To become a king and a magician

"Then, as we agreed yesterday, Teacher, Aoko, Mo, and Ata will try to assassinate Marisbury, while the rest of us will hold off the main battle against King Solomon."

"Can't you just send me to the front lines too? It's so disheartening to treat humans as your opponents."

Mordred still pouted somewhat unhappily. She had been looking forward to this rare opportunity to fight alongside her father and mother for a long time.

Morgan nudged Artoria slightly, and after a moment's hesitation, Artoria somewhat awkwardly raised her hand and patted Mordred's head: "Lord Mordred, the flank battle is now in your hands. I look forward to your performance."

"Alright, let's go. Aoko, catgirl, and puppeteer, whoever comes, I'll cut them down cleanly and efficiently!"

This kid is so easy to handle.

This thought arose in the minds of everyone who looked at Mordred.

"It's good that you're so energetic—then we'll set off first, Tora." Aozaki Aoko stood up. "Don't get carried away again and use up all your strength. Save it for when I come to find you."

"Yes, Aoko, you should also be careful. I think you'll probably encounter one of the demon gods."

“Mordred and I will handle it, so don’t worry, Natsukawa,” Atalanta replied. “You guys be careful too; I don’t want to find out later that someone hasn’t returned.”

"Then you have to let me touch your ears when you come back."

Don't even think about it.

After giving Natsukawa Tiger a disdainful look, Atalanta and the others left the base.

After they left, Sajou Rei tugged at Natsukawa Torato's sleeve: "Master, if you want to touch the cat's ears or tail, I can transform into Atalanta and let you touch them as you please. Or I can just transform into my current form."

"Did you hear that, Leah? I have some similar gadgets in my room in London. Would you like me to bring them to you to try sometime?"

“Morgan, this is not the time to talk about this, and I prefer lions to cats.”

"Then let's make some minor modifications."

......

Watching the sisters begin their daily routine, Natsukawa Tora couldn't help but sigh—they really didn't seem to have any pre-battle tension at all.

But that's good too. If we're already on edge from the start, we'll feel tired even before the battle begins.

"Thanks, Lingyi."

"No need to thank me, it is my duty to share my master's burdens."

Patting Sajou Rei's head, Natsukawa Torama smiled and looked at the group: "Well then, let's set off. Although this is probably not the last battle, it should be the most influential battle in the Holy Grail War."

——————————————————————————————————————

On the second floor of the base, in the room where Melly was.

Hearing the footsteps downstairs and the sound of the door being slammed shut, Lydia, sitting on the edge of the bed, understood what was happening downstairs.

"They've left, looks like it's about to begin—Grey, aren't you going with them?"

“No, I’m fine here.” Grey shook her head. “My brother’s task for me is to take good care of Sister Meryl.”

[But you actually really want to go, don't you? You already have the ability to go there; just stab anyone you don't like!]

"Perhaps...that's how it is. Of course I want to stand with my brother, but there's no need for that now. My brother already has many people around him, so all I have to do is wait here for him to come back."

"【Welcome back】—I think my brother would like to hear that, so I'll be here waiting for him and the others to come back."

78. Simulation of the Seventy-Two Pillars

There wasn't a single person to be seen in Fuyuki City. Whether it was Shinto or Fukayama Town, there wasn't a soul in any corner. It was as empty as a ghost town.

"It's really deserted, this city."

At the top of the Fuyuki Bridge, Marisbury overlooks the present-day city of Fuyuki.

"Is this the masterpiece of that great magician who is on par with you, King?"

"Yes, but they must have had the help of others. It would have been impossible for an individual to accomplish this so quickly—they've arrived."

King Solomon looked at another horizontal bar at the top of the bridge, and with a ripple of spatial displacement, the figures of Natsukawa Tora, Artoria, and Sajou Rei appeared before him.

His gaze swept across the area below, and he roughly guessed what the other side had set up. King Solomon laughed and said, "Just you guys? Aren't the rest of you coming out together?"

"This place is too small to fit so many people, isn't it?"

Natsukawa Tora's gaze fell on Marisbury: "I heard you want to discuss the burning of humanity with me again? Monarch Animusfia, I think there's nothing left to talk about."

(If he's here, it means Orange's trip will be fruitless—did you hear me? Rider, tell Orange not to go near the place I mentioned earlier, there might be a trap there.)

(It's too far, I'll leave for a bit.)

One of the auras moved away, seemingly intending to do something.

King Solomon, sensing this, did not speak, but handed over the position to his Master, and it was now a matter for both Masters.

“You’re being too absolute, Mr. Xia Chuan. We both acted somewhat hastily that day. Actually, I think there’s still room for discussion and even reaching a consensus regarding the future. Don’t you think so?”

"You mean, you want me to join Chaldea and monitor your every move?"

Marisbury nodded: "Yes. In the end, the act of establishing Chaldea will not cause the Burning of Humanity, will it? I think the establishment of Chaldea itself is correct. It is Professor Rafe's existence that will cause the Burning of Humanity. As long as Professor Rafe is controlled, everything will be fine."

“Control?” Natsukawa Tora frowned. “Not kill?”

"It is very regrettable that even knowing Professor Rafe's future choices, he is still a very valuable imaginary number magician, and I still need his assistance to complete some things."

In other words, once Marissbury has extracted all of Professor Rafe's value, he can control him—no, in fact, he can be discarded by then.

"That's a very magician-like way of putting it. Use things that have value and discard things that have no value. Even the Department of Astrophysics, which is far from the center of power struggles, is well-versed in this aspect."

"You flatter me," Marisbury laughed. "Of course, there are other solutions besides this one. It may be irresponsible of me to say this, but if a human annihilation does occur, the Astrophysics Department will certainly take responsibility for resolving it, and we would very much like to ask for your help at that time."

"You want me to clean up the mess you've made?"

"To put it bluntly, that's true."

That's really irresponsible. Xia Chuanhu began to admire Marisbury's shamelessness. Was it his true nature, or was he willing to be so shameless for the sake of Chaldea's establishment?

Although Natsukawa Tora knew that the Astrophysics Department would take responsibility for burning down the human body, Olga Marie did just that.

but--

"If I defeat you here and prevent you from obtaining the Holy Grail, I can solve the problem once and for all, right? Why should I expend so much effort to clean up your mess in the future?"

In this way, even if we lose the opportunity to meet some old friends we don't know, we can absolutely prevent the burning of human reason, which is also good.

“Yes, that is indeed something we cannot reconcile. To be honest, I cannot be absolutely certain about the future you spoke of, and the King’s all-seeing eye has not foreseen that calamity. Therefore—I would like to make a deal with Lord Xia Chuan.”

"trade?"

"It's called a transaction, but it's actually a fact that will definitely happen in the future. I just want to make the fact happen more reliably by making it a vow."

"If the King wins the next battle, then I ask that Lord Natsukawa not only not stop me, but also help me establish Chaldea, for example, by becoming a combat officer. Of course, if my actions would lead to the burning of humanity, you may also stop me directly."

"And if you win, then as you wish, I will completely abandon the establishment of Chaldea and will also provide you with information about Professor Rafe's whereabouts."

Maris Billy briefly explained the details of the deal.

"So, this is a deal where neither of us loses anything, right? Even if I didn't propose it in the form of a trade, we would probably make a similar decision after we win."

"really."

Marisbury was merely revealing what would happen later, and the terms of the deal were acceptable to both parties. If Natsukawa Torama lost, he would have to go to work at Chaldea and serve as its monitor. If the Human Order Burning occurred, he would also have to do his utmost to help resolve it.

Putting aside the previous points, once the burning of human reason occurred, Natsukawa Torato had no intention of standing idly by.

If Marisbury loses, he will have to abandon the establishment of Chaldea. In countless parallel worlds, countless Marisburys have reached this ending, only to be disappointed once again.

The conditions of both sides are equal.

"It seems the deal is done. I look forward to the day when we work together in the future, Mr. Natsukawa."

“Then we’ll see if King Solomon is capable of defeating me.” Natsukawa Tiger’s gaze shifted to King Solomon. “Speaking of which, I remember you told me before that whether or not you wanted to kill me completely depended on my performance?”

"Yes."

King Solomon's clothes moved without wind, and he gradually floated into the air. The Ten Commandments on his hands also began to shine, and hundreds of magic circles appeared behind him.

The moment he saw those magic circles, Natsukawa Tora froze on the spot.

He recognized that magic circle; in fact, he was very familiar with it.

"In the name of Solomon, open the gate to the inner sea of ​​stars, and make you manifest in this world—"

Words like a decree rang out from the sky, accompanied by the flow of King Solomon's magic. From those hundreds of magic circles, hundreds upon hundreds of beings surged forth one after another!

Each one is like a demon.

Each one is like a demon god.

But none of them are demons or monsters; rather, they are the complete opposite of them.

That's right, each and every one of them is...

“Summoning of Spirits - Simulation - Manifestation of the Seventy-Two Pillars”.

—An elf!

79. It's about to start; Sekiro isn't...

Summoning magic, the magic that Natsukawa Torama has trusted most for the past decade, the magic that has built his entire strength.

"I never expected you to recreate it in this way."

Demons, monsters, half-human, half-demon, demon gods... such beings now occupy Natsukawa Tiger's entire field of vision, and even occupy most of the sky and land of Fuyuki City. Everywhere he could see was occupied by elves that had completely changed their appearance.

Floating among countless elven mutants, King Solomon looked down at the group below.

"After all, I've seen you use it so many times, so even if I'm slow-witted, I should have learned the basics by now."

King Solomon casually uttered words that would make magicians all over the world feel ashamed of themselves, and that would cause Natsukawa Tora's blood pressure to soar.

After all, he spent years learning magic, and now he's learned it just by being shown a few times by King Solomon... That's really discouraging!

"Of course, although it's called a summoning magic, what I summoned was quite different from what you summoned. It wasn't a real summoning of the spirits in the Starry Sea, but rather a terminal device derived from the demon god I command."

"After all, every demon is a spiritual being and falls under the scope of summoning magic. With a slight modification to the summoning magic formula, achieving this is not difficult."

What fills the sky now are more like demonic spirits than elven mutants.

King Solomon raised his hands: "Of course, you don't need to worry. These people are not meant to deal with you. With your abilities, it would be quite easy for you to defeat these terminal devices. Even if there are many of them, they can only delay you for a while."