Chapter 516

【Four skeleton soldiers had their bones shattered instantly, their bodies scattered all over the ground, while the last one that pounced was sent flying by an uppercut, crashing heavily into the ceiling and being smashed to pieces.】

【"Ah, sorry, I went a bit too far."】

【Ilumia impatiently brushed the bone fragments off her head, hummed lightly, and began to wait on the spot.】

Rin Tohsaka: "Good heavens, are all members of the Holy Church this fierce!"

Risei Kotomine: "That weapon is an executor's equipment; it seems she is also an executor."

Waver: "If she's an executor, such skill isn't surprising."

Risei Kotomine: "Sending an executor here shows how much the church values this place."

【Not long after, the light of an oil lamp appeared in the pitch-black passage.】

【Ilumia said impatiently: "You're really slow."】

【"Ha... even if... you... say that..."】

【A figure panting heavily walked over slowly—it was Priest Fernand.】

【His body, which was as fat as a ball, was indeed not suitable for exercise. He was panting, leaning against the wall with one hand so he wouldn't collapse.】

【Looking at the bone fragments all over the ground, he asked: "Uh... did you do this?"】

【"Need you ask?"】

【Ilumia sneered: "The existence of such heretical dead is an insult to the Lord. Dust to dust, earth to earth—I cannot allow those who violate the Lord's will to be resurrected."】

【"Alright, let's hurry and chase them."】

【"Hey, hey, please look at my condition..."】

Kayneth: "It seems the main combat power on the church's side is this Ilumia. Of course, we can't rule out Fernand playing the pig to eat the tiger."

Shishigou Kairi: "Hmm, and judging from their conversation, this nun seems to have a higher status than that priest."

【The focus returns to Waver and the others.】

【The group continued to move forward along the passage, finding that the tunnel was becoming increasingly narrow, not knowing if it was natural or man-made.】

【However, they were in no mood to care about that now; they were still exchanging information.】

【Berserker: "If the villagers' goal is to worship you, then the church's goal is to kill you."】

【Gray: "Kill... me..."】

【"Hmm, for a long time, the Holy Church and the villagers have been in a relationship of mutual surveillance."】

【Berserker explained: "Because from the church's perspective, the villagers' behavior is heresy itself; they cannot possibly acknowledge the resurrection of King Arthur."】

【"That said, the church is not such an inhumane organization that it would destroy an entire village for a ritual that hasn't succeeded yet and whose impact is unknown. At the same time, the villagers are the same; although they cannot give up their goal, they cannot start a war with the church for a goal that they don't know when they can achieve."】

【"As a result, both sides formed a state of mutual surveillance, which has continued for hundreds of years. Because too many generations have passed, they have lowered their guard for so long that it looks like an ordinary village at first glance."】

【Waver: "Hmm, this is indeed the thinking of the Holy Church."】

【But with this, they had a guess: was it the people from the church who killed 'Gray' on the fourth day of the first round?】

Waver: "I see. This is the reason why the villagers and the church seemed very harmonious before, but suddenly turned against each other."

Waver: "Because of Gray's appearance, this war has begun."

Kayneth: "The Holy Church wants to use their doctrine to tame these villagers, but they underestimated the other side's obsession."

Risei Kotomine: "Sigh... ignoring the church's good intentions, this village is about to perish."

Regardless of whether the villagers' plan succeeds, the end of this village is already doomed.

After all, the Holy Church is not really a place of kindness.

Since the villagers chose to go to war, they must bear the wrath of the church.

No, wait a minute.

This seems to be a fictional world; can what happens inside be considered real?

【Waver: "Then, who is that masked girl?"】

【Berserker: "... As a Lord, you know the three factors of humanity, right?"】

【"Of course I do."】

【Waver muttered: "Body, mind, and soul—these three are indispensable factors that constitute a human being. It is precisely because these factors are closely related to each other that a person can be a person."】

【"Then I can omit part of the explanation."】

【Berserker said seriously: "You should have already understood that Gray is a phantasm of King Arthur's body, an irreplaceable crystal that the village finally reached after more than a thousand years of history."】

【"That masked girl is a phantasm of King Arthur's mind."】

Waver: "A phantasm of the mind!"

Shishigou Kairi: "In other words, they copied King Arthur's mind?"

Irisviel: "That masked girl doesn't show a single shadow of Saber at all."

The Knight of Rebellion: "What a joke! These scumbags, how much more do they want to defile my father!"

Lancelot: "Indeed, unforgivable!"

【Gray: "Mind! Can that kind of thing be copied?"】

【"Hey, hey, there's an example right here."】

【A lazy voice rang out from the front—it was Kay.】

【"Oh, oh, adventurers, you've heartlessly forgotten about me."】

【Waver: "That's right, Sir Kay's mental model."】

【Add's personality foundation was born from simulating Kay. In this way, isn't the masked girl an identical object?】

【Berserker: "In ancient times, there was such technology. Technology to imitate the body and mind to create a double of someone. Is that a trace left by the magic of the Age of Gods, or a realm of spirits that humans cannot touch?"】

【Kay: "As expected of you, you really know it well."】

【"Modern times seem to claim something about copyright, but there was no such thing back then; if you wanted to copy, you just copied. I was only chosen because I was a suitable candidate; I never gave my consent."】

【"Thank you for the explanation, I am honored. Sir Kay."】

【Berserker continued: "According to the above content, when the body, mind, and soul are all present, King Arthur will be resurrected as the King of the Future. At least, that's what the villagers believe."】

【"That's not right, is it?"】

【Waver retorted: "Even if the body and mind are both present, the soul cannot be reproduced. If it could come true, that would be the Third Magic itself, which even grand magic cannot achieve."】

【Berserker: "Right, so that condition should be impossible to meet. The church doesn't believe it, and in reality, almost no villagers should deeply believe it will succeed."】

【"But imitating the soul—you know the answer to that, don't you?"】

【Waver was stunned, paused for a few seconds, and said: "Could it be..."】

【"That's right, it's Heroic Spirits!"】

【Berserker said in a deep voice: "I have never witnessed it directly, but the Heroic Spirits in the Holy Grail War are existences that imitate the subject recorded in the Throne of Heroes along with the soul, making them manifest in the world, right?"】

【"Then, when the Fifth Holy Grail War unfolds and King Arthur manifests in the world as a Servant, there is a possibility that all three factors will be present."】

【"Of course, this possibility is actually not high. After all, the probability of King Arthur being specifically selected among many Heroic Spirits is extremely low."】

【"However, the Holy Church discovered this possibility. After all, they send supervisors to participate and have grasped more information about the Holy Grail War than the Clock Tower, so they have been sending personnel from headquarters to investigate the village's situation in great detail for a long time."】

【Gray: "Is it Sister Ilumia?"】

【Berserker: "Yes, Sister Ilumia. She is the illegitimate daughter of a certain Cardinal."】

Risei Kotomine: "!!!"

A Cardinal, known in the outside world as a Prince of the Church, is the highest advisor to the Pope and holds a status second only to the Pope in the church.

That such an existence would have an illegitimate daughter is absolutely a massive scandal.