Multiverse: Why does the world show a health bar? !

The priest of Fuyuki City's Holy Church was somewhat well-known throughout the city. Especially among the church's faithful, they were quite enthusiastic about coming to the church for prayers. Listening to the priest's magnetic voice as he chanted the scriptures, it felt as if their souls were being cleansed from the inside out.

Kirei Kotomine, the priest assigned by the Holy Church to oversee the Holy Grail War in this city, would sometimes, like any ordinary priest, engage in prayer activities with the faithful.

In the morning, a prayer session was held. After all the faithful had left, a single figure remained seated in the pews—a blond man in a jacket. From his appearance, he looked like a delinquent biker, but none of the faithful asked if the priest needed help.

After all, everyone knew that Father Kotomine was skilled in Chinese martial arts and could handle himself quite well.

"Kotomine, you really are an excellent priest."

When only the blond man remained in the church, he spoke up.

Kirei Kotomine closed the main door. His magnetic voice echoed in the room: "Of course, I always have been."

"Your father would be very proud."

"Long ago, my father was already proud of me."

The conversation between Kirei Kotomine and the blond man was calm and mundane, as if there were no barriers between them.

But... the premise of this conversation was that Kirei Kotomine had personally killed his own father.

This made the dialogue absurd, like a dark joke.

"The Matou family was destroyed the day before yesterday, wasn't it? Although that foul-smelling magus from the Matou family was quite detestable, those two kids from the Matou family were rather interesting."

"Oh, you're paying attention to this too, Gilgamesh?"

Kirei Kotomine walked up to the statue of the saint.

The man he was speaking to was Gilgamesh, a Heroic Spirit who had survived the previous Holy Grail War. Having bathed in the "black mud," he had gained a physical body and was now able to live in the modern world.

"Because it's interesting, isn't it? The Holy Grail War... It's been ten years, and the world has become rather dull in my eyes."

"Oh."

"So, Kotomine. The King demands you explain what exactly happened earlier."

"Assassin attacked the Matou family, that's all."

"Assassin? Since when did sneaky assassins have such methods? Haha!" Gilgamesh crossed his legs and smirked disdainfully. "And then? I recall that family summoned Rider, didn't they?"

"Rider was also one of the accomplices. The little girl from the Matou family seems to have reclaimed control of Rider from her brother. A pity..."

Kirei Kotomine had only recently gathered the relevant information. After the Matou family's destruction, he had been handling the aftermath, using the excuse of a gas pipeline explosion. A few days ago, there had been a gas pipeline explosion in Fuyuki City, so he used that as a cover.

"Hahaha, Kotomine, what a pity. You didn't get to see the granddaughter kill her own grandfather with her own hands? Why not consider having that little girl kill her own sister instead?" Gilgamesh laughed heartily.

Kirei Kotomine said, "Right now, Rin and Sakura have already formed an alliance. Yesterday, regarding the Matou family's inheritance, Rin used her connections to help the siblings."

"Oh, so Shinji is still alive? I thought he would have died when Rider was taken from him. Children these days are so casual about fighting for power, aren't they?"

Servants are both combat power and symbols of authority. As a king from the Age of Gods, Gilgamesh knew that a king without military power was no king at all.

After a pause, Gilgamesh said, "So, Kotomine, the current situation is that Archer and Rider have joined forces?"

"To be precise, it's Archer, Rider, and Saber. Emiya Kiritsugu's adopted son has become one of the participants in this Holy Grail War. The Saber he summoned is an old friend."

"Artoria? Is that naive girl still chasing after something? What a pity. The Holy Grail of Fuyuki has been corrupted, turned into that abomination. I suddenly look forward to seeing that girl's崩溃 expression when she sees the tainted Holy Grail.

My treasury is still missing such a piece."

Gilgamesh, just like ten years ago, viewed Artoria as nothing more than a "treasure" to be collected.

The solitary king regarded all things in the world as his treasures. With the *Gate of Babylon* at his disposal, he certainly had the right to say such things.

"This Holy Grail War is quite different from the last one. Caster's Master has already died, and Caster's whereabouts are unknown. This worries me."

Kirei Kotomine's calm voice made it seem as if he never faced any difficulties. But after meeting Rin Tohsaka yesterday, he had sensed something was off.

—His master's daughter, the girl he had watched grow up, seemed to be hiding something from him. Was it her alliance with Emiya Shirou and Sakura Matou?

No, it wasn't just that.

Kirei Kotomine's intuition told him that Rin was hiding more secrets. As her guardian for several years, he trusted his judgment.

In reality, Rin had revealed nothing to him. As a magus, she excelled at the art of "concealment." But it didn't matter; Kirei Kotomine had his own sources of information.

"Caster? I recall she's that traitorous witch. Hmph, if she betrayed once, she can betray again. Perhaps she killed her Master and has already left the stage?" Gilgamesh said dismissively.

A mere Caster was nothing in Gilgamesh's eyes. He himself could adapt to the Caster class and even compete for the position of Grand Caster. But with his current temperament, aside from Enkidu, he looked down on all other Servants.

Gilgamesh was, after all, a man of arrogance.

Kirei Kotomine: "Secondly, I've never seen Assassin's Master. He seems to know something, avoiding the church from the very beginning."

"Oh? Is that so? Kotomine, it seems your secrecy isn't up to par. I recall a few years ago, the Clock Tower sent some magus to investigate."

"That magus has nothing to do with this. He only saw what I wanted him to see."

"Where did Lancer go?" Gilgamesh didn't follow up on the previous question. At that time, Gilgamesh had been traveling the world and wasn't in Fuyuki City.

"He sensed Assassin's presence, so I sent him out."

"An Assassin revealing their presence? Since when did assassins become so brazen? Interesting. This Holy Grail War seems truly fascinating."

Kirei Kotomine didn't respond immediately.

He was deep in thought.

Currently, it was known that Saber, Archer, and Rider were in the same camp. And Rider had previously appeared alongside Assassin. So, was Assassin and his Master also part of this alliance?

An alliance? But there's only one Holy Grail. How would they divide it? In the end, they would still turn on each other, wouldn't they?

Now that would be interesting.

Kirei Kotomine smiled slightly and said, "Yes, it truly is fascinating."

Just imagining the scenes that might unfold in the future filled him with a sense of pleasure.