The Third Holy Grail War (Epilogue)

Five Hours Later

The soldiers from the German Army arrived at Fuyuki City under the command of the two surviving Mages. However, all that they found is a dreadful scene.

The men felt strength leaving their bodies as their weapons fell down to the floor. "W-What is this...?" One of the Magi spouted. The entire city was a land of fire. The flames was still burning, creating an inferno and devouring the buildings in an unstoppable force.

A marksman lifted his sniper rifle, and immediately saw a mother and her baby swallowed by the fire after their house collapsed onto them. There was no escape. The battle-hardened soldier could only stare in horror while the innocents were tortured to death by the unceasing flames.

A young child stepped out of a ruined alley and gazed ahead at the city he lived in. Orange. It's a land of red and orange. The neighborhood where the uncle and aunts laughed and gossiped, the house where he has spent his whole life happily living with his family... They were all consumed by the same orange blaze.

...Why is this happening? What happened to their house? Where's papa? Where's mama? Where's Yukari-

Ah.

They're dead.

All of a sudden, the building beside him crumbled down and the burning wreckage crashed into him. He widened his eyes and took a step back in fear. But before he could even cry out in fear, the rubble hit him and squashed him to death.

The Mages finally regained their calm and shouted for the soldiers to move into the city. They must search for their employer and commander, Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia, and find out what madness had happened here.

'This is the Holy Grail War...? But Darnic didn't mention this! He said that it was merely a great ritual, not a catastrophe can swallow an entire land!' A Magus clenched his fists and cursed. 'With this much damage, it'll be impossible to not involve the Holy Church and the Association... I must get out of this country as fast as possible.'

The soldiers rushed into Fuyuki City and scoured through the scorching kingdom. However, they did not find the signs of the Masters and Servants. The Tohsaka residence, the Makiri residence, and the Edelfelt residences have all collapsed.

The marks indicated that the mansion have been attacked by heavy artillery and have been abandoned by its inhabitants during their escape. The corpses of the members of the Tohsaka and Edelfelt were nowhere to be found, but they discovered that most of the Makiri were killed with the exception of their patriarch.

The only other clue they found pointed to the ruins of Fuyuki Church. Although there were no stationed priests in the structure, the two Magi have realized that the unusual amount of magical energy must be related to the evocation of the Chalice of Heaven.

Nevertheless, they did not have any evidence of who was and what exactly occurred here. What could actually happen in the course of merely two days? How was such a great fire created? Even a complex ritual at the level of High-Thaumaturgy cannot reach such a horrifying result...

...and why couldn't they find anything that suggested the perpetrator's true identity?

The German Army was supposed to buy Darnic time while he gains the information of the other participants of the war. He would then call them in when ready and a massive invasion would have been launched against the city.

The Lesser Grail was their hidden card since it was a bait for the Masters and Servants. Such a thing was not necessary when they could simply capture the Greater Grail and use it to host their own rituals.

Producing homunculi and transforming them into absolutely obedient Masters was their grand plan. The just have to order the Servants to suicide the moment they are summoned and the war can proceed without any faults.

A contract has been signed and Darnic has promised to not use the Holy Grail to reach the Root. He would use it to recover and improve the Yggdmillennia clan's bloodlines while the other Mages are given chances to reach the Origin.

However, the plan has already fallen apart... in a mere two days.

"What had happened here?" The German colonel scanned the ruined Church. He picked up a broken cross and clenched it in his hand. He has failed. They have failed... Now that the plan to seize the Holy Grail was foiled by someone-

"Just what should I tell the Führer... of this mess?"

-x-X-x-

The Next Day

Rising dawn welcomed a new day as the orange star shined its warmth down onto the city of Fuyuki.

The bright blue sky was one of black. Smokes and fumes left from the great fire filled the air and covered the whole sky in a hazy blanket. With the help of the Imperial Japanese Army, the flames were extinguished, and the survivors were evacuated.

"-Damn!" A Japanese officer yelled out his frustration. They have chased after the invading force and all that they discovered was a city set on fire. The Germany Army has long since retreated, and were already on their way back to their homeland.

As a defender and a high-ranking soldier, he has received the news that the incident was caused by people from the mystical side. He does not know much of the Moonlit World, but he understood that it was the other side of the world which mere mortals like him should not get involved with.

Nonetheless, how can he not be infuriated? Their nation, the nation led and protected by the heavenly sovereign, was invaded, occupied, and defiled in the same night by those vulgar bandits...! The act of storming into their country was the same as trampling on their benevolent emperor's honor!

"These Nazi scums..." He gritted his teeth and smashed his sheathed katana on a nearby table. Crack! The wooden furniture fractured and broke down into pieces while the adjutant beside him flinched.

"Please calm down, Lieutenant General. You have a meeting in five minutes for the aftermath and the recovery of the city." The adjutant bowed and handed him a report.

"I am fine." The General took in deep breaths and his expression cooled. "Let us go."

Faraway from the army camp outside of the city was the figures of two cloaked men. "-so Risei survived." One of them inspected the mark carved onto the Church's secret hideout and spoke up. A dropped stone on the ground glowed in a holy light and its sharpened tip pointed to their right.

"That is good." The second cloaked figure agreed and they followed after the stone's direction. Twenty minutes later, the inquisitors arrived at a barely-standing house. Both of them pulled out Black Keys from their frocks and the one at the front kicked down the door.

Crash! The priests moved into the room and separated. However, they lowered their blades the moment they saw the scene. "This is..." The first inquisitor pulled down his hood and a head full of blonde hair appeared.

"How is he, Irina?" The second figure also removed his hood and asked his partner. Kotomine Risei had his back against the wall and his shock-filled eyes were still wide open.

"He's fine... But something seems wrong." The young woman furrowed her brows and touched Risei's head. "Huh?" She took her hand back when it came into contact with the young Risei's head and frowned.

"What's wrong, Irina?" The brown-haired man moved closer and crouched down beside his partner.

"...His mind's been tampered." The blonde woman stated.

"What do you me-" The man examined the collapsed Risei and his face turned ugly.

"So you've noticed. Someone has erased his memories up to the last two years. His is not wounded, but he must have passed out from the traumatizing experience." Irina clutched her cross and started praying. She was chanting the incantation of a Holy Sacrament.

"Memory Manipulation, the basics of basics of Mental Interference spells. It must have been a Magus." A male inquisitor narrowed his eyes and helped Risei up to a more comfortable position.

"-and may the Lord help you regain your strength." The incantation ceased and a warm glow encircled the fainted man. As the sacred blessing disappeared, Irina checked Risei for signs of memory tampering and her eyes flashed with anger. "It's gone."

"What?" Her partner asked.

"It's completely gone. His memories were permanently deleted and... will never be recovered. Even a greater Holy Sacrament will not restore it." She took out a spare coat and placed in on Risei. "Let's bring him back for now. We can't leave him here seeing that the Mages will soon arrive."

"Copy that." The male inquisitor nodded and stood up for the exit.

'Just who is it?' Irina bit her lips and lifted Risei up with her partner. 'To be this meticulous... Although half of the city was ruined, the Church won't actually send out a squad of Executors or a member of the Burial Agency without any immediate threats from the enemy or casualties on their side.'

'With this, he has successfully destroyed all the evidences that connected to him while also keeping the heat off him for a short duration, which is certainly enough for one to escape this island country.'

'...The Lord will surely punish a heretic like him. To include the innocents in a war not related to them... He should be burned in the 9 Circles of Hell...!'

-x-X-x-

Three Days Later

"The Greater Grail... is missing?" The shock robbed him of speech and the porcelain cup which held his favorite Darjeeling tea fell out of Jubstacheit von Einzbern's hand and collided with the marble floor.

The Einzbern Magus who reported the news nodded as his face twisted into an ugly expression. The Greater Grail, The Chalice of Heaven, the only chance and hope that allowed them to reach the Akashic Records and recover their lost Third Magic... was now gone.

"Family head, please allow me to send messengers to the Church and the Association for information and reinforcement! The bastards had stolen our most valuable treasure right under our nose!" The man clenched his fists "We need to send out every personnel available after him!"

"The Association will not help us, and the Church won't work with us." The eighth head of the Einzbern family replied calmly. He could not panic, he must proceed with caution seeing how damaging the Grail's loss could be.

"Then what should we do, family head?"

"First, put a bounty on his head. I want a hundred times the amount of the current highest bounty." Jubstacheit stated. With such prizes, every Enforcers and freelancers should be looking everywhere for him.

"Then, contact some Lords and make them put a Sealing Designation on whoever took the Holy Grail... even if you must blackmail them." They have acquired enough blackmail materials over the course of hundreds of years. They were not on the Lords themselves, but on their bloodlines, which is more effective against Magi.

"Third, inform the Church that we'll provide them with monetary support as long as they were to target the man." The promised funds might not move the inquisitors, but it'll motivate them to take action faster.

"Lastly, prepare your luggage. We are going to Fuyuki City."

At the same time Jubstacheit received the news, there was an uproar in the Mage's Association. Every high-ranking members were told of the destruction of a city in the country of Japan, and more importantly, the genuinity of the Holy Grail.

The first thing they did when the news of the destruction spread was to send a group of Mages to verify the veracity of the claim. When the reports were sent back, the Tower Lords and the Noble Lords all read it with shock in their eyes.

They did not expect that something on the level of an omnipotent wish-granting device would actually be true. Not to mention that such an important object and its grand ritual was in fact hosted in the Far East.

The next thing that happened was that several important Magi decided to pack their luggage and head to the mentioned city to look into what had really happened. Some were travelling due to complying to the Einzberns' request, and others were researchers who wanted to seek the truth.

If they're lucky enough, they may be able to analyze the inner-workings of the Holy Grail and seize it for their own. With that thing in hand, their bloodline would flourish and their lineage be forever remembered in the history of Mages.

The race to Japan soon turned into a competition of speed. Politics was involved, connections were used, and favors were called in to hamper their opponents while they themselves were stopped by other hostile Mages.

The situation was about to turn even more chaotic and severe when the current Vice Director of the Mage's Association, Barthomeloi Ionna, stepped in and interfered with the chaos.

She gave four simple orders: Be civilized, do not attack each other unless provoked, no usage of Magecraft in public locations, and do not tamper with the evocation site.

Thanks to the Vice Director, the rush to Japan calmed down and became more stable. The Magi traveled to the island nation one by one and the burnt down city was filled with Mages in a single week.

However, they will soon discover that there was nothing left for them to find in Fuyuki thanks to a certain someone.

-x-X-x-

'Even if the world were to collapse... will you still protect me?'

"Why are you here?" A young woman frowned and played with her long, wavy, blonde hair as her sky blue eyes narrowed in annoyance.

"Watching over you." A black-haired man who seemed to be two years older laughed and got out of her way. He fell in behind her and followed her footsteps, which got louder and faster every second.

"Why are you following me, stalker?" The blonde woman looked behind and scowled. However, her face softened slightly when she saw the opposite man. 'Why does this happen every time...' She gritted her teeth and turned around.

"Charlotte, do you know him?" The two girls who were accompanying her slowed down and shielded their friend from the 'stalker'.

"Yes... I do." She sighed and gave her friends a wry smile. "Please go on ahead, I will catch up in a moment after making this man... know his place." The two young women glanced at each other, giggled, and then left.

Charlotte watched her friends walked away and immediately pulled the black-haired man into an empty classroom nearby. They were in the Clock Tower and god knows if someone would spread a rumor if she were to be spotted speaking to him.

"When will you stop this... brother?" The blonde woman crossed her arms below her rather bountiful chest and stated.

"Oh, come on, Char, why won't you call me big brother anymore?" The black-haired man, Fenric, grabbed his heart and acted as if he was hurt while a fake tear rolled down his face.

"You..." Charlotte panicked for a second before her face hardened. She was now a student of the Clock Tower! An independent Mage! She did not have to get involved with her father and Karl anymore, and she would not allow anyone to interfere with her now freed life!

Not even if it's him.

"Why don't you give big brother a hug?" Fenric moved in and Charlotte avoided him. He looked at the distant girl and pouted. "You used to love hugging me and sitting on my lap, you know..."

"It's been two years since you left the castle, and I'm not the same person anymore!" The blonde woman yelled. "And don't call me Char. I am Charlotte!"

"...Look at you, you're all grown up now." Fenric gently smiled and got closer to Charlotte.

"Wha, wha." She slightly panicked and took a step backwards. "Don't get any closer or I'll-"

"I am worried about you because you are the most important person in this world to me." He knocked her head once before softly patting her head. "I was afraid that you were not used to a new environment after being cooped up in that castle for so long." He brushed her hair tenderly and said.

"...That's unfair of you." Charlotte stopped resisting and looked up at her brother with tears in her eyes. "I missed you, big brother."

"And so do I, Char." Fenric hugged his sister and wiped her tears. "The Clock Tower is a dangerous place and it'll take a while for you to adapt. Come find me if there's any problem. I have swore to protect and keep you away from all harm after all. So... please smile for me, Char."

"...Yes, big brother." The blonde girl looked up and smiled.

Ah, it's so radiant and mesmerizing... it's as if she was-

'Will you promise to be with me forever?'

"Will you promise to watch over me forever?" The two voices overlapped and waves appeared in the man's eyes before quickly disappearing. "Even if you knew the sky were to fall, the land were to part, and the world were to crumble tomorrow... will you still protect me?"

"...Yes. Yes. I promise. Cir- Charlotte."

Quest: Someday, For The Third Time

Objective: Protect Charlotte and allow her to die by natural causes

Rewards: ?, ?, Lost Magic: Cosmomancy, 50 SP

Failure: None

Do you accept? Y/N