Chapter 32

At the summit of Yuan Cang Shan.

Liu Dong Si stands in silent vigil.

Xia Zhi perfectly completed the kidnapping plan, taking advantage of a momentary lapse by the swordswoman girl to suddenly manifest and seize Shirou Emiya, then easily brought him back to his own headquarters.

At this moment, in a corner of the temple courtyard, a figure in red clothes with black hair and pigtails stood with arms crossed, face cold, looking as if she had been waiting for a long time.

"……"

"……"

Quiet, silence, a dead silent atmosphere spread soundlessly through the air.

Until quite a while later, the girl finally spoke to break the silence.

"Emiya, it really has been a long time……"

Rin Tohsaka wore a stern expression, greeting him with a hostile face; her gaze was like sharp knives, scraping back and forth across the red-haired boy.

"Didn't expect you to participate in this Holy Grail War too, and even summoned Saber, right……"

"……"

"……"

"Tohsaka……"

Shirou Emiya was momentarily at a loss for words; he subconsciously scanned the surroundings, only to see the Heroic Spirit who had just kidnapped him had quietly retreated into the depths of darkness, while before the simple and solemn temple gate, a Heroic Spirit clad in ancient-style attire stood in strict formation, ready for battle.

In front, the classmate Tohsaka stood proudly, arms crossed over her chest, looking at him coldly; behind her stood a female Heroic Spirit draped in a deep purple robe, standing silently without a word.

Such a glamorous and powerful roster was undoubtedly staggering.

Within this Liu Dong Si, there were actually at least three Heroic Spirits hidden!

One must know how many Heroic Spirits participated in the entire Holy Grail War — only seven in total.

This undoubtedly demonstrated the profound foundation of a true Magecraft noble family, forming a stark contrast with himself, an ignorant beginner; while he still couldn't understand the situation, the other side had already silently seized control of nearly half the Holy Grail War.

Based on the basic layout revealed by this mere glance, Shirou Emiya immediately wisely abandoned the thought of waiting for a chance to escape. Facing such a perilous situation, even if he had two more legs, he would likely still be unable to escape the fate of being unable to fly even with wings.

Not coming to the appointment before was indeed a rational choice.

Now he could only hope Saber would be a bit more rational, make full preparations before coming to rescue him, not act recklessly and come alone into danger.

——This is obviously a trap.

"Why aren't you speaking?" Rin Tohsaka slightly narrowed her eyes, taking in the awkward demeanor of her fellow student across from her; this fellow really was a newbie, afraid he knew absolutely nothing and just got dragged into this war.

"……" Shirou Emiya's face showed a struggling expression; facing this not-so-close classmate, he couldn't find the right attitude for a moment. After all, he really was quite unfamiliar with Rin Tohsaka; before this they actually had little contact.

Both sides probably only maintained the superficial relationship of "fellow students at the same school."

Such a shallow relationship, in this Holy Grail War where it's life and death at every turn, probably wasn't worth Tohsaka showing him mercy, right?

Shirou Emiya took a deep breath, forcing himself to think calmly, then with a solemn expression began his explanation: "Tohsaka, actually I never thought to be your enemy; getting involved in this war was completely an accident; before this I knew absolutely nothing about it……"

He had no strong obsession with the Holy Grail War, and his involvement was shallow.

He had no wish that must be realized, no goal that must be pursued through the Holy Grail, so naturally he didn't have that kind of determination to go through fire and water.

"Completely didn't know?"

The black-haired pigtail girl was expressionless.

"Really don't know, and no one ever told me there was such a thing; if I hadn't inexplicably summoned Saber, I wouldn't even have known the war had already started……"

Shirou Emiya tried his best to lower his classmate Tohsaka's vigilance and hostility through frank words; although strictly speaking, he was also telling the truth — the facts were exactly so, with no hidden circumstances.

Kiritsugu Emiya probably thought he had personally put an end to the Holy Grail War, so he didn't leave much information on this aspect for his adopted son.

After all, according to that man's calculation, the "Tumor" he created would cause Yuan Cang Shan to collapse in thirty or forty years. Combined with the rule of the Fuyuki City Holy Grail System restarting every sixty years, Shirou Emiya's life trajectory should have been completely insulated from the Holy Grail War.

Theoretically, everything should have developed according to this.

However, things are unpredictable; the gears of fate quietly underwent a subtle shift.

"Inexplicably summoned Saber?" Hearing Shirou Emiya's excuse, Rin Tohsaka's expression instantly became even gloomier.

However, Shirou Emiya's skill at reading expressions was a bit low-level; or rather, his observation was strong but comprehension low — he was dull to both goodwill and hostility — so he very straightforwardly nodded and continued speaking recklessly:

"Yeah, don't know how it happened; just that night I went to the warehouse to tidy up some things, and directly summoned Saber……"

"……"

"……"

The black-haired pigtail girl lowered her head, her expression completely hidden by the shadow of her bangs; only saw she put down her crossed arms and silently clenched her fists.

Across from her, Shirou Emiya swallowed hard with difficulty; he also perceived a trace of something wrong — this was a bit different from his expectation; shouldn't Tohsaka's expression have become gentler?

He self-deceivingly thought he had spoken frankly, indicating he had no intention of truly competing for the Holy Grail, and no intention of being enemies with the other side……

He had no great enthusiasm for this war; not only did he know nothing about it beforehand, he had made absolutely no preparations whatsoever, purely "casually" and "without any warning" summoning Saber……

——Isn't this all explained very clearly?

——Should be room for negotiation, right?

"Do it!"

The next moment, Rin Tohsaka finally raised her head, coldly waving a hand.

Her eyes burned with a disgust and indignation originating from the depths of her soul, like an African who, after enduring hardships and blows, resolutely awakens, realizing what class struggle is and what a class enemy is!

As expected, one shouldn't talk about jianghu morality with this kind of European Emperor.

Just listening to the other party speak makes one half dead with anger!

Just thinking a little about that shocking fiscal deficit of hers, and the stones that could be said to have been saved for a full ten years, Rin Tohsaka's heart was bleeding; when she said "do it," it carried a few parts of personal emotion.

"Hey! Wait, I'm here to negotiate, what are you doing……"

Shirou Emiya was greatly shocked and pale; he subconsciously wanted to run, but was then forcibly fixed in place by some Magecraft; no matter how he struggled he couldn't move, and could only watch helplessly as that female Heroic Spirit pressed closer step by step.

Medea leisurely took out a Magic Short Dagger of extremely bizarre and twisted shape; the ominous magical energy on it made the red-haired youth's heart jump with fear.

Without any suspense, and no last-minute explosion or desperate awakening type of hot-blooded drama, the Witch lady walked straight up to Shirou Emiya, raised her hand and brought the knife down; the twisted Magic Short Dagger plunged into his chest.

「……！！」

————

————

「……！！」

Golden Hair fluttered in the Night Wind, the swordswoman girl wielding an invisible Holy Sword had just broken free from the entanglement of those Dragon Tooth Soldiers on the mountain path, and was preparing to Rush up in One Drum Full Spirit.

At that very moment, her Pupils suddenly contracted, her whole body was struck as if by lightning, completely Stiffened in place.

After a long while, the girl seemed to Come To Senses; she Disbelievingly raised her palm to look at it, tightly Biting her Lip, as if unable to accept something that had just happened, yet unable not to believe it.

Just like those Dragon Tooth Soldiers that had once surged toward her in a Continuous Stream, they had now Quietly fallen silent, making no sound at all.

She even noticed that in the quiet woods by her Side, a Dragon Tooth Soldier walked out a few steps and then Staggered back into the depths of the forest... The Mo Shu Di that had just been hostile now directly judged her as one of their own, a friendly unit.

The swordswoman's heart sank straight to the bottom of the Valley, rage like a wild Wind made her tremble all over; she gripped the Sword Hilt tightly, every step as if carrying lead, walking with extreme difficulty along the last stretch of mountain road, finally seeing the Temple Gate standing before her eyes.

Holding a five-foot-long object pole, the Heroic Spirit named Sasaki Kojiro sat alone before the Temple Gate of Liu Dong Si, holding a cup of hot tea, and did not stop her.

「……」

「……」

In that Instant, the swordswoman felt an impulse, thinking that even if it meant perishing together, she would make a great disturbance, preferring to be shattered jade rather than intact tile.

Only unfortunately, she could not do so.

Moreover, the scene inside the Temple Gate was laid bare before her; her former Master was being held hostage, without substantial injury, but unable to move or even speak, as if waiting for her rescue.

"You should understand what happened, Saber; Joining us is a Wise move. As a show of sincerity, we will guarantee not to harm your former Master..."

When the swordswoman appeared before the Temple Gate, a smile of complete confidence flashed in Medea's eyes. Her Magic Short Dagger just now was actually her Noble Phantasm; as a weapon its performance was Equal to nothing, so it would not cause substantial injury.

However, in terms of the nature of Magecraft, it could dispel all laws—

Whether it was an object strengthened by magical power, or a contract based on magical power, or a Lifeform born from the use of magical power, all could be reset to the state before magical power was used.

It could be called the ultimate Magic Resistance Noble Phantasm.

Precisely by relying on this Noble Phantasm, Medea directly and efficiently severed the Heroic Spirit Contract between Saber and Shirou Emiya, and relying on her own near-supernatural mastery of Magecraft, directly turned her into her own person.

"Despicable..."

The voice that should have been Clear Cold now trembled somewhat.

Self-reproach and humiliation tore at her Inner Heart; the swordswoman couldn't help but recall the previous Holy Grail War, when she had failed to Protect Alice, resulting in her being kidnapped and then murdered, without even seeing her one last time.

And now, she had similarly failed to Protect this time's Master...

"How can this be called despicable?" Rin Tohsaka calmly retorted from the side, "The essence of the Holy Grail War is a fight to the death; if it were another Opponent, under such an Advantage, they would probably deal with you in a more cold-blooded and ruthless way. Compared to that, my methods can already be considered mild."

This was what Xia Zhi had previously advised her to adopt when taking action; she felt it was Very Reasonable after hearing it.

After all, this was not distorting the facts; judging the matter on its merits, it was indeed so. Compared to those who used any means and cold-bloodedly eliminated other participants, Rin Tohsaka felt her adopted methods were already much milder.

Suppose it were someone else; in such a situation, probably only Shirou Emiya would understand what true cruelty is.

Saber, though indignant, had to agree with the other party's words; she glared at this Pigtails girl, took a deep breath, looked at the immobile Shirou Emiya, and helplessly loosened her hand:

"I will join you, but you must guarantee not to harm my former Master..."

"Don't worry; we went to all this trouble not to gain a Servant who is disloyal and estranged from us." Rin Tohsaka's Tone was very firm; this was originally her idea, and being able to win over Saber this way was naturally the best.

Although the Heroic Spirit Contract itself carried a certain Constraint of compulsion, if the Heroic Spirit always carried a strong rebellious consciousness, the Contract's constraint was not secure enough.

She couldn't possibly use all her precious Command Seals to suppress Saber, could she? Would that ultimately enhance their side's combat power or drag down the team's rear?

"Congratulations, Master..."

Seeing that both sides had basically reached Consistency, Medea also laughed lightly, while a faint strange excitement lurked in her eyes.

After bringing back Intelligence about Saber from Assassin, she had actually already been somewhat tempted; otherwise, she wouldn't have volunteered to help the Master take Shirou Emiya's Servant.

It could only be said that Saber's image and temperament aroused a special interest in Medea; she was attracted by Saber's Posture, coveted her, and even wanted to realize some strange desire of her own by controlling Saber.

Hmm... but these were probably paid plotlines.

It wasn't suitable to discuss this at this time; the Witch girl temporarily suppressed her little thoughts.

Shirou Emiya regained mobility, but felt empty in his heart; he opened his mouth, then didn't know what to say, only able to sigh that his Holy Grail War was really too short, like holding a trial ticket.

"Welcome to the team, Saber... can you tell me your True Name?"

During the villain role just now, Xia Zhi had always tried to minimize his Presence, only now reappearing.

He showed a proper and decorous Smile, First-mover Advantage welcoming the new colleague, while taking this opportunity to intentionally or unintentionally ask the question he cared about most.

Saber had no thoughts on this, only thinking that as a comrade, the other wanted to understand her Identity to cooperate in future joint combat. Glancing at the youth before her, she Pursed her Lips; she didn't have much ill feeling toward the other party.

After all, in her view, the other party was just following orders.

Moreover, in the coercion and inducement act just now, Medea and Rin Tohsaka were undoubtedly the main roles, and undoubtedly attracted more of her Emotion.

Compared like this, the image of this Assassin before her naturally looked better.

"My True Name is Artoria Pendragon... a Knight from Ancient Britain." She spoke in a low voice, revealing her Identity.

Not Vivian...

Nor an Extraterrestrial Same-Time Isomorph or anything like that...

Xia Zhi slightly Raised his Eyebrow, suddenly feeling a bit of Disappointment; after all, his original guess had mainly been in that Direction, which was why he cared so much.

"Wait! King Arthur? You say you are King Arthur?!" Rin Tohsaka rushed up from the Rear with a face of Disbelief, looking at Saber with an extremely Strange gaze, "Too Incredible; the legendary King Arthur is actually a girl?"

King Arthur...

The legendary King Arthur... the demon concubine Morgan...

The youth's Expression suddenly became somewhat strange; certain Clues connected together like Lightning.

Could it be... Vivian is Morgan? But connecting to the legend of King Arthur, shouldn't the name Vivian be the role of the Lake Fairy?

"Enemy attack!!"

At that moment, Medea gave an Alert warning as if facing a great enemy.

Simultaneously, a brilliant light appeared in the sky, and behind the layers upon layers of dark clouds, an ancient yet seemingly advanced... spaceship slowly emerged?

That massive hull rolled with tremendous magical energy, slowly descending above Liu Dong Si with a terrifying sense of spiritual pressure, the ancient nuclear warheads mounted on the hull aimed at the magecraft formation below, as if ready to launch a nuclear strike on Fuyuki City at any moment in the form of a Noble Phantasm...

Gas explosion warning!

(Chapter End)