Chapter 864

"Magic power is surging; I can feel the leyline power beneath my feet converging here!"

As soon as Luvia finished speaking, a clap of thunder rang out from the sky.

Everyone looked up to see the overcast sky already crawling with massive amounts of lightning.

The thick dark clouds also began to rotate slowly————

"That is————the Root Vortex?!"

The thing magecraft practitioners dream of seeing had abruptly appeared before her eyes just like that; even as Luvia's heartbeat accelerated, she did not forget the dangers that those who attempt to reach the Root might face, as recorded by senior magecraft practitioners. Her gaze patrolled the dim surroundings and quickly found what she wanted to find.

"Careful, the Guardians of the Order Scale are about to appear!"

While everyone was stunned by the void vortex gradually forming overhead, Luvia's warning snapped them back to their senses. The group looked in the direction Luvia pointed and saw magic circle patterns beginning to coalesce out of thin air on the lawn not far away.

"That is————"

"Spirit-summoning circle patterns for summoning Heroic Spirits. All who rashly attempt to touch the Root will face the Counter Force's interception, and the Guardians of the Order Scale — the Heroic Spirits about to appear — are the Counter Force's executioners!"

Luvia's explanation made everyone understand what kind of enemy they would face next.

"Do not fear; we are the Gravekeeper Clan. Even at the cost of our lives, we will protect this resurrection ritual!"

The old Village Chief roared. The Root Vortex had even appeared; clearly, this time they could truly resurrect Arthur Pendragon.

"Add!"

Gray removed the birdcage she carried, grabbed the sentient Mystic Code inside — a replica of the Holy Lance, one of the Seven Great Weapons of Atlas, LogosReAct, which seals it — and Add quickly transformed into a large sickle scythe, gripped in Gray's hand.

"What do Heroic Spirits taste like? I haven't sampled one yet; I'll have a proper taste in a bit～"

This talking Mystic Code let out a hehehe laugh.

Old Gravekeeper Belsak gripped his iron shovel with both hands.

The others did the same, tightening their hold on their grave-digging tools, readying themselves for the fierce battle to come.

As Broly's resurrection magic chant progressed toward the end, the Root Vortex in the sky also fully formed.

The collective consciousness of primates, Alaya, and the planetary will, Gaia — the Two Great Suppressive Forces of the Type-Moon World — descended simultaneously.

However, after descending, once they clearly saw who the culprit that caused their awakening was, the Root Vortex in the sky experienced a momentary freeze.

Not far away, the Heroic Spirit summoning magic circle that was about to form suddenly halted, then dissipated at an extremely fast speed; even the earth leyline power that had condensed on the surface flowed back into the ground, and the Root Vortex began to shrink————

Seeing this scene, everyone who had already braced for a fierce battle with the descending Guardians froze, completely unable to understand what was happening before their eyes.

"Hey, you two don't leave; I want to claim a soul from you — the one I'm resurrecting. Please help me find it."

The incantation was already finished; Broly, feeling no soul return, hurriedly shouted at the shrinking Root Vortex in the sky.

But the Root Vortex acted as if it hadn't heard, continuing to shrink.

"If you won't help, don't blame me for finding it myself."

While maintaining the resurrection magic, Broly raised a hand and began condensing an energy bullet.

The moment the energy bullet finished condensing, the shrinking Root Vortex in the sky paused its shrinking momentum.

After a while, the Heroic Spirit summoning circle was drawn out of thin air right before Broly by two invisible mighty forces. The Guardian of the Order Scale finally appeared — a girl clad in a blue battle skirt materialized within the summoning circle.

"May I ask, are you my Master?"

Artoria opened her eyes, saw the burly youth before her who seemed to be her summoner, and posed this classic question.

【Capture target discovered: Artoria Pendragon. Previous Happiness Value: 0】

Broly used the Crystal Palace to confirm the Heroic Spirit's identity, then nodded at the Root Vortex in the sky.

"Goods check out. Thanks for the assist. If you ever need my help later, you can find me."

Hearing this, the Two Great Suppressive Forces fell silent for a moment, then a synthesized voice seemingly composed of countless voices rang out from the void vortex: "Very well."

After the sound, the Root Vortex in the sky rapidly closed. If not for the sky still being thick with dark clouds, one might have thought the spectacle just now was an illusion.

"Miss Artoria, I am not your Master; I am your resurrector."

At this moment, Broly finally turned his head to look at the somewhat stunned Artoria.

"Resurrector? What do you mean? Didn't I come to fight for the Holy Grail?"

Artoria was a bit puzzled. She carefully probed her consciousness and discovered that this time there was no situation of unfamiliar common sense being directly input into her brain.

"Forget it. The explaining can wait until after you're alive."

Broly flashed to Artoria's side.

【So fast!?】

Artoria was greatly startled. Instinctively she tried to back-jump and create distance, but her neck was seized by Broly's large hand.

"Clang~"

An invisible Holy Sword struck the youth's arm, emitting a metallic ring, yet failed to injure him in the slightest.

"How is that possible?!"

Artoria's eyes widened. Although she had only intended to use the attack to force back the person grabbing her neck, not to sever his hand, the fact that her Holy Sword couldn't even break the skin of the person before her was something she had not anticipated.

"Get in there."

Broly paid no mind to what the Heroic Spirit-state Artoria was thinking. Bringing her to the coffin, he pressed her down onto the already-repaired remains inside.

Soul returned, resurrection magic converged, flesh and soul sutured. Before long, the Arthur Pendragon in the coffin twitched her eyelashes.

When she opened her eyes, she saw a face right before her.

"How is it? How do you feel?"

Broly had never resurrected anyone outside the Reverse World before, so he wanted to know the post-resurrection impressions of Artoria, the first.

"My body feels somewhat heavy. Who exactly are you, and how could you bring me back from the dead?"

Artoria had remained conscious during the final flesh-and-soul suturing of the resurrection magic, and she had already roughly deduced her situation, hence the question.

"I'm Broly. We've met before."

Broly introduced himself.

"Broly? Have we met before?"

Artoria looked puzzled, clearly unable to recall when she had met the person before her.

"The Fourth Holy Grail War, Fuyuki City, Irisviel, Kiritsugu Emiya————"

Broly spoke a few key terms.

"Ah, you're that boy who could eat even more than me and had a monkey tail?!

"

Prompted by the reminder, Artoria remembered.

"Right."

Broly nodded.

"Then why did you resurrect me?"

Artoria was somewhat confused, but soon thought back to that year, the boy who had openly invited her to be his wife.

【Could it be————】

A thought formed in Artoria's heart; her face stiffened, just revived, as she pondered how to refuse later.

"Do you intend to lie in the coffin while I explain?"

Broly extended his palm toward her.

"Uh————Thank you."

Artoria did not refuse the kindness, grasped the boy's outstretched hand, leveraged the strength to rise, and left the coffin.

Around her were a group of people she did not recognize at all.

Looking at her, their expressions were somewhat excited.

And their gazes made Artoria feel a sense of familiarity — it was that look of people pinning their hopes on her as their King.

"This is Gray, my Future Wife."

Broly pulled the Gravekeeper girl closer; Artoria looked at the gray-haired girl who bore an eight or nine parts resemblance to herself, and her face couldn't help but show a few shades of astonishment.

"I resurrected you precisely for her————"

Immediately after, Broly laid out the situation of Blackmore Village and Gray to Artoria, who had just been resurrected by him, in full detail.

"I see."

After listening, Artoria also felt relieved; she had thought the boy resurrected her because he wanted to entertain his childhood self.

"Gray, from now on, you shouldn't need to fear looking in the mirror anymore."

Having explained what needed explaining to Artoria, Broly pulled the Gravekeeper girl to the side and happily spoke to her.

"Mm.

""

Gray replied softly, her Happiness Value rapidly rising; she leaned her petite body closer.

"Thank you————"

Hearing the Gravekeeper girl's thanks, Broly's waist was encircled by Gray's embrace.

"No need for thanks, we're all family."

Broly reached out, rubbed Gray's soft head, and replied with a sentence.

Dark clouds dispersed, sunlight fell; Luvia watched from the side.

【This must be what happiness looks like————】

Seeing Gray's cheeks slightly red, face showing attachment as she leaned in Broly's arms, wearing an expression of enjoying the boy's head pats, she couldn't help but generate such a thought, and envy actually arose in her heart.

And compared to the warm atmosphere on Broly's side, over at the coffin, the atmosphere between Artoria and the people of Blackmore Village was somewhat tense.

Although Blackmore Village consists of the Gravekeeper Clan who guarded her tomb, the problem is that this gravekeeping duty was given by Morgan.

Who is Morgan? She is Artoria's nominal sister, but also Artoria's lifelong nemesis; everything she did in her life was to cause trouble for Artoria, plotting various schemes to assassinate her.

Artoria's death, Britain's path to extinction, are inextricably linked to Morgan; and now, the people of Blackmore Village actually call out to her, hoping to follow her in this era to rebuild United Kingdom — isn't that just messing with her?

"The fact that I haven't drawn my sword against you is already out of consideration for the many years you guarded my tomb————"

Artoria's expression was cold, her words not polite; the Gravekeeper Clan of Blackmore Village are not her descendants, but a clan created by that treacherous sister who doomed her, using her blood, merely possessing her bloodline.

The resurrected King Arthur did not intend to become their leader, which dealt no small blow to the Village Chief and Elders of Blackmore Village.

"Then, King Arthur, please, for the sake of our village guarding your remains for so many years, grant our village a little protection — no trouble needed, just show your face once, publicly declare this place as your Territory."

"Fine."

Artoria looked at the old Village Chief, and in the end did not refuse the other party's scaled-back request.

Having her lead Morgan's left-behind people to found a New United Kingdom — impossible.

But merely sheltering the village that guarded her tomb for so many years — that was still doable.

【But then, where should she go from here?】

Artoria contracted with the Counter Force to become a Heroic Spirit in order to pursue the Holy Grail and save United Kingdom.

But now, she has been resurrected in this era, and United Kingdom has been a fallen nation for over one thousand five hundred years————

After showing her face in the village, receiving prostrated worship from masses of villagers, time quickly turned to evening; returning to the room prepared for her in Blackmore Village, Artoria felt somewhat lost.

【She couldn't very well commit suicide and return to the Throne of Heroes.】

She looked at the replica Holy Sword in her hand, hesitating whether to give her own neck a slash.

"Thump thump thump~"

Just then, a sound came from outside the window.

"Who?"

Artoria subconsciously looked over.

"It's me."

Broly could be seen floating outside the window.

"It's so late, is something the matter?"

Artoria walked over, opened the window, and asked directly.

"My mother-in-law, that is Irisviel, she knows you were revived by me, so she had me invite you to her home for a sit."

Broly didn't beat around the bush either, directly explaining his reason for coming in the middle of the night.

"I don't know, Miss Artoria, what do you think?"

Artoria pondered for a while, then nodded in agreement; anyway, she currently had nowhere to go.

Staying in Blackmore Village was impossible; going to see Irisviel, an acquaintance from this era, was good too.

Broly brought the matter up, then left directly.

By the time he returned to Gray's home in the village, he had already informed Illya via the Group Chat Room that Artoria had agreed to the invitation, asking her to tell Irisviel.

"Broly————"

Just as he finished showering and was preparing to go to his own room, Luvia blocked his way.

"Is something the matter?"

Broly looked at the girl blocking his path with some puzzlement and asked.

"There are some things I want to talk to you about; can you come to my room for a bit?"

Luvia said, biting her lip.

【Could it be she really wants to seduce me?】

Broly recalled the content of Rin Tohsaka's private chat with him this morning, and didn't refuse this person's invitation.

"What do you want to talk about?

"

Following Luvia to the guest room Margatan had arranged for her, Broly asked straight out.

"What do you think of me?"

"Which aspect are you referring to?"

"Just the looks aspect————"

"Quite pretty."

"Really?"

Luvia's eyes brightened.

"I have no need to deceive you."

Broly nodded; Luvia was indeed good-looking, the standard image of a fair-skinned, beautiful Thousand Gold Big Sister.

"Then if, I want to date you, become your wife, what do you think?"

"I won't refuse, but let me declare first, my attitude toward you definitely won't be as good as toward Gray, toward Rin."

"I understand that; after all, you have good feelings with them, while with me it's merely a casual acquaintance, but I will work hard."

Having witnessed the scene of Broly reviving Artoria, being able to directly communicate with the Counter Force, Luvia directly made the decision to throw herself at him.

Of course, having designs on Broly wasn't something that appeared just today; there were signs before, it's just that today she saw something extraordinary, which made Luvia directly take actual action.

"Don't speak too freely; becoming my wife means you have to satisfy my desires."

"I know that; although I lack practical experience in this, I still have some theoretical experience. In the name of the next head of the Edelfelt family, I guarantee you, even if this is my first time doing the thing of satisfying a man's desires, the result absolutely won't be worse than others, letting you down————"

Luvia dared to think and dared to act; she walked over and directly squatted down.

"Hiss, Luvia, wait a moment————"

"What is it, Broly, you wouldn't be telling me you want to go back on it at a time like this, would you?"

"Not that, just need to confirm the relationship with you first; Miss Luviagelita Edelfelt, are you really willing to become my wife?"

The invitation information of the Crystal Palace emerged in Luvia's consciousness.

She raised her head, looking at Broly with some puzzlement.

"You can treat it as my special Magecraft; as long as they're my wife, they all have it."

"I see, good, I'm willing."

She didn't hesitate, directly agreeing.

"Mhm, Miss Luvia, you may continue."

This night, Broly was at Gray's home, yet he and Luvia discussed life's major matters in depth and shallow.

"Senior Sister Luvia, did you not sleep well last night?"

Next day, Gray looked at Luvia yawning continuously and couldn't help but ask.

"Slept quite well, just the pre-sleep exercise was done too late, didn't get enough sleep."