Epilogue

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(Letter to Illyasviel)

Greetings. The letter you are holding is a physical key; if the conditions I told you are met, you will be able to read the rest of it within the Realm. Failing that, stand near to Sakura.

(The rest of the letter)

Peace be upon you, Illyasviel, daughter of Irisviel, of the house of Einzbern. Since you are reading this, we have achieved victory and I and others were the price.

Now, Gilgamesh had warned me that Alaya and some of the gods would attempt to have me killed, not least because of what could be accomplished with the Realm. It is likely that he did so in order to place me into a particular, and untenable, situation because there cannot be another instance of me; increasing my perceived probability of a fatal event means he might be able to gain the use of the Realm by proxy though my students or their descendants, because I would have to make preparations to pass it on to them, whereas if I did not and died, it might be lost to them, and him, forever.

He also made me swear to-resummon him, however since he did not specify that this word was to be inherited, I have taken the step of engraving it into the Realm that he can only be summoned by me, assuming that the next use of the Grail system is mediated by use of the Realm and its associated magecraft. Since I am dead, this presumably failed to trigger some intervention, which is not surprising.

This may, however, be linked to another detail regarding the Grail, which he was able to discover upon seeing its manifestation in this War. While it can use the souls of even Servant-level for magical energy, it does not necessarily do so until it needs said energy, presumably because it is easier to store the souls. Thus some twisted soul remained from the Third, through the Fourth to this Fifth War. Now, we have speculated that one could also simply charge it with magical energy by other means, but the Grail War seems a sort of cursed ritual that actually seeks to witness the death of Servants; unless you have a better means of control than the original Founding Families, it is a deadly trap that will lead to your collective downfall.

All this is relevant to the Chaldea project. It is now passingly unlikely that any of us in this current generation will see its fruition. However, though it may now be possible for you collectively to support the Servants remaining to you, a couple of Servants is not enough to take down a family with the resources that you describe the Einzbern as. Frankly, I give your earlier plan to use Lu Bu for this war a very low probability of success. Of course, regarding the alliance between mine and yours, they will carry out the requirements of the Triple Alliance, may it long grow and prosper. However, understand that I have instructed that the Jeweled Sword project take precedence. Although I am not unaware of the importance of securing an heir to you, my death has not changed my mind; it is not reasonable for me to expect or ask my student to endanger his own estate.

With my death, any success in your plan will doubtless lead swiftly to you becoming a nation, great, mighty and populous. Carry out in full your duty to revenge the injury done to the name of your father and mother; as you have spoken it, pass it down so that they do not forget what the high-handed have done to your house along the way. When you or your successors reach those heights, then remember in turn these words of mine; deal honorably with my students in your strength as they dealt with you in their strength. Do not repay good with evil, as is the way of the magi you detest.

Sasaku.

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(Letter to Sakura)

Peace to you, Sakura, leader of the house of Matou, and Shirou of the house of Emiya.

I must admit that the situation is now extremely troubling. You will need to establish your defenses, my fellow Servants notwithstanding, because is likely that, when they hear word of your (Shirou's) survival and indeed victory in this War, that your sister's house will send kill teams after you. Considering they planned to remove the other two Founding families by targeting Matou Zouken and Tohsaka Rin, but nevertheless wanted her to kill you first, their ire is doubtless beyond the bounds of rationality.

Sakura, while you indeed have a Magic Circuit of mine, it does not carry spells in the usual fashion as the thaumaturgy is based on one's own understanding, so using it without understanding cannot logically occur. Besides the Tohsaka blueprints for the Jeweled Sword, you will find in the Realm a second set by me summarizing all our current potential approaches; unfortunately some of them likely require some sort of internal distortion in your cognitive system to become intelligible. For you specifically, this carries many risks.

Medusa and I have come to the conclusion that, as you wield it, your magecraft is probably not exactly like that of your family. Corrupted energy from the Grail aside, a great deal of magecraft has to do with one's internal movements; it is my understanding that by significantly modifying these, it is possible to do much more than conventionally possible. For example, beings such as daemons or Dead Apostles can develop such an alien common sense that it is possible to overturn that of even the World; a Reality Marble. However, a being that has such power is unlikely to hold too much in common to its prior self.

Seeing that you are currently so very powerful, and Rider's silence on the subject, I hesitate to speculate on your current state, but implore you to allow Shirou to take the lead on the project. Remember that Kuro seemed to think he has the potential to ascend to a Servant, and she herself has Skills that modify even Noble Phantasms; given that he might be able to learn these from her, Archer might prove invaluable here.

While the Jeweled Sword and the Grail System are critical to Gilgamesh's Chaldea ambitions, I will point out that they are useful for many other things and that I do not necessarily expect you to carry out his goals, even if I agreed to do so personally. Illya and I have spoken at length about the Grail War, and I believe it is more trap than opportunity; the Founding Families doubtless prepared their best and could not finish it, be very sure you do not simply follow them, to your own downfall.

As you will have to deal with the other magi houses at some point, allow me to give you counsel now, as I am unable to assist you directly:
Remember that looking upon the sun at noon blinds the greedy, and do not seek after those with power too eagerly, instead consider that all things are built upon the foundation stones, and do not neglect the lowly who are often neglected.
Remember that even animals are frequently tamed with food which the tamer provides before they serve him, and do not expect to receive too much if you yourself have not shown generosity at the beginning, instead consider that the one able to give freely is the greater, and look for those who value even small boons greatly.
Remember that frequently one sword keeps another in its scabbard, and do not mistake being virtuous for being foolish or weak, instead consider that a weapon may need to be shown to prove its existence and cut to prove its edge, and arm yourself against the enemy to not be prey for the hungry.
Remember that to a nation much is trivial that would be impossible to a single family, and do not curtail your future overlong, for any people will perish if its last generation does.
Remember that one who demonstrates bad faith has revealed something about themselves, and thus do not be taken in by the double-faced.
Remember that money, power, respect, stature, and so on are means to ends, therefore do not forget the ends which you have decided upon soberly.
Remember that when you demand revenge, you or your children are the ones who will be bound to perform it, and thus you will avoid cheapening vengeance.

Write down the things of value, which you love, which are virtuous, which are good, which build up a people, which raise them above the beasts and evil men, so that you yourself do not ever forget them and chase after lesser things. Speak of them to your children while they are young even though they may not understand, and do not neglect to teach it to them when they can, thus you shall all discuss them in the time of maturity and not drift to a crooked way.

I do not know what you will build, nor will I hear of it with my ears. As is the way of beings who perish, what was mine is now inherited by you.

Sasaku.

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(Half of a Soul of a Foreign Divinity)

Soul of a divinity summoned into a Servant vessel. Use to acquire a huge amount of magical energy or to create a Spirit Origin.

This is approximately less than half of what would normally constitute a Servant. Although capable of significant error correction and self-repair, the amount missing means that the result is unlikely to be consistent with the original and highly unstable. A fairly representative sample of the original may allow full and accurate reconstruction.

A section is engraved here in plaintext, and has been repeated several times, allowing complete reconstruction: "I hereby recognize, in a non-generally binding manner, the prevailing convention regarding continuity of Heroic Spirits and summoned Servants. Thus, as my 'original self' in accordance with our agreement, I allow an extension of one future instance of myself in the event of my current instance being terminated, continuing from her last state."

Note by Terminal: Do not allow summoning in the following class: Foreigner.
Update August 2019: We have obtained a good sample of the original Caster Servant. Unfortunately.
Update September 2019: The Septem incident showed the unfinished soul could be force-summoned as Berserker. Disallow this class and Avenger as well.
Update October 2019: Jeanne and Martha have successfully established contracts.

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Notes:

This is the end of Another Aria. It's a bit less abrupt than one's own death, but that's life.

For the curious, the ending was largely like this from the very beginning (which is couple years ago now).