"Even you can't transfer the Command Spells from his hand, teacher?"
In a small workshop, a young boy with short orange hair looked attentively toward a masked man beside him, wearing a striped ceremonial robe with feet resembling iron nails.
This was the man Darnic had called "Avicebron."
He was an eleventh-century poet and philosopher who established the magic foundation known as Kabbalah, leaving an indelible impact on the world of magecraft. Despite his negligible direct combat ability, he was an unrivaled master of Golem creation.
At this moment, his hands glowed faintly with blue light. Before him lay Emiya Shirou, whose wounds were nearly healed but who remained unconscious, alongside a puppet-like homunculus identical to those Shirou had previously fought.
Avicebron seemed intent on transferring the Command Spells from Shirou's hand to that homunculus.
Knock, knock, knock.
A knocking sound came from the door behind them.
"Avicebron, what's the result?"
Darnic asked impatiently, stepping into the room.
The Great Holy Grail War was about to begin. Every magus within the Yggdmillennia clan could feel it—the summoning of the Servants was imminent.
If they failed to transfer Shirou's qualification as a Master, they would have no choice but to force him to participate in the war.
Continued delay might cause the Grail to revoke Shirou's status and choose another magus entirely, making all their efforts to capture Shirou meaningless.
Avicebron shook his head.
"I don't know what methods the Holy Grail has used, but it has bound him and his Command Spells together inseparably. No known method can remove them. Should he die, the Command Spells will vanish alongside him."
Darnic clenched his fists, teeth grinding in frustration. If even Avicebron declared it impossible, there truly was no other option.
Yet, he was unwilling to simply release Emiya Shirou.
"Take him to the guest room," Darnic ordered coldly. "I'll negotiate with him myself later."
If Shirou refused to cooperate, he would simply have him killed.
Darnic hardened his heart. Allowing an enemy Master to escape was out of the question—better to crush this threat before it could bloom.
---
Shirou opened his eyes slowly, vision blurry and head swimming.
Another unfamiliar ceiling. Another unfamiliar bed.
It seemed every time he awoke from a severe injury, it was always like this. Shirou wasn't sure whether to consider himself lucky or unlucky.
Lucky to survive and recover each time he nearly died, yet unlucky to constantly find himself in life-threatening situations.
He touched the wounds on his body with his left hand. They had mostly healed, leaving only internal injuries that were impossible to fully repair. Magecraft merely accelerated natural healing, unable to fix damage beyond what modern medicine could achieve.
"How did I pass out?"
Shirou began recalling the events carefully.
His willpower and mental fortitude had always been exceptionally strong. Even losing that much blood shouldn't have knocked him unconscious. He had intended to project Incursio again to escape quickly—but at that crucial moment, his internal magical energy suddenly stagnated.
"Don't bother trying to use magecraft. I've sealed off your magic circuits. You won't be able to use mana for now."
Shirou tried a few times, confirming it—his mana wouldn't flow, and he couldn't activate his Projection Magecraft at all.
This was entirely new territory for Shirou. Even when trapped in Dr. Stylish's laboratory, he'd still been able to use Projection to break free.
Now, encountering someone who could completely restrict his magecraft, Shirou understood he might truly have no way out this time.
His current physical state was dangerously weak; without Projection, he had no means of escape.
Yet Darnic seemed unsatisfied even with this. Turning back, he softly chanted a few words toward Shirou, whose mind immediately grew hazy, consciousness slipping away rapidly.
Despite Shirou's prowess with Projection Magecraft, he remained a complete amateur regarding other forms of magecraft. Previously, he had only faced enemies who didn't use magic.
Thus, Shirou's resistance to magical attacks was extraordinarily low. Under relentless sleep-inducing spells, he fell into a deep slumber almost immediately.
Now waking up to this unfamiliar ceiling, he had no idea what had happened afterward.
"You're awake."
A familiar voice drifted from the doorway.
Shirou quickly turned his head.
It was the blue-haired man in formal attire—Darnic.
"What do you want?" Shirou tried to project a weapon defensively, but with his magic circuits sealed, he couldn't conjure anything at all.
"Nothing complicated," Darnic answered bluntly. "I merely wish to invite you to join our faction and participate in the Great Holy Grail War."
"The Great Holy Grail War?"
Another unfamiliar term—but Shirou didn't linger on it.
He simply didn't believe a word this man was saying.
After witnessing the brutal massacre carried out by Darnic and the white-haired man, Shirou felt only disgust toward the figure standing before him.
But at this point, Shirou doubted he had any chance of escape.
He could handle the puppet-like homunculi and stone golems, even without Projection—just with less efficiency. But if the white-haired man was present, Shirou could dismiss any hope of fleeing. Without armor, his odds of escaping were practically zero.
"Why did you kill those people?"
No matter how much he despised their cruelty, he needed to understand their reasons first.
"..."
Darnic was momentarily stunned. Weren't they discussing the Holy Grail War right now?
Why was this magus obsessing over those insignificant casualties from before? Wasn't he a magus, after all?
"Because they wanted to kill me," Darnic finally answered simply, honestly, without evasion.
Since he couldn't take Shirou's Command Spells, he had no choice but to genuinely attempt to recruit him. At the very least, he needed Shirou to summon his Servant first. Even if Command Spells were bound to Shirou, the summoned Servant's control could still be transferred.
After all, magical energy was abundant with their homunculi as sources; having one Master command two Servants posed no issue at all.