A Villain's Journey Begins in the Type-Moon World

"It now seems that the guardian must have told us this answer on behalf of the children."

Archer reasonably speculated.

"We definitely need to go check out that island. After all, we finally have a direction. However, after setting up the magic circle and crossing the wall of black mist again, I'm afraid there won't be enough time to get to that mysterious island."

Dr. Roman shook his head and said, "We need to get a good rest tonight to prepare for tomorrow's battle."

"Yes, I agree that it's best to rest for the night as a precaution. After all, who knows what dangers might lurk there?"

Archer had suffered some minor injuries in his fight with the children, which, while not significantly affecting his combat ability, left him in poor condition.

……

Meanwhile, not far from the volcanic island, in a thick black fog, Rin Tohsaka, looking somewhat dejected, lowered her head and faced a man, saying:

"I'm sorry, teacher, I've let you down."

"Hmm, do you know where you went wrong this time? Sakura and Illya should also reflect on and review this." The man, Wang Chong, asked Rin Tohsaka in a gentle tone, then looked at Sakura and Illya standing on either side.

“I underestimated my opponent. I should have kept my distance from the start,” Rin Tohsaka said. “Also, I didn’t consider that Ritsuka-neechan would join the battle. Even if Ritsuka-neechan joined the battle, I thought it wouldn’t have much impact on the battle.”

"Yes, indeed. Rin must be quite upset that she didn't get to use her magic in the end, and was defeated by a simple lighting magic trick, right?"

Wang Chong spoke softly, gently rubbing Rin Tohsaka's head with his hand, and continued:

"This incident has taught you a valuable lesson, Rin: never underestimate your opponent. Even if she seems weak, she might deliver a fatal blow when you least expect it."

"Now you know how amazing your Ritsuka-neechan is, right? You might not see it so clearly during training, but on a real battlefield like this, Ritsuka is a completely different story."

"Hmm..." Rin Tohsaka nodded, a rare occurrence, as if she were completely convinced.

"Sakura, Ilya... haven't you realized the mistake you made today?" Wang Chong asked the other two with a smile.

"Um...hehe..." Ilya scratched her head, unable to explain for a moment.

"You, Ilya, came here purely with a playful attitude. I gave you the ruby, not so you could treat it like a toy. Ruby, you can't spoil Ilya anymore, understand?"

Wang Chong looked at the shrunken magic wand flying next to Ilya and said.

"Hehe, I understand, Master. I will definitely keep a close eye on things," the Magic Ruby replied.

“Teacher… I relied too much on the Imaginary Gate, to the point that I kept using the Imaginary Gate to block fire arrows that I could instinctively avoid with my flight ability. As a result, I not only couldn’t go back to help my sister, but I also almost ran out of magic power.”

Sakura seemed to have realized her mistake and spoke slowly.

"Yes, the Gate of Imaginary Numbers can indeed directly avoid most attacks from external magic, and it is no exaggeration to call it the strongest shield. But precisely because of this, we cannot simply defend blindly."

"Have you ever thought that Mashu's shield could be used as a stepping stone? Actually, the combined attack tactic you and your sister developed before was quite good. You need more imagination to make more flexible use of your imaginary number magic."

Wang Chong pointed this out.

“Yes, teacher, I understand,” Sakura nodded and said.

Wang Chong pointed this out.

“Yes, teacher, I understand,” Sakura nodded and said.

"Although the review is complete and you have all found your mistakes, the ultimate reason for the defeat is also very simple: your strength is indeed far from sufficient. Especially for that Servant."

"The reason you were able to hurt him was because you are children and acquaintances of Ritsuka, which made him hold back. If he were to fight seriously, you would not only not be able to win, but you would also be in mortal danger. Your defeat was actually within my expectations."

Wang Chong slowly said:

"So I'm already very satisfied with the results you've achieved. You've already proven your excellence by causing him that much trouble. Hold your heads high and look at that Servant. You'll soon understand what kind of guy you were fighting."

As he spoke, Wang Chong lightly tapped his finger forward, and in an instant, all the magical beasts on the island seemed to receive a command and began to gather in the direction of Ritsuka and the others.

……

"Finally finished... the summoning circle can be activated now."

Ritsuka activated the summoning circle, which emitted a faint blue light. Then, a large amount of supplies and Mystic Codes appeared in the summoning circle, which was the support provided by Chaldea in preparation for this operation.

"Dudu-"

"Mash! Ritsuka! Archer! A large number of magical beasts are gathering around and heading your way!"

Dr. Roman's urgent warning rang out:

"It must be a magical reaction caused by the activation of the summoning circle, which led to an overflow of spiritual energy that attracted these magical beasts. It seems that if we don't clear out the magical beasts on this island, the summoning circle here will probably be destroyed sooner or later."

"Roger that, Mashu. Mr. Archer, prepare for... Mr. Archer?" Ritsuka was about to give orders when she saw Archer walk to the edge of the mountain, looking down at the charging monsters, and say calmly:

"Don't worry, these magical beasts are no problem. I can handle them all by myself."

"Trace on (projection begins)."

[Pseudo-Spiral Sword]

A spiral sword appeared in Archer's hand, followed by his original black longbow in his left. Archer placed the hilt of the spiral sword on the bowstring and began to draw the bow, magic power continuously gathering around him.

"Broken phantasm!"

"call out--!"

The spiral sword flew from the bow and shot swiftly towards the center of the charging monsters. With a loud "boom," a huge energy ball exploded and spread outwards, engulfing a group of weak monsters.

The shockwave from the explosion even reached Ritsuka and Mashu on the mountain. A single arrow had wiped out almost a fifth of the magical beasts.

"Again!"

Having already made a contract, and with the spiritual veins providing support, Archer was now firing four more arrows in quick succession, creating one massive explosion after another.

Archer easily wiped out most of the monster horde. The remaining scattered monsters were directly pierced and killed by a bunch of rapiers projected by Archer.

"Wow...that's amazing...Is this what an archer is? No wonder he chose to use melee combat just now. None of those kids could withstand an attack of that level." Ritsuka couldn't help but think to herself.

Naturally, the three children hidden in the black mist who witnessed this scene also thought the same thing. Rin Tohsaka couldn't help but swallow hard; she had just been fighting against a Servant of this level—it was a bit too unfair.

I was just reflecting on my actions, and I was already thinking about creating distance... I was so bad that I forgot the other person's class was Archer. The greater the distance, the more advantageous it would be for the other person.

"So be proud of yourselves. You have lost but you are still honorable." Wang Chong naturally took in the children's expressions and comforted them.

Chapter 119: Summoning Boudica

"That was really close. So many magical beasts actually gathered here. Back in France, we managed to stop them only because of the large number of people. If it were just Mashu and Ritsuka, we probably wouldn't have been able to clear out so many magical beasts."

After glancing at the battlefield, Dr. Roman couldn't help but say something.

"This is all thanks to Mr. Archer. After this cleanup, we should not have to worry about the magical beasts here destroying the spiritual veins for quite some time."

Mash said that.

"It's nothing, just a small matter. This way, Chaldea can summon suitable Servants to fight, right?" Archer said, looking at the summoning spell before him.

"That should be the case, but given Ritsuka's current magical abilities, aside from temporary contracts like yours, Mr. Archer, she can probably only contract two more Servants." (The rest of the text appears to be a fragment and doesn't translate directly.)

Dr. Roman said, "Although you can sign hundreds of Servant contracts with Chaldea for magic supply, Ritsuka, in the case of high-intensity combat, your magic circuits can only support a maximum of three Servants in high-intensity combat."

“This isn’t a problem of insufficient magical power, but rather that this is the best you can do right now, Ritsuka. After all, the contract uses you as the intermediary. Magical power can only be supplied to those Servants by flowing through your body.”

"Therefore, if there are too many Servants or the Servants you wield are too powerful, the overload of magical energy passing through Ritsuka's body will burn out your magic circuits. So you must act according to your ability."

After listening to Dr. Roman's instructions, Ritsuka and Mashu nodded.

"This knowledge should have been taught to you by Leonardo da Vinci, but she is currently studying those black mists and cannot get away for the time being, so I will have to explain it to you."

Dr. Roman sighed and then said, "Alright, Ritsuka, give it a try. Maybe you can summon a Servant with the right compatibility."

“Okay…” Ritsuka immediately followed Dr. Roman’s instructions and summoned only two Servants.

Soon, after Mash's shield connected with the summoning circle built by Chaldea, the Heroic Spirit Summoning Jutsu was successfully activated. Quickly, two more illusory figures of Servants appeared from the summoning circle.

The two Servants were a man and a woman. The male Servant appeared somewhat ethereal, with vacant eyes. But there was no doubt that Ritsuka and Mash were very familiar with this tall man—it was Siegfried, the Servant they had fought side by side with in the previous Singularity.

The other female servant appeared quite composed. She had short red hair tied in a small ponytail, and her face conveyed a gentle yet spirited and dashing air. She spoke as follows:

"Servant Rider, Boudica, nice to meet you. Of course, you don't need to be so formal; you can call me Miss Boudica too~"

“Boudica, is that the Queen Boudica of Britain?” Mashu couldn’t help but ask.

"It seems you've heard my story, though it's nothing major," Boudica said with a smile.

"It's Boudica, that's really strange. Judging from the current timeline, Queen Boudica should already be... And with the information brought by the summoning of the real world, you should have a general idea of ​​what's going on here, right?"

Archer stepped forward and said slowly, "Logically speaking, if you had a choice, you should be eager to see Rome perish, right, Queen Boudica?"

“There’s no need to provoke me like this to test me. After all, I came in response to my Master’s summons.” Boudica glanced at Archer and then said, “Indeed, if I had a choice, I would probably be the one who most wants the Roman Empire destroyed.”

“I will never forgive the atrocities committed by the Romans. I will never forgive them. They deserve this divine punishment, but I will only laugh loudly as I watch them perish.”

"But in the end, this resentment comes from resistance against brutal rule and tyranny, not from resistance against the entire nation or all of humanity. I see that black fog, which has not even spared my own homeland of Britain, and may even be spreading to more distant places."

"Whether for my homeland or for the fate of the world, I will stand with my Master and fight against the culprits and evil behind the scenes."

After saying that, Boudica took a deep breath and said to Ritsuka, "Master, before we officially embark on this journey together, I hope you can grant me three requests, okay?"

“Please speak,” Ritsuka nodded and said.

"First, I will help you fight those monsters and even enemy Servants, but I will not help anyone in Rome kill any monsters. Therefore, I will not help with matters related to the Divine Punishment War. At most, I will help you if you are in danger, Master."

"Secondly, I have slightly altered my appearance. So those Romans might not recognize me. Therefore, I hope that you, Master, will keep my identity a secret and not reveal my real name. When you are with those Romans, especially the Emperor, just call me Rider."

Boudica said.

“That’s only natural,” Ritsuka agreed.

"As for the last matter, once everything is over, if neither Nero nor I are dead, I want to have a fair duel with Nero!" Boudica said in a deep voice.

"This...?" Ritsuka was taken aback; clearly, this was beyond what she could easily agree to. After all, if Boudica were to defeat Nero, wouldn't history be rewritten once again?

“Say yes to her.” At that moment, Archer suddenly spoke up.

“Eh? Archer, but what if Boudica kills Nero…” Ritsuka hesitated before speaking.

"No, everything will return to normal once the singularity is repaired. Anything that happens during this period is like a cat in a cat box; no matter what, it won't affect the final outcome of the restoration of Roman history."

Archer, however, said with absolute certainty.

"Doctor, is what Mr. Archer said true?" Ritsuka was still unsure and turned to ask the doctor.

“Based on the detection data from the last singularity repair, that’s indeed the case. You can try agreeing to her request,” Dr. Roman said.

"Hmm..." Although she received a positive reply, Ritsuka was still somewhat hesitant.

Even though they only met a few times, the emperor named Nero treated her well. In the end, he brought back someone who could potentially threaten her in the future, and kept it a secret...

"Don't worry, Ritsuka. This matter will absolutely not involve you."

Boudica seemed to sense Ritsuka's hesitation and slowly said:

"That emperor is not as narrow-minded as you imagine. And I will inform the emperor in advance so that she can be prepared."

"My only wish in response to the Holy Grail is to seek revenge. And all I ask for is a fair duel."

“If the emperor doesn’t have the courage to agree, and knows of her cowardly behavior, I will consider this my peace of mind and will not make any further demands. If the emperor does have the courage to agree, then this matter will certainly have nothing to do with you, and you will not need to feel guilty, because this is Nero’s own choice.”

"How about it? This is the biggest concession I can make. If you still can't agree, then I can only say that we are not destined to be together. I will dissolve the contract and disappear on my own. You can go find other Servants."

Seeing that Boudica had already put things this way, Ritsuka thought about it carefully for a moment, and finally nodded in agreement. She would continue summoning Servants, but it was still uncertain whether she could summon even more powerful ones.

Therefore, the ideal outcome was to obtain a combination of the Servant Boudica and the Shadow Servant Siegfried.

As for Siegfried, Ritsuka understood why the Siegfried before her seemed like a shadowy figure, lacking any spirit.

That's because the Siegfried in front of them was merely a Spirit Origin Shadow created by Chaldea based on data from Siegfried's previous battle records—a so-called Shadow Servant.

These shadow Servants, while not as powerful as the original Servants, are easier to carry, consume less mana, and are less of a burden to Ritsuka. Furthermore, even if they are destroyed, they can be quickly replenished with mana and summoned again.

For now, it's a bit too much for Ritsuka to support four Servants at once. However, Ritsuka desperately needs a Servant who can turn the tide, so the Shadow Servant Siegfried becomes the best choice.

"Study and practice how to control and command Shadow Servants properly, Ritsuka. Only when you master this skill can you be considered a mature Master."

"Then it was getting late, and we should head back to Rome. We can't keep the emperor waiting for too long."

Dr. Roman said this.

Finally, after exchanging information, the group headed towards the island's shore, retrieved the boat that was moored there, and once again sailed towards the wall of black mist at sea.

Chapter 120: The Fifth Day of the Trial War

"Mr. Archer, what are you still looking at that island over there for?"

As they were about to enter the wall of black mist, Ritsuka noticed Archer looking towards the island and asked in confusion.

"No, it's nothing. I just feel like there's a gaze watching us from over there. Although I can't pinpoint the exact location, my archer instincts allow me to sense it."

Archer said slowly.