Shinji Matou at Your Service

"Rin, one day the Holy Grail will appear. Obtaining it is the duty of the Tohsaka family. More importantly—if you want to be a magus, that is an unavoidable path."

Those were the words she heard ten years ago.

The man who spoke was tall, with sharp features. He always dressed impeccably, never smiled, and seemed as though he had stepped out of a classical painting.

That man stroked her head—or rather, in hindsight, it wasn't stroking at all, but more like awkwardly patting. It was the first time he had shown her affection in such a manner, treating his daughter like that.

Then, that man—her father—turned and walked away with a resolute, heavy expression that her younger self couldn't understand.

He had already prepared himself never to return, standing on the battlefield of an intermittent war, ready to kill and be killed.

At that time, she had fought back her tears, watching her father go off to battle, and then silently prayed with her mother that he would come back alive.

In the end, her father returned, as they had hoped—but not as a victor.

He had lost many things in defeat.

Outwardly, he didn't seem much different from before. He was still tall, still left a deep impression, still serious and composed, with elegant manners.

But as his daughter, she knew that something inside him had died. His pride, his life as a magus, everything he stood for had been lost in that war. Worse, that spiritual death continued to spread outward.

She and her mother tried their best. Her mother sought out the best doctors and experts throughout the country, while she threw herself into her studies, hoping that one day she would be capable of healing him.

However, their efforts could not prevent her father's gradual decline. Five years ago, one day, his life came to an end.

On his deathbed, he held her hand and said to her:

"From now on, the Tohsaka family will be in your hands. You must protect your mother and fulfill the dreams I and our ancestors couldn't achieve. It's a little early, but I believe in you."

The unfulfilled dream of the Tohsaka family was singular—to obtain the Holy Grail. This was her father's last obsession as a magus and the greatest regret of his life. After losing his abilities as a magus, he had placed all his hopes in her.

She had long since decided to inherit her father's will, the will of the person she admired the most.

For the past five years—or rather, for the ten years since her father's defeat—she had only one goal.

The preparations for battle had long been made, both physically and mentally. Though she had never killed anyone, when the time came, she wouldn't hesitate, even if her hands would never be clean again, even if she would be killed in turn.

She knew this would hurt her mother, but even if her mother lost her, she still had her younger sister, Sakura, and Uncle Kariya. That man, though not as capable as her father in many respects, cared for her mother even more deeply. With him around, she had no worries.

As for her father, the father who had passed away filled with regret—he had left nothing behind except for this daughter who had inherited his magecraft and will.

She wasn't willing to accept that.

She, Rin Tohsaka, would restore her father's honor. She would prove that Tohsaka Tokiomi's daughter was the best.

Tonight, she would stake her life, her father's legacy, and their family's honor.

She opened the ancient magic box passed down from her ancestors, crafted by her masterful father, for one final check before the battle.

The gemstones left by her master.

The magic wand her father had left behind.

The mystic codes she had made herself.

The gemstone liquid she had prepared for today.

And the trump card she had spent five years preparing, a weapon that would shock the world.

In addition to these priceless treasures, the most valuable thing in the magic box, worth half of the Tohsaka family's fortune, was a seemingly ordinary stone, its surface covered in fine patterns resembling the scales of some creature.

Her father had told her it was the fossil of the first serpent's shed skin, and that it could summon the strongest Heroic Spirit in human history.

Back then, her younger self had asked—if you had the strongest servant, why did you still lose?

Her father sighed and replied: He hadn't been there when that servant was defeated, so he didn't know the exact details, but he speculated that there were two reasons.

First, that man was too proud. If he didn't encounter someone he acknowledged, he wouldn't fight seriously, even if it meant losing.

Second, though the Heroic Spirit was the strongest, the class wasn't. If that man had manifested in the Saber class, perhaps the outcome would have been different.

Rin had always remembered her father's words.

This time, she would summon the strongest Heroic Spirit in the strongest class, obtain the Holy Grail, and claim victory.

The deep night.

The clock's hands were approaching 2 a.m.

For Rin, this was the time when her magical wavelength peaked.

At its highest point, exactly at 2 a.m.

The strongest class had to be summoned at the best possible moment—that was only natural.

Within the limits of her ability, this was her first and final chance. She couldn't afford even the slightest mistake.

After a brief nap to adjust her condition to its peak, she took the items from the box, her heart a mix of nervousness and excitement, and headed to the basement.

That was the workshop her father had left her. It was where he had summoned the strongest Heroic Spirit ten years ago.

Now, it was her turn.

Walking through the corridor.

Descending the stairs.

At that moment, the lights in the stairwell suddenly turned on. In the living room not far away, two people stood.

A man and a woman, both looking at her with complicated expressions.

"Mother, Uncle Kariya," Rin greeted them with a smile.

"Why are you still awake so late?"

"Rin, do you have to do this?"

Her mother, Tohsaka Aoi, asked with teary eyes.

"Yes, mother, please forgive me."

Rin bit her lip, but her resolve didn't waver. She knew her mother was the one who had suffered the most. Her father had died because of the Holy Grail War, and now her daughter had made the same choice. She hadn't told her mother about the Command Seals, but they had found out anyway.

"Rin," the man who had taken care of her since she was a child, and who might one day become her stepfather, Matou Kariya, spoke up.

"Though it may not be my place to say this, I must remind you—the Holy Grail War is extremely dangerous. Anything can happen..."

"Don't say it, Uncle Kariya," Rin interrupted, shaking her head.

"I already know about the Matou family's preparations, and I'm ready too."

"In any case, the Holy Grail War is dangerous, and anything can happen. It's not too late to change your mind."

"I won't regret this. It's the duty of the Tohsaka family."

Rin shook her head once more. Her heavy yet determined expression was exactly like her father's all those years ago.