Shirou, who returned from the Fairy Kingdom

You probably can't do it.

This is the answer Kenneth came to after careful consideration, the only way to victory.

Diarmuid, who embraced the glory of knighthood, was unable to obtain the Holy Grail for himself.

He doesn't need a hypocritical knight, but a weapon capable of carrying out orders and ruthlessly slaughtering other opponents.

Kenneth sneered, and then—he raised his right hand, which was engraved with the Command Seals, once again.

"Give the order again with a command spell—"

Lancer, remember the painful betrayals you once tasted.

Volume 1, Chapter 52: I'll take it if nobody wants it.

"Ahh...!?"

Lancer screamed and sat up, his face filled with disbelief.

Under the absolute force of the Command Seal, distant memories flooded into his mind.

That was the dark seal he least wanted to touch.

Before his death, he went hunting with his lord, but was seriously injured in a battle with a demon boar due to a mistake in choosing a weapon.

Although it was a fatal wound that could not be cured, he did not despair because of it.

Finn McCool, the lord whom Diarmuid is proud of and to whom he has sworn allegiance.

He was a great hero who had accomplished numerous great deeds and created countless miracles since his youth.

Finn, renowned for his spear skills and healing abilities, could have easily healed Diarmuid's injuries.

However, I was betrayed.

Betrayed.

Betrayal! Betrayal! Betrayal! Betrayal! Betrayal! Betrayal! Betrayal! Betrayal!

Faced with the dying, loyal knight, what filled the aging hero's mind was the jealousy and anger of their past struggle for the same woman.

Ultimately, Diarmuid died because he did not receive timely treatment.

What killed him was not the numerous malicious curses (Geis) such as "cannot refuse a friend's invitation", "cannot hunt the Demon Boar" and "destined to be killed by the Demon Boar".

He was not the younger brother who was reincarnated as a demonic pig to claim his life.

It was he who swore to dedicate himself to all his loyal lords!

It was a murder he meticulously planned from the very beginning!

"Ah...ah..."

Lancer knelt on the ground, tears of blood falling continuously onto the deep red carpet.

The chivalry they valued more than life itself was utterly worthless in their eyes and was wantonly trampled upon.

"Unforgivable... Absolutely unforgivable..."

The knight no longer wailed or screamed, but only repeated curses, his wide eyes streaming down two streams of crimson tears.

And so, Kenneth's Command Seal was reduced to just one stroke.

Considering that he must retain at least one Command Seal to prevent Servants from betraying him in future battles, Kenneth has effectively run out of Command Seals to use.

However, the stern-faced magician raised his arm for the third time, as if to exhaust his last Master privileges.

"Lancer, peel off your mask of hypocrisy and let me see your ugly true face!!"

　Kenneth gave the order.

But this time, no crimson light burst forth from the back of his hand—

Instead, the three magic furnace cores in the room emitted a blinding white light.

A surge of magical power erupted from the core of the magic furnace, flowing entirely into Lancer's body.

What happened next was surprising.

The moment it came into contact with Lancer, the massive, surging torrent underwent a terrifying magical transformation.

The pure white transformed into the chaotic black.

Rather than saying that Lancer was bathed in murky magic, it would be more accurate to say that Lancer himself corrupted the pure magic of the "stone".

Diarmuid Ua Duibhne's spirit origin is undergoing a horrific distortion.

Although being divided into three parts significantly reduced output, the Magic Core still functioned correctly as intended.

As a magical aggregate from the Age of Gods, a pseudo-wish machine, it responds to the deepest darkness within Lancer's heart.

When it was all over, the proudest knight of the Fiona Knights, the radiant and handsome man, had vanished without a trace.

It appeared there—

It is a dark demon wielding a crimson demon sword and a crimson demon spear, covered in cursed beast skin.

……

……

Shirou had remained motionless in the room for an hour.

He only emerged from behind the curtains after he was certain that Kenneth and Diarmuid had completely left.

The three core furnaces, which originally contained immense magical power, have fallen into slumber and now look like three ordinary shaped stones.

As the mechanism that activates the wish-granting system, it probably won't be able to resume operation until the end of the Holy Grail War.

In that case, there's no point in Shirou destroying it.

In that case, Shirou had a new idea about it.

Okay, I'll take it with me.

Mr. Kenneth, I'll take care of this magical but aesthetically unappealing creation for you.

"...Heave-ho."

Shirou hugged the stone shaped like a torso, and with a sudden burst of strength in his waist, he lifted it up for only half a second before putting it back on the carpet.

It's so heavy...

It was still too much for him at the age of 8.

While it's easy to carry it away, it's difficult to escape silently from this hotel that has been transformed into another world.

Shirou took out a small communicator and contacted Hassan Hyakmae.

Although an impenetrable detection barrier was set up in the vicinity, it was completely unprotected against radio waves, which is the limitation of a magician.

An hour and a half later, Assassin appeared on the top floor of the Hyatt Hotel, accompanied by little girl Hassan.

After seeing Shirou wearing the bone mask, the little girl Hassan followed suit and covered her own face with the mask from her hair.

Shirou pulled Hyakko Hassan aside and whispered, "Why are you out working with a burden like this?"

"You think I want to?"

Assassin said irritably that it was this kid who kept insisting on seeing Shirou.

"No, aren't you spoiling her way too much?"

After Shirou muttered that, Hyakko Hassan glared at him fiercely.

Finally, Hassan the Hundred-Faced was responsible for moving the "body", Shirou was responsible for moving the "wings", and Loli Hassan was responsible for moving the "heart".

The three of them successfully led the stone out of Lord El-Melloi's magic workshop.

……

……

Because three people and three stones would be too conspicuous, Shirou did not go straight home but instead hid nearby to avoid being seen.

Recently, someone has been complaining that Shirou stays out very late and it's hard to see him every day, but there's nothing that can be done about it.

The Holy Grail War will last at most two weeks, so please be patient for these two weeks, Fujii-nee.

It was seven o'clock at night, and the Servants were probably already preparing to start their battle, so Shirou and the other two sneaked back into the Amamiya mansion.

The stolen magic core was temporarily housed in another building.

"Then I'll be going now. It would be terrible if Master found out that my whereabouts were suspicious."

As Hassan the Hundred-Faced was about to leave, holding the hand of the little Hassan, Shirou suggested they stay for a cup of tea and exchange some information.

After thinking about it for a moment, she agreed.

"Tokiomi Tohsaka is clearly agitated because he can't determine the class of the seventh Servant, and he's frantically searching the entire Fuyuki region... Shirou, are you listening?"

"I'm listening, I'm listening."

Shirou and the little girl Hassan left Hyakume Hassan behind and sat in front of the TV to watch a late-night magical girl anime.

Seeing the red-haired boy's completely absorbed expression, Bai Mao Hassan sighed helplessly:

"Kirei Kotomine ordered me to search the residential houses around the shopping street in Fukayama-cho more carefully."

When I was conveying the task, I deliberately avoided the area around your house.

Even so, you still need to be careful to avoid being discovered, or I'll die too.

"Thank you, Assassin-neechan," Shirou said happily.

Suddenly, news broke on the television that large-scale gas leaks had occurred in multiple locations in Fuyuki.

"this is necessary."

Bai Mao Hassan thought for a moment and said:

"In addition, something unexpected happened last night."

Kirei Kotomine ordered "us" to follow Einzbern, who was leaving the warehouse district... Uh, what's wrong with you?

Bai Mao Hassan was startled.

For some reason, Shirou appeared before her sitting upright, so fast that even Assassin couldn't react in time.

The boy placed his hands on his knees, his expression particularly serious and solemn.

"What happened to Einzbern? Please tell me."

Volume 1, Chapter 53: True Love Has Always Been Found in Group C

"Brother Shirou, aren't you going to watch anymore?" Little Hassan asked, turning around.

Shirou's expression turned serious: "I have to talk to Assassin about something serious. I'll watch it with you another day."

Hassan: ...Where did that dismissive attitude from before go?

Then, she recounted the strange events that had occurred the previous night.

After the battle of Warehouse Street, while Shirou was carrying Hassan Hyakko back to the inn, the Assassins were ordered to track down Irisviel who had left.

Then, on the national highway back to their base, they encountered Caster, who had not appeared before.

"Caster?"

Shirou was startled: all seven riders, including Lady Avalon, had arrived, and the final Servant was indeed Caster.

This also means that the person who attacked Assassin last night and aimed at him in the dark was not any of the seven Servants or the seven Mages.

that person……

Shirou gasped, a surge of indescribable excitement welling up in his chest.