I want to just drift through life in Type-Moon.

Page 83

So, after eight centuries, even the homunculi began to despair of pursuing the Holy Grail alone and finally decided to establish a cooperative agreement with external magic families.

Chapter 186 The Beginning of Another Holy Grail War (Part 2)

The year 1800 in the Western calendar.

Visitors have arrived in Winter City, where the production of androids continues unabated.

Machiri Zorgen (Zoken Matou), a magician who dedicated his life to eradicating all evil and human malice from the world, visited the Winter Castle with his last hope and encountered Justeza as an interpreter.

At that time, Zorgen felt a complex mix of emotions: hope that his tragic wish had been fulfilled, envy for Justeza who might achieve the third magic, and sadness for Justeza's ageless price of "repeating the same day forever."

As an confidant of Justeza, Zorgren and Justeza decided to establish the Holy Grail together. Recently, the two families came to Japan to find a spiritual vein outside the jurisdiction of the Church. With the support of the collaborator Tohsaka Eito, the plan was put into action.

Through the introduction of the second magician, Gemstone Ongishia Zelrich Schbein'ogu, Tohsaka Eito makes contact with a strange magician who holds the idea of ​​"sacrificing for a good future," who is also the ancestor of the Tohsaka family.

Tohsaka Eito was originally a hidden follower of a foreign religion. At that time, Japan prohibited the missionary work of Christianity. However, after being persuaded by an old man who suddenly appeared, he became fascinated with the world of magic and entered the world of magicians.

The old gentleman who passed by was the famous Second Magician, Gemstone Ongkishua.

Because the Tohsaka family has some influence within the Holy Church, and because he is an apprentice of the mage Zelrich, he also receives preferential treatment from the Mage's Association.

It was precisely because of this special reason that the Tohsaka family was able to gain influence in both organizations, which enabled them to obtain land management rights in Fuyuki City.

Eito Tohsaka views magic and martial arts as equals. When he planned to reach the Root by reaching the realm of "nothingness", he accepted the persuasion of the Einzbern and Machiri and dreamed of going to the Root with the help of the Greater Grail. Therefore, he provided the spiritual vein held by their Tohsaka family and participated in the plan as a collaborator.

With understanding figures like Machiri and collaborators like Tohsaka, the Einzbern began to build the Greater Grail.

However, when the creation of the Greater Grail began, it was clear that Justeza alone was not enough. The Greater Grail could be built, and the core could indeed be made—but activating the Greater Grail required an extremely large amount of magical power, so the Lesser Grails that controlled it were necessary.

Machiri and Tohsaka devised a plan to collect magical energy: using Justeza's ability to connect with the Root, they designed a ritual called the Holy Grail War.

Although the Einzbern were unable to recreate Justessa, they were still able to create a Lesser Grail with similar properties.

After ten years of preparation, at the end of the 18th century, the Greater Grail magic circle was inscribed in the underground cavern of Mount Enzo. Later, witnessed by Machiri Zorgen, Eito Tohsaka, and the Jewel King, the Winter Maiden, wearing the Third Magic Mystic Code—the Garment of Heaven—disappeared into the other side of the light under everyone's gaze, transforming into the core of the Greater Grail.

With this, all preparations for the Holy Grail War were complete, and the ceremony finally began.

Unfortunately, the initial Holy Grail War did not have detailed and formal rules established beforehand, the Masters' awareness as "participants" was also very weak, and because the Command Seals system had not yet been developed, situations such as Servants disobeying orders occurred. The war largely failed before the ritual could be constructed.

Having learned from the failure of the first Holy Grail War, a detailed plan was devised before the second Holy Grail War began. The Command Seals system, born from the binding and coercive magic provided by Machiri, and the Winter Saintess providing magical power as the Greater Grail, allowed Masters to largely control their Servants to their liking. The Ritual Holy Grail War was a success, and the light of the Greater Grail was lit.

However, this operation ended in a brutal failure. The Greater Grail was flawless—but there were problems with the technicians and magicians who participated.

After painstakingly creating the Magic Core, the magicians turned on each other not for the planet, but for their nation and society, and killed each other to use it. In the end, the Master and the Servant all perished together. This is the ending caused by "human selfishness".

Two failures, and having exhausted all their resources, the miracle once accomplished by Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern, the Winter Saintess, was once again severed due to an irresistible force, plunging the entire Einzbern family into despair of gaining and losing.

The era of the Winter Saintess ended, and the fruits of success were lost before they could be verified. The entire family went mad, and along with the Third Holy Grail War, the Einzbern family once again tasted the pain of defeat.

Sixty years after the end of the First Holy Grail War, the Second Holy Grail War began. Learning from the serious consequences of the First Holy Grail War's lack of experience, the Second Holy Grail War introduced features such as the ability to summon Servants and the Command Seals system. The Einzbern family, confident in this system, aimed to seize the Holy Grail, but the ritual failed due to the annihilation of all other mages, preventing the summoning of the Holy Grail.

Sixty years later, the Third Holy Grail War began. Learning from the lessons of the previous war, the old man Arhad personally took action. However, blinded by his desire for victory, he cheated by summoning the eighth class—Avenger, the absolute evil Angra Mainyu.

However, the oldest evil, Angela Mainyu, as a "demon god," cannot be summoned by the Holy Grail. The fact that it can be summoned means that there was indeed a human in history who was called "Angela Mainyu"—in fact, the summoned creature was just an ordinary young man chosen by the Zoroastrian cult of a certain village and tortured as a "symbol" of Angela Mainyu. As a result, he was killed after only four days on the scene, and the ritual failed again.

Now, in 1984, fifty years after the end of the Third Holy Grail War, the Einzbern family has begun preparations for the Fourth Holy Grail War ten years later. However, Ahad is not acting for this Holy Grail War, but to fulfill the deal made by the person who appeared before the Einzbern family a year ago and whom he could not refuse.

"How are the Grail vessels for the next ceremony coming along?" Ahad suddenly asked in the empty corridor leading to their destination, his voice echoing in the otherwise desolate space.

“It’s finished, just the final adjustments.” In the corridor that should have been empty, another young voice responded to him, “But, clan leader, is that really necessary? After all, we have already completed another perfect form.”

“That perfect form isn’t for the Holy Grail War,” Ahad replied coldly, stroking his white beard, which resembled a frozen waterfall, while gazing out the window with shrewd eyes from deep-set sockets. “It’s for experimentation. If it succeeds, there’s no need to participate in the Holy Grail War.”

After saying that, he continued his stroll toward the incubation room where the so-called "perfect specimens" were kept.

Soon after, Ahad arrived before a massive stone door. His slender yet powerful hand pressed against it, and a burst of light swept through, causing the door to silently part. Inside the room, the floor, adorned with golden patterns, emanated visible magical energy. This energy was absorbed and transformed by the walls, which were embedded with various gems. The energy flowed through seven enormous pipes leading to the vaulted ceiling. The flowing liquid magic passed through seven cards within these pipes, ultimately converging in a massive crystal pillar at the center of the room.

"As expected of something called perfect, this inexhaustible capacity is exactly what we need." Looking at the finished product that can be described as a collection of all the technologies of the entire Einzbern, Ahad couldn't help but smile.

Inside the crystal pillar is a body, a flesh and blood, a body whose every strand of flesh and every hair was created through precise calculations.

The person sealed within the crystal pillar possessed snow-white, shimmering silver hair and exquisite beauty that could bewitch all beings. It was a masterpiece that perfectly integrated with Einzbern technology, pushing all potential and bloodline power to their peak. It was a body worthy of the name "perfect." However, most importantly, this body had no soul.

"As long as the theory is correct, this body can awaken the soul of the Winter Saintess without causing a backlash from the Holy Grail. As long as we transfer her consciousness through this soulless body and absorb the magic power in Mount Enzo that is sufficient to summon the Holy Grail, plus the seven class cards provided to us by that magician, we can perform the Third Magic here, and our glory will be restored!" Ahad looked at this artificial object with fervor, as if he could already see the dawn of his long-cherished wish being fulfilled.

"But, clan leader, does that person really have no other purpose?" The young voice rang out again, and the clansmen who were making preparations throughout the clan were concerned about this question.

"Hmph! Foolish! How could there not be some other purpose! But even so, what does it matter! We can afford the price." Although Ahad had fallen into fanaticism, he had not lost his mind.

He still remembered how the heavily injured second mage appeared before him and how he made a deal with him.

A year ago, as he was sitting in the library reading the Holy Grail War record, which he had read countless times and which represented regret and defeat, that person appeared in front of him in a very abrupt way.

As the proxy personality of the father of the homunculus, he knew who this person was from the past records at first glance, but he did not expect that this magician, who was a witness to the Holy Grail System, would appear in such a disheveled way.

His white hair was disheveled, his left cheek was stained with blood, and his right hand was covering his ribs, seemingly pressing on a wound. Blood soaked a large area of ​​his clothes.

Next, the other party wasted no time, or rather, rushed to put a deal in front of him.

The other party provides information on another Holy Grail War system, and Einzbern provides artificial human technology to restore this system. The price is that the other party must be able to use the Holy Grail system once and take away a special body when they appear next time.

Ahad agreed without much thought, after all, this trader was someone who could travel between parallel worlds, and even if he in this world didn't agree, the other party could find another version of himself in another world who would.

Since such a good opportunity was presented to him, he would definitely not give it up.

And so, the other party left behind seven class cards and a composition described as the perfect body, before rushing away.

After gaining a general understanding of how to use and what the effects of these class cards were, Ahad immediately began trying them out without even eating or sleeping.

Because these class cards can replace the souls of Heroic Spirits, with sufficient mana, they can ignore the requirements of the spirit realm and directly summon the Holy Grail.

Although he was a little uneasy about not using a replica of the Winter Saintess for the Holy Grail Summon, after creating the body according to the physical information provided by the Jewel Elder, he finally understood why the other party called it a "perfect" body.

The magical abilities contained within that body were unmatched by the Einzbern technology of a thousand years. In fact, one could say that the "mystery" contained within that body could be traced back to before the Age of Gods.

It was precisely because of these two points that he dared to gamble with all of Einzbern's resources.

This perfect body is placed at the core of Einzbern's magic workshop, directly below which is the water room for abandoned homunculi. Those short-lived discarded products made based on the Winter Saintess will connect with the Winter Saintess's will through empathy in the upcoming ritual.

As soon as the Winter Saintess awakens, whether she likes it or not, her consciousness will be written into this body, and then the Holy Grail summoning ritual will be performed automatically.

"Now! Let the ceremony begin!" With that, he slammed his staff into the ground, stirring up the surrounding magic.

"Yes, all for the tragic wish of Einzbern!" It was as if the voices of hundreds of people roared together, and the mad will was finally activated.

While Einzbern was making all the preparations, a parallel world branch unexpectedly connected to this world from the outside.

The two wills standing at the pinnacle of the earth turned their attention to this unexpected event.

One of the wills decided to let the intruder go after seeing him, while the other will deliberately placed his landing point at Mount Enzo in Fuyuki City after seeing him.

The reason He placed it in the Garden Mountain was that He believed the evil creatures lurking there and the seal He had placed there were enough to destroy this unknown outsider—or at least seal it away if they couldn't be destroyed. However, this decision led to a series of coincidences that eventually spiraled out of control.

Fuyuki City is the battlefield of the Holy Grail War, which occurs approximately every sixty years when the spiritual energy in Fuyuki City's ley lines accumulates to a level sufficient to support the descent of the Holy Grail. Thus, the Holy Grail, which possesses the power to instantly grant any wish, appears in Fuyuki City.

However, only a Master and a Servant can obtain this power.

Thus, an unwritten covenant was established, in which seven magicians, each leading their summoned Heroic Spirits, would engage in a battle for ownership of the Holy Grail, with the victor ultimately gaining ownership of the Holy Grail—this is the Holy Grail War of Fuyuki City.

However, it is actually a huge ritual system planned and constructed by the Einzbern family, the Tohsaka family, and the Machiri family (Matou family) in order to reach the "Root".

Mount Enzo, possessing the natural cave known as the "Dragon Cave," housed the Greater Grail, based on the Winter Saintess Justessa Risleicher von Einzbern. This served as a secret altar known only to the three founding families. After the Third Holy Grail War in this world, it was transformed into a demonic lair.

There gathers all the sins of the world, all the evil in this world, flowing, amplifying, chaining, changing, and endlessly swirling.

Gluttony, lust, greed, wrath, sloth, pride, and envy—the seven deadly sins swirl together.

Rebellion, intimidation, adultery, destruction, coercion, theft, escape, false accusation, arson, insult, disrespect, sowing discord, abduction, bribery, abortion, suicide, gambling, abandonment, perjury, possession of stolen goods, kidnapping, violence—all these crimes are intertwined here, turning into pitch-black silt, hidden in the hollow belly of the mountain, waiting for the day they can escape.

Like scorching magma, bubbles rose from the silt from time to time. Then, the bubbles burst, and with the spray, the black mud scattered and broke apart. A sweet and decadent smell spread through the cavity, and this smell drifted towards the center of the silt, where it was finally absorbed by a special entity.

That was the only exception in this hellish abyss: a pure white figure bound within a massive heart tangled with silt, the Winter Saintess wearing the highest-ranking Mystic Code, the Heavenly Garment—Justisa Rislesi von Einzbern.

The white Heavenly Robe, representing holiness, has been mostly stained black like mud, but even the most vile evil in the world cannot diminish her holiness. In this nightmarish environment, she still sleeps soundly with a loving smile, as if having a blissful dream. That holy smile could redeem even the most unforgivable sinner.

But gradually, she heard a whispered spell in her ear. The persistent sound made her frown, and the serenity on her face slowly turned into unease, and unease into displeasure. The whisper was an imprint engraved at the time of her birth, an obsession hidden in her blood. Finally, the whisper gradually turned into a shout, and she was about to wake up from her beautiful dream.

As the stable Greater Grail, Justeza is the core of this Greater Grail, serving as the fixing device for what is known as the Lesser Grail. The churning silt here was originally colorless and endless magical energy, but during the Third Holy Grail War, the Einzberns cheated by using a foreign classic as a catalyst to summon the Eighth Heroic Spirit, whose position is Avenger, thus corrupting this Greater Grail that contained colorless magical energy.

The one summoned is the apex being on the evil side of the Zoroastrian dualism of good and evil, the highest pillar among the evil gods, known as absolute evil, the sum total of evil in the world, and the most ancient evil—Angra Mainyu.

The name of the most powerful demon in ancient Persia is both the greatest enemy of Zoroastrianism and the recognized evil one who has been fighting a nine-thousand-year war with the God of Light who protects the goodness of mankind.

Zoroastrianism is based on a mythology rooted in the endless conflict between two main gods of good and evil. It was the first religion to form a dualistic view of angels and demons. As the apex of the evil side, it is impossible for Zoroastrianism to be summoned in the modern Holy Grail War, where mystery has faded. Instead, an unnamed anti-hero is summoned.

He was born in a small Zoroastrian village. In that very ordinary family, he was separated from his brothers when he was one year old and grew up as an ordinary young man who knew nothing about magic or mystery.

However, one day, to prove the goodness of all people in the world, the youth was burdened with the sins of the entire world by being branded with the evil god Angra Mainyu. Then his right eye was gouged out, and his hands and feet were cut off, and he was contemptuously tortured as absolute evil.

Ultimately, he became a demon bearing the name of "all the evil in the world," an anti-hero burdened with sin. For years after his sacrifice, he hated the villagers, but later, unsure of whom to hate, he accepted humanity. His hatred transcended emotion and became part of his character. From then on, a legend circulated in his village that "the evil god dwells on the mountaintop."

Having experienced every form of suffering imaginable, the young man died as a matter of course. But the hatred he felt for this absurd situation was deeply etched into the rocky prison, eventually transforming him into a nameless spirit.

But even after the youth vanished, even after the detestable villagers left, even after the village itself ceased to exist, he remained bound to the mountaintop, gazing upon human life, human ugliness, and human joy. The warm light reflected on his own unattainable "taken-for-granted daily life," like a sage.

The truth is ridiculous: he was given the false name Angra Mainyu simply because his attributes happened to resemble those of a Zoroastrian evil god. Although he was a Heroic Spirit specializing in killing humans, he was otherwise utterly useless. In the Holy Grail War, a battlefield beyond humanity, he played absolutely no role and was truly the weakest Servant.

As a Heroic Spirit, he was of low rank and his strength was completely third-rate. He only survived for four days in that Holy Grail War before being defeated.

However, the souls of the defeated Heroic Spirits are absorbed by the Holy Grail, which is part of the Holy Grail ritual.

As defeated heroic spirits, they lose their personification and are transformed into magical energy to be absorbed by the Holy Grail. However, Angra Mainyu is a collective wish, and the Holy Grail, as the wish-granting machine, accepts it as a wish and activates its effect.

As a result, the anti-hero, who embodies "all the evil in the world," was made flesh within the Holy Grail and became a successful example of the third magic—immortality.

However, this physical body was not created by the Heaven's Grail; it merely restored its original attribute of "killing all things in the world." Because it was absorbed into the Holy Grail, and its soul was absolutely evil, the colorless power of the Holy Grail was corrupted, and Fuyuki's Holy Grail became a vortex of malevolent power.

As a malignant aggregate, he must rely on a medium to survive in the world, and the Winter Saintess is his current object of dependence, whom he recognizes as his mother, an important being that will nurture him more and more.

However, the summons of Einzbern forced the will of the Winter Saintess to awaken, and she, who had been in a semi-conscious state, entered a stage of full awakening.

Angola Manuel's possessiveness resolutely refused to allow this to unfold, so the silt began to riot. Just as Yustissa opened her eyes and responded, magic power carrying endless malice rushed through the summoning channel like a waterfall flowing backward. Coincidentally, Alaya also opened a path at that moment, throwing Le Zhengling, who had been transferred from another timeline, into this place.

Meanwhile, in the Einzbern castle, in the room connected to the entire summoning core, the old man Ahad had already felt the resonance deep within Einzbern. At the same time, he sensed a great crisis, but for the sake of his two-thousand-year-old wish, he ignored this danger and eagerly awaited the arrival of the Winter Saintess's consciousness.

"Come! Come! Come! Respond to the call of us Einzberns! Descend upon this body of symmetry as the true proof of Golem Jubstacheit (Father of Man)!"

The entire Einzbern castle resounded with this call, a chorus of hundreds and thousands of voices, as dolls made from the same blueprint called out together, attempting to draw Justessa's consciousness in through the resonance of their souls.

The passage was opened, and only a tiny bit of that desperate malice seeped out, but the chilling fear caused the people in the castle to groan in agony. This fear, which came from the bottom of their hearts, was not something even the androids could escape. It was malice directed at the "human" race, and even the androids were affected.

Then, a loud crash echoed from the Winter Castle of Einzbern, accompanied by shattered stones and thick smoke, as a small figure was thrown into the distant forest by the enormous impact.

The massive fir tree caught the figure, and the snow pressing down on the tree fell with a clatter. The broken branches cushioned the impact, and the thick snow on the ground absorbed the remaining force. A human-shaped crater appeared in the pure white snow, which was then stained with a faint crimson.

The smell of blood attracted several winter wolves, creatures deliberately kept within the Einzbern barrier to prevent ordinary people from accidentally wandering in. These wild beasts, of course, lacked the intelligence to distinguish between different things; in their eyes, the person who had fallen from the sky was a delicious meal for them.

The five winter wolves approached cautiously, the winter sun allowing them to clearly see the person in the pit.

Her once shimmering silver hair had been dyed an ominous black from root to tip, the air of despair locked within it. Her naked body was covered in abrasions, scratches, and charred marks, and her left hand was bent unnaturally to one side. Even her beautiful, perfectly sculpted face, like that of a doll, was scratched by tree branches, and bright red blood trickled down her fair skin to her ears.

If he were a normal person, he would have been screaming in pain by now, but he just stared blankly at the sky with half-open eyes. If it weren't for his slightly heaving chest and the white steam coming out of his mouth, a normal person would think he was dead. Unfortunately, all that was there now were a few hungry winter wolves and squirrels hiding in tree holes—or perhaps a phantom figure that was standing not far away, but was as lifeless as a dead object, emitting no breath whatsoever.

Chapter 187 The Third World Transfer

The illusory figure was none other than Olga Marie Asmiret Animusfia, but this Olga Marie lacked the timid and submissive aura of the past. Her gaze as she looked at Le Zhengling lying in the snow was as emotionless as that of a deity.

The diffuse reflection of light particles from the sky, the swirling snowflakes that began to fall, the snowflakes penetrating her body, proved that Olga Marie, standing there, had no physical form.

How did things turn out this way? Well, it all started before she and Yue Zhengling entered this world.

After Chaldea assembled the Spirit Particle Calculation Device Trismegistes, the first transfer experiment was put on the agenda.

After Rafe took Olga Marie to London, at the hearing, when the Association learned that they had successfully summoned a new Heroic Spirit, many ill-intentioned people began to use various means to put pressure on Chaldea, attempting to bring it into their own hands.

Although Animusfia is one of the top families in the Clock Tower, this accusation was initiated by three other monarchs. Although the other eight monarchs are neutral, they cannot change the fact that Animusfia is in a disadvantageous position.

After all, the successful summoning of a Heroic Spirit has far-reaching consequences.

Unlike the Holy Grail War of that year, where Servants could only remain in the real world for seven days, Chaldea's summoning this time proved the feasibility of that Servant summoning system.

After the Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City, both the Mage's Association and the Church of Christ were learning for the first time about the destructive power and unique nature of Heroic Spirits.

(In the FGO world line, the Holy Grail War was only carried out once and was successful, in 2004.)

It was precisely because they witnessed the power of Heroic Spirits in this Holy Grail War that the Mage's Association felt it was advantageous for Chaldea to successfully summon Heroic Spirits and keep them in the mortal world. Furthermore, if Chaldea continued to successfully summon Heroic Spirits, it could potentially become an uncontrollable force.

To guard against this, the Mage's Association joined forces with the Church of Christ to hold Chaldea accountable.

Unexpectedly, after seeing the information on the new Servants provided by Chaldea, the Atlas Institute even suddenly switched sides.

Not only did they retract all their condemnations, but they even said they would increase aid to Chaldea, leaving everyone completely baffled.

Most importantly, apart from Animusphia herself, most of the twelve monarchs of the Clock Tower had already tacitly agreed to dismantle Chaldea or infiltrate it to control key positions before the meeting. However, after the meeting started, most of them became unusually unenthusiastic, and these monarchs were all from Europe.