On the verge of death, a girl's voice appeared in Emiya's ears.
"Use a fabricated organ to imitate a damaged one. Repair the heart during this period."
Red light spread from the darkness, but it was a pity that the identity of the other party could not be seen.
All he knew was that it was a gentle girl's voice.
Is it Sakura?
Yamada Masaharu asked, puzzled.
However, the screen quickly turned black.
When Emiya Shirou woke up again, he was still sitting on the school floor.
He touched his chest, which was covered in blood, but the wound had indeed healed.
He didn't die?
Yamada Masaharu finally breathed a sigh of relief.
I knew it, if the male protagonist died at the beginning, how could the game continue?
However...
Yamada Masaharu frowned, "Is this really a galgame?"
It felt a little different from what he knew.
He definitely couldn't get involved in what just happened again. After leaving the school, there was only one place to go in the entire Fuyuki City, and that was back to Emiya.
He wandered around a few rooms; only Emiya was there. In the warehouse, there was a note left by Sakura, which read:
"To Senpai,
I went home first today.
Good night, Sakura."
After Emiya saw the note, he sat on the warehouse floor, recalling what had happened that night.
"Who were those guys?"
"Ghosts?"
But in battle, they were indeed corporeal.
The feeling of being killed still clearly resurfaced in Emiya's mind.
"Someone saved me."
Just then, a blue figure suddenly appeared outside.
After returning home, he unexpectedly found that the blue-clad Lancer from before had continued to pursue him.
Because the other party discovered that Emiya was still alive, he continued to hunt him down.
The game entered a turn-based battle. Emiya Shirou used his Projection Magic to create a steel pipe weapon that could be used for defense.
From the panel, the difference in strength between Emiya Shirou and the opponent was a bit too great.
He could barely scratch the blue-clad Lancer's health, and with one swing, the opponent took away more than half of his health bar.
"Are you kidding me?"
"How could this possibly be an opponent?"
Yamada Masaharu couldn't help but complain.
However, it was precisely this huge disparity that made Yamada Masaharu immediately realize something—
This was a battle he was destined to lose.
Sure enough, after being defeated by the blue Lancer, the game entered a cutscene.
And so, the scene from the very beginning of the game occurred—
Emiya was forced into the warehouse by the blue Lancer, with no retreat, about to be killed.
Just then, a huge light burst from a magic circle in the warehouse.
A blonde female swordswoman in blue armor was summoned from the magic circle.
Clang!
The red spear that should have ended Emiya Shirou's life was deflected.
In the moonlight, the beautiful swordswoman in blue armor stood in front of Emiya, her gaze firmly fixed on Emiya's eyes.
Shirou couldn't speak. It wasn't because of the sudden chaos. It was simply because the girl in front of him was too beautiful, leaving him speechless.
Saber: "—I ask of you. Are you my Master?"
Shirou: "Huh... Master...?"
Saber: "Servant, Saber, answering your summons. Master, please give your command."
Pain shot through Shirou's left hand.
Red light gathered on the back of his hand, forming three vivid red Command Seals.
He officially became a Master.
Saber: "—Henceforth, my sword shall be with you, and your fate shall be intertwined with mine. —Thus, the contract is complete."
Whoa!
Yamada Masaharu felt a surge of warmth rush from his chest.
That entrance was too cool.
And the timing was just right.
A beautiful female swordswoman arriving at the last moment to save the day was truly moving.
Next, after Saber joined the party, the entire battle became completely different.
However, the current Saber was completely different from the one Yamada Masaharu saw at the very beginning of the game. Not only had her attribute panel's level dropped significantly, but she was also missing two very important powerful skills.
Currently, Saber only had one [Wind King Barrier].
It turned out that the one at the beginning was just to let him have a taste.
What a hateful setting.
He wondered when Saber would be able to return to her initial powerful state.
However, even with Saber's weakened stats and a weak, useless Emiya Shirou, they still fought with ease.
Saber engaged Lancer. Every strike Saber effortlessly unleashed contained incredible magical power.
What made Lancer most troublesome was that Saber's weapon was invisible, which made Lancer unaware of Saber's attack range.
In the game, Lancer's attacks were clearly flashy, but after a flurry of output, his health only dropped a little.
Or he would just miss entirely.
This made Yamada Masaharu wonder if there was a problem with the game or if Saber's luck was too high.
According to the game's description, luck can increase evasion probability.
It's a pity that this value cannot be improved; it's a fixed level.
Even though Saber's panel stats had dropped significantly, only her luck remained at A.
Above the game's operation bar, a text bubble appeared at Saber's avatar.
Saber: "What's wrong, Lancer? If you stop, the name of Lancer will cry. If you don't come, I'll go to you!"
While engaging in turn-based combat, Saber continued to mercilessly taunt.
She would occasionally throw in a line or two.
Lancer: "...Ha, so you've specially come to die. That's fine, but before that, there's something I need to ask you. Your Noble Phantasm — is that a sword?"
Saber: "Who knows? It might be a battle-axe, or it might be a spear-sword. No, it might even be a bow, Lancer?"
...
Hahaha, Yamada Masaharu couldn't help but laugh at their conversation.
He didn't expect the summoned Saber to be so strong?
He didn't know if the opponent was holding back or if it was just the game's setting, but the blue-clad Lancer was easily defeated.
After Lancer was defeated, the game entered a cutscene.
He was beaten back repeatedly by Saber.
And Lancer had no choice but to use his Noble Phantasm — Gae Bolg.
This Noble Phantasm reverses cause and effect. —Since the result of piercing the heart is established, the spear's trajectory is merely an additional action to prove the fact.
Therefore, once unleashed, it is a guaranteed hit, a cursed spear that will always pierce the enemy's heart.
To avoid such a Noble Phantasm, agility is useless; only luck can save you.
Swish!
A red lightning bolt shot out, swiftly cutting through the air.
Then it plunged directly into Saber's chest.
Yamada Masaharu's heart pounded heavily.
Fortunately, it didn't directly pierce her heart; it missed slightly.
Lancer expressed some regret that he couldn't directly take Saber's life.
Saber's expression hardened: "Gae Bolg, are you the Child of Light from Ireland?"
She had already recognized the opponent's identity, "Is this the cursed crimson spear wielded by the Hound of Culann?"
Lancer: "It's bad enough that this move isn't a guaranteed kill. Honestly, being too famous is something to reflect on.
Although it's a Servant's rule that if your true identity is known, you have to fight until one side disappears... but unfortunately, my employer is a coward. He said I should come back if the spear was dodged."
Lancer's Master used a Command Seal to force Lancer to fight everyone while not allowing Lancer to use his full power, so Lancer retreated.
...
After Lancer retreated, they were finally out of danger.
The blue-clad swordswoman conversed with a bewildered Emiya Shirou.
Saber said that she was a Servant of the Saber class, so her Master could call her Saber.
Saber seemed unwilling to reveal more information, only asking her Master to rest assured that she would not betray her Master.
Emiya Shirou did not like the title Master, so he hoped Saber would call him Shirou.
Saber: "Then it's Shirou. Hmm, for me, I prefer this pronunciation too."
Just then, Saber's eyes sharpened, as if she had noticed something.
Saber turned her head and asked, "Shirou, can you help me heal my injuries?"
Shirou scratched his head a little awkwardly, "I can't use such complex magic, and hasn't your wound already healed?"
He looked at Saber's chest; there was no trace left of where she had been pierced by the crimson spear.
"These are only superficial healings, but well, they should barely be able to support the next battle."
Sensing movement outside the Emiya residence, Saber leaped gracefully, flying over the wall and outside.
It turned out that the red-clothed, white-haired man who had fought Lancer earlier was standing outside.
Since it was known that the blue-clothed Lancer, like Saber, was a summoned Servant, then presumably the white-haired, red-clothed man was of the same identity.
Otherwise, it would be impossible for him to unleash such powerful strength.
Saber didn't say a word and immediately went forward to fight the red-clothed, white-haired man.
Shirou also rushed over. Besides the red-clothed, white-haired man, a red-clothed girl with twin ponytails also joined the battle.
Yamada Masaharu had some impression of the girl; she seemed to be a girl named Tohsaka Rin whom he had seen at school before.
Mainly, she was too beautiful, and many boys admired her, making it hard not to remember her.
It was a 2v2 situation.
So they entered into battle again, and this fight seemed even easier than the last one.
In no era, both of them had their HP reduced to zero under Saber's attacks.
Tohsaka Rin fell onto the ground, and Saber thrust her sword at the cornered Tohsaka Rin.
Two options appeared on the screen:
1. Stop Saber
2. Cannot stop her
Yamada Masaharu hesitated for a moment. She seemed like a good girl, right?
He frowned and chose to stop Saber.
However, at the same era, a doubt arose in Yamada Masaharu's mind: Given how weak the male protagonist was, could he really stop Saber?
Although he hadn't confirmed who this human about to be killed was, in Shirou's mind, the image of Saber, having killed someone and bathed in blood, instantly appeared.
Unwilling to see such a sight, Shirou instinctively stopped Saber.
Shirou: "That's not right, Saber. I still don't know who you are. But I will listen to you, don't do such a thing."
Saber: "What kind of thing? Are you holding onto the idealistic notion that one shouldn't casually harm others?"
Shirou: (Not casually harming others...? No, although avoiding conflict as much as possible is natural, I'm not so kind as to sympathize with someone trying to kill me.)
While Emiya Shirou wasn't so sympathetic as to pity his enemies, he instinctively didn't want to see Saber kill humans or be stained with human blood.
Under Shirou's persistence, Saber ultimately put down her sword.
...
Fortunately, the other party also seemed to have no intention of continuing the fight.
Everyone entered the Emiya home to talk.
During the conversation, Tohsaka Rin discovered that Shirou was an amateur and couldn't help but sigh helplessly, thinking that such an amateur had summoned Saber.
After Tohsaka Rin's explanation, Yamada Masaharu understood:
It turned out that Servants were summoned heroes from around the world through summoning magic, and the summoners were Masters.
They would participate in the Holy Grail War.
After each Master signed a contract with a Servant, three command seals would appear on the back of their hand.
Using these command seals could force a Servant to carry out orders, even against the Servant's own will, possessing powerful binding force.
Each use would consume one command seal, and after all command seals disappeared, the Master's contract with the Servant would be terminated.
"So, it's best to only use this twice, and at least keep one," Tohsaka Rin said.
Yamada Masaharu nodded, understanding now.
"Also, there's one very important thing: in the Holy Grail War, if the Master dies, the Servant will also disappear. So no matter what happens, remember to prioritize protecting yourself."
"But, I find it hard to stand by and let others be sacrificed," Emiya Shirou clenched his fist.
"Suit yourself," Tohsaka Rin tossed her ponytail and put her hands on her hips.
After Tohsaka Rin gave Shirou a basic understanding of the Holy Grail War, she then took Shirou to the church to meet the priest, Father Kotomine Kirei, who supervised the Holy Grail War.
Saber also believed that Shirou indeed needed to understand the situation of the Holy Grail War.
At the church, Emiya Shirou met the priest, Father Kotomine Kirei.
Father Kotomine Kirei was a calm-faced, tall middle-aged man who had participated in the Fourth Holy Grail War and subsequently inherited the role of Director as one of the survivors of that war.
This was the Fifth Holy Grail War.
From Father Father Kotomine Kirei, he learned:
Firstly, the Holy Grail was a supremely great existence created to grant people's wishes.
However, to summon the Holy Grail, a cruel magical duel was necessary.
Each Holy Grail War would select 7 different people to serve as Masters.
Then they would successively summon:
Saber,
Lancer,
Archer,
Rider,
Caster,
Assassin,
and Berserker, seven types.
Because job classes cannot be duplicated, the seven Servants participating in one Holy Grail War are all of different job classes.
Servants are great heroes from their past lives, who, after death, are summoned to this world in spirit form. Because they establish a connection with their Master, they obtain energy through the Master's magic circuits, thus enabling them to fight in spirit form.
However, due to problems with Emiya Shirou's magic circuits, he couldn't establish a connection with Saber, making him inherently weaker.
It's like the summoned Servant is a machine, and the Master is the fuel station. If not enough fuel is supplied, the Servant cannot exert its proper abilities, and magic release will also be restricted.
Now Yamada Masaharu finally understood why the summoned Saber was so different from the very first Saber.
It turned out it wasn't because Saber was incapable, but because Emiya Shirou was incapable!
The Holy Grail War is for Masters and Servants to fight each other, ultimately determining the sole winner, who, along with his Servant, will have the exclusive right to obtain the Holy Grail.
However, it doesn't say that all Masters must be killed.
Because Servants are in spirit form, as long as they are defeated, their energy will return to the Holy Grail.
Servants themselves are summoned, so there is no actual death in the factual sense—
They will return to their own era and world.
That is to say, as long as the other Servants are defeated, there is no need to kill the other Masters or do such cruel things.
Emiya Shirou finally breathed a sigh of relief after learning this information.
If it meant killing others to obtain the Holy Grail and fulfill his wish, he definitely couldn't do it.
...
The Holy Grail can grant the owner's wish, and this wish is not just the Master's own.
Emiya Shirou wondered if Saber also had her own wish?
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