Kirei Kotomine looked at the attribute panel in front of him with a look of bewilderment. Is this really an Assassin?
"Father, although it exceeds our expectations, it seems better than the original plan."
After learning the Servant's attributes from Kirei Kotomine, Risei Kotomine's expression was also slightly surprised. However, he soon composed himself and began to think. All the characteristics of this Servant seemed to be related to nihilism. Could he be Nietzsche?
No, he clearly has an Asian appearance, so he definitely isn't Nietzsche. He must be some obscure Servant with a strong connection to nihilism. No wonder he's wearing modern clothes.
Qiong ignored the two priests who had been whispering to each other and looked at the blue screen in front of him—the only splash of color in this gray world.
[main quest has been issued...
Objective: Obtain the Holy Grail
Reward: 10,000 System Currency]
Simple and clear: win this so-called Holy Grail War and get the final reward.
Qiong looked at the two priests who had finished their conversation. The young priest stepped forward and said to him, "Assassin, I am your master, Kirei Kotomine."
"Mm."
Qiong gave a simple grunt in response. The scene was quite eerie, as neither the Servant nor his master had any highlights in their eyes.
System: "Great, it looks like you can trigger quests normally. It seems my self-coded program has no bugs. Cough! Don't mind what just happened, Host. I've secured a local residency for you. Although others descend as clones to fight, you're here in your true body. But it doesn't really matter. With your third-tier life status and energy system, dealing with these Heroic Spirit clones shouldn't be a problem. Treat this as your beginner tutorial. Use this chance to experience what a normal human life is like."
"Assassin, what is your wish for participating in the Holy Grail War?"
Risei Kotomine had already left, leaving only Kirei Kotomine and Qiong. Perhaps to break the silence between them, Kirei Kotomine, as the master, was the first to ask.
"To be able to see color in my eyes."
"Color?"
"Yes. The world in my eyes is only gray and white. I can understand the existence of colors, and I know what other colors should look like, but I cannot see them. If possible, I want to be able to see color again."
After Qiong finished speaking, he stared with his own eyes at his master, whose eyes also lacked highlights, and asked, "Then, what is your wish?"
Kirei Kotomine's eyes were full of bewilderment.
"I... don't know."
If it were the original Kirei Kotomine, though he would be bewildered inside, he would likely put on a front of having no wishes. But for some reason, he spoke his inner thoughts directly.
It was as if the person in front of him could make him confess everything.
Volume 1: Chapter 3: Treat Me to a Meal, Good Person
"The Throne of Heroes has no concept of time, which means we might not have summoned a Heroic Spirit from the past, but one from the future."
Inside the Tohsaka Residence, Tohsaka Tokiomi held a wine glass and maintained an elegant posture. Even though he knew the plan had gone off track and that the summoned Servant would not be affected by Command Spells, he did not lose his composure.
"So this Assassin we summoned might be a Heroic Spirit from the future. However, he is still just an Assassin. Although from your description his strength is indeed impressive, compared to the King I intend to summon, he can only be considered average."
It might be different in other worlds, but in this one, the older something is, the stronger it is. In modern society, because mystery has faded and True Ether has returned to the Inner Sea of the Star, modern Magicians generally cannot compare to those of ancient times. The further back one traces, the stronger the mystery becomes. Therefore, Tohsaka Tokiomi believed that the oldest King he intended to summon would inevitably be an invincible existence.
Of course, there wasn't much wrong with this argument. At least in this universe, the strength of Gilgamesh, the oldest King, was indeed very high.
Naturally, putting aside those of an exceptional level, for a normal Holy Grail War, summoning this King was indeed equivalent to victory.
Currently, in a Chinese restaurant in Fuyuki City, Qiong and Kirei Kotomine sat opposite each other. The former watched the latter eat a plate of mapo tofu. Even though the hot and spicy tofu made him sweat profusely, he did not stop. Even in those utterly hollow eyes, a hint of spirit seemed to appear because of tasting this spicy food.
Seeing this, Qiong became thoughtful. He also picked up a spoon and took a bite of the piping hot and spicy mapo tofu in front of him.
Hmm, no flavor.
Qiong took a few more spoonfuls to taste it, even carefully feeling the tenderness of the tofu, but he simply couldn't sense what kind of flavor it had. He didn't even feel the spiciness.
Meanwhile, Kirei Kotomine had quickly finished the large plate of mapo tofu in front of him. He looked at Qiong, who ate the mapo tofu with a straight face and no expression, and asked, "Can you handle spicy food well?"
"No, I can't taste anything."
"Spiciness, if I remember correctly, isn't a normal sense of taste, but a sensation of pain."
"Yes, so I don't have a sense of pain either."
Kirei Kotomine looked at the young man in front of him. Although he knew the other might be older than him or come from a more distant future and had experienced things far more grand than himself, he still couldn't help but want to ask.
"Having lost your sense of taste, smell, and pain, and with not even a hint of color in your eyes... living in this world, do you not feel sorrow or despair? What exactly do you persist for in your life? What kind of desires and dreams do you have?"
Kirei Kotomine considered his own emotions to be very different from others, but after meeting the young man in front of him, he felt that his own problems might not be as severe. At least he could currently taste the slight pleasure hidden in the pain brought by the spiciness.
He was confused and puzzled by his own existence, so could the person in front of him give him an answer? What did he persist for, to the point of being engraved in human history as a Heroic Spirit?
"What do I persist for?"
Qiong scooped another spoonful of mapo tofu into his mouth and said in a flat tone, "I just want to taste flavors I recognize, see colors I recognize, and know the past that I've lost. Also, because there is an existence that needs me, I responded to that need."
"master, you also seem very lost. You are confused about the value of your existence and the differences brought about by your uniqueness. Therefore, you are also searching for your path in life, aren't you?"
"Ah, I am indeed searching for myself."
"Don't think too much. Excessive thinking and over-exploration will ultimately lead to nothingness. Because you will constantly wonder whether the path you are taking is correct, carefully distinguish the gaps between paths, and think about yourself—whether you are correctly stepping on the path. When these countless questions and doubts weigh on you, you will only fall into nothingness, because in the end, you will feel that everything is meaningless."
"Cast everything aside and follow your instincts. Just as you don't know the meaning of your life, you have clear preferences, don't you? You love eating mapo tofu, and you like the sensation that spiciness brings you. So why not choose to persist on this path and dig deep into the reason behind this hobby of yours?"
At this point, Qiong picked up the hot water on the table and sipped it slowly. At the same time, his eyes seemed to lose focus as he looked at Kirei Kotomine, but in reality, he was looking at the blue screen that only he could see.
A line of text was currently scrolling across the blue screen.
[After saying the above words, pick up the water cup and take small sips while pretending to be profound.]
Yes, that's right. His current actions, including the words spoken above, were all read from the script provided by the system. After all, how could he possibly persuade someone? Do you expect a newborn who just crawled out of the void to guide someone on how to escape their confusion?
System: "So Host, why do you want me to help you enlighten Kirei Kotomine? Although I can't give you too many spoilers, I can tell you plainly that this guy is not a good person! He especially loves bringing pain to others!"
"He treated me to a meal."
System: "Ah?! Just because of that! This meal didn't even have any taste for you, you couldn't even feel the spiciness!"
"That's my problem. Since he treated me to a meal, I'll find a way to resolve the confusion in his heart. That way, after repaying the favor of the meal, if he turns against me when seizing the Holy Grail, I can strike without any burden."
Actually, even without repaying the favor, Qiong would have struck without burden. He only acted this way out of lingering moral concepts. It turned out that the two entities that made up his current self were quite kind-hearted, or at least their moral concepts were intact.
System: "Well, okay."
The system had actually expected this. After all, he was a brand-new entity fused from the remnants of the void. Through the script it had written, it understood that the reason this newborn Qiong became its Host, helped it complete tasks, and embarked on this journey was also to repay the favor of a new life.
I hope this child can gain enough emotion and existence during these journeys to become more like a human.
Maybe I can set up some side quests later and replace the rewards with things that boost Charm. That might help this kid find a girlfriend or like-minded Partners, which would greatly increase his existence and fill the void in his heart.
Kirei Kotomine, lost in thought, seemed to have grasped something. He felt as if he had vaguely found his path in life, though it hadn't fully revealed itself yet.
After paying and leaving, he looked at the deepening night and said to Qiong beside him: "Other masters are about to summon their Servants. Assassin, scout around. If we're lucky, we might be able to eliminate a master-Servant pair right at the start."
"Okay."
Without seeing Qiong make any move, he suddenly vanished. Even Kirei Kotomine, as his master, somewhat forgot what the Assassin he summoned looked like or what his attributes were. He only vaguely remembered that he wasn't one of the Hassans, seemed to be male, and had just eaten with him. However, he couldn't recall any physical features like height or build at all.
In reality, Qiong didn't use invisibility or teleportation. He simply used a tiny bit of the power of Nihility, and his sense of presence plummeted from its already low state at an exaggerated speed, reaching a point where even modern camera equipment couldn't capture him.
Qiong glanced at the bewildered Kirei Kotomine before walking into the night.
The passing pedestrians didn't notice a young man in rather peculiar clothing passing by.
Volume 1: Chapter 4: The Fake Hero
Inside Zouken Matou's basement Magus Workshop in the Matou Estate, a young man stood by a magic circle. He wore simple sportswear, had graying hair, and unnatural veins on his face, giving off a terrifying vibe.
Beside him was an old man leaning on a cane, wearing an old kimono, bald, and exuding a villainous aura from head to toe.
And without either of them noticing, a young man in a black coat stood silently nearby, watching them.
"Begin the summoning, Kariya."
The old man gave a sinister smile and then commanded.
Though Kariya showed a trace of disgust on his face upon being commanded, he said nothing and began to recite the incantation in front of the magic circle.
The incantation he recited was the same as the one Kirei Kotomine had used before, but with different summoning words added in the middle.
"Let thine eyes be clouded with chaos, and thy soul be filled with rage."
"Thou, prisoner in the cage of madness."
"I am the master who wields these chains."
The added words meant that the summoned Servant would belong to the Berserker class, a class that sacrifices sanity for more powerful base attributes.
As black mist rose, a knight-demon in black Western-style classical full armor, with deep red light glowing from the eye slits, roared in the center of the magic circle as if crawling out of the depths of hell.
"Aaaaah!!!"
"I didn't expect you to actually succeed in summoning a Servant of decent strength without being immediately attacked by the Berserker. Hehe, I look forward to your perfor... What!?"
While Zouken Matou looked on in utter confusion, the newly summoned Berserker collapsed directly onto the floor. The black-misted armor gradually lost all its color, turning completely gray. Even the red light in the eyes faded away. The knight could only murmur one last soft call before every trace of his existence vanished.
After the knight had completely disappeared, Zouken Matou seemed to snap out of it. However, his face showed no fear or panic; instead, he looked mocking as he said to the bewildered Kariya: "Even though I performed such draining modifications on your body, you couldn't even summon a single Servant. This is truly disappointing... Whether in life or in any other aspect, you are a complete failure."
"No! How is this possible? Why? Why did the magic circle clearly activate, yet no Servant was summoned!?"
Kariya knelt on the ground, his face full of disbelief. He couldn't understand; the circle had clearly started and even emitted light, so why was there nothing!?
"Perhaps even those mindless Berserkers have no interest in such a failure like you and refused to answer your summons. Truly, even I find you a bit pitiful."
Zouken Matou marveled, his voice dripping with blatant mockery.
He looked at Kariya, who knelt on the ground as if he had lost his soul. After a few more insults, he couldn't be bothered with this failure anymore. Regardless, he hadn't planned on pinning his hopes on this Holy Grail War anyway.
"No, how could this be? How could this be..."
Qiong looked at Kariya, who was kneeling and seemed to have lost all hope in life, sensing the explosion of nihilism within him—the feeling that everything in life was meaningless.
He felt as if the man before him was about to give up on his life.
"Perhaps I should grant him release?"
Qiong thought so. After all, he had heard from his master, who was currently acting as a priest, that those who commit suicide cannot go to heaven.
Just now, through information provided by his master, Qiong had learned of the Three Founding Families. Knowing that the Matou family, who helped establish the rules of the Holy Grail War, would inevitably participate, he came to take a look and happened to witness the Servant summoning ritual.
As an opponent in the Holy Grail War, Qiong naturally couldn't let his enemies remain unscathed. So, he used the power of Nihility to swallow and assimilate the Berserker the moment he arrived.
With the opponent's strong willpower, it shouldn't have been resolved so quickly. However, Qiong immediately cut off the magical link between the Servant and the master. Lacking sufficient mana to maintain his existence, the Berserker was miserably spawn-killed.
Of course, one could also call it spawn-camping.
After the Berserker's existence was quickly consumed, Kariya and Zouken Matou naturally forgot about the summoning. Both believed there was an issue with Kariya himself, leading to a failed summoning.
This was indeed a combat style very fitting for the Assassin class.
Qiong watched as the man stood up unsteadily. He thought the man was going to end his life, but Kariya didn't give up. He returned to the magic circle and began to recite the incantation once more.
Once, twice... even though he met with disappointment time and again, even though the magic circle showed no sign of responding, he continued to recite.
"My life is already a total failure, and there is no hope left. But even so, I cannot give up! There is still someone waiting for me to save them! Sakura... she shouldn't be here! She shouldn't have a hopeless future like mine! Even if I have to give up my life, even if I have to give my all, I must seize this last remaining chance!"
"O Heroic Spirits of the past! I know you loathe me, I know you despise me for being worthless! I know I am not worthy of being the master who commands you, but I beg of you! I implore you to answer my call! I truly want to save an innocent child!"
Kariya knelt on the ground, crying out with all his might, pleading with the magic circle for the heroes in the Throne of Heroes to answer his summons.
However, it was all in vain.
Qiong looked at this man, seeing the wound on his forehead from kowtowing, and witnessing his determination to get help and save a child at any cost.
He said, "My residual moral values and slight understanding of emotions make me feel that I should help him now. Is this correct?"
System: "This is your residual humanity. Whether to help or not depends on you."
Qiong was silent for a moment. He chose to grasp that residual humanity.
Kariya continued to kowtow and recite his pleas and prayers. The more he did so, the deeper the despair and sense of loss became. Just as he was about to collapse into unconsciousness from the physical toll, the dark magic circle suddenly burst into light.
Kariya looked up in disbelief to see a heroic knight in white armor, like a Prince Charming from a fairy tale, standing before him.
"Servant, Berserker, Lancelot, answering your summons. Are you my master?"
Berserker? No, it was a Pretender.
A puppet created by Qiong using the power of Nihility, borrowing the assimilated existence of the Berserker Lancelot—a false existence playing the role of Lancelot.
But this fake hero had now become the true hope in Kariya's eyes.