Reborn with Steve Stand

"I..."

Illyasviel tried to speak, but as soon as she opened her mouth, blood poured out uncontrollably. "Ugh... cough, cough..."

Fang Mo, with a swift motion, pulled out a strange mass of purple flesh from her chest. This organ, rather than resembling a human heart, looked more like some kind of vessel, with crystalline structures growing on it—definitely not something a human should possess.

"Is this... the Lesser Grail?" Fang Mo muttered quietly to himself as he examined the pulsating, grotesque object in his hand.

Yes, this strange piece of flesh was one of the main reasons Fang Mo had descended into the Fate world.

Illyasviel's family, the Einzbern, had a deep history. Their ancestors were created by a group of magi who sought the Third Magic. The family itself was composed of artificial humans, whose purpose was to revive this Third Magic—*Heaven's Feel*.

Over the centuries, the magi realized the impossibility of this goal. Some left the workshop, others committed suicide out of despair. The artificial humans, however, inherited their creators' will and continued to pursue the Third Magic, eventually forming what is now the Einzbern family.

In time, the Einzberns allied with the Matou and Tohsaka families, establishing the Holy Grail War system in Fuyuki City. Each family had its own ambitions, and together, they constructed the Greater Grail system, which has been the foundation of the Holy Grail Wars.

As for Illyasviel herself, she was the Einzbern family's Lesser Grail.

"Raaahhh!!"

Before he could delve deeper into his examination, Berserker, filled with rage, charged toward him. This time, his expression was terrifying. Despite his lack of rational thought, his face twisted in a feral rage, as though he was ready to tear Fang Mo apart limb by limb.

"Do you want this?" Fang Mo glanced at the approaching Berserker. Then, with one hand, he grabbed Illyasviel and flung her toward a nearby graveyard. "Catch!"

"?!"

Berserker, who had been rushing at Fang Mo, abruptly stopped in his tracks. His frenzied eyes followed Illyasviel as she flew through the air, a brief flicker of hesitation crossing his monstrous face.

But only for a moment.

With a powerful leap, Berserker launched himself toward Illyasviel, the ground beneath him shattering as he chased after her.

"Alright, that's enough. We're done here." Fang Mo dusted off his hands, turning back toward the others as if nothing had happened.

"…What!?" Rin, finally snapping out of her shock, hesitated before asking, "Archer, what did you just—"

"Just lies," Fang Mo responded nonchalantly. "You think I'd let a mere artificial human like her be my Master?" He casually tossed the pulsating purple organ toward Rin. "Here, take it. Make sure to preserve it."

"This is..."

Rin instinctively caught the organ and, upon examining it, her expression shifted. "Huh?"

"It's probably a Lesser Grail," Fang Mo explained offhandedly. He had already analyzed it briefly and was somewhat disappointed. The Lesser Grail was more like a battery or a key—a mere vessel for storing mana and activating the Greater Grail system. There wasn't much of interest for him to study.

"You... you killed that girl, didn't you?" Shirou, unable to stay silent any longer, asked.

"No, I didn't."

Fang Mo shrugged. "One of the reasons we Germans are feared on the battlefield is our unyielding willpower. Even if our hearts are ripped out, we don't die..."

"A normal person would absolutely die if their heart was ripped out!" Shirou shouted, visibly shaken and trembling with anger.

Before he could continue, Rin placed a hand on his shoulder. "Shirou?"

"That girl isn't normal," Rin explained. "Didn't you hear our conversation? She's an artificial human created by the Einzbern family. She shouldn't... she shouldn't die that easily."

Though she tried to sound confident, Rin herself wasn't so sure. After all, Fang Mo had been pretty brutal in his methods.

But did Illyasviel die? The answer was no.

Fang Mo might have taken the Lesser Grail from her, but he wasn't going to let her die. After all, Fang Mo had a particular affection for white-haired girls, a trait common in his country. Even if he had to stab Shirou to death, he would never harm Illyasviel.

The reason Fang Mo had pulled her heart out was twofold. Firstly, he wanted to study the Lesser Grail's structure, as it was one of the main reasons for his journey into the Fate world. Secondly, in the original anime, Illyasviel had been killed by Gilgamesh for the same purpose—to take the Lesser Grail from her.

By taking the Grail first, Fang Mo figured Gilgamesh wouldn't target her anymore, likely focusing his attention on Fang Mo instead. In a way, Fang Mo was protecting her by doing this.

Fang Mo wasn't a saint, after all. He wasn't about to follow everyone around, saving lives like some kind of nanny. That wasn't his style. But for the characters he truly liked, Fang Mo had his own unique ways of saving them. Whether it was Tony Stark from Marvel, Jonathan from *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure*, or Aki from *Chainsaw Man*, Fang Mo had a track record of protecting those he cared about. Even a god of creation couldn't stop him when he was determined.

The moment he took the Lesser Grail, Fang Mo had planted a small cluster of beacon energy inside Illyasviel.

He didn't even bother using potions or weapons. His top-tier healing techniques had been employed, showing just how much he valued her.

In the brief time that beacon energy was active, Illyasviel's body would regenerate a new heart. In fact, even if her head were to be cut off, she wouldn't die.

Had King Louis XVI received such treatment back then, he would've walked off the guillotine and likely crushed the revolution himself.

Alright, maybe that's a bit of a stretch, but Fang Mo had his reasons for doing things his way, especially considering the strict rules of the Holy Grail War.

If the Greater Grail was to manifest, all the other Servants had to be defeated. This meant that all six other Servants had to die.

If Fang Mo simply whisked Illyasviel away now, what would happen to Berserker? Illyasviel had a deep bond with her Berserker, and there was no way she'd agree to have him killed just to finish the war.

So rather than deal with that headache himself, Fang Mo figured it would be better to let the other Servants handle it.

"Alright, enough standing around." Fang Mo waved his hand. "I already told you, German technology is unmatched. That guy's heart was pierced earlier, and look—he's alive and kicking." He pointed at Shirou.

"?"

Rin blinked in confusion, then realized Fang Mo was right. Earlier, hadn't Shirou been killed by Lancer? Yet, here he was, still alive.

"…Huh?"

Even Shirou himself was taken aback. He instinctively touched his chest.

Being killed was a terrifying experience. The memory of it made Shirou shudder, and he never wanted to go through it again.

Yet, strangely enough, he was still alive.

According to Rin, it was Fang Mo who had saved him. But how had he done it? Could he really bring the dead back to life?

The truth was, Fang Mo hadn't revived Shirou. The boy had survived on his own.

Fang Mo had indeed set up a dark ritual altar earlier, but during the process, he discovered that Shirou hadn't actually died. The ritual had failed because of this.

It turned out that the relic inside Shirou, Avalon, was ridiculously powerful. Its ability to lock down his life force was so absurd that even a pierced heart hadn't fully killed him. He had merely entered a strange, death-like state. With no other choice, Fang Mo had used a healing scythe to stab Shirou repeatedly until he woke up.

Shirou had been so terrified by the experience that he had fled, only to run into Fang Mo's alter ego, "Li Yunlong," and been kicked into the warehouse.

"Are you two done yet?"

As they mulled over these thoughts, Fang Mo once again urged them, "Weren't we heading to meet the Overseer? Let's get moving."

"The Overseer..."

The damage caused by the battle with Berserker was staggering. The street, once a quiet and secluded area, was now nothing but a field of craters. The sheer scale of destruction was incomparable to the earlier school incident.

Even Rin, who had thought the school disaster was bad enough, felt a wave of dizziness. The devastation here was orders of magnitude worse.

It was hard to believe even the Overseer could help clean up this mess.

Rin remembered her father teaching her that under no circumstances should the affairs of the mystical world impact ordinary people.

Yet here she was, with a Servant who was a terrifying force of destruction. While some collateral damage during a Holy Grail War was inevitable, Rin couldn't shake her feelings of guilt.

"...So this is war?" Rin sighed softly.

"That's right," Fang Mo's voice came from beside her. "War is nothing but a meat grinder. But the real cause of all this destruction isn't war itself—it's human emotions and desires."

"You actually think like that?" Rin was surprised, having assumed Fang Mo was nothing but a warmonger.

"What else would I think?" Fang Mo gave a cryptic smile. "Hatred, greed, madness, fear—those are the true seeds of war. Rin, take a good look at everything before you. This is the Holy Grail War."

"..."

Rin glanced out at the burning ruins before her.

For the first time, she realized just how twisted and cruel the Holy Grail War really was. If this ritual was truly built on suffering, then it must be ended.

That was it. This would be her wish.

To put an end to this brutal, twisted ritual, freeing the world from its pain.

Thinking this, Rin glanced at Fang Mo.

She still believed Fang Mo's wish was to restore his fallen empire. And she would have to stop him. She would use the Grail to do it—to save him from his own past.

But as she looked at him, she noticed Fang Mo was deep in thought.

"What are you thinking about?" Rin asked curiously. "Are you worried you caused too much destruction?"

"Remember how you told me about the three great magic families last night?" Fang Mo rubbed his chin.

"I remember," Rin blinked, confused. "Why?"

"That girl is from the Einzbern family, and you're from the Tohsaka family," Fang Mo said, his tone thoughtful. "So tell me..."

"...Did the Matou family participate?"