As for why things spiraled into this situation, part of the bla had to be placed squarely on Ren Kuroda himself—his earlier plan to lure out Caster simply hadn't been airtight enough.
The idea of having dea spread images throughout the city via familiars—images of Saber wearing various cosplay outfits, visible only to those with sufficiently high magical energy—was clever in principle.
But Ren had overlooked one crucial detail.
This Holy Grail War had summoned fourteen Servants in total.
And among them, those whose magical energy reached Rank A weren't limited to Caster alone.
Mordred—now contracted to Kiritsugu Emiya—was also one of them.
And when Mordred saw her glorious, imposing "father" dressed in such humiliating outfits, there was absolutely no way she was going to stay calm.
Just like Lancelot, Mordred had been summoned into the Holy Grail War because of her intense fixation on Saber. So upon realizing that her "father" had also appeared in this war, she could no longer restrain herself.
Mordred's feelings toward Saber—Artoria—were deeply tangled and contradictory. On one hand, she wanted desperately to defeat Saber and prove herself. On the other, seeing Saber humiliated like that filled her with uncontrollable rage.
Because dea's familiars still carried traces of her magical energy, and because the images clearly revealed their location, Mordred had little trouble pinpointing where they were hiding.
After all, Ren and dea hadn't intended to conceal their base in the first place—it was bait, designed to draw Caster out.
What neither of them had expected was that, alongside Caster, they would also attract an enraged, sword-wielding problem child like Mordred.
At first, dea didn't take Mordred's arrival seriously at all.
Even though Ren—their strongest combatant—had gone off to subjugate Caster of the Red Faction, Ryuudou Temple still retained overwhelming defensive power.
Layers upon layers of defensive rituals. Hundreds—no, thousands—of dragon-tooth soldiers. Two skeletal dragons, each rivaling an average Servant in strength. Add dea herself, and the strongest "civilian teacher" in history, Souichirou Kuzuki.
With a lineup like that, dea felt utterly fearless.
One Red Faction Saber? Please.
Even if another showed up, she wouldn't bat an eye.
In dea's view, Mordred charging Ryuudou Temple alone was nothing short of suicide.
So rather than stopping her, dea deliberately deactivated the outer defensive rituals, allowing Mordred to enter freely—planning to trap her like prey in a jar.
The hotheaded bear-cub that was Mordred ignored Kiritsugu Emiya's attempts to stop her and stord straight into Ryuudou Temple.
The outco was exactly what dea had anticipated.
The mont Mordred stepped inside, the outer defenses snapped shut. Dragon-tooth soldiers poured out from every direction in the front courtyard, surrounding Kiritsugu and Mordred completely.
The two skeletal dragons, radiating terrifying magical power, crouched atop the temple roofs, roaring as they stared down at the trapped Master and Servant.
Seeing the situation unfold perfectly, dea even had the leisure to pour herself a glass of red wine and watch the battle unfold through a magic crystal.
With hundreds of dragon-tooth soldiers, two skeletal dragons, and Ryuudou Temple's countless spell formations reinforcing them, dea genuinely couldn't imagine how she could possibly lose.
Frankly speaking, Mordred alone would be exhausted to the point of collapse just cutting down that many dragon-tooth soldiers—there was no need for dea to lift a finger herself.
And in reality, Mordred and Kiritsugu were indeed forced into a grueling battle at the start, facing endless waves of soldiers and the looming threat of the skeletal dragons.
Just as dea was on the verge of claiming her first kill of this Holy Grail War—
An unexpected variable entered the equation.
The clash at Ryuudou Temple inevitably exposed the magical signatures of Kiritsugu and Mordred. And at the worst possible mont, Illyasviel von Einzbern and Berserker happened to be wandering nearby—thanks to the earlier familiars dea had released.
Illya knew that Kiritsugu's Servant ten years ago had been Saber. She didn't know whether two Kings of Knights could exist in the sa war.
But after seeing Saber in dea's images, she decided to gamble.
And the mont Illya arrived at the temple gates with Berserker, she sensed a familiar magical signature within Ryuudou Temple—and her emotions exploded.
"Berserker," Illya commanded sharply, "smash through all of Caster's defensive formations. We're going in. I'm finding Kiritsugu."
The lolita-loving Berserker responded instantly. With a thunderous roar, he hoisted his massive axe-sword and brought it crashing down on the temple gate.
For Berserker, combat ant one thing—brute force.
And Heracles, possessing not only a body honed to absolute perfection but also the absurd Noble Phantasm Twelve Labors, was utterly unrestrained in the face of dea's defensive spells.
Entering his frenzied state, his entire body glowing like red-hot steel, Heracles lived up to Illya's expectations. In re minutes, he bulldozed straight through dea's painstakingly prepared defenses and burst into the front courtyard—where he encountered Kiritsugu.
Seeing his daughter Illya—unchanged from ten years ago—Kiritsugu was overwheld with emotion.
Unfortunately for him, what greeted him was not a warm embrace…
…but Berserker's gigantic axe-sword.
Finding the dragon-tooth soldiers and skeletal dragons unbearably annoying, Illya casually ordered Berserker to clear the field before she dealt with Kiritsugu herself.
Against Heracles' absurd combat power and monstrous paraters, skeletal dragons on the level of average Servants were laughably inadequate.
This was Heracles—the great hero of Greece, a man who had slain true dragons. Magical pseudo-dragons were nothing to him.
With Heracles joining the fray, the pressure on Mordred eased dramatically, and dea's carefully stockpiled resources were rapidly burned away.
As dea's natural nesis, Heracles cast a long psychological shadow over her. The mont she saw him in person, panic set in.
Still, what reassured her was this—although Berserker had destroyed much of her setup, he didn't seem to be targeting her directly.
Seeing how hostile the relationship between Red Faction's Saber and Berserker's Master appeared to be, dea regained so confidence.
For now, things were still within her control.
That Red Faction Saber was no pushover. Facing the onslaught of the great hero Heracles, she was sohow holding her ground.
Even if Berserker eventually defeated Saber, the cost would be enormous.
And by then, Ren Kuroda should have finished dealing with Red Faction's Caster and returned. With Ren's strength, it might be possible to reap the spoils and eliminate an exhausted Berserker in one decisive strike.
dea's calculations were flawless—
—but reality, as usual, refused to cooperate.
Whether Saber was simply too eye-catching, or Ryuudou Temple was fated to be chaotic that night…
Yet another uninvited guest arrived.
This ti, it was the long-vanished Tokiomi Tohsaka—along with the King of Heroes himself.
Even more strangely, Kotomine Kirei—whose Servant had supposedly been eliminated—was sohow still alive and very much present.
Tokiomi Tohsaka's objective this ti was not dea, nor Kiritsugu—
—but Illyasviel von Einzbern.
After extensive effort, Tokiomi had finally found the sole survivor of the previous Holy Grail War.
That survivor was none other than his own disciple—Kotomine Kirei.
Unaware of his true cause of death, Tokiomi was ecstatic upon seeing Kirei ten years later, especially after learning that his student had once again beco a Master.
Through Kirei, Tokiomi learned a shocking secret.
The Holy Grail did not require a final victor to descend.
As long as one obtained the Lesser Grail and infused it with the souls of five or more Servants, the Greater Grail could be summoned directly.
Upon learning this, Tokiomi nearly climaxed on the spot.
After Assassin, Berserker, and Caster had been eliminated in quick succession, his hopes for victory had already dimd.
Putting aside Gilgash's overwhelming strength and unbearable arrogance, the Red Faction was in shambles. Three of their Servants had already fallen—could even the King of Heroes turn the tide alone?
And this ti, both of Tokiomi's daughters were Masters.
His lifelong dream was to reach the Root—but if that required killing Rin and Sakura, even Tokiomi hesitated.
Thankfully, Kirei's revelation offered him the perfect shortcut.
A ruthless one—but a shortcut nonetheless.
To reach the Root, Tokiomi was willing to abandon his pride.
He had already humbled himself before his own Servant. Pride had long since lost its aning.
All that mattered was the Root.
The shortcut required five Servant souls. Three from the Red Faction were already gone—only two more were needed.
That ant he could obtain the Grail without ever crossing blades with his daughters.
In Tokiomi's eyes, it was the ideal outco.
According to Kirei, there were two Lesser Grails.
Ten years ago, it had been Irisviel von Einzbern.
Now—
It was the little girl standing before him.
Illyasviel von Einzbern.
Irisviel was long dead.
To summon the Greater Grail, Tokiomi had only one choice left.
He would have to make his move on Illya.
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