[Kotomine Risei: @Kotomine Kirei, be mindful of your words and actions, my son. Do not tarnish your sacred duty...]
[Tōsaka [1]Tokiomi: @Tōsaka Nagato, ancestor…?! Why is all of this happening...]
[Tōsaka Nagato: We are merely using each other to fulfill our needs. The goal of our Tōsaka family is indeed to harness the power of the Einzbern family… to seek the power of the Root… Your faith and perseverance are not misplaced… It is just… The corrupted Holy Grail is truly beyond what I had envisioned...]
[Kayneth: Hmph… Although we joined the war merely to earn "merits"... It is indeed unpleasant to be deceived by these country bumpkins!]
[Waver Velvet (Fourth War Timeline): I feel more and more that the world of magecraft I live in is shrouded in mist...]
[...]
Meanwhile——
As the Fifth Magician, Aozaki Aoko also expressed keen interest in the "Root" that all magicians sought, as discussed in the barrage:
[Aozaki Aoko: @Shirō, is the Root that the Tōsaka family aims to achieve through the Third Magic equivalent to the power of the First Magic, "Denial of Nothingness"?]
[Aozaki Touko: @Aozaki Aoko, you fool! The Second to Fourth Magics are all derived means to reach "that place"... The First Magic, as a co-existent entity, is contradictory... It is extremely harmful to the Root... and vice versa... It's hard to believe that as the inheritor of the Fifth Magic, you wouldn't understand this... You're utterly hopeless...]
[Aozaki Aoko: …You're so annoying… always rambling...]
[...]
On the light screen…
The video continued with its extended exposition:
[The so-called Holy Grail War is a ritual where the three families sacrifice all seven Servants.]
Under the dark light screen, the events of the Third Holy Grail War were briefly and swiftly recounted:
[The Third Holy Grail War took place in the 1930s, on the eve of World War II.]
[The Einzbern family violated the rules by summoning the Heroic Spirit Angra Mainyu, an Avenger-class Servant outside the standard classes. However, the Avenger was unexpectedly weak, akin to an ordinary human, and perished on the fourth day of the Holy Grail War. His soul was absorbed into the Greater Holy Grail. The colorless power of the Greater Holy Grail was corrupted into black mud by the Avenger, born from evil desires.]
[At this point, the Holy Grail was utterly defiled.]
[The introduction to the Holy Grail War concludes.]
[...]
After this narrative broadcast…
All the magi, Heroic Spirits, and even non-human species watching the light screen had a general understanding…
Of what the Holy Grail War truly was and the truth behind it!
But at the same time——
In the Fifth Holy Grail War.
Emiya Residence.
Artoria knelt in the living room, her eyes flickering with emotion…
It took her a long time to calm down…
But after a while…
The former Lion King also smiled with relief…
"It seems… I truly misunderstood Kiritsugu…"
As a Servant summoned in two consecutive Holy Grail Wars with retained memories,
Although she had known from the beginning that her current Master was the son of the previous one…
It was unrelated to this Holy Grail War, so Artoria had no reason to bring it up…
But to say she held no grudge against Kiritsugu at all…
That would be untrue…
When the Holy Grail she had placed her hopes on was shattered by successive Command Spells…
Artoria felt an extreme sense of betrayal and devastation.
Thus, even after being summoned by Shirō, she had deliberately avoided the topic throughout the war…
Trying not to dwell on it.
But now it seemed that Kiritsugu was also a victim of deception…
It was just that upon realizing the evil of the Holy Grail, he made the right choice…
But… why didn't he explain…
As a partner, I had the right to know…
Or, to Kiritsugu, was I merely a tool—a Servant?
Artoria smiled bitterly.
"Saber…"
Although Emiya Shirō still couldn't fully grasp what had happened back then…
Based on what he knew…
Even if Kiritsugu was justified in his pursuit of justice…
He had indeed betrayed Saber's trust…
In the video earlier, he clearly saw Saber, tears in her eyes, slashing at the Holy Grail with immense sorrow…
Emiya Shirō didn't want to moralize, but he didn't know how to comfort Saber…
But then——
The changes on the light screen once again shocked Emiya Shirō.
["Allies of Justice" - The Beginning]
The massive title gleamed…
The scene shifted in real time——
[The sky was clear, the sea vast, and a peaceful island slowly came into view, gradually sharpening on the screen.]
[On a steep cliff, a group of teenagers were happily diving, their laughter carried by the wind and echoing into the distance.]
[At that moment, a handsome boy appeared at the edge of the cliff, and the boys and girls in the water shouted excitedly: "Kerry, hurry up! Jump down quickly!"]
[The boy smiled confidently, turned his gaze to the higher rock face beside him, and nimbly climbed up, his movements swift and graceful.]
[...]
Narrative subtitles lit up in sync with black text, telling the story as the scene changed:
[Kerry was the childhood nickname of Kiritsugu Emiya.]
[In pursuit of the "Root," his father, Emiya Norinaka, a magus, was hunted by the Mage's Association. After his wife was killed, he hid on a small southern island (Alimango Island).]
[Although the Emiya family's magecraft theory held great promise, it would take centuries to complete the experiment.]
[To solve the issue of lifespan, Emiya Norinaka began researching the Dead Apostles.]
[This transformation turned Shirley, the girl who had cared for and assisted Kiritsugu Emiya, into a vampire, attracting agents of the Holy Church and pursuers from the Mage's Association. All the island's residents were purged by the agents.]
[In a panic, Emiya Norinaka prepared to escape.]
[The young Emiya Kiritsugu aimed a gun at his father.]
[...]
The Fifth Holy Grail War.
Witnessing his father pointing a gun at his own grandfather…
Emiya Shirō was stunned.
Why…
Kiritsugu was completely different from the person he remembered…
[1] Tohsaka/Tosaka