Having traversed countless realms, can you possibly be as clever as me?

It was obvious that there were too many problems accumulated from the previous day's battle, and Tokiomi Tohsaka had to devote himself to the consultation with Mayor Himuro to discuss how to explain the explosion of Fuyuki Port, which involved many construction sites and almost half of the new capital.

It was a challenging but busy time, but when you're busy, you don't have time to think about sad things. And at this time, the departure of his good helper, Kotomine Risei, was indeed something he was reluctant to part with.

"Ah, the Lord's grace must be sent to a safe place for protection as soon as possible." Kotomine Risei patted the box on his body and said seriously. Being able to bring the Holy Grail to the lair of such a magician was enough to show his trust in Tokiomi Tohsaka.

Tokiomi Tohsaka's gaze lingered on the box containing the Holy Grail for a moment, but there was no covetousness or greed in his eyes. He truly lived up to the trust placed in him.

"So, regarding that saint..."

"Further information is beyond my knowledge," Kotomine Risuke shook his head and said sincerely.

"But as an old friend, Tokiomi, I hope you will restrain yourself and not become his enemy."

"Let Kirei assist you as much as possible, Tokiomi. The Tohsaka family's hope has not been extinguished. Please do not lose heart completely."

Tokiomi Tohsaka naturally knew what Kirei Kotomine was referring to—although his own servant was gone, Kirei Kotomine's still existed.

Ghost Hassan is an extreme Servant, but his abilities are indeed excellent. If the circumstances are right, perhaps...

"Perhaps Kirei has his own dreams too," Tokiomi Tohsaka murmured.

“O messenger of the Lord, can you answer my questions?”

At that moment, inside Fuyuki New City, Kirei Kotomine looked at Tsugumi in the photograph and spoke slowly in an extremely soft voice...

The pain of his innate nature conflicting with the laws of God, the choice between following his nature and following the commandments of God—this agonizing question remains unanswered.

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After finishing his work, Kirei planned to meet the saint and seek an answer.

He put the photos away and whispered to his own shadow.

"Assassin, have you gathered any information about the Berserker?"

No, but the Matou family has been razed to the ground.

The Matou family? Kirei Kotomine frowned slightly, a guess forming in his mind—could it be that the fake Matou summoned an uncontrollable Berserker and met its own demise?

Unsure of the answer, Kirei Kotomine rushed to the Matou family mansion, and upon stepping into the ruins—

In an instant, his fighting instincts, which flashed like lightning, drove him to draw the black key and throw it to the side!

The sword, imbued with purifying power, easily pierced the uninvited guest in the darkness. Francesca, bearing the three black keys on her head, emerged, grinning as if nothing had happened.

"Don't be so nervous, they're just delivering a package."

"...Heretical heresy!" Kirei Kotomine looked at Francesca with disgust, gripping the black keys tightly and preparing his baptismal incantation.

“Ah, you poor man, caught in the conflict between your nature and your faith, you remind me of my old friend Gil, though you are far more devout than he is.”

Francesca chuckled as she spoke, then took something from her bosom that resembled a pendant, placed it on the ground, and retreated into the darkness.

"Hehe, this is a relic that can summon angels. Here you go, you devout yet cruel priest."

"In this way, time has completed another cycle."

---

283

Three days passed quickly after that public rule meeting at Dongjiang.

It is now the fifth day since the Holy Grail War began.

During this period, the Servants maintained a facade of harmony.

Or rather, in this situation, the only Servant who could normally roam freely is Artoria.

After returning, Artoria first gave Emiya Kiritsugu a good beating, just as she had said. After learning that he knew Irisviel existed as the Lesser Grail but still chose to participate in the war, she gave him another beating.

But what else can we do? Life still goes on.

Anyway, Irisviel is no longer the Lesser Grail, and Kiritsugu Emiya was overjoyed. Artoria can just give him a good beating twice and that'll be enough. At most, she'll just ignore this Master, with whom she already has a bad relationship, even more in the future.

During these three days, Kiritsugu Emiya racked his brains to find a way to win.

The only possibility is to hide—because, ironically, Artoria has yet to reveal that she is Saber.

After all, she didn't even appear in the big chaos of the warehouse district, and she didn't reveal her Servant identity when she went to the Holy Church with Irisviel.

After all, she descended directly in a human form, so she couldn't become a spirit and didn't have to worry about being easily recognized as a Servant.

The only downside is that it consumes about 20 McDonald's meals per 100 kilometers.

The only person in the know was Tsugumi, and Kiritsugu Emiya could only pray that the referee was truly fair.

Unlike the church, which is just for show, this is a referee who can easily beat both sides!

However, in Kiritsugu Emiya's eyes, his stance was highly questionable, after all, this saint had suddenly attacked his wife and servant before his public debut, and even turned Artoria into this monstrous form.

It's not a bad thing, though.

Artoria has indeed become much colder, but Kiritsugu Emiya has grown accustomed to cooperating with such a cold person. As for the power of her Noble Phantasms, at least according to Artoria, the maximum power of her holy sword has decreased, but in its place, she can now unleash her Noble Phantasms repeatedly.

As long as Irisviel and Kiritsugu Emiya can hold out, she can keep firing her Noble Phantasms. She can unleash A++ Noble Phantasms on castles without any expense!

When Kiritsugu Emiya found out, he had a short meeting with his wife, then took out the Avalon from her body, which was no longer needed, and put it into his own body to provide magic power while preventing himself from being beaten to death by Saber.

While this aligns with tactical standards, it feels even worse!

Oh right, it seems that Kiritsugu Emiya's identity as Master was never revealed from beginning to end.

So—well, upon closer inspection, this Holy Grail War is practically a game where everyone's a nobody!

The unfortunate Lacner and Archer, who were exposed, died on the spot. Only one Rider and his Master stepped forward. The rest were two otherworldly Servants who were the target of everyone's criticism, and Ruler, who attracted most of the attention.

However, this storm has been brewing for a longer time, and when it erupts, it will likely be even more terrifying.

"Is your brain a pig's brain? How is it structured? I've told you so many times!"

“Weber Velvet! Forget your unrealistic ideas, this is the only way!”

"My God, is all you're good at is taking tests? How can you be so stupid when it comes to actually doing something?!"

"Why don't you go to the Spirit Tomb and find a demonic boar to swap brains with? Maybe your practical skills will improve dramatically!"

Inside the Kerry Hotel in Fuyuki City, Kenneth, who had chosen not to move, was furious at the clumsy apprentice before him.

During this time, he has been busy with the work of engraving the spirit foundation rebirth technique, but unfortunately he cannot find a reliable assistant.

With only Sora and Webber by his side, Kenneth could only rely on Webber. Sora, who was raised as a pampered young lady, had excellent circuits but a ridiculously shallow understanding of magic. So Kenneth had no choice but to make Webber his assistant.

But having a Clock Tower magician who hasn't even graduated assist a monarch of a certain rank is about the same as asking a college student whose graduation thesis is a pile of shit to help an academician with an experiment.

Oh no, Kenneth also read Weber's groundbreaking academic garbage back then.

Anyway, Kenneth's voice is almost hoarse from being yelled at by Webber for the past three days.

Weber also had an emotional outburst during this period, especially because of his resentment towards Kenneth—the paper he considered his life's work but which had been humiliated in the process. He felt that Kenneth was not a discerning magician or a qualified mentor.

Then Kenneth proved to Webber in every way what it means that magic circuits are everything to a magician; if the circuits are not good, no matter how hard you try, you will hardly achieve anything in the magic path, and that his thesis is a pile of unburnable garbage.

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Webber was upset and humiliated, but perhaps the scolding woke him up, as he became much more obedient when assisting Kenneth afterward.

Kenneth: You pose no threat to me in the magic world, but you'll ruin my reputation in the education world!!!

But after scolding her, he still had to teach her. Kenneth had no choice, since he was even more reluctant to scold his fiancée.

To be fair, while Weber was not good at handling practical problems, he was quick to grasp theoretical concepts.

After sending Webber off to handle the materials once again, Sora, who had been observing coldly, suddenly spoke up.

"Kenneth, you seem to think highly of this kid?"

Before Kenneth could retort, Sora crossed his arms and continued with great interest.

"Although you beat and scolded him severely, I feel that you seem to treat him very differently?"

"After all, you actually managed to intercept his absurd thesis."

Instead of letting it out to clean up a piece of junk in your classroom.

Kenneth snorted. It wasn't that he couldn't stand seeing Weber get into trouble; he simply felt that Weber's publication of his paper not only brought him utter ruin but was also a disgrace to him as a teacher!

"I just don't want this idiot to embarrass me by focusing on El-Melloi's name."

Besides, he was still a student in his classroom. Even if he was a bit stubborn, as a teacher, he still had an obligation to correct his mistakes before he graduated.

“Kenneth.” Sora looked at the arrogant lemon-headed boy and suddenly smiled.

“There’s something no one has ever told you, but you really don’t look like a magician.”

Looking at his fiancée's smile, Kenneth suddenly felt full of energy!

Ever since Lancer disappeared, his relationship with Sora had been tense, but today, with her smile, he actually felt that his relationship with Sora had returned to normal.

But when it comes to matters of magician pride, Kenneth won't back down an inch!

"If I'm not a legitimate magician, then who is?" Kenneth said proudly, spreading his hands.

"That kid is indeed a reckless, foolish, and oblivious person, but he does have some other talents. And I, Kenneth, am going to make full use of him, to make him repay the Archibald family with his talents, and to atone for his foolishness. This is the ruthless side of me as a magician!"

Looking at Kenneth's 'I'm so evil' expression, Sora, who grew up under the influence of her father Euphoria, who liked to strip away the souls of those who offended her and good-for-nothing students and turn them into various vengeful spirits, suddenly thought that this lemon-headed guy was actually not bad.

Aside from his receding hairline and the fact that he's almost thirty but still acts like a naive young master from an ivory tower, he's definitely a good marriage prospect.

And so, Lingji's seal engraving work continued for another busy night. Just as Kenneth was about to tell Weber to get five hours of sleep before getting up to work overtime at midnight—

Suddenly, an unprecedented evil aura filled the air above Fuyuki, followed by their screens flickering and the lights dimming.

Kenneth immediately poured out the Moon Spirit Essence Liquid to shield Sora and Waver behind him, then squinted at the dark, completely dark city outside.

"Barrier...no, the form is completely different."

He murmured, his gaze fixed on the center of the city, gradually hardening.

He sensed that a powerful, evil, and filthy barrier was spreading throughout the city and across the entire Fuyuki.

And this strange magical aura—it belongs to that Caster from another world!

"It's a boring time, but it's almost over."