Shinji Matou At Your Service

Chapter 51: The Origin of the Holy Grail War

Shinji took a sip of water, moistening his throat, and began to recount the details that only a few people knew.

"Let's start with the origin of the Einzbern family, the founders of the Holy Grail. Listen to me from beginning to end without interrupting, and ask your questions after I finish."

"The predecessors of the Einzbern family were disciples of the Third Magus, and they established a workshop that has continued since the first year of the Western calendar. They attempted to replicate the miracles of their master but couldn't achieve it themselves. As an alternative, they created individuals identical to their master and had those individuals reproduce the magic."

"After nearly nine hundred years of futile efforts, they finally created an artificial being known as the Winter Maiden, Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern."

"She was created purely by chance, and although she possessed the same abilities as her master, the magi were not pleased. Lady Justeaze's birth was a random occurrence unrelated to their skills and efforts, even though she reproduced the Third Magic."

"This was an 'outcome' that they could not tolerate after enduring more than nine hundred years of setbacks. So the magi began to use their technical systems to create artificial beings that surpassed Lady Justeaze."

"In the end, they concluded. Even if humans could create something surpassing humanity, they couldn't create something to save humanity. They accepted this fact. Perhaps, if the miracle of Lady Justeaze's birth hadn't occurred, they wouldn't have faced such setbacks. The magi succumbed to the limitations of their talents. Some left the castle, while others ended their lives."

"Although the artificial beings created by the remaining Einzbern members were abandoned by their creators, they continued to operate the workshop, which was established for the redemption of humanity and the reproduction of miracles. Since then, all the artificial beings created by the Einzberns have been based on Lady Justeaze, and the workshop officially became the Einzbern family, a family of artificial beings."

"Five hundred years after the departure of the magi from the Einzbern Castle, a prototype of the Broad-Spectrum Operating Device for the Third Magic, which Lady Justeaze used, was created."

"Unlike the former Third Magus, Lady Justeaze had insurmountable flaws. Her magic was like intricate weaving, requiring several years to save a single person, but it was impossible to achieve the salvation of all humanity."

"At the same time, although Lady Justeaze herself would not age, she would die due to her frail body and therefore couldn't leave the castle. Due to her intellectual and spiritual immortality, she would never grow. Objectively speaking, it was like living the 'same day' repeatedly. Although leaving the castle would free her from the 'same day,' anything that happened outside the castle would signify a slow death for Lady Justeaze."

"The Einzbern family concluded that it was impossible to recreate Lady Justeaze. To preserve the precious prototype that had only one chance, they changed their plan to mass-produce miracles like her."

"Even Lady Justeaze herself, after decades of effort, was unable to fully utilize the complete Third Magic. Despite having a larger magical formula, her body could not save the majority of humanity all at once. The idea was to break down her magical circuits and replace them with a human universe created through the displacement of magical formulas. This idea became the Greater Grail."

"However, the Einzbern alone were unable to initiate such a project. They were mere puppets, lacking the technology to survive outside and unable to withstand the complexity of human society."

"The Greater Grail, which reproduced the Third Magic, required a human who understood it and cooperated."

"So, in the year 1800 AD, the Winter City, a place where artificial humans were continuously created, received a visitor—Matou Zouken, also known as Makiri Zolgen, a magus dedicated to eradicating all the evils of this world and the malignancy of humanity."

"Don't be surprised, Uncle. Everyone has ideals, and Zouken is no exception. It's just that the passage of time eroded his soul, turning him into a monster. Killing him was a kind of release."

"I don't know by what means, but Zouken persuaded the Einzbern family, and Lady Justeaze, who had been in a state of 'stillness,' walked out of the Einzbern Castle for the first time and broke free from her eternity."

"They arrived at Fuyuki City, the weakest point of influence for the Mage's Association, and made contact with the Tohsaka family, a native Japanese magi lineage. Through Zouken as the one who understood, and the Tohsaka family as the cooperators, the Einzberns began constructing the Greater Grail. However, when they started manufacturing the Greater Grail, new problems arose."

"The Greater Grail could be built, and the core could indeed be created, but activating the Greater Grail required an enormous amount of magical energy. For this reason, Zouken and the Tohsaka family devised a plan to collect magical energy."

"Within the lands controlled by the Tohsaka family, there was a leyline that connected to an endless source of magical energy, which is the city beneath our feet, Fuyuki City. Zouken and the Tohsaka constructed large-scale rituals to draw and store mana from the leylines until they accumulated enough to activate the Greater Grail. This storage cycle takes sixty years."

"To utilize this magical energy, in addition to the massive magic circle on the surface, two necessary conditions were required: the key to open the magic circle and a pathway to control and export the magical energy."

"The key to opening the magic circle is the soul of the Servants. The Holy Grail War, where the seven Servants fight each other, is actually to create the 'key' that opens the magic circle."

"The pathway to control and export magical energy is the 'Lesser Grail' created by the Einzbern family based on Lady Justeaze. Although the Einzbern cannot reproduce Lady Justeaze, they can still create a Lesser Grail with similar capabilities. You have already seen the Lesser Grail of this Holy Grail War, which is Irisviel von Einzbern, the Saber guardian."

"Whenever a Servant dies, their soul is absorbed by the Lesser Grail. When a certain number of deceased Servants is reached, the key is completed, and the artificial human serving as the Lesser Grail becomes the conduit for magical energy—a magical container shaped like a golden cup."

"In simpler terms, Lady Justeaze is the appliance, Fuyuki's leylines are the power source, Irisviel is the wiring board, and the soul of the Servants is the switch. However, only the three families involved in the creation of the Holy Grail system know this truth. The other participants are kept in the dark, and they are only competing for the 'Lesser Grail,' which is the switch."

"From the beginning of the framework to the completion of the system, it took a total of ten years. The first Holy Grail summoning ritual was conducted in the form of 'cooperative summoning.' However, after the Holy Grail was connected to the source of magical energy, the situation evolved into a power struggle between the Tohsaka and Einzbern families, the Matou family, and ended in immediate failure."

"After that, the three major families formed the Holy Grail Alliance and established the rules that are still in use today. They called upon other magus and made them kill each other for the sake of the Holy Grail. Except for themselves, all the magus capable of summoning Heroic Spirits were considered obstacles, and it was enough for them to die in battle. It is a cruel but efficient method. From the perspective of the three major families, it is beneficial to legally dispose of magus other than themselves. That is the origin of the Holy Grail War."

"In 1815, the first Holy Grail War began. Due to the lack of formal rules beforehand, the Masters had a weak understanding of their role as 'participants.' On the other hand, because there were no Command Spells like the ones we have now, there were cases where the Servants did not obey orders. As a result, the Holy Grail summoning in this war failed before the ritual took shape."

"In 1875, the second Holy Grail War began. Learning from the failure of the first war, the three families established detailed rules this time. Makiri Zogen, who changed his name to Matou Zouken, settled in Japan and created the 'Command Spell system' that could force Servants to obey. However, for various reasons, this Holy Grail War still failed."

"In 1935, the third Holy Grail War began. This war was the largest in scale, with the Church sending supervisors and the involvement of the Japanese military and the Nazis from Germany, making the battle intensify unprecedentedly. The Einzbern family withdrew in the first round, but unwilling to accept defeat, they illegally summoned the eighth Servant, Avenger. However, they were still defeated, and Avenger's soul was absorbed by the Greater Grail through the Lesser Grail."

"The name of Avenger is Angra Mainyu, a collective embodiment of the world's evils, a kind of collective desire. Therefore, when he entered the Holy Grail, it was equivalent to making a wish, and the Holy Grail, which truly had the power to grant wishes, accepted it as a wish and activated its effect. The Greater Grail itself was also contaminated by Angra Mainyu, and its original colorless power became a vortex of malignant force, only capable of fulfilling wishes through destruction."

"For example, if I made a wish to become the King of Fuyuki, the Holy Grail would fulfill my wish by killing all the citizens of Fuyuki except for me."

"The consciousness of Lady Justeaze preserved within the Greater Grail, or rather, her ghost hopes to purify the contaminated Holy Grail. Through a fortuitous encounter, she made a contract with me, allowing her to leave the corrupted 'Greater Grail' and manifest in the world using my magical power as a vessel, similar to a Servant."

"I became a Master and was able to summon a Servant in advance because Lady Justeaze made some adjustments when making the contract. My knowledge and experience were also obtained when making the contract."

In the latter half of the sentence, Shinji lied. He considered this place as his home and didn't want to cause any friction between him and Kariya.