This Is My Holy Grail War [54]

By the next morning, Assassin had grown familiar with the Tohsaka family’s mansion. While the guest-receiving living room was immaculately clean, the rest of the house showed signs of mild neglect.

The exterior was similarly overrun. Ivy had climbed across the walls, hinting that the building’s outer surfaces hadn’t been maintained for quite some time.

As the first rays of sunlight touched the horizon, Rin Tohsaka set off for an unexpected destination.

School—a word entirely unrelated to the concept of war. Yet, over half of the Masters participating in this Holy Grail War were connected to Homurahara Academy.

Despite the exhaustion from the previous night’s battle, Rin forced herself to head to campus. Her face betrayed her fatigue, her steps lacked their usual energy, and her muscles screamed for relief. She had barely slept three hours, nowhere near enough to recover.

Assassin watched her silently. He was a Servant who had lived through the Fourth Holy Grail War. In that brutal conflict, Tokiomi Tohsaka had broken rules in his quest for victory, while Kiritsugu Emiya had employed merciless tactics, caring only for his goal of reaching the Grail.

Plots, explosions, and the stench of gunpowder—that was war: merciless and unforgiving, where even a moment’s hesitation meant certain death.

Assassin sighed, turning into spirit form to follow Rin. He had asked her about this peculiar behavior before, but her answer had been blunt.

For Assassin, victory in the Holy Grail War was paramount. For Rin, however, the Grail itself was more abstract—a goal she had never fully grasped. Though she had prepared for this war for over a decade, she had never seen the Grail with her own eyes.

The only knowledge she had came from her father’s journals, which described the Holy Grail as a miraculous, all-powerful wish-granting device.

But Rin had no deep-seated desires she needed the Grail to fulfill. Her goal was to prove herself, to complete the task her father had left behind ten years ago. If she ever did win the Grail, the only wish she would make would be for… money.

But what was the value of money compared to bonds of family and friendship? Most of the Masters at her school were familiar faces—people she had grown up with, laughed with, and known for years. To kill them over a mere cup? Rin couldn’t bring herself to do it.

Fortunately, this Holy Grail War seemed far less intense than the Fourth. Many of the participants were amateurs—lacking in magical expertise or an understanding of the true meaning of war.

“Rin, do you have any orders?” Assassin asked.

“Don’t call me that so casually,” Rin replied curtly. “Address me as ‘Master.’”

She continued, her tone uncharacteristically direct. “I admit, I can’t bring myself to kill Shirou Emiya or Shinji Matou. And if I can help it, I don’t want to kill Mr. Kuzuki either.” Rin spoke openly, trusting Assassin with her thoughts.

Assassin had already proven himself trustworthy. The intelligence he provided about the school had been accurate—there was a mana-draining barrier set up by Rider.

“Killing their Servants shouldn’t be difficult, whether it’s Rider or Saber,” Rin continued. “Assassin, with your skill in close combat, you should be able to defeat Saber, right?”

Though Saber was undeniably strong, she wasn’t at her full potential due to insufficient mana supply. Without the use of her Noble Phantasm, Rin believed Assassin could defeat her through sheer swordsmanship.

“If we’re assuming Noble Phantasms aren’t in play, I can exploit Saber’s mana deficiency to achieve victory,” Assassin said after a brief pause. “I’m not afraid of fighting her.”

“Then that’s the plan. Let’s draw Saber out first,” Rin decided.

She reassessed their situation and opted to avoid direct conflicts with Rider and Lancer for now. Both posed a serious threat to Assassin. Instead, she resolved to confront Shirou Emiya after school, using the information at hand to eliminate what she deemed the most dangerous Servant in the war.

—

That evening, beneath a thin veil of clouds and a luminous full moon, Assassin hid within the shadows, watching as Rin prepared for her visit. As a formal gesture, she planned to meet with Shirou under the guise of a local overseer checking in with other magi.

Though Kiritsugu Emiya had tried to shield Shirou from the world of magic, his Avalon scabbard and natural talent ensured that the boy would inevitably attract mystic forces.

“Make sure you protect him,” Rin instructed Assassin as they approached the Emiya residence.

“Protect?” Assassin echoed, puzzled.

“Don’t make me repeat myself. You’re my familiar, and a familiar follows their Master’s commands,” Rin snapped, though her tone softened slightly. “Besides, he… he’s important to Sakura. As her sister, I can’t let anything happen to him.”

“So? He’s a participant in the Holy Grail War,” Assassin pointed out.

“The Grail is a spiritual artifact. A Master who loses their Servant can’t claim it and is effectively out of the war,” Rin explained. “Even if he summoned Saber, all we need to do is eliminate his Servant.”

To Rin, Shirou, a half-trained magus, posed little threat.

Having made up her mind, Rin adjusted her outfit and knocked lightly on the Emiya household’s door. She intended to greet Shirou and set her plans in motion.

But when the door opened, Rin froze in shock—and even Assassin, observing from the shadows, was taken aback.

The one who answered wasn’t Shirou Emiya.

Instead, it was a girl with hair as white as freshly fallen snow. Her sapphire-blue eyes met Rin’s crimson gaze, and in that instant, Rin understood exactly who she was.

There was no mistaking it: she was a homunculus from the Einzbern family, one of the founding families of the Holy Grail War. An enemy.

“Hello there…” Rin forced a smile, raising her hand in a half-hearted wave.

“Oh my, if it isn’t Rin!” the girl replied with a cheerful curtsy. “I’m Illyasviel von Einzbern. I’m just visiting big brother here. This place is so much fun—at least a hundred times better than the castle!” she said with an innocent, radiant smile.

—

T/N: RUN RUN RUN RUN THERES A… BESERKERRRRR

This is a fan translation of 这是我的圣杯之战 by 向希望祈祷. All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!