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

"Fusion Summon! Appear! Level 10! [Rainbow Neocosm Warrior]!"

The white vortex exploded, replaced by a pair of huge white wings that slowly unfurled. Several bright and colorful gems were inlaid on the pure white armor. Under the illumination of the seven-colored light, Rainbow Universe Warriors descended slowly onto the field of Youdu like a god descending to earth.

【Rainbow Light New Universe Warrior】

【10 stars】

[Warrior/Fusion/Light]

[Attack power: 4500]

[Defense: 3000]

"Rainbow Neos can send one of my monsters to the Graveyard, thus returning all of your opponent's monsters to their deck!"

"Huh? But... isn't Yuu Watari only having one monster on his field?" Rin Tohsaka asked instinctively, looking at the scene where Yuu Watari was only having one Rainbow Neos.

“That woman is right.” Gilgamesh’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Are you, you mongrel, planning to use your monster on the field to take down my monster together?”

"To die together?" However, after hearing their words, Yudou only gave him a questioning look. "It seems you've misunderstood something. After all, when did I ever say—"

"The Demonic Person's effect can only be activated once per turn?"

Toosaka Rin: "Huh?"

Gilgamesh suddenly realized something. He looked at the second Demonic Man, which had just been banished as Fusion Material to the Graveyard, and then took out the third Demonic Man from his deck. Yuwa gritted his teeth and said.

"So that's how it is. That was your original goal, you scoundrel!"

"Activate the monster effect of [Rainbow Neos]!" Yuuto ignored Gilgamesh's words and directly removed the demonic figure that had just been placed on the Duel Disk.

"I'm sending 'Destiny HERO Demonic Man' to the Graveyard, and returning all the monsters on your field to your Deck!"

"Go! [Rainbow Neocosmos]! Beyond the Rainbow!"

On the field, the Rainbow Neos flapped its enormous wings, creating a rainbow storm that blew all of Gilgamesh's monsters back into his deck.

"Damn it, you bastard, how dare you—!"

"The battle has begun! Gilgamesh! Prepare to face your defeat! Rainbow Neos' direct attack!"

"Rainbow radiation!"

After Yudu gave the order, Rainbow Universe Knight immediately radiated outwards from its body in concentric circles of rainbow-colored ripples, penetrating Gilgamesh's body and taking away his life points in the process.

Gilgamesh's LP: 3500 → 0

[Yudou: Win!]

Chapter 45 Cú Chulainn: What Did I Miss?

"Cough... That was close, I almost got knocked out of the ring by that..."

Lying sprawled among the tree trunks that had been knocked down by the flying objects, Cú Chulainn checked the condition of his hands and feet.

"Yes, your arms and legs aren't broken, you can still fight!"

As for his Master Kirei Kotomine... he's probably already in the hands of that white-haired little girl who is a Berserker Master, right?

Because the connection between magic and the contract has not been severed, Cú Chulainn believes that the other party should still be alive.

He wiped the bright red blood from his mouth, ignoring the gaping wound on his chest inflicted by Hercules's axe, and stood up, propped up by the magic spear that had fallen beside him.

The way back wasn't hard to spot. He had knocked down quite a few trees along the way when he was thrown back, so he just needed to follow the direction in which the trees had fallen.

He already had no good way to deal with the Berserker, who was much stronger than him, and now that he was injured, even his only advantage, agility, was affected. It would probably be difficult for him to fight the opponent like before.

If Cú Chulainn made even the slightest movement, the wound on his chest would cause him to grimace in pain, slowing his return to the battlefield considerably.

The forest paths are winding, and the ground is very slippery due to the lack of sunlight. In addition, tree roots protrude from the ground from time to time, so it would probably take an ordinary person a long time to walk through them.

But even though Cú Chulainn's wounds affected his agility, he was still able to quickly return to the battlefield.

But when he arrived there, he didn't see his Master, who was bound like a dumpling, as he had expected. Instead, he saw a strange golden Servant turn into particles of light and leave, leaving only a small golden statue in the place.

What just happened here?

……

ended.

Picking up the [Archer-class Golden Statue] left behind by Gilgamesh after his departure, Yuuto ignored Cú Chulainn, who had just emerged from the woods and was unaware of what had happened. He turned to look at Illya.

After absorbing the soul of another Servant, and one that survived from the previous Holy Grail War, her condition visibly deteriorated.

The first thing to be noticed was the visual change.

Ilya's vision has deteriorated again, making her severely nearsighted and unable to distinguish between people and animals at a distance of ten meters. Fortunately, the field of vision fed back through magic is not affected, so she can still see things.

However, Yuuto has no doubt that if he were to remove the remaining two Servants here as well, then Illya, who has completely lost her five senses, would probably become a puppet for the Holy Grail descent.

Because Ilya's heart has been completely transformed into the Lesser Grail, even if he manages to extract the Lesser Grail from his opponent's body using the rules of the duel, the opponent, without a heart, will still be doomed.

It's troublesome...

Fortunately, he was prepared!

After all, although it was somewhat unexpected, Rainbow Neos was a card he forged using the Lesser Grail he had extracted from Matou Sakura's body, which was also a fragment of the Holy Grail from the previous Holy Grail War. Naturally, it could replace the function of Illya's Lesser Grail.

In this way, they even gained control of the Lesser Grail.

However, to do this, it is necessary to summon it and continuously supply it with magic to maintain its existence; otherwise, once Rainbow Neos returns to the card, the duties of the Lesser Grail will still fall on Illya.

Furthermore, Yudo has now eliminated all the destabilizing factors in this Holy Grail War. It can be said that if he wanted, he could simply put an end to this Holy Grail War.

I wonder if we can take these unused materials with us after the Holy Grail War ends...

Yu Du thought uncertainly as he weighed the golden archer statue in his hand.

Afterwards, you can try carrying some useless materials with you to experiment. For now, you should use up what you have on hand first.

Also... Einzbern's family should have some magic materials, right?

"You damned, sham priest—"

While Yuuto was still considering when to end the Holy Grail War, Rin Tohsaka had already extracted the truth about the Fourth Holy Grail War from Kirei Kotomine, who was tied up.

Upon learning that her father had been killed by him, her disciple, Rin Tohsaka felt a surge of heat rise to her head. Azure magic circuits appeared on her limbs, and after using the Bajiquan techniques that he had taught her for many years, she unleashed a powerful punch filled with rage, slamming it into Kirei Kotomine's abdomen.

"Ahem——"

Well, looks like another one of us will have to leave today...

"Perfect timing, it seems our battle today is still undecided, isn't it?"

"what?"

Hearing the sounds of beating coming from the other side, Yuto turned his back to Cú Chulainn and realized what was going on when he saw the other's bewildered expression.

"Oh, right, you don't seem to know yet, but I'm actually Archer in this Holy Grail War!"

Yuto took out the cards of Neo-Universe and Liquidman and activated the fusion, summoning Absolute Zero, who had left a deep impression on Cú Chulainn, and challenged him to a battle.

"Alright, let's continue the unfinished battle of today, Child of Light of Ireland!"

Cú Chulainn: "..."

The opponent who almost got him eliminated today was actually just the familiar of this guy whom he had previously mistaken for his Master, but who was actually Archer?

Haha, that's interesting.

Come on then!

With an excited smile on his lips, Cú Chulainn drew his magic spear without hesitation when faced with Yuu's challenge.

……

Chew, chew, chew...

"Sera! Another one, please!"

Inside the Einzbern castle.

After transferring the souls of the five Servants to Rainbow Neos with the help of Yuuto, Illya, whose sense of taste has been restored, is greedily enjoying the long-awaited delicacies on the table.

“Miss Ilya, you have already eaten a lot. You can’t continue eating, or it will harm your health.”

"...Then bring me some more desserts."

Touching her slightly bulging belly, Ilya, who had barely eaten anything in the past two days, suppressed her inner impulse and rationally gave up the idea of ​​having another serving, at Sera's urging.

Picking up a cup of black tea, Ilya gazed absently at the rippling water.

Having witnessed the duel between Yuwatari and Gilgamesh, and the one-sided battle between Absolute Zero, which he summoned, and Cú Chulainn, she had essentially given up on this year's Holy Grail War.

After all, she couldn't guarantee that Berserker would remain rational during a duel, so Yuwatari's Noble Phantasm alone was enough to completely counter her invincible Berserker.

However, to Ilya's surprise, just when she thought her life was coming to an end and was preparing to fight to the death, Yudo made her a deal.

"He only took all the magical materials from the Einzbern family and left. What a strange Servant..."

Recalling the details of the deal, Ilya couldn't help but make a comment, while Hercules, now in his spirit form, let out a low growl in agreement.

Chapter 46 Artoria: What about me?

"Proof of Heroes, Ferocious Bone, Dragon Fang, Eight-linked Twin Crystals, Artificial Life Form Larva... They even have the heart of a primal god? And then there are these two statues, one gold and one silver, and the chess piece we just acquired..."

Inside the Tohsaka family's basement.

Yu Du looked at the pile of materials he had brought back from Einzbern's house on the table. Although most of them were only C-grade and B-grade materials, he still rubbed his hands together impatiently.

[Archer-class Golden Statue: A]

A commemorative statue honoring the Archer class.

[Lancer Silver Piece: B+]

[Pieces symbolizing the Lancer class]

This silver Lancer piece was naturally left behind by Cú Chulainn after he left the field. After finishing that unfinished battle with Absolute Zero, he was pierced through the heart by Absolute Zero's ice greatsword.

As for Kirei Kotomine... he naturally died at the hands of Rin Tohsaka, who was his disciple.

Unfortunately, he had already used the AZOTH sword to forge it, otherwise he would definitely have made Kirei Kotomine experience the same treatment as Tokiomi Tohsaka.

Yuto shook his head regretfully and turned his attention back to the card-making process.

After so many attempts, he felt that he had become somewhat addicted to this card-pull-like activity.

However, before drawing cards—oops, I mean—you should think about the direction of the crafting process. You can't just throw materials into the pot without thinking. You should at least be clear about some of the characteristics of the card you want to craft.

"Hmm... what I need most right now are the [Elemental HERO Neos] cards as fusion materials for [Rainbow Neos], and [Fusion] cards for daily crafting..."

After making up his mind, You Du began to rummage through the pile of materials.

"Hmm... Since it's a hero field, then hero's tokens are naturally indispensable. As for the seven-star monsters, let's take seven first... and then these ether blocks..."

[Ether Block: C]

[The ether, which should have become one of the four elements (earth, water, fire, and wind), failed to become any of them due to an inexperienced sorcerer, thus becoming a materialized product without a clear direction.]

However, having only C-grade Hero's Proof and Ether Blocks as auxiliary materials was fine, but it felt a bit insufficient as the main material, so Youdu took a bottle of B-grade artificial life form larvae as the main material.

He put these things into the pot one by one, and while waiting, he selected the materials to be used to refine the [fusion], while thinking about when to change to a large pot that looked more like the one used for alchemy.

Or you could just get a pill-refining furnace and start refining pills right away...

Compared to New Universe Knight, the materials required to forge [Fusion] are more numerous.

The most basic materials related to the four elements of earth, water, fire, and wind are essential. Then there are ethereal blocks representing light and darkness, and necromantic materials. You Du chose the fierce bone.

However, given the properties of alchemy in blending, some transformative properties should also be added...

So Yuuto ran upstairs to Rin Tohsaka, who was being protected by the Rainbow Neos, and asked for a vial of blood.

Tohsaka Rin:? ? ?

……

While Yuuto's group was frantically rushing to finish their summer or winter vacation homework on the last night of their break, the Saber group was already starting to have some existential doubts.

The Holy Grail War, which is scheduled to last for seven days, has already been going on for five days, and the sixth day is just around the corner.

However, they encountered almost no other Masters or Servants during this period.

Furthermore, aside from fighting Cú Chulainn on the first day she was summoned, Artoria has never fought anyone else since.

When they broke into the Matou family's residence, all they did was watch helplessly as Yuwatari was eliminated by Rider, and then use his Noble Phantasm to extract the Holy Grail fragment from Matou Sakura's body...