Illimitable Fantasy Works

Inside Astronomy Faculty of the Mage's Association.

There was a white-haired man who sat pensively as he looked at the sealed letter on his desk. He seemed like a middle-aged man at his fortieth, so he couldn't be said to be too old to have a band of white hair on him. His white hair might be caused either by his quicker aging or it was actually part of his lineage.

Im truth, that man was actually Marisbury Animusphere, the Head of Astronomy Faculty of Mage's Association, and one of the currently ruling Twelve Lords.

At that moment, however, he could be seen looking deeply to a rune-sealed letter in front of him. From it, he could feel a subtle and constant pulse of magical energy. Its protective rune glowed slightly within the dimly-lit room he was staying.

He recognized the protective rune on it as something which only a select few among higher ranking members of Mage's Association were privy to know it. As he could also be considered an acquaintance to the letter's sender, his countenance was calm as he lightly chanted a special spell to dispel its protective rune.

"She finally completed it huh. It seemed like she also got helped by the Makiri and Einzbern. Those two families still didn't give up on it after all, seeing they can even reconcile with her to complete another Greater Grail." He muttered calmly after he finished reading the letter.

It wasn't much of a secret to higher ranking members of Mage's Association that there was another separate organization of Magus in United States who was interested into the existence of Fuyuki's Holy Grail War, specifically into the Third Magic it contained.

Moreover, there was also a sign that those Magus also sent their representative to join Third Holy Grail War in Fuyuki city at around 1930s, although the Holy Grail War at that time ended in failure due to Nazi's intrusion. As those Nazi army stole the Greater Grail who was the foundation for HGW, the ritual was f.o.r.c.i.b.l.y halted and it ended early without any winner.

Since that year, there was no news of Fuyuki's Greater Grail, as even those Nazi also lost the Greater Grail when they intended to bring it back to their country. The case was a hot topic at that time, though it gradually died down after much time passed without actual information regarding its whereabouts.

Even so, in the following years since its disappearance, there were many disseminated rumours about the procedure to conduct similar ritual as Fuyuki's Holy Grail War.

Many Magus tried to imitate it, only to end up with a flawed and incomplete ritual while in some cases it even resulted in severe casualties, causing the amount of Magus left in the present era dwindling. Despite such setbacks, however, those fake HGWs were still popular among Magus community.

As for the letter in front of him, it contained an unofficial invitation for him to join their first experimental Holy Grail War. It was stated that the War was scheduled to start in few days later at Snowfield city.

However, unknown to those group of foreign Magus, the Association already found Fuyuki's Greater Grail, though they still needed to 'retrieve' it from a rebellious Magus family, the Yggdmillenia family.

The Mage's Association already did a good job to not allow any leaks on that news outside their sphere of influence as they didn't want other Magus organizations to ally themselves to Yggdmillenia family.

"However, this letter is also my chance." He said softly as he held the letter, while he quickly considered some other aspects.

For him who dreamed to complete his enormous project, he would need almost an unimaginable amount of resources. The letter represented a chance for him to quickly realize his dream.

If he waited for the success of retrieval mission, he might miss the chance from that letter. Even if the Association succeeded, the Twelve Lords would need another long and rigorous 'talk' to determine how the Greater Grail would be used. It would be another cruel competition.

Besides, he also knew that 'she' didn't have many good relationsh.i.p.s with other Lord families. It was highly probable that only him among the Twelve Lords who knew about the news contained inside her letter.

Either ways, he would still face a cruel competition. In the end, he chose to take the chance presented by that letter, as he felt he had a greater advantage into that endeavor.

Since he had decided about it, there were several things he needed to prepare first. About Fuyuki's Greater Grail, he also wouldn't easily give up on it. He would still try to compete, as who would miss out on a chance to get double win?

"Hm, that little girl already has more than sufficient ability. The current operation from the Association will be another test for her abilities and luck..." Marisbury spoke softly with a hint of gentleness in his voice as he thought of his daughter.

Although there was a risk to the incoming mission, but the Association also prepared enough elites to guarantee their victory.

And his daughter's ability was comparable to those elites after all. If they ever fought, although she might not win, she could still hold her own ground against them at least.

After deciding as such, Marisbury took out a light small box from his secret stash, within it there was an old lackl.u.s.ter ring. It was a catalyst he secretly prepared since a long time ago in case he ever participated in any worthy Holy Grail War. With his planned catalyst on himself, Marisbury went out of his office as he still needed to talk with his daughter and arranged her entry into the Association's incoming mission.

...

Since Rafi and Saki Rukino left the cafeteria, it has been half an hour since they were still followed by those five people. Within these last few minutes, their game of cat and mouse intensified as they already ran across a quarter of London city. Looing at the desperate face of those five people, it seemed like they wouldn't entertain themselves anymore with their game of chase.

Although he wasn't tired, but Rafi felt slightly ashamed as he saw Saki Rukino's calm look at him while they evaded their pursuer.

It was because, before, he spoke confidently to her about quickly finding a place to settle this matter. Yet even after they ran for half an hour, and even winding around small alleys, he still couldn't find the place shown in the animation.

Really, he had been misled by the animation... sadly, he was also unfamiliar to the places in London city after all. He felt like crying, yet he had no tears left to cry, leaving only a wry smile was on his face.

"...it's around that corner maybe, really." Rafi said with a dry cough.

"En." Saki Rukino replied calmly despite her slightly hurried breath.

After such a long run, although her physique was also enhanced, but her enhancement was still weaker than Rafi's. Even so it was still an enormous leap compared to a normal human. If it was the previous her, she wouldn't even be able to run anymore after few minutes in the start...

Just as he turned into that corner in front of them, however, he suddenly spotted a young girl who suddenly appeared from that side.

...

"Why do you keep following me, Luvia?" A certain girl with long black hair modeled into a twin-tail asked with an annoyed expression to the blonde-haired girl behind her.

"Ara, what are you saying Ms. Tohsaka? I am not following you, our way is just similar." That blonde-haired girl said with a haughty voice as she looked at her counterpart with a challenging gaze.

That black-haired girl was Rin Tohsaka. After she overheard her father about the news of Fuyuki's Greater Grail reemergence, her overflowing curiosity won over her. The next day she already slipped out of Tohsaka manor and quietly went to a nearest airport. She didn't speak about her plan to her father as she was sure that he would prevent her. However, she was unfortunate as she immediately met her nemesis just as she stepped to London.

Those two girls were Rin Tohsaka and Luviagelita Edelfelt. The reason they arrived met each other was due

"Besides, don't you need to keep watch on your front? Who knows if you may crash into something, although it will be fun to watch~". She added as they neared almost a corner of crossroad.

Although that afternoon's traffic was not as busy as usual, but it still had several vehicles which moved quite speedily.

"Grr... if not because-" Rin tightly held a green jewel on her palm as if she was prepared to launch it at Luvia's annoying look, though she held it back as they were still in public vicinity. After all, it would broke the Association's regulations to expose the existence of magecraft to public...

When she was about to continue arguing back against Luvia that there wouldn't be anything she crash into, however, she suddenly felt a quite strong impact crashed into her, cutting her words off. While Luvia looked amusingly at the scene in front of her.

...

Rafi was unable to immediately stop himself, though he tried to his hardest to do it. Even so, as their distance was only two or three meters apart and he has just been running with all his might before, he still bumped into her in the end.

As he tried to lessen the impact on her, they ended up into quite an awkward position as he placed himself under her to cushion her fall. With their body was sticking closely to each other, separated only by their layer of clothes, he could easily feel the warmth of her body flowing to him through their clothes...

When he took a close look at her, he was stunned beyond belief as he recognized her.

"Ms. Tohsaka?!"

"Ugh... what have happened just now? Why did I feel like I was crashed by a damn truck??" Rin slowly rubbed her temple while trying to slowly get up. As she was slightly disoriented, she didn't realize that she was still placed in quite an ambiguous position with her hands relied weakly on his c.h.e.s.t.

"Ara, what a shameful display you have, Ms. Tohsaka." Luvia smiled amusingly as she saw Rin's current ambiguous position.

At the same time, Saki Rukino arrived near them as she looked at them in astonishment at first before she felt slightly sour about it. Although she knew that it was only an accident, she still felt a sudden sting in her heart for no apparent reason. It might be caused by those two's ambiguous position, or a fact that he seemed slightly enjoying that situation. It could also either be something else that she hadn't realized or just didn't want to admit it herself...

"What are you talking about, luvia?" Rin asked in confusion.

"...I think she meant to say about our current situation, Ms. Tohsaka."

An unknown male voice suddenly transferred over from somewhere near her which made Rin quickly tensed up. As she finally found the source of that unfamiliar voice, she was petrified and her mouth was slightly agape in her realization. Her face gradually reddened from her neck until even her ears as she felt so ashamed that she want to scream it out.

"...Wha...-"

"Shhh. It won't be good for both of us if you scream. Just take a deep breath, and calm down. Think of this as if you have just bumped into a truck." He spoke with a calming voice as he still had a genial smile on his face.

Before Rin could scream, Rafi quickly put his index finger on her soft lips to silence her. Rin was still in that state of shock and ashamed when he helped her to stand up while still motioning for her to keep silent.

'It will only create more ruckus if she screams. Hais, why did I just to have an accident now? And those guys are quickly approaching us too...

Hm, isn't Rin more accustomed to London? It's worth a try asking her.'

"You are okay now, Ms. Tohsaka, so I will take my leave. Hm, by the way, do you know where is the underground path leading to that Labyrinth, Ms. Tohsaka?" Rafi asked Rin as he released his hand from her lips.

"You-!"

"*sigh*... don't scream, Ms. Tohsaka. Look, other people think that we have couple's quarrel now. It really hurts my conscience."

When Saki Rukino saw him behaving rascally to Rin Tohsaka, she felt quite amused as her lips curled upward slightly, and a little smile appeared to wipe out her previous sour look.

"You're also a Magus?" Luvia suddenly asked as she looked at Rafi in surprise. 'I never see him in the Clock Tower or in Academy. But he seems to know Rin? Hmm, interesting, I wonder what's their relationship.'

"En. Can't you tell us the underground path, young lady? Me and my partner are under pursuit by a group of bad people, so we think to take a shelter there. See they almost catch up to us now." Rafi spoke calmly as he first pointed at himself and Saki Rukino before also pointing to that five people who were quickly approaching them.

Looking at their visage which seemed empowered by some sort of strengthening magecraft, Luvia could immediately judge that those incoming five people weren't the sorts of 'law-abiding' Magus. Daring to use magecraft even under public eyes blatantly, it wouldn't be strange if they were a group of renegade Magus instead. Even so, she also didn't want to be implicated within their conflict. She was still keeping her silence as she looked deeply at Rafi.

"Ahh, I'm sorry. I forgot to say that they're also a group of pervert. Since they have seen the two of you, I just hope that they won't have any evil intention toward beautiful girls like you two." Rafi spoke with an extremely honest sorry look as though he deeply regretted that he forgot to tell them about such obvious fact, and ended up dragging them to his trouble.

"You...?! You purposely hold us here?" Luvia said in shock as she quickly realized what Rafi meant. While Rin looked even more angrily at him for not only taking advantage of her as he also deceived her.

"So what do you two say about showing us the path?"

...