Tohsaka Rin: "Damn old bug!"
She hadn't expected to see that disgusting thing again after ten years.
But then again, if the old bug was still alive, there was no way the Fifth Holy Grail War could proceed without his interference.
Fortunately, this time, Shirou Emiya had been the one to kill him.
Tohsaka Rin glanced cautiously at Sakura beside her, worried that this might trigger her childhood trauma.
Sakura: "I'm fine, sis."
Sakura smiled, looking completely composed, but Tohsaka Rin could feel the tension in her body.
If that old bug were standing before her right now, she'd probably beat him into paste herself.
Hassan of the Hundred Faces: "Cursed Arm, when did you become so strong that you could fight King Arthur on equal footing?"
Hassan of the Cursed Arm: "I don't know either. Is that really King Arthur in the video?"
Hassan of the Cursed Arm: "Well... I can't judge King Arthur's strength, but it does seem like I've gotten a bit stronger in the video."
Mordred: "Hmph! If my father weren't so weakened in the video, you wouldn't stand a chance against him!"
Hassan of the Cursed Arm: "Really? Seems I got lucky then..."
[This time, the scene shifts to a dark cave, where the Tohsaka sisters are embracing each other.]
[In the video, Sakura looks disturbingly different. Her purple hair has turned gray, and she wears a black dress adorned with blood-red lines. Her entire appearance exudes an eerie, unsettling aura.]
[The camera angle shifts, revealing the truth, the two sisters who seem to be hugging each other are actually trying to kill one another.]
[Tohsaka Rin's abdomen is pierced, yet even as she falls, the knife in her hand never reaches Sakura. In the end, she tumbles down the hillside.]
[The video ends here.]
Matou Kariya: "Ah! Rin-chan, Sakura-chan… how did it come to this?!"
Matou Kariya, who spoke even less than Kotomine Kirei, was finally moved to react after witnessing the scene.
Tohsaka Tokiomi: "How could this be…?"
This was the consequence of sending Sakura to the Matou family.
If the Q&A group didn't exist, would his daughters have really ended up killing each other?
Luvia: "This—"
Even she, despite her usual rivalry with Tohsaka Rin, was at a loss for words.
Sakura had already explained the Q&A group to her, and she had gradually come to understand some of it.
But to think that if Sakura hadn't gone to her household, she would have killed her own sister…
No wonder her family had opposed her coming to Fuyuki. The Holy Grail War was nothing but trouble.
Sakura: "..."
Even someone as composed as Sakura found it difficult to accept this scene.
Thanks to the Q&A group, she had remained in contact with Rin, and their relationship had become quite good.
Seeing Sakura trembling, Rin pulled her into a hug and reassured her.
Tohsaka Rin: "It's okay, Sakura. This isn't going to happen."
Sakura: "Mm..."
With her sister's comfort, Sakura finally calmed down.
Gilgamesh: "Hahaha! What a splendid farce."
Zabiko: "Gil, it's not right to mock others' tragedies."
Gilgamesh: "Silence! Stay out of my affairs!"
[Ding! Answering phase begins now.]
Avatars appeared on everyone's panels, each representing a character from the video.
Displayed characters:
Shirou Emiya, Cú Chulainn, Bazett, Artoria, Kotomine Kirei, Atrum, Medea, Soichiro Kuzuki, Shinji Matou, Rider, Gilgamesh, Illya, Hercules, Sasaki Kojiro, Hassan of the Cursed Arm, Zouken Matou, Red A, Tohsaka Rin, Sakura.
However, unlike previous quizzes, the Masters and Servants were not arranged in separate rows. Instead, they were all mixed together.
Below the portraits, two blank areas were displayed—one labeled Master, the other Servant.
Waver counted the participants and found that there were nine Servants and ten Masters.
Good lord, this Fifth Holy Grail War was shaping up to be even more chaotic than the Fourth.
"Strange... Why are all the profile pictures mixed together this time? Is there some hidden meaning?"
Waver attempted to drag one of the portraits, and to his surprise, another one appeared beneath it.
The system never set questions without a purpose. What could this mean?
Wait—Bazett's Command Seals had been taken by Kotomine Kirei, which meant Cú Chulainn was now considered their Servant.
And Matou Shinji… he had contracted two Servants in the video, Rider and Gilgamesh.
I see. This isn't a simple one-on-one matching question. All teams need to be accounted for.
With that in mind, the ones he could confirm were:
Shirou Emiya + Artoria
Bazett + Cú Chulainn
Kotomine Kirei + Cú Chulainn
Matou Shinji + Rider
Matou Shinji + Gilgamesh
Illya + Hercules
Additionally, there were:
Soichiro Kuzuki + Medea
Zouken Matou + Hassan of the Cursed Arm
These last two were still uncertain, and there was always the possibility that the video was misleading.
That left only four Masters unaccounted for: Atrum, Tohsaka Rin, and Sakura. And two remaining Servants: Sasaki Kojiro and Red Archer.
Based on the situation, it seemed that one of the Tohsaka sisters had taken over Atrum's Servant after he was killed by Medea.
No, it didn't have to be one of the Tohsaka sisters—it could have been someone else.
But that made identifying Atrum's original Servant even harder.
That arrogant fool probably wouldn't have chosen an Assassin like Hassan of the Cursed Arm.
Then… could it have been Rider? After all, this version of Matou Shinji didn't seem like much of a magus.
Damn, this was tricky.
Most people in the group, including El-Melloi II, were struggling to figure out Atrum's and the Tohsaka sisters' Servants. Meanwhile, Chihiro was laughing to himself, fully aware that this question was full of pitfalls.
After racking their brains, ten minutes passed in the blink of an eye.
[Ding! Time is up. The quiz is over.]
[Now announcing the correct answers.]
The portraits on the screen began moving, rearranging themselves into their proper pairings.
[Artoria, Masters: Shirou Emiya, Medea, Tohsaka Rin.
Cú Chulainn, Masters: Bazett, Kotomine Kirei.
Medea, Masters: Atrum, Soichiro Kuzuki.
Rider, Masters: Sakura, Matou Shinji.
Gilgamesh, Masters: Kotomine Kirei, Matou Shinji.
Hercules, Master: Illya.
Sasaki Kojiro, Master: Medea.
Hassan of the Cursed Arm, Master: Zouken Matou.
Red Archer, Masters: Tohsaka Rin, Medea.
[Unfortunately, not all answers were correct.]
"What the hell?!"
The group chat immediately erupted into chaos.
This Holy Grail War was insane. Why were Servants switching Masters so frequently?
Wasn't Medea supposed to be a Servant? How did she end up as a Master?
And so she was Atrum's Servant? So the video had been about her murdering her own Master!
"Hehehe..."
Medea felt rather proud. It seemed she had accomplished quite a lot in this war. She just didn't know how things would end for her.
But to think that Atrum had been her Master…
Haha, yet another betrayal.
Oh well. She was the infamous Witch of Betrayal, after all.
But as for that King Arthur.
Medea had to admit, the first time she saw Artoria, something had clicked in her mind.
So this was the legendary King Arthur? A small, cute girl?
For some reason… she suddenly felt the urge to scoop her up and cuddle her.
"Is Atrum making pointless moves again?"
With the example of the Fourth War's Gilgamesh incident in mind, Waver felt like he had already grasped the cause of Atrum's death.
It was just in his nature.
Red Archer: "Tohsaka Rin, I was originally supposed to be her Servant."
Before his death, he and Rin had only been partners, barely even friends, let alone lovers.
Gray: "So this quiz was that difficult?"
Gunnar: "You've got to be kidding me. Who could possibly get all of this right?"
Chihiro: "Relax, this kind of question is just an exception. They're not usually this hard."
He had intentionally held back from answering everything correctly. After all, no one could have guessed that Medea would become a Master unless it had been explicitly stated.
[Ding! The first question is over. The second question is about to begin.]
[Video starts.]
[Fuyuki City—Homurahara Academy.]
[Inside the Kyudo Club, Shirou Emiya is wearing a kyūdō uniform, holding a longbow. He takes aim at a target 20 meters ahead.]
["Shua—"]
[The wooden arrow strikes the bullseye. Fujimura Taiga and the Kyudo Club's coach watch with satisfaction.]
[In addition to them, Matou Shinji and a red-haired girl—Mitsuzuri Ayako—are sitting nearby, watching Shirou Emiya's performance.]
["You have a bright future, Emiya Shirou."]
[Fujimura Taiga crosses her arms and says proudly, "See? I was right, wasn't I?"]
["He could win the rookie competition."]
[The Kyudo coach notes that Shirou Emiya carries a maturity beyond his years.]
[It looks like a promising start, unfortunately, fate has other plans.]
["You got injured while working part-time before the competition. What the hell were you doing?"]
[Matou Shinji leans against the doorframe, sighing. "Seriously, why are you always causing trouble for everyone?"]
[At this point, Emiya's left arm is in a cast, wrapped in bandages. With an apologetic expression, he scratches his head and says, "Sorry. But with Shinji and Mitsuzuri here, it's fine even if I don't participate... Anyway, my bad!"]
(To be continued.)