Magic Crest

**Magic Crests** (魔術刻印, *Majutsu Kokuin*?) are the most important treasure of a lineage of magi.

## Overview

Engraved on the body in a variety of shapes, most typically in a magic circle, a Magic Crest is a series of Magic Circuits that were given a more stable form in order to act as an archive of thaumaturgical capability. At some point of the magus’ life, he will forge some of his own Magic Circuits into the Crest, store many, if not all, spells that he learned in life and then pass it down to his successor. As the process repeats itself with each new generation, the older a lineage is, the greater the number of Circuits forming the Crest, and the greater the amount of knowledge stored inside it. It is the duty of any heir of a family of magi to successfully expand and pass down the Crest to the next generation.

As the complexity of the Crest increases with each new generation, the spells stored inside them become more stable and easier to activate. As long as the Crest is completely integrated with the magus' body, he will be able to cast any spell recorded in the crest, even if he himself never had the chance to learn it properly. All he has to do is to activate the Crest just like he would do to a normal Circuit (by running magical energy inside of it), find the spell stored inside and activate it with its relevant incantation and thaumaturgical process. Furthermore, it is possible to use it to support the magus' regular spellcasting and, whenever the magus gets heavily injured, the Crest is capable of keeping him alive for as long as there is still magical energy inside his body. Location of the Crest varies: Rin Tohsaka has hers on her left arm, while Kiritsugu Emiya had his on his back.

Although the Crest is a set of Magic Circuits independent from those natural to a magus’ body, and cannot be detected when no magical energy is being passed through them, transplantation of a Magic Crest is still very much like that of an internal organ and thus can only be done to a compatible host. Normally that would mean someone who shares blood relation with the magus, but that is not an unbreakable standard. Even between close relatives, the chances of rejection are high. Therefore, in order to increase the chances of success, the transplant is done slowly throughout the heir’s childhood, so that their bodies can get accustomed to the presence of the Crest as they mature. Furthermore, the use of medicines made of special herbs and crushed bone is normal during the whole process, although bloodlines with a long history of 500 years or more have achieved a genetic uniformity that allowed them to overcome the need for that altogether.

Despite all the troubles, the Magic Crest is still a highly valued article for any magus, however, since usually only one person can inherit it, troubles can arise when there is more than one candidate. It’s not unheard of for bloody feuds to erupt within a clan of magi because of a dispute between two or more children fighting over the family’s Crest. It was because of that and other reasons that the current trend of only one heir per family (and the consequential policy of forsaking or excluding all other children) came to be.

In a sense, Runes and Jewel Magecraft can be considered simplified forms of Magic Crests. The Mages Association also has technology for extracting just the magic crest from the body and storing it.

## Grand Order

*For the quests performed by Chaldea, see Grand Order.*
**Grand Order: Coronal Rank Designation** (冠位指定グランドオーダー, *Kan'i ShiteiGurando Ōdā*?), as it relates to Magic Crests, is the highest law of the magus chosen to inherit the Magic Crest, where he is forbidden from committing suicide by a severe mental restraint. Since the meaningless suicide of a magus who possesses a Magic Crest would most likely mean his bloodline's loss of claim to magecraft itself, the inability to commit suicide has been known to be the paramount responsibility of magi since the inception of modern magecraft. In order to kill oneself while carrying a Magic Crest, it is necessary to have an extremely legitimate reason.

Although this is what magi know as a matter of fact, the true Grand Order is actually a curse originating from Goetia (under the guise of Solomon) that is crucial for his plan to exterminate mankind. During his lifetime, Goetia planted the curse of Grand Orders in the Magic Crests of select magus bloodlines and designed them so that they would transform the carrier of the Crest into a Demon God after a certain amount of time, completely erasing their original personalities. The prevention of suicide as an ideal was spread to ensure that Goetia's chosen magus bloodlines survived until the designated time. Using this method, he was able to ensure that his loyal servants would appear in certain intervals over 3,000 years to create Singularities for feeding Ars Almadel Salomonis with energy.

In *Clock Tower 2015*, Lev Lainur Flauros' third personality, Flauros, kills himself in order to prevent his transformation into the final Demon God Flauros, and his remaining two personalities fight over control of the body until they eventually destroy themselves. As a result, Solomon's 3,000-year-old plan to destroy mankind is foiled.

## Crest Worms

**Crest Worms** (刻印虫, *Kokuinchuu*?) are a unique kind of Magic Crest of the Matou family made out from Zouken Matou's personal Familiars, magical energy-eating worms that can channel energy even when their host is no longer alive. So far the only known example of a Crest that can be passed down to someone outside of the bloodline, forcibly confers to one’s body the capacity to use Magecraft.

Crest Worms are not only capable of expanding one’s natural Magic Circuits, but also capable of acting as artificial Circuits after a certain incubation period is complete. Since they usually remain in a dormant state, the worms don’t have that much direct influence over someone. However, once awakened by the activation of Circuits they will try to force the body to continuously produce magical energy in order to sustain themselves. Through the use of these and intensive training, it is possible for someone with no prior experience in Magecraft to become a magus eligible to participate in the Heaven's Feel in roughly a year, as was the case with Kariya Matou. However, doing so not only will greatly shorten his remaining lifespan but also the process is in itself incredibly painful.

The worms implanted in Sakura Matou are unique since they have the fragments of the Holy Grail summoned in the Fourth Holy Grail War as component materials. After an incubation period of almost 11 years, the worms have spread themselves through the girl’s entire body.