Chapter 368: Control

Artoria also followed out, hand pressed on the invisible sword hilt, staying on guard.

She had a complicated impression of this Caster.

Black Tower heard the voice and turned her head.

Her violet‑black eyes swept over San Yue Qi and Saber, her face expressionless, tone as always blunt: "Oh, it's you two. I'm fine."

She brushed the dust off her skirt casually, "Just being knocked down is a bit annoying."

"What are you looking at? How's that cocoon?"

San Yue Qi followed her gaze and could only see faint smoke and an odd halo toward Yuan Cang Shan.

Black Tower withdrew her gaze, looked at San Yue Qi and Saber, and said succinctly: "It's broken. What was inside came out."

She paused, added another line, tone flat yet chilling: "That golden‑glinting fool just went serious, used that weapon fully."

"Then?" Artoria asked in a low voice, feeling an omen.

Black Tower's mouth curled a cold arc, teasing, whether at Archer or the situation: "Then? His Noble Phantasm shattered like sand, that weapon didn't even make a decent sound, it just went silent."

She pointed at the sky above Liu Dong Si, "It's quiet there now, but that's no good omen. That thing… is more troublesome than we estimated."

Black Tower finished, offering no further explanation.

She raised her hand, and a deep‑purple Magic Staff taller than she was materialized, hovering beside her.

She turned sideways, sat on it skillfully, and lifted herself slowly upward.

"I'll go up and look. You two…"

She glanced down at San Yue Qi and Artoria, "Don't fall behind, but don't rush close either."

"Black Tower Lady, be careful!"

San Yue Qi hurriedly reminded.

Artoria also nodded: "Please be extremely cautious, Caster."

Black Tower gave a "Hmm" as a response, the Magic Staff accelerated, turning into a streak of light straight toward the ruins of Liu Dong Si.

The closer it got, the more unsettling the aura became.

The air was filled with charred dust and the magical residue of shattered Noble Phantasms.

Black Tower hovered midair, her violet‑black eyes calmly scanning below.

The original Yuan Cang Shan summit had mostly vanished, becoming a huge charred pit exhaling wisps of purple smoke.

At the pit's bottom lay remnants of insect shells like faded plaster, and several real cicadas with heavy carapaces, the size of small trucks, crawling slowly, seemingly leaderless and bewildered.

Most striking was the pit's edge, where a golden figure stood motionless, back to her—none other than Hero King Gilgamesh.

He wore no iconic golden armor, only a simple white lining, his golden hair a bit disheveled.

That alone was extremely unusual.

Even more unusual was his rigid posture.

Black Tower squinted slightly.

She did not sense Huan Long's obvious aura.

Her fingertip twitched, and a sharp‑edged ice prism silently formed in her palm.

She injected little magic, merely testing with a flick.

The ice prism silently sliced the air, aiming straight at Gilgamesh's nape!

At the Shana the prism was about to strike—

"Bzz!"

A semi‑transparent phantom instantly covered Gilgamesh's nape.

The ice prism hit it, leaving no crack, vaporizing instantly.

Gilgamesh's body, moving with a rust‑like stiffness, turned around.

Black Tower saw clearly.

The once handsome, proud face now bore a layer of semi‑transparent insect phantom similar to that on his nape.

The phantom writhed, like a living mask clinging under his skin.

Through the phantom, his scarlet eyes lost focus, pupils dilated, leaving only a hollow dark red.

His expression was rigid, a strangely unnatural sneer at the corner of his mouth, yet his gaze was empty.

"Parasitic? Or mental control?"

Black Tower raised an eyebrow, instantly understanding: "No wonder there's no movement… In this state, his self‑awareness is probably almost gone, unable to drive a Noble Phantasm of that caliber."

She quickly surveyed the surroundings.

Huan Long was absent.

After controlling Archer, where did it go?

Black Tower's mind raced.

What is the core of this Holy Grail War?

It is the Holy Grail.

Huan Long possesses Breeding traits, requiring massive energy to recover or even evolve; its Destruction tendency will inevitably be drawn to This World's Evil's extreme negativity.

And now in Dongmu City, aside from the not‑yet‑fully‑manifest Holy Grail, what could be closer to these traits than the Small Holy Grail's vessel—Ailisi Feier?

"Go find Alice."

Black Tower quickly concluded.

She traced a finger in the air, and a magic message composed of tiny light points formed swiftly, flying toward the general direction of San Yue Qi and Artoria below the mountain, containing only one sentence:

【Huan Long's target may be Alice, rendezvous quickly.】

At the moment she sent the message, a strong sense of crisis surged!

She jerked her head up.

Above, the night sky had silently become filled with layers upon layers of golden ripples!

The sheer number far exceeded any previous occurrence, almost dyeing the entire firmament gold!

Various Noble Phantasms poked their heads out, their cold blades all aimed at her—or rather, at the enemy in Gilgamesh's eyes that was being controlled.

Tsk.

Black Tower twitched a lip, the Magic Staff instantly swung sideways, "A controlled puppet, the Noble Phantasm can still be unleashed… troublesome."

Perspective shift: halfway up the mountain

Careful!

Artoria suddenly shielded San Yue Qi behind her, the Wind King Barrier enveloped herself, and she watched forward warily.

A faint speck of light flew toward them, and in front of them it burst "Pop!" and turned into a line of floating luminous characters:

【Huan Long target may be Alice, rendezvous quickly.】

"It's Black Tower Lady!" San Yue Qi recognized.

Artoria's expression hardened: "Ailisi Feier is in danger! We must rush back at once!"

The two stopped hiding, sped toward the rendezvous point at the foot of the mountain.

"…In summary, that thing likely has some conceptual interference ability, so direct energy attacks may be ineffective."

Tengwan Lixiang, drawing on Chaldea's experience and analysis of the recent anomaly, said quickly, "We need to find its weakness. Rider, you've fought Archer before and have an idea of his Noble Phantasm's strength; the sea of Noble Phantasms of that scale was instantly shattered—can you estimate that thing's defensive ceiling?"