Beneath Ryuudou Temple, under this not-so-high mountain, it is hard to imagine that there is a huge underground space. Such a massive cavern, whether used as a summer retreat or a shelter from war, is large enough to accommodate a huge population. At this moment, this underground space, which should have been dark and lightless, was now displaying a mixture of red and purple due to the fluctuations of magical energy.
This is the place where the Winter Saint sacrificed herself hundreds of years ago. In the deepest part of this underground space, that special pillar that connects the "sky" and "ground" of the entire cavern, one can still occasionally see the crystallized surface and grooves with special patterns from the places where the stone shell is thinner. Back then, it was this pillar that slowly crushed the body of the Winter Saint into flesh and blood, which then became the nourishment for the Holy Grail. Now, hundreds of years later, here, the Tohsaka family, one of the three founding families, will also offer their own body as a medium for the Grail's advent. After all, the Holy Grail can only descend upon a magus.
With the exit of three Heroic Spirits, Irisviel had originally been prepared for her body to decline and for her to be bedridden after this battle. But not long after the battle ended and Irisviel had just returned to her room, she felt her body become light, as if the weight within her had vanished without a trace in an instant. This felt even more relaxing than when she had given birth to Illya. Originally, Irisviel thought that giving birth to her daughter was the most relaxing thing she had ever felt, but she had not expected this to be even more relaxing than childbirth.
Placing her hand on her stomach, she felt the Lesser Grail within her. Why was it that this time, the magical energy that should have been stored in the Lesser Grail was not being stored in her own body? Not just anyone had the ability to draw the magical energy out from the Lesser Grail within her body. The only explanation was that the Greater Grail had awakened its own will? But was that possible? To be honest, even though their three families had created the Holy Grail, the Grail was far more complex than they had imagined. If you were to say that the Einzbern family truly understood the Holy Grail so well as to be certain that it could not awaken its own will and could only wait for the Lesser Grail to be filled with magical energy? That was really not certain.
Irisviel was, after all, a creation of the Einzbern family. On the surface, she was also the young lady of the Einzbern family. She had some understanding of her family's history of creating the Holy Grail. Of course, this did not include the fact that their family had summoned the vessel of All the World's Evils in the Third Holy Grail War. This was a matter that the Einzbern family would absolutely not let Irisviel and Kiritsugu know. What was Kiritsugu's goal? World peace. If he knew that the advent of the Holy Grail would bring disaster, would he still bring the Lesser Grail, filled with magical energy, back to the Einzbern family? If the Holy Grail could not grant wishes normally, then all the fault could actually be placed on them. The Einzbern family wished that no one would ever remember this matter.
Until this time's Lesser Grail, according to the original plan's advent, Irisviel should still have had the ability to deal with the Evils of this World that were about to appear in her body. But who could have thought that in the original story's development, Irisviel would be forcibly abducted and, without any preparation, directly undergo the awakening and advent of the Lesser Grail?
Aslan did not believe that the Einzbern family's "Dress of Heaven" had no special purpose in the final process of the Grail's advent. Thinking back carefully, there seemed to be such a description of the Dress of Heaven: "The homunculus of the Einzbern family, Illyasviel, is only in her complete form when wearing the Dress of Heaven." In that case, Irisviel, as a homunculus, must have also brought the Dress of Heaven with her when she came to the Far East. That special dress, which should have been worn at the final moment, was not worn in the original world line.
The Dress of Heaven, or rather, the Raiment of Heaven, was a magical armament passed down by the Einzberns. It could control the heart of the Greater Grail and possessed a magic that could materialize a soul for just a few seconds. Although it was a pure white dress, its material was gold. It was inlaid with seven "rings" that were generally believed to be able to control the souls of all things and others. The seven holes were created by the deformation of the rings. Each time a Servant's soul was absorbed, a hole on the device would light up. At the same time, because humans would be turned into gold if they touched it, the operation of the Dress of Heaven could only be carried out by spirits, dwarves, or homunculi.
Irisviel, feeling the abnormality in her body, immediately called her husband, Kiritsugu. If there really was something wrong with the Greater Grail, then the remaining participants of the Holy Grail War should immediately stop their mutual fighting. After solving the problem of the Greater Grail, they could then continue the war. The Greater Grail, after all, represented one of the few true Magics in the current world. If any problem were to occur, the consequences would be unimaginable.
At the same time, Irisviel, as one of the only remaining of the three founding families, and in the name of the creator of the Holy Grail, would summon the other participants of the Holy Grail War to the church for a meeting. As for why she didn't go to check on the situation of the Greater Grail alone first—under the known circumstances that the Grail was very likely to have a problem, that the Grail itself had awakened its will—to go to the location of the Greater Grail alone or with just one group, if something really happened, it would just be serving themselves up on a platter! After two powerful Heroic Spirits had already made their exit, the strength of the current Masters could not be considered overwhelming.
Whether the cause of such a change in the Holy Grail was because the magical energy from the Heroic Spirits had been stored in the Greater Grail for a long time, or for some other reason, Irisviel could not make a definite conclusion. Because the Einzbern family had been in Germany for many years, wanting to retrieve data now would probably take several days. And unfortunately, the Tohsaka and Matou residences had both become ruins. To find useful data from these ruins was truly too difficult. However, in the church of this small city in the Far East, there should still be some data from previous Holy Grail Wars. Perhaps some clues could be found from this data. But no matter what, she still had to gather everyone at the church.
Although they had just been through a major battle, there was not much more time for everyone to rest. Irisviel set the gathering for the evening of this day. She then sent out familiars to deliver her message, hoping that the others would come. Otherwise, if the Holy Grail really had a problem, those who did not intend to come to the meeting could only be prioritized for elimination. Of course, this was under the premise that the exit of a Heroic Spirit would not affect the situation of the Greater Grail.