Shinji Matou at Your Service

Chapter 4: The Ins and Outs

The Holy Grail originated from a miraculous object in Christian legends.

However, in the magical world, it has a special definition. It is synonymous with miracles, the product of the Third Magic, the "Materialization of the Soul," and is recognized as the attempt to reach the "Root," the gateway to the almighty wish-granting machine.

The Root is also known as the "Vortex of the Root," the starting point of everything, containing all the "causes" of existence. Where there is a cause, there is an effect, and thus, in terms of existence, it represents the "ultimate knowledge." It is the ultimate goal that all magus dream of, and it is a realm that humans can never achieve in their lifetime.

According to the legend, by reaching the Vortex of the Root, humans can grasp the fundamental causes and laws of everything in the world. They can alter the structure and order of the world–in other words, create a new world and destroy the old world.

This is because it is impossible to achieve this.

It is because of this that everything in Fuyuki City has come into being.

About 180 years ago, the ancestors of Sakura, Nagato Tohsaka, the founder of the Matou family, Makiri Zouken (Zouken Matou), and Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern, who bears the title "Lady of Winter," secretly constructed the Holy Grail system in Fuyuki City.

Nagato Tohsaka provided the spiritual land with powerful magical energy, which is Fuyuki City itself.

Makiri Zouken created a ritual called the "Holy Grail War," where seven Masters and their Servants fight each other to collect magical energy and summon the Holy Grail.

Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern sacrificed herself and became the core of the entire system.

The "Holy Grail War" occurs every 60 years and has already undergone three iterations, each failing for different reasons.

The original three individuals, Nagato Tohsaka, passed on the dream of reaching the root to future generations and died naturally.

Makiri Zouken, driven by his ambition, resorted to any means necessary to prolong his lifespan until he forgot his original intentions. If not for Shinji's interference, he would have continued to cling to his obsession, plotting, and causing a series of tragedies.

Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern has remained at the center of the Holy Grail system, but her personality has long since disappeared.

This is Shinji's understanding of the Fuyuki City Holy Grail system. Most of them are accurate, with only a slight deviation at the end.

The personality of the "Lady of Winter," who serves as the core of the system, has not completely disappeared but is preserved in a residual form within the system. Through a fortuitous encounter and connection with Shinji after his transmigration, it manifests as a spirit or ghost.

It sounds absurd, doesn't it? Shinji himself also thinks that it is absurd. His initial reaction was that he had fallen under some unknown "magic" since Type-Moon is known for its mysteries, and anything strange happening would not be surprising.

However, as he delved deeper into the situation, Shinji was able to confirm that it was indeed Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern's personality, or rather, a part of her personality. It carried Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern's memory but lacked the extreme rationality and coldness of the original person.

According to Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern, she is influenced by one of the Servants in the Holy Grail system.

Unlike the Tohsaka and Matou families, the Einzbern family is an artificial human family, and Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern herself is also an artificial human. From the time of her birth, until she went to Japan to construct the Holy Grail system, she remained in Einzbern Castle and had no contact with humans; therefore, she had very few human emotions.

Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern's body died when the Holy Grail system was complete, but her soul and personality did not dissipate directly. Without external intervention, her already indifferent personality would not have been able to hold out for long.

At this time, the first Holy Grail War began and as Servants died, their existence was injected into the Holy Grail system.

Servants are the incarnations of Heroic Spirits, who are heroes who have become legends because of their great achievements and have become objects of worship. As Heroic Spirits, they are released from the constraints of time and move to the Throne of Heroes located outside the world. Heroic Spirits transcend the timeline and can be summoned in any era, whether it is the past or the future.

However, only the "World" can summarize the true form of the Heroic Spirits. Unfortunately, humans cannot summon the true form of Heroic Spirits and can only summon them as incarnations called Servants.

Even as incarnations, their existence is incredibly powerful. Their emotions influence Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern's gradually dissipating personality, making her increasingly human-like. This gave rise to the desire to witness everything until the end. Ultimately, this desire continued through the miracle of the Third Magic and became the current Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern.

If everything had gone as planned, Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern's personality would not have had to do anything and could simply be witnessed silently.

However, an unexpected incident has occurred. In the Third Holy Grail War, which took place 59 years ago, the Einzbern family violated the rules by summoning the eighth Servant, resulting in the contamination of the Holy Grail and the loss of its proper function. As a result, Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern's personality became increasingly unstable owing to the presence of an anomaly. If this continued, her personality would disappear by the time the Fourth Holy Grail War began.

Fate is indeed strange. Two wills that wanted to survive broke the limitations of life and death at the same time, met each other, and made a contract to help each other.

With Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern's assistance, Shinji obtained power, defeated corruption, and opened up the future.

With the contract with Shinji, Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern manifested in a spiritual form similar to a Servant and, with Shinji's help, expelled the corruption from the Holy Grail, restoring it to its original state.

Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern's body is the core of the Holy Grail system, and naturally, her personality holds a small portion of the magical power of the Holy Grail system. Although this portion of power is negligible compared with the entire Holy Grail, it is still powerful for humans and powerful enough to open Shinji's meridians throughout his body. Ahem, I mean, the closed magical circuits due to his family's decline.

With the infusion of magical power, Shinji successfully awakened his magical circuits, obtaining qualifications that match those of ancient magus families, and in this process, he unexpectedly came into contact with the origin of his bloodline, triggering a brief phenomenon similar to a "divine descent."

The Matou family, originating from the European Makiri family, can be traced back to the great hero of mythological times, the first-class Perseus, who is even considered the "Second Coming of God." Perhaps for this reason, Perseus and Shinji share a very similar nature and have excellent compatibility.

After the "divine descent" ended, Shinji calmly realized that he had obtained an immensely powerful trump card – Perseus' Noble Phantasm.

The Noble Phantasm, as the final armament of a Servant, is a materialized miracle, the proof of the hero held by the Servant, and the crystallization of humanity's yearning for miracles. It is known as the "Noble Fantasies of Prestige," the strongest weapon and a symbol of the Servants themselves.

This is precisely why Shinji, in the body of a six-year-old child, was able to slay Zouken and gain his greatest reliance for the future.

Unfortunately, Perseus's Noble Phantasm is incredibly powerful, and Shinji himself is too weak. With his magical power, he can only sustain a single Noble Phantasm for a few minutes, and using multiple ones simultaneously would further increase the strain.

This situation determined that the matter of killing Zouken had to be resolved quickly. If this could not be accomplished before his body was given out, everything would be lost.

Therefore, before taking action, Shinji pondered and simulated countless times, ultimately deciding to launch a surprise attack when Zouken moved against Sakura.

Only at that moment would Zouken's defenses be weakest, and only at that moment would there be an opportunity to simultaneously destroy Zouken's body and soul, truly killing him without leaving any future trouble.

To ensure that nothing went wrong, Shinji prepared months in advance, including but not limited to tampering with Zouken's underground magus workshop while he was away on a business trip, deliberately creating vulnerability. He also contacted Kariya, who had been away from home for many years, asking him to deal with Byakuya and any potential servants that might appear.

The previous assassination mission seemed effortless and flawless, but in reality, it was extremely perilous. A single misstep leads to a deep abyss.

When Shinji escorted Sakura back to her room, he was already at his limits. His mental, emotional, magical, and physical strengths were depleted, relying solely on sheer willpower.

Once the outcome was clear, the willpower dissipated, and he immediately fainted.

Even when unconscious, Shinji continued to smile.

For the sake of a home without shadows and a bright future within the reach.

Even though he had to bear a heavy burden, he willingly accepted it.