"What's going on?! There was a gas explosion in the courtyard just a few days ago, so why is there an explosion on the street next to it as well?! "
Daikawa Fujimura, who had come to freeload for a free meal, exclaimed in shock after seeing the collapsed courtyard wall and the entire street.
On the other side, a weak purple-haired girl was hiding behind Shiro Emiya with a nervous expression. She had a frightened expression as she looked at the street that looked like it had been hit by an aerial bomb, while occasionally glancing curiously at us strangers.
It was a gas explosion … By the way, can't you think of some other reason?
Landing pods had crashed in Fuyuki City one after another. Even if the landing pods were able to use invisibility camouflage to hide their trajectories in the air, it was impossible to cover up the tragic traces left on the ground. Rin Amasaka did his best to use his influence in the Dark World to turn everything into a reasonable case of an explosion. He managed to fool the general public, but it seemed rather troublesome for Daikawa Fujimura and Sakura Jatsura, who were very close to Shiro Emiya.
Yep, perhaps Fujimura would be able to fool them, but Sakura was obviously a meticulous girl. She looked at the shape of the crater next to the courtyard wall, and it was obvious that something had been moved away from the bottom. She weakly asked, "Um … Senpai … Would a gas explosion really form such a large crater?"
Shiro Emiya had a bitter expression on his face. "Sakura, just treat it as a gas explosion."
"Oh …" The weak purple-haired girl nodded and didn't say anything else.
This girl was way too easy to coax!
Due to certain reasons, neither Fujimura nor Sakura had come to the Emiya residence for the past few days. The former had met with us before, but this was the first time that the latter had appeared in front of us. This seemingly timid girl seemed to be quite concerned about a group of strangers who claimed to be "distant relatives of Shiro Emiya's adoptive father's good friend." Especially since more than half of us were women. But then again, did you really need to be on guard against Pandora and Visca, who were only 1.2 meters tall?
I'm sorry, little sisters, I accidentally poked your sore spot just now …
The appearance of distant relatives or old friends with suspicious identities naturally caused quite a bit of trouble for Shiro Emiya. Just explaining our origins to the unlucky Mister Good Samaritan was already mentally and physically exhausted, especially since most of the non-humans who showed up uninvited were girls. Sakura's tearful expression whenever she looked at him, and Fujimura's judgmental gaze was even scarier than death by a thousand cuts. However, there was nothing we could do about this. Not only that, if Tears and I hadn't appeared in advance, and if Pandora and Sakura hadn't appeared to act as a buffer, Saber would have had an even greater impact on Fujimura when Saber was suddenly exposed in front of Fujimura. Just from this alone, it seemed that a certain aardwolf should be thanking us.
After breakfast, the Emiya residence, which had been bustling for the entire morning, finally quieted down once more. This was because the incident at the school had unexpectedly erupted and been "resolved" earlier than we had expected. Tears didn't seem to have any need to continue staying at the school, so she irresponsibly ordered the "relevant department" of the Empire to prepare a withdrawal form, and the young girls happily skipped class once more. As she watched Shiro Emiya and Sakura leave, her smile was so bright that it could be seen from ten miles away.
Now, there wasn't a single ordinary person left here.
After instructing Pandora and Visca to create a force field to cover the entire Emiya residence, Tears and I walked to the dojo at the back of the courtyard.
The door to the dojo was wide open, and we could see the vast space inside. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary, but that was just an illusion under the effect of the invisible force field. Tears pulled out her finger and waved her sword lightly in the air. Immediately, the space around us fluctuated, and the things that were originally hidden by the planes were revealed before us.
The first thing that came into view was a crystal platform with a radius of five meters. It was in the shape of a standard octagon, and a small diamond-shaped crystal pillar floated at the top of each point. These crystal pillars emitted a faint blue light in all directions, forming an illusory cage. In the cage, a woman with long purple hair that reached the ground was sitting dejectedly on the crystal platform with her back facing us.
The heroic spirit that we had captured alive, the woman whose real name was Medusa.
According to Rin Enaka, since she was an enemy, of course she should be eliminated, and Saber also expressed her agreement. However, Shiro Emiya obviously didn't approve of such an action, and we also had a reason to keep her alive. And so, Rider, who should have been sent back to the Hall of Heroes, was locked up.
Of course, the most important reason was that, for the Holy Grail War, it was meaningless to kill Rider now. In the Holy Grail War, killing heroic spirits and leaving only one person alive was to use the mana of the six "exited" heroic spirits as fuel for the descent of the Holy Grail. The current Rider was no longer able to bear the responsibility of fuel. She had been corroded by psionic energy, and even now, part of her body was crystallized. Before the mutated energy was dispelled, Rider's death would only cause irreversible damage to the Holy Grail.
"She's recovering well, and she can already move around."
The blonde girl who had been guarding the "prisoners of war" next to the crystal platform immediately came over to greet us. Although she was wary of us at the start, she was able to capture the enemy Servant alive in one fell swoop, and it was all thanks to our help. This greatly increased Saber's impression of us. Although she didn't know anything about our power, she was almost treating us as temporary allies.
"Hey, aren't you going to turn around? As a prisoner of war, your attitude isn't very good right now. "
A few seconds later.
"Brother Director, you're being ignored." Tears, as always, revealed her little black-bellied side in such a subtle place.
"Fine! You win! " I pointed at the purple-haired girl who still had her back to us and ignored my words. Then, I took a step forward and twisted my waist. "At most, I'll go around her!"
Saber and Tears were speechless.
"You're really a strange person." This time, even the purple-haired girl, who had always been calm, finally couldn't remain calm anymore. She struggled to stand up and turned to me. There was a subtle hint of laughter in her tone. "At least tell me, what happened to my body? What's with this strange cage? "
The woman who turned around was tall, slender, and had a soft and beautiful figure. Just this alone was enough to make her beautiful. However, she was wearing a strange purple eyepatch over her eyes. The eyepatch covered most of her face, greatly reducing her beauty and making her seem even more mysterious. However, I knew that the pair of demonic eyes hidden under the eyepatch was the truly dangerous thing. In fact, it was even more dangerous than the Blood Shrine that had engulfed the entire school and nearly killed thousands of teachers and students. Yep, at least she had been like that before she had been corroded. As for now, her demonic eyes were probably still temporarily frozen.
"It's just being corroded by psionic energy." I pointed at the tip of her hair. Her long hair, which should have been purple like a waterfall, had turned into bluish-white crystals. Although these crystals had been greatly suppressed, they still stubbornly occupied their territory. "That's why I said that eating random things will cause diarrhea."
"As for this cage that was used to imprison you, it is what you should be thankful for for being able to survive. If it wasn't for the crystal array, you, who had been turned into a crystal state by the psionic energy, would have long been destroyed."
"Is that so?" The purple-haired girl nodded calmly and sat down again. With her current physical condition, it was quite difficult for her to stand for a long time. "I don't remember any heroic spirit having such powers like you. Psionic energy … seems to have never appeared in my memory. Also, as a member of the Holy Grail War, you actually chose to capture me alive instead of killing me directly. This is really strange."
"You want to die that badly?"
I revealed a surprised expression. The other party's tone was too calm. When she talked about her own life and death, it was as if she was talking about the weather.
"It doesn't matter." The purple-haired girl's voice was emotionless. "I followed the summons to participate in this war and then left because I lost the war. There's nothing to regret."
"In other words, no matter what means we use, you don't intend to tell us who your master is?" I raised my eyebrows and asked with a raised tone.
The purple-haired girl expressed her attitude with silence. It was obvious that she didn't even care about death. The only person she didn't want to hurt was the master who summoned her.
"We have confirmed that your master is in that school, and he is a student." I deliberately showed a fierce expression. "In other words, we can achieve our goal by killing all the students."
As soon as I finished speaking, I suddenly felt a burst of anger beside me. I turned my head with a slightly shocked expression. What I saw was Saber's magnificent green eyes. The question contained in them was not concealed at all.
"Don't get too excited." The Knight King's reaction was completely within my expectations. It was my negligence to say such misleading words without any prior greetings. "I was just scaring her."
Saber's eyes were dazed. Then, she revealed a rare expression of not knowing whether to laugh or cry. Even after a few days of interaction, it seemed that my inaction was still difficult for this serious Adorkable King to accept.
For a woman who could use the Shrine of Blood to envelop the entire school and absorb the vitality of humans, such a threat seemed to be nothing. She didn't care about the lives of those students at all, but I knew that she would definitely say something.
As expected, in the face of such a threat, the purple-haired girl first remained silent. Then, on the surface, it seemed as if she had gone through a serious mental struggle. She slowly raised her head, but the corners of her mouth were curved in a barely noticeable cruel smile.
"It seems that there's no point in hiding anymore. His name is Shinji Jiatong, the heir of the Jiatong family."
As expected, she still chose to use that guy as a shield.
Shinji Jiatong was Shiro Emiya's classmate, as well as Sakura Jiatong's elder brother in name. However, in reality, he was the creator of Sakura's nightmarish life. His identity was the direct heir of the Jiatong family, but in reality, he was a useless person who didn't have any talent in magic. Even if I didn't know the plot, I would be able to obtain such information with the simplest of investigations. Could such a person really be a participant in the Holy Grail War?
It was obvious that the purple-haired girl was only using such a seemingly reasonable explanation to frame Shinji Jiatong. If we believed her words and attacked the so-called "master," it wouldn't matter if a scumbag died. She might even be happy. And even if we discovered that the information was false, the purple-haired girl's true master wouldn't be harmed.
Actually, for us who were familiar with the storyline, such a question and answer wouldn't have much meaning. We already knew the answer long ago. I just wanted to know if this infamous woman before me was truly as the rumors said, and if she truly wanted to protect that girl. Now, it would seem that even the infamous Medusa had some areas that were worthy of praise.
"Perhaps you still don't understand." After confirming a certain fact, it was time to explain the situation. "Our identities are a little special. Saber will explain it to you soon. What you need to know now is that the master that you've been protecting is in danger."
The purple-haired girl lifted her head. I couldn't see her gaze due to the blindfold, but she was obviously trying to analyze the truth of my words from my expression.
"Psionic energy has already corroded your body. A heroic spirit's body is made of energy. After your previous near-death experience, you should have noticed that your body has crystallized to a certain extent. Even now, this crystallization hasn't completely subsided," I said as I pointed at the tip of her hair, which was still crystal clear. "Then, have you ever thought that this dangerous energy would flow against the contract between the heroic spirit and its master?"
In an instant, the purple-haired girl's body stiffened.
How could it be? How could I have overlooked such a danger!? Could it be that I had lost my ability to judge the situation because of this completely unfamiliar attack? Even a heroic spirit's body was almost turned into a crystal statue by such a dangerous energy. If it entered a human's body …
"Don't worry too much. The situation isn't that bad yet. Psionic energy's great destructive power against heroic spirits is due to the nature of your bodies. Energy lifeforms are extremely sensitive to harmful energy that invades their bodies, but the human body can slightly accommodate such energy. Not to mention — the energy flow that the girl received is very weak. Right now, she should only be feeling a little dizzy, right? But as time goes on, we can't guarantee what the consequences will be. "
My comforting words made the purple-haired girl look slightly relieved. But right after that, she noticed the key point in my words. "'That girl'? You already know … "
"That's right, Sakura Jian. I saw her this morning," I shrugged. At the same time, I realized that it was quite interesting to occasionally "tease" these heroic spirits, especially when the other party was still a cold person. "Don't show that expression. I just wanted to see if you really care about Sakura. If you really said the name of your true master just now, you would have turned into a crystal statue by now. The crystal platform you are sitting on is made of pure psionic energy."
Just this sentence alone made the purple-haired girl almost jump on the spot!
It wasn't difficult to tell Rider our identity, but after I finished explaining, I felt cold sweat dripping down my forehead. There was no other reason for it, but because during the entire process, Adorkable Wang classmate had been watching us from the side.
You may not understand, so I'll say it clearly. Before this, when I explained our origins to Saber, didn't I make up a lot of things at will? Now, I suddenly realized that I seemed to have forgotten about that pile of things. This also meant that I had to talk nonsense with Rider while trying to remember how I tricked Saber before. Just a short fifteen minutes of conversation didn't tire me to death!
Swindling and cheating can kill people! Especially after I tricked a famous serious and serious Adorkable Wang!
"In other words, you are from another … planet?"
After quietly listening to my explanation and watching me show a little gadget from the Xiling Empire that had absolutely nothing to do with human civilization, Rider confirmed with an incredulous tone.
For these Heroic Spirits who had participated in more than one Holy Grail War and had reincarnated countless times over endless time, things in modern society were not difficult to understand. Even if they were basically born in the ancient times, it did not affect Rider's understanding of the concept of "aliens". However, understanding was one thing, accepting it was another. A battle between human magicians actually involved the setting of aliens, which made our Medusa classmate feel very uncomfortable.
After explaining the matter and saying that she could help to dispel the psionic contamination in Sakura Jiatsura's body, Rider's attitude towards us improved significantly. This evil woman with the title of Slaughterer was actually a rather simple person. She had her own emotions and personal hobbies, and she also had someone she wanted to protect: Sakura Jiatsura. But other than that, she didn't care about anyone else's life or death. This should be said to be a common problem for those Heroic Spirits who originated from mythical heroes or monsters. They despised mortals and ordinary people. From this point, it could be seen that Saber's chivalry was really rare.
But no matter what, this contradictory woman, Rider, after understanding her background, I more or less had a good impression of her. Of course, this good impression was not the reason why I went to the trouble to raise my friendship with her. The main reason was that I needed Rider's help to cooperate with a sudden idea that involved Rider and Sakura Jiatsura. Strictly speaking, there was a certain degree of danger involved. If it wasn't for Lin Xue's prophecy that this experiment was of great significance and would eventually succeed, I wouldn't have started such a biochemical experiment proposal that used innocent people. Since I wanted Rider's help in that matter, it was necessary to have a good relationship with her because I didn't like to force anyone.
"There's only one thing that I'm still curious about." After the relationship between us eased up, Rider, who was still very weak, lazily leaned against the crystal barrier of her cage, which was also a treatment device. She looked at us curiously, "What's your motive? I feel that, as a creature other than humans, or even a creature from this planet, there shouldn't be any need for you to intervene in what happens here, right? But I feel that your actions seem to be full of purpose. Of course, this is just my intuition. "
Should I say, as expected of Medusa? This observation and intuition was probably even sharper than Rin Enaka. Of course, the latter might also have some doubts, but because there was no conflict of interest, he probably didn't mention it.
Noticing that Saber also showed an interested expression, I just shrugged indifferently, "Well, who knows? Maybe it's just curiosity. Anyway, I don't have any bad intentions. Isn't that enough?"
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