The conditions Zouken offered were generous. Whether it was the promised entry qualification for the Fifth Holy Grail War, his assistance in holding back Francesca Prelati, or his help in stalling Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, these were all things Kirei needed. Because from his perspective, the two greatest obstacles standing between him and the all-purpose wish-granting machine were Miss Francesca, who had silently killed Risei Kotomine, and the sole remaining Heroic Spirit Servant on the field. Without proper countermeasures against either of them, defeat for him and Tokiomi was only a matter of time.
Kirei lacked the arrogance typical of ordinary mages. He understood his own capabilities clearly. His Bajiquan had not yet surpassed his late father's level, and his methods of killing required close-range contact to be effective. Against either of the enemies mentioned, he held no advantage, even with a full arm of Command Seals.
Yes. He wanted the Grail. It was not particularly obvious on the surface, but he genuinely desired to claim the all-purpose wish-granting machine. He understood clearly that his nature was that of a born villain, and the wish-granting machine could provide him with greater pleasure. For that purpose, and as long as it did not endanger his life, he had no objection to becoming this war's victor.
Of course, backstabbing the self-assured Zouken standing right before him was also an appealing form of entertainment in its own right.
But Zouken, despite appearing arrogant, had been on guard against him the entire time. A backstab the other party could anticipate held no meaning for him. Besides, without knowing how many lives Zouken had remaining, he had no intention of inexplicably adding another enemy to his list.
More importantly: Zouken was arrogant, not the kind of pure fool who refused to learn from a beating. Unless Zouken was completely off guard, he was, in a certain sense, harder to kill than most ordinary Heroic Spirit Servants. The recent surprise attack from Tokiomi had already taught this old monster caution, to the point where he was even willing to use an outside mage as a bargaining chip.
But what truly caught Kirei's attention was that Zouken actually wanted the relic of Medea, the Age of Gods mage.
Ha.
Medea's relic. It seemed this old monster had already anticipated that her relic would be bid up to astronomical prices in the next Holy Grail War, and the Matou family's declining finances had no way to compete with deep-pocketed institutions like the Clock Tower and the Einzberns. Other than pulling strings behind the scenes, Zouken had no other viable method.
After all, a relic from the Age of Gods was entirely different from an ancient historical relic. One was a research specimen every mage eagerly collected. The other was merely a collectible that ordinary people might find interesting. The difficulty of obtaining the two could not be compared. Beyond that, the Matou family's wealth fell short even of the Tohsaka family, making them a thoroughly unlikely candidate for such a collection.
But none of that was the most important part. The most important part was that Kirei very much wanted to see what Matou Zouken's expression would look like -- that composed, unfazed face that had weathered centuries --
Once he actually summoned the Age of Gods mage Medea.
Not that Kirei looked down on the Age of Gods mage. It was rather that with all the records accumulated from this Holy Grail War, the next one would be raised to a startling level of quality. The real Age of Gods mage Medea might well be extraordinarily powerful, her magical mastery surpassing everyone's imagination.
But that depended entirely on the comparison. In a Holy Grail War that would very likely start with first-rate Heroic Spirits as its baseline, Kirei found himself looking forward to watching the Age of Gods mage Medea's expression. Because it was practically guaranteed that in the next Holy Grail War, Medea would be a standing fixture.
Anything short of a top-tier Heroic Spirit was not even worth a seat at the table. And the Age of Gods mage Medea, judging solely from the Greek mythological records, ought to be seated at the table for non-hexagonal, glass-cannon mages who lacked well-rounded stats.
"I've been waiting for you for a long time, Kirei."
The sky had gradually grown dark. Fuyuki City had once again entered the mage's night.
In the break room of the Fuyuki City Civic Hall, Tokiomi Tohsaka held a cup of coffee and smiled elegantly at Kirei Kotomine sitting across from him, and at the luggage case beside him.
"Having a disciple like you, I feel very proud right now. I hope that in the future you can continue your association with the Tohsaka family, just as your late father did. This is a personal request, unrelated to anything else. What do you think?"
Just as Kirei had anticipated, having lost Gilgamesh, Tokiomi no longer had any certainty of victory. Choosing to remain here now was less a calculated decision and more a resolution to fulfill a wish before the end. A chosen death.
Like Iskandar. Like Miss Illya. Like Diarmuid.
To continue fighting even knowing you cannot win, to die on the road of chasing your ideal, there was a kind of beauty in that.
This was not merely a mage's obsession. It was the human desire for ideals. Many people thought to themselves that they had to do something, and the difference lay only in whether people like Tokiomi actually persisted through to the end, even if death was the final answer.
How short and small was a human life? If one did nothing and simply drifted through the days, human civilization would never have developed this quickly. Nor would it have, at certain moments in history, caused even Gaia, one of the Counter Forces, to feel unease.
"This is what I have long hoped for."
Kirei answered with neither servility nor arrogance, and also noted the detection barrier Tokiomi had laid throughout the civic hall.
He had prepared thoroughly and given everything he had. There was genuinely a ten or twenty percent chance of leveraging the leyline advantages to contend with a bottom-tier Heroic Spirit Servant.
As the stewards of Fuyuki's leylines, the Tohsaka family were the true local lords of this city in every sense. They certainly possessed many methods to exploit the leylines for hidden advantages. This was the gap in information and lineage. If not for Gilgamesh being killed at the port battle, these methods would not even have had time to be deployed, and Tokiomi would genuinely have had a very good chance of becoming this war's victor.
But there were no "if." Who could have predicted that this Holy Grail War would update itself daily, that Illyasviel and the other Servants' strength would climb at a visible rate, until by the banquet battle nothing short of a top-tier Heroic Spirit was allowed at the table.
"After this Holy Grail War ends, Kirei, I hope you will guide Rin as an elder brother figure."
"Well... though it is a simple form, this is more or less my will and testament."
He pulled a letter from beneath the table, the ink not yet fully dry.
Tokiomi let out a long sigh. The Age of Gods mage Medea had nearly become a recurring nightmare for him. Though he had succeeded in eliminating that powerful enemy through careful calculation, he had truly not anticipated that she would retain the capacity to flip the table in that state, dying with the mindset of if I'm finished then nobody else gets to play, and going down fighting. What really stung was that even in her final explosion she hadn't managed to finish cleanly, somehow allowing Diarmuid Ua Duibhne -- who had been running on fumes since the four-way duel -- to actually escape.
But there was nothing he could do. Any clear-eyed observer could see that last moment had been pure luck. Diarmuid simply had better luck than the others. Not being caught was entirely reasonable.
"This is also a precaution. The letter contains my signed consent to transfer the Tohsaka family headship to Rin, designating you as her guardian until she comes of age."
"The dozen or more properties the Tohsaka family holds in Fuyuki, along with the magical gemstones I personally replenished using leyline energy, will all be placed under your management."
"Whether to sell them, rent them, or conduct business with them as you see fit, do whatever is necessary to ensure Rin can complete her magical education without interruption."
The Tohsaka family had taken severe losses and was in quite strained circumstances, but that was relative to a mage's standard of living. Now that Father Risei Kotomine was dead, Tokiomi no longer needed to repay certain debts.
The technical operating fees paid to the Holy Church and the cost of using the Einzbern family's Lesser Grail homunculus were considerable ongoing expenses that had now simply vanished.
In fact, there was even some surplus. A fair amount of the outstanding debt could be attributed to that unknown Caster Master.
After all, the man had killed the Church's overseer, effectively settling the books for everyone.
Word had it that the attack on the Tohsaka family had been reported to the Holy Church by Matou Tsuruko, and attributed to that mysterious Caster's Master. The Holy Church was to compensate the Matou family for certain losses.
Under normal circumstances, that would not be necessary, but when the overseer gets killed, things change. The overseer's entire purpose was to ensure the Holy Grail War ran smoothly and to not threaten the families of the Masters without cause. Once Risei Kotomine was dead, a few words from others were enough to settle an entire pile of bad debts.
Whoever is guilty pays the bill. It doesn't matter if you actually did it. You killed an official, so even if you didn't, you did -- and the Church will hold you responsible. What a selfless sacrifice for the greater good.
In a certain sense, Tokiomi rationally had reason to thank that "account-settling saint" for muddying the waters of Fuyuki City. Without the background and status of someone like a Clock Tower Lord, failing to pile every old debt onto such a convenient target would almost be an insult to their magnanimous contribution.
"Leave it to me. I will take full responsibility and watch over your daughter until she comes of age."
"Thank you, Kirei."
Seeing Kirei accept the will and agree, the last great weight in Tokiomi's heart finally settled.
His wife Aoi Tohsaka was not deeply versed in magic. The Tohsaka family's numbers were not large, and without the Holy Church as a background presence offering protection, even if nothing catastrophic occurred, there was no guarantee his wife and daughter would not face some form of hardship or mistreatment.
"What is this?"
Kirei paused a moment.
He saw Tokiomi produce a rectangular box, inside which lay a fine, ornate short sword.
"A personal gift for you. Go ahead and open it."
Tokiomi smiled lightly.
"It is a mercury sword. The Azoth Sword. It is proof that you have completed the apprenticeship course in the Tohsaka family's path of magic."
"This disciple is unworthy, and yet to receive such grace... I am truly grateful, Sensei."
"It is I who should be grateful. Kirei Kotomine, with this, I can now commit myself to the final battle without worry. Without it, I would have been troubled by concern for Rin's and Aoi's futures."
Watching Kirei turn the elegant short sword over in his hands, Tokiomi lowered his head and expressed his sincere gratitude. Father Risei Kotomine and his son Kirei had both been his true benefactors. If they were not servants of the Holy Church, he sometimes genuinely wished he could drink and speak freely with them.
But that was impossible. If neither of them had been the Church's overseers in Fuyuki, he as a mage would have seen no benefit in the connection, and could never have formed any real relationship with them in the first place.
"By the way, Kirei. If in the next Holy Grail War Rin wishes to participate, I have one more request. I would like you to tell her the full story of the Fourth Holy Grail War, and if at all possible, pass her a specific relic."
"Is it King Gilgamesh's shed snakeskin? If that is the relic in question, I might be able to--"
"No. It is the relic of the Age of Gods mage Medea. I don't have it in my possession right now, but with sixty years of time, as long as you manage the Tohsaka family's remaining assets properly, the Holy Church's intelligence network can absolutely locate something connected to that Age of Gods mage."
"?"
What is wrong with everyone.
Why does every single person keep asking me for the Age of Gods mage Medea's relic.
Seeing the unwavering conviction in Tokiomi's eyes, Kirei paused at the familiar request. He had already anticipated that Medea's relic would become sought after, but surely not to this extreme degree.
The Fourth Holy Grail War had not even ended yet, and everyone had already begun scheming for the Fifth. At this rate, the Fifth Holy Grail War was going to turn into a seven-class free-for-all where every slot was occupied by a different version of Medea.
"The Holy Church is set to capture the Caster's Master. He is certain to have Medea's relic on him. Kirei, you must preserve one."
Tokiomi set down his coffee cup, his gaze intense. He knew his request was absurd.
But there was nothing else he could do. The odds of him winning were now extremely low, so at the very least he had to ensure victory in the next Holy Grail War.
Based on this war's performance, both Gilgamesh and the Age of Gods mage Medea were without question among the most powerful Servants who could be summoned. One had single-handedly suppressed five Heroic Spirit Servants on the very first night. The other, relying on nothing but her wits and raw capability, had killed six Heroic Spirit Servants by herself.
As for Gilgamesh's personality, it was simply too erratic. Medea, by contrast, had shown she was fairly cooperative. Rin should be able to manage her.
So this was not a multiple-choice question. It was fill-in-the-blank. As long as Rin summoned the Age of Gods mage Medea in the next war, she had essentially already won half the battle.
"Sensei..."
"This is not a mandatory demand, Kirei. Do as you see fit. But as a father, I know Rin's temperament well, and she will inevitably participate in the Holy Grail War. I absolutely cannot allow her to summon a Servant who cannot survive even the first night."
Anything short of a top-tier Heroic Spirit was not allowed at the table. That was no joke.
Unless you had a specific relic, summoning a Servant involved far too much luck. There were always some obscure, low-ranking heroes polluting the available pool for every class.
The Caster and Assassin class pools were the most severely contaminated by far.
Other classes could at least rely on compatibility to summon something combat-capable, but those two class pools were absolutely notorious. Assassin, outside of the Hassan variants, might pull some random member of the Hassan order. And Caster was even more chaotic than Assassin -- there were reportedly Subspecies Holy Grail Wars where someone had summoned a Servant whose Noble Phantasm required sacrificing their own Master to activate. Born already broken.
This kind of pool contamination, combined with insufficient stat correction, was one of the main reasons those two classes were almost always at the bottom of the rankings in Holy Grail Wars, the last ones anyone wanted.
"Well, it's gotten quite late. I'm sorry for keeping you this long. I hope you can still catch your flight."
Tokiomi smiled tiredly, stood, and picked up Kirei's luggage case for him as they walked toward the door, with Kirei still turning the short sword over in his hands. It was around seven in the evening now.
The sky was almost completely dark. Those attackers lurking in the shadows would be coming soon.
If Kirei stayed any longer, something unexpected might very well happen.
"Not at all, please don't worry on my account, Sensei."
Kirei's lips curved very slightly. He gripped the short sword and followed behind Tokiomi toward the door.
And just as the two of them were about to reach the break room entrance.
The sword in his hand caught a cold gleam.
"Because I never purchased a plane ticket out of Fuyuki City to begin with."
"?"
Hearing this, Tokiomi first blinked slightly, then began to turn his head in puzzled confusion.
Thwick.
In that same instant, searing pain tore through all four of his limbs. His spine and his vocal cords, at the very moment he turned to look, were both severed in an instant by the very sword he had just gifted Kirei Kotomine. Blood poured out and splattered across his body in a vivid crimson flood.
Tokiomi stared with disbelieving eyes. After the Age of Gods mage Medea's death, the personal magical defenses he maintained had been allowed to lapse, because sustaining them constantly was a wasteful and unnecessary drain on magical energy. But he could never, in a million years, have imagined that this lapse would give his disciple -- the one person he had always trusted completely -- exactly the opening he needed.
How could this be?
Why?
Was it because of Risei Kotomine's death? Did he blame him for it? Had his disciple placed the full responsibility of Father Risei's suicide on his shoulders?
Or had Kirei been manipulated by some magic during the time he spent returning to the Holy Church?
In this moment, Tokiomi felt more bewildered than shocked. Because in his eyes, Kirei Kotomine, this disciple who had never seemed to want anything, had no reason to betray him.
"Sensei, just like my father, you never understood who I was. Even until now. Perhaps the only existence in this Holy Grail War who could truly understand me."
"Was Assassin. The one whose cover you blew with your scheming on the night of the banquet battle."
He grabbed Tokiomi by the bleeding throat, doing what he could to staunch the blood of the elegant man who was rapidly losing consciousness and beginning to collapse, ensuring he would not die too quickly.
Kirei looked at this so-called teacher, now stripped of all power to resist.
The curve of his lips deepened involuntarily. He had wanted to deal with this teacher from the very beginning.
This was also the remaining value Illyasviel had left him with. Because to the paranoid Tokiomi, the only people worth trusting were the two of them -- his disciple who had lost his Servant, and Kirei's father, Father Risei Kotomine.
Unfortunately, that old priest had died at the hands of the "account-settling saint," and could no longer enjoy this particular brand of despair alongside Tokiomi.
"Kirei!"
"There is no need to be so angry. We are all the same. Or rather, everyone is the same. You, Sensei, simply wanted to use me and my father, to squeeze every last drop of value out of us. What were those small kindnesses you showed me? Bones thrown to a dog you could discard at any moment? To keep that dog working for your family?"
"..."
"My father was too naive. He understood nothing, whether about me or about you. After all, how could a creature like a mage have genuine feelings? Perhaps they can, but only for blood kin."
All that talk of feelings and fellowship. His father Risei had simply been too trusting.
Tokiomi had appeared to have a human side, but when it came down to it, he was a mage through and through, driven only by interest and advantage. The grief he had shown after learning of Risei's death had been entirely performed, at most lamenting the loss of someone useful.
With Illyasviel's guidance, he could see through the man's clumsy pretense easily enough. From the moment Tokiomi had chosen to continue fighting even after losing Gilgamesh, clearly not caring for his family in the slightest, the man had already been beyond reason.
"Why, Kirei -- I have never..."
"Are you referring to teaching me the introductory magic that anyone in the magical world already knows, or to using a piece of equipment you could pick up anywhere in the Clock Tower to send me to steal the Age of Gods mage Medea's relic for your daughter?"
"I..."
"Honestly, the price you offered was even less sincere than Matou Zouken's."
"!!!"
Zouken is still alive?
How is that possible?
I watched that old man burn to death with my own eyes.
Immobilized, Tokiomi recalled the warning Medea had given him not long before, and felt a storm surge through him. Was it possible she had not been bluffing or playing politics, but genuinely warning him that he had utterly failed to kill Matou Zouken?
"Of course. I also modified the contract he gave me, because it was riddled with loopholes of its own."
Kirei's lips curled with an amused smirk as he severed Tokiomi's meridians.
"For example, I will not kill you, Sensei. I will leave you unable to speak or move, and let you watch as I raise your daughter. Raised by your enemy's hands."
"Right before your eyes, so you can watch every step..."
"As Rin Tohsaka walks, step by step, into the abyss."