At that moment, a car sped down the empty mountain road. Inside were four people, with Maiya driving.
"Saber, do you really want to change the past so badly?" Irisviel, though weak, could still speak.
"Iris, that is my wish for entering the Holy Grail War. No matter what, I must fulfill it," King Arthur said, holding her.
Kiritsugu sat in the passenger seat in silence.
"But… isn't the Holy Grail said to be a scam? Even my body… it was only made to hold you…" Irisviel gave a faint smile.
"It doesn't matter. Didn't the Conqueror King say so too? Tia did something that made him believe changing the past is possible. That makes me even more sure that I can change it—to stop Britain's destruction. Maybe not with the Grail, but there must be another way," King Arthur said firmly, her eyes sharp as she stared outside.
"Yes, I believe you, Saber. You'll succeed," Irisviel smiled, encouraging her.
King Arthur nodded. "But we can't leave the Greater Grail as it is. If it could destroy Fuyuki City, we need to destroy it first."
"Saber is right. If the Greater Grail is useless, then I can't depend on it for my wish," Kiritsugu said calmly. "But figuring out how to stop it is the problem."
If Tia had heard King Arthur just now, he probably would've let his imagination run wild, maybe even linking it to the Sixth Singularity.
King Arthur fell silent too.
But after a while, she spoke again. "If we can't destroy the Greater Grail this time, then we will next time. No matter what, I can't allow something like this to corrupt the world!"
"Next time, huh," Kiritsugu muttered.
If Tia were here, he'd probably think: isn't this setting up the Fifth Holy Grail War? I thought with things like this, the Fifth War couldn't happen anymore… but now with a flag like that planted, doesn't it mean something will stop them from destroying the Grail, leading to another war ten years later?
The car fell into complete silence.
Meanwhile, Tia was talking about the history of the Einzbern family. It started with why they gave the Lesser Grail—the vessel for departed Servants—a consciousness and put it in a homunculus body.
"The reason's simple. In the Third Holy Grail War, the Lesser Grail was accidentally destroyed, which ended the war. So in the Fourth War, the Einzberns made the Lesser Grail into a homunculus," Tia explained. "Before the Fourth, it really was just a literal cup."
At this time, Tia and the others were on Alexander's ox-cart, flying home.
"If it was destroyed by accident, then why not just put it somewhere safe? Making a homunculus only to let its consciousness die is too cruel! The Einzberns have lost all humanity!" Waver shouted angrily. "And Tia, you just said Irisviel has a daughter? A homunculus can have a child? In that family, I can't imagine how that child would grow up! Damn it! That family shouldn't even exist!"
"That family stopped being human long ago. Now, even the head is a homunculus. They're all just puppets, carrying out orders left behind by their ancestors," Tia said with disgust. He had no fondness for the Einzberns at all, already thinking about wiping them out someday—and rescuing Illya in the process. After the Fourth War, he still hadn't decided where to go anyway.
"All of them not even human? What a crazy family," Alexander muttered in surprise.
"Master, as a knight, I really cannot allow a family like that to keep trampling on life. I hope once the Holy Grail War ends, we can go to that place," Lancelot finally spoke after holding back for so long.
Tia nodded, the corner of her mouth lifting slightly.
"It's a pity, really. The Einzbern family has been around for 2000 years, and now they're about to vanish from the world," Tia sighed. "Lance, you might have even seen them yourself when you were alive."
"2000 years?" Lancelot was stunned.
Tia nodded. "Yes. Two thousand years ago, the Third Magician left this world, and the Third Magic was lost because none of his apprentices could master it. But his apprentices refused to let it disappear completely, so they founded the Einzbern workshop, which has lasted until today."
"The Third Magic? That would be 'materialization of the soul,' 'turning the soul into a perpetual engine,' right? Meaning an endless source of mana and true immortality," Waver explained.
Tia continued, "Exactly. The Magician himself could use the Third Magic, but his apprentices couldn't. As an alternative, they tried to create a being identical to their teacher who could once again use the Third Magic. A thousand years later, the artificial human Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern was born, and she successfully reproduced the Third Magic. She was almost equal to the original Magician. Justeaze never aged, but her body was fragile, so she couldn't leave the Einzbern castle—the Winter Castle—hidden somewhere in Germany under a barrier, impossible for normal people to find or enter."
Tia recalled how, after the Fourth War, Emiya Kiritsugu had tried many times to visit the Einzbern castle in Germany to see Illya, but he could never get in because of the barrier.
So if I ever want to go there in the future, I'll have to ask Emiya Kiritsugu to guide me.
"Justeaze… I remember reading she was the representative of the Einzbern family among the Three Great Families. Back when the Greater Grail was created, she was the one representing the Einzbern. So she really was the artificial human of the Third Magician?" Waver asked in surprise.
"Yes. Justeaze was the Einzbern representative among the Three Families. She proved the Third Magic, but the Einzbern magi couldn't celebrate it. Since her birth was a coincidence, they believed it had nothing to do with their skills or efforts. They poured endless energy into recreating her, but never succeeded. In the end, they faced reality and gave up."
(End of The Chapter)
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