It was as if she were saying, 'What are you trying to do to my child?'
The woman, who had been about to act, froze stiff on the spot.
With eyes full of disbelief, she stared blankly at the gentle, absent-minded beauty behind Alvin.
"Why?"
It was almost an unbelievable murmur.
Logically speaking, a rule-breaking Beast like this, being able to summon her phantom and maintain it for a short time should already have been the limit.
After destroying her barrier just now, she should have disappeared.
So why was this woman still here now?
Sessyoin's gaze flickered. Soon, a terrifying thought flashed through her mind.
Alvin looked up at her and said faintly, "When did you start thinking she was just a phantom, Kiara?"
'Not a phantom?'
In the silent night, Sessyoin stared in shock at Alvin ahead of her, and at Tiamat behind him.
Beasts inherently possessed extremely massive Saint Graphs. Sessyoin was only a juvenile Beast, but even so, her Saint Graph was far larger than that of ordinary Heroic Spirits.
Because of this, she clearly understood just how immense Tiamat's Saint Graph was.
Even if the White Dragon's magical power was vast, it shouldn't be possible for him to supply Tiamat with mana at all times, right?
As if seeing through Sessyoin's doubts, Alvin said calmly, "If it were summoning Tiamat's true body, no one in this world could probably do it… but if it's just a split body, and that split body also happens to be in Britain, then it's easy."
'A split body?'
'Tiamat's split body… is also within Britain's territory?'
Sessyoin froze for a moment, then her delicate body trembled slightly as goosebumps rose across her skin.
'The Tiamat before me… isn't even the main body.'
'Just a single split body's Saint Graph is already comparable to a juvenile Beast?'
At this moment, Sessyoin already felt the urge to retreat, yet the way she looked at Alvin became even more excited.
"You really are full of surprises, White Dragon-sama."
"This time, you've indeed won, but I'm very much looking forward to our next meeting."
As she said the last words, Sessyoin no longer hesitated and turned to leave.
Her figure gradually became illusory. Before leaving, she gave Alvin a deep look, the corners of her lips lifting into a charming smile, and then her figure completely vanished.
Watching Sessyoin leave, Alvin quickly shivered.
'Why does it feel like driving her away will only make things more troublesome…'
Being targeted in the shadows by a Beast was not a good thing.
Alvin quickly gathered his thoughts and turned his gaze to Tohsaka Rin, "Rin, I'll take you back to the palace first. After that, I'll contact your father and have him come pick you up."
Rin still seemed dazed. Only when she heard this did she come back to her senses a little. She instinctively glanced at Alvin, and for no reason, she recalled what her younger sister had once told her in the Tohsaka household about the White Dragon.
On the day Sakura ran away from home, she said she had happened to see the White Dragon fighting the Servant summoned by their father, the King of Heroes, Gilgamesh.
It was also in that icy battlefield that Alvin took her runaway sister back to his residence and looked after her until the end of the Holy Grail War.
A young girl naturally didn't understand what love was, but at that moment, she could feel a vague emotion called "liking." Alvin began to leave an indelible mark in her heart.
From then on, Matou Sakura longed to meet him again in another Holy Grail War.
In truth, it's hard for people to truly empathize with each other unless they've gone through the same thing, or are in an extremely dangerous situation.
For example, after your best friend gets dumped, you sit in the passenger seat while he speeds through the city at 160 km/h… that's when you instantly understand how he feels.
At first, when Rin comforted her sister, she did it in a rather surface-level way.
But now… seeing Alvin extend his hand toward her, Rin suddenly felt like she could understand her sister a little.
In a world full of danger, where you have no stable place to stay and your heart is filled with fear, yet when you see him, you feel an inexplicable sense of safety.
The young girl stared straight at the boy. After a long time, she reached out her small hand and grabbed Alvin's, softly saying, "Thank you."
'Even though she's a bit of a tsundere, she's still polite when it counts.'
Alvin thought to himself. Then he suddenly felt something soft press against the back of his head. When he came back to his senses, he saw Tiamat staring straight at him, her crimson, star-like eyes sparkling, as if she were asking for credit, 'What about me, what about me? Aren't you going to praise me?'
Alvin reached out and patted the woman's head, "Good thing you were here this time. Otherwise, it really would've been a bit tricky."
"Aaaa～"
Tiamat nodded, letting out a satisfied sound.
Looking at her naive, innocent expression, Alvin suddenly recalled their first meeting, when Tiamat had been sleeping alone in the silent Imaginary Number Space. Her appearance was calm, but inside she was full of curiosity and unease about the outside world.
For Tiamat, even just being needed was something that made her happy. So after helping Alvin, she also felt an overwhelming sense of satisfaction.
Before Alvin could think further, he suddenly felt a soft warmth in his arms. Snapping back to reality, he realized Tiamat had wrapped him in a hug, like a mother comforting her child.
Alvin gathered his thoughts and hugged Tiamat back.
Tohsaka Rin watched them as if she had discovered a new world, her eyes filled with admiration.
Just moments ago, Tiamat had displayed power that could be described as world-ending, yet now she seemed completely harmless.
'What exactly is the relationship between these two,' Rin couldn't help but wonder.
At that moment, she suddenly noticed a faint movement coming from the entrance.
Rin turned her head to look.
Not far ahead, a girl in a gothic dress, with smooth golden hair cascading down, stepped over the threshold and walked in.
Sajyou Manaka spotted the three of them in the manor at a glance. She froze for a moment, then quickly smiled as she looked at Alvin.
"Looks like I'm late, Saber?"
'Who is this? Why is she calling him Saber?'
Rin was momentarily confused.
Then it quickly came back to her.
'Wait… if I remember correctly, in the last Holy Grail War, the White Dragon descended as the Saber class.'
'For this girl to call him Saber… was she also a Master in the previous Holy Grail War?"
At that moment, Alvin also came back to his senses from the warmth earlier.
Seeing Sajyou Manaka, his expression didn't change. Instead, he showed a warm smile. "Manaka, you're finally willing to talk to me?"
Manaka froze slightly, as if only now remembering that she and Alvin were still in the middle of a quarrel. She immediately turned her gaze away awkwardly.
Seeing this, Alvin spoke at the right moment, "Anyway, let's head back first. About the matter of the transmigrators, I still need to discuss it with Lily."
If Britain had only a few transmigrators, it wouldn't be a big deal… but now it seemed there were many types, and some even included Beasts.
That completely changed things.
This time it was Sessyoin. No one knew if something even more troublesome would appear next.
They needed to come up with a countermeasure before that happened.
———
Late that night, Alvin brought Tohsaka Rin and the others back to the royal palace.
First, he had Agravain and the others go to the Duke of Cornwall's manor to deal with the "cultist" incident that had just arisen.
After that, Alvin went to King Arthur's palace and explained everything that had happened that afternoon in detail.
After listening to the whole story, Artoria pondered for a moment and said, "If Beasts are also among the transmigrators… relying solely on Britain's defenses, it will be difficult to detect their movements immediately. Just like this time, if not for your appearance being so deceptive, Sessyoin Kiara might not have revealed herself so quickly."
"But thanks to you... if her followers had grown in number, things would have become very troublesome."
As she spoke, Artoria's delicate brows furrowed slightly.
'Is there any way to detect Beasts the moment they appear?', she wondered.
As if seeing through her thoughts, Alvin thought for a moment and smiled, "There actually is a way. This era doesn't have surveillance cameras, but it does have a human-shaped one."
"Surveillance?"
Artoria didn't understand.
"In simple terms, there's someone who can act as Britain's eyes. As long as a Beast enters the city, he'll be able to sense it immediately."
Artoria seemed to recall something and said instinctively, "You mean…"
Alvin looked into her eyes and said, "Merlin."
Merlin had long gotten used to slacking off. Getting him to 'work' was actually quite difficult. And if he hid away in Avalon, no one could make him come out.
But it wasn't entirely impossible. At least, Alvin already had a way to meet Merlin.
"I heard you brought a girl back as well?"
After chatting for a bit, Artoria suddenly changed the subject.
Alvin nodded, "A follower brainwashed by Sessyoin. But she saw through Sessyoin's lies early on and stayed in that manor just to protect herself."
"You've met her before," Alvin continued.
Artoria raised a brow slightly, curious, "Who?"
Alvin looked at her and said, "The child of the current head of the Tohsaka family, Tohsaka Rin."
Artoria thought for a moment, then murmured thoughtfully, "Her…"
She did have some impression of that name. After all, Ishtar had once possessed Tohsaka Rin for a period of time. As a Servant, she naturally remembered it.
After chatting for a while longer, Alvin took the opportunity to say goodbye.
He didn't immediately return to his residence, because there was still one more thing he needed to take care of tonight.
Avalon was a very special place. In Welsh mythology, it was another name for paradise, the final resting place of King Arthur. In the Type-Moon world, it was also called the "Land of Fairies."
In other words, those who could step into Avalon were inevitably beings from myth.
And just so happened… Alvin was one of those mythical beings.
———
Warm, radiant sunlight poured down.
A white-haired man in a white mage's robe, with a refined and handsome face, leaned against a large tree, comfortably squinting as he rested.
Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, scattering across the ground. A gentle breeze passed by, the branches swaying lightly, shifting patterns of light and shadow.
It was deep night in ancient Britain, but Avalon never had night.
A shadow suddenly fell over him, blocking the sunlight.
Merlin didn't open his eyes. He continued to squint comfortably and said, "You've come?"
"You knew I would?", Alvin asked.
Merlin gestured to the spot beside him.
As Alvin sat down, Merlin spoke leisurely, "There's nothing in this world that can escape Merlin's eyes… what happens in Britain, what the future holds, there's nothing I don't know."
If an ordinary person had said that, Alvin would probably have responded with: what nonsense are you spouting?
But Merlin… this court mage of Britain carried far too much mystery.
Although what he possessed was only a clairvoyance that observed the present, he could use the present to deduce the future.
So Alvin didn't doubt Merlin's words at all.
[T/N: I have started a new fanfic guys: "Demon Slayer: This Time, I Won't Follow the Plot". Enjoy it and leave a review. Thank you~]
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