Kiritsugu Emiya's thoughts were simple.
As long as the fighting of the Holy Grail War didn't erupt until the very last few days, then Illya would be able to live just a little longer.
And as a father who had utterly failed in his responsibilities, Kiritsugu wanted to use that remaining time to truly stay by Illya's side.
Strictly speaking, he hadn't yet lost his qualifications to participate in the Holy Grail War. As long as he found another Servant, he could reenter the struggle at any moment.
But now—now he finally understood.
If he couldn't even save his own daughter, then talking about saving the entire world was nothing short of a cruel joke.
Kiritsugu had never imagined that the price of participating in the Holy Grail War—of chasing his so-called dream—would be this devastating.
It was only because of the Grail's power that he had been sent ten years into the future, and only after hearing the truth from a young man who was not much younger than himself had he finally realized what he had truly lost in the Holy Grail War a decade ago.
What happened to Irisviel had already occurred ten years prior. There was nothing the present Kiritsugu could do to change that.
At the same time, he had felt a fleeting sense of relief—because the Holy Grail War from his timeline had shifted into this one, Irisviel, as the Lesser Grail, would not die here.
But before he could even fully process that relief, fate dealt him another blow.
The pain of losing his wife was now about to become the pain of losing his daughter.
This Illya had lived an unbearably harsh life—growing up alone for ten years without her parents, and now standing on the brink of the same fate her mother had once suffered.
If a wish from the Holy Grail could save Illya, Kiritsugu would stake his life without hesitation.
Unfortunately, that was nothing more than a trick question with no solution.
To make a wish, one had to win the Holy Grail War.
And to win the Holy Grail War, Illya had to die first.
Even the so-called "omnipotent wish-granting device" could not resurrect the dead.
Looking at the haggard Kiritsugu and the utterly listless Illya in his arms, Ren Kuroda finally let out a quiet sigh and reluctantly agreed to Kiritsugu's request.
He promised that as long as no other Servants came looking for trouble, they would refrain from taking the initiative until the final three days of the Holy Grail War.
Just as Kiritsugu received that promise and prepared to leave to speak with the other Masters, Mordred suddenly called out to him.
Then she turned her gaze toward Ren, who looked completely dumbfounded.
Kiritsugu had once been her original Master, and the two had actually gotten along reasonably well.
More than anything, Kiritsugu's love for Illya had deeply moved her.
As someone who was also born as a child of tragedy, Mordred felt a powerful sense of empathy toward Illya, whose fate was just as cruel.
Yes, Kiritsugu had undeniably failed as a father.
But he truly loved his daughter—and wanted to make amends.
And what about herself…?
Mordred didn't want to see the same tragedy happen again.
If possible, she wanted to help this pitiful girl.
"Assassin," Mordred said bluntly, "if I remember correctly, Caster once said that you're a Heroic Spirit from the future, right?"
"And according to her, you seem to know many things the rest of us don't. You even said that the Lesser Grail's 'inevitable death' could be changed, didn't you?"
The moment Mordred said that, Ren froze on the spot.
Then he slowly turned his head to look at Medea, who was suddenly avoiding eye contact.
If Ren remembered correctly, he had only ever said those words to Medea.
And it had been during a conversation about contingency plans—back when Medea was worried that their enemies were too strong for them to win the Holy Grail War.
More importantly, he had said it after a certain… "mana replenishment session."
If Mordred knew about it, then the culprit was obvious.
It had to be Medea.
And that was exactly the case.
Everyone already knew about Medea's hobbies. Now that she had acquired a life-sized collectible that closely resembled Saber, her dormant cosplay soul had reignited with explosive force.
Unfortunately, Mordred was a feral problem child.
Even though Medea was now her Master in name, Mordred had zero interest in cooperating with Medea's eccentric passions.
Using Command Spells for something like that felt absurd even to Medea herself.
And since Mordred was extremely curious about why Ren was so monstrously strong, Medea could only satisfy her own interests by… selling out Ren's information.
Of course, Medea still knew where to draw the line. She didn't reveal anything about Ren's true origins.
As for the Lesser Grail issue—she probably just thought it didn't matter anymore and let it slip.
If Ren ever found out that Medea had betrayed him purely to fuel her hobbies, he would absolutely call her an idiot.
Honestly, getting Mordred to wear those outfits would've been easy.
Just tell her they were clothes Saber once wore.
If that didn't work, then bring out the Saber photoshoot from before.
One Saber photo in exchange for one outfit—easy deal.
Come to think of it… where had Medea put Mordred's photos?
He still reread Saber's photos like treasured literature late at night. At this rate, the collection was bound to grow again.
—
Words spoken without intent, heard with intent.
The instant Mordred finished speaking, Kiritsugu—who had been about to leave—came to a dead stop.
He turned toward Ren with an expression of utter disbelief.
Without even a moment's hesitation, the man known as the "Mage Killer," a man whose pride ran to his very bones, dropped to his knees in front of Ren.
"You really have a way to save Illya?" Kiritsugu pleaded.
"Then please—help her! She's just a child!"
"If there's a price to pay, I'll bear it all. Even if it means offering my life in exchange—take it. Please!"
At that moment, Kiritsugu was like a drowning man clutching desperately at a final lifeline.
In his original timeline, Irisviel's fate had changed. That meant the tragedy didn't have to repeat itself.
All he wanted now was to save this Illya—to make up for his failure as a father in this world.
Looking at the frail Illya in Kiritsugu's arms, Ren found himself powerless against creatures classified as "small girls."
He let out a long sigh.
"If we're just talking about removing the Lesser Grail," Ren said slowly, "then the difficulty isn't that high."
"But if you want Illya to survive without being affected after it's removed, there are two major problems."
Hearing this, Kiritsugu forced himself to calm down and nodded, waiting silently for Ren to continue.
He understood better than anyone—saving the Grail while abandoning Illya's life would render everything meaningless.
"First," Ren said, "the Lesser Grail is stored in Illya's heart. If she's to avoid being affected by the Grail's magical energy, she'll need a brand-new body."
"For the Einzbern family—experts in homunculus creation—that shouldn't be a problem. After all, that's your in-laws' specialty."
"The real issue is the second problem."
"How do we extract Illya's soul from her original body and transfer it into the new one?"
If Ren could still use the Demon King Contract to summon his Hundred Yokai, this problem would be trivial.
Among his subordinates were countless spirits—beings like samurai ghosts who specialized in matters of the soul.
Unfortunately, Ren himself had very little practical knowledge about souls.
Within the Five Elements and Yin-Yang arts, extracting souls—or even recalling the spirits of the dead—was theoretically possible.
But those techniques were extremely advanced.
At Ren's current half-baked level, he only possessed some theoretical understanding of soul separation. He had never even met a true master capable of summoning souls.
To be honest, Ren wanted to help Illya.
But with his incomplete grasp of Yin-Yang techniques, he was terrified of messing everything up.
If Illya's soul were extracted but failed to enter the new body, then in the yokai world she would become a vengeful spirit.
If bound to a place or object, she'd become an earthbound spirit.
But under the rules of this world?
There would be no such thing.
If it failed—she'd simply be gone.
Originally, Illya could survive as long as the Holy Grail War continued.
But if Ren botched this… it would be game over instantly.
That was why he had never brought it up himself.
After hearing Ren's explanation and concerns, Kiritsugu stood there in silence.
The choice before him was far more agonizing than anything Ren faced.
If Ren intervened, Illya had a chance to live.
But if it failed, Kiritsugu would lose even the final moments he had left with her.
And as Ren had said, preparing to free Illya from the Lesser Grail couldn't wait until the very end of the war.
Even now, although the war had temporarily calmed down, there was no guarantee another Servant wouldn't suddenly fall at any moment.
Each time one did, Illya's soul would grow weaker—and the weaker her soul became, the lower the chance of a successful transfer.
"So what the hell are you hesitating for?!" Mordred suddenly snapped.
"Do you think Illya herself wants to keep barely clinging to life like this for a few extra days?"
"Now you remember your responsibility as a father? Where the hell were you earlier?!"
"Assassin could get killed by another Servant any day now! And then you won't even have the option to choose!"
Mordred stormed forward and slapped Kiritsugu across the face, unable to hold back any longer.
She wasn't Illya.
But in that moment, she felt like she understood her pain all too well.
Honestly—
Rather than living on like this, barely breathing…
It was better to gamble everything on one final chance.