Arknights' Lock of Heaven

If I disappear...

Rhodes Island's inhibitors will revert to being true inhibitors, and all the troubles he caused in the past will come back to haunt the present Rhodes Island.

"There's no such thing as having it all," Xia Yu said with a wry smile. "It really is a difficult choice."

“I said I understand you,” Kal’tsit looked at Xia Yu and sighed softly, “but that understanding is limited to understanding you as a person.”

"What lies behind you, where does your power come from? All of this is unknown."

“I’ve read the manuscript you left in the infirmary,” Kal’tsit confessed. “I don’t understand it, but there’s no doubt that it’s a systematic doctrine.”

"But it doesn't belong to this land."

“What if I tell you?” Xia Yu looked at Kal’tsit seriously, “Tell you everything about my past?”

Upon hearing this, Kal'tsit's lips curled up slightly. "Then I'm all ears."

"But is it alright?" she said softly. "It's your secret."

“Ha,” Xia Yu said, looking at the Holy Grail that was half full of magic power within her.

This is not the youthful version of the Holy Grail created by Goetia; its primary function is merely to serve as a super energy reserve. This is the original Holy Grail taken from the Gate of Babylon, and without a doubt, it represents a miracle.

In the past, I would have kept quiet, but now that I have lost most of my magic reserves, I have to be cautious.

Now, I don't need it anymore.

Just as he would reveal the medicine for treating Oripathy, he would carelessly leave the magic manuscript that Leonardo da Vinci gave him in the infirmary.

I feel more confident now.

Therefore, those things from the past are no longer important.

“If you want to hear it,” Xia Yu sat down opposite Kal'tsit, “it’s a very, very long story about two girls saving the world.”

"A young girl?" Kal'tsit sized up Xia Yu. "Although appearances can be deceiving, it's probably not you."

“Ha, of course not,” Xia Yu recalled the past, “I was a villain, you know.”

He pointed to himself and said, "The villain who hangs the savior from a tree and waits for her partner to appear with the ransom."

“It seems,” Kal’tsit said with a serene smile, “that’s quite an interesting story.”

"The story begins in a place called Chaldea..."

-

"Are you Enkidu?" Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at Xia Yu with a strange expression. "I don't think... you look quite like him."

"Senior?" The innocent girl holding the shield tilted her head, wondering why the senior would say that.

But she's not some naive fool. Since she's concealed her identity, she must not be on the same side.

So even though they didn't understand, they quickly raised the giant shield that was as tall as a man and stood in front of the savior.

"Why would you think that?" Xia Yu was stunned when he heard this. He looked at Fujimaru Ritsuka, "Have you ever met Enkidu?"

“The correct way to ask this is, have you seen me before?” Fujimaru Ritsuka narrowed her eyes upon hearing this. “It seems my intuition was right.”

"You are not Enkidu."

Hearing this, Xia Yu looked around at the desert. Yes, before they even reached the forest and encountered any white-haired online scammer, she had already been exposed.

So... I was able to fool Gorgon... purely because He's lost his mind...?

"Wait a minute, don't rush to do it," Xia Yu stopped the eager Mash and looked at Fujimaru Ritsuka, "I have another question, how did you figure that out?"

“You’re lonely, aren’t you? Judging from your expression, from your words… How long has it been since you’ve had a conversation with anyone, or rather, a normal person?” Fujimaru Ritsuka pushed up her non-existent glasses and said confidently, “You told me so much, that Uruk is still alive… that Gilgamesh is still a pillar of support…”

"But you look so lonely, it doesn't seem like you have a close friend."

"Besides, your way of speaking is too modern..."

At this point, she shrugged and said smugly, "So I tested it out a little, and I didn't expect it to actually work!"

Ah, I see...

Xia Yu sighed.

These past few years of primitive life have been incredibly grueling... Yes, Uruk is there, but don't forget his current identity.

Even if those people don't know it yet, and they only see him as Enkidu, but...

Eventually, the day will come when swords clash.

Although I was also powerless to do it, or perhaps it was selfish of me, I thought that if I didn't get involved and there were no feelings involved... then I might not hesitate to take action when the time came.

So they lived like primitive people for so long.

Ultimately, it's all my own problem.

I didn't expect Fujimaru Ritsuka to be so perceptive; she noticed it before we even exchanged a few words.

What a mistake.

But it's understandable. If she were really just a bystander like in Kodachi's stories, she probably wouldn't have made it this far.

“Have you ever thought about this?” Xia Yu looked at Fujimaru Ritsuka with a smile, “You can’t beat me.”

Hearing this, Mash recalled how swiftly he had reaped the monsters when he helped her and her senior out of trouble, swallowed hard, and gripped her shield even tighter.

“Of course I’ve thought about it,” Fujimaru Ritsuka said with a helpless expression. “What if you get angry and embarrassed after I expose you…”

She looked up at the horizon. "But you're clearly trying to take us away, which means that at least here, our only threat is you."

"If I go with you, who knows what I'll face?"

"So, I have no choice but to take a gamble. As for what to do if I can't win..." She clasped her hands together, "Ah, my goddess, please save your faithful follower for the sake of me being your human cushion when you landed!"

Xia Yu laughed upon hearing this.

"Tell me, do you know how helpless the Uruk herders are with that capricious goddess? And you even actively summoned her?"

"And to summon her, you'd have to offer at least a few pounds of gems."

“There’s nothing we can do,” Fujimaru Ritsuka shrugged. “If we can’t beat them, we can’t beat them. We can only hope for this.”

Hearing this, Mashu blinked.

She was a little confused about the situation.

This... shouldn't this be a tense situation? Why is the senior still chatting and laughing with this imposter Enkidu? There's no sign of them going to fight.

The innocent girl was a little confused.

"So, can you tell me your name?" Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at Xia Yu. "We can't start fighting without even knowing the enemy's name, can we?"

"Want to know?" Xia Yu smiled slightly. "I'll tell you the next time we meet after you escape from my clutches."

"Or you can surrender now, and I will mercifully grant your wish."

“It seems you’re quite confident,” Fujimaru Ritsuka raised an eyebrow. “However, Mash and I, who have survived six singularities, are not pushovers either. Are you sure you can take us down?”

Hearing this, Xia Yu smiled and reached her hand to her chest.

Then, to the astonishment of Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mashu, he pulled out a golden Holy Grail.

337

"Holy Grail?"

Upon hearing this, Kal'tsit asked in confusion.

“Well, about the Holy Grail,” Xia Yu said, stroking her chin, “you can think of it as a super energy reserve that can supply all the energy needed for an entire mobile city and still have more than enough.”

"Of course, the Holy Grail's power is not limited to this."

“I see,” Kal'tsit said thoughtfully upon hearing this.

Pulling it out of the chest means this thing isn't very big... a city-level energy source that can be carried by a single person... this is much more extravagant than a stone coffin.

Thinking of this, she looked at Xia Yu, "So, you fought with the savior?"

“No, no,” Xia Yu said with a strange expression. “How should I put it… Fujimaru Ritsuka’s intuition is really sharp…”

……

"Okay, we surrender!"

Just as Mash raised her shield, determined to fight to the death, Fujimaru Ritsuka readily raised her hands.

"senior?!"

The astonished shield-wielding girl turned around and looked at the person who had helped her overcome numerous difficulties and support her all the way here.

It was obvious that she couldn't understand.

Actually, I didn't understand Xia Yu very well at the time.

Why did you surrender so easily? I thought we were going to have a game.

“There’s nothing we can do about it,” Fujimaru Ritsuka said, shrugging in response to their puzzled looks. “With the Holy Grail, you’re the Singularity King, aren’t you? Mash, think about all the Singularity Kings we’ve encountered in the past…”

"The Hundred-Year War of the Evil Dragon, the Everlasting Mad Empire, the Sealing Out of the Four Seas"

The City of the Dead and the Mist, the North American Mythological War, The Sacred Round Table Realm