FATE: Target of Grand Master

After leaving Ryudouji Temple, Xia Yan did not return to his apartment, but instead went to Emiya's residence with Shirou and Rin.

After the previous series of events, and after arriving at the Emiya residence, Sakura, who had just woken up, testified for Xia Yan. Shirou and Rin finally believed that Xia Yan was indeed acting out of good intentions. However, at the same time, the two of them also had many questions about the various circumstances of this Holy Grail War.

Although Xia Yan was already a bit tired, under Shirou and Rin's persistent questioning, he decided to let the two of them get to the bottom of the matter.

"I know you have many questions. But let me first explain the essence of the Holy Grail War to you."

Then, Xia Yan repeated what he had said to Cú Chulainn, Medusa, and Medea, but added some supporting arguments.

"Shirou, you were adopted by your foster father, Kiritsugu Emiya, ten years ago, right?"

Shirou was startled and nodded, saying, "Yes, how did you know?"

"I'll explain how I know this later. You can all judge the truth of what I'm about to say for yourselves. Ten years ago, there was a great fire in Fuyuki, caused by the outflow of black mud from the last Holy Grail War. Your adoptive father, Kiritsugu Emiya, was one of the Masters who participated in that Holy Grail War."

Then, Xia Yan turned his gaze to Artoria.

"Saber, you also participated in the last Holy Grail War, and you were Kiritsugu Emiya's Servant. Kiritsugu's command to you to destroy the Holy Grail at the last moment was not a betrayal of you, but rather because he discovered the curse of the black mud within the Holy Grail."

Artoria was also shocked. She hadn't even had a chance to tell Shirou about this, so how did Xia Yan know? And Kiritsugu hadn't actually betrayed her; she had been harboring misunderstandings about him all along.

Finally, Xia Yan looked at Lin.

"Rin, your father, Tokiomi Tohsaka, was also the Master of the last Holy Grail War ten years ago. Sakura is actually your younger sister. Ten years ago, she was adopted into the Matou family by your father, and..."

To keep Sakura in mind, Xia Yan whispered a few words in Rin's ear.

One bombshell after another, Xia Yan left the three people in front of him speechless, their brains nearly shutting down.

Seeing that the three of them looked like they were about to collapse, Xia Yan rested for a while before saying, "The reason I know so much is because I'm from a parallel world. My goal is to destroy the Holy Grail. Alright, let's stop here for today. Everyone's tired. We'll talk again tomorrow."

After a night of fighting and being bombarded with a large amount of information, Shirou, Rin, and Sakura, including Xia Yan, all took leave the next day.

After finishing breakfast, the group gathered again in the living room to discuss their plans for the future.

After a night of processing, Shirou, Rin, and Artoria all accepted the premise that Xia Yan came from a parallel world and gave him their trust.

After having breakfast, the group began discussing how to deal with Matou Ryuken, as well as Kotomine Kirei and Gilgamesh, who had not yet made a move.

After escorting the group back last night, Red A took the initiative to return to the vicinity of Ryudong Temple to observe the situation there.

"According to Archer's feedback, when he returned to Ryudouji Temple, the entire temple had been razed to the ground, or more accurately, it looked like it had been hit by a meteorite, leaving a huge crater. Matou Ryogen and Rider had both disappeared. Judging from the current situation, Rider's desperate attack did indeed cause great damage. It's hard to say whether Matou Ryogen can survive, but Rider will definitely disappear due to the depletion of his magical energy."

Upon hearing Rin's words, Sakura lowered her head slightly, feeling somewhat sad, but then resolutely raised her head again.

I promised Rider that I would live on strongly.

Shirou and Rin both keenly sensed Sakura's change; they hadn't expected that Sakura's personality would undergo such a dramatic transformation in just a few days.

The two then looked at Xia Yan in unison. Could it be because of him?

What the two of them didn't know was that Sakura, who grew up in the Matou family, was originally a strong person. However, she had developed a cowardly and submissive facade because she had been constantly tormented and suppressed by Matou Ryokon and Matou Shinji.

Meanwhile, Xia Yan was pondering whether Matou Ryouken was still alive.

This old bug is incredibly good at surviving. I've dealt with all his trump cards from the original story, and he's still alive. This makes Xia Yan start to wonder if there's another trap hidden in this trial.

Xia Yan had been following the approach of completing side quests before moving on to the main quest, but he hadn't expected that completing the quest to save Sakura would push the familiar main storyline into a completely unfamiliar direction.

Is this the design concept behind this trial?

If you only focus on the main storyline and skip saving Sakura, you can reduce the difficulty by being familiar with the plot.

However, if you want to save Sakura and complete the side quest, the difficulty of the subsequent main quest will increase significantly.

Fine, fine, so this is how you play it? I went through all that trouble to save your original self, and you're still backstabbing me.

After mentally cursing BB, Xia Yan grabbed the water glass on the table and gulped down several mouthfuls to force himself to calm down.

"Based on my understanding of Matou Ryogen, we must not overlook his obsession with living, so we must plan based on the premise that he is still alive."

After calming down, Xia Yan shared his thoughts.

"I suggest we split into two groups. Rin, you and Archer will search Fuyuki City thoroughly, looking for any unusual activity and searching for places where Matou Ryokon might be hiding. If you find anything unusual, notify me through your familiar."

"No problem. It's the Tohsaka family's responsibility to oversee Fuyuki City." Rin readily agreed.

"Shirou, Saber, you two come with me to the countryside. It's time to take the initiative to find Illya. Lancer, you stay at the Emiya residence to protect Sakura for now."

Since the Crest Worm and the Holy Grail fragments were removed from Sakura's body, Sakura is now no different from an ordinary person. Xia Yan doesn't want the side quest he worked so hard to complete to be ruined by someone else.

"Illya? Now is not a good time to start a war with Illya," Shirou questioned.

Xia Yan was taken aback, then understood.

Because of his own intervention, Shirou Emiya has not yet had any in-depth contact with Illya, and he is unaware that Illya is Kiritsugu Emiya's daughter, and nominally his older sister.

"No, Shirou, you misunderstand. We're not going to fight this time, well, but we can't rule out the possibility of fighting, but our primary goal is to persuade Illya."

"Should we persuade Illya to give up the Holy Grail War?"

Shirou scratched his face, recalling the ferocious way the white-haired little girl commanded the Berserker.

"I have a feeling it will be very difficult."

Artoria chimed in, "Shirou is right. Xia Yan, if I may be so bold, I don't think Illya is the type to give up the Holy Grail War easily."

Rin also reminded him, "Xia Yan, have you forgotten that Ilya comes from the Einzbern family? The Einzbern family's desire for the Holy Grail is no less than that of the Matou family."