บท 339: C339
Waver patted the girl's back and said, "Don't worry, Lady. It's all under control now."
The homunculus who had been pushing Orlocke Caesarmund's wheelchair stood up and asked, "Young lord, what answer have you discovered?"
But something was different now. It was no longer accurate to call him a homunculus. In this very moment, he was Orlocke Caesarmund himself. His Butterfly Magecraft had been activated, transferring his entire being – personality, memories, consciousness, and even his Magic Crests – into the spare homunculus body.
As Butterfly Magecraft surged through the homunculus, who appeared to be no older than thirteen or fourteen, an astonishing transformation took place. In an instant, his youthful features aged drastically, as if time itself had fast-forwarded. His once vibrant golden hair, akin to rays of sunlight, withered and turned into a white hair.
Waver didn't respond immediately to the question, but instead, he rose to his feet and directed his gaze towards the sky.
High above, the Golden Boat Vimana and the Gordius Wheel soared side by side, traversing the vast expanse of the sky.
His gaze locked onto the figure of the red-haired man standing upon the Chariot, a complex mix of nostalgia and deep anger flickering in his eyes.
"What are you looking at, young lord?"
"The fake Heroic Spirit!"
...
Shirou stood in the backyard, his gaze fixed on the Vimana and the Gordius Wheel gracefully gliding through the sky.
"Shirou!" Arcueid called out, rushing over to him.
He glanced at her, a hint of surprise in his eyes. "Arcueid? How did you and Gray end up here?"
She shrugged, "Gray went off on her own and decided to take on that flashy dude."
"Forget about that for now. I'll handle the shiny one, and you take care of the chariot guy."
"Got it!" she nodded in agreement.
Shirou's black mud surged, morphing into a pair of sleek black wings that propelled him into the air. Arcueid followed suit, summoning a graceful white bird as they took flight side by side.
Together, they charged towards the formidable figures of Heroic Spirit Gilgamesh and Iskandar. But the outcome was far from what they expected.
With a resounding "thud," Arcueid was struck in midair, as if an unseen force had dealt her a heavy blow. She was sent hurtling through the sky, crashing into a nearby building like a blazing comet, causing bricks and tiles to crumble and fall.
Shirou landed on the Golden Boat Vimana with a mixture of surprise and concern etched across his face. Why had she been targeted by an unknown assailant while he remained unscathed?
Arcueid, visibly frustrated, rose from the wreckage, her expression filled with displeasure. She raised her voice and called out, "Who dares to ambush me? Show yourself!"
This also stirred Altrouge's discontent, and she shouted as well, "Yes! Show yourself, you coward hiding your head and revealing your tail! Do you have any idea who you're dealing with—"
Her words were abruptly cut off by a thunderous "smack," the sound echoing through the air. Altrouge's head was mercilessly crushed, causing brain matter and blood to spray in all directions. Her once-vibrant eyeballs were reduced to rolling marbles—one plopped into a nearby water basin, while the other was carried away by the garden's murky drain. Her lifeless body crumpled to the ground, rigid and motionless.
After a moment, she slowly regenerated, fear etched across her face as she instinctively covered her head and retreated to a corner. Trembling uncontrollably, she vowed never to expose herself again, choosing to remain hidden in the safety of the shadows.
How could Rizo-Waal Strout and Wallacia Night, as Altrouge's subordinates, tolerate her being bullied like this?
They couldn't stand by and watch any longer. With determination in their eyes, they rose to their feet and raised their voices. Suddenly, there were two resounding "thuds," and both of them were sent flying through the air like shooting stars.
Not far behind, Merem Solomon hurried to the scene, eager to intervene and speak up. However, before he could utter a single word, he too was struck and sent flying backward with another resounding "thud."
On the ground, Lorelei and her elite magi attacked the Golden Boat and the Chariot but did not suffer any counterattacks.
Meanwhile, as Shirou stepped onto the Golden Boat Vimana, he found himself miraculously unharmed.
In that very moment, a realization dawned upon him. The relentless assaults unleashed by the unidentified entity were specifically targeting the Dead Apostles!
More accurately, the attacks were directed at the Dead Apostles who were assaulting the Heroic Spirits.
It was as if the privilege to engage Heroic Spirits in combat belonged exclusively to magi.
A frown creased Shirou's brow as he processed the situation. In that very moment, the King of Heroes, Gilgamesh, standing aboard the Golden Boat, unleashed an assault. He summoned forth a multitude of weapons and hurled them toward Shirou and Gray.
However, Shirou's body reacted instinctively, and black mud erupted from within him, swiftly intercepting and blocking each incoming weapon.
Meanwhile, Gray brandished her sword with remarkable skill, expertly deflecting and shattering the projectiles one by one. Her agile form possessed a grace that transcended modern human capabilities, akin to that of a hero plucked straight from ancient mythology.
And the way she wielded her sword... It reminded him of Artoria back in the Fourth Holy Grail War.
But what really confused him was... This so-called King of Heroes, Gilgamesh, was surprisingly weak!
Weak to the point where he couldn't even bring himself to look at him. And what really got to him was that he didn't even have that signature "Hahahaha~!" laugh going on.
If he had somehow activated his "Clairvoyance EX" at that very moment, the guy would have been livid, no doubt about it.
"Wait... is that...!"
With his keen eyes, Shirou caught onto something. The weapons that Gilgamesh summoned didn't seem to be coming from his Gate of Babylon. Instead, they seemed to be created through some kind of magecraft.
Right before the weapons popped into existence, in that split second, there was a glimpse of magecraft. It was like a brief flicker, and then the spell transformed into solid weapons and launched an attack.
That moment passed by in a flash, quicker than the blink of an eye, but Shirou's sharp senses didn't miss it.
In that brief moment, everything clicked into place for him. Now it made sense why those Class Cards would combust all on their own.
Turns out, these Heroic Spirits were nothing more than counterfeit counterfeits!
With this realization, he wasted no time and concentrated the black mud in his hand, compressing it into a tiny, concentrated point. Then, like a thread, he shot it through an incredible distance of a thousand miles!
This was the ultimate application of the black mud that he had mastered during the Fourth Holy Grail War.
In a swift motion, the concentrated black mud, resembling a slender thread, pierced through the onslaught of weapons, directly striking Gilgamesh in the head like a bullet.
"Kakakaka—"
The King of Heroes, along with his majestic Golden Boat, Vimana, vanished into spiritual particles, eventually turning into a Card.
Shirou, Gray, and the card descended from the sky to the ground. Shirou approached to retrieve the card, only to have it self-destruct without a single spark.
Donning his black mud and King's armor, he readied himself to confront the remaining King of Conquerors, Iskandar.
But in that very moment—
A whispering sound carried by the wind reached Shirou's ears. His expression immediately shifted, and he swiftly projected dozens of shields in front of himself as a defensive measure.
There was nothing in front of him, seemingly empty.
But then...
"Kakakakakaka—!!!"
In an instant, dozens of shields, along with the Eternal King armor and the black armor, were violently ripped apart. A colossal force crashed into his chest with devastating impact.
"Pu—!!!!"
Shirou was mercilessly flung through the air, hurtling into an angelic sculpture. His organs were torn apart, and blood gushed from his mouth.
The black mud swiftly moved to the wounded area, initiating the process of repairing the damage.
Arcueid rushed over in haste and asked, "Shirou, are you okay?"
"I'm... fine!" he managed to rise to his feet, though he held his chest tightly, his expression twisted with pain.
How did it feel? Well, it was akin to being struck by a truck back in his ordinary human days!
Putting that aside for now, whoever or whatever delivered such a devastating blow must possess an unfathomable level of strength!
In that moment, he couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of relief for his decision not to visit into the dream world. The repercussions would have been beyond his wildest imagination had he gone to the dream world and received that blow to the head.
But now, the question remained. What was the entity that had attacked him? Shirou didn't have the answer, but he was certain of one thing. Someone within the Castle of Separation was deliberately replicating the Fourth Holy Grail War!
And those so-called Heroic Spirits, those Class Cards... they were all nothing but counterfeits!
They were counterfeits among counterfeits, replicas among replicas!
Each one of them had been artificially crafted with the sole intention of simulating the Fourth Holy Grail War.
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