Type-Moon: Shinji Matou Also Wants to Be the Protagonist

Chapter 39: Assassin

"You mean you imprisoned Saber inside your Reality Marble—Army of Kings?"

After listening to Weber's account, Shinji's expression became somewhat subtle.

Even if Saber were in her prime, let alone with her injuries still in place.

Faced with the king's army brimming with magic, they would likely find it difficult to escape and would ultimately be trapped inside to their deaths.

This is a rare opportunity to eliminate the opponent.

"That's right, I did just that."

Iskandar clearly saw through Shinji's thoughts, and he let out a hearty laugh, then said:

"However, I let them go halfway through."

This answer piqued Shinji's curiosity.

He knew perfectly well that Iskandar's desire for the Holy Grail was real and intense.

Why would they voluntarily give up such a golden opportunity to easily eliminate a major competitor?

He couldn't help but ask, "Why?"

This time, it wasn't Iskandar himself who answered him, but Weber, who had been standing to the side the whole time.

The young Master adjusted his glasses, explaining with a hint of helplessness mixed with a touch of admiration:

"He said that he solemnly promised in the name of Iskandar the Conqueror that tonight's gathering would only be about wine, not swords. Since he made the promise, he must keep it."

"I see, I understand now."

Upon hearing Weber's explanation, Shinji suddenly understood.

He realized that he had made a mistake in his self-identity assessment when he was thinking.

Before being recognized as a participant in the Holy Grail War, Iskandar was first and foremost a king whose name would be etched in history.

For a true king, a promise is more important than anything else; this is the principle behind the saying "a promise is as good as gold."

After all, for those rulers back then, personal integrity was even linked to the image of the nation, so their words and actions naturally had to be taken seriously.

"Hey kid, stop looking so gloomy."

Iskandar patted Weber on the shoulder and said in a loud, comforting voice:

"Although we let Saber go this time, we didn't come away completely empty-handed!"

Seeing Iskandar's smug expression, Shinji had a sudden inspiration and asked in surprise:

"Don't tell me you captured Berserker too."

After all, Iskandar had already considered Berserker as his own after agreeing to help Shinji. This was a rare opportunity, so he probably wanted to secure it for himself.

Upon hearing Shinji's guess, Iskandar's smug expression crumbled slightly, and he said helplessly:

"No, after all, we needed his help to hold off that Gilgamesh guy during the retreat."

"Assassin, I have brought Assassin back!"

Assassin suffered heavy casualties in the melee between the three Servants, but none of them died.

When Iskandar was rescuing Saber, he remembered the Caster's Noble Phantasm and soul in his possession, so he casually packed up the remaining Assassin and took them with him.

The Assassins are currently under the supervision of the magicians under Iskandar's command.

Using the power of magic circles and Reality Marble, it forcibly imprisoned him, preventing his Master from using Command Spells to teleport him back.

"really?"

Shinji gets really excited when this comes up.

In fact, after dealing with Caster's soul, Shinji had a persistent thought in his mind.

He longed to conduct a more in-depth study of the other Servants.

The essence of a Servant is a special existence formed by the condensation of high concentrations of magical energy.

Since the true form of a Heroic Spirit always resides on the Throne of Heroes outside the world, the body of a Servant who descends through the Holy Grail system should theoretically not carry a true soul.

However, Shinji did indeed successfully capture a soul-like entity within the Servant using his Soul-Binding Technique.

This led him to deduce that what he had captured was likely a pseudo-soul temporarily created by the Holy Grail system during the summoning process using an incomplete third law.

This special soul, born under specific rules, undoubtedly has extremely high research value.

Of course, Shinji was well aware that he was not yet capable of reverse-engineering the complete Third Law.

However, starting with these ready-made Servant souls can greatly enhance his understanding of the structure and nature of the soul.

This research could also incidentally advance his localization process for those four magical secret arts.

In addition, Shinji was also brewing an even bolder and more eager idea in his mind.

He thought that since he had mastered the methods of extracting and refining souls from the evil sects, he could finally achieve his goal.

Therefore, the most representative soul-searching technique must also be collected to make the whole set of skills complete and sound.

In the field of exploring and reading memories, Shinji, having received external memories multiple times and even personally experienced the process of exchanging memories by separating the soul, is not lacking in breakthroughs.

Moreover, the Assassin brought back by Iskandar is the nineteenth Hassan al-Sabah – Hassan the Hundred Faces.

Its characteristics of division and sharing consciousness make it a unique research sample.

"Take me to see this quickly."

Shinji stood up, his eyes gleaming with barely concealed excitement.

Webber and Iskandar exchanged a glance, and the latter burst into laughter, slapping his thigh.

"Haha, I knew you'd be interested!"

A blinding light burst forth from Iskandar, and Shinji felt a blur before his eyes, only to find himself in a vast, seemingly endless military camp. Beyond the camp stretched a boundless golden desert.

Inside the central tent of the military camp, dozens of dark figures were imprisoned in a pale golden light prison.

They came in all shapes and sizes, including men, women, and children, and their faces were covered with skull masks.

"Is this all that's left?"

Shinji took a few steps closer, squatted down, and carefully observed the operation of the formation.

"I have counted them; there are twenty-three."

Iskandar stood to the side with his arms crossed.

"Most of them were killed in the chaos by Gilgamesh and that berserker. I gathered these back using a barrier while things were in disarray."

Shinji stretched out his finger and gently touched the edge of the light cell.

"I'm going to use a dangerous secret technique, so don't be afraid."

"Don't underestimate me. I'm a professional magician who came out of the Clock Tower. What kind of secret magic haven't I seen? How could I be afraid?"

Weber said dismissively.

But as a dark mist, shimmering with an eerie light, emerged from Shen's hands, an inexplicable chill instantly sent shivers down the spines of Iskandar and Waver standing nearby.

Weber swallowed hard. Although he didn't know what kind of magic Shinji was using, judging from the scale of it, it didn't seem like something a good person would use!

The black mist seeped into the magic circle along its trajectory, quickly covering one of the assassins and initiating its detection.

"Ah~"

A piercing scream came from the assassin's mouth; the methods of the demonic path, even when merely probing, were anything but gentle.

Weber was pale and trembling amidst the Assassin's screams; he had never seen anything like it before.

Iskandar's expression became much more serious.

Shinji's willingness to use such a obviously cruel magic trick in front of them stemmed from his trust in them.

But isn't this level of trust a bit too much?

Chapter 40: Soul Searching Technique

The magical feedback instantly flooded Shinji's senses—it was an extremely special structure.

Each Assassin is an independent individual, yet they share the same "foundation of existence" through some deeper connection.

They are not true clones, but rather manifestations of the same heroic spirit in different aspects.

"interesting……"

"It's not about copying, but about 'parallelism'; each one is an entity, yet none of them are complete entities."

Weber nervously swallowed hard.

"What...what do you intend to do to them?"

"It's nothing, I just want to understand their unique soul structure and research a new secret technique."

After withdrawing the Soul Refining Technique's probe, Shinji immediately pulled out a notebook and began writing and drawing, recording as he answered.

"A new secret technique?... Or the same one as before?"

Upon hearing Shinji's words, Weber's voice immediately rose several octaves.

Has Shinji's research on magic reached the point where he can research new magic? A long-forgotten feeling of jealousy welled up in my heart once again.

However, thinking of the unknown magic that Shinji had just used, his sense of responsibility as a teacher suppressed his negative emotions.

Weber's voice trailed off again as he asked with concern.

Shinji looked up at Weber in surprise and replied:

"of course not."

Upon hearing Shinji's denial, Waver finally felt relieved and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

He thought, as long as it's not that type, it's fine.

After all, the magic shows I had witnessed before seemed sinister and ominous no matter how I looked at them, and were definitely not righteous methods.

Weber was unwilling to see his young disciple go further and further down such a cruel and dangerous path.

Otherwise, he was really worried that Shinji in the future might also become the kind of person he hated most at this moment—just like Zouken Matou, who twisted his soul and family.

However, Weber may not have realized that behind the act of "denial," in addition to the meaning of "not this type," there may also be a subtext of "far from so low-level."

Compared to those investigation methods that are merely the basics for beginners in the Soul Refining Technique.

Shinji's current thoughts and attempts to explore the "soul-searching technique".

Its nature and depth are probably even more profound, and even more...shocking.

However, when Shinji looked up and saw the genuine concern and worry on Weber's face, the words of explanation that were on the tip of his tongue were silently swallowed back.

Mr. Weber is already under enough pressure; there's no need to add any more fright or burden to him.

“Professor Weber.”

Shinji then naturally changed the subject, speaking in a calm tone:

"Could you please help me set up a sealing spell? We can't keep relying on Rider to maintain the Reality Marble to suppress it."

"Of course, this is a good opportunity to explain the basic principles and practical applications of sealing techniques to you in detail."

Weber, as expected, didn't think much of it and was immediately drawn to the topic.

He immediately rolled up his sleeves and stepped forward to help, while explaining to Shinji the key steps for setting up the seal, the taboos that must be observed, and the deep logic and knowledge behind the design of each rune and each magic circuit.

Iskandar, standing to the side, cast a meaningful glance at Shinji.

This seasoned king is not as easily fooled as his simple-minded young master.

Iskandar had already clearly sensed the more dangerous, unspoken subtext in Shinji's words.

However, this magnanimous king did not express any opinion or question it.

In his view, the magical methods Shinji explored, though seemingly cold-blooded, were...

But compared to the many sights he witnessed during his lifetime—whether it was the black magic prevalent in continental Europe, the eerie curses of the Middle East, or the Egyptian mummification techniques that transformed death into eternity...

Who can say that any era or path has never been stained with blood and cruelty?

As for Weber's concern about Shinji possibly losing his way in the future.