4th Holy Grail War begins

A new day started with an announcement from the Church that Assassin was killed, and his Master came to them seeking shelter.

Only 7 people knew the truth, and the 5 perpetrators would have never guessed that a certain pair found out about their plan before it even started but didn't care to do anything about it.

That Master-Servant duo had already finished their breakfast and was having tea. While Morgan wondered if she should start cultivating this sort in her Kingdom when she would return with the help of Holy Grail, Raito was thinking about how to make Nature Magic work for him.

Yesterday, from morning till evening, the pair practiced their newfound powers. Magus generally operate using Prana/Od. Morgan had mastered that field enough for people to say that her spells reached the realm of True Magic. Now, however, she could only scoff at the ridiculousness of those words. After acquiring Mana Manipulation and knowledge about suitable for her magics, Morgan had found herself not far from the starting line. Meanwhile, Raito struggled with practicing his own gains.

'Necromancy of that insane bitch was also classified as Dark Magic. Spirit Magic stands for 'to interfere with the negative material possessed by living thing' and is called 3rd True Magic here. Through a branch such as Dark Magic, it is possible to recreate some effects like changing a Saint Graph by 'granting a Name' like Morgan did with Fairy Knights, but the real deal is superior in every way... and much harder. BUT! Damn genius! She made it look so easy with how effortlessly she made progress. She is already on the spell creation stage, while I still struggle to perform even the basics on my own. Me and Nature Magic are like water and oil. Only with her blessing do we mix, but I should be able to do it on my own with the right conditions. Even if it is a racial skill like Blood Conversion of Yue as a vampire, I still was able to get it to work for me. I just need time. Yeah. I will do it. Certainly. I was able to replicate the effects with Concept Magic. There must be a method to it the proper way...

Quite curiously, despite possessing Nature Magic, which is a branch of Metamorphosis Magic, as it falls under 'interference with any organic material', Morgan has aptitude for the opposite — Creation Magic ('interference with any inorganic material'). Queen of Winter... Quite a fitting title. The more I spend time with her, the more I see why she is Vivian's counterpart.'

"Husband, can we just crash all the enemy Servants and then set a trap for Outer Gods?" Morgan inquired, sipping her tea.

"Ah! Right. We didn't discuss the actual strategy for this Holy Grail War yesterday. Surveillance and territory advantage are great for us, as they will show everybody that we are serious about this farce. With such a grand gesture, you have drawn all the attention onto yourself, and now they will watch their steps. In turn, this will ensure that no one would risk going all out to only be later eliminated by a third party. And here is what I want from you: drag out this war for as long as possible, eliminate uncontrollable elements, and make Outer Gods make a move. I will be there to intercept and end them. Basically, I want you, Morgan, to be the queen that you are. Dominate, controle, impose new rules. Make this Holy Grail War your playground. I will be watching."

Upon hearing his speech, pale blonde got up from her chair, walked up to him, sat down on top of him, and under his questioning gaze initiated a kiss.

After a moment of contemplation, Raito reciprocated. They stayed in that position for a couple of seconds until Morgan pulled away. Despite succeeding in keeping a straight face, her fervent gaze and blushing cheeks betrayed her true feelings.

"As you wish, husband. No one will hinder you on your hunt. I will make sure of it." A hollow obsessive look appeared in her eyes for a moment. A moment Raito caught.

'This look... I saw it only from Yue, and it appears exclusively when someone is about to suffer... I kind of pity participants of this Holy Grail War now. Well... not my problem. They should have been prepared to deal with a crazy Fairy Queen if they entered this circus.'

"I believe you, Morgan. Now, I am going to go exterminate a caterpillar that has failed to become a butterfly and, now, embodies the definition of a worm. I know your dislike for those, so if you don't want to accompany me, you can do your part of the plan. Einzbern summoned your litter sister from panhuman history, after all. I bet you are interested." Raito suggested.

"No, I will accompany you. I want to end that disgusting existence myself. Most importantly, you are my first priority. Everything else can wait." Morgan said, leaning closer to his face for another kiss.

This time, Raito put a hand on her shoulder to stop her advances. "Morgan, don't get too ahead of yourself. I may reciprocate your feelings, but I won't go along with your whims. Now, let's move out."

On the surface, fairy simply backed away, but internally, it was another story. 'You will be mine. I will show you that I am the best, so you will fall for me. I will have you all to myself. Just wait. Soon, it will be only the two of us. But first, those annoying Outer Gods. There was the Alien God, and, now, they are here. I will tear them to shreds if we meet.'

She was yet to notice a slight change in her thinking process. Prolonged exposure to his unrestrained aura imbued with passive effect of his 『Ruler of Monsters: EX』 and 'Soul Corridor' Raito created based on Master-Servant contract and similar connection with his wives (developed by Yue), these factors altered how Morgan subconscious viewed him. No longer was he just a desirable tool to fulfill all her wishes. He became something more...

• • •

For Raito, ever since summoning Caster, the white hair and red eyes never changed. Only the outfit was different: at home, it was casual wear, while at 'work' — a business suit. Morgan, on the other hand, always was in her 'Spiritron Dress' and didn't see any reason to change it.

This strange looking duo appeared out of nowhere in front of the Matou mansion.

"I couldn't even feel it... Incredible!" Morgan murmured in admiration. Then, she shifted her focus on the structure ahead, and her face contorted in disgust.

"Bad memories... Can't say I can relate, but the good thing is that now, you can obliterate it all to the oblivion. Just wait a little." Saying so, Raito concentrated for a few seconds, and then a sleeping 6 years old girl with purple hair appeared in his arms.

Curious about why the man besides her would go out of his way to save someone, Morgan inspected the girl with her magecraft as the Fairy Queen deemed her mana contol too flawed to use magic for such delicate task.

"Such a barbaric method! I can do much better without an intermediary." Morgan exclaimed, then asked, "Why ste you helping her, though? I don't see anything special about her."

'Lawful Evil, alright. She didn't care about the girl's suffering, only about the mechanics of Crest Worms. Well, I am not much better. I don't feel disgust, aversion, or righteous fury for her condition, nothing of the sorts. It just looks ugly and evokes pity.'

"This random act of kindness only serves to remind me that monsters can be born or created, but they embody the term only when they act and subsequently are perceived as such. I might be a monster for the whole world, but for those I choose to, I can be the best there is. In the end, it all comes down to the choice you make." Said Raito.

It was hard to tell whether he was talking to Morgan, himself, or the girl in his arms that woke up the moment Crest Worms sensed fairy's prana inspecting them and started wiggling around in panic.

During his little speech, Raito took out a sealing artifact from his Treasure Trove and, after locking onto foreign organisms inside the 6 years old girl, he teleported them inside the artifact. Then, he immediately started using Restoration Magic to heal her broken body to the condition before all that torture was infected upon her. Only her purple hair and improved but now healthy magic circuts were reminders that the nightmare was real.

The girl in question, Sakura Tohsaka by birth, Matou, after adoption, was looking at all this with a blank dead gaze. The way she emotionlessly stared at him just went to show how she didn't believe even in a chance of her salvation. She had resigned to her fate and, looking at the unfolding events, also couldn't understand why he was helping her.

"Kindness is a privilege of the strong, but if one becomes incapable of it in the process of strengthening oneself, then I believe such strength is meaningless. If on the path to becoming more powerful, you completely disregard such 'weaknesses' as kindness, compassion, empathy... you will never get them back. Without them, you will lose yourself and become the very thing you were fighting against. Without them, you won't be able to create your own home. It is the lesson I have been given by the wisest woman I know. It managed to change my fate for the better, and I will never forget it."

After taking a deep breath and then exhaling, Raito turned to Morgan, "Caster, use your Noble Phantasm."

"As you wish, husband."

As soon as she said that, the scenery around them changed into some kind of throne room. Then, from the edges of this territory, 12 Rhongomyniads in the form of pure magecraft started assembling over Matou residence.

"Lordless... Camelot."

Blinding light filled the world when the might of the 12 converged Rhongomyniads struck, leaving behind only a huge gaping pit.

It was such an awe-inspiring scene that even Sakura allowed herself to feel a slimmer of hope that Zouken died and she became free.

He wasn't dead. Using <Soul Search>, a combination spell of Spirit Magic and Evolution Magic on sealed Crest Worms, Raito found all hideouts and secret stashes of a man once known as Makiri Zolgen. In some locations, he left behind some of his 'body parts' to act as a contingency plan. It would've been an amazing method if not for his enemy having <Soul Burst> spell in his arsenal.

"He is dead." Raito said, looking at motionless Crest Worms in the 'Pandora's Box'. Then he turned his gaze to the little girl in his arms. "Sleep. When you wake up, you will be free from that nightmare forever."

For some reason, despite having no desire to sleep, Sakura felt her eyes becoming heavy, and the next thing she knew, she fell asleep.

"Haaa, you are as bad with kids as ever, Morgan. Your whole body is stiff. Relax. I already handled her." Said Raito, making Fairy Queen feel extra uncomfortable.

"I am fine." She tried to protect her dignity.

"And you never go overkill on your opponents. How are you going to fix that pit?" He countered.

"..." She failed to protect her dignity. Morgan just stared at him with a look that screamed, 'Seriously?! I have to fix this?!'

"You are hopeless... Okay, I will do it myself." White-haired man sighed, squatted, put his hands on the ground, and used [Transmutate] in tandem with Creation Magic.

The pit quickly filled up, while the surroundings became the picture of a landslide. Then, debris of the erased mansion were created to make it look more like something believable happened instead of Morgan's EX-ranked overkill Noble Phantasm. In the process, all vegetation was destroyed. It would not be the best idea to try to even out the ground, hoping not to kill the greenery on it using this skill.

Somewhat satisfied with his handy work, Raito took down the concealment barrier he erected the moment they had gotten here and then offered his hand to Morgan, who looked at him with hidden awe after his latest display. It was the first time she saw the creation of something from nothing after all.

"The day has only started, and there is still a lot left to do, now that we have complete control over the City. Morgan, let's go home for now."

"Yes, husband, let's go home." Somehow, she liked the sound of this phrase.

• • •

Soon, all magus found out about the demise of the Matou household. It was the first time that the whole magus family became victims of a Holy Grail War. Even if they were on the decline, they still were an old family with 500 years of history, so knowing they were decimated overnight was shoking.

They thought that nothing would surprise them anymore, but the very next big news would prove them wrong. Ignorance was a bliss.