Although Shinji had slipped away, his reason for leaving wasn't an excuse—serious events were indeed unfolding, and not just one.
First, a message came from Justeaze, who was monitoring the Greater Grail at Ryoudo Temple. After continuous analysis of the Grail's magical energy, the mechanics of this Holy Grail War were finally revealed.
The battle format remained a chaotic free-for-all, but the number of participating Servants wasn't the traditional seven or seven plus one. It wasn't even the emergency fourteen or fourteen plus one. Instead, it was fourteen plus two.
That's right—sixteen Servants in total. Each of the seven traditional classes had two Servants, and Heartless, exploiting the faker concept implant, had also allocated two slots to the Faker class. Eight classes, each with two Servants, equaled sixteen. More importantly, all sixteen Servants had already been summoned and were now gathered around Fuyuki City.
On top of that, there was the leftover Servant from the Third Holy Grail War lingering within the Greater Grail—Avenger, Angra Mainyu—which made it seventeen Servants in total, the largest Holy Grail War in history.
Upon receiving this information, Shinji immediately organized the known Servants:
Saber: Artoria.
Archer: Gilgamesh, Karna.
Lancer: Scathach, Cú Chulainn.
Rider: Medusa.
Caster: Medea, Solomon.
Berserker: Heracles.
Faker: Iskandar's Shadow.
There were still unknowns: one Saber, one Rider, two Assassins, one Berserker, and one Faker.
The identity of the unknown Rider could be deduced. Justeaze had said all sixteen Servants were gathered around Fuyuki, meaning even Faker had arrived. If she was here, that meant Gray was here, and if Gray was here, it was highly likely that her teacher, Waver, was also present. If Waver was here, he wouldn't avoid the battle, and the Servant he would summon was obvious—the man who changed his life, the King of Conquerors, Iskandar.
As for the rest, Shinji was in the dark. He would have to expand the intelligence network and increase the scope of his investigation. The recent battle between Rin and Luvia had reminded Shinji of the sheer destructive power of fully unleashed Servants. In the city, they were too easily noticed. The areas outside the city, however, were full of deserted places, making them ideal hiding spots. Waver and Gray had likely been hiding in some remote location, which is why Shinji hadn't found them yet.
Although it would be difficult to investigate areas where the surveillance system couldn't reach, to purify the Grail, Shinji had to identify all the Master-Servant pairs and track their movements, no matter how challenging.
Fully activating the Greater Grail to connect it with the real world required the souls of five Servants as sacrifices. Fewer opponents would be easier to deal with—clear them out, and only allies would remain. However, the more Servants left, the harder it would be to control the situation. Not every Servant would be willing to sit idly by. To ensure the purity of the process, Shinji had to be extremely cautious about who was left standing.
Among the known Servants, the confirmed allies were Artoria, Scathach, Medusa, and Medea. Those he could potentially convince to cooperate with the purification process included Karna, Cú Chulainn, Iskandar, and the Faker.
Gilgamesh and Solomon were unpredictable. The former was egotistical and had a history of causing trouble—who knew if he'd decide to pull something crazy? The latter, though devoted to humanity, was hard to read and likely had other considerations in mind. Both required careful attention.
As for Heracles... well, there was no need to say anything more about him—he had to be eliminated. That was the second reason Sakura had come to see Shinji—Einzbern's base had been located.
It was Scathach who had discovered it.
Medea had hit a bottleneck while analyzing the Command Seals and sought Scathach's help. After giving her some pointers, Scathach remarked that finding people didn't need to be so complicated, then tossed out a rune stone.
The rune was inscribed with the oldest Primordial Runes, but its function was simple—it could search for magical energy.
After last night's fight, Scathach had memorized Heracles' magical signature. All she had to do was release the rune stones, and any trace of magical energy would be picked up, leading them straight to the source.
It was undoubtedly the most straightforward and low-tech method. But precisely because of that, it hadn't crossed the mind of a formidable and intelligent magus like Medea.
Primitive doesn't mean ineffective, and Scathach once again demonstrated this to Medea through a practical example.
However, when Shinji heard about this, he couldn't help but laugh bitterly. Scathach's personality left him speechless. She could see through everything but never offered information unless you asked.
And once again, Scathach was proven right. The simplest, least technical method was also the fastest. While the women were halfway through their shopping trip, the rune stones had returned with results.
Combining the real estate transaction records obtained in the morning with Medea's preliminary analysis, the location of the target was nearly confirmed.
So, Scathach had sent the girls home first and went alone to investigate the site.
By the time Shinji arrived, she had already scouted the entire Einzbern base and the surrounding terrain. She'd even had time to stop by a rest area several kilometers away on the highway to enjoy some afternoon tea—and had prepared a cup for Shinji as well.
"You're half an hour late, my disciple. The coffee's cold already. Want me to ask the staff to warm it up for you?"
The Queen of the Land of Shadows, now wearing a casual coat at the girls' request, pushed the afternoon tea toward Shinji with a neighborly, slightly mischievous big-sister vibe that almost made Shinji fail to recognize her.
Is this my Shishou? My Shishou can't possibly be this cute.
Fortunately, her next sentence brought things back to normal.
"You didn't get too excited watching the top-tier Servants fight and jump in yourself, did you?"
Yep, this is the Shishou I'm familiar with.
"No need. I left the car for Sakura and the others, so I ran here. I worked up a sweat—cold coffee is perfect."
He casually grabbed the coffee and downed it without any pretense.
"Ah, refreshing!"
"Are you sure you didn't get into a fight?"
"Of course not."
"You were pretty confident when you turned in your last assignment."
"As confident as I am, I'm not foolish enough to challenge two top-tier Servants on my own. Besides, some of my trump cards are meant for you. I wouldn't want to waste them on anyone else unless necessary."
Hearing Shinji's explanation, Scathach's lips curled into a smile, one more seductive than usual.
"Hearing you say that makes me eager to see those trump cards you've prepared just for me."
"Spare me, Shishou. We've got serious work to do."
Shinji, as usual, had no backbone when facing Scathach.
"If not for me, think of Justeaze."
"You're right, of course," Scathach agreed.
"But miss this chance, and it might…"
Her voice trailed off, the last few words barely audible.
"Shishou, what did you say?"
"Nothing. We have work to do, don't we? Let's get to it."
"Just give me two minutes."
With remarkable speed, Shinji cleared the remaining pastries off the table. He hadn't had a proper lunch and had just run a dozen kilometers, so he was starving.
After wiping his mouth with a napkin, he grinned widely.
"Alright, let's go, Shishou. This time, we won't let them escape!"
Ten minutes later, the duo kicked down a magically reinforced door.
"FBI! Open up!"