In every age, a dazzling hero appears to blind people with their legends.

To accomplish "miracles" that the masses could never do on their own, but all miracles come at great cost.

In every age, a sacrifice appears to clean up the "messes" that the masses create.

A hero is of great value, but the sacrifice behind it has none.

In every age, a legend is created by distorting fact. The ugliness of reality is stripped away and what is passed on and remembered is decided by the masses.

In every age, the people have refused to see the bloodshed their "messes" create and the sacrifice that was made to clean it up.

Even though the hero is sacred, the person behind the hero is ultimately worthless...if a hero is created in the first place.

Who the person truly was or what the person truly wished for doesn't matter. Adding words that were never said and removing words that were are a matter of course.

The very life behind the hero is insignificant to what the masses have decided for what the hero should represent to suit their own beliefs.

The dead do not talk and symbols do not speak.

For the world to function, such sacrifices must be perpetually made to appease the masses. Even if what they did had meaning, they themselves individually were ultimately worthless compared to the whole.

The Zeroth Encounter

Speed beyond measure.

Strength without compare.

A completely incomprehensible battle, yet a battle that possessed no lack of grace.

Two knights that could only exist in the realm of fantasy were engaged in battle.

Two lances that struck without pause, yet they never found their target.

The spearman's attack was relentless, but because it had to be, for speed and reach were the only advantages the Lancer-class servant had over the swordswoman in blue.

With the special properties of the spearman's weapons, armour was a non-factor, which the swordswoman soon realized and was about to forgo...

Until she saw something pierce Lancer's chest from behind. Saber quickly realized that a third party was attacking them and quickly covered her decoy master before the force of an explosion propelled the two into the side of a shipping container.

The red Archer perched on a building 4km away did not know what to think of the particular Grail War he was summoned into. It certainly wasn't the one he had experienced when he was alive. He could still recall the blonde haired swordswoman that saved him and would continue on saving him, which was why he instinctively did not shoot her, but the lance wielder she was fighting was a different story. It's a funny thing really as it was a Lancer class servant that she had saved him from in their first meeting. The Lancer class servant of the 5th Grail War had pierced his heart and now he was here, piercing the heart of another Lancer in the 4th Grail War.

Yes, the 4th Grail War, the war which would lead to his beginning, but he knew this was an entirely different war and not just because he had replaced the King of Heroes. He did not know of the Assassin class servant in the war that lead to him, but the one he was working with right now certainly wasn't a Hassan, though the Assassin of his war wasn't a Hassan either.

Perched on top of a lamp post in front of Saber was a black haired girl wielding a bow of the same colour which only reminded her of the master she was currently in service to. The enemy was wearing an outfit that was certainly of this era's youth, with a purple gem adorned on the hand which matched the eyes. Along with the bow, attached to her forearm was an unusual buckler. Perched on her shoulder was some sort of albino animal with finger like projections jutting from the ears on her shoulder adorned with colours that only reminded her of the family she was currently serving.

Certainly, for any participant in the Grail War who was observing the scene could be forgiven to think that this girl was the servant of the Bow, but she wasn't.

Though slightly disoriented by the surprise attack moments ago, streaks of violet light shot forward towards Saber and the white haired woman that accompanied her, but all those projectiles were deflected with ease.

"Archer...you...", Saber was cut off as "Archer" shot a second volley. The newcomer had no interest in talking. Certainly, the enemy in front of her reminded Saber of her true master during this Holy Grail War, Kiritsugu.

Kiritsugu who was witnessing the scene behind the scope of his WA-2000, was slighlty unnerved by the recent events. "Archer" saw an opportunity for an easy kill and simply took it. It seemed that despite being "heroes", not all the heroic spirits could be counted on to be anything like his own and at worst, as pragmatic as he was, but to Kiritsugu, "Archer" made a mistake. No ranged fighter in the right mind would reveal their own position to the enemy if it was avoidable. Maybe that was some backwards thinking from a bygone era where soldiers fought on open fields, yet the "Archer" in his sights did not match any descriptions of the past heroes he had read up on, but what was he to expect when even his own contracted spirit was of the opposite gender than the legends had told. What was also unusual was the small otherworldly albino creature perched on her shoulder that vaguely reminded him of the ideal specifications he had proposed to Acht for the design of the lesser Grail Vessel.

"A small, portable, self-sustaining package shaped like a small animal."

That suggestion had triggered the events in which he had to save the one who would become his wife.

" Did the other participants prepare another grail vessel?"

Abandoning such thoughts, he was about to order Saber to counter attack, but then he realized doing so would only leave Irisviel exposed.

It didn't matter if Irisiviel was a master of this war or the grail vessel, "Archer" would shoot her with those arrows of violet light as soon as Saber left her side, so Kiritsugu ordered her to take his wife to safety.

Despite not summoning the servants he had expected, Tohsaka Tokiomi was pleased with the results as he viewed the battle from one of his familiars. Though he had some distaste for what Archer and Assassin proposed, in the end, they produced results.

Lancer was eliminated from the war and hopefully all those observing the battle on the docks were fooled into thinking Assassin was "Archer".

This deception served three purposes.

The first was to hide the true range of Archer's bow.

The second was to hide the true Archer's existence.

The third was for the other participants to overestimate Assassin's direct firepower.

Assassins could not generally compete with other servants in a direct battle, but they all generally possessed great ability in the art of escaping.

Whatever noble phantasm Archer had used, it was powerful. Powerful enough to dispatch a servant in a single hit and incinerate the surrounding area in an explosion.

If that were not enough, it could be used as far as 4 kilometres away and hopefully, the other participants would remain ignorant of this fact.

Saber complied with Kiritsugu's order and carried Irsiviel off bridal style with their escape aided by smoke shells Maiya had fired from a distant mortar.

A certain student with his burly contracted spirit decided not to reveal themselves at the moment as they were certain "Archer" wasn't interested in any alliance and would shoot them on sight.

A knight in armour obscured by unnatural back fumes appeared on the battlefield in search of the "Archer" his master had ordered to attack, but just as quickly as she appeared on the battlefield, "Archer" had left it. "Archer" had simply blinked out of existence before the armoured Berserker-class servant could swing the telephone pole he had armed himself with.

The initial scuffle of the Grail War left many disappointed. Kariya failed to catch Tokiomi's servant, but there was someone else who was in greater disarray.

In an instant, Kayneth's hopes of winning the Grail War were destroyed in an instant.

The only thought on his mind at the moment was...

"What sort of mage would be happy winning in such a way?"

From what he knew, it had to be the Magus Killer, the freelancer that was hired by the Einzbern. The alchemist family had little combat ability. Such a family needed some insurance to win.

"...I see...It was all a part of that disgraces plan... and the Einzbern family went ahead with it."

His Lancer would be engaged with the Einzbern's Saber, while the Magus Killer's Archer would shoot Lancer in the back securing an easy victory for the Einzbern.

Even if he was able to cheat the system by getting his wife to supply Lancer wtih prana, his opponents took it too far.

Mages do not follow conventional laws, so they have to at least follow the rules they set before themselves.

It seemed that having 2 of the 3 knight classes under their disposal wasn't enough.

Such disgraceful actions had to be punished, but Kayneth had no means to do so without a servant.

Winning was an impossibility now, but that didn't matter anymore.

Kayneth would need to ally himself with one of the remaining Masters and take out the Magus Killer personally. Surely, proper mages would appreciate his expertise.

Behind the Lines

Before the fighting began Kirei posed a question to the servant he had summoned. For the contestants of the Holy Grail War, no future was guaranteed, so Kirei was compelled to ask. He knew he was born different from everyone else. He could never derive joy through normal means and the answer to why that surfaced time and time again was something he could not accept. As he conducted research on the enemy masters, one man in particular drew his attention. A man he believed could understand him. He believed that they were similar and the servant before him carried herself in the same way. If a summoning without a catalyst would draw the servant one was most compatible with...then...

"At the end of your journey...What answer did you find?"

"An answer I will never accept...even if I know it to be undeniably true."