The private dining room at Ishikawa, where Shirou and Minamoto Raito sat alone, was as elegant as a standalone villa. Natural materials like wood, stone, and glass bricks wrapped the spacious interior in layers of subtle asymmetry, evoking the distinctly Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi—serene, quiet, and graceful.
Yet despite the refined decor, a heavy, storm-like pressure brewed between the two men. It felt as if a black cloud loomed overhead, ready to burst into a violent downpour.
Raito's thoughts were more tangled than ever before—his mind a chaotic battlefield of colliding ideas. Not even Shirou's previous earth-shattering remarks compared to the impact of what he'd just said.
Because within the Orochi Eight Families, the word "god" specifically referred to the White King—source of all Japanese mixed-bloods and revered as Izanami, the supreme mother goddess of Japanese mythology.
The secrets about this "god" had always been sealed off by the families with extreme care. Especially the most terrifying one: that she was never truly dead, and her blood and bones remain sealed at the end of Yomi's path.
Even the Secret Party had barely scratched the surface of Japan's mixed-blood history. Until Lord Mayek's visit in the late 19th century, they didn't even know this island nation harbored mixed-bloods at all.
According to the Secret Party's record, The Remnants of the Frozen Sea, the White King once led the greatest rebellion in dragonkind's history, converting a third of all dragons into her followers. But even then, she was ultimately defeated by the Black King.
The Black King impaled her on a bronze pillar and cast her into the deep sea, where she was sealed beneath the ice for six whole eras. When her power had finally waned, he burned her remains in an undersea volcano and devoured the ashes—believing this to be her complete annihilation.
Thus, the Secret Party always viewed Japan's "White King descendants" with deep skepticism.
But the Orochi Families preserved an entirely different version of history in their ancestral wall paintings.
During those six frozen eras, a man named Izanagi infiltrated the ice-sealed prison and made a pact with the White King. She granted him the Holy Grail (her genes) and the Sacred Corpse (her blood and bones), making him the first "Emperor" and parasitic host of the White King.
From this came the first generation of White King bloodline hybrids.
But the White King was no benevolent goddess. She gifted these artifacts to humans merely to preserve her essence, in preparation for her future resurrection—when she would devour her descendants and reclaim her full power through them.
Izanagi, drawn by power but fearful of her return, could not destroy the Sacred Corpse. Instead, he bore three children—Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, and Susanoo—and entrusted them with the duty of sealing and worshiping her remains.
Amaterasu governed Takamagahara, the heavenly realm; Tsukuyomi ruled the night and moon; Susanoo took dominion over the oceans. These three lineages became the upper three houses of the Orochi Eight Families: Genji (Minamoto), Uesugi, and Tachibana.
As a direct descendant of Amaterasu, Raito was called "Amateru-no-Mikoto" by his kin—today's living embodiment of that divinity.
By contrast, his adoptive father Tachibana Masamune lacked Emperor blood and held his clan's leadership by merit and political maneuvering.
Raito dwelled briefly on his sacred duty to guard the family's secrets as a son of Amaterasu…
But then his thoughts returned to the real bombshell: How the hell does Shirou know any of this?
"Shirou-dono… that joke went too far. No matter who leaked these family secrets to you, this isn't something to casually throw around to accuse a gang. If you lack proof—or are just a mouthpiece for someone else—then I suggest you take back what you just said. I'll pretend I didn't hear it."
His tone turned sharp.
Of course, there was no way he'd "forget" this. The moment he returned home, he'd be having a serious talk with his father to find out how these secrets had been leaked.
Based on Shirou's background, there was no way he could know about the god's remains. Unless—
"No," Shirou replied calmly, sipping his eel soup before continuing, "This is no casual accusation. In fact, many signs point to this gang's suspicious activities."
"This Aoiya group ties into the very incident I've been investigating all along… Raito-san, surely you've heard of the 'Odin Incident'?"
"Of course. Otherwise, how else would I have heard of you?"
Raito was genuinely surprised now. How could a minor yakuza outfit be tied to something as enormous as the Odin Incident? Still, he chose to remain silent and let Shirou continue.
"You may also know that the Chen family—destroyed in the aftermath—had deep ties to Odin. Joint investigations by various clans revealed that the Chens had been trafficking Dead Servants between Japan and Shenzhou."
"And the other end of that trafficking route points directly to a gang in this country. I suspect Aoiya was responsible."
Raito nodded slowly, not interrupting. He noticed Shirou hadn't yet clarified how this tied to the "god."
But the moment Shirou mentioned a gang involved in secret experimentation and trafficking… Raito suddenly thought of a familiar name—the Fierce Oni Gang.
They were known to pursue godlike evolution, conducting bloodline experiments that produced Dead Servants. It wasn't unlikely they'd collaborated with the Chens.
Could Shirou be implying that the group targeting the divine relics… is the Fierce Oni Gang?
Then came the heavy blow—
"After the Odin Incident and the Chen family's collapse, the true masterminds didn't stop moving. In fact, they tried to erase me. It failed, of course—but in doing so, they revealed their connections here. Aoiya is one of their pieces."
"And the reason I believe it's connected to your 'god'… is because they're planning to initiate a Holy Grail War. Their goal is to obtain the divine fragments your clan protects."
Shirou wasn't just making up a connection—he had logic.
In the Nasuverse, divine spirits were often equivalent in function to the Holy Grail. Both could access the Root. A being like Miyu in Fate/kaleid liner was both a divine child and a natural Greater Grail.
So if that's true, then a divine body or its fragment could logically serve as the core of a Greater Grail system.
"!"
Raito's mind raced.
He didn't know Shirou was twisting the logic to pull the clan into this investigation, but his interpretation went straight to the worst-case scenario:
The Fierce Oni have found the site of the god's remains. They're preparing to seize the Sacred Corpse. They're ready to ignite a civil war among the White King's descendants.
His hand clenched tightly around his teacup. The porcelain cracked slightly under the pressure.
The history between the Orochi Families and the Fierce Oni was bathed in blood. Countless lives had been lost in their feud. Rivers of blood had flowed… and neither side had ever truly relented.
But even knowing that—Raito still felt this sudden confrontation was coming too fast.
"…Raito-san, I know the concept of a Holy Grail War may sound strange. And perhaps you don't fully understand how it connects to the god's fragments."
Shirou's voice echoed, pulling Raito from his swirling dread.
"But I assure you—if your clan investigates the people behind Aoiya, you'll find that I spoke nothing but the truth."
"…No need to explain further, Shirou-dono! I understand. At least enough."
Under Shirou's baffled stare—as if to say what the hell do you think you just understood?—Raito abruptly stood from his seat.
"Pardon me. I must excuse myself. This matter isn't something I can decide on a whim. We'll be in touch."
The laid-back, joking tone he had used before vanished. He once again carried the bearing of the Orochi clan heir—one step below the head, and above all others.
He clapped his hands. In seconds, the sliding door opened, revealing a line of bowing attendants outside.
He picked one out and said,
"Sakura, come in and take my seat. Entertain Shirou-dono for the rest of today's schedule. I've been called back to the clan."
He had to find out—who leaked the family's secrets to Shirou.
And whether the Fierce Oni were really making their move.
(End of Chapter)
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