[H1]Fate/Castle of Glass[/H1][center][img]https://i.ibb.co/NxjQQLq/original-drawn-by-doora-dora0913-d9c6cb36483fbe93677c3e67e8914d78.png[/img][/center]
Evening, at a certain magician's mansion.

"Tell me, Ruler, am I a terrible man for misleading all those children just so I can achieve my own selfish dream?" An old man with a downcast expression asked his conversation partner. He nursed a drink nostalgically while the only background noise in the room died in the crimson glow of the early evening was an old record playing Vivaldi.

His partner didn't partake in his libation, choosing to focus her gaze on the ashen sky and the distant hills, stained with alternating tones of red as vivid as her hair and dark like her sacramental attire.

"That's not—"She was about to answer the question when her voice was drowned by one of the powerful allegros the priestly composer is known for, throwing her back into deep introspection.

"'The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts', If such is true then..."

"...I no doubt have the blackest soul of them all."

A chilling drizzle began to pour just as the last performance came to and end. Ruler turned around to face the tired man. Instead of addressing the question, she said in a gentle voice, fitting of her saintly persona, "It's going to be a cold night. It may even snow later. Would you like me to prepare you something before I leave?"

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An hour later, at the roof of the Monarch Hotel.

Even though the bone-chilling drizzle persisted into the night, and she stood alone at the roof for several minutes already, Ruler's clothes didn't show any signs of being soaked. It was as if nature itself understood that her saintly aura wouldn't waver and thus, avoided her out of spite—or admiration.

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"Listen to me, O Heroic Spirits summoned by the call of the Holy Grail," she said. Her words were carried by the wind, reaching every one of the Servants by the authority the Grail granted her.

"I'm the Ruler, Barbara of Heliopolis. By the authority granted to me by the Holy Grail, hereby I declare the beginning of the Great Holy Grail War of Black Rock. Fight with honor and cause no unnecessary collateral damage as you pursue what you yearn for."

"May the Lord's protection be with all of you."

And so it began, the Great Holy Grail War of Black Rock.

[center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nLH06ftkL0[/youtube][/center]