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

But it suddenly gave rise to a desire.

Want to eat him!

Without consciousness of one's own, one is like a sleepwalker who can only fill the gaps in his body reflexively.

It suddenly stretched out its "hand" towards Assassin.

A "black hand" that made people shudder at the mere sight of it stretched out from the shadows and reached out to grab Assassin who was lying on the wall.

Assassin jumped away quickly, his body moving flexibly between the gaps of the palms as if it was not bound by gravity. His black windbreaker was blown by the strong wind, and at one point Assassin raised his bandaged right hand.

"Delusion Heart Sound (Zabaniya)!"

The bandage flew off, revealing the bright red skin underneath. The hand, which was already unusually thick, expanded rapidly after being completely exposed to the air. As Assassin's body swung, the arm lashed at the monster hiding in the darkness like a whip.

His bright red nails swept across the chest of the shadow, but he retracted them before being entangled by the black palm, and Assassin suddenly stepped back.

"How's it going, Assassin."

Kallen's voice echoed in his mind.

"It didn't work, Master."

Assassin also recovers in the causal line.

Judging from the position, his Noble Phantasm had indeed touched the man's heart, but Assassin did not feel any physical contact at all. He just felt his fingertips passing through the air.

"Imaginary numbers are really hard to deal with." In the causal line, Karen's voice paused for about two or three seconds before she continued, "Retreat."

After receiving the order, Assassin silently leaped backwards, but more tentacles rushed towards him. It was obvious that it was unwilling to give up the food it had finally found. Obviously, that guy was not as fast as Assassin, but every time Assassin thought he had successfully shaken him off, it would appear again from the side and rear.

——Go further and you will reach the downtown area.

Assassin's black eyes flashed under his mask, and he remembered the Master's instruction to "try not to attract the attention of other servants." He quickened his pace, but just before crossing the abandoned city, something suddenly leaked out from the other corner of his black windbreaker.

Looking closely, it was a woman with long purple hair. She seemed to be completely unconscious, and her body was falling straight down.

That was Caster who had lost the ability to resist after being ambushed by Assassin.

The black hands were immediately attracted to Caster who was thrown from the air, and before Caster fell, those hands had already grabbed her.

——After devouring Caster, this guy will be quiet for the next few days.

……

Inside the church.

Kallen recited the contents of the Bible softly, but she still couldn't suppress the smile of a sadist on her lips.

Of course she knew what the indescribable thing was, the Little Holy Grail, the legacy left behind by Matou Zouken.

Under normal circumstances, after a Servant dies in battle, his soul should return directly to the Throne of Heroes. However, due to the existence of a container called the Holy Grail, the Servant's soul will be temporarily stored in the Small Holy Grail before the Holy Grail descends, serving as a key to open the path to the root.

Logically speaking, the production of the Holy Grail has always been in the hands of the Einzbern family. If Kallen guessed correctly, the Einzbern family had learned from the lesson of the last time when the Holy Grail was stolen while the Servant was away, and the Holy Grail chosen by this generation is Illya, the Master of Berserker.

It is almost impossible to snatch the Lesser Holy Grail from Berserker. Even Lancer is weaker than Berserker in direct combat.

But, fortunately, Kallen, who had just arrived in Dongmu, found an exception - Matou Sakura, a small Holy Grail imitated by the deceased head of the Matou family, Matou Zouken.

It was also she who activated this hidden little holy grail.

The timeline of Matou Sakura's transformation is that she just started to be raised, just like Illya, she had to start from childhood and modify her magic circuits in advance (soaked in a pile of insects).

ps: I have been busy practicing driving in recent days, sometimes I can practice from 6:15 in the morning to 6 or 7 in the afternoon. I can't update stably. I have to wait until I get my driver's license.

(End of this chapter)

326. Chapter 314 Detective Illya

326.

2023-07-31

There is no sun today, and the thick and oppressive clouds have completely blocked out the sunlight.

Sitting at the dining table of Einzbern, Illya's mood today was as bad as the weather. She ate breakfast lazily. The soft toast entered her mouth, but she didn't even have the strength to chew it.

I thought that absorbing the souls of more than four servants would cause loss of ability to move was just an exaggeration by the Einzberns, but now it seems to be true.

"I don't want to go out today."

Here, without Ahad's constraints, Illya simply threw away the cumbersome etiquette. Her upper body almost collapsed on the table, and she turned her head to look at Menechel beside her with light almost coming out of her eyes.

Minesher hesitated for a moment, but in the end, under the pressure of Sera's eager eyes, he did not feed Illya. This made Illya puff her lips in dissatisfaction, and she grabbed the knife and fork and cut the toast into small pieces.

Seeing this, Sera withdrew her gaze from Menachere with satisfaction, but she turned to Illya and said, "My lady, if you don't go out to gather intelligence, you may lose the battle due to lack of intelligence."

"No, Berserker won't lose." Illya immediately retorted. She blinked and found an excuse for her laziness: "It would be bad if the base was damaged while I was away."

"You don't have to worry about this, Miss."

"Lijelite...will protect..."

The two android maids spoke almost at the same time. Illya pouted her lips in displeasure, but smiled deflatedly the next moment.

Taking all of this in his sight, Minashel's eyes darkened.

Neither Sera nor Lijelite showed any concern for Illya. It was obvious that the two really thought they were sent here just to take care of and protect Illya. Menechel could already foresee that when Illya lost her ability to move, Lijelite would protect the small Holy Grail, while Sera would bring the fully descended Holy Grail back to Einzbern.

"Besides, there are ways to get information without going out." Illya turned on the TV. She had been upset not long ago because Sera bought modern industrial products when renovating the castle, but today this TV that Illya described as "useless garbage" became a good excuse for her to be lazy.

She clicked a few times randomly on the remote control, and the TV suddenly lit up. A soft female voice came from the TV, and Illya immediately puffed out her chest proudly.

Sera was speechless. She frowned and looked at Illya sternly, trying to awaken her ambition. She bought the TV just to let Illya experience the life of a normal person.

"I...have no objection."

"Lijelite!" Sera glared at her colleague who had suddenly turned against her.

"Please listen to the morning report. There have been frequent disappearances in the city recently. It seems to be a premeditated crime. We would like to remind all citizens to be vigilant."

The joy on Illya's face gradually disappeared with the broadcast of TV news, and finally returned to calm. She turned her head slowly to watch the news program on TV. The female anchor and the middle-aged man who was crying while holding a blood-stained amulet were isolated from her. Her eyes fell on the four photos of missing people that almost occupied the left half of the screen. There were both men and women. The most recent one was a middle-aged woman with a face that was neither beautiful nor ugly. She was the type that would be completely lost in a crowd. Her skin was waxy yellow without any maintenance, and there were not-so-obvious crow's feet at the corners of her eyes.

But even such an ordinary person, Illya could recognize him. He was the one who talked to her at the entrance of Liudong Temple, shared his blessings with her and praised her beauty. He was a mother with a gentle voice. She came to Liudong Temple to pray for her sick daughter. She was an ordinary person without magic power.

"She said that she would take me to see her child if she had the chance. He is a cute child just like me."

Illya's face sank, her palms clenched involuntarily, anger brewing in her eyes despite her calm appearance. She tried to make her voice calm, but the more she did so, the colder the aura around her became.

"It was the magician who did it."

Such a silent disappearance is not something that an ordinary person can do. And the magician who dares to be active in Dongmu at night at this time... randomly captures ordinary people in order to replenish the magic power of the servants?

An unknown fire burned in her chest - why couldn't these guys who were incapable of supporting magic just give up? If they wantonly deprived others of their right to survive, wouldn't her desperate desire to keep everyone in the Einzbern alive be seen as that of an idiot?

It is unforgivable. Compared with Kiritsugu and Emiya Shirou, Illya cannot forgive these people even more.

"Then I'll go check on the situation."

Menechel took the initiative to speak, he wanted Illya to stay with her and her companions for a while longer.

"Assassin hasn't shown up yet, Berserker." Illya rejected Menechel's proposal.

As one of the three original initiators of the Holy Grail system, the location of Einzbern's base has become almost semi-public information. Even though every Master of Einzbern will inspect and reset the barrier, this is useless to the Servants - as early as the Third Holy Grail War, there were cases where Einzbern participants were assassinated by enemy Servants when they stayed alone at the base.

Illya took out a napkin and symbolically wiped the corners of her mouth. She stood up and first wrapped herself in the scarf handed to her by Sera and then put on the purple knitted hat in Li Jielit's hand.

"Besides, Berserker will definitely mess things up... He will just go to the scene and take a look. After a night, even the most obvious traces of magic will disappear."

Menachel couldn't help but smile awkwardly when his thoughts were guessed. He really didn't care about the lives of irrelevant people. If Illya hadn't shown her concern, Menachel wouldn't even have investigated it specifically. For him, protecting Illya was the most important thing. As for the rest, he could only restrain himself from hurting ordinary people.

After finishing everything, Illya stretched her body. She said, "We're going to church! Stupid Berserker!"

The disappearance last night was reported in the news this morning. This speed is too efficient for the police in the Far East. As the agent of [preventing the secrets of the Holy Grail War from being known by ordinary people], the nun must know something. It is possible that she was the one who reported the case.

And... didn't Berserker say that Kallen might be the Master? Maybe we can find the location of Lancer or Assassin.

327. Chapter 315 Suspicion

327.

2023-08-02

The trees on both sides became sparser as they got closer. Illya walked towards the location of the church in her memory, and suddenly she stopped.

Almost at the same time when Illya stood still, Menechel manifested his physical form and wrapped Illya tightly with his body.

"what happened?"

He looked around vigilantly, but did not find any suspicious signs.

"The barrier was destroyed the last time I came here." Illya patted Menechel's arm to indicate that he was tightening it too much, so she simply put her arm around Menechel's arm, and as Berserker raised his arm, she was placed on Menechel's shoulder.

Once out of the downtown area, Illya no longer had to worry about her image.

She grabbed Menachere's horn with one hand, signaling him not to move, and entangled her hair with the other hand. After a moment's hesitation, Illya said, "Be careful."

If it was before the melee, Illya could have led Berserker forward, but after a resurrection, Berserker's attributes were reduced and he had lost the ability to act recklessly.

The hand that was entangled in the hair exerted a little force, and a strand of silver hair was pulled down by Illya. The pure white magic power permeated the entire hair through the fingertips. The silver hair twisted between Illya's fingers and was finally woven into a bird-shaped familiar.

As soon as he released his fingers, the familiar flapped its wings and flew towards the church deep in the forest.

“It’s magical no matter how many times I see it.”

Menachere beneath him suddenly spoke.

Illya, who was sharing the view with her familiar, was also attracted by Menechel's words: "Didn't magicians of Berserker's era use familiars?"

After he finished speaking, Illya was stunned. Although Berserker had been summoned for nearly a month, he had never mentioned any information about the era in which he lived to Illya. Her knowledge of Berserker was still limited to what was recorded in books and legends.

"The knights I know only learned to use magic to strengthen their bodies in battle. Familiars seem to be an unattainable means to us." At least in Menechel's knowledge, even old man Merlin had never used a familiar.

“Eh? If I were to live in the era of Berserker, I might be able to become a Heroic Spirit.”

Illya's voice was joyful, but Menechel's heart sank. He did not want Illya to become a heroic spirit.

"But will this familiar make you bald if you use it too much? It seems like it pulls out a hair every time."

“Hmm!” Illya’s body froze. She scratched her hair subconsciously, but suddenly realized what was happening and yelled in dissatisfaction: “Berserker is a big idiot! You should have kept this kind of thing to yourself and not pointed it out!”

Illya understood why, in the legend, those noble ladies gave up the idea of ​​marriage after learning about the First Knight from King Arthur.

This way of speaking is really not chivalrous.

Having successfully diverted Illya's attention elsewhere, Menachel secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Illya was quiet for a while, as if she was sulking alone, and at one point she grabbed Menachel's white hair again.

"A Servant's body will recover quickly even if all his hair is plucked out."

"Idiot Berserker, I'm not going to pull out your hair!" Illya pulled hard and actually pulled out two strands of hair. Menechel was caught off guard and snorted uncomfortably.

"There are signs of invasion outside the church, and the familiars haven't found the nun inside the church - something went wrong with the church."

The familiar flew back from the woods and guided Berserker in the direction of the church.

It was not until he entered the church that Menachere realized how conservative Illya's words about "traces of invasion" were. The door was almost removed, with only half of it still hanging on the door frame, and the other half deeply embedded in the wall of the prayer room, smashing the cross to pieces, and the wound on the iron sheet was particularly eye-catching. The tables and chairs welded to the ground were also violently lifted up, and bloodstains could be seen extending forward as he walked along.

The bloodstain finally stopped in front of a window, and the glass there was shattered as if it had been crushed by a heavy object.

Illya subconsciously twirled her hair around her temples. Out of caution, she let the familiar fly away again.

The church was attacked, and... the attackers had methodically set up magic to disperse idlers around it. Coupled with the special significance of the church's [neutral zone], if Illya hadn't come here on a whim, it is estimated that no Master would have discovered that the church had been attacked until the end of the Holy Grail War.

It was strange, Illya looked around in confusion, but the attacker was not careless enough to leave clues nearby.

She had thought that the people chosen in this hastily started Holy Grail War were just innocent children like Rin Toosaka. But there were actually people who, like her, had no intention of following the rules from the very beginning.

The attacker could be Assassin, Lancer, or even the defeated Caster.

——Click.

Illya raised her head, and Menachel under her also raised her tail and circled around Illya.

With a rustling sound, a black shadow swooped down from above, and the shining dagger in its left hand was immediately thrown towards Illya.

"Assassin."

The tail swept across, and the black scales collided with the dagger, easily crushing it. The tail was about to stab Assassin above, but Assassin swung his bandaged right arm and used an extremely strange posture to move his body to avoid the stab by a hair's breadth.

Assassin landed steadily on the broken glass without making any sound. He stared at Illya through his grotesque skull mask.

"Were you the one who attacked the church?"

Assassin did not answer, and Illya did not give Assassin a chance to answer. As she spoke, she signaled Menechel to attack.