That protagonist is trash; I could do better!

The difference in strength was too obvious. Assassin stopped his futile attacks and asked in a deep voice, "Caster, is this your Noble Phantasm?"

Shinji Matou shrugged and replied meaningfully, "Who knows? Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. For now, let's call it a substitute."

"A stand-in?" Assassin pondered this unfamiliar term. Magicians were the kind of weirdos who could create strange and unusual things, so it was not surprising that they had any tricks up their sleeves.

Chapter Twenty-Four: Ora Ora Ora Ora!

The idea of ​​a Stand is obviously just Shinji Matou's nonsense. The true form of the invisible humanoid spirit is a Void Elemental Spirit, a semi-automatic artificial spirit created by Shinji Matou using all the savings of the Matou family. In a sense, it is no different from a Stand.

Here, Shinji Matou has to complain that the Matou family is really poor; Zouken Matou's savings over five hundred years are not enough to create even a few high-quality Philosopher's Stones.

Shinji Matou somewhat understood why Rin Tohsaka would later become greedy for money; without money, one has no right to call oneself a magician.

Karen (Kirei Kotomine's daughter) is right, money! In this world, money is everything!

In alchemy, the term "empty element" originally referred to the ether element, whose properties are quite difficult to describe. In the modern magic world, ether is another name for the source of magic. The empty element manipulated by Shinji Matou is similar to the true ether of the Age of Gods, but it is also mixed with the concept of ether in modern magic.

In general, the empty element is a kind of imaginary element, a pseudo-matter, whose properties cannot be determined.

The relationship between Shinji Matou and the Sky Elemental Spirit is like that between a pilot and a Gundam; all the Sky Elemental Spirit's action orders are issued by Shinji Matou.

"Assassin, thank you for providing me with the test data. It's a pity that you're not up to par as a testing instrument. Goodbye, and I look forward to seeing you at our next meeting with even greater strength." Shinji Matou bowed slightly.

The Assassin before them was just one of the eighty-eight personalities of Hassan the Hundred Faces. Although it was unknown how many personalities Hassan the Hundred Faces had split into, the Assassin before them was far too weak.

"Are you saying I'm just a test subject for your magic?!" Assassin cursed bitterly, knowing he couldn't escape his fate, and charged at Matou Shinji with a black dagger.

"Assassin, do you know what Euler Euler Euler Euler Euler is?"

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!

Sparks flew in front of Shinji Matou, but Assassin, like a ballet dancer, could not break through the transparent barrier with his rapidly swirling black dagger.

"hateful!"

"hateful!"

"Die! You hateful magician!"

Clang!

A streak of blue light greeted the black shadow, knocking the black dagger from Assassin's hand and crushing his right hand holding the knife with such force.

"No... Impossible! This reaction, this speed, is this guy really Caster?" Assassin was momentarily stunned, his eyes under the skull mask catching sight of a blue light that turned out to be a fist.

With magical enhancement, the combat capabilities of the air element are amplified.

Then, Assassin saw a storm, a storm of countless fists hurtling toward him.

"Guaaaa~" Assassin only had time to let out a scream.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

In an instant, Assassin's skull mask, neck, chest, arms, and stomach were all crushed by the heavy punch, and his body exploded into black smoke and disappeared.

"It would have been better if I had encountered a Servant of a different class," Shinji Matou sighed wistfully.

The Void Elemental Spirit is controlled by Shinji Matou. Shinji Matou has traveled through many worlds and his combat experience is no less than that of the Servants. However, this is the first time he has used the combat method of controlling a "stand-in".

The strength of the Void Elemental Spirit depends on Shinji Matou's magic output rate. When operating at full power, the Void Elemental Spirit's panel attributes are not those of the three normal Knights and can change freely.

For example, when facing powerful Servants, Shinji Matou can specialize in the agility of the Void Spirit to specifically exploit the Servant's weaknesses.

······

Above the Fuyuki Bridge, another Assassin, holding a drawing board, gazed at the scene and muttered to himself solemnly, "Even though it was just an avatar, it was defeated by Caster with overwhelming power. Just who is he?"

"We can't find Caster's Master nearby. Even though it costs us a clone, it's enough to gather information on the Matou family's Servants before the Holy Grail War officially begins."

Assassin stopped drawing, and on the white paper, he depicted the appearance of Shinji Matou, with the details of the battle recorded in words next to it.

He rose and vanished in a puff of black smoke.

At the Tohsaka residence, the young priest Kirei Kotomine arrived in the basement carrying a stack of documents.

The basement was dark and cluttered, with only a few candles providing meager illumination. It was filled with valuable valuables and materials for performing magic.

Tokitomi Tohsaka, the head of the Tohsaka family, sat at his desk reviewing reports in a burgundy suit. Hearing footsteps behind him, he calmly said, "What is it, Kirei? The Holy Grail War is about to begin. I should have instructed that we should avoid frequent contact during this period."

"Teacher, a special situation has arisen. Assassin has gathered information on the Matou family's Servants."

"Oh?"

Kirei Kotomine handed the intelligence file in his hand to Tokitomi Tohsaka. The top layer of the intelligence file contained a sketch of Shinji Matou.

"This is!" Tokitomi Tohsaka exclaimed in surprise.

"what happened?"

Tokitomi Tohsaka was furious: "Is that guy from the Matou family serious? Sending a child to participate in the Holy Grail War is an insult to the Holy Grail!"

Huh?

Kirei Kotomine shook his head and said, "Teacher, according to the Assassin's report, the person depicted in this portrait is not a Master, but a Servant."

“Impossible!” Tokiomi Tohsaka said decisively.

Kirei Kotomine knew his teacher's personality well; such a decisive conclusion must have its basis. He asked, "Teacher, do you know anything?"

"The boy in the painting is Shinji Matou, the eldest son of the Matou family head. I met him once a year ago when I gave my second daughter to the Matou family for adoption. For some reason, he left a deep impression on me, and my memory cannot be wrong."

"I see." Kirei Kotomine nodded. "Sensei, should I call Assassin over?"

Tokitomi Tohsaka shook his head: "No need. That king's aloofness is beyond my expectations. If he finds out that a rat has entered the Tohsaka family, it will be quite difficult to quell his anger."

Tokitomi Tohsaka continued to peruse the documents, trying to reconstruct what had happened from the written reports. The more he read, the more his head ached. He waved his hand and said, "Kirei, you can go back now. I'll handle this."

"Yes." Kirei Kotomine bowed and left, a slight smile unconsciously playing on his lips. Although he didn't know why, wasn't it interesting for a child to participate in the cruel Holy Grail War?

Tokitomi Tohsaka stared at the report in his hand, his brows furrowed for a long time: "Kirei wouldn't lie to me. If Assassin's information is correct, what methods did the Matou family use?"

Chapter Twenty-Five: I Can Fly a Plane Too (Based on Intuition)

After defeating Assassin's alter ego, Shinji Matou continued to stroll around Fuyuki City, with a wind elemental spirit carrying his body as they slowly flew through the sky.

Silver eyes shining

Shinji Matou, wielding his Mystic Eyes of the Elements, surveyed the entire city from the sky, discerning the flow of the underground spiritual veins. Countless strands of light converged into a vein of light that flowed through the ground—a massive source of magical power that all magicians would covet, the life force of this planet.

"As expected of the Tohsaka family, who are disciples of the Demonic Path Marshal, they've kept the key stone for suppressing the spiritual vein quite well hidden," Shinji Matou muttered to himself.

The Tohsaka family provided land support for the Holy Grail War, and the spiritual veins of Fuyuki City are basically under their control.

Shinji Matou is using his Mystic Eyes to search for the key stone (gemstone barrier) to suppress the spiritual veins, but he is not acting rashly.

Spirit veins are the lifeblood of prestigious magic families. Seizing a spirit vein will inevitably be noticed, and because of its importance, the Tohsaka family will certainly send Archer to eliminate the enemy.

Shinji Matou didn't have the means to deal with that Archer.

"Throwing Noble Phantasms is one thing, but the real problem is Archer's golden armor. It has magic resistance no less than A-rank and is immune to A-rank physical attacks. Then there's Ea. It's like playing a game with an invincible cheat and an instant kill cheat. If you bring out the strategy guide (Omniscient Star), then it's really unplayable."

Shinji Matou fell from the night sky to the rooftop of a building. A large amount of water vapor overflowed from the building's water pipes, gathering into a ball of liquid imbued with spiritual light that rolled to Shinji Matou's feet. The water elemental spirits flowing through the city's pipes relayed a message: after three hours of intensive searching, they still had not found any trace of Ryunosuke Uryuu.

"It's unrealistic to expect to find a man with no distinctive features in a city of millions."

"Continuing the search is just a waste of mana. Go to Fuyuki City Airport and wait. Report back once you sense the presence of a Servant."

"Gurgle~ gurgle~ gurgle~"

Upon receiving the command, the water elemental sprite quickly retreated back into the building's water pipes.

"We'll rest here tonight. The Holy Grail War has already begun. If we stay at the Matou residence, we'll inevitably be attacked. Even if it's a Servant, it'll be bad enough if Kiritsugu Emiya secretly drives over in a suicide truck."

As far as Shinji Matou knew, the magician assassin had once planned to drive a suicide truck into the Tohsaka residence.

In that situation, Shinji Matou would be able to protect himself, but Sakura Matou might not be so sure.

Shinji Matou looked around, came to the eaves, and drew a line in the air with his finger. Magic power gathered into runes and merged into the void, temporarily setting up a magic barrier.

Shinji Matou sat down on the spot, closed his eyes to rest, and because of his Servant-like physique, his mana recovery efficiency was exceptionally high. At the same time, he recalled the actions he had already planned.

The Fourth Holy Grail War was destined to have no winners. Whichever Master won, they would all receive a cursed device that would destroy all of humanity.

The evil of this world is a bullet aimed at humanity; the Holy Grail War is the process of pulling the trigger.

The corrupted Holy Grail will grant the victor's wish in a distorted form imbued with absolute evil. If the victor wants to become the world's richest person, the Grail's way of granting that wish is to kill all humans who are richer than the victor.

This is clearly not the result that Shinji Matou was looking for.

Shinji Matou abandoned the idea of ​​achieving a result in the Fourth Holy Grail War, instead treating it as a process to purify the corrupted Holy Grail, and setting his sights on the Fifth Holy Grail War, just like Zouken Matou.

This is quite difficult to achieve. The Holy Grail system will be activated when five Servants die, so Shinji Matou must carefully control the order in which Servants leave the field.

The greatest enemy in the Fourth Holy Grail War is none other than Archer, the King of Heroes, who is said to have the ability to end the Holy Grail War overnight and is also the most unstable factor in the Holy Grail War.

Even as a transmigrator, Shinji Matou didn't think he could be a match for the author's favorite character.

In conventional combat, they might be able to put up a fight, but once Archer gets serious and draws Ea, Shinji Matou can't think of anything to do but wait to die.

Don't even mention the time when Shirou Emiya cut off Gilgamesh's right hand; back then, Gilgamesh wasn't wearing that golden armor that Saber couldn't break through even after slashing him more than a dozen times.

······

At noon, at Fuyuki Airport, a private plane slowly landed on the runway and continued taxiing into the parking area.

The cabin door opened, and a small van carrying a special staircase for airplanes drove up. The staircase entrance was close to the cabin door, and two foreign women came down the stairs one after the other.

The leader was a woman with long silver hair. Her beautiful face was so dignified and perfect that it was impossible to find a single flaw. Her skin was like solidified cream, and her hair was as white as snow. Her ruby-like eyes revealed a childlike liveliness and curiosity, which contrasted sharply with her beautiful and elegant temperament.

The silver-haired woman wore a white leather coat suit that accentuated her full and mature figure. Her tall boots made her appear even taller and more slender. She seemed to have been created according to the ideal woman in men's dreams, so perfect that she seemed almost dreamlike.

Following the silver-haired woman was a striking blonde woman in a black suit. She was petite, with her blonde hair tied in a neat ponytail and a single tuft of hair on her head. Her features were delicate and pretty, and her azure eyes were like a calm lake, making gazing into them feel like looking into a mirror.

A gentle breeze blew, ruffling her soft silver hair. The silver-haired woman gazed at the vast airport and murmured contentedly to herself, "This is the country where the Holy Grail War is being held."

She turned to the blonde girl with a smile and asked, "How are you feeling, Sasber?"

Behind him, Sasber followed the silver-haired woman's gaze to the distant city, shook his head, and said calmly, "I don't have any particular feelings. It's much calmer than I expected."

"If you become a Heroic Spirit, it's not surprising that you can fly in the sky."

"When a Servant is summoned, he is given modern knowledge. If necessary, I can also pilot this machine called an airplane."

The silver-haired woman opened her mouth in surprise: "You can fly a plane?"