The Undying Death Knight failed to achieve the ending of the Heroic Spirit

Her voice was trembling, but she tried her best to maintain a nonchalant attitude. She said to Berserker, who was imprisoned in layers, "Stand up."

Just like a gear finally crushing the stone that was blocking its movement, Berserker's body seemed to grow stronger, the chains on his body broke apart, and he slowly stood up.

A strange sense of connection connects Illya and Berserker.

"Miss, it worked."

Unlike Sera's joy, Illya just kept trembling to relieve the pain in her body.

She succeeded, but she wasn't happy.

It feels like being given charity.

This volume was added temporarily because the main plot outline was not finished. Just treat it as a side story.

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 289 Hatred

2023-07-29

In the central workshop of Einzbern, the old man looked at the snow scene outside the window, wondering what he was thinking.

However, "he" did not think about anything, had no intelligence, and "he" could not issue any orders.

"He" is Ahad, the eighth patriarch of the Einzbern clan and also the terminal of this generation of Einzbern dolls. Maintaining the operation of Einzbern is the primary mission of "his" creation.

"Illyasviel, your contract is complete."

The old man made a sound as if two pieces of sandpaper were rubbing against each other, but in fact, he could no longer remember how long he had lived. In order to obtain the Holy Grail, he had been renewed and iterated many times by continuously extending his life span, and this was the last time.

For this reason, he issued an order that "If Illyasviel cannot obtain the Holy Grail, the Einzbern family will be disbanded." And at that time, he will end his own life to declare the suspension of Einzbern.

"Next, I will arrange for you to take part in the trial to improve your synchronization rate with Berserker."

Although the Berserker class does not have the risk of being betrayed, if the Master does not reach a certain synchronization rate with the Servant, the Berserker may also lose control. The trial is not only to make the Berserker habitually obey orders, but also to enable Illya to give correct commands.

Precisely because he placed Einzbern's millennium on Illya, he made a series of arrangements, summoning servants a month in advance and running-in with the servants, all for the battle in the Far East.

Illya's body trembled unconsciously, and almost in the next moment, blue light particles took shape behind her. A humanoid monster covered in black scales stood quietly behind her, with dark magical air currents surging around him.

The scales on the back of the humanoid monster made a crackling sound, as if something was surging out from under its skin.

"Berserker, stand down."

Illya snorted, and the strange sound disappeared along with the surging dark magic power. Berserker's body returned to calm. He stood there like a specimen, but did not disappear as Illya requested.

“Is that so?” Ahad, who was facing Berserker directly, simply replied calmly, as if he had been rusted. “The synchronization rate is even lower than expected.”

——That’s not the case.

Illya wanted to refute that Berserker seemed to still have some rationality. She came here just to talk to Ahad about this matter, but when the words came to her lips, looking at Ahad's cold and turbid eyes, she gave up the idea of ​​speaking.

Dissatisfaction, unhappiness, hatred.

All kinds of emotions surged in her heart. Illya kept suppressing them until she returned to her room as planned, and then she finally burst out.

"Why don't you disappear, idiot! Just disappear when I tell you to!"

She shouted at Berserker who followed behind her in a dull manner, venting her anger on him. It was obvious that she would not get any response, and after venting her anger alone, Illya gradually came to her senses.

“Forget it. There’s no point in telling you.” She pointed at Berserker again: “Disappear.”

This time, Berserker's body quickly turned into disintegrating blue light and disappeared. Illya was the only one left in the room again. She sat on the bed with her knees hugged.

"poor."

She didn't like Berserker, not only because it was something that others had decided for her, but also because she hated Menechel.

Lancer in the last Holy Grail War was the Servant who defeated Kiritsugu... that man. If it weren't for him, if it weren't for him, I wouldn't have to participate in this Holy Grail War, nor would I have to undergo transformation.

Go, die, die, die!

……

She didn't know when she fell asleep.

But when Illya woke up again, she was awakened by the rhythmic knocking on the door. She didn't have any strange dreams, nor did she dream about Berserker's life. She just slept normally and forgot whether she had any dreams.

"Miss." It was Sera's voice outside the door. She heard the noise in the room and continued, "The clan leader said that the trial can begin."

"I know." Illya muttered dissatisfiedly. She lifted the quilt covering herself, but soon her hand paused. It seemed that she did not cover herself with the quilt before going to bed.

Her eyes turned and her peripheral vision glanced at Berserker who was standing quietly beside her bed. Perhaps when she fell asleep, Berserker regained his physical form.

Could it be Berserker...

Illya shook her head, rejecting the idea.

She then had new dissatisfaction:

"Materialization is a waste of magic power!"

She shouted in dissatisfaction. Without the support of the local spiritual veins activated by the Holy Grail, the magic power required for Berserker to manifest would all be borne by Illya alone. This was why she liked to make Berserker a spirit.

Of course, if it was just this kind of mild activity, Illya wouldn't feel much discomfort, but Illya didn't want to see Berserker.

The door was slammed open with a bang. Sera, who heard the shouting from inside, and Lijelite, who was wearing a half-human-high giant axe, broke in. Sera breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Illya was safe and sound.

She said, "My lady, the clan leader said that you can prepare for the trial."

"I know which workshop it is."

"Outside the castle."

Illya fell silent, her eyes revealing confusion. Outside the castle - how long had it been since she went out?

The last time she went out was with Kiritsugu. After that, Kiritsugu was driven out by his grandfather, and for the next ten years, her life seemed to be confined to this castle.

She heard from her grandfather that the man found a child outside to replace her.

She pursed her lips, but Sera took it as a sign of inner anxiety. She comforted her, "It's not far from the castle, in the town at the foot of the mountain. The master of the family said that it was to enable you to make reasonable choices in unfamiliar situations."

Ahad didn't say it, of course, but Sera could still guess.

Compared to the emotional Sera, Lijelite was much slower. She opened her mouth and spoke in a clumsy tone like a parrot:

"Berserker is very strong and will protect Illya."

"I don't need his protection! He's the one who would hurt me!" Illya retorted unhappily, and she got off the bed. Lijielit tilted her head in confusion, and when Illya approached her, she quickly put away her giant axe.

"Berserker has no hostility. He can be trusted."

"I understand." Illya finally lost her temper.

Lijelite was still worried. Only Illya and Berserker were going to this trial, and neither she nor Sera could follow.

"Berserker...will you protect Illya?"

Lijielit looked at the black Servant that followed out.

The other party let out a soft roar, and Lijelite lowered her head in relief.

Berserker job card is related to the game, and the skills of the Scourge Knight will be briefly explained again later.

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 290 Trial

2023-07-29

In the winter forest, in the walnut grove, the ground was covered with a layer of white snow, but because Einzbern had set up a magic formation in advance, the climate here was not cold.

The hint magic of "No Trespassing" and the magical beasts that already live in the forest make it impossible for ordinary people and low-level magicians to pass through the Winter Forest and reach the Einzbern Castle.

And somewhere in the forest, the black humanoid monster was trapped by three puppets. Next to him was his Master, so he could not retreat.

In fact, it is not necessary.

He did not use any weapons. His hands, which were covered with solid scales and transformed, were his best weapons. With just one strike, he smashed the first two puppets into pieces. The remaining puppet jumped out from behind him, with a sharp knife on its arm pointing directly at Illya.

Faced with the imminent crisis, Illya didn't even bother to raise her eyes. A tail covered with black barbs wrapped around her arms first, and then the tail swung hard, smashing the puppet to the ground.

The flying debris splashed on Illya's face, adding a hint of impatience to her eyes. As if she was the one who defeated the puppet, the girl spoke in an extremely contemptuous tone:

"Humph, it's just a trial of this level. It's the same no matter how many times you come."

Illya originally thought that command would be difficult, but she found that she only needed to give orders to attack, and she didn't need to think about the details of the battle.

"Let's end this boring trial quickly."

She walked through the snowfield filled with alchemical materials and headed deeper into the forest towards the location of the Einzbern Castle.

As long as she returns to the castle, her trial will be over.

Without her calling out, Berserker followed her steps.

On the treetop behind Illya, a one-eyed bird-like familiar transmitted the entire scene in the forest to the terminal.

No matter whether it was a humanoid puppet or a beast puppet, none of them could survive a single blow from Berserker, and none of the monsters raised by the Einzbern dared to approach Berserker.

Ahad's face was grim. His trial was not to test Berserker's strength - if the servants summoned by Einzbern with great effort had to fight against ordinary alchemical materials, he would have given the order to dismiss Berserker and summon them again.

This makes it impossible to accurately estimate Berserker's rampage threshold.

Although the Servant remained calm, he could not forget that he was Berserker.

Ahad made his judgment and issued new instructions.

……

The one who was searching for a new puppet suddenly stopped and looked at the dense crowd of androids in front of her. Most of them were incomplete, and the few with intact limbs had dull expressions. But without exception, they all held weapons such as axes or spears and stood in front of her. Both their number and magic power far exceeded the previous puppets.

"Is this the final trial?"

Illya lowered her head, her expression a little more gloomy than before.

Although these were just failed works of the family's artificial humans, Illya still felt angry when she saw these defective products being used like this.

"Kill them, Berserker!"

Even though she was angry, this was something she had to endure, just like it was painful to control a Berserker in battle, but she had to endure this pain and accept it.

If we fail, everyone will die, Sera will die, Lijelite will die, everyone in Einzbern will die.

No! I wish she was the only one who died!

Illya's entire focus was on Berserker, and she didn't immediately notice the barrier that had been raised around her.

She heard Berserker's roar and found that Berserker was suppressed by the androids that were laid out one after another. They were determined to restrain Berserker's movements even if their bodies were torn to pieces.

"how come……"

She was a little stunned. Logically, even the same number of Lijelite Berserkers could be easily dealt with.

Then she discovered that the magic power flowing from her body to Berserker was rapidly attenuating, so subtle that Illya could not even feel that she was supplying magic.

"Interference magic."

Illya finally discovered something unusual. A transparent barrier had risen between her and Berserker at some point, and it was this barrier that sealed the contract between her and Berserker.

——If it was a formal contract in the Holy Grail War, then this shallow barrier would naturally not be able to isolate it, but it was enough for the temporary contract in Illya's hand.

But this kind of magic isn't always used to defend castles...

Her arm was suddenly grabbed, and then the old man's voice sounded: "The Holy Grail War is not just a fight between Servants. When the enemy is far weaker than you, you still take the initiative to attack. As the Master of Berserker, you should be alert to whether someone is going to decapitate you."

Although Einzbern follows tradition, it is not pedantic, otherwise it would not have chosen the notorious magician killer to act on its behalf during the last Holy Grail War.

The android who appeared beside Illya and held her arm, the young android who was obviously not Ahad, spoke Ahad's voice. The expression on his face was as cold as the snow: "You were distracted just now."

"Grandpa, I..."

Illya's voice trembled, and she thought she had failed and her face turned pale.

"The trial is not over yet."

"Ahad" spoke, and he glanced at Berserker on the other side of the barrier, whose attack was obviously weakened due to the blockage of magic supply. He never expected that these defective products could defeat Berserker - unless he killed Illya on the spot and completely blocked Berserker's source of magic power, it would only be a matter of time before Berserker slaughtered all the defective products.

He projected a part of his spirit onto this puppet not to teach Illya how to deal with the Holy Grail War, but he pulled Illya up and said in an irresistible tone: "This is part of the trial."

Illya was still in a daze. She was petite to begin with, and was almost being held in Ahad's hands while running.

There was a roar behind him, and then an undisguised aura of tyranny surged around. Almost at the same time, Illya suddenly groaned, and her face turned pale.