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

"Use your full power, Alcides."

Having determined that the workshop could not be preserved, Bazdilot took a deep breath and decisively gave the order to Alcides telepathically.

"Is that okay? You'll lose that device too." Alcides was referring to the device that used humans to create magic crystals.

"It's alright, the Squartio family can already mass-produce that device! Besides, the existing crystals were already moved away when the workshop activated its defense mechanism."

Bazdilot answered without hesitation: "Besides, things have escalated to this point, Faldius and Orlando are probably going to take action soon, so even if you go ahead and do it, nothing will change."

Alcides paused for a moment, then, upholding his status as a Servant, gave his Master one last reminder.

"Let me make it clear beforehand that since my opponent claims to be a god, I won't be considering any covert magic tricks to determine whether what she says is true or false."

"It doesn't matter. Faldius already has a solution for this situation. If things go wrong, he will immediately use that method to deal with the entire city."

It was merely the sacrifice of 800,000 people as the price for concealing the magic; Bazdilot believed the Clock Tower wouldn't say anything about it, but...

"Do you have this awareness?"

“Of course.” Alcides responded without hesitation, unleashing his power: “This level of price is only natural in order to annihilate the gods.”

however.

At that very moment, just as Alcides decided to do everything in his power to destroy the 'thing' that claimed to be a god, the place where everyone was standing suddenly disappeared.

Alcides, who is preparing to use his full power; Philia, who has noticed the change; Haruri, who is fleeing outwards; Bazdilot, who is chasing after Haruri; and the unstoppable True Berserker.

Without exception, everyone 'fell' into that bottomless abyss.

……

In the images that Faldius was watching inside the Kotzmann Special Correction Center, the factory area suddenly disappeared, replaced by a huge, dark hole that had opened up in its place.

The next second, just as he was already considering how to take responsibility for such a big commotion, and called the person who had contacted him before, saying, "It's okay, I'll take care of it," Francesca said.

It was as if time had reversed, and the collapsed chimneys and ruined factory walls began to regenerate, while the charred weeds on the open ground were also revitalized.

"This is……"

"It's an illusion!" A cheerful voice came from the phone, which had been connected at some point.

"Because I'm using the Noble Phantasm of 'me' who has become a Heroic Spirit, I can do things even more powerful than turning a wasteland into a snow-capped mountain!"

"Although it looks like it's been restored, it's still just an illusion! Even if you can touch it, live in it, and use it as a factory and workshop, that's all it can do. It's not like time is reversed, so don't be too naive!"

"It will last for about five days, after which the area will return to its original state of disrepair, so please stay hidden during this time."

"That's it, bye-bye~"

Faldius: "..."

He glared at the phone that had been hung up on, then remembered that the other person was on a spaceship in the sky, and looked up at the spaceship through the ceiling, which shouldn't have been visible.

“Next time, if there is ever a next time, I will definitely eliminate you before it even happens! Miss Francesca!”

Chapter 289 Master, what do you do for a living?

The road leading to the factory area.

“Please stop.”

Several police officers in uniforms raised their hands to stop the taxi that Yuto and Ayaka Sajo were riding in, and walked over after they stopped.

"Excuse me, what's going on up ahead, officer?" The taxi driver, working late at night, rolled down his window and glanced at the eerily quiet factory area in the distance.

He remembered that usually, even in the middle of the night, at least a few factories there would still have their lights on. Why was it so dark today?

power cut?

The approaching police officer first looked Yuwatari and Ayaka Sajou, who were sitting comfortably in the back seat, up and down.

Yuuto was fine, looking more like a college student than a college student himself, but Ayaka Sajou was still a little intimidated by the police because of what happened at the opera house the day before yesterday, and couldn't help but shrink back.

However, this reaction was still within the normal range; it was just that the person was a little timid, and the policeman didn't take it seriously.

Then, in a seemingly businesslike manner, he explained to the taxi driver that there was a large-scale leak of a certain chemical substance in the factory area. Although it was harmless to the human body, a temporary curfew was still in effect.

He gestured to his colleague behind his back with his hand, which was behind his back.

Upon seeing the gesture, the officer calmly walked to the side and took out his phone to call Ms. Belle, the rapist who often accompanied his chief.

After a brief exchange of a few words with the woman whose voice sounded somewhat cold, the voice on the other end of the line changed to a deep, robust male voice.

"It's me. Is someone trying to enter the factory area at this hour?"

"Yes, Chief!" Upon hearing that familiar voice, the officer nervously raised his voice slightly, then immediately lowered it again after realizing his situation.

“We flagged down a taxi. Besides the driver, there was a young couple in the back seat. We’re not sure if they’re residents of the factory area.”

"A young couple?" After expressing his doubts in a short, repeated sentence, there was a brief silence on the other end of the phone.

"...Let them in."

"Yes."

Without asking why people were being let in during a curfew, the officer hung up after responding and casually strolled around within sight of the officer who was still chatting with the driver.

The police officer finally stopped talking incessantly to the driver and breathed a sigh of relief.

It seems there are no problems, so we can proceed directly.

Honestly, we've been talking for so long his mouth is so dry...

The taxi driver also breathed a sigh of relief.

After checking his ID, the policeman suddenly asked, "Sir, what do you do for a living?" He was completely taken aback. The policeman then kept asking him how many people were in his family, making it almost impossible to keep his tea-colored clothes from turning out any color.

Now they've finally let us through...

After this incident, the taxi driver, eager to get away from this troublesome place, became even more swift. He didn't even want to know why You Du and the others had come to the industrial area in the middle of the night. He simply dropped them off and then sped back the way he came.

At least the police under martial law there recognized him, so he wouldn't be completely trapped. But if he went in a different direction, he might be stopped again and have to answer the same questions he had before.

He never wanted to hear that question again: "Master, what do you do for a living?"

On the roadside, Yuuto and Ayaka Sajou watched the taxi drive away from where they got off. Then, they found a secluded spot and summoned the Black Magician. Using illusion magic to conceal their presence, they headed towards the center of the factory district.

The giant monster that Ayaka Sajou saw earlier was in the center of the factory area.

"But the police have already come to clean up the mess, I feel like we might be going to come up empty-handed this time..."

You might even run into those policemen with cold weapons from earlier in the day.

Thinking of the policeman he had just encountered, You Du muttered a complaint, but his steps remained steady and he didn't stop for a moment.

Whether there are dates or not, let's give them a couple of whacks first!

The place where they got off the bus was not far from the center, and the surrounding terrain of the meat processing plant made it as conspicuous as the protruding slice of meat in the very center of a pagoda-shaped pork belly, so they found the place quickly.

only……

"Is this really here?"

Looking at the factory in front of her, with its gates tightly closed and the interior calm and undisturbed, showing no signs of chaos or damage, Ayaka Sajou, looking slightly tired, felt more and more that she must have been mistaken.

After all, they hadn't seen a single spark along their journey, let alone any giant monsters!

The only odd thing is that, apart from the police who blocked the road earlier, we haven't seen anyone else in the industrial area so far.

It's worth noting that there are also quite a few residential areas surrounding the factory area.

"Who knows?" You Du shook his head. "Anyway, let's go in and take a look!"

After saying that, the black magician led the two into the meat processing plant with its doors tightly closed.

……

Inside a meat processing plant.

Orlando, who had his regular officers set up checkpoints around the perimeter to prevent people from entering or leaving, hung up the phone and returned it to Bella, who was standing next to him, while he led a group of twenty-eight monsters to the 'crime scene'.

A young man and a young woman, and they happened to come to the factory area at this time?

If it weren't for the Master and his/her Servant participating in the Holy Grail War, he would have directly given the position of police chief to his Servant, Alexandre Dumas!

As for the purpose of coming to the factory area... what else could it be but that monster, suspected to be a Servant, that caused a disturbance here?

But where could such a big thing have gone?

Frowning at the spot where not a single stone was missing, Orlando felt strange, but couldn't find any trace that could be linked to the previous explosion and riot.

The residents in the surrounding industrial area also witnessed the explosion, but when they arrived and prepared to evacuate the crowd, they unexpectedly encountered no difficulties.

Those who witnessed the explosion and heard the noise came out to find the industrial area completely intact, and most of them thought they were dreaming or seeing things.

Some people, upon hearing about the overcrowded psychiatric ward at the Central District Hospital today, thought they were also experiencing hallucinations and planned to make an appointment with a psychiatrist tomorrow. Only a small number of people still firmly believed that what they saw was real.

Orlando left a few of the '28-man monster' there to work with other regular police officers to cast suggestive magic on the residents, while he himself was there to prevent curious people from coming into the industrial area to find out the truth of the incident, and to set up a barrier to repel people.

It is uncertain how much impact this will have, but he will probably need to cooperate with the Church to suppress its effects.

Orlando's expression turned grim as he thought of the church supervisor who had come to the police station to have a cup of coffee with him.

For no other reason than that he wanted to keep the other person there and extract some information about the Holy Grail War from him.

Unexpectedly, he single-handedly defeated all twenty-eight monsters under his command...

Tsk, as expected, the guy sent by the Holy Church to be an overseer can't be a good person!

"Chief, the barrier has been set up." Bella reported to him, standing a step behind him.

Orlando nodded.

"Okay, everyone spread out a bit around here, but remember to stay in everyone's line of sight and be able to see others. Report immediately if anyone enters the factory!"

"Yes!"×N

Chapter 290 A slight chill ran down my spine...

The barrier effectively deterred humans; at least, Yuwatari and Ayaka Sajou wandered around the meat processing plant for quite some time without encountering a single living creature.

Its effects were perhaps so good that Orlando, who was waiting for them inside the processing plant, began to doubt whether he had made a mistake in his judgment.

What about people?

More than an hour has passed since he hung up the phone after he told people to let him go!

The factory area is indeed large, but even if two ordinary people walked for more than an hour, he should have arrived long ago!

"Is there any movement elsewhere?"

Orlando, who had been standing there dumbfounded in the open space in front of the factory gate for half a day, called Bella over and asked the others if they had made any discoveries over there.

Bella established contact with the people in the factory through telepathic communication within the twenty-eight-person monster team, confirming their situation one by one.

After receiving normal replies from everyone, she calmly reported the situation to Orlando, having waited for an hour in vain as well.

"Reporting to the director, there are no abnormalities on the other side either."

Is there some kind of mistake?

Orlando waved for her to return to her place, then fell silent.

Could it be that some ordinary people, unafraid of death, stayed up late at night, happened to see what was happening in the factory area, and then, on a whim, took a taxi to join the fun, only to be driven away by the barrier they had just set up?

What's going on?

It's so dramatic that it's hard to believe such a thing could happen in real life...

While Orlando's expression shifted between light and shadow, Bella, acting as the rapporteur, stood silently to the side.

No one knew that in this somewhat empty space, there were actually two or three other spectators watching them.

Under the cover of illusion magic, Ayaka Sajou and Yuuto, who had been brought in by the black magician through a teleportation, were squatting next to him, having watched Orlando strike a pose for quite some time.

“Saber…” Although she knew that their voices were being muffled, Ayaka Sajou still glanced at Orlando and Bella before speaking to Yuuto in a voice barely above a whisper.

Should we continue waiting here?

You Du nodded: "Of course. Look at their reaction. You can tell they're waiting for us. And think about those policemen who could do magic tricks and were carrying cold weapons when we met them during the day. Do you know what that means?"

"Uh... what does that mean?"

"This means that even if this police chief isn't a Master, he's at least someone who knows about the Holy Grail War, and might even have a cooperative relationship with a Master or Servant from another group!" Yuuto said with certainty.