Chapter 141: Holy Grail War Turning into an International Dispute?
Kiritsugu Emiya was, naturally, stunned.
As an external ally invited by the Einzbern family, one of the original Three Founding Families that created the Fuyuki Greater Grail, he understood the Holy Grail War's origins better than most outsiders ever could.
The Fuyuki ley line magical energy managed by the Tohsaka family.
The incomplete inheritance of the Second Magic held by the Einzbern family.
The Matou family's command spell ritual, rooted in an inhuman system.
Even those three components alone, especially the latter two, were extraordinarily rare in the hidden world where magi operated. And even with all three gathered, the Greater Grail's successful construction had still been a miracle piled on top of miracles.
According to the linguistic records left by the previous head of the Einzbern family, the success rate at the time had been less than one in ten thousand.
A thing like that did not simply happen twice.
And yet.
A second Holy Grail had manifested over Tokyo.
How?
If it were a replica, Kiritsugu could have accepted it. With a sample, reverse engineering and reproduction, compared to exploring from scratch, the probability of success could increase beyond imagination.
But there was no missing sample.
The Fuyuki Greater Grail had always been there.
No one had taken it.
No one had ever truly analyzed it.
So how did a second Greater Grail appear in this world at all?
The train rattled along the rails, swaying as it sped toward Tokyo. Kiritsugu lifted his eyes to the person seated across from him.
Black hair, a capable presence, a sharpness that never fully relaxed.
Maiya Hisau, his subordinate.
Her brows were drawn tight as well, as if the thought itself hurt.
"Should we ask the Einzbern family…?"
"No." Kiritsugu leaned back and exhaled. "It would not help."
"If they did not mention it, then either they do not trust me enough, or they do not know."
"In either case, we will not get an answer."
He let the silence sit for a beat, then his voice hardened into the only method he truly believed in.
"So we confirm it ourselves."
A clean sound rang out as the train arrived.
The station announcement echoed through the otherwise empty platform.
"The Shinkansen has arrived in the Tokyo area."
…
What happened when a second Holy Grail appeared?
First, reinforcement.
The Servants already present were strengthened.
And second.
New Heroic Spirits emerged.
Servants manifested in the present world as Heroic Spirits descending from the Throne of Heroes, or as past existences forced into modern rules by wearing a body shaped from their records. But either way, they relied on the Spirit Origin foundation granted by the Greater Grail to remain active on the surface of the world.
An additional Holy Grail meant the foundation doubled.
Their Spirit Origins were reinforced.
Their adaptation to the current world's physical shell increased.
And if that foundation expanded, new summoning became not only possible, but inevitable.
Above Tokyo, the night sky blazed with unfamiliar brilliance.
Consort Yu's action halted halfway.
The truth was, she had not truly intended to self destruct. She had ruled as the Heavenly Empress of the Divine Land's hidden realm for many years. Irritable and quick to anger, yes, but not truly foolish.
Self destruction had been a threat.
A method to force retreat.
But the sudden shift.
The sudden reinforcement of Spirit Origins.
It threw her partially activated self destruct state out of balance.
And then she really did explode.
A roar shook the air. Dust surged outward. Consort Yu vanished from where she had stood.
"Pfft, hahahaha… are you trying to kill me with laughter?" Tamamo no Mae immediately seized the opening to mock her.
Xu Fu stood frozen.
She really… exploded?
The blast itself was not very strong. Even Rowe, close enough to have been caught by it, was not harmed.
Rowe stared into the settling dust, speechless for a different reason.
If you want to self destruct, at least take me with you.
It is over.
Now there is truly no hope.
Fortunately for him, everyone's attention was pulled away by the new Holy Grail's appearance.
"A Holy Grail?"
The first to respond was Artoria Pendragon.
The former King of Knights, guided by an inexplicable pressure in her heart, slowly raised the Holy Lance in her hand.
Rhongomyniad.
A beam of light shot upward, standing between heaven and earth, connecting sky and ground, as if it had opened a passage.
Shapes appeared within that radiance.
Faint at first.
Then clear.
"The Knight of the Lake, Lancelot."
A figure in heavy armor landed from the sky with weight that shook the broken floor.
"The Sun Knight, Gawain."
A tall blond figure stepped out from a nearby high rise as if he had been waiting there all along.
"The Knight of Sorrow, Tristan."
Long crimson hair followed, a figure emerging with quiet inevitability.
One after another.
One after another, they appeared.
"My King," one of them said, voice bright with loyalty. "It seems we did not arrive too late."
Artoria smiled, and for a moment the battlefield pressure around her changed.
"Ah. I did not expect to be able to summon all of you."
In her hands, the Holy Lance was no longer merely a weapon.
It was a commander's banner.
And gathered before it were knights who had once guarded Camelot's throne.
Artoria had completed the summoning by using herself as a medium.
"Hmm?" Nero tilted her head. "All familiar faces, are they not?"
"Yes, Your Majesty Nero. Long time no see."
The red haired Tristan waved, then tugged at the hem of a long skirt, and looked toward Rowe with a smile too casual for a battlefield.
"Long time no see, Lord Rowe."
"Lord Rowe, long time no see."
Gawain, larger than life in presence, smiled broadly.
"We have been waiting for you to return."
He gestured outward as if presenting a gift.
"Look. Your successor. We protected her well."
Lancelot moved more slowly, then knelt.
"My Lord."
Rowe stared.
He recognized them.
Without doubt, those who responded to Rhongomyniad's light were the Fairy Knights who had emerged in the Roman era, who had also become knights of the Round Table.
Was it because they recognized Artoria, who had raised the Holy Lance, as his successor? His will did exist within that Holy Lance. The connection was real.
But.
There were differences.
"Aren't you fairies?" someone asked, the doubt cutting through the moment.
"Of course we have all become human."
Tristan lifted her fingers from beneath her sleeves and smiled.
"After you left, we left our fairy bodies in the inner world and reshaped ourselves into complete human bodies."
Barghest, the one called Gawain here, grinned with hearty confidence.
"Only a human body can follow you into war, right? I am looking forward to campaigning with you again."
Melusine, the one called Lancelot, said nothing.
She only stared at Rowe, unmoving, as if words would be an insult.
Artoria chose that moment to speak, lifting Rhongomyniad high. The light made her look almost divine.
"That is right, Lord Rowe. Come to Camelot, and with me, continue our past glory."
"Hmm hmm?" Nero's smile sharpened. "That will not do."
She stepped forward with theatrical certainty.
"Rowe is mine. He belongs to Rome."
"Your Majesty Nero, you are only one." Barghest's tone was blunt. "You cannot stop us."
"One?" Nero's eyes gleamed.
"That may not be the case."
Artoria's gaze narrowed, and the knights felt something shift, an uncomfortable instinct crawling up their spines.
Nero spread her arms and raised her head, smiling as if the world itself were an audience.
"I am the Roman Emperor. The King of the World."
"The world is Rome."
"Rome, in my hands, manifest."
At that instant, Imperial Privilege expanded and pulled reality inside out.
Rose petals bloomed from nothing, sweeping outward like flame.
A brand new Reality Marble unfolded.
A vast wilderness.
Strictly arrayed armies under banners that snapped in an unseen wind.
Spears, shields, javelins, chariots.
A sea of armor and movement, endless at a glance.
The legions of Rome.
Nero's legions.
And more than that.
Rowe's legions.
"I also have a Greater Grail, or something close enough." Nero held a light in her hand as if it were a toy, then glanced at Rowe with shining delight.
Imperial Privilege.
It was that unrestrained.
The first Greater Grail's creation had required conditions so harsh they bordered on the impossible. A miracle.
But replicating a finished result was not difficult for Nero, the self proclaimed King of the World, as long as it fell within the bounds of human order.
And the Throne of Heroes, that other end of the link, existed outside the world as part of humanity's system.
Analysis.
Replication.
Construction.
Even one was enough.
She manifested a Greater Grail, and with it, summoned Rome's legions.
Her Rome.
And Rowe's Rome.
Artoria's face grew solemn.
She had thought that even if the opponent used the new Greater Grail to fill the available Servant slots, even if she stretched the ritual beyond legality, it would still end as a numbers game.
Instead, Nero had answered with an entire world.
"As expected of the King of the World."
"As expected of me, the perfect me." Nero's smile widened, then she turned her head slightly. "What do you say, Lord Boudica?"
A red haired figure emerged from the opened Reality Marble. Her hair flowed behind her. Her frame was full and agile, heroic and spirited.
"No choice. Though I founded Camelot, I am still part of the Roman legions."
She faced the opposite side.
"My name is Boudica, commander in chief on the front line of the Roman legions."
"Let me see your strength, you younger generation."
"An ancestor, huh." Artoria's eyes remained calm.
She did not retreat.
To seize Rowe, to welcome Camelot's true King, and to touch the white moonlight that had taken root in her heart, Artoria had prepared from the beginning.
"Then next it becomes a war between nations, does it not?"
"Hmm? Perhaps." Nero answered with bright confidence. "Rowe is mine. On that point there is no discussion."
"Then let us try…"
Artoria's words were cut off.
"Hmph. A bunch of self important people."
Atalanta spoke, cold and sharp.
"Are you underestimating me too much?"
But what arrived was not an arrow.
The sky itself darkened.
Something descended slowly, blotting out the stars.
A giant battleship, interstellar in shape, a crescent moon like prow cutting through the night as if space were water.
On that prow sat a beautiful white haired figure. She crossed her legs and smiled, her presence both playful and alien.
"You worked hard, Atalanta."
Atalanta's breath tightened.
"Rowe. My Rowe."
"We finally meet again, do we not?"
Artemis leaped down from the starship, landing lightly.
"To find you, for two thousand years, I have been working hard. Always, always."
Atalanta followed her, leaping down from a tall building nearby.
Above, the interstellar fleet stretched across the sky like storm clouds, moonlight sliding across cold metal surfaces.
"This pressure… another formidable enemy." Artoria frowned, the weight of it pressing even on her.
Nero made a thoughtful sound.
"Moon Goddess Diana… I see."
Altera spoke next, quiet but impossible to ignore.
"Bad guy. Rowe is mine."
In that moment, no one dared dismiss her.
The aura that rose when she lifted her sword pressed down on everyone present.
The power of the Star Hunter that suppressed civilizations.
She did not summon an empire.
She did not call subordinates.
She did not need to.
She alone was a nation.
One sword was an army.
Altera the Hun.
Artemis.
Artoria.
Nero Claudius.
The four formed a standoff, surrounding Rowe from four directions.
All four carried the same determination.
None of them intended to leave empty handed.
And Rowe, watching this unfold, had the absurd urge to grab the Greater Grail and throw it in their faces.
This is what you want. Take it.
But their eyes were not on the Grail.
They were on him.
Artemis reached for Rowe, aiming to hug him, to press him into her warmth.
Artoria dismounted, dropped from above, and swung Rhongomyniad. A golden storm erupted, blocking Artemis as Artoria reached with her other hand to seize Rowe.
Nero appeared at the right moment, releasing a primal blaze to block Artoria, then reached for Rowe as well.
Altera moved too.
The Sword of the War God traced a brilliant arc.
The four collided around Rowe, circling him like a ritual.
And the result was insane.
All four squeezed against him at once, none willing to let go.
Artemis was closest. Her legs lifted, and her thighs pressed against his side, soft and overwhelming, while she murmured his name again and again.
"Rowe. Rowe…"
"Rowe is mine." Nero pressed close too. Her hands were busy blocking attacks, so she used her body to shove Artemis aside, both of them pressing into Rowe at the same time.
Altera, directly in front, lifted her legs and locked around his waist, shaking and bumping, face to face, her voice low.
"Bad guy…"
"Lord Rowe, do not resist. The knights are waiting for your arrival."
Artoria's Holy Lance had already been thrown aside. In such close quarters, it was not suitable. She even shed her armor, then embraced Rowe from behind.
Rowe only had to move slightly to touch places he should not.
No. Even if he did not move, it made no difference.
They had already thrown caution away.
Rowe's mind supplied a single, helpless conclusion.
Why.
Barghest stared, then shook her head in disbelief.
"A rare sight, is it? No, with Lord Rowe, maybe it is not rare at all."
She laughed with genuine admiration.
"As expected of Lord Rowe. He is really popular."
Baobhan Sith's face flushed. She covered her mouth as if she had said something unforgivable.
"So jealous… no, that is not it. Ugh."
Xu Fu, unable to participate, had already been pushed aside by an invisible pressure. Her face reddened as she retreated into a corner, ending up beside Tamamo no Mae.
"That is my spot, damn it, migu." Tamamo no Mae ground her teeth.
At the same time, the fine fur on her three bare tails continued to regrow.
Atalanta bowed her head, hands together in prayer.
"Lady Artemis, you must win."
Then bring Rowe to my side.
Boudica ruffled her hair, watching the chaos with a tired sort of amusement.
"Still reckless, are they not, Martha?"
A girl with purple hair and violet eyes looked on with shining eagerness.
"To touch my Lord's body is endless glory."
Her restraint looked painful.
If not for lacking the strength, Boudica had no doubt she would have charged in.
…
Then the wind changed.
A whistle passed through the air, like something large moving through an unseen corridor.
A sound followed, faint and repetitive.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Artoria's brows furrowed. Her ears twitched.
Nero paused as well.
Artemis reached again, but Altera knocked her back with an elbow, forcing space by brute will.
Then all of them heard it.
A voice.
Not spoken by a throat, but delivered by a system.
"The East Asia Great Wall satellite has received the deployment command. Command code origin. Queen Mother of the West."
"Great Wall orbit deployed."
"Repulsion Cannon ready."
"Three. Two. One."
They looked up.
Countless lights flickered and connected across the sky, forming a shape like a dragon from afar.
No.
It was a dragon.
"The satellite orbital Great Wall that the Divine Land spent a hundred years building around Asia… she used it?" Tamamo no Mae stared, stunned.
Xu Fu's mouth fell open.
In this world, physics was a thin film nailed to the Earth's surface.
Different planets were different worlds. The films on those worlds differed, each with its own rules. Beyond Earth, the familiar rules failed.
On the modern Earth, only one country could truly escape the planet in a meaningful way.
The Divine Land, which had developed by fusing Mystery and technology.
What appeared in the sky was the product of that fusion.
The satellite orbit system codenamed Great Wall.
Its essence was an elevated Earth vein.
A steel encased flow of power suspended in orbit, wrapping East Asia.
With it, the Divine Land could monitor and manipulate all Earth veins across the region.
That was why Divine Land rarely interfered with the outside world, and yet no one dared ignore its existence.
Xu Fu had heard of it.
This was the first time she had seen it.
Tamamo no Mae's expression turned grim.
She had never imagined Consort Yu would use that.
Just for Rowe.
And if she was honest, she knew she might have done the same.
The Great Wall orbit displayed its power immediately.
Repulsion.
Lights blinked.
Space seemed to seize for a fraction of a second.
With Rowe at the center, Artoria, Nero, Attila, and Artemis were all pushed away at once.
"What?"
"Umu?"
"Bad guy…."
"Rowe, my Rowe."
Different reactions, different voices, all equally shocked.
Everyone had been wary of the sky.
But this repulsion did not come from above in the simple sense.
It came through resonance with the ground.
An Earth vein suspended in orbit, turning the surface into a stage for an invisible force.
This was power from heaven.
"A warning from the Divine Land?" someone breathed.
Almost simultaneously, a message was proclaimed through the Great Wall orbit, echoing across the surface world and the Reverse Side.
The country known as the most powerful convened its highest level international meeting.
Countless high ranking officials moved at once.
And in the Reverse Side of the World, the mysterious center of the western world, the headquarters of the Mage's Association, long since relocated from Rome to London, with the Clock Tower as its symbol, movement surged through the halls.
"A message from the Divine Land's Spiral Hall."
"Eastern Japan. Holy Grail War?"
"An unheard of ritual. Why would those people be so vigilant?"
At the top of the Clock Tower, figures gathered.
Shadows formed around a wide conference table.
"Is everyone here? The Lords of each department."
The leading voice was clear and young.
A response came quickly.
"The Lord of Mineralogy has not arrived. He has already gone to Fuyuki."
"Fuyuki?" The speaker's delicate brows furrowed.
"Never mind. Let him go. Send him a notice later."
"The rest are here. Then we begin."
"I believe you have all sensed the reason for this gathering."
A pale slender hand lifted and clapped once toward the projector behind her.
Ancient characters spread across the screen, rippling like living ink.
Few dared to look at them for long.
Those characters contained an extremely old Mystery.
To decipher them required skill. Otherwise the act of understanding itself could harm the observer.
A rule like the old warning.
One does not look directly at a god.
"Were these characters written personally by a Divine Land magus…?"
"Mr. Marisbury, have you discovered anything?"
"No." The reply was calm. "I have not. I am simply very interested in that land."
"If you are interested," the young Lord at the head said, "you may see it often in the future."
She looked around the table, voice sharpening.
"This message reveals one thing."
"The Divine Land will no longer remain outside the world."
The Divine Land would display its power openly.