Tohsaka Residence.
"My King, the intelligence has been gathered. That man is named Takami Ryuya, the Master of the Einzbern faction."
"As for the other identified Masters: there is the traitorous student from the Clock Tower, Waver Velvet, whose Servant is the legendary Conqueror, Iskandar."
"Then there is the Magus Killer, Emiya Kiritsugu, and the Clock Tower's Lord, Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald."
"These are the participants who have revealed themselves so far."
Watching the silent King of Heroes, Tokiomi's initial excitement and belief in certain victory gradually cooled.
After using a Command Spell to forcibly retrieve the defeated Gilgamesh, he had expected his Servant's wrath. Instead, he found Gilgamesh had been largely silent these past two days.
He had braced for anger, roaring, even a desperate urge to challenge Ryuya again at any cost. Tokiomi was prepared to use a second Command Spell for such a fight.
But Gilgamesh's quiet contemplation upon returning was surprising. It seemed this King was not merely prideful and unreasonable… he had his own thoughts.
After relaying the information gathered over the last two days, Tokiomi was taken aback when the previously expressionless King suddenly burst into hearty laughter.
"Hahaha... Hahahahaha...!"
The unrestrained laughter held no anger, instead, it carried a sense of joyful liberation.
Unlike his former arrogance, the expression on Gilgamesh's face now was one of release.
"Enkidu... So another version of you lives in this world? Truly, this is wonderful."
"I initially thought this Holy Grail War was filled with nothing but insolent thieves coveting this king's treasures, mere vermin not worth a glance. To think I would encounter something so fascinating."
Since his dear friend Enkidu's death, Gilgamesh had found everything in the world utterly boring and had essentially given up.
He even, in some parallel Holy Grail Wars, retrieved and consumed a secret medicine of rejuvenation, turning from his adult form into his child self, all for the sake of sheer apathy!
Yet, after encountering Ryuya and tasting the bitterness of defeat for the first time since the gods' curses and Enkidu's demise, Gilgamesh instead felt... amusement.
This laugh of release and liberation signified he was rediscovering the emotion called 'pleasure'.
Standing up, the aura of the oldest King surged forth.
"Tokiomi, this king has decided! I will attend the banquet hosted by that man!"
"Ah?"
Looking perplexed at the King of Heroes, Tokiomi couldn't grasp this line of thinking, 'You were soundly defeated, barely escaped with your life... wouldn't it be better to lay low? Why seek death again?'
Hesitating, he was at a loss for words. Just as Tokiomi was stunned...
Knock, knock, knock.
"Sensei, we have guests."
Making an apologetic gesture, Kirei approached Tokiomi and Gilgamesh.
"Guests?"
The Tohsaka Residence was protected by magical barriers, specifically crafted by Tokiomi.
Not only that, he had placed familiars in several other locations to create the illusion of occupancy. Of course, this current residence was similarly protected, and Tokiomi even changed locations periodically to keep his whereabouts secret.
"Who are the guests, Kirei?"
"Lord Kayneth of the Clock Tower, and the Magus Killer, Emiya Kiritsugu."
"Them?!"
For Tokiomi, they're guests both expected and unexpected.
After a moment's thought, Tokiomi had Kayneth and Kiritsugu shown in.
"Hmph."
The moment he entered the living room and saw Kiritsugu's face, Kayneth radiated displeasure. Although he had known Kiritsugu would likely be involved when considering an alliance with the Tohsaka Faction against the Einzbern, Kayneth still couldn't stomach this scum who defiled magecraft.
However...
Ryuya's overwhelming power had utterly shattered Kayneth's pride.
Faced with such an ugly reality for the first time, coupled with the madness, jealousy, and the rejection from his fiancée Sola-Ui, Kayneth felt plunged into an abyss.
Having finally discarded his pointless pride and chosen to fight together, he now felt intensely uncomfortable all over.
"Tohsaka-san, at this point, I suppose there's no point in saying anything else, is there?"
The participants in this Holy Grail War were clear: the Einzbern Faction, possessing multiple Servants and being the strongest. Then there were the currently revealed Tohsaka Faction, Kayneth, Kiritsugu, and Waver.
Due to Kayneth's influence, and despite Iskandar's strength, the Conqueror's troublesome personality meant neither Kiritsugu nor Tokiomi considered Waver a viable ally for their plans.
As for the remaining Servants, the Matou Family's whereabouts and intentions were unknown, and the Assassin and Caster classes were in hiding. Knowing they could not sit idly by, Kiritsugu and Kayneth, never ones to be passive, sought to take the initiative and control everything in their grasp.
"Cooperation?"
Hearing Kayneth and Kiritsugu's proposal, Tokiomi didn't bother asking how they found his real residence.
After all, one was a Clock Tower's Lord, the other a Magus Killer, so if they couldn't manage such a small thing, the premise of cooperation would be nonsense.
"How... do you propose we cooperate?"
Thus began another so-called conspiracy. Tokiomi, Kiritsugu, and Kayneth, three men who should have been at each other's throats, found themselves forced into an alliance under the threat posed by Ryuya, beginning a different kind of Holy Grail War.
…
Meanwhile...
"Dammit! Those Public Security guys again!"
Ryuunosuke Uryuu. A cheerful, lively young man who could keenly discern subtle shifts in others' moods, yet remained unfettered by minor details.
He constantly maintained an optimistic, constructive outlook, and even failure wouldn't make him give up. A fine young man, by some definitions.
However, the desires born from his curiosity and thirst for knowledge were twisted. He himself was a serial killer who reveled in the dark pleasure of the act.
In his view, watching movies, going on adventures, and other forms of entertainment were all third-person experiences based on absolute safety, and such pleasures were boring.
Obsessively believing that death was a wondrous experience, he wanted to do what he truly desired, and he was willing to pay any price for it.
Finally, he began his murder spree. But for some reason, every time he just started his killing, the Public Security's agents would find him.
Having failed over forty times consecutively, even after fleeing from Fuyuki City to the neighboring Snowfield City, if no one was catching him, Ryuunosuke might have thought he was under surveillance.
Failing in yet another attempt at kidnapping and murder, Ryuunosuke sighed and escaped.
He didn't notice the mark appearing on the back of his right hand… the proof of a Command Spell, marking him as the seventh and final Master!
With this, all six False and seven True Masters had assembled. And the final conclusion of the Holy Grail War was imminent.