Inside a dark and damp underground chamber, it felt as though one had stepped into another bizarre and horrifying world.
The walls of the dungeon, built who knew how many years ago, were covered in dark moss and scars left by some unknown form of corrosion.
There were no lights here.
No torches.
Nothing that could provide warmth or illumination.
Yet the air was filled with a strange stench and an unsettling warmth.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Footsteps echoed through the dark corridor, especially loud within the deathly silence.
But once the footsteps stopped, one could hear the faint rise and fall of insect chirping, accompanied by the rustling sounds of countless crawling creatures.
The noises seemed both distant and near.
Like overlapping ocean waves, they continued endlessly.
Merely hearing them was enough to make one's scalp go numb and send shivers through the body.
A hooded young man descended into the dungeon and stared at the scene before him in disbelief.
At the center of the enormous chamber, countless ugly insects resembling cockroaches crawled over one another.
They writhed.
They overlapped.
They swarmed.
There were so many that it was as though an entire swimming pool had been filled not with water but with insects.
One glance was enough to evoke instinctive fear and disgust.
Yet what filled the young man with the greatest rage and despair was the small girl lying at the center of the swarm.
He recognized her.
That face, which should have worn an innocent smile, now looked like a broken puppet.
Was she dead?
No.
Or perhaps she already was.
There was no sign of vitality left in her.
Her eyes were empty and lifeless.
She showed no reaction as the disgusting insects crawled over her body.
She had simply become accustomed to it.
"Sakura!"
Suppressing his fury, the young man called out her name.
He wanted to rush in and save her, but he could do nothing.
As an ordinary person, merely standing before the swarm already required extraordinary courage.
His understanding of magecraft told him that recklessly charging in would only make things worse.
At that moment, another figure emerged from the shadows.
A frail, elderly man with a sharp and weathered face.
His withered right hand gripped a cane.
The sinister expression on his face made him resemble an old monster straight out of a horror film.
He sneered maliciously and mocked his son.
"For the first three days, she cried miserably. By the fourth day, she couldn't even make a sound anymore. Today, I merely tossed her into the bug pit to see how long she'd last. After being played with by the insects for most of the day, she still has a trace of life left. Such excellent material from the Tōsaka family is truly irresistible."
He chuckled.
"What do you think? Honestly, you could have continued living your ordinary life. I have no interest in this Holy Grail War. My target is the Fifth Holy Grail War sixty years from now. By then, little Sakura will participate as a false Holy Grail that I have personally cultivated."
"Sakura... why..."
The young man's eyes trembled.
His clenched fists turned white from the force.
If he truly possessed power, he would turn around and kill this old man who should already be in a coffin.
The old man sensed the raging anger within him.
Unconcerned, he let out a raspy laugh.
The decayed body and eyes revealed only mockery toward his own blood relatives and delight at controlling the fates of others.
"Heh heh. And what exactly can you do? A little girl who has been completely played with by insects and is already on the verge of breaking. If you still want to save her, I might consider it."
"Fine. I've made my decision."
The hooded young man's gaze turned cold.
Looking at the little girl being swallowed by the swarm, his anger surged endlessly.
He understood the old man behind him.
He understood this rotten mage family.
And he himself was a member of that family.
The fury burning inside him was not directed solely at the old man.
More than anyone else, it was directed toward the man who had sent the little girl into this family.
Tōsaka Tokiomi.
Why had that man sent his own daughter into hell?
To strengthen ties with the Matō family?
To increase his chances of obtaining the legendary Holy Grail?
What right did such a man have to steal the happiness that should have belonged to others?
He deserved to die.
Unforgivable.
"But until you produce results, I will continue educating little Sakura. After all, my sights are set on the Fifth Holy Grail War sixty years from now."
Sixty years?
How long did this monster intend to live?
The young man's gaze grew even more hateful.
Yet he also knew that as an ordinary person, he could never resist the old magus.
He feared him as well.
The old man, who looked as though he already had one foot in the grave, was only nominally his father.
By actual bloodline, he was his great-great-great-grandfather or even older.
He had lived for centuries.
His soul had long since rotted away.
His body had been replaced countless times.
...
The head of the Tōsaka family, Tōsaka Tokiomi.
Kotomine Kirei, the man pursuing the unknown.
Matō Kariya, an ordinary man dragged unwillingly into the war.
Emiya Kiritsugu, the magus killer, was invited into the conflict.
Waver Velvet, a magecraft student seeking to prove his worth.
Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald, the proud magus born into a prestigious family.
The fifty-minute first episode of 'Fate/Zero' presented an astonishing amount of information.
It established the complicated relationships among the three founding mage families of the Holy Grail system.
It showcased the ideological conflict between Waver Velvet and his teacher, Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald.
It revealed each participant's overwhelming desire for the Holy Grail and the underhanded methods they employed in pursuit of victory.
By the end of the first episode, all of the Heroic Spirits from the historical legends and myths featured in Kamiyā Yuu's novels had made their appearance, representing the various factions participating in the war.
Tōsaka Tokiomi — Gilgamesh, the Ancient King.
Kotomine Kirei — Hassan-i Sabbah, the Old Man of the Mountain.
Matō Kariya — Lancelot, who could no longer be called the Flower of Knights.
Emiya Kiritsugu — Artoria Pendragon, the King of Knights.
Waver Velvet — Alexander the Great Iskandar, the King of Conquerors.
The scene was exceptionally powerful in animated form.
Combined with the mystique created by Kamiyā Yuu's side-story novels, the mere appearance of the Heroic Spirits was enough to leave many viewers exhilarated.
The anime conveyed enough information for viewers to understand the Holy Grail War.
In contrast, the first volume of the main 'Fate/Zero' novel, released that very morning, contained far more content.
It detailed the history of the Three Founding Families, the Holy Grail system, the pasts of the various characters, and much more nuanced emotional portrayals.
If the anime was simply telling a story, then the novel was constructing a complete and self-consistent world.
Through an omniscient perspective, it depicted the events unfolding in Fuyuki City of District 11 while presenting the broader worldview and conflicts between the various factions in a far more direct and comprehensive manner.