"I'll say this one more time—leave immediately. Otherwise, we're starting a war right here!"
Just as Tōsaka Tokiomi was lost in his own wishful fantasies, Rin's sharp shout yanked him back to reality.
"Rin, I'm your father," Tōsaka said gently, looking up at her. "Is it because I look too young now that you can't recognize me?"
He put on what he believed was a warm, reassuring smile, trying to stir her memories.
"Shut up," Rin snapped coldly. "I will never acknowledge you as my father. My father, Tōsaka Tokiomi, died ten years ago because of the Holy Grail War.
"You're nothing more than a Tōsaka Tokiomi from another world—one who has his own, younger Rin.
"And even if we stretch things as far as possible, our positions right now are enemies, not some so-called father and daughter."
Unfortunately for him, Rin's response was nothing but icy rejection.
When she was little, she hadn't understood anything. Back then, she'd blindly admired her brilliant father and treated him as her role model.
But as she grew older, Rin gradually came to understand the truth—
Her father had abandoned both her and her mother for the sake of that so-called "Holy Grail War."
After Tōsaka Tokiomi's death, her mother, Aoi, fell into deep despair. She didn't last long before passing away as well.
In Rin's eyes, Tōsaka Tokiomi had always valued his "magecraft career" above his own family.
In pursuit of the so-called "Root," he abandoned his wife and daughter. And in order to indirectly control the Matō family, he handed Sakura over to them—leading to a situation where Sakura no longer had any contact with Rin at all.
All of it.
Every single thing.
The admiration she once held as a child slowly fermented into the disgust she felt now.
Seeing Rin's cold expression and hearing her words, Tōsaka Tokiomi froze for a moment.
He desperately wanted to ask her how, with such an overwhelming lineup ten years ago, he could possibly have lost the Holy Grail War.
But before he could even begin working on persuading Rin—
The Caster standing behind him suddenly went completely hysterical the moment he laid eyes on Saber.
"Saint… Saint Jeanne! It really is Saint Jeanne! I never imagined the Holy Grail would truly answer my prayers and allow me to see you again!"
Caster's true name was Gilles de Rais. He had once been a brilliant marshal of the realm—but after certain events, he had fallen utterly into depravity.
After his fall, he became bloodthirsty, debauched, obsessed with black magic, and infamous under another name—
Bluebeard.
Gilles de Rais' descent into madness stemmed entirely from his obsession with the Saint of Orléans, Jeanne d'Arc. His corruption was born of despair toward humanity's ugliness, and his research into black magic was driven by a single goal—to resurrect Jeanne.
It had to be said: the Moonlit Grail world followed a strange, immutable law—
Any female Saber summoned into a Holy Grail War tended to share an astonishingly similar face.
The so-called "Saber face."
One might even call it the favoritism reserved for the setting's beloved heroines.
If Ren Kuroda had been present, he would absolutely have complained out loud—
Confusing Artoria with Jeanne? He'd be genuinely impressed… in the worst possible way.
Mistaking Artoria for Nero might've been understandable. But Artoria and Jeanne? Their differences were obvious.
Sure, both were young women—but comparing Artoria's chest to Jeanne's… even a blind person wouldn't mix them up.
Or maybe Gilles was just that shallow?
Perhaps he only looked at faces and ignored everything else entirely.
What made it worse was that Caster should have been able to see Saber's true name—yet he selectively ignored it, stubbornly insisting that Saber was his saint.
The instant he saw her, Gilles shut out the rest of the world. All he wanted was for his Saint to return to his side as soon as possible.
Watching the deranged Caster creep toward her with a leering expression, Saber showed no mercy.
She raised her sword—and slashed.
Just like that, the battle erupted without warning.
Unprepared and hopeless in close combat, a Caster stood no chance against a Saber.
Shirō Emiya's magical talent might have been poor, but Ryūnosuke was nothing more than an ordinary human as well.
After just a few exchanges, Gilles was already on the brink of defeat. If not for his past experience as a marshal—granting him a shred of combat instinct—he would have been cut down and eliminated on the spot.
"I knew it," Kayneth snarled. "A Master from the gutters and a Servant with a dubious background were never going to be reliable!"
Watching Caster rush forward to practically donate his life, Kayneth was so furious he nearly burst a blood vessel.
He had opposed letting Caster and his Master join them from the start. But Tōsaka Tokiomi had insisted that one more Servant meant more strength.
Well, here was the result.
So far, Kayneth hadn't seen a shred of added strength—only teammates getting dragged down.
Still, irritation aside, Kayneth cared about victory above all else.
In the end, he ordered Lancer to enter the fray and pull Caster out of danger.
At first, Saber was actually pleased to cross blades with Lancer again.
After all, he was an old opponent.
But after just a few exchanges, she realized something was very wrong.
To Saber, Lancer was indeed a familiar foe—she retained memories of the Fourth Holy Grail War, where she had clashed with him on the very first night, fighting evenly.
But this time—
The balance was gone.
In only a handful of exchanges, she was already being suppressed.
The reason became clear almost immediately.
Her Master.
Ten years ago, she had been summoned by Kiritsugu Emiya. While she hadn't approved of him personally, his capability as a Master was undeniable—he allowed her to fight at full strength.
As for her current Master, Shirō Emiya…His personality was fine.His mana supply, however, was another story entirely.
In short—
With Kiritsugu, she was the "All-A King."With Shirō, she'd been reduced to the "Glutton King."
"So this is all the legendary Knight King amounts to?" Lancer sneered. "Seems your reputation far exceeds the reality."
For Saber, Lancer was a familiar enemy.
But for Lancer—who had crossed over from ten years in the past—this was their first encounter.
Thanks to the rules of this Grail War, Lancer was able to identify Saber's true name after their initial clash.
As fellow figures from Celtic myth, the Knight King was undeniably a famous name.
Facing such a renowned hero had filled Diarmuid with anticipation.
But after several rounds of combat, disappointment crept in.
The famed "Knight King" simply didn't possess strength befitting the legend.
Her swordsmanship was solid—but beyond that, she was barely distinguishable from a third-rate Servant. He didn't even need to release his Noble Phantasm.
Tōsaka Tokiomi's side had four Servants.
Yet Archer chose to stand aside and observe.
After Ren Kuroda's earlier chaos, Gilgamesh had completely seen through Tōsaka Tokiomi.
Outward respect meant nothing—true reverence was absent.
If Tōsaka could force him once with a Command Spell, he could do it again.
If possible, Gilgamesh would have loved to dispose of this treacherous vassal himself—but he feared Tōsaka might simply give up and order him to commit suicide with a Command Spell.
So for now, the golden king secretly hoped Tōsaka would be killed.
That way, with his Independent Action skill, he could simply find a new, more obedient Master.
As for Caster—
The moment he saw Saber, he had completely lost his mind.
Activating his Noble Phantasm, he began summoning hordes of low-grade monstrosities, convinced that Saber had been deceived and that it was his duty to "save" her.
Meanwhile, Assassin—Hundred-Faced—split into countless bodies.
Seeing that she couldn't interfere in the Saber–Lancer duel, Assassin redirected her attention toward the Masters: Tōsaka Rin and Shirō Emiya.
But the Heroic Spirit Emiya was no pushover.
In an instant, he projected a black blade and a white blade into his hands and charged straight into the swarm of Assassin's bodies and Caster's summoned monsters.
Yes—you weren't seeing things.
Despite being an Archer, he completely ignored convention and dove headfirst into melee combat wielding Kanshō and Bakuya.
Watching Archer rush in with dual short blades, Assassin was furious.
Sure, her combat ability wasn't particularly high, and splitting herself weakened her mana even further.
But still—
There were limits to how much disrespect she'd tolerate.
An Archer charging an Assassin head-on with daggers?
Who exactly was he looking down on?!
Seeing Archer's apparent suicide charge, Assassin recalled many of the clones she had sent after Rin, deciding to eliminate this eccentric Archer first.
But it didn't take long for her to realize something was very wrong.
Within the sea of clones, Emiya cut through them like a storm.
Clone after clone—and even Caster's monsters—fell one by one.
This Archer, who was supposed to specialize in ranged combat, wielded short blades with greater proficiency than an Assassin.
And while fighting, he still had enough awareness to shield Rin, drawing enemies away from her.
Of course—
His protection extended only to Rin, his Master.
As for Shirō Emiya…
Archer could only wish him good luck.
Kiritsugu Emiya's appearance had temporarily put his plans to kill Shirō on hold—but that didn't mean he intended to help him.
A true madman was ruthless even toward himself.
And Emiya Archer was exactly that kind of man—
So ruthless that he intended to kill himself.