Shirou is saved and adopted by Kiritsugu Emiya, who teaches him the ways of magic and justice after a strange inferno destroys his family. Shirou is cleaning at school one night, years after Kiritsugu's death, when he finds himself in the heart of a violent encounter between two superhumans known as Servants. During his effort to flee, the youngster is apprehended by one of the Servants and suffers a potentially fatal injury. He somehow survives, but the same Servant returns to complete what he began. Shirou, in despair, summons his own Servant, a knight named Saber. The two must now take part in the Fifth Holy Grail War, a fight royale between seven Servants and the mages who called them, with the main reward being the Holy Grail.