The Holy Grail War. A conflict between seven Masters, mages that the Grail itself deems worthy of proving their worth, claiming the right to hold the omnipotent vessel capable of granting any wish. The term ‘war’ is very fitting for this as, since its inception long ago, the formerly honourable clash between mages and their Servants has turned into more of a senseless bloodbath filled with deception and betrayal. There is usually a 60-year gap between the war’s reoccurrence, although this time, the fifth time, it has only been ten years before the Grail has become active again.
My father, Tohsaka Tokiomi, fought in the previous war, and lost both the war and his life in the process. His apprentice, Kotomine Kirei, however, has returned alive despite promising to put his life on the line to protect my father. That fake priest has since then inherited his late father’s place at the Fuyuki church and has been selected as the Fifth Grail War’s supervisor, the man who is supposed to ensure that all the Masters participating are not getting outsiders involved and who provides shelter to Masters who have lost their Servants and have no further desire to fight.
Every Master is supposed to summon a Servant – a hero from the ancient times, sometimes even from other worlds than ours. Each hero belongs to one of the seven classes – Saber, Archer, Lancer, Rider, Caster, Assassin and Berserker, depending on their abilities and belongings attached to them in their myths. There must be a Servant of every class in a Holy Grail War, and only by all seven being summoned does the war finally start.
The three knight classes – Saber, Archer and Lancer – are considered to be the strongest among them, although any Servant has their chance to win. In every previous war, the Saber Servant made it all the way to the end, making it probably the single most powerful class.
Which is exactly why I need to summon one myself. I am going to fulfil the long-standing wish of the Tohsaka family and obtain the Grail in order to reach the Root, the first and ultimate magic known to man. For that I need to summon the strongest Servant and work with them to eliminate the six other Masters and eventually lift the wish-granting vessel.
To summon a Servant, one needs a catalyst of some sort. It can be anything that has a connection to the hero or their myth – a piece of their belongings, or perhaps even a fragment of their bony remains.
Thankfully, I have managed to get my hands on a very good catalyst – the signet ring of house Pendragon, the azure dragon lords. If I can summon the legendary Kretiros Pendragon himself, my victory is as good as certain. As to how I got my hands on it, well, an anonymous contact gave it to me via the fake priest.
I can barely see anything in the dark basement of my house. It’s well past midnight, meaning my magic is at its peak, making this the perfect time to summon my Servant at last.
One last time I check if everything about the ritual is prepared properly – the summoning ring is written flawlessly, the time of the day is optimal, and my catalyst is ready. Now all that’s left is to say the words and my Servant will be summoned.
As I chant the summoning, the air in the cellar grows increasingly heavier. It’s as if every word I utter drains all the oxygen from this place and replaces it with raw power.
Well, technically that is not too wrong – the magic concentration of the air has increased more than tenfold as the Servant is being called upon.
Finishing up, the entire place gets engulfed in a cloud of smoke and dust. Did I make it?
An extremely powerful source of magic can be felt in the middle of the summoning circle. Success! Now all that’s left is for them to be Saber and victory is certain.
As soon as the dust settles down, a slim figure of a young man appears before me. He’s roughly a head taller than me, piercing me with beautiful azure-glowing eyes. If not for the short well-maintained beard, you could easily mistake him for a girl with that kind of face and long wavy hair stretching all the way just above his waist.
Finally, there is a sheath hanging on his back and – inside it – a sword with a hilt decorated with some engravings, giving off his class identity as a Servant.
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‘So, are you my Master?’ his voice resounds in the dark cellar. It is a warm but powerful one, showing that he is a hero to be respected.
‘Yes, yes I am. You’re Saber then, I take it?’
First a slight moment of surprise, then a smirk appears on his face: ‘Very well then, what is your name, Master?’
‘You didn’t ans-!’
‘I am Sunamar Pendragon, the only son of Kretiros Pendragon and Eilena Icefell and the rightful heir to the great empire of Dargonas. I ask you again, what is your name, young lady?’
His tone is pissing me off. He’s supposed to be a Servant, a familiar, yet he’s talking as if he’s the one in power here.
‘I’m Tohsaka… Tohsaka Rin. Your Master. And you are my Servant of the Saber class.’
I get an eyebrow raised in response.
‘Sorry to disappoint you, but my class is not Saber.’
I am taken aback. Why would a hero of any other class wield a sword? What class could he be if not the knight of the sword?
‘What are you, then?’
‘Lady Rin, I am but a humble Caster Servant at your service.’
C... Caster? Is this some kind of a sickly joke he’s playing on me? He is nothing like a great mage from the past! Why is he looking so sincere as he’s saying this?
‘Oh, by the way, I can hear whatever you’re thinking, Master. I wouldn’t dare make jokes about something this serious. Did I actually disappoint you just now?’
No… Not like this… Why is this happening to me? It was supposed to be Saber, the strongest class, that I summon! Now I’m not only stuck with a different Servant, but even worse, not even one of the knight classes!
We are off to a great start, really. How am I supposed to win the war now, with one of the weakest class Servant I could possibly pull out?
Even worse, I am a mage myself, making the synergy in between the two of us very poor.
My last thoughts seem to have upset him as he gives me a cold stare:
‘So, you think I’m weak just because of the class I was assigned while being summoned? You do realise I could crush you before you even notice any hostility from me, right?’
That wasn’t the smartest move from me. Pissing my Servant off before the war has even started may not be the most efficient way to form a strong bond between the two of us. His behaviour was asking for it, though.
‘Perhaps we could move our conversation somewhere more hospitable than this dark basement?’ I offer.
We quickly move to the living room. Without any hesitation whatsoever, my Servant takes his seat on the large sofa and prompts me to take a seat in the armchair that is right opposite of it.
I give him a slightly annoyed look as he makes himself comfortable without much seriousness. So far he’s been acting as if his entire summoning here was merely a joke.
‘So, I assume you have no intentions of apologizing for your rudeness earlier, so we might as well just move on. I will make you choke on those words as soon as I get the chance to show my power.’
He seems to be quite relaxed, especially considering the environment that he’s never experienced before.
‘Are you not feeling uneasy at all? After all, our present day is nothing like the world you’re used to.’
A short sigh escapes his mouth. ‘How much do you know about me, Master?’
Taken aback a little, I think out loud: ‘Well, for starters I know that your parents were quite the legends.’
Right as I finish the first sentence, his relaxed and somewhat cheerful face suddenly got covered by a shadow. Yes, my parents, indeed, he utters in a silent, barely audible tone.
‘That would make you a draconian, a half-dragon, right?’ I ask.
Seemingly back to reality from his depressive trip, he nods. ‘That’s right. Sadly, I didn’t really inherit much from mother, making me practically a pure draconian.’
‘I remember hearing a story about your battles. You were famous for being a lightning-type mage of great talent and, on top of that, a great swordsman that could best even the strongest in the craft.’
The last remaining thing I remember about Caster is that he died very young and, according to the stories I’ve heard from father, with more regrets than one could count. I don’t think this is the best thing to mention, though, so let’s just keep that to ourselves for now.
Chuckling as he hears me talking, he rubs his beard as if processing all the information he got from me.
‘Yes, I suppose calling me a lightning-type would make sense, since it’s the element I use for the most part. But if I was only capable of using one magic, I wouldn’t be summoned under the Caster class, that’s all I’m going to tell you. For the rest, you’re going to have to wait until we find a worthwhile opponent that I can show off against.
By the way, are you alright, lady Rin? You seem a bit unwell, perhaps a rest is due?’
Oh, yes. Now that he mentions it, my body fatigue kicks in with great volume. It’s probably around three in the morning, perhaps even later. It might be wise to go sleep and resume all the interactions with my Servant once I’m full of energy again.
‘If you wouldn’t mind continuing this conversation at a later time, I could use a good rest.’ He seems to accept my wish without any objections whatsoever, wishing me a good night and saying he’s going to stay close by to make sure no harm is brought upon me while I’m asleep.
It only takes a few moments before I’m dead asleep. The summoning sure was exhausting. Hopefully Caster won’t do anything crazy while I’m resting. Sure, normally a powerful mage would be gifted with wisdom, but in his case you can never be sure.
Servants are, according to the fake priest, given common knowledge about the present time when summoned, meaning he shouldn’t struggle with ordinary things around the place. In case he breaks something, I’m going to make him pay later.
Before I notice it, my body gives in to the exhaustion and my consciousness drifts away into the world of dreams.
