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Ushi Gozen, clad in black armor, opened her eyes in a dark basement.
"Servant, Rider. I have arrived here to answer you, my Master."
She said in a distorted voice as she extended her hand. The person she called her Master was a naked girl sitting in the center of the summoning circle. Her face was barely distinguishable from that of a corpse.
Ushi Gozen was already filled with anger. She knew that her Master has known pain – it was why she answered her call after all. She saw a heart of someone who knew pain and suffering, who seen the true face of this ugly, accursed world – and who harbored a great hatred and resentment towards it. Yes, otherwise she wouldn't have answered – she had no plans to allow some pathetic, power-hungry mage to command her. Only someone who shared her disgust with this world's distortions is worthy to be called her Master.
But seeing her Master in such a state surpassed even what she was expected. Ushi Gozen was ready to destroy those who caused her to have such an expression at a single command.
"Hey..." Ushi Gozen heard someone utter "Hey! Your... your Master is me!"
The one who said it was a boy clad in a black cloak. He quickly run towards the center of a circle and grabbed a girl by her hair. Even more quickly, Ushi Gozen materialized a blade in her hand and pointed it towards his throat. The boy let go of girl's hair in fear.
"Do not touch her, if you wish to live."
This was a command Ushi Gozen given to one who intended to inflict harm on her Master.
"W-what are you doing, Rider! I'm your Master, Matou Shinji! The book in my hand is a proof of this!"
Yes, it seems he was right. She did feel a connection to a book boy calling himself Shinji held in his hand. But the one who summoned her was the girl, she was sure of it. Moreover, the boy lacked command spells on either of his hands. Was the information the Grail provided to her incorrect?
She removed the blade. She wanted to chop the insolent boy's head where he stood, but decided to access the situation before acting rashly.
She looked around at the room around her. Outside of the center, where the summoning process took place, it was crawling with large, disgusting worms, likely of supernatural origin. And there was a fourth being here, besides a Servant and two humans. It looked like a normal old man, but with just one look, Ushi Gozen knew that it was something that should not exist in this world.
"So, you see everything now, finally." Shinji said, smugly. "What's your name, anyway?"
"Minamoto-no-Raikou."
Not a lie, technically.
"Ah yes, I heard of you! You're the great general who slayed countless disgusting creature during the Heian Era, correct?"
"Yes." And she would gladly slay the disgusting creature standing before her now.
"Why don't you remove your armor, or a helmet at least? I don't trust someone who hides his face."
Ushi Gozen obliged. Her armor disappeared, and its place stood her real form – a short, unhealthily thin girl not much older then the two humans in the room.
"A girl?!" Shinji was surprised. "The great Raikou was a girl?!"
Ushi Gozen was already deeply unamused with him, but tried not to show it, for now at least.
"In any case, let's discuss our strategy for this Holy Grail War. But before that..." He turned to the naked girl. "Sakura, get out. We don't need you here."
The girl called Sakura wordlessly obeyed his command and left the basement.
It took a lot of self-control for Ushi Gozen to not tear Shinji's head from his shoulders with her bare hands. However, in Sakura's eyes she saw something that excited her. The way she looked at Shinji – there was hatred there. She may not show, she may not even fully recognize it herself, but it was definitely there. And under Ushi Gozen's guidance, this hatred will surely bloom.
Yes, this girl was her true Master, she was sure of it. It pained Ushi Gozen to see her in such pained state, and to obey this fraud named Shinji and that creature standing in the corner, but it was only temporary. She saw her Master's heart, and she knew that very soon, they would stand together and set this crooked world aright.