What Holy Grail War? Let's Play Cards!

"What the hell? Where's my pre-constructed Dragon starter deck? My precious Blue eyes! You Kaiba, I can't believe you!" Jiang You wailed, staring at the five baffling cards in his hand.

This version of Yu-Gi-Oh! differed greatly from the OCG and MD editions. To enhance immersion, obtaining cards was deliberately challenging; even drawing a Blue Eyes White Dragon during the initial phase was rare. This scarcity had fueled much of Jiang You's enthusiasm for the game.

"However, since these cards were specially created for this collaboration, I'll give them some credit," Jiang You mused. Accepting his fate, he decided that even without prior knowledge of this unique collab set, the opening stage—akin to a beginner's tutorial—couldn't be too difficult. He trusted his instincts and began playing. "I activate the effect of the magic card Unfulfilled Promise. From my hand, I send a card bearing 'Servant' or 'Einzbern' to the graveyard. Then, I add one Castle of Snow card from my deck to my hand."

This card depicted Kiritsugu Emiya trudging through a blizzard.

Unfortunately, the crossover event didn't come with a physical Duel Disk; instead, the cards floated in mid-air, their blue outlines forming the entire playing field. From below, it appeared as a solid mass of darkness, with only the card backs standing out, cleverly redesigned to resemble the summoning circles for Heroic Spirits.

"Since you and I have identical decks with no manual shuffles, I'll just speed things up. Now I activate the Field Spell Card: Castle of Snow."

As the card was placed down, swirling snow blanketed the entire space. The interior, which should have been church-like, transformed into the wooded area outside the white castle of the Einzbern family.

"The special effects are impressive—kudos. This card allows once per turn to search the deck for a card containing 'Einzbern'. The one I'm adding is this: Illyasviel von Einzbern."

"Activating Illyasviel von Einzbern's effect: when Castle of Snow or a Berserker Servant of eight or more stars exists on the field, this card can be specially summoned. I'll summon her in defense position. Come forth, Illya, it's time to materialize your IF scenario."

As the card was placed onto the field, a girl around ten years old, bearing a striking resemblance to Irisviel, materialized in a shower of light.

[ILLYASVIEL VON EINZBERN★ ★(Level 2)[Master][Effect]

Defense 800

"Due to Castle of Snow's effect 2, the attack and defense powers of cards with the Einzbern keyword have increased by 500 points."

[Illyasviel von Einzbern]

Defense: 800 → 1300

"This is...?" The newly summoned Illya looked around with a puzzled expression, taking in the familiar snow, the familiar castle, and the familiar people.

"Kiritsugu-pa... Kiritsugu Emiya!?" Her astonished cry echoed through the forest. Then, large tears began to roll down her cheeks. "You liar! You great big liar! You promised you'd come back for me when it was over, but I've been waiting for so long! For ten whole years, I've watched the walnut tree bud and bloom, without you ever returning! Liar! You're such a big liar!"

The vivid expression and clear words caused even Jiang You to involuntarily pause. He casually placed the card in his hand over the very edge of the battlefield. It was worth noting that this level of interactivity was only advertised for cards equipped with Duel Spirits.

"But Illya, isn't Illya still...?" Kiritsugu Emiya glanced at his wife. After receiving her's equally surprised but affirmative nod, he repeated in disbelief, "But Illya... she isn't here!"

"Since you've seen the written description of my Noble Phantasm, you should know that this card extracts concepts from legend, experience, and possibility. Your card, naturally, doesn't have much in terms of legend, nor is it your past experience; possibility here refers to the future. In other words, this is you, Illya, ten years from now. Taking into account the name and effect of the magic card we just used, you should have the answer by now." Jiang You provided the explanation at the opportune moment, while inwardly grumbling that Kaiba had really gone all out—having NPCs react based on cards was truly pushing things to a new level.

"Mom?!" Illya also noticed Irisviel's presence, her voice filled with unrestrained joy. However, the rules of the duel prevented her from rushing into her mother's embrace.

"I'm here. Don't cry, my dear child." Irisviel was still somewhat conflicted, but the maternal bond linked by their shared blood compelled her to believe in the young girl's authenticity, and she responded softly.

"In other words... I lost in this Holy Grail War?" Kiritsugu Emiya questioned. The Heroic Spirit panel seen by the Master couldn't be fake. But he wasn't one to surrender easily. "This is just a possibility, right? It doesn't tell us everything. In fact, we can use this information to deduce which Masters and Servants are participating in this battle."

"You were hell-bent on sending my soul to hell just moments ago. How fickle the faces of dirty adults are, huh?" This time, it was Jiang You's turn to wear a look of disdain.

His over-the-top performance had gradually drawn him into the role-play as well. He continued, reciting the original storyline, "Rather than saying you lost, it's more accurate to say that there was no winner in this battle."

Irisviel ran towards Illya and embraced her tightly. The girl who hadn't felt her mother's warmth for ten years finally had her full release of emotional turmoil.

"What do you mean?" Kiritsugu looked at the scene before him and unconsciously lit a cigarette. He immediately received Irisviel's reproachful gaze and had to silently extinguish it.

Jiang You glanced at the effect of his card, deciding to finish speaking before playing it. He hadn't seen a countdown timer anyway. After all, sending Illya to the graveyard at this point would indeed be somewhat hellish. "Your wish is world peace, right? Don't you think it's a bit too vague?"

"There are many ways to achieve world peace. How exactly does the Holy Grail plan to accomplish this result?" Jiang You made a pistol gesture with his hand and pointed it at his temple. "For example, if everyone were killed, wouldn't there be no more conflict? Perfect world peace."

"Or perhaps gather all humanity together into one being. With minds combined, there would be no concept of 'others,' naturally eliminating conflict. No death, a world of perfect peace."

Seeing that Kiritsugu still showed little reaction, Jiang You decided to use a more persuasive method. "Indeed, words alone aren't enough. Let me illustrate this with an example."

He uncovered a card. "I activate the continuous spell card, Corrupted Holy Grail. From the graveyard, remove one 'Einzbern' and activate its effect 1: each turn, both players recover 1000 life points. However, due to effect 2, all healing effects are transformed into life point loss for both sides. Similarly, effect 3 reverses all attack and defense boosts."

Illyasviel von Einzbern

Defense 1300 → 300

A black void hung in the sky, continuously dripping with malicious, pitch-black sludge.

"The wish that should have been a beacon of hope is now filled with malice. All beautiful aspirations twist into the most grotesque desires. By the way, the card removed from the graveyard is this one: Irisviel von Einzbern."

"Kiritsugu Emiya, Justice's Messenger, My Master. You couldn't save anyone. You sacrificed your wife for your ideals, and all you got in return was this thing."

"'The Holy Grail.' Ha ha ha ha"

The black-haired youth stretched out his fingers towards the black void, letting out a deranged laugh. It entwined with Illya's sobs, piercing Kiritsugu Emiya's heart.

Kiritsugu Emiya opened his mouth. After taking several deep breaths, he stared at Jiang You and asked, "But similarly, the Holy Grail still has the ability to fulfill wishes, right? As long as I can perfectly define the scope of my wish, it can achieve my goal of tracing back to the source."

"Ha ha ha—what? No, buddy." Jiang You's tone made an abrupt turn, and he let out a sharp bark of laughter. He patted his chest, then gave Kiritsugu a thumbs-up. "It's still you, you pure-blooded Kiritsugu AI. All you can think of is that "omnipotent" wish machine, huh? Your head's full of that foolish world peace stuff. Why don't you go support Haiti or something?"

Three cards were forcefully slapped onto the Spell/Trap Zone, forming a T-layout with Illya. "Madam, please step aside. The duel will continue. I'm gonna beat him down hard today. Three set cards. Pass."