They've already fought their way through the Holy Grail War, and you still call them dragons?

Emiya frowned and walked in the center of the canyon. Suddenly, he looked up and saw the corpse of Yamata no Orochi bleeding in the distance.

Chapter 242: The FGO plot is here, and you still say this is the Dragon Clan? (Two in one)

Just as Emiya was about to say something, he suddenly heard shouting from outside the canyon, and saw Xia Mi popping her head out from the cliff above the canyon.

The moment she saw Emiya, her slightly anxious face revealed a natural and gentle smile. She waved a small hand in the air and said:

"Brother Emiya! This is bad, something's not right with Sister Nono—"

While shouting, Xia Mi turned over and jumped off the cliff.

This action, which would be pure suicide for ordinary people, was nothing to her. She slid sideways over the cliff face and landed smoothly and steadily on the ground in the valley in a few seconds.

"What did you say? Are you sure?" Emiya stared.

He now has some reservations about the news that Xia Mi brought, because she even kept her own secrets very tightly, so how could he believe it?

Xia Mi seemed to realize that she had exaggerated a bit, and felt that if she continued to be naughty, she would be beaten by Emiya, so she embarrassedly changed her words and said, "It's nothing serious, I just didn't react."

"no response?"

"It's hard to describe," Xia Mi said mysteriously, lowering her voice. "Senior Sister Nuonuo is clearly a living person, but she has a divine reaction."

"Huh?" Emiya instantly realized that something was wrong. "Take me with you to see it."

Xia Mi led the way as instructed.

"My Lord! Be careful of this woman's background..."

Uzumaki took a step closer and whispered something beside Emiya. Uneasy about Xia Mi due to her initial impression, she followed closely behind in spirit form.

"Well, I was just about to ask her. It's really hard to find the right moment to talk—"

Emiya followed Xia Mi's footsteps, the latter's high ponytail swinging left and right in the air. "Assistant Xia Mi, you should know now, right? That false god has been defeated, and the matter is now over. Can you tell me the whole truth?"

"..."

Xia Mi paused for a moment, her face showing confusion.

What is coming will come. Since I have already signed a contract with him, I can't avoid it.

"Brother Emiya, you're really anxious. Let's talk about it all on the way... Let's start with the organizers of this Holy Grail War and the mastermind you defeated."

Xia Mi's voice suddenly became ethereal and vague, and her footsteps became light and traceless, as if she was a long-haired elf who was detached from the world, with her clothes fluttering and singing and dancing gracefully.

It was as if her human side was gradually fading, and her inhuman side was gradually revealed in her temperament:

"—Brother, you know this world was once ruled by a powerful non-human race. At that time, human civilization was extremely weak, primitive, and backward. To them, humans were just a group of humble servants."

"Huh? What do you mean...?"

"Yes, they are the dragons recorded in the secret histories of the mixed-blood families. The dragons once owned everything in the world, but humans at that time had a very limited understanding of the world. They often gave the dragons various names, including dragons, gods, fairies, vampires, and so on."

"Humans call the ancient era when dragons still roamed the mortal world the Age of Gods. But as you know, Senior Brother, there are no gods like those in human mythology in this world. The various bizarre names used by various civilizations are all far-fetched assumptions about dragons."

"……what?"

Emiya was filled with shock. No, what the hell had happened to this world?

It's fine that there aren't any gods or other fancy creatures like fairies or goblins, but there are only dragons. What kind of Age of Gods plot is this? Is this a grand unification of the dragons? Did Tiamat, the creator of Earth's ecosystem, simply disappear?

No, Tima is gone too, so where did the dragons come from? Could it be that the Albion dragon, which existed at the beginning of the planet, created them all on its own?

"So... Emiya, maybe you can guess it, right? I'm one of the organizers of the Holy Grail War. I'm a dragon. Even the false god Izanami, whom you killed, is my compatriot."

Just as Emiya was calming himself down, Xia Mi turned her head to look at him and changed the way she addressed Emiya.

There is no trace of lively and innocent temperament in her pure golden eyes. If you trace it back to the root, the school girl persona is just her acting, and the nature of the Dragon King, which is different from that of humans, is her inner nature.

Emiya looked at Xia Mi without any hesitation. The Dragon King's gaze did not make him feel afraid at all.

Seeing this, Xia Mi reluctantly gave up her timid gaze.

She was not as strong as him, and she had signed a contract. If she continued to cause trouble, she would be shooting herself in the foot. She really had no way to deal with Emiya.

"So, you don't mean to accuse me of slaughtering your own kind, right?" Emiya said.

"How is that possible?"

Xia Mi felt like she had heard something hilarious. "Just like... you humans can kill your fellow humans without hesitation, how many dragons have killed each other? In fact, it's even worse."

"Could it be that you are in a competitive relationship with each other? Just like in this Holy Grail War, where you were secretly competing against each other behind the scenes?"

“No, no, there is competition and occasional cooperation.”

Xia Mi said, "I and another Dragon King, Norton, have signed a contractual partnership. And the false god Izanami, whom you killed, is also a Dragon King. She is the White King and the core of the Holy Grail."

"She escaped control during our Holy Grail War and interfered, modifying the war format, turning it midway into a ritual of sacrificing everything to support her deification. That's why I said at that time that I was on your side."

"In short, although all of us Dragon Kings hold the power of the five elements and are all brothers and sisters created by the Black Emperor, fighting and even devouring each other does exist."

"The Dragon Clan is an arrogant race that believes in violence and the supremacy of power. We submit to greater violence and forever pursue greater violence. The greatest violence of the entire Dragon Clan is the Black Supreme, the Black King, who directly created us dragons."

When Xia Mi said this, her voice dropped, and there was a slight tremor in her tone. "He is the most violent person in this world, the supreme being of supreme virtue and power, and the creator that all of us dragons fear the most—"

Emiya felt a headache after hearing this, and couldn't help but rub his temples a few times. The more he listened, the more doubts he had. He was almost certain that this world was not normal.

Or maybe Tima didn't show up, so Albion created the dragon's Lostbelt—

Of course, Lostbelt is a term in FGO, and the formal term is "cut-off events", which is different from the normal "compiled events", which are "wrong historical routes that lack future development possibilities."

Or maybe this isn't the Type-Moon Universe at all—

But if it is the latter, how to explain the forces such as the Clock Tower, the Holy Church, and the inherent barriers, conceptual weapons and other systems with extremely similar principles?

Thinking about it this way, it's not that there's a lack of obvious ways to identify it. Because the Lostbelt, or the Cutting phenomenon, has a very typical characteristic -

No matter what is done, according to the trajectory of development, it is destined to come to an end, and the entire world will be directly cut off and disappear.

The reason why the Lostbelt in the FGO worldline can continue to exist without being cut is also due to the appearance of the Illusion Tree. If it is cut down by Chaldea, the survival of the Lostbelt will be in jeopardy.

"Allow me to ask a question," Emiya said softly after choosing his words. "First, in this world... does a 'tree' exist that sustains the entire world?"

Xia Mi opened her mouth and said, "Are you talking about the World Tree?"

Emiya almost wanted to slap himself in the face...was it really that? He remembered the Atlantic Lostbelt from FGO's storyline, and called the Fantasy Tree "World Tree Atlas."

What is the world tree in this world?

"What else could the World Tree be?" Xia Mi looked at Emiya strangely, not understanding what the other party was confused about.

"Of course, the World Tree is Yggdrasil, the one from the Norse mythology that you humans have passed down. The World Tree is real, and it truly is the origin that supports the world. Is there any problem with that?"

"No, Norse mythology?"

Emiya thought that if this really was a Lostbelt, then there were quite a lot of elements stitched together. There were alien races similar to the Fairy Lostbelt that ruled over human development, there was also the World Tree similar to the Greek Lostbelt, and elements that were praised as gods but were essentially other things.

He suddenly thought of Odin. "Wait, can your Dragon King's name also be matched with a character in Norse mythology?"

"Some are, some aren't. The myths you humans pass down are often distorted and adapted. The only ones who can be found are me, Jörmungandr, the Midgard Serpent, my brother Fenrir, and Odin, with whom you had a strife. Oh, and our great Black Lord Nidhogg."

"Well, I have another question--" Emiya leaned close to Xia Mi's ear, and the latter felt a little itchy due to the hot air, and the roots of her ears turned slightly red.

"Will this world be destroyed?"

After hearing this question, Xia Mi's originally somewhat embarrassed and angry mood suddenly disappeared. She glanced at Emiya who was right in front of her, and responded in a slightly depressed tone:

"The answer is yes. That's why we, the Dragon King, plan to hold the Holy Grail War, research Heroic Spirit technology, and pursue powerful strength. All of this is to fight against the destruction that will eventually come in the future."

"This embodiment of destruction and despair is the Black King Nidhogg I just mentioned. He is the most powerful being in history, a life form born from the planet itself, and cannot be killed. Although we once overthrew his rule, we cannot prevent his return one day in the future."

"The day of its return will mark the end of history and the destruction of the world."

This setting sounded familiar to Emiya. Wasn't this Type-Moon's UO (Ultimate One)? Nidhogg's role was essentially Albion, the First Dragon, combined with Type: Earth?

"You may be wondering why we, the dragon race, all know of the Black King's return, yet we are still obsessed with fighting and killing each other instead of uniting as one."

"This is because some dragons are extremely confident, even arrogantly so, believing they can devour all their kind, gradually strengthening themselves to the highest level, and ultimately replacing the Black King."

"As for Norton and I, we voluntarily gave up this path."

Xia Mi's brisk and clattering footsteps gradually slowed down. She walked in front through the lush forest. Her hair was caught and stretched by the drooping leaves, and then returned to its original shape. An invisible and intangible fragrance spread out and was caught by Emiya's nose.

"We have chosen another path of win-win cooperation."

Emiya couldn't help but be curious, "Why?"

"Because of you, Emiya, we see hope in you."

----

After passing through the dense forest, they finally arrived at Nono's location. Charlotte was also there to look after him.

To be honest, Emiya didn't see anything abnormal with Nono. Instead, she was very energetic.

When turning to look at Xia Mi, the latter spread her hands and said, "I don't know either... Before I left, Senior Sister Nuonuo hadn't opened her eyes yet."

Then you are really useless.

Emiya is now even more lazy to pay attention to Xia Mi, oh, or rather, the Dragon King Jörmungandr.

Because in the conversation just now, Emiya gradually understood the reason why the Holy Grail War got out of control. Although Xia Mi was hesitant in her words, he had guessed it to some extent - it was simply because of some mistake in her own supervision that allowed the White King to get out of control and became the fuse that triggered a series of incidents.

It's so speechless. In some very speechless situations, people will become... very speechless.

"Nono, are you okay?"

"It's okay, I'm fine! I feel like I could kill a cow with one punch!"

Very good, so you are also Mizuki Nana.

Emiya watched as Nono jumped up and down on the ground, the ground full of large cracks and holes that she had carelessly stepped on.

Charlotte was so frightened that she dared not move at all, and a flicker of envy and indignation crossed her face.

Her servant Sima Yi is about to leave the stage. In other words, she will soon become a mortal again. Why is it that the strength of this weak Nono is soaring into the sky?

That’s too bad, he just won without any effort!

"Why did I hear Xia Mi say that divinity appeared in you?"

"Well, I don't know if it's divine or not, but I did hear all sorts of believer-like chanting in my ears before, but it stopped later, and now I feel much better."

She pointed to her ears.

Nono's appearance seemed unchanged, clearly not from the goddess of beauty. However, her aura had indeed become otherworldly. Emiya observed her closely, and it seemed similar to Amaterasu and Yomi... perhaps a quality shared by divine beings.

"So, isn't that the time not long ago when I defeated that false god Huangquan?"

"Huh? It seems to actually match. Maybe that's when it stopped!"

Emiya checked the time with her. Nono was once a clone of Frigga III. Her physique, which was similar to the Lesser Holy Grail, was inextricably linked to the White King, who was the core of the Greater Holy Grail.

When the White King ascends to the throne of god, Nono should be regarded as the same entity, but now that the ascension ceremony has been interrupted, Nono will at most become a demigod.

With this series of bad events happening, Nuonuo can be said to have turned a disaster into a blessing.

After the two finished their conversation, Emiya's long-stretched nerves involuntarily relaxed, and he sighed. This troubled Holy Grail War was finally coming to an end. After he killed the final boss, he wondered how Eri's health was doing, whether she had gotten any better.

It would be even better if she could turn a disaster into a blessing and undergo a transformation like Nono. Eri would surely feel happier if she gained new powers.

After thinking about this, he decided to make a phone call to ask Su Enxi about Eiry's situation.

"Emiya, is the Holy Grail War...really over?" Nono suddenly asked.

"Hmm? Yeah, even the Holy Grail's core is gone. There's no way to continue even if we want to."

Emiya raised his head. He was familiar with the Holy Grail system. Destroying the Greater Holy Grail was equivalent to "killing the game"... If there was anything else, it would be other elements that were no longer within the scope of the Holy Grail War.

"Don't you think it's strange? Obviously, but this black mist still hasn't dissipated."

Nono pointed around, and Emiya looked around.

Yes, the black fog that obscured the vision seemed to have become lighter, but it did not disappear... This is not a natural phenomenon, it requires a slow and gradual process. Now that the instigator, the White King, is dead, his creations should also be reduced to ashes.

"Wait a minute! Has Yamata no Orochi already been defeated by the Archer team?"

Emiya suddenly thought of a serious problem. He learned from Xia Mi's statement that Yamata-no-Orochi was the body of the White King, so its soul could freely recreate the Ame-no-Murasakumo sword.

However, Yamata no Orochi is not included in the Holy Grail system.

It is an off-field factor!

"We were defeated!" The unison answers came from Xia Mi and Chou Yuzen respectively.

Obviously they had been paying attention to the battle situation before.