Grail

Kiritsugu looked towards Irisviel, Saber, and then his eyes landed on Masato, who stood happily waving his hand towards him.

His (Kiritsugu) eyes narrowed.

"It is the first time an extra Servant was summoned." Kiritsugu said, "If your goal is not Grail, then can you tell me the reason why you were summoned?"

While they were coming to this castle, Caster had already shown himself in front of Saber that he thought was Jeanne d'Arc, spouting some high class saving her from the grace of God bullshit.

So, everyone who has participated in War now knows that Masato was an extra Servant. But his participation in it was still unknown.

Masato shrugged his shoulders, "Who knows. It's not like you can force me to tell you."

Masato never really liked Kiritsugu's ideology of saving the majority by killing the minority; especially, when he thought that killing his loved one's and family members would save the world.

He was a person who wouldn't mind killing his own daughter if he could save hundreds of people. After all, to him, the majority came before the minority.

For this reason Masato hated him. To him (Masato), who wouldn't mind killing hundreds of thousands of people if it meant saving his loved one's, Kiritsugu was like a natural enemy to him.

Kiritsugu's eyes narrowed, hearing him. Indeed, if Masato didn't want to divulge the knowledge about his participation in war, Kiritsugu had no way of forcing it out of him.

But…

"Do you think you can fight Saber all alone? You don't have the support of the Master to provide you with Mana."

It was not empty talk since a Servant indeed needed Mana to be able to remain manifested in the war. Without Mana, they would vanish sooner or later.

Since Great Holy Grail War has not happened yet in this timeline, they didn't know that Grail can also summon extra Servants and feed them with Mana itself.

"Why don't you give it a try then, Kiritsugu?" Masato smirked and said, Mana rising from his body.

"This…!" Kiritsugu, Irisviel, and Saber's eyes widened as they felt that his Mana had already left the bounds of what a human can hold, and it was still increasing with a constant pace!

Soon, even the space around Masato started to bend due to the density of his Mana still rising.

Kiritsugu and Maiya, who were standing behind him, started to sweat seeing that monstrous amount of Mana coming from him.

Just as they were about to lose their consciousness, the Mana vanished suddenly as if never existing.

"Just kidding~," Smiling softly, Masato said, "I would tell you my reason for joining the War if you can tell me yours, how about it?"

"Ha… Ha… Ha…" Kiritsugu took heavy breaths as the Mana pressuring him vanished from the air.

"Kiritsugu…" Irisviel worriedly looked at him, wanting to go and support him but was stopped by Saber.

"Don't worry. Masato will not hurt him."

"... since you are not after Grail, then there is no need to further talk about it." Kiritsugu changed the topic before turning around and entering the castle.

Masato's eyes narrowed with a thin smile on his face, seeing him retreating back to the castle.

'I'll decide whether to take Irisviel from you or not depending on your performance, Kiritsugu. So do entertain me~.'

"Please come inside," Maiya bowed before gesturing to him to enter the castle.

Masato looked at her and sighed before entering. Another woman, another sob story, just your typical Fate thing.

Following Maiya with his hands in his shorts, Masato's rainbow-colored eyes swam left and right, examining the interior of the castle.

He had to say that it was beautifully designed. The only thing lacking would be that it was way too golden. Like, the whole castle looked like one giant construct of gold from the inside.

'A certain mongrel King would love to be here, I guess.' he inwardly thought and chuckled.

He wondered if he should build a castle for Mamako, she would definitely like it.

Soon, they all reached the meeting room and took their positions.

Irisviel stood at one side of the big table with Saber at her side while Kiritsugu stood at the other side with Maiya.

Masato silently took a chair out and sat on it with his right leg on his left leg. He snapped his finger and a glass with wine appeared on the table.

Smiling, he picked it up while sipping it.

'If this goes on, I might start to act like Gil.' He giggled to himself, 'Sadly, it has been quite some time since I've tasted wine.'

Kiritsugu ignored Masato and looked at the map placed on the table. It was a map of Fuyuki City with different points circled.

"There is a powerful field over Mt. Enzo, with Ryuudou Temple as its origin." He said and pointed at it on the map, "Because of that, anything that isn't a natural spirit, such as Servants, can only enter via the temple path." He looked towards Irisviel and stated, "Bear that in mind while using Saber."

Seeing her nodding, he continued, "There are three other spots where ley lines converge." Pointing his finger at the map, he said, "Tohsaka Manor, Fuyuki Church, and… this new residential area east of the city center."

"It means, there are four locations in Fuyuki City that have all the spiritual characteristics needed for the Grail to appear."

"When war enters its second phase and Servants are narrowed down, we'll have to secure one of these as our base of operations, won't we?" Irisviel, while looking at the map, asked.

"That's right," Kiritsugu answered, "That covers the lay of the land. Any questions?"

Irisviel looked towards Saber and Masato, and said, "Is there anything you aren't clear on?"

"Don't mind me." Masato smiled while taking a sip from his glass, "I am just a bystander. I don't need Grail so none of this is a concern to me."

Indeed. He didn't need Grail itself but was inside of it. Thinking about it, Masato couldn't help but stretch his smile on his face while gazing at the reflection of himself.

'Gil will definitely be furious if he knows what I am aiming for.' He chuckled inwardly and thought, 'But that is alright. Now that I am in this world, I should at least take that as my reward.'

"Not particularly." Saber answered after Masato, "It was a perfectly adequate explanation."

Irisviel nodded before looking back at Kiritsugu, "Kiritsugu, can we assume all the other Masters will go for Caster?"

Even though there is no particular rule during the Grail War, there is one that shouldn't be tolerated - using your powers, not for the War but something else, mostly evil.

With Caster and his Master going on, kidnapping the children of Fuyuki City for the past day or two, the church has already ordered the Masters to take care of him first.

The winner, whoever kills Caster, will receive a single extra command seal. For most, it wouldn't matter much, but for those that have one of their seals used, it indeed was a reward to look after.

"No doubt about that." Kiritsugu replied, "But we have an advantage with regards to Caster."

"Out of whatever madness, he believes Saber to be Jeanne d'Arc, which is to our benefit." A thin smile formed on his face, "We just need to wait for him to come."

"Master…" Saber looked up from the map and stared at Kiritsugu and said, "That won't be enough. His evil deeds cannot be tolerated. We should go after him before the damage spreads further!"

"..." A silence spreads in the room with only the sound of Masato drinking the wine with a thin smile while observing Kiritsugu.

He knew what Kiritsugu would say, and he definitely didn't betray his thoughts.

"Iri, have you grasped control of the spells of the fields in this forest?"

"Yes, I have." She nodded, "But our real problem is the curse on Saber's left arm."

"Eighteen hours have passed since you defeated Kayneth, but Saber's arm won't heal. Lancer must still be alive. Shouldn't we defeat Lancer first, so we can face Caster at full strength?"

As said before, Saber was a dual-handed swordswoman… at least, until she is not corrupted. With one hand, her strength has decreased by a huge margin.

"That's unnecessary." Kiritsugu said, "Just use your knowledge of the area to confuse the enemy and keep Saber away from him."

"You.. won't have her fight with Caster?" Irisviel questioned, confused.

"Someone else will deal with him anyway. In fact, the ones going after Caster frenziedly would make a much better target. I'll attack from the side and defeat them."

Saber's fist tightens hearing it, "Master… just how despicable can you get?!" she shouted. "You mock us Heroic Spirits! Why won't you let me fight him? Are you saying that you can't trust me, your own Servant?!"

"This new rule says we can't fight anyone but Caster, right?" Irisviel questioned.

"It doesn't matter." Kiritsugu looked at the map and said, "I just can't trust the judgment of this war. He feigns ignorance while sheltering Assassin's Master. He might also be working with Tohsaka,"

"We'd do well to be wary of him. That will be all." He said before leaving the room that was now covered in silence with angered Saber.

"Ahem…" Seeing that Irisviel, Kiritsugu, and Maiya left with him and Saber only left, Masato looked towards her and said, "Artoria, show me your wounded hand."

Looking towards him, Artoria asked, "Do Masato have a way to negate the curse?"

"I know a little." He said before gripping her hand, "It's soft."

A little pink covered Saber's face as Masato was using <<Erotic Pierrot>>, <<Increase Sensitivity>> and <<Pleasure Touch>>.

He didn't use it at the maximum level or Saber might find out that something is wrong.

"Hm, is everything alright?" He asked while looking towards her, "Your face seems to be red. I didn't know that the Heroic Spirit could also catch a fever."

"It is nothing." Saber shook her head and seriously stared at Masato but the blush was still present on her face.

Masato smiled and said, "Is that so? Anyway, I'll try healing your hand then."

Gently tracing his finger at the cut on her wrist while also enjoying her skin, Masato's finger started to glow in golden color.

<<Ayame, Shun'ō: I Reject>>

Artoria looked at her hand as she felt as if her wound was reverting back to its previous state before it vanished.

Artoria looked amazed by Masato's ability to be able to nullify the curse of a Noble Phantasm with just magecraft.

Though she would never know that his ability of rejection has already left the bound of magecraft and entered something like magic.

She clenched her fist before smiling gently, "Thank you, Masato. I really appreciate your help."

"It's alright." He said as he stood up and pats her head, "After all, if I didn't care about the cute King, then who would?"

Artoria blushed hearing him. Due to her physique, which leaned slightly towards masculine due to training and fighting, Artoria didn't have single confidence in her appearance.

As she would call it "Unsightly" or "not womanly enough". If only she knew the fanbase of her in some other world where people would die to have her as their wife or even girlfriend.

"Oh my, by chance, is the King of Knights embarrassed?" Masao asked, seeing her blushing face.

"Ahem*" Artoria coughed, trying to hide her blush, "You said that you will explain the reason for you joining the war once we are alone. Can you explain it now?"

Masato smiled seeing her attempt to change the topic, and this smile wasn't hidden from the eyes of Artoria, making her embarrassed further.

Sitting back in his seat, he snapped his finger and another glass of wine appeared beside his.

"Come, taste it. Though I would not brag about it, this wine is better than any wine this current era can present to you."

Artoria nodded and sat back on a chair beside him and took the glass, taking a sip from it. Her eyes widened as she felt a small amount of spiritual energy entering her spirit core and nourishing it.

"This…"

"It's good, right?"

"Indeed. Not only does it taste great, but can also replenish any lost mana within me."

Masato smiled before taking a sip of wine himself, "What is Grail in your eyes, Artoria?"

"An Item that would complete my desire." She answered right away while seeing Masato's expression.

He didn't comment on her desire but giggled, "That is indeed a way to interpret it."

"But Artoria, don't you think it is a whimsical way to think that the Grail can grant any wish? For example, if you wish for Grail to "Not make me the King of Britain", how will it grant it?"

"By stopping your birth? By stopping your parents from implanted Dragon Core within you? By killing or stopping Marlin from being there? By removing the existence of Caliburn? Or will it remove Britain from history itself? After all, if there is no you, no Dragon Core, no Merlin nor Caliburn, or no Britain; you will never become a King."

"Say, Artoria, what method will it use?" Masato asked while taking a sip from his glass.

Artoria becomes quiet with a frown on her face. After some time, she shook her head, "I don't know."

"Indeed you don't." Masato nodded, "After all, you are not the Grail nor the creator of it - just another being fighting over it."

"Grail is just like a child who has been taught to listen to people, but not the method of how to. For example, you want to win the war with France but you don't know the method to do it. You will then try to get as much possible knowledge about your enemy, terrain, their strategizes, etc., and then form a plan based on such."

"But even then, you will never have a single solution to your conquest but one of many. Grail works on the same principle, once a wish has been asked, it will grant it within the most practical way - a solution that gives the best answer."

"If there was no Britain, there would be no King. If there is no King, there would be no conflict nor civil war. Your wish will be granted, and you will not be known as the King of Britain ever."

Artoria's face sank. If she has to sacrifice her country for her wish, then…

"But what does it have to do with you being here?" she asked.

"Nothing." Masato said with a bored face, "Me being here has nothing to do with how Grail grants wishes."

"Masato… are you making fun of me?" A frown took over Artoria's face as she asked, obviously upset.

"Ma~, calm down. Here, have another glass." He said and another glass of wine appeared in front of her.

"When the Grail was created, it was meant to summon only 'good' Heroic Spirits. In short, the honorable and the one who has impacted history in a 'positive' way."

Saber frowned again and asked, "Then why did it summon Caster? You are not saying that Caster is a 'good' Heroic Spirit that has left a 'positive' mark in history?"

"Of course not." Masato giggled before he said, "Everything has a reason for it to happen. You are here, I am here, or other Servants and Masters; we all have a reason to be here. Then what is the reason for Caster to be here when he shouldn't be normally?"

"If a good person becomes a murderer, then we say that he has gone mad. Or a more basic term would be that he has been cursed and is a spawn of a Devil; he has contracted with a Devil."

Artoria's eyes widened in shock, "Are you saying… Grail is corrupted?"

"Congratulations Artoria," Masato smiled before clapping, "You found out something that no one knows in this world."

"As it is corrupted, it will still complete the wishes of the people. After all, in the end, it is still a Grail, corrupted or not. But the only downfall would be that it would end, resulting in the destruction of everything."

"We should inform Kiritsugu and Irisviel about it then!"

At this point, Artoria didn't care about her wish but more about the necessary death it would cause to the people of this city.

"Calm down. If you tell him about it, then what?" Masato asked, "Do you think it will stop him from fighting for his wish when a Servant from nowhere comes and says that the Grail is corrupted?"

"Then--"

"You don't have to worry about such things. As long as I am here, Angry Mango can do nothing."

'And it is needed for me to complete what I require.'

"But…" Saber was still not satisfied. After all, the lives of millions depended on it. She can't just shrug it off after hearing it.

Masato pats her head, making her relax unconsciously, "You just need to act the way you were doing previously, leave everything else to me. You should worry more about how to deal with Caster."

"What do you mean--" Before she could ask, the door of the room hurriedly opened, showing Irisviel, "A Servant has entered the bounded field!"