After killing my opponent, the spatial distortion collapsed, and I was pulled back to where I had been before.
This was the first time I had ever killed someone.
But I already knew it would happen someday.
It was either him or me.
The moment I returned, I saw Touko holding Voss in a choke hold, lifting him off the ground like he weighed nothing. Her eyes widened slightly when she noticed me, probably not expecting me to actually win. She let go of him, and Voss dropped to the floor, immediately gasping for air and coughing wildly.
Her gaze shifted back to me, taking in my condition.
"I didn't expect you to win against someone like him." she said. Then her eyes moved briefly to the lifeless body nearby. "We'll talk later. We need to get the relic first."
I just nodded.
Touko turned back to Voss, her expression cold.
"I suggest you give me the relic now." she said. "It's either that, or I squeeze the life out of you."
Voss froze for a moment, his eyes wide and frantic as he looked between the two of us. Whatever confidence he had left was gone.
"O-okay… I'll take you there." he said quickly, pushing himself up with unsteady hands.
Touko didn't respond. She just stared at him.
That was enough.
He turned and began walking, faster than before, clearly not wanting to test her patience again. We followed him through a narrow corridor hidden behind the private room, one I hadn't even noticed earlier. The further we went, the quieter it got. The air felt heavier, like the place itself was layered with bounded fields.
"This place is protected." I muttered.
"Of course it is," Touko replied. "You don't store something like that out in the open."
We stopped in front of a reinforced door, covered in faint markings. Voss hesitated for a second before placing his hand against it. Prana flowed from his body into the lock, and the markings lit up briefly before fading.
The door clicked open.
The inside looked more like a vault than a storage room. Shelves lined the walls, filled with various items, some sealed, others left exposed. The air inside was colder, denser with prana.
My eyes were immediately drawn to the center.
A small pedestal stood there, and on it rested something wrapped carefully in cloth.
"The relic…" Voss said weakly.
Touko walked past him without a word and removed the cloth.
Underneath it was something that didn't look particularly impressive at first glance. A thin, preserved layer of something pale and aged.
"The fossilized skin." she said quietly.
She inspected it for a moment, then nodded to herself.
"Authentic."
While she focused on the relic, my attention drifted.
There were other things in this vault.
Old weapons. Artifacts. Things that carried a faint but noticeable presence.
My gaze shifted toward a corner of the room.
Leaning against the wall, partially wrapped and almost forgotten, was a katana.
It didn't stand out at first glance, but the longer I looked at it, the more I felt something from it.
"…Touko" I called out.
She glanced at me briefly.
"What?"
I pointed toward it.
"That."
She followed my gaze.
There was a pause.
"Go on." she said.
I walked over slowly, my body still sore from the fight, and reached for the katana.
I unwrapped it slightly.
The blade was clean, well-kept despite its age.
"Can I take it?" I asked.
Touko looked at Voss.
He didn't argue.
"…Take whatever you want." he muttered, still shaken.
Touko turned back to me.
"Then take it," she said. "But if it ends up being cursed, don't complain."
I gave a small nod and held onto the katana.
For some reason, it felt… right.
Touko wrapped the relic back up and tucked it away.
"Let's go." she said.
And just like that, we left the vault, but I had a feeling this wasn't the last thing I'd be taking from that place.
...
Me and Touko got back to our hideout. The moment we stepped inside, she closed the door behind us and set up a quick bounded field, sealing the room off.
Then she turned to me.
"Sit."
I did.
She didn't waste any time.
"What happened in there?" she asked.
I told her everything. How I was getting overwhelmed from the start. How his attacks didn't make sense at first. How I started seeing the flow of mana, the distortions around his hands. And how, somehow, I managed to copy it.
By the time I finished, the room had gone completely quiet.
Then she let out a slow breath.
"Listen to me," she said, her tone more serious than before. "You must not tell anyone what happened today."
"…Why?"
Her eyes locked onto mine.
"Because what you just did is enough for the Clock Tower to give you a sealing designation."
I stayed silent.
"They don't care if you're a kid," she continued. "If something is considered too dangerous or too abnormal, they lock it away. Permanently."
Her gaze didn't waver.
"Unless you are absolutely sure you can handle yourself," she added, her voice firm, "don't show it to anybody."
I didn't respond right away.
"Got it." I said quietly.
We stayed silent for a moment.
"Anyways, you must be hungry. Wait for a bit, I'll cook us something."
Just like that, the tense atmosphere shifted into something else entirely. The weight in the room faded, replaced by something calmer, almost normal.
This was one of the things I liked about her. Despite being unhinged at times, she was surprisingly fun and easy to be around.
...
Half a year had passed.
In that time, I trained my ability under Touko's supervision. We ran countless experiments, testing how far I could push it, where it failed, and how to stabilize it. I also sparred with Touko from time to time. Those sessions weren't really fights, it's more like getting my ass kicked. I learned how to read prana flow more clearly, how to react without hesitation, and how to use my ability in different ways. Touko didn't go easy on me either, if anything, she made sure I improved by forcing me to adapt.
And now…
We were heading back to Fuyuki.
The relic was secured, and our next destination was already set.
The Tohsakas.
...
By the time we arrived, the atmosphere of Fuyuki felt… familiar.
The city hadn't changed much on the surface, quiet streets, steady flow of people, everything appearing normal. But beneath that normality, I could feel it. The subtle presence of prana, the kind that only magi would notice. This place was dense with it.
Touko walked ahead without hesitation, clearly already knowing the area.
"We'll head straight to the Tohsaka residence." she said casually.
I followed behind her, taking in the surroundings as we moved through the streets. Even in daylight, there was a certain weight to the city.
We eventually reached a more secluded residential area.
The house stood out.
"Here we are." she said.
I exhaled lightly.
The moment we got near the gate, a priest approached us.
Kotomine Kirei.
The name alone was enough to make something in me tense up.
Cold sweat started to form at the back of my neck. Of all the people in Fuyuki, he was one of the people I wanted to avoid the most, second only to Zouken.
He stopped in front of us, his gaze moving between Touko and me.
"Welcome." he said in a steady voice. "You've arrived earlier than expected."
Touko didn't seem bothered in the slightest.
"We don't have time to waste," she replied casually. "We're here to deliver the relic."
Kirei gave a small nod.
"I see."
His eyes lingered on me for a brief moment.
"Very well. I will inform the Tohsaka household of your arrival."
He stepped aside, gesturing toward the gate.
"Please, come in."
The gate opened, and we stepped inside.
The grounds were clean and quiet, the paths neatly arranged, every detail suggesting discipline rather than decoration.As we were guided further in, the presence of prana became slightly more noticeable.
Soon, we were led into a reception room.
It didn't take long before another presence arrived.
The man who entered carried himself with calm authority.
Tokiomi Tohsaka.
His posture was perfect, his expression composed, his movements precise. The kind of man who clearly stood at the center of this household.
"You've arrived a year before the deadline." he said, his voice smooth and controlled, as though he had been expecting us at some point, just not this early.
A year before the deadline…
I stayed quiet, but the thought immediately formed in my mind.
So the Fourth Holy Grail War is still a year away.
That meant the events I had read aboutor at least remembered, hadn't started yet. Or at least, they weren't supposed to have.
Touko didn't react much to his statement.
"We brought what you asked for." she replied simply.
Tokiomi nodded.
"Then allow me to verify it."
At that moment, another figure entered the room.
Rin Tohsaka.
She stepped in quietly, but with a noticeable presence of her own. She looked younger than I expected, but her posture and expression already carried the same discipline as her father. Her eyes briefly shifted between Touko and me, looking without saying a word.
Tokiomi turned slightly.
"We'll continue this discussion in another room."
Touko gave a small, almost indifferent nod.
"Eiji, wait here," she said before following Tokiomi as he moved toward another room.
Rin lingered for a moment.
Then, after the adults had left the room, her attention shifted fully to me.
"…So," she said, crossing her arms slightly, "you're Touko's assistant?"
Talk about an attitude
"Something like that." I replied.
If I remembered correctly, Rin was around six years old right now. Seeing her act like this made it clear she was already carrying herself like a proper magus.
She stepped a little closer, maintaining her confident posture.
"You don't look like much." she said plainly. "Are you really Touko's assistant?"
There wasn't any malice in her words, just blunt judgment, the kind that came from someone used to speaking their mind without hesitation.
I looked at her for a moment.
Let's try something
Without warning, I activated my ability.
The space around me bent,just slightly.
In the next instant, my body "slipped" out of alignment with the space I was standing in.
I disappeared from where I was and reappeared behind her.
Rin's eyes widened instantly.
"…Huh?!"
She spun around quickly, clearly caught off guard, her composure breaking for the first time since we started talking.
"W-When did you—?!"
I stood a short distance behind her, my expression smug.
"Just now." I said calmly.
After seeing what I had just done, Rin didn't calm down. If anything, she got more persistent. She kept asking questions, how I did it, what it felt like, whether she could learn it too.
At some point, it stopped being questions and started turning into a full-on back-and-forth.
"Just tell me already!"
"I already said I can't explain it that easily."
"You're just hiding it!"
"I'm not."
"Then prove it!"
Her face kept getting more and more red as the conversation went on. I didn't think a human face could get that flushed out of pure frustration, but Rin somehow managed it. Every time I answered, she'd push back even harder, like she refused to accept anything short of a clear method she could copy.
In the end, neither of us really backed down.
Eventually, Touko returned.
Her timing was perfect, as if she had been waiting for the discussion to reach its peak before stepping back in.
"We're done here." she said simply.
That was the end of it.
We left the Tohsaka household shortly after.