You call this a projection?

”Right, right, right! That little lady is spot on.

Young man, this is where you’re in the wrong. Although I’ve only just met you all, as a man’s intuition, I can tell you with absolute certainty that the girl over there is a rare find.

Beautiful, stubborn, and courageous... If my current Master weren’t so good herself, I’d be tempted to sign a contract with that girl instead.”

Lancer added fuel to the fire from the sidelines, smiling as he supported Tohsaka Rin. ”Leaving a woman like that hanging while you try to keep a foot in two boats... Young man, that kind of behavior invites divine punishment.”

Among everyone present, Lancer and Bazett were likely the few who remained relatively indifferent to the news of the Greater Grail being purified.

Even though Lancer’s life had been a tragedy, he harbored no resentment toward his past. His sole reason for responding to the Grail’s summons was the chance to battle heroes from different nations, regions, and eras. Whether the Greater Grail was purified or whether it could truly grant wishes made no real difference to him.

Bazett was much the same. After being betrayed by Kotomine Kirei, her only remaining goal in the Holy Grail War was to complete the Mages’ Association’s mission. She was the type for whom winning or losing didn’t particularly matter.

It was precisely because of this that Lancer had the leisure to stir up trouble. No matter the final outcome, Lancer just wanted a satisfying fight.

Of course, if he had to choose, Lancer hoped his opponent would be Saber rather than Emiya Shirou—a guy he still couldn’t see through even now.

Tohsaka Rin had likely seen through this as well. Beneath her appearance of a ”woman scorned” was actually the calculated posture of a little devil, maximizing the use of this information to gain the upper hand...

”Issei, your warning was right.

Rin is truly a difficult woman; she’s a witch in every sense of the word.”

Shirou sighed inwardly. Just like now—Rin, who usually called him ”Emiya-kun,” had switched to the more intimate ”Shirou” just to mess with him.

However, Rin had picked the wrong opponent. This kind of tactic might be embarrassing for him, but for Saber—a woman who had forgotten her own gender for the sake of her nation’s survival—it meant nothing.

’Sweet talk? A foot in two boats? Fickleness and abandonment?’

...These words had zero impact on Saber. She remained firmly in front of Shirou, gripping her Holy Sword and eyeing Rin’s group warily while asking Shirou: ”Shirou?”

If Shirou so much as nodded and identified Rin as the enemy, Saber would likely swing her blade at Archer and Lancer without hesitation.

”Wait, Saber.” Shirou stopped Saber’s intent to fight, rubbing the bridge of his nose with a headache. ”And Rin, Lancer—you guys speak properly too.”

”Oh? Is the one not speaking properly not you, Shirou?” Rin countered.

Clearly, she still held a grudge over Shirou’s previous air of certain victory—that posture suggesting he could just ”hand over” the win if he felt like it.

”Alright, that was indeed my fault,” Shirou sighed and apologized.

While being manipulated by Rin was embarrassing, Shirou had no intention of killing her. In fact, having decided to be her opponent, he found it difficult to actually resolve to take her life.

And if he couldn’t kill her, who knew what kind of rumors she would spread after the war?

Given the little devil personality she was displaying, Shirou could already envision a future where, upon returning to Homurahara Academy, he would be viewed as public enemy number one by every male student.

”But I still won’t give the Grail to you, Rin,” Shirou said solemnly. ”Furthermore, if possible, I hope you all withdraw from the Holy Grail War.

This isn’t because your strength is insufficient to win, but because a victory in the Holy Grail War has never been permitted by the Counter Force.”

”What...?”

Rin, who had been indignant after hearing the first half of Shirou’s sentence, was completely stunned by the second half. Not just Rin’s group—even Saber, who was determined to obtain the Grail, looked at Shirou with disbelief.

”As a member of the Three Founding Families who constructed the ritual, Rin, you should know that this is the Fifth Holy Grail War,” Shirou explained. ”And in the four previous wars, every single one ended in failure without exception.

Of course, you might say those were due to the ritual being immature.

Like the First War, where the Grail didn’t support Masters of the same camp faking a win, leading to the introduction of outside magi as competitors.

The Second War saw an inability to restrain the summoned Servants, hence the development of the Command Spell system.

The Third War saw the early destruction of the Lesser Grail provided by the Einzberns, so from the Fourth War onward, specially modified homunculi were used as the Lesser Grail to activate the Greater Grail.

The Fourth War was when the Grail was corrupted because of the Avenger illegally summoned by the Einzberns in the Third War.

..Rin, do you really think this series of failures is just a coincidence?”

”...” Rin fell silent.

Was it a coincidence? To an ordinary person, perhaps. But as a magus with some understanding of the Counter Force, Rin knew that the Counter Force’s specialty was using a series of ”coincidences” to achieve its goals.

”Rin, I can tell you responsibly that in most of the Holy Grail Wars I know of, only in one world line did a winner successfully emerge,” Shirou continued, giving her no time to think. ”And the end of that world line resulted in the destruction of humanity.”

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