Chapter 263 - Kotomine Kirei's analysis of the night.

After watching the story conclude, Kotomine Kirei ordered his Assassin to return from the place, and his shared perception ceased.

When Kotomine ceased the ability, the smell of the winds blowing over the sea and the senses assessing the battlefield stopped; he returned to the church's bas.e.m.e.nt.

Kotomine Risei appeared out of nowhere and stopped in front of Kirei. It was as if he had been listening to Kirei reporting the results of the battle to Tokiomi. As soon as the battle ended, Kirei assumed his position as a regulator, quickly sending his mobile phone orders.

"...Mion district. Yes, the streets and warehouses near the sea. Massive damage... Ah, ah. All right. Mobilize the city guards to clear the battlefield... Use Plan D... I'll rely on you with terrain assessments..."

They had previously made arrangements with the police and local government. Perhaps tomorrow morning's paper would carry a wholly twisted and whitewashed report of the warehouses' tragic scene.

As he watched his father with one end of his eyes, Kirei began analyzing the people who appeared in tonight's battle.

The elite magus of the Clock Tower, El-Melloi, had lost the relic of Alexander that he once possessed.

Tokiomi's spy had once reported this as well. Alexander entered the Grail War as a Rider-class Servant.

But - there is no doubt that Lancer's Master is El-Melloi. After Alexander's relic was stolen by a young man named Waver, he must have obtained the Heroic Spirit Diarmuid's relic.

However, El-Melloi was now out of the equation. His Servant had already been defeated by an unforeseen variable.

Drako, or so he had introduced himself to Gilgamesh, was the boy who had single-handedly killed Lancer. Apparently, he was something like an eighth Master, and beside him was a Servant who seemed to be of Saber class.

Not knowing Drako's Servant's strength, Kirei and Tokiomi had to be careful when dealing with them, especially since it seemed that Gate of Babylon was useless against Drako.

When Matou summoned Berserker, Zouken had reported the event to his father. At the time, neither Kirei nor Tokiomi paid much attention to it. However, they had not anticipated Servant Berserker's immense powers or his exceptional technique of utilizing an opponent's Noble Phantasm. He was a natural enemy for Tokiomi's Gilgamesh.

For the battle to be tilted to Tokiomi's side... the other Servants must first defeat Berserker. This task would be best accomplished by Lancer, but he was now dead. Drako appeared as a candidate to be able to defeat Berserker, along with Saber and Rider.

Caster and his Master are still an enigma since they haven't appeared yet. But considering the Caster class, it was no surprise. Outside of Berserker, all the other Servants have already exposed their true names.

Gilgamesh exposed his Noble Phantasms with great fanfare and put himself at a disadvantage, even though he did not expose his true name. Also, no one noticed the fact that Assassin was still alive. Thus, judging the current situation, Tokiomi still possessed the greatest advantage.

Kirei calculated calmly as he arranged, but there was not a single piece of excitement in his heart.

According to the wishes of the church, Tohsaka Tokiomi must obtain the ultimate victory. Kirei's mission is to help Tokiomi accomplish this goal. He does not see many obstacles in front of that. It was a mission without any real anticipation. It was also the conclusion of everything that had happened over the past three years.

"... Master Kirei."

Kirei tensed. A shadow silently arrived beside him. Someone, a woman wearing a skull mask and wrapped completely in black; it was the Assassin who was responsible for the reconnaissance near the warehouse street.

"... What's going on?"

"Reporting. I've located something strange outside the church."

Assassin respectfully presented him with the corpse of a bat. Though the head was twisted and broken, it was slightly warm - suggesting it had not been dead long.

"A familiar?"

"Yes. Although it was outside the camp, it was obviously placed there to monitor the church."

"…"

Assassin's conclusions were unthinkable. The church is neutral in the Grail War and must not be challenged. Suppose anyone dares to interfere in the affairs of the church. In that case, the regulator may choose to punish them by lowering their Command Seals or temporarily suspending their ability to fight.

There is no reason to risk so much to monitor the church. Unless -

The story that Kirei had lost Assassin and is now under the protection of the church... Is there already a Master doubting the veracity of that event?"

"…"

He took the bat corpse from Assassin's hand. Kirei fixed his gaze on the strange object when he noticed that small electronic parts were engraved in the bat's stomach. A battery the size of a button and... apparently a miniature wireless CCD camera.

If the bat was the familiar of a magus, this was a strange combination. Kirei knew that most magi disdained and ignored world technologies. Just his teacher, Tokiomi, fit into that grouping. This magus, on the other hand, not only uses magical vision, but also uses machines to record everything. This is not something a normal magician would even consider.

"... Complete indiscrimination in his methods. Completely foreign to the pride of a mage..."

Like a bolt of lightning, Tokiomi's words flashed in Kotomine Kirei's mind as he recalled his mentor's words.

Kirei cannot deduce which magus did this, or why he has done this. He fixed his gaze on the small animal for a long time. In his heart, the answer to this riddle was more meaningful than the battle between Servants tonight.

--

With Kirei's thoughts, I conclude the prologue to this war. In the next volume, we will see how we go deeper into the war, along with the addition of the Servant Caster (who has not shown himself until now).

Someone must be asking why didn't I post any chapters the past two weeks, and I'm here to answer that.

I was just taking a break. I had a lot of work from the university so I preferred to put time into it while taking a break from writing. I don't have more university work until June exams, so I have time to write during this month and a half so maybe you can expect more chapters over this following weeks.