At the same time—
In another manor not far from the Matou residence, Tokiomi Tohsaka held a glass of red wine, gazing through a floor-to-ceiling window toward the Matou estate with quiet melancholy.
He had made what he believed to be the most perfect decision within his ability: adopting out his younger daughter—whose talent rivaled his elder's—into an allied line whose bloodline was weakening and whose next generation had no suitable heir. It would spare her from hostility by other magi (or the Association) while letting her inherit a craft equal to the Tohsakas'.
And yet…
Why had he felt hollow since returning yesterday?
A strange sensation on the back of his hand jolted him. His fingers slipped. The wineglass shattered on the floor.
"Dear, are you alright?" came a gentle voice behind him.
"I'm fine." Tokiomi forced a strained smile at his wife, Aoi Tohsaka. "Aoi, please handle this. I need to confirm something."
He hurried to his workshop.
Not long after—
"So Kirei Kotomine received the same message." Tokiomi pinched the bridge of his nose, reading the report his familiar brought back.
A surge of magical energy in the Fuyuki ley lines had caused the Grail to fill one year early. The Fourth Holy Grail War would begin in half a month. All chosen Masters were required to summon their Servants and arrive at the stage of war before then.
If any participant still hadn't arrived after half a month, the Grail would automatically strip that Master's eligibility and select a suitable replacement from the reserves.
If everyone arrived early, the Fourth Holy Grail War would begin immediately.
Tokiomi couldn't understand it.
He'd never heard that ley-line turbulence could cause this kind of chain reaction.
And did Command Spells really transmit such explicit information? He didn't recall family records mentioning it.
…
On the other side of the world, in a castle perpetually buried in snow, an old man with silver hair also couldn't understand it.
A Holy Grail War starting a year early…
Fortunately, the family had prepared thoroughly.
"It may be something our Far Eastern allies did, or something else entirely… but at this point, it doesn't matter," he told the girl before him—an embodiment of the Einzbern millennium of technical achievement. "It's early. Are you confident?"
"Yes," Irisviel von Einzbern answered, nodding.
"The sheath to summon that one is ready," said the silver-haired "man"—the eighth head of the Einzbern line, and in truth the artificial intelligence homunculus that controlled the castle's core: Jubstacheit von Einzbern. "Run a final tuning pass on the circuits. Confirm everything, then begin."
After Irisviel left, Jubstacheit decided to activate the backup plan as well.
Because the Einzbern homunculus craft had reached a ceiling in Irisviel—per their calculations, there was no further improvement possible—Jubstacheit had intended to treat her participation as the family's final attempt.
If Irisviel claimed the Grail and reproduced the Third Magic, the millennium wish would be fulfilled.
If she failed… it would simply prove that their countless attempts were as futile as every previous millennium-long effort. As the magi who abandoned the Einzberns had said: the Third Magic was called a miracle because it couldn't be replicated by human means.
In that case, Jubstacheit would shut down the system and let the Einzbern castle fall into eternal sleep.
But the war beginning a year early introduced a flaw into Irisviel's "perfection."
"Fortunately, the workshop hasn't stopped operating these past eight years. We should have enough materials to make a 'second Irisviel'."
Decision made, Jubstacheit synchronized his will with the castle core.
…
Meanwhile, unlike those who already held tickets and thus received extra details when the Grail activated their Command Spells—
In the British Isles, in a Clock Tower classroom, a stab of pain flashed across a young blond man's hand mid-lecture.
A Holy Grail War… a wish-granting device?
Good. Very good.
He wanted to see which idiot dared shove such a farce under his nose.
And he wanted to know how that idiot bypassed the Clock Tower's wards and branded him with a Command Spell in the first place.
Still fuming, Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald didn't storm out—he finished the remaining half of his class first, then marched to his office with his materials tucked under his arm.
"Don't you think Professor Kayneth looked extra angry today?" a white-haired boy whispered, nudging a classmate.
"Does he?" the classmate muttered, one hand covering the fresh red marks on his own hand. Still reeling from the "win the Grail and get a wish" message, he hadn't paid attention to the second half of the lecture at all. "Isn't he always like that…"
The boy was Waver Velvet.
…
Back at the Matou mansion—
"So you're saying… because you wanted to help me—be useful to me—this Command Spell just appeared on your hand?"
After learning what Sakura felt and hearing her explanation, Baiye fell silent.
The Grail did take a Master's drive into account when selecting candidates… but wasn't this way too casual?
And even if it was casual—why the hell had the Fourth War moved up by a year?
"S-Sorry… did I do something wrong?" Sakura asked timidly when she saw him frowning.
"It's not you," Baiye said, exhaling. "If anything, you qualifying is good for me. Something else just happened that's outside my expectations."
He steadied himself.
Fine. Two sets of Command Spells meant two Servants. That gave them an inherent advantage against any other pairing—except, perhaps, the neighbor who didn't play fair and had entangled himself with the referee and the referee's son.
As for the war starting early—if even a reincarnated outsider with future knowledge got blindsided, the others would hardly be better off.
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