"Kaimaku" (開幕)

November 18, 2007

Continuing from the previous episode, this one begins with Saber telling Shirou that from now on her sword will be with him and his fate is in line with hers. Like any guy with commitment issues, Shirou becomes horrified right away but before he can say anything, Saber already runs out to go after Lancer. When Shirou manages to catch up with the two, he realizes that Saber is using an invisible sword. This seems to piss Lancer off, who accuses Saber of being a coward for not revealing her weapon. Saber ignores Lancer and instead goads the guy by telling him that her weapon could be anything. This is because Saber knows that a Servant's weapon can be used to find out the true identity of a Servant. Once that happens, the Servant's weaknesses will be found. Lancer decides to change tactic and tells Saber that they should call the fight off for now since he was just checking the other contestant.

However, when Saber refuses to end the fight, he activates his ultimate weapon, Gáe Bulg, a spear that is made of magical thorn and is capable of piercing any heart. However, by using the spear, Lancer directly reveals his real identity, that of Cúchulainn, a legendar Irish hero. Lancer is disappointed about this because he used his weapon and was unable to kill Saber. Now that Saber knows about his identity, he wants to duel with her but unfortunately his master is a coward and asked him to retreat if his attack is deflected by the enemy. Saber tries to stop Lancer from running away but because she is injured, she fails to go after him. Saber decides to use the lull time to heal her outer wound. She also tells Shirou that even though he's not her real master, now that the contract has been forged, she won't betray him. Upon hearing this, Shirou asks Saber not to call him 'Master' so Saber settles on calling him 'Shirou' instead.

All of a sudden, however, Shirou's stigma begins to sting again. This seems to alert Saber, who asks her Master to heal her wound. Shirou tells Saber that unfortunately he is incapable of such complicated magic. Moreover, he thought she already healed her own wounds not too long ago. Saber looks unhappy about this and tells Shirou that the self-healing only cured the outer wound. Despite this, she tells him that she'll be okay if she just fight this one fight and proceeds to go after this supposed 'enemy'. As it turns out, the 'enemy' turn out to be Rin and Archer. Archer is quickly overwhelmed by Saber's attack, forcing Rin to withdraw him. Because of this, Saber begins to attack Rin but cancels the attack when she hears Shirou's voice. Saber tells Shirou that Rin is Archer's Master and therefore, they must kill her. Shirou, however, tells Saber that he has no idea what 'Master' or Servant' means, so he asks her to stop the fight.

Saber refuses to listen to such nonsense and it doesn't help that Shirou plays the sexist card by telling her that girl should not fight. Rin decides to goad Saber by asking her if she is going to disobey her 'Master'. This seems to strike a nerve in Saber and she immediately stops her attack. Later on, Rin shows to Shirou how to restore the glass window using a simple spell. Shirou is amazed to see this and tells Rin that unfortunately he can't do such spell. In return, Rin looks dumbfounded upon hearing this and can't believe that a novice like Shirou somehow managed to summon Saber. She then proceeds to explain to the guy that he's been drawn into a battle for the Holy Grail, a battle whereby 7 Masters are supposed to fight each other to the death for it. The battle happens once in every ten years and those who are chosen as a Master are marked by the stigma/Reiju. Reiju is also a way for a Master to control his/her Servant.

Having said that, eventually the stigma will wear out so Rin tells Shirou not to use it more than two times. Rin then approaches Saber and tells her that she thinks Saber looks incomplete, probably due to Shirou's lack of magic power. Because of this, Rin decides to take Shirou and Saber to see the overseer of the Holy War battle, Kotomine Kirei. Kotomine also happens to be Rin's teacher but the two seem to dislike each other. Kotomine then explains to Shirou that he can't quit being a Master until he acquires the Holy Grail. He also tells Shirou that whomever obtains the Holy Grail will be given anything that he/she wishes for. Shirou at first claims that the Holy Grail is just a fiction but Kotomine points out that the existence of Servants is proof that the Holy Grail does indeed, exists. The Servants themselves are actually the spirits of past heroes. They normally stay by their Master side but can materialise if they are ordered to do so.

Shirou, however, has problem with the fact that 7 Masters have to kill each other in order to obtain the Holy Grail. Rin tells him that the truth is, there is no rule whereby you have to kill the other Master in order to obtain the Holy War. The Holy Grail is a spirit so only the Servants, who are also spirits, can touch it. The objective of the game is to remove all of the Servants except one's own. However, as Kotomine points out, a Servant is very strong. Another Servant will usually has difficulty trying to kill another Servant so a Master would find it even harder to do so. Having said that, a Servant can't exist without a Master, so the most efficient way to get rid a Servant is to kill its Master. Rin then tells Shirou that a Servant without Master don't disappear right away, so another Master can make a contract with a Master-less Servant using his/her Reiju. Similarly, a Master who loses a Servant can find a new Servant to use.

Upon hearing this Shirou realises that once a Magi uses up all of his/her Reiju, the Servant is free. Kotomine confirms this but he thinks a Master who does this is either an amateur or a coward. Having said that, Kotomine assures Shirou that he'll guarantee Shirou's safety should he picks that path since it is his job as the overseer of the game. This is actually the fifth iteration of the game and the last one happened 10 years ago. Kotomine explains that the wars usually are intense and Masters end up killing each other due to their greed. Because of this, the Magi Guild create the role of an overseer. Having said that, the Guild does not interfere based on the personality of the person who obtains the Holy Grail. It was set up simply to ensure that everyone plays by the rule. Even after hearing about this, however, Shirou claims that he has no reason to fight nor does he has an interest to participate in the Holy War.

He, however, quickly changes his mind when Kotomine tells him that blaze from 10 years ago happened because someone who doesn't qualify for the Holy Grail touches it. Apparently the person evaded the fight and as a result, the Grail wasn't completed. That person was deemed inappropriate to be the holder of the Holy Grail. Rin points out to Shirou that the Holy War will be for naught unless each Master defeat the other Masters. Because of this, Kotomine asks Shirou one more time if he'll participate in the War. After thinking about it, Shirou tells the guy that he will participate in it so he can stop incident like the one from 10 years ago from happening again. After hearing this confirmation, Rin tells Shirou that they should head back home. However, as they stop to pick up Saber, they realize that a third party has joined them. The party turns out to be the creepy little girl Shirou met in the first episode and her Beast-like servant.