A young girl with pale skin, crimson eyes, and long white hair was sprawled across her bed, frustrated.
Although she looked like an ordinary little girl, she was, in fact, a homunculus—a creation of Irisviel von Einzbern and Kiritsugu Emiya. Despite her youthful appearance, this girl was already 18 years old.
"Ugh, who is that guy anyway? I've never heard of anyone with the ability to summon so many swords like that!" Illya grumbled, kicking her feet in irritation, hitting the mattress in frustration.
"Because of him, my grand plan to show off Berserker was ruined."
She also noticed that Berserker had acted strangely. Normally, he would follow her commands without hesitation, but when facing that silver-haired man, she sensed hesitation in her mighty servant.
There was no way that man could be a Servant since she couldn't feel any Servant connection from him. From what she sensed, Lancer had already been defeated, which meant there were still six Servants left in this Holy Grail War.
*Knock* *Knock* She suddenly heard someone knocking at her bedroom door.
"Ojou-sama, it's me. I have some information for you," came the voice of her maid, Leysritt—or as she liked to call her, Liz.
"Come in, Liz," Illya replied, moving to the edge of her bed and sitting up.
Liz entered the room shortly after, walking over to Illya before stopping in front of her.
"What information? Did you find out who that man is?"
"No, I'm afraid I couldn't uncover anything about the man based on the description you gave me. However, I do have news regarding Emiya Shirou."
"About Onii-chan? What happened to him? Is someone targeting him?"
"Right now, his school is enveloped in a bounded field. From my investigation, it seems to be the work of Shinki Matou. I couldn't see what was happening inside since the bounded field was created by her Servant, Rider."
"Shinki Matou? Of course, it's the Matou family again. I was planning to kill her myself; she's becoming quite the nuisance." Illya scowled at the mention of the Matou name.
"So, Onii-chan is trapped inside that barrier? I haven't felt Saber's mana entering my body, so he must still be alive."
"Unfortunately, no. He's not trapped inside, but fortunately—he and two of his friends accidentally entered the boundary," Liz said in her usual emotionless tone.
"...WHAT!?" Illya stood up abruptly, clearly shocked by the news.
"What about Saber? Did you see her with them?" Illya asked.
"No, I didn't see Saber with them. She probably stayed home," Liz replied.
What kind of nonsense is this? Illya thought, frustrated. He's literally involved in the Holy Grail War, but he's just casually going to school without protection?
Had Kiritsugu never taught him anything? After abandoning her in favor of Emiya Shirou, he hadn't even teaches his "son" about the holy grail war or the Magi world.
"That useless old man! If he dies before I can take my revenge, everything will have been pointless..." Illya muttered to herself.
Years of torment at the hands of the Einzbern family had left her with only one goal: to take revenge on Kiritsugu. But then she found out he had already died, leaving behind only Emiya Shirou. So, she decided to shift her revenge onto him. Of course, she didn't plan to kill him—just scare him with Berserker.
She didn't know how many Command Spells Shirou had left, but he could probably still summon Saber.
However, Shinki Matou was a different story. Illya could sense Shinki's connection to the Grail, essentially making her a Lesser Grail. With the Grail's power in Shinki's body and her Servant at her side, Saber wouldn't stand a chance against both.
"Are the other two Tohsaka Rin and Tohsaka Sakura?" Illya asked after a moment.
"Yes," Liz confirmed.
"And the silver-haired man?"
"He's not with them."
Hearing that made Illya pause and think quickly for a moment. Then, she said with determination, "I'm not going to let anyone kill Onii-chan except for me," before standing up and immediately running out of the room.
Liz could only watch her Ojou-sama run off with her usual emotionless expression. After a moment, she sighed and shook her head.
She knew, deep down, that even without the interference of the silver-haired man, Illya wasn't going to kill Emiya Shirou. Even though Illya kept saying she would, Liz knew better.
All Liz could do was return to her work with Sella.
-----
After Illya reached Fuyuki, with Berserker carrying her, she hopped off on a deserted street and ran toward the school. Berserker became invisible to avoid detection by any passersby.
As she sprinted, she suddenly felt a surge of mana enter her body, causing her to stop.
"Rider is defeated? But still no sign of Saber, so that means Onii-chan is still alive," she muttered, piecing together the situation.
Once she absorbed all the mana, she resumed running, eventually arriving at the school grounds where the boundary field that had surrounded the building was now beginning to fade, confirming Rider's death.
Despite the field vanishing, there was still the matter of dealing with Shinki Matou. Since she was already there, Illya decided to enter the school area. As she moved closer, she sensed the remnants of mana lingering in the air from behind the building, leading her in that direction.
Running through the devastated grounds, she saw the school's walls had been destroyed, shards of glass and blood scattered across the area.
Finally, she reached the schoolyard, which lay in ruins, with several people standing amidst the wreckage. She quickly identified Emiya Shirou, Tohsaka Rin, Tohsaka Sakura, and a few unfamiliar faces. But what made her freeze in place was the sight of a silver-haired man hovering in the air with twelve glowing purple wings extending from his back.
Six pairs of wings… she's was visibly shocked.
The only thing that crossed her mind upon seeing this was, 'Beast 666: Lucifer.'
But then she recalled from her books that Lucifer was described with only three pairs of wings, not six.
Lucifer with three pairs of wings was already classified as immensely dangerous, but six pairs? That was far beyond anything she had ever imagined.
She couldn't understand why a being like that would exist in this world. But then she saw the silver-haired man glance in her direction, sending a chill down her spine.
"Heaven's Floodgates," she heard him say, and then everything began to change.
Time itself started to slow, even the wind came to a halt, and eventually, everything froze—except for her and the people near the silver-haired man.
Then, everything began to rewind. The shattered walls repaired themselves, the ruined field was restored, and even the blood scattered across the ground reversed its course.
---
Once everything returned to normal, Illya remained frozen in shock, her gaze darting around in disbelief at what the man had just done.
He had casually reversed time without any visible consequences. The only thing that came to her mind was True Magic.
"You can come here now, Illyasviel," the man's voice called out, startling her.
Suddenly, her body lifted off the ground, causing her to panic. "Eh? Eh?! What's happening?!"
She began floating toward the group, despite her protests.
"Illyasviel von Einzbern?! That Einzbern?!" Rin's voice echoed behind her, clearly shocked.
"Put me down!" Illya struggled, flailing her arms and legs, but she continued to drift toward the silver-haired man.
Finally, she stopped in front of him, hovering in midair.
"Hello, Illya," the man smiled at her.
"Hmph, what do you want?" Illya pouted and turned her head away in irritation.
"What are you doing here? Are you here to help the others fight?"
"I just happened to come here when I saw something that would expose magecraft to the public," she replied curtly.
The man remained silent for a moment before slowly descending to the ground, though Illya remained suspended in the air.
"Hey! If you're done with me, put me down!"
He finally lowered her but stopped just short of letting her touch the ground, leaving her hovering again.
"Why stop again!?" she complained.
He didn't answer, and the others remained silent, clearly unsure of what he was doing.
"Do you want to beat up Kiritsugu?" he asked suddenly, his voice tempting.
"What?" Illya blinked, taken aback.
"I can revive Kiritsugu if you want, and then you can do whatever you're planning—beat him, yell at him, anything," he continued, still smiling.
Illya fell silent, processing his words.
"Or even your mother, Irisviel von Einzbern. I can bring her back, make her fully human, able to live a long life."
Those words widened her eyes in shock.
"Wha-what are you doing, Rei? What are you planning?" Rin demanded, her voice tense with suspicion.
So, this man was Rei. A simple name for someone with such overwhelming power.
Illya didn't doubt him. There was no reason for him to lie. She was merely a vessel for the Holy Grail, and he clearly had no need for that.
"What do you want?" she asked silently, her voice cautious.
"Let me analyze your entire body," he replied casually, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
The others fell silent, stunned by his bold request...
"Wha-wha-wha!? You pervert!" Illya immediately yelled at him, her face flushing red with embarrassment.
The others reacted similarly, with wide eyes and shocked expressions.
"Rei? You actually have *this* kind of fetish? I mean, I'm not gonna judge or anything, but seriously!" Rin teased, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Nee-chan, don't say that," Sakura added, patting her sister's shoulder. "But, Rei..." She turned toward him, her face turning pink. "If that's what you like, you could... change my body to look like hers if you want..." she muttered, clearly embarrassed.
Even Ayaka was staring at Rei with a disgusted expression.
"No, that's not what I meant," Rei sighed, shaking his head. "And also, she's 18, so it's *not* lolicon."
"She's 18!?" Shirou, Rin, Sakura, and Ayaka all shouted in unison, utterly surprised.