You call this a projection?

Ever since he had learned the hard lessons of information leaks and being stalked by enemies due to failing to sense their presence immediately, Emiya Shirou had made a habit of staying vigilant.

When conditions didn’t allow for it, that was one thing. But now, Shirou didn’t need to maintain the consumption of two Stands during combat, nor did he need to increase his own burden. So, while normally maintaining [Pseudo-Atum] to supply magical energy, he also continued to project and maintain [Pseudo-Magician’s Red]. He used the life-detecting flames draped over him to meticulously sense his surroundings.

This was especially true after he had specifically modified the life-detection system to target ”magical energy”—a power system derived from life force.

Led by Tohsaka Rin, Shirou had crossed the concealment magecraft specially set up by the Three Founding Families. The moment he stepped inside, he sensed a surge of magical energy that nearly submerged him.

However, that wasn’t the most shocking part.

In the unique vision of the life-detecting flames, a magical energy source—one that was far more vast and terrifying than all the mana leaking from the Greater Grail combined, even if their own mana were added to the pile—suddenly appeared.

It was, in the literal sense, ”suddenly” present within the cavern. And it was falling from above their heads in an accelerating descent!?

A new enemy? A Servant? An enemy Noble Phantasm?

A series of thoughts flashed through Shirou’s mind as the warning blared. But when he actually looked up, he realized his previous deductions were wildly off the mark.

He never would have guessed in a million years that the ”countermeasure” the Counter Force had prepared for them—those who could now wish upon the Greater Grail—would be this!?

”...!?”

”Shirou?”

Because [Instinct] is significantly dampened in non-combat situations, Saber hadn’t sensed anything amiss. She looked at Shirou, who had suddenly stopped, with a bewildered expression. Her tone carried a hint of urgency. After all, the chance to save Britain was right before her eyes; even Saber couldn’t help but feel anxious at this moment.

However, Shirou’s next move was the complete opposite of what she expected. Even Tohsaka Rin watched in confusion as Shirou suddenly leaped high into the air.

Was this... a necessary movement for the Holy Grail ritual? And the feeling here seemed slightly different from the descriptions in the Tohsaka family records. Was it her imagination?

Just as Rin was thinking this, she instinctively followed Shirou’s high-jump with her eyes. Only then did she realize why he had done it.

Within the Great Cavern of Mount Enzou, a ten-year-old black-haired girl had abruptly fallen from the ceiling, which should have been sealed by the mountain’s solid rock!?

”Illya? ...No, wait! The hair color is wrong, and I don’t see Berserker.”

The moment the girl appeared, Rin’s first thought was Illya. As the Master from the Einzbern family and one of the few remaining participants who hadn’t exited the war, it seemed logical for Illya to wait in ambush here. After all, victory in the Holy Grail War isn’t determined by who defeats the most rivals, but by who survives until the end.

But soon, noticing the hair color of the girl Shirou was now holding, and the fact that Berserker had yet to appear even after Shirou had ”caught” the intruder, Rin quickly overturned her theory. She looked on with a face of total bewilderment.

Especially after hearing the girl’s instinctive address while being held by Shirou, Rin’s expression shifted to one of looking at a complete scumbag.

”...O-Onii-chan?”

Yes. That was what the girl called Shirou.

Matou Sakura, the sister who admired Shirou; Illya of the Einzbern family; and now this black-haired girl...

”Oh? ’ Onii-chan’? Emiya-kun, just how many ’sisters’ have you claimed out there?”

Switching from ”Shirou” back to ”Emiya-kun,” Tohsaka Rin placed a heavy emphasis on the word ”sisters.” How had she never noticed Shirou’s ”talent” in this area before?

”...I-I’m so sorry, I have the wrong person.”

The black-haired girl, hearing Rin and Saber—two women she didn’t recognize—hurriedly corrected herself upon realizing the situation. ”I...”

But before she could finish, Shirou spoke up.

”No, Miyu, you don’t have the wrong person.”

”Eh? ...Is it really, really Onii-chan!?”

Hearing that familiar voice and the fact that Shirou could call out her name instantly, a fantasy couldn’t help but bloom in the heart of the girl, Sakatsuki Miyu, despite the impossibility.

Could it be...? Could it be that Emiya Shirou (from the Prisma Illya world) had come to this ”world after the wish” together with her?!

”I am indeed Emiya Shirou. Though I’m not the Emiya Shirou you know, just as the Emiya Shirou you know would protect you regardless of his own safety, I imagine I would do the same.

After all, a brother is born to protect his sister,” Shirou said. ”Even if we aren’t connected by blood, and even if we aren’t siblings from the same parallel world.”

’How very cunning of you, Counter Force.’

While saying these words aloud, Shirou couldn’t help but feel a headache coming on regarding the Counter Force’s hidden move.

Clearly, this was no longer the burial site of the Greater Grail from the Fate/stay night timeline. At the moment they arrived, it had undergone a displacement with the same location in the Prisma Illya world—specifically at the moment when that world’s Emiya Shirou made a wish to Sakatsuki Miyu, the Child of God.

A parallel world swap had occurred, replacing the Fuyuki Greater Grail with Sakatsuki Miyu!

As for why she had come from the Prisma Illya world to their world...

Shirou touched the Servants in his pocket that had been turned into Class Cards by [Pseudo-Atum].

Could it be that he had already prepared all the necessary summoning catalysts himself?

Read ahead (100 chapters) by supporting me on buymeacoffee com/varietl or ko-fi edwriting