The agility of the Black Assassin, rated at B rank, was truly justified. By the time Fiore was still changing into her nightwear, he had already passed through the bounded field surrounding the castle and arrived in a dense forest filled with shrubs.
"Here should be fine, right?"
A blur in the air, the young man deactivated his concealment and revealed himself.
"We mustn't be discovered."
"Don't worry, I have already merged with the Greater Grail. The nearby ley lines are all under my surveillance. This is a place I specifically chose."
A familiar female voice, though somewhat ethereal, echoed in the young man's ears, bringing him immense comfort.
"No familiars, no surveillance magecraft, and it won't be detected by other Servants. Plus, it's a ley line node."
"Are you alright, Justeaze?" The young man's face was filled with concern.
"I'm fine, I just can't leave for now. So, everything is up to you, Shinji. This time, it's an unprecedented fourteen Servant conflict. You must be careful." The concern in the female voice matched the young man's.
"Don't worry. Even the weak me from five years ago made it to the end. And now, I am far stronger in both experience and power than I was back then. Not to mention, I have this Servant body you specially crafted—by the name of Matou Shinji, I swear I will achieve victory."
"Yes, I believe you."
Indeed, the Black Assassin summoned by Fiore was none other than Matou Shinji, who had traversed worlds.
Since a Matou Shinji already existed in this world, the "Old Man of Jewels" couldn't bring his body directly into it; only his soul, which had previous experience of traversing worlds, could be carried over.
It's worth mentioning that this world's Justeaze had long since perished, leaving no trace behind, so she would not be affected.
What followed was straightforward. The Greater Grail itself was Justeaze; her soul's return faced no obstacles. After reuniting with the Greater Grail, Justeaze and Shinji, temporarily protecting his soul with the Grail's power, began their preparations.
The Grail was a pre-set system. Even Justeaze couldn't alter it but could only use its power without disrupting its operation. To obtain the Grail, they had to follow the established rules of the Grail War.
There are two ways to participate in the Grail War: as a Master or as a Servant.
When Shinji and Justeaze arrived, the Yggdmillennia family had already prepared seven Masters, with Darnic and Roche having summoned their respective Servants.
In this situation, even if there were ways to seize a Master's spot, they dared not recklessly do so. Given Darnic's tight control over the Yggdmillennia family, any non-Yggdmillennia Master would be swiftly eliminated.
Although Shinji knew from the "Fate/Apocrypha" storyline that this Grail War would evolve into a seven-versus-seven battle, Darnic summoning Vlad III as a Berserker made him wary of trusting the plot too much—in "Fate/Apocrypha," Vlad III's class was Lancer.
Moreover, as the "Old Man of Jewels," frequently traversing parallel worlds, had said, new parallel worlds are born and die over time. Deviations between the worldline and the plot are possible and can be explained by the concept of parallel worlds. For instance, Shinji's greatest concern: the annihilation of fifty combat magi, the failure of the backup system, and the Grail War reverting to a seven-Servant mode.
Thus, Shinji abandoned his initial plan of using the unique property of his soul, unaffected by the body, to possess a newborn homunculus and become a Master in the Grail War. Instead, he leveraged Justeaze's influence on the Grail system, intervening in the Heroic Spirit summoning system to materialize his soul as a Servant, unimaginably joining the Grail contest.
His chosen Master was Fiore. Regardless of the catalyst she used or the incantations she added, she would summon Shinji, as predetermined by Justeaze.
Fiore was chosen not only for being a beautiful girl and having exceptional magical aptitude but also for her personality and limited mobility.
Because of Fiore's outstanding magical aptitude, the declining Forvedge family pinned high hopes on her, eagerly wishing she could make a name for herself and revitalize the family. In such an environment, Fiore devoted almost all her energy to magecraft and related fields, leading to her ignorance in areas outside of magecraft.
One classic example was when Caules once mentioned the internet, and Fiore earnestly asked, "The web, does that refer to a net?" This naivety was precisely what Shinji needed. It would have been much harder to be accepted as an anonymous assassin by someone like Celenike or Caules.
Her limited mobility also provided convenience for Shinji's various covert actions.
However, Fiore being ability to produce a catalyst related to Perseus truly surprised Shinji. After all, he possessed Perseus' Noble Phantasm, and it wouldn't be wrong to call him a sub-Servant of Perseus. This pure coincidence could only be explained by their destined connection.
Summoning as an Assassin was also predetermined, primarily because of the class's inherent skill, Presence Concealment. This skill could completely mask a Servant's presence, making it suitable for covert operations. Since Shinji intended to act secretly, this skill was indispensable.
As for the Assassin class having the lowest attribute parameters among all classes, this did not apply to Shinji. Shinji wasn't summoned from the Throne of Heroes but materialized as a Servant based on the information carried by his soul. Regardless of the class, his attribute parameters remained consistent and represented the highest attributes he could handle, akin to the "Golden Body Mode" under relic enhancement.
Without a doubt, this was a cheat code given to Shinji by Justeaze, who had regained partial control of the Holy Grail system. Making modifications to his Servant body was just the beginning; she had prepared more powerful cheats to seize the Holy Grail.
Now, she was about to use what Shinji considered the most powerful cheat.
"As we anticipated, the summoning ritual in Japan is about to begin. Are you ready?"
"Ah, I've been ready for a while. We will control the last piece of the Holy Grail War puzzle."
"Then let's go. Quick in and quick out, and stay in touch."
Beneath the earth, the magical energy accumulated over sixty years became active. An invisible, colorless force created a massive vortex that decomposed Shinji's Servant body into spirit particles, which were then swallowed and flowed along a special channel constructed by intangible power toward a distant place.
In his disembodied spirit particle state, Shinji vaguely heard Justeaze's final words.
"I'll be waiting for you to come back, to return to my side, so we can go home together."