In this crossover anime, Yoshikage Kira longs for a peaceful life.

Mordred's eyes blazed with fury, but Saber's voice remained calm:

“I don’t hate you, because I know you’re just doing the right thing. You believe in him, so you can kill these children without hesitation. I believe in him too, but I’m still saddened by it.”

"Oh."

Mordred sneered, dismissing Saber's words with disdain.

"So-called humans, when they stand on the edge of life and death, become incredibly ugly, despicable, and tyrannical. Humans are two-legged beasts that rape women, slaughter children, and plunder the starving. On the battlefields stained with blood, evil spirits are everywhere in eight or nine out of ten cases."

"But that's precisely why, even when humanity is mired in hell, it must prove itself! It needs someone to personally demonstrate that no matter what adversity it faces, humanity can live nobly."

"The only ones who can prove this are the knights, the shining stars of the battlefield! A knight must illuminate the entire battlefield with righteous indignation and high morale. Let those souls that are about to fall into evil regain their sense of honor and pride, and become upright human beings once again."

"Putting aside your own anger, sadness, and pain, and prioritizing the greater good, is the responsibility that a knight must bear!"

"Mordred, perhaps you are a qualified warrior, a powerful warrior, but you can never be a knight, because you cannot understand what responsibility is. That is the difference between us."

Saber was long gone, but Mordred still stood in the same spot, amidst the hellish landscape of corpses.

"A knight?"

Mordred gazed at the bright moon in the sky, Saber's words echoing in her mind.

She was simply stating a fact calmly, without any attitude, neither affirming nor denying, neither showing kindness nor dislike.

But even so.

For Mordred, this was still a rare exchange, a conversation between the 'father and daughter'.

"You're right, I really don't understand."

Mordred muttered to herself that her swordsmanship was solely for survival and killing, a skill that only those who constantly fought, fought, and killed could learn. Etiquette and chivalry—these useless things had long been discarded by her.

Even though she was among the Knights of the Round Table, and even though she had never felt proud of it, she knew that she had always been an outcast among the knights.

Because they are different, they feel lonely.

Perhaps that's why she so desperately wanted her father's approval?

But,

"I've long since stopped caring about knights."

Mordred chuckled, slung his sword over his shoulder, and headed toward the castle.

I don't care about being a Knight of the Round Table or anything like that; I don't care if I can never be a knight again.

Because she had long understood that the Knights of the Round Table possessed only a false glory, and that only the inner circle was her true home.

and……

"I am a qualified soldier."

Mordred's face broke into a smile like that of a child receiving praise; it was childish, but radiant.

Does this count as her father's approval?

-----------------

"Five riders remain."

Standing by the window in the castle corridor, gazing at the tranquil forest outside, Yoshikage Kira softly asked:

"Alice, what do you think this Holy Grail War will turn out like?"

"Isn't it destined to fail?"

Irisviel's little face was covered with big question marks.

"Defeat is inevitable, but that doesn't mean the Holy Grail War will be a complete failure."

Yoshikage Kira shook his head. Caster and Lancer had already left the stage, and the Holy Grail was destined to remain unfilled, but that was precisely the problem!

The Holy Grail War is held every sixty years, and each time seven Masters are chosen to summon seven Servants. Of these Masters and Servants, only the last one standing gains the right to have their wish granted.

But in reality, it was a huge scam.

The Holy Grail War is held every sixty years because the Greater Grail needs to draw magical energy from the ley lines of Fuyuki City.

However, rapidly seizing a large amount of magical energy would deplete the ley lines, so it must be done slowly over time, and the magical energy required to gather enough for one Holy Grail War is exactly sixty years.

When the Greater Grail has stored enough magical energy to summon seven Servants, it will select a suitable magus to become its Master, who will then summon seven Servants of different classes. These seven groups of Servants and Masters will fight each other until only one group remains, at which point the Holy Grail War will come to an end.

In other words, the magical power to summon Servants is actually provided by the Greater Grail, while the Master is merely a 'support' for the Servant to remain in the world.

The souls of Servants who are defeated or lose their Master and are unable to continue existing will be collected by the Lesser Grail, converted into magical energy, and stored within it.

When the souls of five Servants are present, the Lesser Grail already possesses the power of the Holy Grail. When six Servants enter, it is filled with magical energy and becomes a wish-granting machine that can grant wishes.

So the question is, what is the role of Servants in this Holy Grail War?

Every sixty years, the Greater Grail can store enough magic to hold the Holy Grail War.

This magical energy was used to summon seven Servants, and when these seven Servants are defeated, this magical energy returns to the Holy Grail.

In other words, the total amount of magic power remained unchanged from beginning to end!

Since the total amount of mana doesn't increase whether a Servant comes or not, and may even be depleted by summoning a Servant, and all that's needed to make a wish is a huge amount of mana, then what's the point of having Servants? Why not just skip the step of summoning Servants and directly make a wish to the Greater Grail, which has enough mana, from the very beginning?

The answer is simple: Servants are used to make holes.

The true purpose of the Holy Grail War is to imprison the souls of all Servants with the Lesser Grail, to reclaim their power to the Throne of Heroes outside the world, to open a hole in this world, and to fix this hole with the vast magical power accumulated in the Greater Grail, thereby creating a door to go outside the world!

Does this mean that the Greater Grail and the Lesser Grail do not actually serve the same purpose?

The Holy Grail was designed for making wishes.

The design of the Lesser Grail and the summoning of Servants were intended to create openings in the world, allowing magicians to access the Root.

Therefore, in the initial design, 'making a wish' and 'reaching the source' were likely two parallel systems.

Using the magical energy accumulated in the Greater Grail, Servants are summoned, and the power of their return to the Throne of Heroes is used to open a hole in the world. With the death of a Servant, the magical energy is returned to the Grail, essentially going through a cycle from one hand to the other, so the total amount of magical energy remains unchanged, allowing one to continue making wishes to the Grail.

Under this 'win-win-win' scenario, the prototype of the Holy Grail War was established through the efforts of the three starter families.

The Einzberns were wealthy and powerful, and were responsible for providing the Greater Grail, the Lesser Grail, and the foundation for summoning Heroic Spirits.

The Matou family was responsible for providing the concept for the Servant system.

The Tohsaka family is responsible for providing sacred sites, the secret techniques for opening holes in the world, and the system for creating Servants.

However, during the first Holy Grail War, after the ritual began, the three starter families discovered that only one group could use the Holy Grail. The originally envisioned win-win-win situation was broken, and the goals of the three groups could not coexist.

As a result, the three starter families began to fight each other. In addition, due to the lack of Command Seals, the Servants did not obey the Master's orders, which ultimately led to the failure of the Holy Grail Summon before it could even take the form of a ritual.

The Second Holy Grail War learned from past lessons and introduced the Command Seals system to control and command Servants.

However, the ritual ultimately failed because all participants perished.

The Third Holy Grail War was similar, but it failed because the Lesser Grail was destroyed.

The ongoing Fourth Holy Grail War is doomed to fail because the souls of Lancer and Caster have been destroyed, and the ritual to 'open the hole' requires the gathering of the souls of at least six Servants.

of course.

The 'soul' of a Servant being killed does not mean that their magic power will also dissipate.

This magic will still return to the Greater Grail, becoming the starting point for the 'wishing' ritual.

This leads to another question—

Since the Holy Grail War will not end until only one set remains, how long can this war last at most?

The first three Holy Grail Wars ended in just two weeks because the various factions fought each other in pursuit of the Holy Grail.

But what if neither the summoned Servants nor their Masters crave the Holy Grail, nor do they intend to fight each other? Does that mean these three Holy Grail Wars will continue indefinitely, until the next Holy Grail War begins?

"Huh?"

Irisviel tilted her head, as if she had never thought about this question before.

Although it sounds a bit outrageous, it actually seems like there's actually room for maneuver.

After all, they already have two Servants, Saber and Berserker. As long as they both give up their pursuit of the Holy Grail and stop killing each other, the Holy Grail War will never end.

“Berserker is fine; she herself said she doesn’t pursue the Holy Grail, but Saber…”

Irisviel muttered to herself that if she wanted this Holy Grail War to continue, she would first have to understand what Saber's wish was, and then find a way to persuade Saber to give up the Holy Grail.

But she still doesn't know what Saber's wish is, because Saber has been intentionally hiding it for some reason.

Should we ask again?

As Irisviel was thinking this, a roaring sound rang in her ears.

Moreover, the roar that tore through the night put a huge strain on her magic circuits, and the dizziness almost made Irisviel collapse.

The booming sound came from nearby thunder, and the ensuing magical shock meant that the barrier in the forest outside the city had been attacked. Although the barrier itself was not something easily destroyed, the spell had been broken.

"Are you alright, Alice?"

Yoshikage Kira reached out and caught his wife, who was about to fall, in his arms.

"Hmm~, it's nothing, I was just startled. I didn't expect such a reckless guest to visit. Should we go and greet him?"

"It should be Rider. Let Saber and the others handle it."

-----------------

"Yo, Saber!"

Having just defeated Caster, Saber was on her way back to the castle when she was intercepted by Rider, who was driving his chariot recklessly through the forest. Rider even gave her a hearty smile and waved to her enthusiastically.

Snapped!

The black-armored knight appeared behind Rider's chariot, staring at his back with a cold gaze.

"Rider!"

Webber hurriedly tugged at Rider's sleeve, pointing him to the location of the Berserker.

Rider turned around, looked at the black-armored knight's face, which was exactly the same as Saber's, and greeted him cheerfully:

"Oh, Berserker's here too? I thought you guys would be like before, fighting to the death the moment you meet. It's surprising that you're so harmonious now. In fact, the fact that Berserker was able to regain his sanity is completely beyond my expectations."

"By the way, Saber, why are you wearing this awful armor? *slap* Didn't you wear any fashionable modern clothes tonight?"

Wearing a white T-shirt and jeans, Rrier proudly patted the words "Grand Strategy" on his chest.