Chapter 31: ...Yes, I will do my utmost to live up to your expectations, Shinji-dono.

“…Welcome.”

It was still the dead of night, when even the trees and grass seemed to hold their breath.
The sister ushered her visitor inside.

“What’s the matter? You look surprised.”

With a faint smile, the sister led the visitor further in.

The room they entered was bathed in the dim, flickering glow of candles.
Sensing how tense her guest was, the sister prepared him some tea.

“How many lumps of sugar would you like?”

“――None. More importantly, I take it you already know why I’m here?”

The visitor—Matou Shinji—narrowed his eyes as he questioned the church’s mistress, Karen Ortensia.

It was as if Karen had been expecting him; she had been standing outside the church when he arrived.

“…Yes. I was warned ahead of time.”

“By Lancer’s Master? Or Caster?”

“Both. They told me that most likely, you’d be coming to abduct me before the night was over…”

It was a plan no ordinary Master would ever conceive—kidnapping the Overseer, the liaison between the Mage’s Association and the Holy Church, to force Bazett Fraga McRemitz into the open.
The fact that it had already been leaked left Shinji unable to hide his dismay.

“Yes. Just as you suspect—this church is surrounded.”

“…Tch.”

Before he could voice his thoughts, Karen had already read them.
Shinji bit down on his lip.

“…Why? How… how did they read my intentions?”

He asked, frustration evident at having been caught in a net.

“When Matou’s Saber and Archer destroyed each other, the power balance collapsed. In such a situation, predicting each faction’s next move comes down to one key: the Lancer faction.
They’ve aligned with neither of the two major forces, merely watching from the sidelines—yet their choice could tip the scales.
So… the Lancer faction might decide to use this opportunity to aid the Caster faction in toppling Matou, who holds the ‘Matou Grail,’ their joker.
That would force Matou into action, to avoid the worst-case scenario: Caster and Lancer joining forces.
In that case, Matou—no, Matou Shinji—would choose to attack the Lancer faction, not the Caster faction where Emiya Shirou resides.
Why? Because Matou Shinji feels genuine, unreserved friendship toward Emiya Shirou…”

She was overthinking it. He hadn’t acted with such deep strategy in mind.
But given that events had played out in his favor, the reasoning or the process didn’t really matter.

“…Hah. Me? Feel friendship for Emiya?”

“Based on your past actions, that is the only reasonable conclusion they could reach.”

Shinji gave a wry smile. Dead on.
He was grateful to Shirou for what happened with Sakura, and even before that, to him, Shirou was undeniably a close friend.
Given his own personality, the only one he could be completely honest with was Shirou, the eternal good guy.

He’d thought he’d been careful to hide his true feelings, but the sharp-eyed had seen through him.

“So… what do you intend to do with me?”

A church was a neutral ground—an inviolate sanctuary.
That was the only reason Shinji was still alive, unassailed.
But if he took even one step outside――

“As Overseer, and on behalf of the Holy Church, I urge you: surrender immediately, and hand over the Matou Grail.”

“Refuse. That’s not a conversation worth having.”

Fool. Shinji sneered.
If she had time to make such an offer, she should kill him right now.
The reasons were already there—there was no need to hesitate.

“…If you are willing to repent, the Church will open its gates to you as well. Even taking into account the fact that we are in the midst of a Holy Grail War――”

“I despise dawdlers. Don’t make me say it twice. I told you I refuse. I have no interest in God’s mercy at this point.
And if this place is surrounded… that means Lancer’s faction is here too, isn’t it?”

The “surrounding force” could only be made up of three Servants: Saber, Lancer, and Caster.
With Saber effectively out of commission, that meant Caster and Lancer were here.
They’d probably set some other traps as well…

“That saves me the trouble, then.”

He’d intended to focus on stealth this time, so he hadn’t brought any Servants other than Assassin.
But if the need arose, he could summon them anywhere, anytime.

From his pocket, Shinji took out a single spider and let it rest on his finger.

“――You’re all underestimating me far too much.”

There was one way to reduce any distance to zero—command-seal summoning.

After all, the Command Seal system was originally devised by Matou Zouken.
When Sakura performed a “resummon,” the old monster had made it possible to “channel the Holy Grail’s mana to forge new Command Seals and bind a contract” with the Heroic Spirit anew.

Of course, a Servant who had already been “resummoned” could not be bound by a Command Seal contract again…

“――I won’t allow it! Noli me tangere!”

Those were the words the Son of God spoke to the harlot who tried to cling to Him—a divine rebuke that reversed the one to whom it was given.
Once wrapped around the pitiful corpse of that woman, it became a rejection from her to him.

A red cloth appeared in Karen’s hands from nowhere, flying toward Shinji.

“Unfortunately for you… that won’t work.”

The cloth was slashed apart by a black-bladed knife, wielded by Assassin who had suddenly appeared.

“…So you were hiding here under Presence Concealment.”

“You knew I had been revived, and yet… fool.”

“…Revival is supposed to be a privilege reserved for those chosen by God.”

“And what of it? Servants are, in a way, revivals themselves. If you call that blasphemy, then by taking part in this ritual, you’re just as much a lawbreaker as I am. I have no reason to accept your condemnation.”

Karen’s expression was tense, while Assassin wore a mocking grin.

Behind the two glaring at each other, Assassin’s Master calmly gave an order to the spider in his hand.

“――Sakura. Summon every Servant to me, right now.”

In the next instant, Karen bolted from the room.
Shinji didn’t chase her—instead, he turned to the Servants that had appeared and gave them their orders.

It would be too risky to flee into the sky with Rider without care.
If they couldn’t see Lancer, and his Gáe Bolg Alternative—the “Spear that Pierces with Death Flight”—came flying, they’d have no way to stop it.

So even escape would require careful timing.

“Berserker, Artoria, and Archer—get outside and raise hell.”

The three monstrous figures, bereft of reason, leapt out the moment Shinji’s command left his mouth.

They were Berserkers who couldn’t even activate their Noble Phantasms.
They lacked proper combat technique as well—only their inflated stats, forcefully boosted by massive mana drawn from sacrificial victims, gave them their strength.
All they could do was rampage blindly… but that was still something.
An opponent without a predictable style could be surprisingly troublesome.
Shinji had learned that back in middle school, when he’d hung around the hot-headed Shirou, getting into dumb fights with punk delinquents.

They could buy time, and even wear down the enemy to some extent.

“Rider—once Lancer comes out and has taken some damage, fly me out of here. Don’t immediately leave his attack range—make it look like you’re taking your time before retreating toward the mansion.”

“…Ah, a decoy strategy, then.”

“If it works, Lancer will use his Noble Phantasm. The moment he does, that’s our chance. Assassin—you’ll strike then, using your own Noble Phantasm. If we kill the wielder, his Noble Phantasm activation should be cancelled.”

“Somewhat… an overly risky plan, isn’t it?”

“I know the risks. But if it goes well, we can take Lancer out.”

Shinji answered Assassin’s warning with a grin.
Assassin said nothing more, obeying his Master’s command and vanishing with Presence Concealment.

“Don’t miss the timing.”

“I will meet expectations.”

Rider drove a nail-like sword into her own neck.
The blood that gushed forth traced a sigil in the air, from which a white-winged horse sprang into being.

The two mounted the Pegasus’s back and waited for the right moment.

“Be wary of Caster’s curses.”

“Yeah… not that there’s anything I can do against magecraft from the Age of Gods. That’s entirely on you.”

“…So it is.”

Rider smiled faintly, and Shinji clicked his tongue.

“You said that knowing full well, didn’t you?”

“You seemed tense, so I thought I’d lighten the mood a bit. Come now—relax, relax.”

“Instead of relaxing, you’re just irritating me. Quit it. More importantly, if we keep fooling around, we’ll miss the――”

“Now!”

“Now!?”

They launched from the Pegasus’s back.
It was like riding a roller coaster—but one with no seatbelt, the fastest monster machine in the world.
Shinji could barely keep consciousness, let alone cling to Rider’s body.

He couldn’t even see the scenery or grasp the situation.
The roar of the wind was so loud he couldn’t hear Rider’s voice.

He didn’t even know if he was alive or dead.

――And then.

“Ah, Shinji. To think you’d pass out from something like that… you’ve still got a ways to go.”

When he came to, the sun was directly overhead.

“Wh-what happened?”

His head pounded and nausea was overwhelming.
But he had to grasp the situation.

“…I failed. Lancer never turned his Noble Phantasm on us.”

“Yeah… I’m guessing our conversation was overheard.”

“…What?”

Rider stared at him in shock, while Shinji just shrugged.

“We were dealing with Caster, you know? If we stood around talking like that without even putting up a barrier, of course they heard everything.”

“Th-then… the decoy wasn’t us, but――”

“…Me, was it.”

“Oh, you survived, Assassin!”

“…Yes. Thanks to you.”

Karen’s face was unreadable, but she seemed just a touch displeased.

Shinji gave a wry smile and offered an apology.

“Sorry about that. But I wasn’t about to take risks in that situation. I’ve got things I need to do.”

That was why he had deliberately let the enemy overhear his plan.
By making them believe he intended to kill Lancer, he had instead gained control over their actions.

Just as Shinji had aimed for, Lancer moved not against Rider, but to counterattack the Assassin who was watching for an opening to kill him.

“Well, it would’ve been easiest if they’d just panicked and run from the Berserkers… but I guess those guys aren’t much of a threat after all.”

They had once been among the strongest Heroic Spirits, but stripped of their reason, they had become all but useless.
Artoria was too far gone—her mind far too corrupted to ever recover. And if Berserker or Archer were to regain their reason, they would almost certainly rebel against him.

He let out a sigh, but was still glad Assassin had made it back alive.
A pawn that could think for itself was worth more than anything.

“Still… wasn’t the risk too great?”

“Well, worst-case scenario would’ve been you taking a counter from Lancer’s Master. In that case, your Noble Phantasm would be cancelled, but Lancer’s wouldn’t, and we’d all be dead.”

That hadn’t happened because Assassin had never used his Noble Phantasm in the first place.

“You read my intentions well, Assassin.”

“…I saw Lancer’s Master lying in wait, ready to activate his Noble Phantasm.”

When Assassin had approached Lancer on the battlefield as instructed, he had seen the man’s Master prepared to unleash Fragarach.

At that moment, Assassin understood the truth—that he himself had been the bait.

“I won’t make the same mistake twice…”

Once, he had been killed by Bazett’s Noble Phantasm.
To be killed by the same move twice would be the height of stupidity.

So, the instant Rider burst forth, Assassin struck before Lancer could unleash his Noble Phantasm.
It was a tightrope act of a plan, one that only worked because Assassin had foreseen it to the very end.

“If my reading had been wrong, it would’ve ended in disaster.”

“I trusted you. I knew you’d pick up on what I was thinking.”

“…Shinji-dono.”

Assassin looked quietly at the boy who was his Master.
Shinji called his younger sister “already broken,” but the truth was—he was broken too.

The environment surrounding Sakura had already stolen his sanity as surely as it had hers.
His obsession with Shirou, his overconfidence in himself—it all likely came from that same root.
Those fixations, that faith, were the cries of his heart—a desperate search for salvation as he wandered a deep, dark forest.

“From here on out, I’m counting on both of you. You’re my trump cards.”

Shinji flashed a grin, and Assassin answered with a crisp, “As you command.”

If Assassin were truly to be loyal to this boy, he would take him to Shirou.
That was where his salvation lay—Assassin was sure of it.

But that could not be allowed.
Shinji’s salvation would mean Caster’s victory, and that would deny Assassin his chance to reach the Holy Grail.

That must not happen. He needed the Grail—needed it badly enough to answer the summons and swear loyalty to this boy.

So Shinji would keep dancing for him—until the day Assassin’s hands could finally touch the Grail.

“…Yes. I will do everything in my power to meet your expectations, Shinji-dono.”