How come the Ace of Cups isn't considered the Holy Grail?

Her eyes died in that instant.

Doesn't this still mean we have no choice?

Meanwhile, on the other side, the Saber group...

Although Arthur was not a contemporary of Arash who knew much about Osmandis, and he was unsure whether the other party would really burn the entire city of Tokyo to the ground, he still decided to keep his promise in order to protect the people of the city.

Sajō Aika did not stop him, even though in the future she had originally envisioned, Arthur was severely injured while heading to Rider's temple for a final battle.

Even with the help of several other Servants, his injuries would undoubtedly be even more severe now that only Archer can help him.

They're just some humans...

Although she desperately wanted Arthur not to go to such a dangerous place, just looking into Arthur's determined eyes, Ayaka Sajou, as if she had lost her mind, inexplicably agreed to his request.

Since that's the case, then she should go and take care of Rider's Master. Without a mana supply, Rider won't last long before she's eliminated...

She also hadn't forgotten about the several hospitals of the Ise Sanichi clan that were supplying Rider with magic power; she would deal with them all at that time.

Moreover, with Rider there to distract Saber, Saber can be more daring in her actions.

"Of course, I know that if Saber found out what I've done, she would definitely object strongly, after all, you are such a noble and immaculate knight~"

The departing figure of the silver knight was reflected in her blue eyes. As if in a good mood, Aika Sajou hummed softly and twirled around, her light skirt fluttering around her body, like an elf playing among flowers.

"So it's okay, Aika will take care of all the things you don't want to do and the things you can't do for you!"

As she passed by the houses, one after another, listless girls emerged from them and followed her down the road opposite to Arthur's.

"Alright, sweetie~ It's dinnertime~"

Chapter 221 A mere broken heart!

It was dawn when Lin Chuo Jin arrived.

This battle, which concerned the survival of Tokyo and its tens of millions of people, was signaled by an arrow that pierced the core of Osmandis' soul.

Since they both shared the same goal, Arash and Arthur, who was Saber, simply exchanged greetings and tacitly chose to cooperate.

With his A-level clairvoyance, Arash immediately drew his bow and arrow upon entering the temple complex, accurately locking onto Osmandis, who was sitting on the throne, from a distance of one kilometer from the main temple.

Furthermore, with the assistance of Arthur, who no longer intended to conceal his true name, and the release of the Wind King's Barrier, Arash, holding nothing back and unleashing deadly attacks, fired dozens of deadly arrows in succession.

His arrow pierced the outer wall of the temple complex, shattered the outer wall of the main temple covered by Hittite iron, which was powerful enough to deflect ordinary anti-military artifacts, and precisely penetrated the heart of Osdimans, who was sitting swaggering on the throne waiting for them—his spiritual core.

But so what!

A mere broken heart, and look, he just regenerates one!

Watching helplessly as Ostimans was 'instantly killed' by an arrow, Yuuto mentally added narration to the story, telling it to the startled Reiryukan Misaya as if telling a story.

Immediately, as if the image had been rewound, Osmandis was instantly reborn on his throne.

"Hahahaha—Muda muda muda!" Osmandis laughed, emitting an invincible sound: "I am immortal! You cannot harm me!"

"Come on! Let me show you for yourself!"

Osmandis, sitting on his throne, descended upon the two approaching heroes like a demon king, unleashing a trial upon them.

But what happened to the last person who claimed to be immortal?

Yudu tries to dig into his memories.

Oh, it got scorched by the sun. Oh well, it's alright then.

This immortal being here isn't afraid of being in the sun.

At the same time, this scene was also seen by Arash, who had the ability to see far. Not only was Osmandis sitting on the main temple laughing, but also Yuuto and Reikoku Misaya, who were clapping and watching the show on the side, almost eating some snacks.

Arash: "..."

I almost forgot these two were allied... Damn it, how are we supposed to fight now!

The two opponents, whose stats and mechanics are incredibly strong, are teaming up. On their side, there's only an archer who dies after using his Noble Phantasm and a swordsman wielding the Star Sword, but who doesn't yet know if he can break the seals on it.

Indeed, when the Wind King's barrier was broken, Arash had already seen the full appearance of the sword in Arthur's hand. Upon recognizing the sword, he also saw the thirteen seals on its body.

But even if those thirteen seals could be broken, it would be meaningless, as the temple complex beneath their feet had the effect of sealing magical artifacts, making it impossible for the two of them to use their artifacts.

Furthermore, due to the self-mandatory pledge signed between Arash and Yudo, he cannot attack Yudo now unless either Osdimans or the swordsman beside him dies first...

The great temple seemed to be filled with some kind of divine power, probably a curse from the ancient Egyptian gods. Although it wasn't very obvious yet, it was constantly corroding the two men's limbs.

In addition, various toxins are also damaging their lungs and internal organs, reducing their stats, and even weakening the effects of their skills... Otherwise, Arash, with his EX-level Robustness skill, would never have been affected by these toxins!

Very well, he doesn't have any of the advantages of timing, location, or popular support!

"Solve it?"

With his sword held back against the red-hot claws of one of the Sphinxes, Arthur dodged the sharp teeth of another Sphinx, and left a deep wound on one of its bodies with Excalibur. Without turning his head, he asked Arash.

They had only been inside the temple complex for a short time when, facing the encirclement of seven Sphinxes, the two had planned to quickly finish off Osmandis by sniping from a distance, but…

“No…” Arash sighed, recounting Osmandis’s almost miraculous resurrection.

The bowstring in his hand trembled, and a rain of fifty arrows neutralized the flames spewed from the mouth of the Sphinx beside him.

These mythical beasts, symbolizing fire, storms, and destruction, each possess mysterious and fantastical power comparable to that of Servants. Their steel fangs and sharp claws can easily shatter the spiritual cores within these Heroic Spirits who descended to reality in ethereal form.

“Is that so…” Arthur frowned. The bad news Arash brought was obviously devastating for the two of them.

First of all, the path of a quick victory, capturing the leader first, has been blocked. As for a protracted war...

Arthur glanced at the Sphinxes who were charging at them fearlessly.

His swordplay was as swift as the wind, and Arash's arrows rained down like a storm. In the midst of this tempestuous weather, the lives of these Sphinxes teetered on the brink of death, like leaves on a tree, with Sphinxes constantly falling to their swords and arrows.

But the number of Sphinxes has not decreased at all!

They will be fully resurrected as soon as they are killed, no matter if they lost an arm or a leg before they died, or even if they were caught in the Wind King's barrier when he broke it and were finely sliced ​​into minced meat by countless wind blades, they can still be restored to their original state!

They can make countless mistakes, while Arthur and Arash can only make one.

Moreover, the magical energy from their Masters can't be supplied indefinitely like it is now!

If this continues, they'll be dragged to their deaths here sooner or later!

Arthur and Arash were filled with anxiety, worried about how much magic their Masters had left and constantly thinking of ways to break the deadlock.

What should I do...

……

Inside the main temple.

"Hahahaha! Very good, very good! Keep struggling, brave warriors!"

Osdimmans, sitting on the throne, used magic to broadcast the images from the other two's side, allowing Yuto and the others to watch together. Even though he had just died once, it didn't stop him from applauding and laughing happily.

"The Pharaoh is the ruler of the earth! No matter how valiant a hero may be, they are all equal beings under the Pharaoh's rule!"

"Come! Cross the trials given by the Pharaoh and come before me! I will allow you to behold my glory as men worship under the sun!"

Of course, after that he would probably use the Dark Sun Ship to turn the two of them to ashes...

After all, isn't it normal for someone who looks directly at the sun to be burned up by its heat and light?

Osmandis looked toward the wandering figure beside him, seemingly seeking approval from his fellow pharaoh, only to see the other talking to a chestnut-colored fur ball floating in mid-air.

"What do you mean you didn't find Saber's Master, but you found the Holy Grail?"

Yuuto stared blankly at the Kuriboh in front of him, wondering for the first time if there was something wrong with his ability to communicate with the card Pokémon without speaking.

Weren't there only three Servants who left the stage?

The Holy Grail has not even reached half of the number of Servant souls that have been absorbed, so how could it possibly appear at this time?

Could the souls of those three Servants inside possibly be created out of thin air and multiplied out of thin air?

Chapter 222 Metamorphosis

Kuriboh was summoned by Yuuto before he arrived at this temple complex.

Now that it is known that this battle will gather the remaining Servants, and that Ayaka Sajou, as Saber's Master, is very likely to come along, how could Yuuto not make some preparations in advance?

So he deliberately left Kuriboh behind, instructing it to keep an eye out for a blonde girl around the swordsman in silver armor after he appeared, and to release the summons to notify him once the girl's location was confirmed.

Finally, he will use his superior mobility to carry out a standard decapitation strike!

The plan was originally a very good plan, but a slight error occurred during its execution.

At the place where Arash and Arthur met, the Kuriboh that found them, taking advantage of its small size, was not discovered by the two determined individuals. It began to search around them for the image of Sajou Aika that Yuwatari had described to it.

Blonde hair, wearing a light blue dress, not very tall, and her gaze often lingers on Saber...

I haven't seen anyone who meets these criteria.

"Curry..." The little chestnut-colored furball landed on the railing of a rooftop in distress, using the view from above to check if it had missed any inconspicuous places during its search.

It was this act of looking down from a high place that made it notice a 'queue' in the opposite direction of the crowd.

Because the queue itself is very loose, if you are at the bottom, your field of vision may be limited, and you may only see the relationship between one or two people and not feel anything.

However, when the field of vision changes from a flat view to an overhead view, looking down from above, one can vaguely see, like when viewing a picture for a color blindness test, numbers hidden among the densely packed colored dots, composed of dots of a certain color.

Of course, if it were a normal line, Kuriboh, burdened with a heavy mission, wouldn't have been interested in taking a second look before completing its task. What truly attracted its attention was... that the people in this line were all young girls in their prime!

In an instant, upon discovering this fact, Kuriboh felt as if a thunderbolt had flashed through its mind, leading it to a brilliant conclusion!

Its task is to find a blonde girl who meets the criteria. Below it is a queue of girls whose composition is unknown. Could the person it is looking for be in this queue or at the destination the queue is heading to?

"Curry, curry!" (I'm a genius!)

Having figured everything out, Kuriboh immediately followed a chestnut-haired girl she had her eye on who was at the end of the line.

Oh yes, it chose her because it thought her chestnut-colored short hair was very tasteful.

Chestnut Ball bypassed the chattering crowd and followed them all the way to the entrance of a deep cave.

Because the entrance was concealed by magic, and an extra large door was installed, it was completely unimaginable from the outside that there would be such an entrance here.

The girl and Kuriboh entered the cave one after the other, with the girl's steps never faltering, while Kuriboh, after curiously observing the scenery inside, followed a little behind.

Even in a dimly lit scene, its field of vision is inevitably limited, and if it doesn't stay close, it might lose sight of the other person altogether.

However, it's unclear what the girl was thinking, but even though it was following so closely, and it looked like it might touch her shoulder if it went any further, the girl didn't notice its presence at all.

So weird...

The space inside the cave was fairly spacious, with winding passages leading to an unknown destination. After several twists and turns, Kuriboh followed the girl to an incredibly large underground cavity.

Hundreds? Or thousands?

The pitch-black pit was located in the center of the underground cavity. One by one, the girls, lined up in a row, walked to the edge of the pit and fell into it in an orderly fashion, as if jumping off a cliff.

"Kuri kuri!" (Isn't something here a little off?)

The Kuriboh flew through the air, passing the girl in front of it, heading towards the deep pit to investigate.

Inside the enormous pit, a mass of flesh made of black mud churning like a stormy sea was being swallowed up in an instant. The girls who had fallen into it were completely devoured, their bodies and souls vanished, and not even a trace of their clothes remained.

This is bad, this place is really bad!

It was only then that Kuriboh finally realized that the girl he was following wasn't thinking about anything and hadn't noticed his presence.

Judging from the look of terror on her face and the unwavering steps she took toward death, the other person was already aware of her situation, but simply had no way to control her body!

Is it magic? Or does this pool of black mud have a bewitching effect?

In any case, Kuriboh was not about to just stand by and watch her be swallowed by the black mud. With a powerful charge, she knocked the girl to the ground. The pain in her forehead brought her back to her senses, and she regained control of her body.

Ignoring her curiosity about what the chestnut-colored ball of fur that had saved her was, the fear that had been filling her heart prompted her to turn around without hesitation and run back the way she had come.

Seeing that its actions were effective, the chestnut ball repeated the same trick, saving several other girls not far from it. Then, the fleshy ball that noticed its rescue efforts extended a thick black mud tentacle, which it used as a whip to lash out the chestnut ball, which it couldn't dodge, and burst it in mid-air.

The underground cavern returned to silence, and after a long while, a soft female voice rang out.

"Hmm? It seems that some rats have sneaked in while I was away."

Sajo Aika followed the passage back to the underground cavern.

Hearing her mother's gentle voice, the little ball of flesh began to tremble slightly and recounted what had just happened to her.

"Oh dear... what a poor child, but it's alright, let's see what this is?"