Japan, Fuyuki—-
A new singularity has appeared on the site of Singularity F,
but at coordinates ten years prior,
This timelines sees a Fuyuki embroiled in the Fourth Holy Grail War.
Your guide for this Rayshift will be Lord El-Melloi II.
What has happened to the Fourth Holy Grail War?
A battle to discover the truth is about to begin...
— Event Summary
Written by Gen Urobuchi for the first part and Kinoko Nasu for the second part. Chaldea detects another singularity taking place in Fuyuki, only this time taking place 10 years prior to that of Singularity F. Seeking the help of Lord El-Melloi II, who was part of a Holy Grail War that took place during that period, they begin finding out the true circumstances behind this Fourth Holy Grail War.
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Tropes:
- Advertised Extra: Despite being featured as one of the prominent Servants for the event, Hassan of the Hundred Personas amounts to little more then cannon fodder and a glorified midboss.
- And the Adventure Continues: The last act of the event story has the Protagonist and Mash hunting down the other 4 fragments of Dark Irisviel hidden throughout Fuyuki.
- Arc Villain: Zouken Matou, also known as Zolgen Makiri, ultimately serves as the main source of conflict here, this time with his all-too familiar look as a shriveled old man.
- Big Brother Instinct: Part of the reason Iskander doesn't join with the heroes is because El-Melloi II keeps picking fights with Waver.
- Bequeathed Power: El-Melloi II hands Zhuge Liang's spirit over to his younger self after being seriously injured... but doesn't actually die though. Considering the fact this somehow causes his younger self to end up wearing Iskandar's cape, you could say he took up his mantle...
- Call-Back: When the protagonists meet Caster Gilles de Rais, Mash calls him Marshal Gilles de Rais remembering meeting him in Orleans.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: When Kayneth is tricked into leaving the Holy Grail War early by El-Melloi II, Diarmuid makes it clear he intends on following his master. All it takes is El-Melloi II saying Kayneth's fiance would be overjoyed to have Diarmuid around for Kayneth to make El-Melloi II Diarmuid's master in jealous rage.
- Crossover: One with Fate/Zero, as implied by the title. It also functions as an Alternate Universe, with several factors and elements differing from the source material.
- Death by Adaptation:
- Gilgamesh dies during his feast with Iskandar and Altria, as opposed to his mainline counterpart, who survived the Fourth Holy Grail War and went on to live for another ten years.
- Zouken is also taken out by Dark Irisviel, even though he normally plays a major role in the next War.
- Debut Queue: Hassan of the Hundred Personas, Emiya (Assassin), Iskandar, and Angra Mainyu are all introduced as part of this event's story.
- Deuteragonist: El-Melloi II is the main ally of the event as he tries to prevent the tragedies he endured in the Fourth Holy Grail War.
- Didn't See That Coming: El-Melloi II is completely shocked and let down when Iskandar, whom he's been hoping to ally with Chaldea, absolutely refuses to do so, and decides instead to fight against and oppose them.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: Gilles and Ryuunosuke are killed much earlier in the Fourth Holy Grail War by Chaldea and Kiritsugu respectively, preventing them from causing the destruction and mayhem they originally did.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": As with most Fate works, the Fourth Grail War Servants are referred to by their class names. Averted with the Chaldea Servants in El-Melloi II and Mash, who are referred to by their True Names throughout.
- Evil Old Folks: Zouken Matou, being an old and disheveled yet still very much evil magus, serves as the Arc Villain and primary threat that Chaldea must stop.
- Foreshadowing: When the protagonists first meet Kiritsugu, they state he reminds of them of Archer Emiya which shocks Kiritsugu which was Kiritsugu being surprised they said his last name.
- The Ghost: Tokiomi Tohsaka and Kirei Kotomine, the Masters of Gilgamesh and Hundred-Faced Hassan, respectively, are never encountered but mentioned several times by Zhuge Liang in passing. Rin Tohsaka is also indirectly mentioned by El-Melloi II when he explains why he knows the structure of Fubuki's leylines and keystones.
- Go Out with a Smile:
- Following his defeat at the hands of Chaldea, Zhuge Liang in particular, Iskandar gives a huge grin of respect at the former as he Disappears into Light.
- In a darker example, Zouken, upon seeing the corrupted Justeaze emerge from the Greater Grail, resigns himself to being killed by her while maintaining a malicious and longing grin.
- I Hate Past Me: El-Melloi II makes it clear he hates how he used to be in the Fourth Holy Grail War. This ends up backfiring because Iskandar doesn't take kindly to his Master being treated this way and refuses a team up with Chaldea.
- It's All About Me: El-Melloi II easily manipulates Kayneth because Kayneth keeps believing whatever El-Melloi II says as it strokes his large ego that the world does revolve around himself.
- Lighter and Softer: Compared to the original work, there are far less casualties.
- Mythology Gag:
- Ryuunosuke being killed by Kiritsugu, except this time Kiritsugu is a Servant instead of a Master, and that he killed him up close rather than from afar.
- Yet again an Older and Wiser servant version of a participant of a Holy Grail War can't stand his younger self. Luckily for Waver, El-Melloi II isn't nearly as murderous as Emiya was towards Shirou.
- Due to being located in Fuyuki, many of the locations of the Quests are actually identical to the their locations in the flame-engulfed Fuyuki and even reveals what they were (X-A is the Emiya Residence, X-B is the Tohsaka Residence, X-C is Fuyuki Bridge, X-D is the Wharf, X-E is the Fuyuki Church, X-F is Homurahara Academy, X-G is the Einzbern Castle, and Point 0 is the Greater Grail's location).
- When El-Melloi II reveals the Fuyuki Holy Grail has been corrupted, Kiritsugu asks why El-Melloi II didn't destroy the grail right away if he knew that. El-Melloi II states he needed to be careful as if he destroyed the container without preparation it would spell disaster. This references the ending of Fate/Zero where Kiritsugu used his command seals to force Altria to destroy the grail which unintentionally caused the Fuyuki Fire due to the mud inside the grail leaking out.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- El-Melloi II constantly taking out his frustrations on his younger self alienates Iskandar enough for him to deny making an alliance with Chaldea, much to El-Melloi II's shock.
- Iskandar saves Kariya by amputating his arm, then leaves it lying around for Zouken to find. Zouken uses the Command Seals to control Lancelot into attacking the party, and defeating him in self-defense adds up to enough Servant casualties to activate the Grail.
- No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction: The other reason Iskander doesn't join with the protagonists/El-Melloi II after Gilgamesh is defeated. He knows that if he joins the protagonists, they will win the grail with no challenge which he finds that incredibly boring.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Subverted while El-Melloi II is determined to ensure the tragedies that occurred as a result of the Fourth Holy Grail War never happens, Roman states El-Melloi II's actions won't change the past due to the nature of Singularities. El-Melloi II already knew that but he doesn't want to repeat the same mistakes he did in his youth.
- Spared by the Adaptation:
- Since Zhuge Liang convinced Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald that the war was a conspiracy against him, Kayneth and his wife leave, entrusting Diarmuid to the protagonist, thus sparing them from their deaths in the war. And as a), Diarmuid never had to fight Altria, and b), Altria's master was Irisviel, not Kiritsugu, Diarmuid is also spared, as Diarmuid never has to deal with Kayneth being forced to use a command spell to order Diarmuid to kill himself.
- Iskandar averts this, but he does make sure that Kariya plays this straight - he rescues Sakura Matou from the Matou manor, and uses her as a bargaining chip to get Kariya to chop off his arm with the command seals - not only ensuring that Lancelot won't kill Kariya when the former's Noble Phantasm is used, but also removing the crest worms from Kariya, as they only wanted mana.
- Irisviel, who leaves with Chaldea as a servant once the event's story is finished.
- Tokiomi Tohsaka is spared offscreen, since Gilgamesh is killed early in the Grail War, meaning there's nobody to corrupt Kirei, the former's subordinate.
- Saber isn't forced to use Excalibur to destroy the Grail, meaning she gets to make it to the end.
- The Stinger: After Chaldea departs, the mystery Assassin, revealed to be Kiritsugu Emiya, encounters and battles Angra Mainyu.
- Trust Password: Kayneth realizes that El-Melloi II is telling the truth about him dying when he recites one of his love letters to Sola, something that he had locked away in his private office and would only be accessible to other people if he had died.
- The Unfought:
- After defeating Gilles, Zhuge Liang next directs you to find and take down his Master Ryuunosuke, but by the time you find him, the mystery Assassin has already killed him.
- Tokiomi and Kirei are never fought nor encountered.
- Worthy Opponent: El-Melloi II is very pleased to be considered one by Iskandar and requests that the protagonist let them fight even though it's essentially counterproductive apart from personal satisfaction.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Zouken pulls this on himself. Upon seeing what has become of Justeaze, he concludes that his role is over and allows himself to be killed by her, trusting that she'll finish the job they started centuries ago.
