ACT-14 "The Shadow Chasing Irisviel"

Fou.

？！

That Rider, I knew he had such a crazy attitude, but... who knew it'd be this bad?!

We're enemies just because? What was he on about!? He just pisses me off!

I guess Lord El-Melloi gets emotional when we deal with Rider...

I'm calm! It's just a natural reaction due to the stress!

？！

Yes...

Hmm? Hold on a second. I'm getting a magical energy signature approaching you. Its strength indicates it's a Servant.

It's different from any remaining Assassin fragments, and also from Rider and Berserker who retreated earlier.

That means...the figures don't add up, right?

Yeah. There are only seven Heroic Spirits that the Fuyuki Holy Grail can call forth. Meaning it's an irregular like us. It's him.

You mean he's going after Irisviel again?

I look away for one second and you've got even more friends, huh? You guys are such a pain.

Now that you've been caught twice by the Eight Gates Golden Locks Formation, you realize it's pointless to hide your presence?

But how condescending of you to just walk straight up to us.

Well, I'll never get anywhere just waiting for my chance.

The Holy Grail War is nearing its end, and before its conclusion, I must have that homunculus destroyed.

So you're after the vessel of the Holy Grail after all. It seems like our goals are similar, but our methodology is different.

？！

Yes. She's pretending to be Saber's Master, but...

She is serving a different purpose. She collects the souls of fallen Heroic Spirits... A Lesser Grail, the key that opens the Greater Grail.

Like giving an autonomous personality to ceremonial equipment.

You're quite knowledgeable. But I don't really like you saying I'm pretending to be a Master. Am I not a proper Master? Is that what you want to say?

There's no reason to hide anything this late in the game, homunculus.

Irisviel is being used as bait. I know the true Master is hiding in the shadows.

What do you mean? Irisviel is my Master, totally and completely. I am not contracted to anyone else...

What?

Will you see this and still doubt?

Command Spells!? Then you really did contract with Saber?

Lord El-Melloi, this is no time to be surprised! The enemy Servant is coming at us!

Tch, giving me a hard time...

Hold on. Fighting any more isn't going to get us anywhere. There's nothing for either of us to gain.

Either of us to gain? It's almost like you completely understand what's going on with me.

You have nothing going on, personally. You're a Servant without a Master.

You're not fighting to benefit anyone at all.

No Master? Then what about the contract? How is he getting supplied with magical energy?

Of course, a Servant can only materialize in this world when there's a summoning and a contract.

However, in his case, the contract wasn't made with a human. ...Isn't that right, envoy of the Counter Force?

The Counter Force?! Then this Heroic Spirit has contracted with the World itself!?

...How did you come to that conclusion?

We're not part of this temporal axis, and thus have a bird's-eye view of the situation here.

We know that the end of the Holy Grail War here in Fuyuki will lead to the end of the world.

What was that? What do you mean?

...I wasn't going to say anything until the end, but there's nothing for it. I'm coming clean.

The ritual here at Fuyuki will succeed, unlike in the past and future, and it will lead to the activation of the Greater Grail.

The reason all of this was observed by Shebawas that this area had to be the cause of the Singularity.

I see! It wasn't just observed as an unstable dimension, but as the origin of the collapse that would become the Singularity!

You guys...know not only of the past, but also the future? From a different temporal axis?

That is correct. I witnessed the failure of the fourth war, investigated the fifth war, and prevented the sixth war from happening. That's who I am.

And I've assumed the role of pinpointing what makes this battle different from the others I've known.

And the answer to that...is you, Irisviel. You are the vessel of the Holy Grail, and also a Master that controls a Servant.

It was supposed to take another 10 years to complete. The Einzbern family's ultimate homunculus.

Ten years? That's...

It's a small difference, but this is a definite advantage.

I mean, for the Einzbern family to find a way to win not via a makeshift guerilla warfare, but actual frontal assault...

Having a Master with the highest specs, commanding the strongest Servant, and access to the Lesser Grail.

Victory is certain for Einzbern. And this victory is plenty reason...for the Counter Force to activate.

...The Holy Grail War you know of didn't have any interference from the Counter Force?

That's right. It wasn't a factor during the third war. Meanwhile the chance of success was about fifty-fifty during the fourth and fifth war.

At the very least, from the perspective of the World there was no real emergency to get involved.

During the fourth war, the Einzberns' research results were behind by one whole generation. When they finally completed their research during the fifth war, they made a mistake in their strategy.

To be honest, I'm surprised to see that this time the Einzberns managed to call checkmate on everyone.

So to sum things up, this Singularity is basically...

...the embodiment of the "if" situation where the Einzberns are the superior contestant in this war.

Yes, and the Holy Grail reading that Chaldea picked up was most likely Irisviel's magical circuits themselves...

Seeing how perfect the results of the Einzberns' research are this time, you can probably even call her a pseudo Holy Grail.

I'm not sure whether or not you're praising me or insulting me, but I'm going to need you to explain more.

What do you mean the world will end if the Fuyuki Holy Grail is completed?

Yes, allow me to tell you everything. Agent of the Counter Force, you should follow along, as well.

I'll show you an even better way to accomplish the task you have been given.

A simpler and even more certain way than destroying this homunculus here?

...

Well, I can't say that it's entirely simpler, but let me ask you something instead, Heroic Spirit.

Would you do anything because it's the simpler way? Do you wish to kill Irisviel here, no matter what happens?

...Fou?

...I do not know. I have not thought of that. I had resigned myself to thinking there was no other choice. I did not have the luxury of options.

And now that you're telling me to choose... I am faced with a conflict within myself that is rather difficult to explain.

If you're telling me there is a different choice with this homunculus...then I think I would like to explore that as well.

I wonder why? I've never experienced this feeling before.

That's because you still have a human heart left in you.

A foolish but noble soul, from before you became part of the machine known as the Counter Force.