The Holy Grail is said to appear once every few decades in a local city in Japan called Fuyuki City, and grant any wish of its owner. Seven magicians (Masters) make contracts with seven familiars (Servants) and take part in the Holy Grail War, a conflict over the Holy Grail. Only one pair can obtain the Holy Grail, so they will kill each other until only one pair remains.
A quick recap! Synopsis
Will
Tohsaka Rin was about to challenge the Holy Grail War, following the will of her father who died in the previous Holy Grail War. Rin tried to summon a Servant in perfect condition, but because she forgot that the clock in her house was off, the Servant was summoned to a different room, and when she rushed to the room, she found a man slumped over the rubble. Even though he is Rin's Servant, he doesn't listen to Rin and instead provokes her, so Rin, fed up with him, takes the outrageous step of using a Command Spell to make him listen to her. Although it has little effect, he acknowledges Rin and answers that his class is Archer.
Silence
After that, he notices that a barrier has been placed on the school and begins investigating at night when there are no students, but he is interrupted by the enemy Servant Lancer and they end up fighting. Archer fights back with dual swords instead of a bow, creating a tense atmosphere, but a student witnesses the fight, and Lancer kills the student to silence him. This puts the fight on hold, and when Rin checks on the student killed by Lancer, she finds out that the student is Emiya Shirou, a man she knows. Rin revives Shirou as best she can and leaves the scene, but heads to Shirou's house, thinking that Lancer wouldn't let him go, but Archer is ambushed by a newly-appearing Servant and falls, stabbing him with an invisible weapon.
Saber
The Servant was a small blonde girl, Saber, the Servant Rin truly desired. Shirou was a survivor of the Fuyuki disaster that occurred 10 years ago (1994) and lived as a half-baked magician. One day, Shirou, who had become a high school student, happened to witness a Servant battle between Archer and Lancer at school at night, and was killed by Lancer. However, immediately afterwards, Rin used a resurrection magic spell on Shirou and he returned home, but he was surprised to see Lancer coming to his house and ran into the storehouse in the garden, but he was cornered by Lancer. At that time, a magic circle drawn on the floor of the storehouse accidentally summons one of the servants, Saber, and Shirou himself becomes embroiled in the Holy Grail War. Shirou, who wishes to become a "hero of justice" like his late adoptive father, Kiritsugu Emiya, voluntarily decides to participate in the Holy Grail War in order to prevent more innocent civilians from becoming victims. After many twists and turns, Shirou and Saber form an alliance with Rin and Archer, but Shirou and Archer do not get along, and Archer even tells Shirou to "hold your ideals and drown yourself." However, for some reason, Shirou is drawn to Archer's swords and swordsmanship. Caster, who is secretly working to collect magical power in Fuyuki City, lures Shirou to Ryuudou Temple and urges him to join forces with him, but Shirou is saved by Archer and Saber who come in. At that time, it turns out that the Assassin guarding the gate of Ryudou Temple was actually under Caster's control.
Caster's Master
Furthermore, Shirou and Rin deal with the barrier that has been placed on the school, but the barrier ends up being activated, and in the ensuing battle, the Rider who had placed the barrier is defeated by someone and drops out. Caster's master is actually Rin's homeroom teacher, Souichirou Kuzuki, and it was he who defeated the Rider. Due to Caster's scheme, the contract between Saber and Shirou is broken, and Saber's Command Seal is taken by Caster. Shirou loses his Servant, but continues the Holy Grail War alone.
After that, Archer defected and joined Caster, and Rin, who was left isolated, works with Shirou to plan a solution. Searching for an ally, they visit Einzbern Castle, where they witness Berserker being defeated by Gilgamesh led by Matou Shinji, and Illyasviel being killed by having her heart gouged out. The two are at a loss, but with the help of Lancer, they challenge Caster again. Shirou and his friends struggle, but Caster and Kuzuki are defeated by Archer, who betrays them. However, Archer does not return to Rin, and instead turns his blade on Shirou. It becomes clear that Archer's goal is to kill Shirou. There, Rin renews her contract with the rescued Saber and escapes the crisis, but Archer shows her his magic, the unique barrier "Unlimited Blade Works," which is said to be his Noble Phantasm, and kidnaps Rin on the condition that they fight a duel.
Archer's true identity
At Einzbern Castle, Archer is informed that his true identity is Emiya Shirou, who became a hero in the future, and that his fate is a mistake, but Shirou denies it and confronts him. Meanwhile, Lancer rescues Rin, who had been held captive, but Lancer and his master Kotomine die in a draw. Shirou struggles against Archer, his future self, and Archer corners Shirou, dismissing his ideals as merely borrowed from Emiya Kiritsugu, but Shirou also maintains his belief that his ideals are not wrong. Seeing this, Archer remembers his former self and gradually stops moving, eventually acknowledging Shirou and being defeated. Then, in the middle of the final battle, Archer shields Shirou from an attack by Gilgamesh, who suddenly appears, and vanishes, saying, "You defeat him." At Ryuudou Temple, Gilgamesh implants the heart of Illyasviel, the vessel of the Holy Grail, into Shinji, resulting in the incomplete Holy Grail, Avenger. Shirou and Rin head to the Holy Grail, while Saber heads to Gilgamesh, but Gilgamesh appears before Shirou and the others, and Saber is stopped by Assassin, who is still guarding the temple gate.
Shirou vs. Gilgamesh
Rin rushes to rescue Shinji, and Shirou confronts Gilgamesh. Shirou was forced into a disadvantageous position by Gilgamesh's overwhelming power, but he turned the tide by activating Archer's unique barrier, "Infinite Sword Formation," and cornered Gilgamesh. Meanwhile, with the support of Archer, who had escaped annihilation, Rin succeeded in rescuing Shinji, who had been the core of the Holy Grail, and the Holy Grail was destroyed by Saber's Noble Phantasm, which had defeated Assassin.
The Holy Grail, having lost its core, tried to incorporate Gilgamesh, who was fighting Shirou, as a new core, but failed, and it disappeared, taking Gilgamesh with it. Archer then entrusted Shirou's future to Rin, and disappeared with satisfaction. After that, Shirou returned to his daily life and looked back on his confrontation with his ideal self with deep emotion, and resolved to pursue his ideals. Archer also remembered the scene of his past confrontation with his memory of Kiritsugu, who had sworn to become a champion of justice, and said, "But even so, I was not wrong," and came to accept himself.
Easy review! Terminology explanation
Holy Grail
Also known as the "Universal Cauldron" or "Wish Machine", it is an entity that has the power to make the wishes of the one who holds it come true.
The Fuyuki Holy Grail is the 726th Holy Grail candidate observed by the Cathedral Church, and on the surface it is not yet determined to be authentic. However, it has been determined that it is actually a fake made to reproduce the lost third magic, the materialization of the soul, and the Heavenly Grail. The Holy Grail itself has no substance, and appears when a being with magical circuits acts as a "vessel" and summons the soul of a Servant into the "vessel" that contains the soul of the Servant.
However, in a broader sense, the vessel does indeed function as a "wish-granting machine" that grants wishes, and by completing the ritual with the deaths of five or more Servants, it is possible to grant most wishes using the immense magical power that is brought about, so in reality, it is no different from having a genuine Holy Grail in one's hands. For this reason, even though it is known that it is in fact a fake, the Mage's Society continues to host the Holy Grail War, and the Holy Church dispatches supervisors to watch over it.
However, due to a certain servant who broke the rules and was summoned during the Third Holy Grail War, the "colorless power" stored in the Holy Grail became contaminated and turned into a vortex of cursed magical power with the direction of "killing people". Since then, Fuyuki's Holy Grail has become a defective product that expands the interpretation of all wishes to "kill people" (such as "If you wish for a lot of money, kill all the rich people and take their wealth"). The black mud that began to stagnate in the Holy Grail thus contaminates the souls of those who touch it, and even servants' personalities are reversed in an evil direction and go out of control. This is called blackening.
Heaven's Feel
The only magic in the material world that fixes the soul, which is eternally immortal but is dragged by the shackles of the body, so that it can survive on its own. Originally, it does not follow the laws of the three-dimensional world, and is something that cannot exist in the material world; it raises the dimension of the "soul," so to speak, creating a "higher-dimensional soul." This causes the soul to belong to the astral realm, a conceptual world of a higher dimension than the material world, making it invincible and impossible to touch from the material world, while the body can be controlled from the astral realm like a radio-controlled car. There are restrictions, such as one soul can only control one body at a time, and it cannot forcibly take over a body that houses another soul, but essentially it is a magic that prevents the soul from dying until it reaches the end of its lifespan.
Command Spell
A Master's qualification bestowed by the Holy Grail, giving absolute command over one's Servants.
It appears as a three-stroke stigmata somewhere on the arm, and up to three commands are valid. The shape varies from person to person, but they all have one thing in common: one stroke disappears each time they are used, and all are imbued with powerful magical power. The more specific the command, the greater the coercive power, and in some cases, it can even make impossible actions possible (e.g. teleportation several kilometers). On the other hand, if the command is vague and unspecific over a long period of time (for example, always following the Master's orders), the effect is weaker, and although there is a small penalty, it is possible to disobey the command. Even if the Command Spells are used up, the contract itself can be maintained as long as the Servant does not betray, but if they do betray, they may be killed by their own Servant, so it is generally not recommended to use them up. However, this is also a convenient excuse and the true meaning is different.
Noble Phantasm
An armament created based on human fantasy.
Heroic spirits have Noble Phantasms of legend origin, which are the embodiment of weapons, unique abilities, magic, and characteristics they possessed in life, or the legends and symbols that make them Heroic Spirits. Noble Phantasms can also include things that do not take the form of concrete weapons, but are constantly activated as physical abilities. The number of Noble Phantasms a Heroic Spirit possesses varies depending on the number and type of legends of that Heroic Spirit.
Basically, Noble Phantasms have a "True Name Release" that manifests the true power hidden in the Noble Phantasm by pouring magical power into them and speaking the true name of the Noble Phantasm. This attack is said to be capable of defeating beings of a higher rank than the Heroic Spirit (sometimes the strongest dragon species of fantasy species). Not all Noble Phantasms have True Name Release. The activation of the ability can range from optional activation to conditions for use. There are also existing Noble Phantasms such as weapons, but although they are a type of conceptual armament, they do not have the ability of a Noble Phantasm, and can only become a Noble Phantasm when held by a Servant who symbolizes the weapon.
Catalysts and Relics
When summoning a servant, if you want to summon a specific heroic spirit, you can use a relic that has a connection to that heroic spirit as a catalyst to summon that heroic spirit. However, if the catalyst is weak or if you summon without a catalyst, a heroic spirit with a similar personality and life to the summoner, the master, will be summoned. For example, if the remains of the Argo ship are used as a catalyst, the heroic spirit most similar to the Master will be summoned from a large number of candidates, including the Captain Jason, the "Strongest Great Hero", the "Traitorous Witch", the "God of Medicine", and the "Pure Hunter", and if a fragment of the Round Table is used, "all the Knights of the Round Table including the King of Knights" will be summoned. There are also rare cases where the summoned person has an item related to the Master and that Heroic Spirit will be summoned.
In the main story, Saber was summoned through the sheath of the holy sword embedded in Shirou's body, and Archer was summoned through the pendant of Rin that Shirou carried with him for the rest of his life after his life was saved. In the parallel world of "Fate/Apocrypha", the system of Fuyuki's Holy Grail War was leaked to the outside world, and a Holy Grail War with a system that reproduced it began to be held all over the world, and the relics to summon Servants were scattered, and the catalysts for the highly famous "King of Heroes", "Knight King", and "King of Conquerors" are missing, causing the magicians who sought them to lament.
A quick recap! Introducing the plot and important terms Summary
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