Fate Apocrypha Volume 3

prologue

Now... let us speak of the Third Holy Grail War.

The Einzberns had suffered a disastrous defeat in the early stages of the Second Holy Grail War. Despite being one of the three great families who had a hand in the initial construction of the Greater Grail, the Einzberns were a great house of alchemists and weak in matters of war, leading to their loss.

To start anew on a blank slate, rinsed of the humiliation suffered after their defeat in the second war, the Einzberns had contrived for absolute victory in the conflict to follow. By fully utilizing the next sixty years to compare and consider all possibilities, they managed to narrow down the potentials to two Heroic Spirits.

Their first option was to alter the system of the Greater Grail itself and summon a unique Avenger-class Servant. The Heroic Spirit would be Angra Mainyu, the reverse hero who bore the six billion curses of the world. Once brought to this world, this nameless figure – crowned as the 'king of demons', a living calamity made for carnage – would certainly slaughter all other Masters and Servants and allow them to activate the Greater Grail.

Their second option was to abuse one of the systems installed in the Greater Grail by summoning the ultimate Ruler-class Servant, meant to be an impartial authority whom regulated the progress of the War. They would then make use of the great privilege possessed by Ruler: its Command Spells for the other Servants.

Brawn... or brains? After much contemplation, the Einzberns chose the latter. One could say that they picked the safer option; perhaps their previous defeat had robbed them of their confidence in powers higher than they.

The Heroic Spirit they chose to summon as Ruler would be a figure whom had been as close to a 'Saint' as you could possibly find in the Far East, where the war would take place; at the same time, the sainthood of this tragic youth had never been recognized. His name was Amakusa Shirou Tokisada.

While the Einzberns dearly wished to call forth a proper Heroic Spirit befitting the Ruler class rather than some nameless Eastern hero, the act of summoning a Ruler was already a severe interference in the normal operating format of the Holy Grail War. He was a compromise – though the overwhelming advantage of his Command Spells could hardly be seen as such. The summoned Amakusa Shirou was neither outstanding in combat nor proficient in thaumaturgy to the level of a Caster-class Servant, but he continued to win, and survive, in the Third Holy Grail War. He was ever heedful and never gambled, fulfilling his duties even as he thoroughly cemented his defenses. As the third war drew to a close, the Einzberns clearly stood closer than any other to the Greater Grail.

However, the unexpected occurred. One participant of the war – Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia, head of the Yggdmillennia clan – discovered by chance the Greater Grail and, borrowing the power of the military, embarked on an operation to seize it. After that, the Third Holy Grail War fell apart. In the brutal thaumaturgical conflict that followed, surviving Servants tore one another apart in pursuit of the Greater Grail, and the Master of the Einzberns was killed in the shambles of battle.

With the Einzberns lost, and the Tohsakas and Makiris in retreat – only two were left on the field of battle.

One of the survivors was Kotomine Risei. He was a priest who had been sent by the Holy Church as an overseer to the Third Holy Grail War – though he certainly could not have expected to bear witness to such an epic clash between heroes. Despite being not far past twenty years, his hard face – as though carved from solid rock – told any who saw it that he had lived through all pains imaginable. His burly muscles and strong bones were the foundation of a human fortress and his razor-like eyes, beady and sharp, carried a keen gaze. He did not appear to be a priest so much as a veteran mercenary and master of war.