āHeā was summoned to this false Holy Grail War as a Servant of
āHisā existence was proof that this Holy Grail War was false; proof
suffices to describe āhimā. In some places, āheā was described as a
In the Holy Grail War, Servants are selected from the past and the
The classes into which the Servants are summoned transcend time.
Hero of the future, not yet born into this world. If the Holy Grail War
to summon his more powerful future self, an icon of heroism.
and āheā would likely continue to exist far into the future. āHeā lived a
And so, āheāāa being with physical presence, though not a Heroic
Even at this very momentāthere is no doubt that āheā continues
Indeed, perhaps āheā does so so that āheā may āhimself ā provide\nThus thought a certain young girl as she gazed upon that which
It was a city she was familiar with.
over her, scraping the vast sky above with such vigor that they
A pair of six-lane causeways met at a mighty intersection. The primary
met there, not far from the city center. From the skies above, the roads
think himself to be in a city as grand as New York or Chicago. Indeed,
surrounding Snowfield with such ardor, it was as though
that they were in fact the culmination, the perfection of all nature.
And the girl found this city, this familiar city, to be beautiful precisely
She stood at the center of the enormous intersection, which was
It was a scramble intersection, allowing pedestrians to cross it in
some point, forcing one to vacate the road.
The traffic lights had cycled any number of times.
And that was as it should beā
Did she notice that it was silent? Then again, did she even notice
From the middle of the road, it was clear that the causeways lacked
The girl imagined an asphalt-colored red carpet, a most contradictory
seemed like a beautiful object of nature, sprung from the Earthās surface.
would be. In that case, the city hall tower, tallest of them all, would be
She knew not why she was there.
But that brought sadness unto her.
she had grown accustomed to it.
After about three months, she had stopped counting the days.
the day she would wander the town, and come dusk, she would sleep.
up at the night sky and be comforted by the stars. Few things are more
but she had long since grown used to it, faced with the absurdity of a
As loneliness departed her heart, the void it left was filled by the
After looking about the city a while, she lay down in the middle of
Iām sorry. I couldnāt do it right.
But then, she realized that she wasnāt even doing anything she
Two old emotions welled up within her.
anyone else.\nAn enormous edifice stood in the central district of the City of
At a glance, it looked very much like an art museum. In fact, however,
gates, seeking treatment from surgeons and psychosomaticists and all
Of course, not all the patients came for elective procedures. Many
ā...I am afraid that I must inform you that it will be difficult for
and seemed to be from East Asia. They seemed more than a little flustered.
Is that a sign that her condition has taken a turn for the worse?ā asked
ā...Physically speaking, there are no symptoms that would suggest
difficult to recover from a coma as the duration of the coma increases.ā
yet to recover consciousness. She had entered a vegetative state. Only
She was just ten years and three months of age.
consciousness and wouldnāt wake up, and so, her parents, terrified,
An examination revealed that her body was studded with lesions,
After performing a biopsy on one of the lesions, it was found that
panicked, fearing an epidemic within the hospital.
a mystery as to how the girl herself became infected in the first place.
facilities examine her, but for whatever reason, they were denied access,
āWe have not observed any changes in the state of the bacterial infestation.
impede her cerebral function going forward. The bacteria have not
severely impeded her mental functions.ā The doctor spoke as soothingly
āIs that so....ā replied the woman, worry permeating her voice.
There have been cases where a patient has been in a vegetative state
about the genome of the bacterium, more treatment options will become
to keep their spirits up, butā
āNever mind her consciousness... are her reproductive functions
She simply could not grasp what he had meant by ānever mind her
Before long, the man spoke again, unwilling to let the silence drag
know whether or not her ovaries and uterusāor at the very least, just
āEr... well, the lesions are only inhibiting growth in the part of her
effects on her other organs, but...ā The doctor just told him the facts
other once again. Their faces lit up.
to pay her hospital bills as we have been, so please, continue taking
āIām sorry? Thatās not... I mean...ā
donāt need to worry about that anymore.ā
behind the utterly perplexed doctor.
she just stared at them as they departed.
Perhaps the shock of finding their daughter comatose had left them
have to recommend that they attend counseling.
exterior door to the sterile room.
light, the interior door opened, to reveal a single bed.
Though it seemed at first glance as though she was merely asleep,
would ever regain consciousness.
breath. As the doctor looked at her, she checked her IV drip and her
And thenāshe discovered something unusual.
She noticed the abnormality while she was repositioning the girl.
āWhat... are these...?ā
sigils that reminded her of loops of chain.
Access to the girlās room was strictly controlled, and there was no
when she had checked on the girl that same morning, there was certainly
āIs this... some kind of... prank?ā
magi actually existedā\nShe was still a young girl, but when she remembered what her parents
That was certainly not cruelty. Rather, it was rationally-applied
They showered her with love as they spoke those words. Though
And yet, the pain ate away at her.
childhood. Even though she must have had pleasant memories, happy
Even when she tried to forget, she could not overcome the pain.
Indeed, that was why she could not flee. She could do nothing but
From a young age, she believed that she could reciprocate her parentsā
Alas, she did not understand that her parents did not love her as
family lineāas their future in the world of magic.
among those that made off with some of the machinery underlying
The knowledge they gained was relevant not just to the Holy Grail
and quickly adapted it to their own use.
to perfecting a sort of pseudo-entomomancy.
amplify the mageās Magic Circuits. That was their plan.
daughter as their distinguished first test subject. She experienced
had been amplified beyond measure.
that was left was for her to inherit the magic of her family. Then, their
Unluckily for them, they lost control of some of the bacteria, and
In order to ensure that it would remain possible for their daughter,
hospitalized her. Of course, by this point, her parents had no interest
As yet unaware that her parents had all but forsaken her, she wandered
were far and away more realistic than any ordinary dream. In the end,
As she experienced flashbacks to her past, she screamed out into
lacked knowledge. She was a witchābut a powerless one.
wild in the world of her dreams.
mere children crying out āDonāt leave me!āāevery cell in her body
āIāll do it right! I will, Iāll bear the pain!ā
āSo please, please donāt leave me! Donāt leave me...!ā
There was a mighty gust of windāa roar in a soundless world.
looked around the intersection andā
Something had changed, but she couldnāt understand what it was.
It was a grating sound, like the scraping noise of swarms of insects
And yet, those were wordsāwords with meaning.
She could not have known what those words meant, and yetā
To begin with, āheā lacked a personaālet alone the nature of a
When āheā was granted knowledge by the Holy Grail, however,
āHeā had neither emotions nor even internal monologue. āHeā
the systemāsomething like a robot.
had changed in her unchanging world.
shrouded by the black haze, and timidly told āhimā her name.
And so, she became the distinguished first Master of the false Holy
None could have known of their contract, forged in a dream, andā\n91
āItās about time for Faldeus to issue his declaration.ā
getting ready for the ceremony they would conduct that night.
I will receive my Command Spells. Once I have them, everything will
āPlus, weāve even prepared a Noble Phantasm as a relic... and if it
āIndeed we could. If we are to call forth Shi Huangdi, we must be
Their daughter was not a matter of discussion at this point.
figure in Chinese history.
Not because their unconscious daughter had taken the Command
If that were the only issue, they could well have received a different
In the end, they did not receive any Command Spellsā
Sensing something unusual, the husband looked at his right arm.
had bumped against something. He looked over to his wife.
then, she collapsed to the ground, like a marionette whose strings had
indistinct. Everything split into a rainbow of colors and fell upwards.
late. He did not even have the strength to stand.
not die from this. However, he would certainly fall into a stupor.
If someone... attacks us now....
Even as he fell into an eternal darkness, his mind was full with
Both of them leaped to their feet as though nothing had happened.
ā...Come to think of it, today is Tsubakiās birthday, isnāt it?ā
They were conspicuously unwell, and yet they spoke calmly. And
Indeed, they had lost whatever personalities they once had andā
She danced with āhimā. She danced with āhimā.
āHeā danced with her. āHeā danced with her.
āYay! Thank you! Daddy! Mommy!ā
āThatās right. Youāre our precious little treasure.ā
fog that stood next to her.
The Servant did not even nod in reply. āHeā merely continued to
The sights of the real world were projected into her dreams.
within her while she was unconscious. Given that it is impossible
used to project the real world into a dream-world was useless; a line of
The Servant merely facilitated the girlās unconscious magic.
behave just as she wanted them to.
had, āheā made the girl into the greatest and worst dark horse of the
āHeā rode on the wind and the waters and the birds and the people
Hence, it was appropriate for āhimā to be of the Rider class, for āheā
Much more importantly, howeverā
an alias that reflected that. Perhaps that spurious assignment of a
And at another time, under the name of the Spanish Flu, āheā killed
āHeā was the horseman who brought calamity to all. His alias:
As to whether anyone would recognize what āhisā alias is, or indeed,
Either way, the false Holy Grail War was finally on its way to becoming