"Manaka? Manaka? This child, is she still drowsy?"
Snowfield City, Sajyou Residence.
Sajyou Hiroki, a magus dedicated to black magic, unaffiliated with any faction.
Unlike the black magic in most people's eyes, the black magic Hiroki studied wasn't the kind requiring sacrifices, blood, life, or souls. He merely studied some ancient forms of magic that were prohibited by the Clock Tower.
Due to the Clock Tower's strong dominance and overbearing actions in the magus world, many magi with impure bloodlines were heavily suppressed. Hiroki was clearly one of them.
Always hiding his tracks, living among ordinary humans, Hiroki was a decent man. Apart from using magic to create some economic convenience in his life, he never harmed ordinary people. To some extent, he could be considered a quite upright magus.
He met his wife, they got to know each other, became acquainted, fell in love, and then had their first daughter. Hiroki was astonished to discover that his eldest daughter, Sajyou Manaka, possessed absolute talent.
"Manaka, if those people from the Clock Tower were to see you, you would undoubtedly be placed on a pedestal."
Sajyou Manaka… this was the most perfect existence in Hiroki's memory. A girl who could master anything at a touch, a universal genius. She was less his daughter and more the world's darling.
Yet, it was this excessive perfection that made the Sajyou Couple unable to see any emotion in Manaka.
Initially, they felt a parent's love for their daughter, Manaka. But as time passed, being utterly unable to perceive any emotion in her, the Sajyou Couple gradually grew afraid, fearful.
Under these unfamiliar emotions, they had a second child, the fruit of their love… Sajyou Ayaka.
Compared to her elder sister, Sajyou Ayaka might not have had peerless talent, but she possessed everything a normal daughter should. She could cry, be happy, be joyful, and also feel sad.
Seeing the warmth of family in Ayaka, until Mrs. Sajyou's accidental death, this family still had its beauty and warmth.
But... his wife's accidental death caused Hiroki to lose his gentleness towards the family.
Combined with Manaka's 'emotionlessness', this father began to delve into the mysteries of magic.
It wasn't to resurrect his wife or anything like that, because her dying words expressed her satisfaction with the world and her love for her family. Mrs. Sajyou was only worried about her two daughters.
"Hiroki, if possible, I hope you can take good care of Manaka and Ayaka."
Even knowing Manaka was an omnipotent 'god', she still held that thread of maternal love for her daughter.
After Mrs. Sajyou's passing, Hiroki raised his two daughters... more accurately, he raised Ayaka.
Now, the elder sister Manaka was twenty years old, a member of Snowfield City University. The younger sister Ayaka was fourteen, already a young lady.
Finally able to rest easy, Hiroki noticed that Manaka seemed a bit drowsy lately.
"Manaka, Manaka, this child, hasn't she woken up yet?"
"Tiamat-san, could you please call Manaka down for lunch?"
Knocking on his daughter's door, helpless about Manaka's recent sleep schedule, Hiroki looked towards the girl who stood like a majestic goddess beside him.
Tiamat.
"Hmm, I understand."
Quietly nodding, after so many years of growth, Tiamat had naturally regained her ability to speak.
After coming to Snowfield City and forming a contract with Manaka, she wasn't really concerned about winning the Holy Grail War or such actions.
She just wanted to see her husband, see her beloved, see the man who alone had freed her from the Sea of Imaginary Numbers!
Directly using hypnosis magic to alter the consciousness of Hiroki and Ayaka, Tiamat's presence in the Sajyou Household faced no conflict. She moved in as seamlessly as a hypnotic character in a certain genre of game might.
Hearing Hiroki ask her to call Manaka for lunch, Tiamat nodded. Watching Hiroki's retreating figure, she opened the door to Manaka's room.
"Manaka, are you watching Ryuya again?"
"Tia, you're here."
As Tiamat entered the room, a girl of stunning beauty sat up from the bed.
Her features were exquisite. Although her figure wasn't curvaceous, it possessed a unique charm.
Beneath short golden hair were sky-blue eyes. The girl who was breathtaking at first glance was none other than Sajyou Manaka, holder of titles like Princess of the Root and World-Eating Witch.
Sitting up with a smile, her face still carried a faint blush, and her legs rubbed together unconsciously.
"Tia, Ryuya is so amazing, truly amazing."
"No matter how many times I watch, I'm drawn to his figure. It's just too wonderful, too wonderful."
The 'Ryuya' she mentioned needs no explanation… it is Ryuya himself. As a girl connected to the Root since birth, Manaka was somewhat different in this world compared to other parallel worlds.
In other worlds, Manaka was connected to the Root from birth.
As the Princess of the Root, knowing all things, she actively sealed her own ability to peer into the future because she didn't want to be too invincible.
After that, falling in love with the male Saber, Arthur, she became a complete love-struck fool + yandere, ultimately failing in the Holy Grail War.
In the Snowfield City, because Ryuya had sealed the Root, although she was still connected to it from birth, Manaka did not lose all her emotions.
The reason Hiroki thought Manaka had no emotions wasn't because she was emotionless, but because Manaka poured all of her emotions onto one person.
That person was none other than Ryuya, who had sealed the Root.
"What a perfect figure!"
"What a perfect face!"
"What a perfect man!"
Falling in love with Ryuya at first sight from the moment she was born, deeply in love with him, she felt extremely envious upon learning that Tiamat was Ryuya's lover from another world.
However, Manaka held no jealous thoughts towards Tiamat.
Because she knew Tiamat possessed the power of a Planetary Singularity. She acknowledged this goddess's strength, and she believed only such a powerful goddess was worthy of Ryuya.
As for the others...
"Hmph!"
Having also seen the forms of Female Gil, Artoria, Merlin, and the others, finding their 'immature' appearances utterly unbearable, Manaka declared that she would subject them to a new round of tests, to make them understand that the women qualified to stand by Ryuya's side were definitely not ones who could sit there so easily.