“Hello, sleepyhead.”

Haruki woke up to Arch’s voice. It was different from their usual conversation inside his head. Her otherworldly appearance still gave him a shock, though not as much as their first meeting. He noticed something more important—her aura. It compelled him to obey as if she was his queen. Being a creature of pride himself, he resisted the feeling with every fiber of his being.

Arch smugly put the pipe between her lips as she crossed her legs. She clapped twice. “Welcome back to where it all started. Let’s get you hooked up with your new Noble Phantasm.”

She seemed completely different from the tsundere he had grown used to. She was more confident in talking face to face than talking through the system.

“How much will it hurt?” he asked.

“Enough to bring back all of your childhood memories.”

“Weak.” He extended his hand with a feeble smile. “Try me.”

Arch flipped her palm and summoned a crimson tear-shaped crystal. The crystal hovering over her palm possessed an impressive amount of magic energy, more than even the boosted Medea.

“I extracted all of the Noble Phantasm’s power,” she said. “Lie over there.”

“You won’t rape me, right?” he asked with a poker face. Something about her made him wary. It was an instinct, a sixth sense, some might say.

Arch was a female dragon, and she could simply overpower him in this place. Be cautious or be dominated, his instincts warned him.

‘No shit.’

He no longer judged people by their appearance. His seemingly innocent mother was an enchantress. Who knew what kind of hidden personality this woman had?

The pipe pressed in Arch’s mouth vanished, and her lips curved into a mischievous grin. “I might have raped you when you were sleeping.”

Haruki’s lips formed a flat line. “You didn’t.”

Sex with Arch will give him more than simple authority. His core, his magical energy, even his muscles showed no change.

“Hahaha, you got me there. Fine, I have no plans of forcing myself on someone.”

Haruki sighed and laid back on the bed. “Let’s get this over with. I wanna sleep.”

Arch got up from the red couch and sat down on the bed. Ever so slowly she reached out and touched his face. “I can give you pain immunity if you desire so. It will cost you ten of your low-rank coupons.”

“No thanks.”

He loved his gacha coupons too much to use them for something so trivial.

“I’m starting then.”

Arch pressed a finger on his wrist, and his arm split open. As scary as his exposed muscles appeared from his perspective, he felt no pain. The crystal drifted down and melted into his blood vessels.

“Brace yourself.”

As Arch’s words ended, his nerves exploded with agony. Haruki dug his teeth into his other wrist, coping with the pain with a different pain.

The foreign magical energy filled his arm. His own magical energy rejected Shirou Amakusa’s energy, but Arch controlled the flow of crimson and white magical energy and guided the crimson to envelop white.

“This should do.”

Arch heaved a sigh of relief and watched him gritting his teeth. A gentle light filled her golden eyes. She crossed her arms, her fingers twitching as though she was holding something back.

Once the process was done, Arch touched his arm again. The wound closed up as if it was never there.

Haruki got up and clenched his fist. He couldn't feel much difference right now.

“Check it again after you wake up.”

He nodded. “The pain wasn't as bad as I expected.”

“Let’s say you’re more resilient than I expected.”

“Always underestimating everyone, that’s a dragon for you.”

“We’re superior to everyone. It’s our right to look down on them,” Arch stated in a cool, matter-of-the-fact voice.

“Don’t give me Gilgamesh vibes now.”

He despised a lot of anime characters but Gilgamesh took the cake in Nasuverse for his stupendous arrogance. Yes, two-thirds of his body was god, and he was the hero whose epic derived all the heroes. But he was bested by Shirou, who was barely considered a mage by every standard. That alone earned him the title of the most foolish person.

Arch just snorted. “Go now. I have some things to do.”

Haruki glanced around the room; there was nothing here except for the bed and couch. “What do you even do here?”

“It’s a random room I created to meet you,” she said smugly. “You will never see my real home.”

“Is that where you keep all the treasures and dildos?”

“Yes—no! I don’t use dildos!”

“A dragon goddess riding a dildo,” Haruki muttered with a serious expression and nodded. “I have watched something like that.”

He closed his eyes and tried to remember the name of that holy scripture.

Arch was having none of the disrespect. She waved her hand and sent him back.

***

The stores in Mount Miyama closed before midnight. However, one certain restaurant never followed that rule. It always kept its lights open two hours into midnight.

Today wasn’t any different.

The owner was a young woman with a double bun hairstyle and an apron over her cheongsam. She took pride in being the manager of Koushuuensaikan Taizan, the only quality Chinese restaurant in Fuyuki City.

“Where is he?” she asked, eyes fixed on the door. “Why is he late?”

As though answering her question, the door opened and the visitor she had been waiting for entered. A black-haired man in his thirties. He silently walked over to the table and took a seat.

“Batsu-chan, sorry for being late.”

Batsu practically melted from his deep voice. “Nothing to worry about, Kotomine-san. Your order is coming in a sec!”

She heated the stove and warmed the only dish Kirei Kotomine ate.

Awaiting his late-night snacks, Kirei connected with his servant.

“Lancer, what is the status of Rin and Hayashi?”

“That girl didn’t leave the boy’s house.”

Kirei nodded his head at Cu Chulainn’s report. It confirmed that Rin had joined hands with Haruki.

‘Isn’t it interesting?’

He and Gilgamesh never factored in Haruki’s involvement in this war. Gilgamesh had Sha Naqba Imuru to see every possibility in the world. Yet, he could not foresee Haruki’s participation. Then again, he had known Gilgamesh for ten years now. He didn’t find anyone worthy of him to use his full strength. All but one servant Gilgamesh battled during the Fourth Holy Grail War.

Iskandar, the King of Conquerors.

‘Where are the sixth and seventh?’

The war had officially started, but the two masters never made their appearance. He felt like he failed in his responsibility as the Supervisor of the war.

‘Lancer, search for the last two masters.’

“Yes… Master.”

He could hear Cu Chulainn gritting teeth from hundreds of meters away. Lancer’s futile resistance and his will to avenge thrilled him to no end.

“Here is your order, Kotomine-san.”

Batsu placed his order and cheerfully skipped back to the kitchen.

“Thank you, Batsu-chan.”

Kirei stuffed his face with a spoon full of mapo tofu. The fiery taste burned his tongue and provoked beads of sweat on his forehead. It wasn’t an understatement to say only two things made Kirei Kotomine feel alive. One was ruining others’ lives and the second was this dish. 

He unzipped his vestments until his chest and continued to savor the exquisite taste of mapo tofu. By the time he finished the dish, his entire body was bathed in sweat. As he put down the spoon, his black heart boomed. His eyes stretched wide as a look of surprise flashed on his always calm face.

“This—”

—was a call.

The entity, who bestowed him with a new heart, was summoning him to do its bidding.

Kirei’s lips cracked a smile.

The war just got more interesting.