The front door of the grand villa in Miyama-cho was kicked wide open.
“Bro!
Get out here and welcome our guest!
We’ve got a new recruit!” Carrying two large plastic bags emblazoned with golden M’s, Yoru Hayashi strutted boldly into the living room.
Wearing a gas mask and carrying a freshly brewed pot of magical potion that glowed with an eerie green light, Kariya Matou was walking up from the basement.
At the sound of the shout, he looked up, freezing instantly in his tracks.
Yoru Hayashi came in.
Sakura came in.
Gilgamesh also came in, his face dark with annoyance.
None of that was the main issue.
The issue was the delinquent girl trailing behind them—draped in an oversized burgundy trench coat, wild blonde hair sticking out in all directions, ravenously devouring a Big Mac!
*Splat.*
The pot of glowing green potion slipped right from Kariya’s hands and crashed onto the floor, hissing as it corroded a smoking pit into the floorboards.
“Y-Yoru Hayashi!
Are you out of your damn mind?!” Kariya ripped off his gas mask, his finger trembling violently as he pointed at Mordred.
“Isn’t that Tokiomi Tohsaka’s Berserker?!
Why the hell did you bring her home?!
Do you have a death wish?!”
Through his binoculars the previous night, Kariya had watched with complete clarity as this maniac charged headlong through the warehouse district directly into the golden Archer’s Noble Phantasms.
She was literally a walking, breathing bomb!
“What’s the panic?
She’s our deputy head of security now.”
Slipping into his indoor slippers, Yoru Hayashi tossed the plastic bags onto the coffee table and popped a french fry into his mouth.
“I struck a big deal with her.
We cover her meals, and she chops people up for us.
Right, Little Mo?”
*Chomp, chomp…
burp.*
Mordred swallowed the last bite of her burger and gave a thoroughly perfunctory nod.
“Yeah.
As long as there are plenty of burgers and you take me to Arthur, I don’t give a damn about anything else.”
Kariya’s entire worldview shattered on the spot.
The top-tier muscle that Tokiomi Tohsaka had nearly killed himself to summon…
defected just for a couple of fast-food burgers?!
Was this the legendary dutiful child?!
Her rebellious streak was bigger than her entire brain!
“Wait, something’s wrong!”
Before Kariya could even process the situation, Mordred’s body suddenly flickered like a broken vintage TV, emitting a soft crackle of static.
Her right hand, currently clutching a cup of cola, began turning translucent, dissolving into wisps of golden motes that drifted upward.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Why are you dropping frames?!” Yoru Hayashi jumped in alarm.
Mordred looked down at her hand and spat a vicious curse, her expression souring.
“Tch…
That stingy old bastard in red actually severed our magical link on his end.
My Independent Manifestation won’t last much longer.
My Spirit Origin is about to collapse.”
As a Berserker, her mana consumption was astronomical to begin with.
She had only managed to stay tethered by forcibly draining Tokiomi dry.
Now, separated from her Master and having just polished off a dozen burgers, her internal magical energy was completely depleted.
She was on the verge of being returned to the Throne of Heroes.
“No way in hell!
You can’t just up and leave!”
Yoru Hayashi panicked.
She was his ultimate weapon meant to mess with the Saber with an ahoge—how could she tap out just because she ran out of mana?
*System!
What do I do?
Can I forcibly take over her contract?* Yoru Hayashi called out frantically in his mind.
[Ding!
Masterless Servant dispersion detected.
The host only needs to inject a massive amount of magical energy to forcibly wash away the previous Master’s magical imprint.
The system will then overwrite the contract.]
*Understood.
You basically want me to be a power bank.*
Yoru Hayashi rubbed his hands together and turned toward Mordred, his gaze growing intensely fiery.
Mordred felt a chill run down her spine under that look.
Instinctively taking two steps back, she crossed her arms defensively over her chest.
“W-What do you think you’re doing?
I’m warning you!
I agreed to roll with you for the food, but I won’t do *that* kind of thing!”
Though British knights were notoriously thick-skinned, she had heard plenty of rumors about the sordid bodily fluid exchanges magi used to replenish mana.
“Where the hell is your mind going?!
I have zero interest in a flat-chested delinquent!”
Yoru Hayashi rolled his eyes hard.
Wasting no time on idle chatter, he stepped right up in front of Mordred.
His right hand shot out like lightning, firmly seizing her nearly translucent wrist.
“Stay still!
You’re getting the Type-C fast charge!”
*Boom!*
All sixty of the high-quality Magic Circuits inside Yoru Hayashi instantly overloaded at full capacity!
Violent, pale-blue magical energy surged from his palm, crudely and furiously flooding into Mordred’s parched Spirit Origin!
“Ngh—!”
Mordred groaned, her eyes flying wide open.
It was scalding!
It was overwhelming!
If Tokiomi Tohsaka’s mana supply had been like fine red wine—smooth but stingily rationed—then Yoru Hayashi’s mana supply was like having a high-pressure firehose shoved directly down her throat!
Not only was this magical energy colossal, but it also carried the raw, reckless brutality and purity unique to a total berserker of a brawler!
***
At that exact moment, on the second floor of the Tohsaka residence, in the medical recovery room:
“Huff…
wheeze…”
Tokiomi Tohsaka had just been helped by Kirei Kotomine to take half a spoonful of porridge, struggling to steady his breath.
“Kirei, activate the Church’s intelligence network immediately and retrieve Berserker.
As long as she doesn’t encounter other Servants, the slow recovery of my mana should keep her from causing any major trouble for now…”
Before Tokiomi could finish speaking, a sharp, searing pain suddenly erupted from the remaining Command Seal on the back of his right hand!
“Aargh!” Tokiomi screamed, the bowl of porridge crashing to the floor.
He looked down in horror.
The Command Seal—the symbol of the Tohsaka family’s honor, the proof of his qualification in the Holy Grail War—was visibly dimming and peeling away.
It was as if an overwhelming force had crawled along that faint magical link, kicked down Tokiomi Tohsaka’s administrative privileges, and forcibly changed the root password!
“No…
No!
My Command Seals!
My Servant!”
Within a mere three seconds, the Command Seals on Tokiomi Tohsaka’s hand vanished completely.
On the third day of the Holy Grail War, the head of the Tohsaka family was officially eliminated.
*Pffft!*
Overcome by fury and despair, the old scoundrel Tokiomi reliably suffered his third massive spurt of blood.
His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed straight backward.
“Teacher!” Kirei Kotomine swiftly caught Tokiomi, though an imperceptible glimmer flashed across his hollow eyes.
***
“Phew…
all done.”
Inside the Miyama-cho villa, Yoru Hayashi released Mordred’s wrist and wiped away nonexistent sweat from his forehead.
Mordred stood frozen in place.
Not only had her form fully solidified, but she also felt an unprecedented surge of power coursing through her body.
The sensation of being overflowing with mana made her instinctively snap her fingers, sparking a crackle of crimson lightning at her fingertips.
“Th-This is your mana?” Mordred stared in disbelief at the young man in the short-sleeved shirt.
A mana reserve of this caliber wasn’t something even that old bastard in red could match at his peak!
“Naturally.
Roll with me, and you’ll go hungry nine meals in three days…
bah, I mean feast every single meal.” Yoru Hayashi grinned and raised his right hand.
“Look at that.
Now that’s what I call efficiency.”
On the back of Yoru Hayashi’s right hand, below the original fist Command Seal, three new strokes resembling crossed twin swords had appeared.
He now held contracts with two Heroic Spirits at once—and had zero fear of running out of mana!
After all, even if he died from mana exhaustion, he could just resurrect.
“You actually severed and stole another Master’s contract by force?”
Watching the spectacle from the sofa, Gilgamesh’s crimson eyes flickered with a hint of surprise, which quickly morphed into deep mockery.
“If that useless fool Tokiomi Tohsaka knew his Servant was snatched away by such crude means, he would probably slit his own throat in rage.
Truly the finest joke of the evening.”
“Yoru Hayashi…
what kind of monster are you?” Kariya Matou had grown completely numb to it all.
First intercepting catalysts, and now directly poaching an active Servant.
The rules of the Holy Grail War were probably worth less than used toilet paper in Yoru Hayashi’s eyes.
“Stop daydreaming, bro.
Pack it up and get ready for work.”
Yoru Hayashi pulled up a chair, sat down, and tapped the coffee table, his eyes turning intensely predatory.
“Now that we’ve got two top-tier powerhouses in our hands, it’s time to go on the offensive.
Doesn’t Little Mo want to chop up her father?
Isn’t Goldie bored out of his mind?”
Yoru Hayashi produced a map of Fuyuki City and, with a red pen, drew a heavy circle over a forest castle on the outskirts.
“Einzbern Castle.”
Staring at the red circle, a wicked grin spread across Yoru Hayashi’s face.
“Kiritsugu Emiya and King Arthur are hiding inside.
Tomorrow night, the whole family mobilizes to pay the old village chief of Britain an early New Year’s visit!”
The moment Mordred heard the name “King Arthur,” her emerald-green eyes lit up instantly.
Excited, she smashed her fist through the glass top of the coffee table.
“Deal!
I’m leading the charge!
I’m going to tear that damn castle to the ground!”
Gilgamesh let out a cold scoff but did not object, clearly finding some amusement in the prospect.
A grand spectacle of forced demolition, spearheaded by Yoru Hayashi and aimed directly at the protagonist faction, was about to begin.