The dark red color looks like the mark left by dried blood, and has a strange beauty.
If you look closely, you can vaguely see the flowing texture beneath the bright red surface, as well as a sense of magic that seems to be there and not there.
The style of the emblem is very peculiar. Three diamond-shaped fragments of the same size are gathered together to form a triangular emblem, which looks like a crystal snowflake with three petals removed, or a combination of the Mercedes-Benz and Mitsubishi Motors logos.
The appearance of the emblem was accompanied by severe pain, as if being touched directly by a branding iron, or as if being pierced by ten thousand needles, causing the person to break out in a cold sweat.
When the pain eased a little, Shinji immediately found Yustisa.
"This is the holy mark." said Justisa.
Shinji was puzzled: "Stigmata?"
"The appearance of the Holy Grail will give some signs to the magicians who become Masters, namely the stigmata, which are also the predecessors of the Command Seals. When a magician successfully summons a Servant and becomes a Master, the stigmata on the Master's body will be transformed into Command Seals. I made a little move when I made the contract with you. When you officially become a magician, the stigmata specially prepared for you will appear, and you can summon Servants from now on."
The Command Seals are one of the subsystems of the "Holy Grail War". They are the crystallization of magic that appears on the body and are the exclusive mark of the Master.
The reason for the existence of such a subsystem is that the power of the Servants is too strong. If there is no means of restraint, it is easy for the Servants to disobey the orders of the Master or even kill the Master. The failure of the first Holy Grail War 180 years ago was related to the lack of Command Seals to restrain the Servants.
The Command Seal is a figure composed of three strokes, which has the absolute power to make the servants obey. One stroke represents the right to exercise the absolute command once, which means that it can only be used three times at most.
Those with stigmata are chosen by the Holy Grail and are eligible to participate in the Holy Grail War, but those without stigmata may also summon servants by chance and participate in the Holy Grail War. In the final analysis, both the Master and the Servants are chosen by the Holy Grail system, and everything the outside world does is just to increase the probability as much as possible, but it will never reach 100%.
It is worth mentioning that there are only seven Master places, and it is on a first-come, first-served basis. Once the quota is full, even if you have a stigmata, you will automatically lose the qualification to participate in the Holy Grail War.
Justisa's answer solved Shinji's doubts, but also brought him new doubts.
"What? Can we summon him now? There are still three months until the start of this Holy Grail War."
"I told you, this is a special stigmata prepared for you." Justisa emphasized, "It is a privilege that only you can have to be summoned in advance."
The word "early summon" enlightened Shinji. The Einzbern family, to which Justisa belonged, was the designer and creator of the Holy Grail system and did have a certain degree of privilege. The illegal summoning of the Third Holy Grail War and the early summoning of the Fifth Holy Grail War were both due to this privilege.
"Um, are you so sure that I can grow to the point where I can support a Heroic Spirit in nine months?"
"I have no choice but to believe you." Justisa looked at Shinji quietly. Although she still had that icy face, she could feel an inexplicable helplessness and persistence.
"I didn't disappoint you." Shinji responded with a smile.
Whenever Justisa habitually kept a blank expression on her face, Shinji would respond with a rich expression, hoping to infect her. Over time, Justisa's face showed more emotional fluctuations, just like now, she secretly curved the corners of her mouth.
"Yes, you did not disappoint me and met the Master's standards."
"But I really didn't think I would personally participate in the battle this time. I'm not even sure if Uncle Kariya can participate." Shinji smiled bitterly, "I didn't prepare a decent catalyst."
In the original world line, it was Kariya who represented the Matou family in the Fourth Holy Grail War, but it was he who asked Zouken to implant a Crest Bug in his body, and he spent inhuman pain and almost all of his life in exchange for enough magic power and the qualification of a Master. Shinji was not sure whether he and Kariya could be recognized by the Holy Grail and obtain the qualification of a Master by accepting training step by step like now.
Catalyst, the medium used to summon a designated Servant.
There are countless heroes born throughout the ages, just like the stars in the sky. If you do nothing and just randomly summon, no one knows what kind of servants will be summoned. After all, the Holy Grail War is a war between Servants and Masters. It's okay to summon heroes with strong combat power, but it would be terrible if a non-combat hero is summoned.
In order to avoid such things from happening, and to summon heroes that suit the Master's wishes as much as possible, most Masters will prepare the corresponding catalysts in advance.
There are many kinds of catalysts. Some are items used by heroes during their lifetime, called "holy relics", while others are related to a heroic legend.
Facing Shinji's concerns, Justisa gently waved her hand: "It's okay. There are several good things in Zangyan's collection that can be used as catalysts. Considering your actual situation, I have already selected them for you."
"Oh?" Shinji's eyebrows moved, and a hint of surprise appeared on his face.
Justisa is not very subjective. Most of the time when the two of them are together, it is Shinji who makes the decisions. Justisa only proposes goals or related suggestions. Unexpectedly, this time she made the decision without even discussing it with Shinji.
Is it his obsession with the Holy Grail? Or was he influenced by Shinji? Or is it both
Regardless, Shinji spread his hands to show that he was all ears.
Justisita said, "You have indeed reached the standard of a Master, but it is only the minimum standard. There is a huge gap between you and the Masters prepared by the Tohsaka family, Tohsaka Tokiomi, the head of the Tohsaka family, and the Einzbern family. Not to mention other things, just in terms of magic power, you are several times or even dozens of times worse than them. Therefore, the less magic power your summoned servants need, the better, and it is best if they can replenish their own magic power."
"However, most of the servants who can replenish their own magic power are concentrated in the 'Caster' class, which is not a good choice for a rookie magician like you. The only remaining option is the 'Assassin' class, which consumes the least magic power."
Shinji felt a chill in his heart when he heard Yustisa say this.
Before summoning a Heroic Spirit, the Holy Grail system in Fuyuki City will prepare a container that is highly compatible with the Heroic Spirit, and then summon the Heroic Spirit from the container. This container is the class. The basic lineup of the Holy Grail War is Saber (Sword Soldier), Archer (Bowman), Lancer (Lancer), Rider (Cavalry), Caster (Magician), Assassin (Assassin), Berserker (Berserker), and each class has corresponding characteristics.
Note that Heroic Spirits that have been promoted through their achievements and legends in their lifetime do not have job ranks, they only have job suitability. Heroic Spirits that meet the standards of a certain job can manifest in that job, but not otherwise.
The standards for different jobs are different, some are relatively strict, some are relatively loose, and Assassin is the job with the most bizarre conditions among the seven jobs.
The word "Assassin" comes from the Assassins in Islam, which is also a heresy in the sect. The word itself is a catalyst. Under normal circumstances, this job can only summon the leader of this heretical sect, the 19th generation "Hassan Sabbah".
According to Shinji's understanding, eighteen of the nineteen generations of Hassans are weak in direct combat, and can only rely on stealth and intelligence, which is in line with the job's translation of "Assassin". If there is another Holy Grail War, it is not impossible to fight. The problem is that the fourth Holy Grail War is about to begin, and monsters gather. Whether it is the Master or the Servants, it is not so easy to assassinate. Let alone the others, Shinji is not sure about the two of them, unless he summons the first generation of Hassan.
Thinking of this, Shinji himself laughed.
How can I summon the most powerful Heroic Spirit in the Fate series so far, the one who has reached the top of the Assassin class, the Grand Assassin who has reached the pinnacle of dark (no) and killing (double) skills, and the extraordinary existence that has become one of the seven strongest guardians in the world
Even if one is extremely lucky and succeeds in summoning, one cannot afford the consumption.
PS: The first Hassan, known as King Hassan, has a high status that no other hero can match. His achievements include chopping off Ra's head in the Great Temple of Ra's, which ranks first in the defense of the three golden targets, chopping off Tiamat's wings in Uruk, and giving Tiamat, who has no concept of death, the concept of death. His motto is: "No one knows I have sneaked in, because everyone who sees me is dead."
PS2: Wang Hassan: "You eighteen generations are the weakest Hassans I have ever led."
PS3: Although King Hassan is a crown, it does not mean that he cannot be summoned with a normal spirit base. Although there are certain conditions for summoning him, they are not yet clear.
PS4: Shirou did not have the stigmata on his body in advance, but he also summoned Saber and obtained the Command Seals after signing the contract. Ryunosuke was similar, because he obtained the Command Seals after the accidental summoning opened the magic circuit and triggered the summoning ceremony.