Tohsaka Rin a dismissive sidelong look, clearly expressing his own dissatisfaction with the Master he'd been given. She had started the contempt, after all.
Besides, by the standards of the Fifth Holy Grail War, his power level wasn't especially low. Somewhere around the median. Standard second-rate Servant by conventional measures. The kind who could still make a claim on first-rate territory, under the right circumstances.
"Excuse me? You're calling me unqualified? You weren't even who I wanted to summon in the first place, you arrogant..."
"Then who were you trying to summon? A Saber? You think other Servants would just so easily..."
"Medea."
"...Who?"