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

Even if the eight Sheqi families provided them with work-related injury insurance as part of their benefits, they would not risk their lives like this.

People had no idea what happened next. They only heard the sound of explosions and sharp cutting sounds, but they had to resist the urge to look back. They could only imagine the intensity of the battle through the shaking of the ground.

But it was just a superficial imagination. One nerve was always tightly stretched to prevent them from thinking of anything else. In panic, they worried that if they looked back, they would lose hope of life.

As described in the biblical book of Genesis, God sent fire from heaven to destroy the sinful cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The righteous Lot and his family were helped out of the city by angels, who warned them not to look back. However, Lot's wife ignored the warning and turned back to look, ultimately becoming a pillar of salt.

Aso really felt that her legs and feet were sore from running, but she still forced herself to continue running.

Just like the long-distance runner in the inspirational movie "Forrest Gump" she had seen, there was a spiritual will supporting her, saying, "Run! If you don't keep running, you won't survive!" No matter what, doing this is better than being killed by flying debris.

She had secretly memorized Emiya's appearance in her heart. Although she didn't know who the other person was, with the interpersonal relationships she had gained through years of working, she could always get relevant information from her friends.

Compared to Aso Makoto who was obviously clueless, the more diligent boss of the Musashi group had a vague guess about something. People like him who did not belong to the headquarters of the Snake Eight Families generally did not have the authority to know too many secrets, but as the boss of a directly affiliated branch organization, he had heard that the main family had an "Emperor" who had reproduced the noble bloodline in the legend.

The Musashi Group leader, who had no right to meet Gennochi, secretly speculated about the identity of Emiya, the savior:

Could he... be the "Amaterasu" of the Snake Eight Clans?!

The leader of the Musashi Group didn't know what the so-called noble bloodline of the family was like, but the one who displayed such extraordinary power that was far superior to that of ordinary mixed-bloods, and saved civilians like a great hero destined by heaven in mythology, must be Amaterasu, right?

----

Amidst the blowing wind pressure, mixed with the dancing sword lights, Emiya had no idea that a new group of people were imagining his identity.

At this moment, he is still... spinning at high speed.

Ushiwakamaru's move "Five Scenery Side Story ◆ Kimi Castle · Icicle Slash" was once used in the FGO event "Tenma Otogi Soshi". It is to spin himself at high speed like a top, increasing the cutting force and efficiency of the cut to an incredible level, and splitting Ibaraki Douji's Noble Phantasm into two.

Emiya had to concentrate extremely hard, keeping his mind alert as he spun, trying to control his direction. If he hadn't been so alert, he would have gone off the track.

Ping——!

At one point, Blade Storm clashed fiercely with the colorful whip, but the soft yet sharp Sword of the God of War shrugged off the blow. Emiya then held on tightly, following the whip's extension and striking back at Attila's body...

boom!

Emiya, carrying a terrifying sharp glare and a tornado of sword blades, crashed into the position he judged based on his mind's eye. In just a moment, the fragile ground was directly penetrated, the sturdy steel and concrete earthquake-resistant building shattered, and his figure fell down along the huge pit.

Squeak, squeak——!

Although he was caught off guard by this move and had to dodge it in a hurry, Attila still skillfully swung the Sword of the God of War to block the dense cutting blades, showing his extraordinary martial arts skills.

Unfortunately, the gauze spiritual robe she was wearing could not withstand the intensity of the battle and was still torn into pieces by the incessant roaring wind.

"..."

After a while, Emiya's activated Noble Phantasm finally wore out. He stood up from the underground "common trench" (a sewer that integrated communications, electricity, water supply, and drainage pipes) and looked out through the huge, broken hole. He saw Attila, her hair flying, one hand tightly clutching her chest.

The clothes burst?

The brown-skinned girl glared at Emiya with a hint of annoyance, then turned and ran away, disappearing beside the cave.

Emiya hurriedly jumped onto the ground, looked around and searched for a long time, but could not find any trace of the Servant who suddenly appeared.

Instead, there was a buzzing sound in the sky above his head. Emiya looked up and saw that it was the iron wings of a helicopter. The noise produced by it cutting through the air and the vibration of the engine was rumbling and unique.

This UH-60JA attack helicopter was like a high-flying iron-gray eagle, flapping its huge main rotor and tail rotor to fly towards him, and lowering a rope ladder from the side and landing precisely in front of him.

Emiya saw a familiar face above and waved. It was Sakura Yabuki, Minamoto no Chisei's assistant.

----

Xia Mi regained consciousness in the big cave. She subconsciously touched her clothes and found that they were still intact. Only then did she let go of the tension on her face and breathed a sigh of relief.

Xia Mi first knocked twice on the rock wall of the cave beside her. A ferocious-looking bat-like sickle-weasel flew down from above, lowered its head, and respectfully handed the portable camera in its claws to her.

Xia Mi looked through the battle record of Attila taken on the device and showed a satisfied look, but her eyebrows, which had just relaxed, began to frown again. She ignored Fenrir who was staring at the Holy Grail in boredom in the distance, and came to the fixed location to open Norton's space and create an alchemy array to "make a call."

"What's wrong? What's going on this time? Let me guess. You were probably impatient to test Attila before. I don't think there will be any problems with the vest I made for you. If there are no problems, please don't disturb my work."

"There isn't a problem... actually," Xia Mi paused, "but when I drive Attila, why do I have to connect my consciousness to her in order to move normally? Can't she move on her own?"

"? Why don't you listen to what you're saying? Didn't you want me to create a pseudonym? You and your sister are the King of the Huns. If I create a conscious heroic spirit Attila, wouldn't that make us a pirated King of the Huns?"

"But, even if it's not pirated... this..."

"I know what you want to say. Regardless of whether it's pirated or not, you must realize that I created a vest for you out of thin air - an unconscious soul container, and borrowed the authority of the White King to a certain extent." Norton's technical explanation sounded as long and smelly as an old lady's foot wrap.

"This approach is extremely detrimental to the stability of the seal on the White King's soul. A slight mistake could cause him to escape, not to mention exploiting the White King's authority to create a conscious soul... If you're aware of the risks, then keep an eye on the Greater Holy Grail—"

"No, what I mean is... since it's too risky and can't be done, could you please change the redundant 'consciousness link' operation method? For example, just let me become Attila!"

Xia Mi's intention was clearly to summon the Servant Attila onto her own body. This way, when she deployed her vest, she could directly transform into her Servant form, effectively switching accounts and logging in locally, rather than logging in from a different location. This meant she would need Fenrir to watch over her true form.

In fact, the situation that Xia Mi described belongs to "pseudo-Servant" in Type-Moon.

That is, the existence of the servant depends on the living person. Zhuge Kongming, Sima Yi, Ishtar and others who appear in FGO all belong to this category, and the objects they possess respectively are Weber Velvet, Lanice El-Melloi Archizolti and Toosaka Rin.

“…This is not impossible, but there is no proven precedent.”

"Does it matter?"

Facing Xia Mi's question, Norton directly asked:

"If you're in a hurry, why don't you serve as the experimental subject yourself? As long as you have enough trust in my skills, it's no problem. After all, this is the first experiment, and I can't guarantee the possibility of any accidents."

Xia Mi raised her hands high in a French military salute:

"...Then I won't do it! Let's start with the Holy Grail War and find an unlucky Master to test the feasibility of this model! If it works, I'll take over!"

Norton's tone remained unchanged. "And there's a problem. Once you choose to use the power of a Heroic Servant in this form," Norton on the other end of the communication suddenly thought of something and paused before giving a warning. "You will lose the great advantage of 'spiritualization'."

"what?"

"While operating in the 'Attila' state, did you encounter any long-range sniping attacks from human thermal weapons?"

"Well, come to think of it, I did have some when I was retreating, but I didn't feel any threat... Is this 'spiritual transformation' the same as the 'hollow' state where I can pass through walls and burrow through the ground?"

Norton explained the mystery of the Servant's spiritual structure:

"You can do this... ultimately, it's because Servants are a form of soul."

"In other words, Heroic Servants are the special energy structures of 'spiritual elements' that have undergone alchemical processing. Pure spiritual elements are higher in status than the four elements, thus enabling the spiritualization phenomenon that eliminates all physical interference."

The only spiritual element application method commonly recognized by the hybrids in the dragon world is the solid spiritual element extracted from dragon bones and blood - the Philosopher's Stone. Such a Philosopher's Stone is a deadly weapon that can effectively kill high-level dragons and even dragon kings. As for the application of other spiritual elements... at most, there are only a few spiritual words.

Dragons that are more adept at alchemy can apply spiritual elements to a more advanced level - extracting souls and implanting them into solid equipment to form "living weapons". This achievement is already quite incredible in the eyes of humans.

As for separating from the object of attachment and processing the soul into a form that can exist independently, it is almost impossible to achieve with conventional thinking. It is only possible with the help of the spiritual elemental authority of the White King.

"And now, the possibility of spiritualization has been realized in the Heroic Spirit, which means..."

“In other words…?”

Norton held his forehead and said, "If you want to transform yourself into Attila, then spiritualization is impossible because you already have a physical body. Once the experiment is feasible, you will become a physical body possessed by a spirit... You are actively giving up the spiritual advantages of your vest."

----

"You mean you saw the enemy, but didn't hit him?"

Emiya was pulled up into the noisy helicopter along the rope ladder by Yabuki Sakura and two other strong men, Crow and Yasha, and then they exchanged information with each other.

Crow, standing nearby, raised his voice and answered loudly—inside the helicopter, where noise cancellation was nearly nonexistent, everyone had to shout—"We once used the M240 machine gun to fire at the suspected injured target, but they completely ignored us and simply vanished into thin air."

"Of course that won't work, because a Heroic Spirit is a spiritual being. Your method of purely physical interference is completely contrary to that."

"Heroic spirit?" Crow and Yaksha looked at each other, and both saw the deep doubt that flashed in each other's eyes.

"...Simply put, it's a type of necromancy that draws the souls of the deceased to serve. Because it's a spiritual phenomenon rather than a physical entity, the heroic spirit is immune to purely physical attacks."

Emiya was still exhausted from releasing his Noble Phantasms so many times. Now in a safe environment, he began to recuperate. He didn't bother to waste time talking to the unsuspecting members of the Minamoto clan, so he explained concisely:

"The spirit-transforming ability of Heroic Spirits is based on this principle. They are the souls of the dead who can fight. The word 'Heroic Spirit' is derived from the spirit of Odin in Norse mythology."

"...?"

The big-armed, small-minded Yaksha opened his eyes wide, revealing a look of deep confusion. His elementary school education level was not up to par.

"Oh! I see!"

The crow on the side was thinking even faster. Rather than thinking about the Norse mythology, he thought more about the popular supernatural culture in Japan, especially those well-known local supernatural movie series, such as the vengeful spirits in the movies "The Ring" and "The Grudge", which could not be eliminated by firearms and bullets because the bullets would pass through the spirits.

Yasha looked back and glared at his old partner, Crow, who looked thoughtful. "You bespectacled beast! What do you understand?"

"That's good to hear. Go back and report this to Genjisei. Tell him that the attacking Heroic Spirits are related to the Demonic Clan and are definitely targeting us."

Emiya remembered the masked man "King General" of the Demonic Group that he had talked about with Ruri Kazama that day.

"The Holy Grail War...is about to begin."

Chapter 156 Herzog, Don’t Sleep Too Deeply at Night

"Young Master, this is the entire story of this incident, as well as the explanation given by Mr. Emiya."

"Okay, thank you for your hard work. Sakura, please prepare the report and fax it to Mr. Masamune's office. Tell Emiya to thank him for his help. The family will definitely reward you after the incident."

Yuan Zhisheng, who had already left the battlefield, didn't even have time to change his battle-damaged clothes. He hurriedly put on a black windbreaker from the Executive Bureau and returned to the headquarters of the Snake Eight Families.

"Now that we've confirmed the enemy has retreated, please notify Crow to continue monitoring the scene. Make sure to deal with any civilian witnesses involved in the incident and seal off the road to the scene. Also, the casualties within the affected area must be counted as soon as possible."

"By the way, the people captured by Aoi-ya also need urgent interrogation. Let Yasha handle this matter... Although I suspect they are abandoned pawns of the Oni Clan, it will be difficult to obtain any useful intelligence."

Gen Chisheng has been extremely busy from the beginning until now. While he was sorting out the situation on the scene and handing it over to his subordinates in categories, he had already urgently contacted the head of the family, Tachibana Masamune, and held a meeting with the respected elders of the Eight Snake Families.

Although these retired elderly people do not take care of the specific family affairs, they have many connections in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and the civil service system. Whenever there is a major family event, they must use the connections of these elders to indirectly and secretly influence the attitude of government agencies and social media opinion.

However, suppressing an incident of this magnitude was extremely difficult. Yuan Zhisheng even harbored a pessimistic prediction: if the casualties were too severe, the authorities might not be able to quell public outrage unless they released a few scapegoats who bowed and apologized.

After handing these heavy responsibilities to the elders, Minamoto no Chisei then began to contact the "Ganliu Research Institute" under the family. This research institute is controlled by the Minamoto family and the Miyamoto family among the Eight Snake Families, and is also the executor of the super AI "Kaguya-hime" project.

Gen Chisheng contacted Shio Miyamoto, who was in charge of the project at Ganliu Research Institute. Shio Miyamoto was a recognized academic genius within the family. He was a graduate of the 95 Practical Alchemy Department of the Kassel College Advanced Training Class. He received job offers from several departments as soon as he graduated, but he chose to decline them all and returned to Japan to join Ganliu Research Institute to lead his own project.

Gennosuke hopes that Miyamoto Shio will release the trial version of the Kaguya-sama system as soon as possible, and use it to solve the problem of online public opinion monitoring after the incident ends, and permanently delete any real photos and video materials of the incident left outside.

Then he walked with heavy steps into the Showa-style office decorated with Ukiyo-e paintings. Passing by the exquisite and priceless Ukiyo-e masterpieces, he could catch a glimpse of the huge floor-to-ceiling windows on the other side.

From here, Gen Chisei saw the sky outside the window of Tachibana Masamune's office. It was still daytime, but dark clouds were gradually gathering and gathering heavily, making the sky even darker and thicker like ink.

It seems like a storm is coming.

Gen Chisei walked over to the desk and sat across from Tachibana Masamune, breaking the heavy silence in the room. "Dad, I heard the report, didn't you? The demon hordes are coming in force this time."

Tachibana Masamune unfolded the documents in his hand. His voice was low and hoarse, revealing deep worry. "Is the information confirmed to be reliable? This unheard-of 'Heroic Spirit' actually appeared on the side of the Demon Clan."

At the same time, his eyes fell on the glaring data and event records on the documents, his expression solemn.

too frightening.

"Heroic spirits", "spiritualization", "colorful whips with enormous destructive power"... and the terrifying battle scenes, it is not an exaggeration to say that they are battles between high-level dragons or dragon kings.

This also made the Eight Snake Clans clearly realize the terrifying extent of Emiya's strength. In the past, they found it difficult to imagine the full picture of the "Odin Incident" from sporadic fragments of information, but now they finally witnessed a terrifying part of it with their own eyes. It turned out that it was a super battlefield that their "Emperor" might not be qualified to set foot on even if he gave his all.

What's even more terrifying is that the fierce demons actually possess the heroic spirit technology that the Eight Snake Clans are not aware of. This kind of heroic spirit can completely rival the strength of Emiya.

"I think that among all the known forces, the Oni Clan is the most suitable to attack Emiya and us at such a coincidental moment. I agree with Emiya on this point."

Gen Chisei frowned. "When I was talking to Emiya before, he mentioned that there was a force operating in secret, coveting our 'God'. That force was involved in the Shenzhou Odin incident and the attack on Emiya. We speculated at the time that it was the Oni Clan. They might wage war against us for the secrets of God."

"Emiya provided us with clues about Aoiya, and we immediately began investigating. However, the original head of the organization, Aoiya Daiho, was replaced, and while investigating their database, we were attacked by the enemy."

"...There's no doubt that this is an annihilation operation by the demons to prevent us from following the clues and to annihilate me, the emperor, and Emiya, the great enemy, in one fell swoop."

"Alas! Zhisheng... It seems that our guess was too conservative. The fierce ghosts did not start a war to seize the secrets of the gods that we hold."

Tachibana Masamune crossed his hands and rested them on his chin, his facial expression sunk into the dark shadows of the backlight.

"—Judging from the 'Heroic Spirits' they've sent, I'm afraid the Fierce Ghosts have, through alliances with external enemies, mastered more secrets than we do. They've even seized the 'Divine Remains' from the Divine Burial Grounds and successfully used their power to create Heroic Spirits. Therefore, they're so arrogant as to proactively prepare for war, intending to replace us, the Eight Snake Clans!"

Tachibana Masamune spoke in a cold tone, his eyes drifting into the distance, as if he had already foreseen the upcoming fierce battle.

Since Emiya said that this is a technology that utilizes the souls of the dead, and can achieve this level, the only explanation is that the demons have begun to utilize the authority of "God" or have reached some kind of agreement with "God".

If this kind of heroic spirit technology is mass-produced in the future, the fierce ghosts may be enough to subvert the world. This terrible tendency must be nipped in the bud!

"Dad, what are you going to do?"

"Gather the family heads, Zhisheng. Remember to complete the withdrawal procedures for yourself and your family members from the advanced course at Kassel Academy. We must find a way to deal with this 'Heroic Spirit', even if it means using Eri... and it's time to start an all-out war against the Oni Clan."

"Is it really possible?"

Gennochi couldn't help but feel doubtful. In the past, when he faced Masamune Tachibana, he always did whatever the other party said. However, his father made mistakes one after another. Not only did he fail to judge the true difference in strength between himself and Emiya before, but now he also misjudged the intentions of the Oni Clan.

Genji couldn't help but worry that his father was getting senile. Although the Snake Eight Clan also hid a top-secret weapon, Eri, this sister was a demon more terrifying than the emperor, a sharp knife that was too sharp for both enemies and friends.

What if Eri... loses control and attacks the family without distinguishing between friend and foe?