Chapter 658: Anomaly

Weber stepped down from the aircraft's stairway, and as soon as his foot touched the ground, he sensed something was off.

Some people walked normally, then suddenly stopped to scratch their butt, the motion so practiced it seemed done hundreds of times; others would hop abruptly mid‑stride, then continue walking, their expression as natural as if nothing had happened.

Weber furrowed his brow, retracted the suitcase handle, lifted the case, and headed toward the exit.

He wore a dark‑gray trench coat over a black turtleneck sweater, his hair a bit longer than a few years ago, tied into a small braid at his neck.

His face was much thinner than during the Fourth Holy Grail War, features sharper, jawline harder, yet his eyes remained the same, bearing a picky dissatisfaction with everything.

In the airport parking lot, a black sedan gleamed, its paint polished to a shine that reflected the streetlights.

Next to the car stood a woman, silver‑white hair draped over her shoulders, wearing an off‑white trench coat, a neatly tied bow at her waist.

Her skin was almost unnaturally pale, glowing in the night, and her red eyes curved slightly when she saw Weber emerge from the exit.

Ailisi Feier.

During the Fourth Holy Grail War, she was the artificial human used as the Holy Grail vessel.

Now she stood there, looking unchanged from ten years ago, but those red eyes held something extra.

Weber walked over, set the suitcase at his feet, and extended his hand.

"Long time no see, Ms. Ailisi Feier."

Ailisi Feier grasped his hand; the grip was light but sincere.

"Long time no see, Weber. You've grown a lot taller."

Weber's mouth twitched at the corner.

He had heard that line from everyone he hadn't seen for a while.

He knew he really had grown, but still felt uneasy being mentioned about it directly.

"Let's get straight to business,"

Weber released his hand, turned toward the street outside the airport, "Did you notice these anomalies around us?"

Ailisi Feier followed his gaze.

Across the street, a convenience store stood, and at its entrance a suited office worker held a briefcase, waiting at the traffic light.

His posture was normal, clothes tidy, hair impeccably groomed, yet a close look revealed a bulge on the back of his pants, shaped like a coiled tail, extending from the belt down into the coat's hem.

While waiting for the red light, the bulge twitched, like a snake turning beneath his clothes.

When the green light came on, the office worker stepped forward, walked three steps, then suddenly stopped, turned his head, opened his mouth and said something.

From too far away it was inaudible, but Weber saw his lip shape—it wasn't "thank you" nor "sorry."

Jiaojiao.

Weber's hand tightened unconsciously.

"What I encountered on the road,"

Ailisi Feier's voice was calm, "From the airport to the city center it's relatively mild, but it worsens toward downtown. Some people have stopped speaking human language altogether; all they say is Jiaojiao Jiaojiao Jiaojiao."

She pulled a phone from her trench coat pocket and lit the screen.

The screen showed a video recorded during the day, the image shaking constantly as if the cameraman's hand were trembling.

The upper half displayed a grayish sky, the lower half the park's canopy, and at the exact center a cyan‑blue light rose from the ground, shaped like a massive fox whose tail unfurled in the sky, tinting the whole heavens with a cold, eerie hue.

Before the cyan light fully faded, another golden light surged in from the left side of the frame.

That light formed a humanoid silhouette, far smaller than the fox, yet the oppressive aura spilling from the frame made Weber's pupils contract.

The video cut off there.

The frame froze at the moment the golden and cyan lights intertwined, then the screen went black, returning to Ailisi Feier's phone home screen.

"During the day, someone captured this in Winterwood City's Central Park,"

Ailisi Feier slipped the phone into her pocket, "Qiesi said this isn't a normal Servant battle; he's never seen magic of this nature before."

Weber was silent for a few seconds.

"My thought is—this thing might be related to the Holy Grail,"

As he spoke, his fingers brushed his trench coat pocket, feeling the cigar but not pulling it out, "When I was at the Clock Tower, I observed the magic wave here in Winterwood City. That wave pattern was highly similar to the one at the start of the Fourth Holy Grail War."

He said it with the final syllable pitched upward, the word emerging with an odd tremor.

Jiaojiao.

Weber furrowed his brow, cleared his throat, and continued.

"Add to that—those people's monkey tails, and the Jiaojiao they utter—this is beyond the scope of a normal Holy Grail War."

Ailisi Feier listened without interrupting.

Weber paused, drew his hand from his pocket, and pointed at the office worker still scratching his butt on the roadside.

"This kind of Spiritual Pollution, a regular Magus couldn't achieve at this scale. Even a top‑tier Caster, to blanket all of Winterwood City and cause tens of thousands to mutate simultaneously, would need enough magic to die ten times over. So there's only one possibility—"

"The Holy Grail," Ailisi Feier completed his sentence.

Weber nodded.

Ailisi Feier's gaze fell on the street illuminated by distant streetlights.

A school‑uniformed girl emerged from the convenience store, holding a bottle of drink, a pair of brown monkey ears sprouting on her head, trembling with each step like two leaves fluttering in the wind.

She seemed completely unaware of the ears, took a sip of the drink, then screwed the cap shut, stuffed it into her backpack, moving as naturally as if nothing had happened.

"But didn't the Holy Grail disappear during the Fourth War?"

Ailisi Feier's voice carried a hint of confusion.

Weber spread his hands.

"I don't get it either. The physical vessel of the Holy Grail was indeed destroyed, but as a conceptual existence, could it—"

He paused, traced a circle in the air, "While being destroyed, could it also regenerate elsewhere? Like the phoenixes of myth—burned to ash, yet a new one springs from the ashes."

Ailisi Feier gave him a look; those red eyes were filled with resignation.

Weber lowered his hand and sighed.

"Never mind, let's not talk about that now. The urgent priority is to figure out the situation first. Winterwood City is the main venue of the Holy Grail War, and what happens here cannot bypass the local decision‑maker."

Ailisi Feier's eyebrows twitched.

"You mean the Yuanban Family?"

Weber nodded.

"Yuanban Shichen. The administrator of Winterwood City. Any Magic‑related incident that occurs on this land cannot bypass him. If Winterwood City experiences an anomaly of this scale, he must have information we don't know."

Ailisi Feier was silent for a few seconds.

"Then I'll go to the house and take a look."

Weber turned his head and looked at her.

"Ilya."