To become a king and a magician

After confirming that there was no one on the beach...

"Buzzing—!"

On a piece of land quite at the edge of the beach, in a makeshift construction site, a series of muffled sounds began to emanate, as if something inside was howling and crying out, which sounded quite eerie.

In reality—

Following behind Natsukawa Torama, and looking at the ground that parted on its own like an automatic door, Rin Tohsaka and Luvia were still dumbfounded, even though they already knew that Natsukawa Torama was a monster.

"You're digging too slowly, bit by bit. I'm faster than you. Let me do it."

When they first heard Natsukawa Tiger say that, the two thought he was going to punch a hole in the ground with his bare hands or dig a tunnel with his bare hands. After all, in their impression, Natsukawa Tiger's most commendable quality was undoubtedly his destructive power.

But I never expected it to turn out like this.

"Summoning elemental fairies directly into one's own body to achieve absolute control over the four elements... If this were to be released, it would probably be a magic technique that could change the existing landscape of the twelve disciplines, right?" Luvia rubbed her forehead. "No wonder the master found this person from a parallel world; his magical skills are truly terrifying."

"This is the only summoning magic I can show off. Actually, I only graduated from the basic course a few months ago, and becoming a priest is something that happened not long ago when I came here."

"So... you'll be a priest right after graduation?!"

"Not immediately," Natsukawa Tora chuckled. "By the way, how deep do we need to dig? A thousand meters underground?"

"No, at the current pace, it should only take about two more minutes," Rin Tohsaka replied after thinking for a moment. "By the way, are you really sure you're okay this time?"

The strange question startled Natsukawa Torato for a moment: "What do you mean?"

"Regarding the eighth class card."

"Oh, that? Why are you still asking this question now? I already said I'll take it back, you don't need to worry about it."

Natsukawa Torama waved his hand casually, but it was precisely this casual attitude that made Tohsaka Rin raise her voice: "Do you really understand what you're about to face? Although it's just a simple numerical calculation, the power of the Servant manifested by the eighth class card... could be several times stronger than Berserker!"

The Mage's Association discovered the existence of the Class Cards a little over a month ago, finding seven cards in total—the same seven that Natsukawa Torato had previously retrieved. Because the time between their discovery and retrieval was short, the Class Cards hadn't absorbed enough magical energy from the ley lines, resulting in weak manifested Shadow Servants.

But the eighth class card is different.

The eighth class card was not only located underground, but also on one of the main roads of the Fuyuki City ley lines, so even the Mage's Association could not detect it until Rin Tohsaka discovered it the day before yesterday.

The more magical energy a class card absorbs, the stronger the manifested shadow servant becomes. The eighth class card has been absorbing magical energy for at least a month now, right on the main trunk of the Fuyuki ley line where magical energy is most abundant. It has even caused problems with the ley line due to the excessive amount of magical energy it has absorbed.

The extent to which the power of the Shadow Servant it manifests would be is beyond Rin Tohsaka's comprehension; saying it's several times stronger than Berserker is merely her intuition.

There is no doubt that Natsukawa Tora is very strong, but even so, can he still achieve an overwhelming victory against a Shadow Servant whose strength is unknown, just like in the past?

His steps suddenly stopped, and Natsukawa Tora turned around with his hands in his pockets, his sky-blue eyes piercing through the Mystic Eyes and staring at Rin Tohsaka.

Suddenly being stared at like that, Rin Tohsaka blushed slightly and looked away, asking, "W-What's wrong? Why are you staring at me all of a sudden?"

"It's nothing, I just find it quite amusing that you're worrying about something so trivial."

"Do you...do you even know why I'm worried?"

“I told you not to worry. I know more about class cards than you do. Don’t forget I have knowledge of the origins. I already know who the enemy is.” Natsukawa Tora turned back and walked forward. “Gilgamesh, the oldest hero of mankind, has collected the prototypes of all the Noble Phantasms in the world. He is the true strongest hero king, with the power to compete for first or second place among all the Heroic Spirits.”

"In a one-on-one situation, there is no more troublesome opponent than him. After all, no matter what moves I use, he can always use a treasure that can counter my abilities, not to mention that sword that splits the heavens and the earth."

Natsukawa Torama casually recounted the enemy they were about to face, and as he spoke, Tohsaka Rin and Luvia both showed expressions of fear.

Gilgamesh.

They still knew the title of the oldest hero king, just as Natsukawa Torato said, that was arguably the strongest Servant.

"But I will win."

The confident words coming back from the front made Rin Tohsaka and Luvia pause for a moment.

The enemy is the strongest, the invincible Hero King. Even if it is not his true form, but a manifestation of a class card, now that he has absorbed a large amount of magic power, his power is probably not much less than that of a regular summon.

"Why can you say that?" Luvia couldn't help but ask. "You're not thinking of pulling the moon down from the sky, are you?"

"That was the initial plan. If we just used Moonfall, everything would be fine. But unfortunately, if we used it again, the old man with the gem would probably throw me into some unknown parallel world. So for now, we're keeping it as our final trump card."

Upon hearing that Moonfall wasn't necessary, the two behind them breathed a sigh of relief, but—

"If we don't use Moonset, then how...?"

"Well, no matter how strong the enemy is, he is ultimately just a shadow that exists with a class card as its core. Once he is separated from the class card, he will naturally disappear. So there is no need to kill him fair and square. Just dig out the class card from his body."

As Xia Chuanhu spoke, he stopped and then pushed off with both hands, instantly expanding the passage, which was originally only a few dozen meters wide, into a huge semi-circular space with a diameter of over one hundred meters.

"This should be fine, right? I'll go retrieve the class cards now. You guys wait here for a bit."

"Wait—start the recycling now?!"

Rin Tohsaka exclaimed in surprise, "How are you going to enter the Mirror World without Miyu and Gray here—?"

Before her exclamation could finish, Natsukawa Torato had already taken the red replay device from his pocket and placed it on the ground.

"The performance begins again, the mirror boundary shifts."

[Command accepted, confirming procedure reproduction—add imaginary axis to the fifth measurement variable, begin preparation for reversal]

A voice similar to an electronic synthesized sound rang out in the empty space, and the teleportation magic circle that Rin Tohsaka and Luvia were both very familiar with suddenly appeared beneath Natsukawa Torato.

[Confirming the existence of the complex space, fixing the center coordinates, forming a reflection path within a two-meter radius, and reversing part of the mirrored corridor]

As the magic circle continued to rotate and expand, colorful rainbow light suddenly flooded Natsukawa Torato's vision.

And when the rainbow light dissipated in the next moment—

"Then, let's begin the final work."

Looking at the figure shrouded in thick black mist not far away, Xia Chuanhu spread his arms and legs.

34. Shanshan: mmp!

Reenactment device.

The purpose of this weapon created by the Atlas Institute is to find a way to avoid the inevitable end. Therefore, it is an ever-evolving computational device. Given enough time, it can reproduce almost everything. The people of the Atlas Institute believe that one day it will be able to reproduce the scene of the world's destruction, hoping to find a way to avoid the end.

Natsukawa Tora didn't have the same grand ambitions as the people at Atlas Academy. In addition, what he had was just a copy whose computational capabilities had been limited by Tsbia, and its performance was far from reaching that level, so there weren't many things he could do.

Even so, it is more than enough to reenact the spatial teleportation technique that Ruby once used.

After putting away the reenactment device, Natsukawa Tora stared at Gilgamesh before him, a memory from five years ago flashing through his mind for a fleeting moment.

It's not that he had a deep impression of Gilgamesh, it's just that he subconsciously thought of him the moment he saw him.

(I can sense a very strong magical power, is it even stronger than I am now?)

After all, it has absorbed magic power for more than a month. The accumulated magic power is definitely not something that a single human individual can compare to.

"Om——"

Ripples spread around the fake Gilgamesh.

Is it the King's Treasury?

(No......)

The moment Xia Chuanhu realized it, the massive magical mist surrounding the fake Gilgamesh, which was as large as a storm, suddenly condensed and swept out like a long whip!

Shall we test the waters first? Those who aren't qualified don't even need to open the treasure vault.

(As expected, arrogant.)

"laugh--"

The flames flickered and burned, and just before the black mist touched Natsukawa Tora, the intense crimson flames erupted like a volcano, engulfing him completely! Then, like a flood, they swept outwards in all directions!

The long whip that swept in, along with the spreading and corrosive black mist, was instantly burned to ashes the moment it touched the flames!

"GA...HHHHHAAAArrrr——————!"

After a moment's pause, as if intrigued, the fake Gilgamesh roared, as if both furious and maniacal, and the magical mist surged forth in waves once more! Hundreds of whips extended out—no, they couldn't be called whips; these magical mists that extended out now had no form at all, they were simply being launched!

Just like the Gate of Babylon.

"HAAAAAAArrrr——————!"

Amidst the inexplicable bursts of wild laughter, a torrential downpour of black mist poured down from the sky!

Natsukawa Tora had faced the magic cannon barrage from the fake Medea before, but compared to the scene before him, it was like the difference between a rain shower and hail – now it was hail. If someone else were standing here, such as Rin Tohsaka, Luvia, or Bazett, they would probably be running around dodging by now.

But standing here now is Natsukawa Tora.

Without even moving a hand, Xia Chuanhu casually strolled forward, hands in his pockets, as if taking a leisurely walk. The flames surrounding him acted as loyal guardians, incinerating every last bit of the oncoming black mist! Within this mirror-like realm filled with black mist, only a radius of less than one meter around Xia Chuanhu became an insulated zone from the black mist!

"Don't you need your treasure yet?"

Ten meters—when he reached this distance from the fake Gilgamesh, Natsukawa Tiger suddenly laughed and pulled his hand out of his pocket. The flames that had been swirling around him instantly gathered in front of his palm.

"If you don't need it, I might just kill you right now."

boom----!

The gathered flames were compressed and stretched by an invisible hand, shooting directly at the heart of the fake Gilgamesh like an arrow!

The black mist surged and gathered swiftly in the path of the Flame Arrow as if to protect its master, transforming into a sturdy shield!

"boom!"

It didn't even last a second before the shield of magic mist was pierced and shattered by the arrow of flame! The world of black mist was actually torn open by this beam of flame!

However, the flaming arrow missed.

"Bang----!"

The burst of flames and fierce winds dispersed all the magical mist, and in the dazzling firelight, an iron wall formed by dozens of shields had appeared there at some unknown time!

He had just casually unleashed so many Noble Phantasms.

(Is it because they think highly of me, or because they lost their minds and gave it all away at once?)

Natsukawa Tora smiled.

(Never mind, it doesn't matter to me.)

Magic was channeled into the crimson moon mark on the back of his hand, and in the blink of an eye, crimson moonlight covered Natsukawa Torato's entire body, and his gorgeous golden hair cascaded down like a waterfall—Summoning Magic: Moon Princess Armament!

The Mirror World, being such a small place, cannot withstand Gilgamesh's all-out bombardment for too long. If he were pushed to the limit and pulled out Ea, the Mirror World would be directly destroyed, affecting the real world.

In addition, Karen had previously said to try to avoid making her work overtime in the middle of the night.

and so--