Six days passed by rather quickly, and quite a lot happened during that time.
One of the most important developments was that Kuro finally destroyed the Holy Grail War system completely.
Using Prototype Rule Breaker, he destroyed the core of the Greater Grail ritual hidden beneath Ryūdō Temple.
With the foundation of the ritual destroyed, the Holy Grail War in Fuyuki had effectively lost its primary function.
On top of that, Kuro also bought a new, much larger house in Fuyuki City for everyone to live in together.
The house was large enough to accommodate the Servants, the children, as well as the various kinds of chaos that almost always followed his everyday life.
And that wasn't all.
He even purchased the Tohsaka family's spiritual land from Kirei Kotomine.
A highly valuable leyline territory that would normally be almost impossible for a Magus to simply give up.
Yet for some reason—or perhaps because Kirei himself had already become too lazy to care—the transaction went far more smoothly than expected.
Meanwhile, Magecraft training with Ishtar also continued every day. And it was through those sessions that Kuro began developing a new idea.
Considering that Jewel Magecraft was capable of storing the user's thoughts and magical energy inside crystals, Kuro began experimenting with developing his own unique variation.
A method of storing the results of Projection Magecraft Noble Phantasms inside Jewels.
In other words, creating Jewel "bullets" containing simulated Noble Phantasms that could be used at any time without having to perform the projection again directly.
It was an idea that even made Ishtar fall silent for quite some time before finally calling it "crazy enough to actually work."
Yet among all those things, one of the most consistently surprising aspects remained the Daily Check-in rewards from the system.
On the first day, Kuro received five hundred multiversal language translation devices shaped like true wireless earbuds.
On the second day, he obtained a Random Summon Hero Ticket.
On the third day, he received one hundred Rare Mana-Prisms, condensed mana crystals, with each prism estimated to be worth five hundred thousand OD.
On the fourth day, the system gave him five Random Jewel Tickets.
On the fifth day, he received five hundred kilograms of Moon Flower tea leaves—rare tea leaves that absorbed moonlight and starlight for five hundred years before finally being harvested.
On the sixth day, he received the complete Formulas and Potions of the Fool Pathway. By consuming and digesting each Potion in sequence, the user's existence would gradually become the cosmic concept of The Fool.
And on the seventh day, he obtained two of Surtr's weapons: Sun-Like Sword that Becomes a Calamity (Laevatein) and Shine Brighter than the Sun, Sword of Flame (Loptr Laegjarn).
As usual, all of those rewards were safely stored inside his Gate of Babylon.
Even after receiving absurd items from the system time and time again, Kuro still couldn't help feeling surprised.
Sometimes the rewards felt far too random. Sometimes they were ridiculously useful, and sometimes they were so creative that he had no idea how he was even supposed to react.
But one thing was certain.
That system truly never allowed him to get bored.
For the time being, however, all of that was set aside.
At the moment, Kuro was sitting leisurely on a park bench covered by a thin layer of snow together with Yuki and Illya.
Each of them held a cup of hot chocolate topped with marshmallows that were slowly melting on the surface, releasing a faintly sweet aroma that felt almost contradictory against the cold winter air surrounding them.
The park was fairly quiet.
Snow fell slowly like white cotton drifting silently through the air, while the small clouds of breath from Yuki and Illya could be faintly seen whenever they spoke.
On the other side of the bench, Kuro sat casually while enjoying his hot chocolate.
But his mind was clearly not really in the park.
The various possibilities he had previously seen through Sha Naqba Imuru once again passed through his mind like pages of the future that continued turning on their own.
And in the end, everything always came back to one thing.
The Holy Grail War.
Or more precisely... Illyasviel von Einzbern.
The Holy Grail War had indeed ended. Even the Greater Grail system itself had been destroyed directly by him.
But precisely because of that, the Einzbern family would inevitably make a move sooner or later.
After all, Illya was their finest creation.
The most perfect Master and Lesser Grail the family had ever created.
There was no way they would simply allow her to remain outside their supervision.
And it seemed Illya herself understood that as well.
The ruby-eyed girl's gaze occasionally appeared distant as she stared at the snow slowly falling from the sky.
It wasn't because she was afraid.
She simply understood.
Sooner or later, the Einzbern family would come to take her back.
And after that, she would most likely be deactivated... or perhaps even dismantled for further research, now that the Holy Grail War had completely lost its purpose.
Kuro gently blew on the hot chocolate in his hands.
I could just massacre all of them.
The thought emerged calmly in his mind, as casually as someone considering a minor chore.
Eliminate everyone they hire, including the Einzbern family.
However, a few seconds later, he merely let out a faint sigh.
But... I'm not in the mood to do that.
The cold wind once again blew gently through the park.
Beside him, Yuki and Illya had now begun arguing over who had more marshmallows in their respective cups.
Their little voices sounded almost ridiculous compared to the thoughts Kuro had been having just moments earlier.
And precisely because of that, Kuro's expression gradually softened.
Then another idea came to him.
Rather than continuing to deal with one problem after another in this timeline, wouldn't it be much simpler to simply take everyone away from this world?
After all, he possessed the ability to travel between worlds.
The choice was absurd.
Yet strangely enough... it also made perfect sense.
The corner of Kuro's lips slowly lifted into a faint smile.
His gaze shifted toward Yuki and Illya, who were still busy arguing about their marshmallows.
...Then that's what I'll do.
Snow continued falling gently around the quiet park.
I'll just take them away from this world.
And at that moment, Kuro felt that his decision had already been made.
"Illya... Yuki..."
As soon as Kuro called their names, the two little girls stopped talking and turned toward him at the same time. Their eyes widened slightly with curiosity.
Kuro himself continued gazing at the snowy park in front of them while holding his cup of hot chocolate. A thin stream of steam slowly rose into the cold air before disappearing with the winter breeze.
"Actually..." he said calmly, "I have the ability to travel between realities. To other worlds with different laws."
A brief silence fell over the bench, and Illya's ruby eyes immediately widened slightly. Her mind began moving rapidly, piecing together various bits of information that had always seemed strange.
An ability similar to Gilgamesh's.
Gate of Babylon.
An absurd amount of OD for a modern Magus. Not to mention the fact that Kuro could maintain several Servants simultaneously, including a Divine Spirit like Ishtar using Rin's body as a vessel.
All of it began to make much more sense if the man sitting before her really did come from outside this reality.
Meanwhile, Yuki merely tilted her head with a confused expression, clearly not fully understanding where the conversation was going.
The atmosphere became quiet again for a few seconds, filled only by the faint sound of distant footsteps in the park and the snow slowly falling like white cotton.
Illya's ruby gaze narrowed slightly.
"...Why are you suddenly telling us this, Onii-san?"
Her tone sounded more serious than usual.
Only then did Kuro turn his gaze toward them.
"I want to take all of you to another world."
The words came out casually, as though he were simply discussing an ordinary trip. Snow continued falling slowly around them, and without pausing, Kuro continued,
"Do you want to come?"
A brief pause.
"If you refuse, that's fine."
A faint smile appeared at the corner of his lips.
"Although..." he continued in the same calm tone, "I'll probably take you with me by force anyway."
Silence.
Yuki blinked several times with a blank expression.
"...Eh?"
Illya simply stared at Kuro for quite some time before finally letting out a small sigh.
"...The way you say things really makes you sound like a villain."
Kuro merely chuckled softly before taking another sip of his hot chocolate, as though there were absolutely nothing strange about what he had just said.
"So... are you coming?"
Illya remained silent for a few moments.
Her ruby gaze focused on the snow slowly falling before them. The white flakes drifted gently with the wind, disappearing one by one as they touched the ground.
When she thought about it, she really didn't have many choices.
If she stayed in this world, sooner or later the Einzbern family would come looking for her.
And Illya knew exactly what the likely outcome of that would be.
She was far too valuable to be left free.
Far too useful to be allowed to live an ordinary life.
In the end, Illya let out a small sigh.
"...It's not like I really have a choice."
Her voice sounded resigned, but she wasn't truly opposed to the idea.
Then the corner of her lips lifted slightly.
"I just hope this other world you're talking about isn't boring."
Hearing that, Kuro's smile widened slightly.
His hand rose and casually ruffled Illya's hair from behind. The little girl frowned in annoyance for a moment, but she didn't try to move away.
"You'll like it."
Kuro's tone sounded confident enough that it was difficult to dismiss it as empty reassurance.
A few seconds later, he glanced toward Yuki, who still looked confused, as though she were trying to catch up with half of the conversation that had just passed her by.
"No," he said with a softer smile. "You two will like it."
Yuki still looked hesitant.
"What is that other world like, anyway?"
"Hm..." Kuro thought for a moment while gazing at the gray sky above the park. "Depends on where we go."
That answer didn't help at all.
Yuki only looked even more confused.
Meanwhile, Illya closed her eyes for a moment, choosing to give up on trying to understand Kuro's logic any further than necessary.
Snow continued falling gently around them, covering the park in a peaceful atmosphere that felt completely different from all the chaos that had occurred over the past few weeks.
"So get ready," Kuro continued casually as he took another sip of his hot chocolate. "Tomorrow, we're leaving this world."
The statement sounded simple.
As though they were merely planning to take a short trip to the neighboring city, rather than leaving behind the entire reality they knew.