A silver-white Mercedes-Benz 300SL was parked near the church.
This car was originally prepared by Kiritsugu Emiya for Irisviel and Saber to use for transportation after they entered Fuyuki City, but now that Irisviel was missing, it had become Kiritsugu Emiya's temporary ride.
After turning off the engine, Kiritsugu Emiya sat in the driver's seat, pulled out a cigarette he had bought from a vending machine, and opened the pack; the white cigarette stick made him dazed for a moment.
His eyes were dim and hollow, as if he was looking through the white cigarette, seeing something he had lost and was searching for.
His hands trembled slightly as he pulled out a lighter from his pocket, pressing it several times before a faint flame flickered in the night wind.
He put the cigarette in his mouth, lit it, took a deep drag, and slowly exhaled a thin wisp of smoke.
He pulled a portable signal receiver from the passenger seat, staring blankly at the display screen of the device, which showed no fluctuations.
His face was pale and haggard, partly because the continuous use of Time Alter had placed a heavy burden on his body, which he hadn't recovered from yet, and partly because of the loss of Irisviel and Maiya.
Kiritsugu Emiya leaned against the tree trunk, his body trembling slightly, his mind and body enduring immense pain.
He knew his thoughts couldn't be muddled now, so he closed his eyes, trying to suppress the pain deep in his heart, but he couldn't shake off the strong sense of sorrow and loss.
His thoughts were tangled like a mess, his mind was chaotic, and his heart was filled with unease as he stared blankly at the church in Fuyuki City in the dark night.
What if he had dealt with Lancer's Master? In the end, wasn't it a case of being careless and losing everything?
The messy traces left in the forest, the broken trees, and the blood on the ground all indicated that Irisviel and Maiya had encountered an accident.
Pain, self-reproach... Kiritsugu Emiya couldn't help but grit his teeth when he thought of the current consequences.
However, fortunately, Kiritsugu Emiya still found some clear and indicative traces on that battlefield.
It was a strange weapon, its appearance mimicking the style of a cross.
Kiritsugu Emiya recognized this weapon; it was equipment used by the Holy Church for exorcism. When traveling, one only needed to carry the hilt, and the blade was generated by magic. It was suitable as a throwing weapon, focusing on spiritual interference, with weak physical attack power.
"Kirei Kotomine..."
Kiritsugu Emiya's fingers trembled incessantly, the cigarette burning rapidly at his fingertips until the burning tip scalded his finger, bringing him back to his senses. He tossed the cigarette butt onto the roadside and continued to stare at the signal receiver in front of him.
During the battle in North Port, he and Maiya had accidentally discovered the Assassin, who had ostensibly been "defeated," through their binoculars.
Assassin, who had supposedly been killed by Archer in plain sight of the familiars, appeared unharmed in North Port, secretly monitoring the Holy Grail War.
This was a thought-provoking matter.
Although he had once been a disciple of Tokiomi Tohsaka, they had parted ways due to participating in the Holy Grail War.
But this was most likely an excuse to deceive others.
Assassin's defeat, which officially kicked off the Holy Grail War, was merely a play put on by the Holy Church and the Tohsaka Family for others to see.
The collusion between the Tohsaka Family and the Holy Church was quite clear.
So, if Kirei Kotomine had kidnapped them, where exactly did he take Irisviel and Maiya?
Did he hide them in the church, which seemed to be a "neutral zone," or did he hide them inside the Tohsaka Residence?
Kiritsugu Emiya habitually pressed his fingers to his temples, muttering to himself, "Saber, how are things on your end?"
After forming the Command Spell contract, the Master and Servant could communicate through telepathic means.
The moment Kiritsugu Emiya sent out the information in his mind, he received a response from Saber.
"There are no special circumstances at the Tohsaka Residence, and no signal from Irisviel has been detected nearby."
Irisviel had a device button hidden in her pocket.
It was a signal emitter he had personally given her to prevent her from getting lost.
He had taught Irisviel how to use the signal emitter; she only needed to press it simply to activate the signal transmission device, which would then tell him her current detailed location.
But the signal emitter still hadn't sent out any signal, which made Kiritsugu Emiya increasingly anxious.
Kiritsugu Emiya knew that Irisviel, as the vessel for the lesser grail, was an important resource in the Holy Grail War and would not be easily wasted.
As long as she was alive, there would be a chance for her to tell him her location.
But Maiya was different; she was his assistant, an existence dependent on Kiritsugu Emiya. To others, Maiya had no value in being rescued.
Ever since he made Maiya his assistant, Kiritsugu Emiya had cast a spell on one of her hairs and embedded it under the skin of his little finger.
He also had Maiya embed one of his hairs in her finger.
If one party's magical circuits became stagnant, meaning their life force weakened to the point of near death, the other party's hair would burn, sending a warning.
And while searching for them, Kiritsugu Emiya could feel a pang of pain from his little finger.
This indicated that Maiya had been on the verge of death for a period of time.
Although the hair embedded in his little finger did not completely burn up in the end, Kiritsugu Emiya dared not delay any longer and urgently wanted to know the exact locations of Irisviel and Maiya.
Thinking of Maiya, whose life and death were also uncertain, Kiritsugu Emiya felt another surge of irritation.
Originally, surveillance work was most suitable for Maiya. If Maiya were still around, she could have completely controlled the modified familiars to complete reconnaissance missions.
But now, both Irisviel and Maiya were in a state of unknown life or death. Even if Saber and he were incompatible, he had to order Saber to complete this task to rescue Irisviel.
However, Kiritsugu Emiya also knew that Saber's personality was not suitable for surveillance or infiltration work.
Saber was not Assassin, nor could she use Presence Concealment. If Saber were to infiltrate the Tohsaka Residence, she would be unable to pass through the fortress-like magical barrier set up by the Tohsaka Family without being detected.
It would only escalate into a direct assault on the Tohsaka Residence.
Moreover, there was also a mysterious and powerful special Heroic Spirit in the Tohsaka Residence—Archer—who could use multiple noble phantasms.
Furthermore, Saber was injured, so a direct assault on the Tohsaka Residence was not a good option.
He could only have Saber try her best to suppress her magic and carry another signal receiver to detect if there was any signal from Irisviel near the Tohsaka Residence.
He, himself, would come to the church to check the situation.
Once Irisviel's exact location was determined, he could formulate the next combat plan.
Kiritsugu Emiya took out another cigarette from the pack, lit it, and stared intently at the display screen of the signal receiver, praying for Irisviel's signal to appear on the receiver.
The contours of his face appeared even more profound under the green light reflected by the instrument and the smoke.
However, Irisviel's signal never appeared on the signal receiver's screen.
Just as Kiritsugu Emiya was considering whether to forcefully infiltrate the church to check the situation, a pigeon-sized bird-shaped familiar made of silver threads landed on the windshield wiper at some unknown moment, pecking at the glass with its beak, making a "tap-tap-tap" sound that caught his attention.
Looking at this familiar familiar, Kiritsugu Emiya's eyes widened, and he opened his mouth in disbelief, so excited that he couldn't speak for a moment.
