Inside Matou Zouken's basement Magus Workshop in the Matou Estate, a young man stood beside a magic circle. He wore simple sportswear, had graying hair, and unnatural veins on his face, giving off a terrifying aura.
Beside him was an old man leaning on a cane, wearing an old kimono, bald, and exuding a villainous aura from head to toe.
Without either of them noticing, a young man in a black coat stood silently nearby, watching them.
"Begin the summoning, Kariya."
The old man gave a sinister smile and issued the command.
Although Kariya showed a trace of disgust on his face after being ordered, he said nothing and began to recite the incantation in front of the magic circle.
The incantation he recited was the same as the one Kirei had used earlier, but with different summoning words added in the middle.
"Let thine eyes be clouded with chaos, and thy soul be filled with rage."
"Thou, prisoner in the cage of madness."
"I am the master who wields these chains."
The added words meant that the summoned Servant would belong to the Berserker class, a class that sacrifices sanity in exchange for stronger base attributes.
As black mist rose, a knight-demon in black Western-style classical full armor appeared in the center of the magic circle. Deep red light glowed from the eye slits as it roared like something crawling out from the depths of hell.
"Aaaaah!!!"
"I didn't expect you to actually succeed in summoning a Servant of decent strength without being immediately attacked by the Berserker. Hehe, I look forward to your perfor... What!?"
While Zouken looked on in confusion, the newly summoned Berserker collapsed directly onto the floor. The black-misted armor gradually lost all its color, turning completely gray. Even the red light in the eyes faded away. The knight could only murmur one final faint sound before every trace of his existence vanished.
After the knight completely disappeared, Zouken seemed to snap out of it. However, his face showed no fear or panic. Instead, he looked mocking as he spoke to the bewildered Kariya.
"Even though I performed such draining modifications on your body, you couldn't even summon a single Servant. This is truly disappointing. Whether in life or in any other aspect, you are a complete failure."
"No! How is this possible? Why? Why did the magic circle clearly activate, yet no Servant was summoned!?"
Kariya knelt on the ground, his face filled with disbelief. He could not understand. The circle had clearly activated and even emitted light, so why was there nothing?
"Perhaps even those mindless Berserkers have no interest in such a failure like you and refused to answer your summons. Truly, even I find you somewhat pitiful."
Zouken sighed in mock admiration, his voice filled with obvious ridicule.
He looked at Kariya, who knelt on the ground as if he had lost his soul. After throwing out a few more insults, he lost interest in this failure. Regardless, he had never planned to place his hopes on this Holy Grail War anyway.
"No, how could this be? How could this be..."
Caelus looked at Kariya, who knelt there as if he had lost all hope in life, sensing the surge of nihilism within him, the feeling that everything in life was meaningless.
It felt as if the man before him was about to give up on life.
"Perhaps I should grant him release?"
Caelus thought this. After all, he had heard from his Master, who was currently acting as a priest, that those who commit suicide cannot go to heaven.
Just now, through information provided by his Master, Caelus had learned about the Three Founding Families. Knowing that the Matou family, who helped establish the rules of the Holy Grail War, would inevitably participate, he came to take a look and happened to witness the Servant summoning ritual.
As an opponent in the Holy Grail War, Caelus naturally could not allow his enemies to remain unharmed. Therefore, he used the power of Nihility to swallow and assimilate the Berserker the moment it appeared.
With the opponent's strong willpower, it should not have been resolved so quickly. However, Caelus immediately cut off the magical link between the Servant and its Master. Without sufficient mana to maintain its existence, the Berserker was miserably spawn-killed.
Of course, one could also call it spawn-camping.
After the Berserker's existence was quickly consumed, Kariya and Zouken naturally forgot about the summoning. Both believed there had been a problem with Kariya himself, which led to the failed summoning.
This was indeed a combat style very fitting for the Assassin class.
Caelus watched as the man stood up unsteadily. He thought the man was about to end his life, but Kariya did not give up. He returned to the magic circle and began to recite the incantation again.
Once, twice. Even though he faced disappointment again and again, even though the magic circle showed no sign of responding, he continued to recite.
"My life is already a complete failure, and there is no hope left. But even so, I cannot give up! There is still someone waiting for me to save them! Sakura... she shouldn't be here! She shouldn't have a hopeless future like mine! Even if I must give up my life, even if I must give everything I have, I must seize this last remaining chance!"
"O Heroic Spirits of the past! I know you loathe me. I know you despise me for being worthless! I know I am not worthy of being the master who commands you, but I beg of you! I implore you to answer my call! I truly want to save an innocent child!"
Kariya knelt on the ground, crying out with all his strength, pleading with the magic circle for the heroes in the Throne of Heroes to answer his summons.
However, it was all in vain.
Caelus looked at this man, saw the wound on his forehead from repeated kowtowing, and witnessed his determination to seek help and save a child at any cost.
He said, "My remaining moral values and slight understanding of emotions make me feel that I should help him now. Is this correct?"
[System: "This is your remaining humanity. Whether to help or not depends on you."]
Caelus was silent for a moment. He chose to grasp that remaining humanity.
Kariya continued to kowtow and repeat his pleas and prayers. The more he continued, the deeper the despair and sense of loss became. Just as he was about to collapse from exhaustion, the dark magic circle suddenly burst into light.
Kariya looked up in disbelief and saw a heroic knight in white armor, like a Prince Charming from a fairy tale, standing before him.
"Servant, Berserker, Lancelot, answering your summons. Are you my Master?"
Berserker? No, it was a Pretender.
A puppet created by Caelus using the power of Nihility, borrowing the assimilated existence of Berserker Lancelot, a false existence playing the role of Lancelot.
But this fake hero had now become the true hope in Kariya's eyes.
(To be continued.)