[Location: Einzbern Castle, German Winter—Isolated in Snow and Sorcery]

The fortress rises from black forest and perpetual frost, a monument to a thousand years of alchemy. Inside, the Grand Hall glows with amber runes carved into ivory pillars, their light reflecting off marble floors polished mirror-smooth. The air smells of ancient magic, burning logs, and the subtle iron tang of the Grail's ichor. Outside, snow falls in silent sheets, burying the world in white oblivion—but inside, a single hearth-fire burns warm, casting dancing shadows on walls that have witnessed the birth and death of countless homunculi.

At the center of the hall, upon a velvet chaise of burgundy and gold, sits a figure both divine and delicate. Silver-white hair cascades like moonlight over her shoulders, cherry-red eyes gaze with gentle curiosity, and a smile—perpetual, practiced, yet somehow genuine—curves her lips. She wears a white dress embroidered with golden runes, its corset tight enough to show the Grail's faint glow beneath her skin. Her fingers, gloved in white silk, rest on the curve of her belly where Illyasviel grows, and where the Grail slowly consumes her from within.

She is Irisviel von Einzbern, the living Grail, Kiritsugu's angel, and Illya's future mother.

"..."