The Paladin on the Infinite Tour.

"Pfft————————!"

The ice blade suddenly pierced Saber's chest!Then pull it to the side!

"Chi la—————!"

Saber's petite body was suddenly cut with a ferocious gash!

Although I don't know what the difference between a Servant and a human is, being completely cut from the chest to the flanks is equivalent to cutting the body in half - even the Servant is probably dead.

"Om------------!"

However, before Ixia could retract the ice sword, a magic circle suddenly appeared next to Saber, swallowing her whole body and submerging it suddenly!

Quickly stopping his flying movements, Exia flew in the air and looked at the suddenly empty sky in front of her, and a lot of doubts suddenly arose in her heart.

"Did this... run away?"

——————————————————————————————

at the same time.

Inside Einzbern Castle.

"..."

Looking at Saber's body that suddenly appeared on the ground not far away through the magic circle, and then looking at Illya next to him, Sajo Aige couldn't help but laugh.

"Hahaha, this is really... I used the command spell at the last moment, trying to summon a follower to protect me, but I didn't expect that my follower was already on the verge of death."

"It seems that you have grasped a life-saving straw that has been broken, Miss Illya... Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot that you can't hear me anymore."

Walking down from Illya who had lost her heartbeat, Saber Aige came to squat in front of the dying Saber.

"You were really beaten to a pulp by the Prince, Saber—do you need me to give you a [second] chance?"

"..."

"I can't answer that. That's right. I don't have half of my life left. Then I'll take it as your consent." Saber Aige said to herself, then she picked up Saber's face that had almost lost all her eyes. "Although I told you to withdraw,...instead of letting you die worthless, it would be better to drain all your value and then let you die."

"From now on, live for me, Saber - I will be your master."

On Shajo Aige's right hand, two bright red and fresh Command Seals shone slightly.

22.The true function of the Holy Grail

Einzbern's castle entrance.

"Shuh--!"

After landing from the sky, Ixia put away the Soaring Holy Sword and looked in front of her: "Is this right here? The place where we met. I really picked a place a little far away."

The current time is already 10 minutes after Saber disappeared from Exia.

After that, although according to Ddraig, Saber used space movement to escape, Exia still launched a certain degree of search around it.

After all, Saber was already seriously injured at the time. Even if she moved through space, she wouldn't be able to move too far away. That's what Ixia thought, but even after searching for several times, he couldn't find Saber. Instead, he received a notice from Shajo Aige, asking him to join her in this castle.

(This is Saber’s master’s castle...Did Miss Aige break into this place alone?)

Shajo Aige also explained the reason why she wanted to come here to meet up with Alexia.To be honest, Exia was a little dissatisfied with the fact that she broke into the enemy's base camp single-handedly. The level of danger was too high. If something unexpected happened to her, it would be their side that would be in trouble.

However, looking at the holes in front of him that were obviously artificially blasted——

"Isn't Miss Aige really strong?"

[Are you aware of it now, partner? 】

Said Ddraig on his left hand.

Walking into the castle through the hole in the door, and walking along the stairs to the second floor, Ixia observed the surrounding situation as she walked.

(No one...)

In such a huge castle, even if there is a small army inside, Ixia won't be surprised. And since Sajo Aige said that everything has been done, Ixia feels that there should be at least a lot of enemy corpses lying inside. That's right.

As a result, no one could be seen, as if no one lived in this castle at all.

(Is this really the stronghold of Saber’s Master?)

Alexia couldn't help but become suspicious, and soon, according to the vague telepathic connection between herself and Shajo Aige, Alexia stopped in front of a door and pushed it open——

"Is it here? Miss Aige."

"My lord!"

In the room, hearing Alexia's voice, Shatiao Aige, who was sitting on a sofa, quickly stood up and trotted to him: "You're finally here! It's really hard on you for coming all the way. ~"

"Fortunately, you flew over very quickly - but you should not be injured, Miss Aige." Alexia looked at Shatiao Aige, "Please don't do such a reckless thing next time. If you enter the enemy’s base camp, let me come with you.”

"Yes!"

Shajo Aige smiled and nodded in agreement, and at the same time, she was also very happy and elated!

(The prince is concerned about me... The prince is worried about me... Hehehe~~~ Today can be regarded as a memorable anniversary, right? It seems that I have to do more after returning home in the evening There are some delicious ones.)

Not only did I date Alexia for a whole day (I thought), but I also got Alexia to worry about me at the end - today is definitely the best day that Sajo Aige has ever spent in her life!

Looking at Shatiao Aige who was beaming with joy in front of her, Alexia smiled helplessly: "Okay, let's go back, Miss Aige."

"Ah, please wait a moment, Prince. I have something to take away."

Shajo Aige took Alexia's hand, and then pulled him to the bedside in the room: "This thing is very important, I can't do it without taking it away."

"thing......."

Alexia looked at the bed, and the first thing that caught her eye was a little silver-haired girl sleeping quietly on the bed with her eyes closed like a sleeping beauty.

(This girl is...)

"She is Saber's master, Prince." Sajo Aige explained before Alexia asked, "The name is Illyasviel von Einzbern, um... ..Just treat it as Irisviel’s [child] that I mentioned to you during the day.”

"Child? Is it her?"

【Save my child】

The murmurs she heard earlier emerged in Alexia's mind - the figure in the sea of ​​fire, was it the child in front of her who was praying to her for salvation?

"Is she dead now?"

"That's right." Shajo Aige said with a smile, "But it can't be said that she is completely dead. It can only be said that it is a state similar to death. I used magic to deprive her of all five senses, and at the same time all Her physical activity has only been kept to a minimum. She is now a [living corpse] - after all, this is the first day of the Holy Grail War, so it is better not to let her die completely."

Sajo Aige's words made Alexia stunned: "Why?"

"Because she is the key to making the Holy Grail come."

"......Eh?"

Seeing Alexia's obvious look of confusion, Sajo Aige couldn't help but laugh: "My lord prince, what do you think is the purpose of the Holy Grail War?"

"Hmm...competing for the Holy Grail?"

"Then why fight for the Holy Grail?"

"Because the Holy Grail is a wishing machine - by the way, didn't you tell me this yourself?" Alexia said, "Is this wrong? The Holy Grail War actually has another agenda?"

Shajo Aige shook his head: "No, that's right. The Holy Grail is indeed a wishing machine, and the Holy Grail War is indeed a magic ritual to compete for the Holy Grail. It's just that for different people, the concept of [Wishing Machine] It’s also different—I’ll tell you straightforwardly, the so-called [wishing machine] is just a part of the function of the Holy Grail, or it’s a [side effect].”

"side effect?"

Is the ability to grant wishes just a side effect of the Holy Grail?

"Then what is the true function of the Holy Grail?"

"[Wishmaking Machine]." Sajo Aige repeated, "It's just a wishing machine exclusively for [Magicians]. It only exists to fulfill [Magician]'s wishes. The wishes that can be fulfilled There is only one [wishing machine].”

"The magician's wish?"

"That's right. The wish of the magician, the only wish that all magicians dream of coming true. In order to realize that wish, the Holy Grail War was established, and the Holy Grail was also created, just to allow the magicians to realize their common long-cherished wish. "

"—reach the source."

23. The surrendering female knight

source.

Or the vortex of origin.

The place from which everything in the world flows, the only truth in the world.If the entire world, even all parallel worlds, and everything that happens in the world are compared to a river, then the source vortex is the source of the river, and it is also the sea at the end of the river.

There lies all knowledge, all truth, all mysteries.

Therefore, that is the place that all magicians long to reach. [reaching the source] has been the only research topic of this group of magicians for thousands of years, and the magic that countless magic families have passed down as treasures from generation to generation is nothing more than It is a means to study the method to the root cause.

Of course, the same goes for the Holy Grail War.

"This world can be roughly divided into three parts, Prince."

Sajo Aige picked up a piece of paper and rolled it up.

"The world we usually live in is just such a piece of paper. The inside of the roll of paper is regarded as the [Inner Sea of ​​Stars], which is the [inside of the world], while the outside part is regarded as the [outside of the world]."

"The source vortex is [outside the world]. Therefore, if you want to go to the source vortex, you have to go [outside the world] first no matter what - unfortunately, this is not possible for any magician. Something that cannot be done. After all, no one can poke a hole in the sky."

Sajo Aige smiled as she poked a hole in the roll paper.

"However, there is actually not only the Source Vortex [outside the world], but also another existence called [The Seat of Heroic Spirits]. Although it is not as good as the Source Vortex, it is indeed located outside the world. 【Place】."

"So the magicians think like this - [Since the Heroic Soul Seat and the Root Vortex are both located outside the world, then there should be a way to get to the outside of the world through the Heroic Soul Seat, right?]"

In layman's terms, this is probably the case.

"So, the Holy Grail War was established."

The Heroic Spirit Seat is an existence outside the world, and heroic spirits are naturally existences outside the world. By holding a summoning ceremony, the heroic spirits outside the world can be separated into [Servants] as clones, and come to the world from outside the world - —In this process, it is inevitable to pass through the [barrier] that exists between [the world] and [the outside of the world].

Of course, [the barrier] will leave [tracks] on it, just like the footprints left on the road and the wheel marks left by vehicles.

Next, you only need to follow this trajectory to break through the barrier and go to the outside of the world.

"But there will be another problem here, that is, breaking through the barrier requires a huge amount of magic power, not only the quantity, but also the quality must be very high - mere humans cannot produce such huge magic power, but this problem also has a It’s a very simple solution, does Mr. Prince know what it is?”

I was suddenly asked this question by Sajo Aige. Alexia, who had been listening, couldn't help but be stunned: "Uh... I don't know."

"The answer is [Servants]." Sajo Aige explained, "The defeated Servants will not return to the Heroic Soul Seat immediately, but will be temporarily collected into a certain container. When all six are collected, After extracting the souls and magic power of the Servants, they can use their collective power to return to the outside of the world to punch a [hole] in the barrier. Finally, as long as the [hole] is fixed, a temporary and stable passage to the outside of the world will be created. It's finished."

This is the truth of the Holy Grail War.

It has absolutely nothing to do with "wish fulfillment" in the broad sense. It's just a different kind of "murder" planned by the magician to satisfy his own wish.

All magicians who participated in the war lost their value the moment they summoned their servants, and all the servants were merely [fillers] summoned as fuel. There are various rumors about the Holy Grail War. None of it was [true] to begin with.

"......"

After listening to Shajo Aige's explanation, Alexia was silent for a long time. After she went through everything she said in her mind and sorted it out, she took a deep breath: "Okay, yes. I roughly understand the true inside story of the Holy Grail War—that’s really all you said, right?”

"Well, that's really all. Although there is a little bit left over, it is really not necessary for us. It is [useless knowledge]. After all, it is just a waste of time." Shajo Aige He smiled and said, "And the reason why I said so much to the prince is to let you know why I want to keep this Miss Illya alive now."

"Remember what I said just now, you need a [container] to collect the souls and magic power of the defeated servants?"

"Hmm...could it be that-"

Alexia looked at Ilia on the bed: "Is she the container?"

"To be precise, it's her heart - all members of the Einzbern magic family are androids, and it is not that difficult to make an android specially adjusted to collect magic power and souls. She has been He has been adjusted since he was born, and his whole body is covered with magic circuits, and his body has been transformed to a size that can accommodate the souls and magic power of the six servants."

"Every time a Servant is absorbed, it will cause pain like a typhoon passing through the body, and some body functions will be shut down as a result, until it finally turns into a pure [Little Holy Grail (device)] without any humanity. ——This is the [prize] that all contestants are told they will eventually receive.”

What Sajo Aige said made Exia stare at Illya blankly for a moment.

Is the heart of such a child in front of him the Holy Grail he wants to get?

Is this the second source of magic power he wants?The heart of a child?

(This kind of thing...this kind of thing is nothing...)

In an instant, a violent feeling of nausea and nausea filled Alexia's five senses. The thing that could make him stronger was actually the heart of a child. If he used this kind of thing to become stronger, what would happen to him? ——

"By the way, there is another person I want to introduce to you, Mr. Prince."

As if remembering something insignificant, Saber Aige shouted to someone in the room: "Come out, Saber."

(——!)

Saber? !