To become a king and a magician

Are you the vessel for another king?

23. Two scoundrels together are the end of the world.

What does it feel like to see someone who looks exactly like you?

Natsukawa Torato couldn't explain it because he had never experienced such a situation before, but the moment the Queen of Skeletons removed her mask not far away, his inexperience instantly turned into experience.

As if sculpting a face, the Queen of Skeletons' appearance changed visibly, rapidly transforming from an initial resemblance to Artoria to—

"It's like looking in a mirror."

Natsukawa Tora looked at the Queen of Skeletons, who had transformed into his own likeness, and laughed.

"But your imitation isn't very accurate; at least in terms of height, I'm not as short as you."

[This is a simulation, not a complete one. You are not the complete King Arthur.]

Something is holding me back.

Something is hiding his true nature.

Although it wasn't very clear, the Queen of Bones could sense that Natsukawa Tora was now appearing to her as if his entire body was covered in mosaics, with only his head and above being clearly visible.

Incomplete data input

The Queen of Skeletons—LogosReact—is essentially a re-enactment device that generates a limited observation space based on input conditions and conducts hypothetical experiments, achieving simulations on par with reality.

This is her fundamental function; the reason she can simulate King Arthur's mind is because she has King Arthur's mental data inputted into her. However, if the data input is incomplete, the simulation cannot be fully reproduced, and no matter how sophisticated the device is, it cannot work under unknown conditions.

"—!"

A violent wind suddenly swept through the underground passage, and the black aurora quietly gathered in the Queen of Skeletons' hands, as if she had grasped something. The Queen of Skeletons reached out and held the aurora in her hand.

The gale dissipated in an instant, and the black aurora vanished as if melting snow.

At this moment, Natsukawa Torato and Belsaac finally saw the true nature of the object in the Queen of Bones' hands.

It was a spear, bound by a dark and intense magical power, with several fang-like thorns extending from its decorations. Despite its striking appearance, it was undoubtedly a Noble Phantasm familiar to Natsukawa Torara—

“The Holy Lance, Rungomniyade.” Natsukawa Tora took a deep breath. “Although I knew this would happen, I’m still somewhat surprised and uneasy facing it in person. Can a mediocre magician like me really contend with this Holy Lance that maintains the existence of the world’s surface?”

Even a fool would know it's impossible.

Show me your true self, another king.

The Queen of Bones raised the Holy Lance high, her emotionless eyes staring directly into Natsukawa Torama's demonic eyes.

Your true self, the essence of your soul, revealed beneath this gun, then speak to me of the spirit of another king—

Like a videotape that was paused halfway through, the Queen of Bones' voice abruptly stopped, and all the power in her body drained away uncontrollably like a punctured balloon, causing the Holy Lance to fall limply from her hand.

"Clang-crack-!"

She suddenly knelt down and gasped for breath.

What's going on...? This feeling is...?

"You've been staring into my eyes for too long, machine." Natsukawa Tora's voice reached the Queen of Bones' ears. "My magic eye ability is spirit erosion. Although it's considered a monstrous ability, it's really nothing special to me. It's only really effective against spirits. For a mechanical device like you that has no soul and isn't a spirit, it's practically useless."

"But your mechanical devices have one drawback: they analyze everything in front of them, especially now that you have the mission of simulating the spirit of King Arthur. You will not hesitate to analyze me."

"So how do you feel now? After analyzing my Demon Eye and coming into contact with that thing inside me, how do you feel?"

——————————————————————————————————

"You're the one who input data into LogosReact, aren't you?"

After brewing Morgan a pot of herbal tea, Meryl sat down opposite her and said with a smile.

"No matter how powerful it is, it is still just a machine. It will only act when it receives a command. Even if we can explain it by saying that the arrival of someone who has fused with Arthur's spirit origin caused it to react, it is still a far-fetched explanation."

"So, the person who really brought about the change in LogosReact is actually you, Morgan."

Morgan picked up his teacup, took a small sip, and nodded with a smile: "This tea tastes really good. It's different from the tea you have here. Your tea-making skills are excellent."

"Thank you for the compliment."

Morgan put down his teacup and looked out the window, or more precisely, in the direction of the Blackmore Cemetery: "It was indeed me who did it."

Meryl's brow twitched slightly: "So, what's the reason? You gave that village the mission to resurrect King Arthur, but now you've done something that, in the end, makes their efforts futile. Although we're not from the same world, I don't think you're the kind of person who gives up halfway."

"As for the reason, I think you've probably guessed it already, otherwise you wouldn't have volunteered to help me, would you?" Morgan laughed. "Making those Mystic Codes full of loopholes, deliberately leading him there—you and the you here are both very good at getting involved in interesting things. But I'm actually quite curious, what's the point of you doing this?"

"Because it's very interesting."

Merry answered almost immediately, then continued with a smile, "Well, classifying me, I'd say I'm a bad guy. Although I'm supposed to be carrying out the mission of the Guiding King, and that's basically what I do, I sometimes have thoughts like, 'The big picture is important, but the fun aspect is even more important.' I used to make a mess of things because of that. I guess I deserve some credit for Camelot becoming the way he is."

"For me, the king's mission or Camelot's survival is none of my business. As long as I find it interesting, that's all that matters. Even if it makes those people's lives a mess, it's better for me."

"And now, it's the same."

Meryl's words were quite blunt, and Morgan couldn't help but chuckle: "I see. I originally thought you were helping me with the intention of restoring that king to the throne, but in reality, you just wanted to make fun of that child?"

"In that case, in terms of the outcome, we are enemies, but in the process, we are surprisingly in agreement."

"That seems to be the case," Meryl smiled. "Speaking of which, do you think Xia Chuan can handle things on Brakmoya's side right now? Could my taking matters into my own hands cause problems with your plans?"

"If I said yes, you would be very happy."

"Hmm~~~!" Mary puffed out her chest proudly.

Morgan rolled her eyes at her: "Unfortunately, no. That kid's victory was inevitable. LogosReact had no chance of winning from the start and could only become nourishment for that kid. And after that, the village had no reason to continue existing."

"It's like a vicious mother who abandons her old child and then showers a new one with utmost care—and you are actually that kind of person."

"Based on this, you are the suspicious nanny who sneaked into my home with ulterior motives."

“This plot is really a bit off,” Mary said, glancing at Morgan’s side. “By the way, that thing next to you, it’s not just my perception playing tricks on me, is it?”

"What do you intend to do with the king's sword sheath?"

24. Long time no see

Avalon—a relic unearthed by the Einzberns from Cornwall, used by Kiritsugu Emiya as a catalyst to summon Morgan.

Because she didn't see the Holy Grail War to the end—Arthur dragged her halfway through to find Natsukawa Tora who had fallen into the Root—and because she didn't have her clairvoyance, Merry didn't know where Avalon went after the Holy Grail War.

So it was taken away by Morgan, who had acquired a physical body?

"After all, these are my sister's belongings, so I need to keep them safe to prevent them from being used by people with ulterior motives."

"You're just crying wolf here. So what's your reason for showing it to me?"

“Please pass this on to the child,” Morgan said. “That child is now half King Arthur. After obtaining LogosReact, his mind has been affected to some extent. Let’s just say he’s two-thirds King Arthur. In that case, there’s nothing wrong with giving this to him.”

"You want Xia Chuan to become the new King Arthur?"

Meryl roughly guessed Morgan's thoughts, then shook her head: "No, no, he's just not cut out for it. Although I'm not very familiar with him, from what I've observed over this period of time, he's more similar to Lancelot and Kay. That kind of guy can't be king."

That being said, it doesn't mean that Natsukawa Torata is suitable to be a knight. If we had to say, he would be best suited to be a wandering knight who travels the world and occasionally lends a helping hand to those in distress.

[To help others as much as possible within the reach of my hands]—this is the very life goal he set for himself.

Therefore, this is the only thing that Merry can be certain of: Natsukawa Torama will not become king, nor does he want to become king.

“Then I’ll give you a different reason.” Morgan shrugged. “Just consider it a gift to congratulate him on entering the Clock Tower. To be honest, this scabbard is completely useless to me. I don’t need it at all, and it’s incredibly heavy. But I can’t just throw it away, so I can only ask you to keep it.”

"If we're talking about conceptual weaponry, we can just implant it into that child's body, right?"

"So why do you feel that a concept of weaponry is so heavy? It could easily be implanted into your own body, right?"

With a slight sigh, Mei Li took the scabbard and put it away: "Alright, I understand. I'll take the scabbard, but I'll decide for myself when to give it to Xia Chuan. You don't have any objections, do you?"

"Do as you please. Whether or not you give him the scabbard won't have much of an impact on me."

After saying this, Morgan drank the tea in his hand in one gulp and then stood up.

"Let's stop here for now, Merlin from another world. I'll be staying in England for a while, and I should be able to visit you again soon."

"I have a feeling you're up to something."

"Do you have the right to say that to me?" Morgan smiled. "Oh, and one last thing, please pass on one more thing to him—[I'm looking forward to seeing you ten years from now]."

Morgan disappeared from Mary's sight as soon as he finished speaking.

After pondering Morgan's message, Mary couldn't help but smile wryly: "Oh dear, Xia Chuan, you've been completely targeted by that vixen. It seems you won't have a good life for the next ten years—although I never intended for you to live a peaceful life anyway."

She pulled open her chest, took out a small notebook, and wrote something on the latest page:

[Xia Chuan is showing steady growth today, somewhat exceeding expectations. We're preparing to increase our efforts and assign him a more challenging case to resolve, tentatively set as France.]

——————————————————————————————————

Meanwhile, inside the underground passages of Brakmoya.

Passing through the skeleton soldiers who were entangled by evil spirits and unable to move, Natsukawa Torato came to the kneeling Queen of Skeletons: "Alright, General—the ability compatibility is really an excessive situation. If it weren't for these demonic eyes, the gravedigger and I would have been killed long ago."

Although the skeleton soldiers are not spirits and are unaffected by the Mystic Eyes, their very existence makes them susceptible to interference from evil spirits, rendering them completely powerless. The Queen of Skeletons is in the same situation, but because she overanalyzed Natsukawa Torama's Mystic Eyes, she ended up staring directly at an unspeakable, single-player character, and immediately gave up.

This resulted in Natsukawa Tiger having an absolute advantage.

【I see】

The Queen of Bones barely managed to raise her head and look at Natsukawa Tora.

You are not merely another vessel; besides that king, there is another being within you, capable of sealing away such an extremely evil and ominous entity. Perhaps you should be regarded as a hero.

"A hero? I'm not that kind of lofty figure. I'm just struggling to survive, fighting with my life on the line to get to where I am now. If that's what makes me a hero, then the word 'hero' is too cheap."

"At the very least, one must become like the person you are imitating in order to be called a hero."

Shrugging, Natsukawa Tora glanced at his watch: "About two minutes left... Well then, let's resolve our issue, LogosReact. If possible, could you please stop simulating me? Because of this behavior, the ley lines and magic of this land are starting to go wrong; it's practically a nuisance."

If that's the case, then the solution isn't for me to stop, but rather to continue. All I need to do is complete my assimilation with you, and the impact on this land will naturally end.

"That is indeed a method, but in terms of results, it will cause you to be mixed with impurities, making it impossible for you to achieve the purpose of being created."

Whether or not you can fulfill my mission is not up to you. Furthermore, I must explain something to you: assimilation began the moment you appeared before me. Although the process has been slow, it is already—

The Queen of Bones abruptly stopped speaking, and then her entire body suddenly decomposed into a large amount of red substance, like broken clay—in reality, it was a large amount of red sand.

Or perhaps it is the Philosopher's Stone.

LogosReact is essentially a device made from the Philosopher's Stone in a specific state. The Philosopher's Stone is the ultimate memory medium that can record almost infinite information. Based on this property, LogosReact was born and established.