As evening fell, Kairi Sisigou and Mordred arrived at the inn where Shirou and the others were staying, following the address Shirou had given them earlier.
"Father! I'm here to play with you, aaaaaah. Mmph!"
Shirou spread his fingers and grabbed the blonde girl by the face.
"How many times have I told you not to call me Father...? Got it?"
"Mmmph!"
The Rebellious Knight nodded frantically, and only then did Shirou let go.
Earlier that day, the Yggdmillennia clan had sent a familiar to deliver a letter to Kairi Sisigou, inviting them to come to the Fortress of Millennia.
After some discussion, the group ultimately decided that two Servants would go to the "Black" faction's castle.
Manaka Sajyou would stay behind to guard the Greater Grail, while Kairi Sisigou would remain nearby on alert, ready to use a Command Spell to recall his Servant if anything went wrong.
Mordred had somehow managed to get her hands on a sedan. Shirou chose not to ask questions and had just shut the car door when Jeanne, dressed in civilian clothes, came running after them.
"Wait for me! I'm coming too!"
Without another word, she opened the door and squeezed Shirou deeper into the back seat with her hips.
"The 'Black' Lancer, Vlad III, and his Master, Darnic, have become monsters, a threat to humanity, that are disrupting the Holy Grail War.
At this stage, I believe the structure of the conflict between 'Black' and 'Red' can no longer be maintained...
By the way, Artorius, were you just thinking something extremely rude?"
"Not at all."
Shirou tore his stunned gaze away from the Holy Maiden's round, full, well-developed backside, rested his chin on his hand, and looked out the window.
"After my conversation with the 'Red' Assassin yesterday, I'm even more certain that something is wrong within the 'Red' faction."
Jeanne crossed her arms over her chest and went on speaking with a smug look.
"So, while I have no intention of taking sides as a fair and impartial Ruler, I would still like to assist in ensuring a peaceful meeting between you and the 'Black' faction."
"Why are you acting like a parent? You make it sound like we're kids who are bound to cause trouble."
The girl in the driver's seat could not help muttering.
Ruler smiled kindly. "Did you say something, Miss 'Red' Saber?"
Although Shirou was unhappy with Jeanne's attitude, he did agree with what she was saying.
Just as she had said, the current situation had already moved beyond the question of which faction would obtain the Holy Grail.
On the surface, this Great Holy Grail War looked like a war of independence sparked by the Yggdmillennia clan's rebellion against the Mage's Association, but there seemed to be a deeper conspiracy hidden beneath it.
Come to think of it...
Shirou remembered the Command Spell Manaka Sajyou had shown him that morning.
He had been through two Holy Grail Wars himself, but this was the first time he had ever seen a Command Spell appear on the chest instead of the back of the hand.
Its shape had also been a little... how should he put it...
Shirou frowned in thought. Is that thing... really a Command Spell granted by the Holy Grail?
If only Makiri were here. Wasn't he the one who created the Command Spell system?
As Shirou rubbed his chin in thought, his gaze shifted toward a certain someone who had been suspiciously sneaking glances at him ever since they got in the car.
"Ruler."
"Mm... Huh!?"
Jeanne jolted. "Wh-what is it...? I-I wasn't sneaking looks at you, all right? Don't flatter yourself, Artorius!"
"......I haven't said anything yet."
Jeanne said, "Oh. Right."
Shirou said, "?"
What was wrong with this woman? Ever since she came back last night, she had been acting distracted, sneaking looks at him from time to time before hurriedly looking away.
Shirou wondered if the 'Red' Assassin had cursed her.
"O-okay, what did you suddenly call me for?" Jeanne asked, lightly patting her chest.
"Can you take off your clothes?"
Shirou wanted to confirm the Command Spell on Ruler's back.
"......Huh?"
Mordred and Jeanne cried out at the same time, and the car swerved sharply, nearly crashing into an oncoming truck.
"Wh-wh-wh-wh-what are you saying all of a sudden! O-of course I'm not taking them off...
It's broad daylight, and we're outside! How could anyone do something so shameless during the Holy Grail War...
S-stop making such awful jokes. I'm going to tell Ayaka-san on you!"
So it would be fine indoors at night?
Shirou said dryly, "Calm down, Ruler."
"I am calm!"
Jeanne's face was bright red, though it was hard to tell whether it was from anger or embarrassment.
"No, you're not calm at all. Listen to me. It's not what you're imagining...
And Mordred, stop peeking through the rearview mirror. Watch the road."
"Yes~~~"
Mordred withdrew her gaze with a bored look.
Under the effect of Shirou's high-ranking "Charisma," Jeanne quickly regained her composure.
Th-that's right. Artorius isn't some lecherous person, is he?
I must have misunderstood him.
Artorius must have had some other reason, and I twisted his words the wrong way.
Honestly...
If anyone is to blame, it's Assassin. She had to say something so strange...
That I'm in love with Artorius? As if that could possibly be true!!
My feelings for him... the feelings I hold toward this person are pure, unblemished respect. Yes, that's all!
"Mm-hmm, I understand. I completely understand..."
"What do you understand?"
"Ahem."
Jeanne cleared her throat theatrically, put on a beautiful professional smile, and spoke in a calm voice.
"Very well. Then please explain why you want me to take off my clothes here."
"I want to see your body, Ruler."
"..."
Jeanne slapped at Shirou.
Fortunately, Shirou reacted in time and ducked under it.
"Don't dodge!"
"No, no, no. If it were a delicate girl, that would be one thing, but if Ruler slaps me, my head will explode! I already saw that future! Just like a watermelon on the beach!"
"Woohoo... As expected of Father! The highest rank of 'Instinct' really is amazing!" Mordred shouted strangely, though it was unclear what she was so excited about.
Jeanne gritted her teeth, looking as if she might tear Shirou apart with her bare hands at any moment.
"I'm terribly sorry for being a steel gorilla!"
...
"What? So you only wanted to see my Command Spell..."
They finally managed to clear up the misunderstanding.
Jeanne puffed out her cheeks. "If that's all it was, why didn't you just say so? Why use wording that could be misunderstood?"
Shirou said helplessly, "I was trying to explain the whole time, but you kept interrupting me halfway."
"Guh...!"
The blonde girl glared at him resentfully, then muttered, "Fine, fine, I'll take it off," and turned her back to Shirou.
"...You're sure this is something completely serious, right? If you're joking, I absolutely won't forgive you."
"Mm."
Shirou nodded firmly, then gave her a look urging her to continue.
Jeanne sighed as if resigning herself to her fate, lowered her head, and unbuttoned her clothes one by one.
"Honestly... This isn't even my body. It's Leticia's... How am I supposed to explain this to that child...?"
Underneath, she was wearing a white sleeveless shirt that boldly exposed her back.
Once her uniform fell onto the seat, the Holy Maiden turned her back to Shirou and used one hand to sweep aside her long, golden, three-stranded braid.
Just like that, the girl's neck and back were laid bare before another person's gaze.
"Ugh... Don't stare so seriously…"
"Mm."
Although Shirou agreed verbally, what he actually did was lean his face closer and examine her carefully.
Seeing this, Jeanne let out a cute little cry and even kicked Shirou's shoe with her foot.
Upon that soft, bare back, white as freshly fallen snow, were twenty-eight crimson strokes representing the absolute authority of a Ruler.
Those twenty-eight Command Spells were Ruler's highest Privilege, "Divine Judgment."
Each Servant participating in the Holy Grail War corresponded to a specific pair of strokes among them. These Command Spells could be freely transferred to a Master, but Ruler could not use all of them on a single Servant at once.
Of course, Jeanne's authority was not omnipotent. She could not, with Command Spells alone, order a Servant whose Master still possessed Command Spells to kill themselves.
The wing-shaped Command Spells formed a pattern with Catholic imagery across the girl's beautiful back, radiating a sacred atmosphere.
Seraphim.
The word rose unbidden in Shirou's mind.
There did not seem to be anything wrong with it.
If Jeanne could possess wing-shaped Command Spells like these, then it would not be strange for Ayaka to have them as well.
But even so, something still felt off. Shirou frowned suspiciously.
"U-um... Artorius, are you done looking?" Jeanne asked, her face flushed red.
"Sorry, give me a little longer."
I never thought letting someone I l... ahem!
I never thought letting a man I respect look at my back would be this embarrassing.
The girl bitterly regretted agreeing to Shirou's request five minutes ago.
And besides, the arm holding her hair aside was starting to ache...
"Surely that's enough already!?"
Shirou asked, "Sorry, Ruler, but can I touch it?"
"Huh? Of course not! What are you even thinking, uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Jeanne let out a shrill scream.
Because Shirou had started running his hand over her back before getting her permission.
Uuu...
I'm sorry, Leticia...
I'll never be able to get married now...
The Holy Maiden closed her tearful eyes, pressed her lips together, and endured the feeling of Shirou's hands moving back and forth across her back.
It was so humiliating she wanted to die, and yet, for some reason...
Having Shirou touch her bare skin felt incredibly pleasant, so much so that she wanted it to keep going...
Jeanne's whole body went limp, and at last, she could not stop a soft, sweet sound from slipping out.
"Hn... mm♡"
...
"Professor! I'm here!"
The "Black" Caster stood by the shore of a clear lake, maintaining his usual composure as he gave a slight nod to the boy running straight toward him.
The boy's name was Roché Frain Yggdmillennia.
Though only thirteen, he was already a fairly well-known golem-maker, and naturally, he had become one of the Yggdmillennia clan's Masters in this war.
Roché respected Caster, a fellow golem-maker, as his senior and called him "Professor."
The Frain family was a prestigious lineage of golem-makers. They entrusted newborn infants to golems to be raised, and until the children reached the age when a Magic Crest could be transplanted into them, they almost never left the workshop. Their parents did not see them, and even their education was left entirely to golems.
The children of the family were extremely close to golems. Through that peculiar upbringing, they became Magi whose lives were built not around people, but around golems.
They could not remember their parents' faces, yet they could recall every detail of the golems that had cared for them.
Roché was the same. He had no interest in humans at all, no matter how exceptional a Magus the other person might be.
But the "Black" Caster before him was the rarest of exceptions.
Avicebron, also known as Solomon ibn Gabirol, was an eleventh-century philosopher and poet.
He was considered one of the figures who laid the groundwork for the European Renaissance, and he established the concept of Kabbalah, derived from the Hebrew word meaning "reception," which formed the foundation of Kabbalistic Magecraft.
The reason Roché called Caster "Professor" and worshiped him so deeply was precisely because Avicebron was also a great golem-maker.
The boy trusted his Servant completely, and from the bottom of his heart, he found joy in being able to assist him in the workshop.
Tonight, at his Professor's request, he had left the castle and brought over the "Core" they needed.
Avicebron's Noble Phantasm, the ultimate golem, "Golem Keter Malkuth: Royal Crown - the Light of Wisdom."
Even the golems his Professor had made in spare moments had used techniques, formulas, and materials far beyond the boy's imagination.
Now Roché, despite being nothing more than a Magus, had been granted the privilege of witnessing with his own eyes a golem that such a Professor described as "ultimate."
If that was not enough to make him rejoice, then what possibly could?
The boy simply followed the instructions and pressed on, the Holy Grail War already gone from his mind.
As long as Caster completed his Noble Phantasm, that moment alone would be victory to him.
Seen from that angle, he and Avicebron could be called the Master and Servant in this Holy Grail War whose objectives aligned most perfectly.
"This is the 'Core,' right...?"
"Very good."
"That's a relief. But Professor, this 'Core' was completed a long time ago, wasn't it? Was there a reason you never activated it before?"
The "Black" Caster pressed his index finger to his lips, gesturing for Roché to be quiet, and the boy hurriedly clamped both hands over his mouth.
Then, he began the Magecraft ritual.
Avicebron had no wish to make upon the Holy Grail. His only desire was to complete the ultimate task he had failed to finish in life.
To create an ultimate living being, a Golem, modeled after the progenitor of humanity.
For that purpose, much like the Assassin of the "Red" faction, he used materials from this world to complete his Magecraft.
The base materials were stone, earth, and trees, all natural materials with histories of several hundred years or more, none of them processed into city walls or lumber.
It was said that Darnic, whose wealth rivaled that of a nation, had spent a full thirty percent of his assets simply to gather them.
The moment Avicebron's Noble Phantasm was completed, it would become the "Black" faction's final trump card.
"Thou art a lump of earth, yet not a lump of earth. Thou art human, yet not human.
Thou art the one who stands in Paradise, the one who rules Paradise, the one who guides to Paradise.
Thou art our dream, our hope, our love."
The Magus's incantation echoed over the lake, and the once-calm waters began to bubble with soft popping sounds.
"Thou who embracest the Holy Spirit, thy name is: 'Adam, the First Man.'"
At first, Roché thought it was simply a massive golem.
A height of fifteen meters was certainly enormous, but not absurdly so. With Roché's own ability alone, given five years, he could make a golem of that size.
Of course, size was the only thing he could reproduce. In terms of quality, there was no comparison at all.
Even so, the golem his Professor had made still could not be called especially unusual.
Not in terms of Mystery, nor in terms of scale.
Roché had once heard that a certain great witch possessed a golem with two thousand years of Mystery and the scale of an ancient city.
And yet, as the boy watched the real thing take shape step by step before his eyes, he could not help but gasp in awe.
"So this is the 'golem most faithful to the original form'..."
It was the king of Avicebron's ideals, the one who would guide humanity to Paradise.
The destroyer of the world, and the guardian of humanity.
Now, the giant's birth was close at hand.
A huge arm rose from the lake, and an upper body bearing the look of an ancient fortress stood upon the earth.
That was all the movement the golem was currently capable of.
Without being submerged in this lake, the golem could not move even an inch. At least, that was its current state.
"Then let us install the 'Core'... Master, you are ready, yes?"
"Yes, Professor!"