You are very strong, but my painting style is better than yours!

"We're the same in this respect, aren't we?"

"That's because you insisted on revealing your true colors at this time..."

“It can’t be hidden any longer, Semiramis,” Amakusa Shiro said with a smile. “You’ve noticed it too, haven’t you? Our Caster noticed this a long time ago and disappeared shortly after the start of the war… Rather than be exposed, it’s better to lay the cards on the table.”

"Circe? That woman was definitely no good!"

Semiramis snorted coldly: "So what if I replaced you as the 'caster'? You actually chose to rebel. You have no integrity whatsoever."

I don't know what she's complaining about. This world is about survival of the fittest, and it's a fact that I'm more capable than her. As a subordinate, she's already fulfilled her duty by running errands for me, yet she wants more… It's utterly unreasonable!

She probably left because she couldn't stand you—Amakusa Shiro's smile was awkward yet polite.

As the saying goes, "Two tigers cannot share one mountain." Semiramis and Circe are already very difficult Servants to deal with. If they are in a bad mood or on a whim, they will say something like, "Master, it's time to drink your porridge (or wine)," which will render the Master useless.

This is the most dangerous type of Servant, even more so than Berserkers and a certain Gilgamesh.

After all, berserkers are just irrational, Gilgamesh is just a show-off, while they are actually intelligent but wicked women.

Summoning them individually is troublesome enough, let alone when they're all together... If the Caster wasn't the Witch of the Age of Gods, but a rather useless, incompetent Servant, Semiramis probably wouldn't have clashed with her.

Of course, despite his complaints, Amakusa Shiro wasn't so tactless as to directly accuse Semiramis—he could have done that if he wanted to be poisoned.

"Even without the threat of Caster, I don't plan to start a war at that time, because there are more unstable factors around."

"...Berserker and Saber?" The Empress's expression also turned serious.

“Saber is secondary; at most, she's just an enemy of us. The Berserker, whose allegiance is hard to discern, is the one we need to be most wary of.”

Amakusa smiled enigmatically, "Now we can be pretty sure he's the Servant who came to the church to cause trouble, preventing our [Hanging Gardens] from officially taking off yet... It seems like he knew about our plan from the very beginning."

The mere mention of Semiramis filled her with extreme displeasure: "My garden... such a fellow is of course an enemy, why say it's hard to tell friend from foe?"

"Because I always felt that he might not necessarily be our enemy, and we might even have common interests in some things."

Amakusa thought for a moment and said, "There's no real basis for it; it's just my intuition."

Intuition—this reason may sound absurd, but considering that this man was once a "ruler," his intuition is, in a sense, more reliable than physical evidence.

"I'll just believe it for now."

Semiramis's eyes darkened: "Berserker is indeed very dangerous... Anyone who can kill Orochi is definitely not an ordinary Servant. The power he displayed at that moment had already surpassed the level that a Servant should have. Although it declined rapidly after that, it is still not to be underestimated."

Shiro, can't you tell his real name?

“It’s quite subtle…” Amakusa Shiro couldn’t help but stop smiling as he said this. “After all, I was just the previous Arbiter, and my privileges have been greatly reduced. However, just by looking at his battle with Orochi, we can actually determine his identity.”

"Oh?" Semiramis narrowed his eyes. "Could it be the God of War? The Holy Grail shouldn't be able to summon gods."

“Among the heroes from the Far East, there is indeed only one who can fight like that,” Amakusa pondered. “He was probably summoned in the form of ‘descending from heaven to become human.’ It’s not strange for a god to incarnate as a mortal or wander the human world in other forms.”

"Well……"

"Don't worry, although he's very strong, he can't unleash god-level power except against an opponent like Orochi," Amakusa said, trying to reassure himself. "After all, we have a numerical advantage; he can't defeat us alone."

"Once the Hanging Gardens of Vanity is fully completed, I will have no fear even of the gods!" Semiramis was very confident, and although her words were somewhat arrogant, they were not entirely without basis.

【Hanging Gardens】is a rare Noble Phantasm that cannot be summoned directly and requires a physical form to be created in the real world. However, because of this, it does not have the restrictions of a regular Noble Phantasm—it can increase its rank and power as needed!

The mechanism of this thing is simply "how to get stronger without spending money". The more treasures you put in, the higher its level will be.

Amakusa had spent half a century collecting enough materials, but some of them were destroyed by a heartless individual. Later, he had to rob museums and other places to replenish them, and he went all out to compete for Rheinmetall.

Now, although Rheinmetall has disappeared, it has received an unexpected surprise—

The remains of Yamata no Orochi.

Perhaps because it was connected to the earth's veins, Orochi did not completely disappear after its death, but left behind a stone statue that resembled a molted skin.

This thing is meaningless to humans and Servants, but Yamata no Orochi, as a divine beast with the attributes of "poison", "alcohol" and "corruption", is compatible with Sertinimiramisu. The Empress can use its concept to apply it to the [Hanging Gardens], which can greatly improve the sturdiness of the building.

"It's all up to you, Semiramis."

After saying that, Amakusa Shiro seemed to remember something, his brows furrowed, then relaxed, and he muttered to himself:

"If that's really the case... perhaps this is fate..."

"Ok?"

The Empress looked at him with displeasure: "What are you talking about? Are you hiding something from me?"

"No, ha... I'm just recalling some past events and making some guesses."

Amakusa didn't want to hide anything from his close comrade-in-arms, and frankly said, "The one who summoned me in the last Holy Grail War was the Einzbern family, who are also the Masters of this generation of Berserkers."

"Oh?" Semiramis raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying you're feeling sentimental?"

"How could that be... I stopped caring a long time ago. Now, I'm willing to give up anything to achieve that goal."

Amakusa's tone was calm and firm, and he then said, "But as a Servant of the Einzbern, I understand the essence of the Holy Grail War better than others, and I also know that in addition to the Greater Grail, there is actually a 'Lesser Grail'."

"The Lesser Grail?"

"Unlike the Greater Grail, the Lesser Grail is a true 'vessel' in the real sense. Its function is to store the souls of defeated Servants. Once a certain number are collected, they can be released instantly to break through the barriers between the world and the outside world, thus opening a hole to the 'Root'."

"Wait a moment!"

Semiramis, being a magician, naturally knew what that meant: "Is this the true purpose of the Holy Grail War? Mere humans actually dare to plot against it... Hmph!"

Unlike modern magicians, the magicians of the Age of Gods lived in an era full of "miracles." Just as humans don't think about capturing air in their daily lives, the magicians of the Age of Gods had no desire to go to the "Root."

Semiramis's fury stemmed from the fact that the three starter families had treated heroes as consumables when designing this system!

"Even so, it is at most a theoretical possibility. Even if humans can make a 'hole,' they may not be able to go to the [root].

Amakusa didn't believe this could really succeed. Even among the three starter families, only Tohsaka believed in this path. What he really cared about was something else.

"After making the 'hole,' we can communicate with the infinite magic outside the world... That is the goal of the Einzbern family."

"Salvation for all humanity?"

Semiramis understood instantly and couldn't help but chuckle.

"So your dream was borrowed from human magicians, and you even abandoned the original plan because of insufficient ability, replacing infinite magic power with 'extracting the world's ley lines' instead... Ha!"

You're not just a 'fake,' you're a 'inferior product'! Amakusa Shiro Tokisada!

Assassin mocked her Master without restraint, revealing her true nature as a wicked woman. She wanted to see how embarrassed and ashamed her Master, who always had a smiling face and a sanctimonious demeanor, would look.

"Yeah, I'm just a 'Faker' (fake)."

However, Semiramis's wish was not fulfilled. Shiro calmly accepted the taunts and, with a smile, said in an extremely serious tone:

"Even if this ideal is borrowed, I will carry it through to the end!"

"...Hmph, how unpleasant!" Semiramis inexplicably lost her temper, turned around, and vanished into a ray of light.

Amakusa shook his head helplessly as he watched this scene, feeling that he did not have the talent to serve as a "Master".

However, to be honest, there aren't many people in this world who could subdue Semiramis, are there?

"The Lesser Grail... will it exist?"

If the Lesser Grail exists, it should have already begun to 'accumulate' now that two Servants have left the battlefield… In this war, are there two ways to fulfill a wish?

Amakusa fell into deep thought. In fact, compared to the Greater Grail, which requires the extraction of spiritual veins, the Lesser Grail, which grants infinite magical power as long as the conditions are met, is more in line with the definition of an "omnipotent wish-granting machine."

But he quickly reaffirmed his belief:

It's still uncertain whether the Lesser Grail exists, but the Greater Grail's ability to draw energy from the earth's veins has been proven, and it could fully meet his requirements.

The ceasefire with Medea was merely a temporary measure; the moment the Greater Grail was fully modified would also be the time for the final battle.

Even if Medea could build a "temple", the Hanging Gardens, once completed, would have been overwhelmingly functional.

Medea, having both red and black casters must make you very confident... But you would never guess that one of your Masters (me) can also connect to the Holy Grail!

I, Amakusa Shiro Tokisada, will be the one who picks the fruit from the tree (victory) and sends all mankind to heaven!

Chapter 140: A Gift from Heaven, But FGO

For the residents of the small European town of Tulipas, things have been getting strange ever since the “gas explosion” that occurred in the suburbs a few days ago.

It's not supposed to be foggy season, but lately every night fog descends, so thick that you can't see your hand in front of your face and even lights can't penetrate it. And occasionally, strange wind sounds come from the depths of the fog, like the chanting of deep-sea monsters, which makes people feel uneasy.

Naturally, no one dared to go out in such terrible weather, but one time a drunkard fell asleep on the street and didn't wake up until night. By then, the fog had already descended, and his alcohol-numbed brain knew nothing of fear. He was still wandering outside and boldly groped his way towards the direction from which the sound came.

Even the drunkard himself couldn't remember what happened next. He only remembered seeing an enormous shadow with a pair of scarlet eyes peering through the mist. He was so terrified by the sheer power in the shadow's gaze that he fainted.

When people found him later, the drunkard was miraculously unharmed, but there was a large pool of blood nearby, and there were claw marks on the wall that looked like those left by a brown bear, as if some large wild animals had fought there.

This was a small town, and the news quickly spread to everyone. Many cautious people chose to leave with their families, either to visit relatives or for tourism, in short, to temporarily leave the town.

However, most people still chose to stay. After all, there were only some strange things that happened, but no real casualties. People were more inclined to believe that it was a strange natural phenomenon, and that the bloodstains were caused by wild animals such as deer and bears that got lost in the fog and ran into the city.

The authorities offered no explanation, or rather, their explanations were so perfunctory that they didn't even qualify as explanations, and the public has lost hope in them.

As time went on, the fog showed no signs of abating and instead became more severe, with sightings of the "beast shadows" becoming more frequent. Fortunately, as long as one stayed at home and avoided entering the dense fog, one would not come into contact with those strange things.

As more and more people left, Tulifas gradually became deserted. During the day, it could be described as a leisurely and quiet beautiful town, but at night it became a ghost town with no pedestrians and was completely immersed in thick fog.

For ordinary people, this is naturally a major change, but for magicians and Servants, this period of time has been unusually peaceful.

Medea, who occupied the Yggdrasil Castle, successfully won over the Black Faction Servants through a combination of soft and hard tactics using Command Seals and the Greater Grail. However, unlike Vlad III before her, she did not "rule" them, but rather established a strange cooperative relationship with the Servants through mutual compromise.

Similar to Amakusa of the Red Team, that priest did not have absolute authority over his followers; he merely made them accept his leadership reluctantly.

The two factions nominally ceased hostilities, but in reality, they were both secretly preparing for their next showdown. Amakusa, needless to say, was aiming for the Hanging Gardens, and coincidentally, Medea was also working on a civil engineering project!

With the help of the ley lines and the Greater Grail, the Yggdrasil Castle on the ground was controlled by Vlad III and, under the effect of his Noble Phantasm, became a "spiky fortress" that was somewhere between a Reality Marble and a Magic Workshop.

Beneath the ground, the original space was greatly expanded, materializing Asterius's Noble Phantasm—the Unchanging Labyrinth—and setting up numerous mechanisms within it, making it even more dangerous than the original mythological text.

The Greater Grail was placed in the center of the labyrinth, guarded by two witches (Medea & Circe) and Asterius.

Even Artoria and the others were rarely allowed to enter the labyrinth. No one could predict what the two goddesses of the Age of Gods had transformed it into or how many trump cards they had prepared.

But one thing is certain:

In order to build this labyrinth, Medea even deliberately slowed down the process of modifying the Greater Grail, because she knew that the day the Greater Grail was officially activated would not be so smooth, and she had to make full preparations before then!

Aside from these two major factions, Iori, Mordred, and Jeanne, who were wandering around, were now completely idle.

Especially Iori, who seems to really not care about who owns the Holy Grail anymore. These days he's been taking Sera sightseeing, and even left Tulipas for a few days to travel elsewhere...

The duo of Lion's Robbery and Mordred have been in Tulipas. Lion's Robbery once contacted the Mage's Association hoping to do something, but ultimately gave up.

It's obvious that the Mage's Association (in this timeline) doesn't have the strength to fight against the magicians of the Age of Gods. Facing two witches backed by top-tier magical cores and super workshops, they're unlikely to do much.

We could have relied on the Red Team Masters... but they were all wiped out by Amakusa...

The association and the church are probably in court over this!

In the end, the magicians carefully selected by the association were of no use, and the two remaining ones were both "hired" from outside, once again demonstrating the strange phenomenon that the academic school could not compete with the self-taught.

"...That's about it. The association's higher-ups are also very anxious right now. There are even monarch-level figures who wanted to come to Romania in person, but they were persuaded not to."

In a tavern with few customers, Lion's Robbery met the association's special envoy. Due to the Holy Grail War getting out of control, Romania has become a forbidden area in the eyes of insiders, and anyone who dares to come here now can almost be called a suicide squad.

The envoy did indeed come with the corresponding awareness, but in his actual experience, he found that it was not as dangerous as he had imagined. Not to mention Romania, even Tulifas, which is part of the territory of the Thousand World Tree, was freely accessible.

The dense fog at night was indeed very strange, but during the day even ordinary people could move freely. He only needed to be a good boy who stayed up early and went out early at night to complete his mission and return home smoothly... It was so easy that it was unsettling.

He was of course unaware that this was the result of the joint "efforts" of both the red and black sides.

Neither of the leaders are "villains" in the traditional sense. Even Medea, who bears the name of a witch, would not lay a hand on ordinary people unless necessary—this time she can use the ley lines and the Greater Grail without having to plunder the pitiful magic power of ordinary people.

As for the saintly Amakusa, needless to say.

Below them, the Servants summoned this time are generally neutral or benevolent. Now that Shuten-dōji is dead, the most dangerous people in all of Tulifas are Circe and Semiramis... They were infamous in the mythological era, but compared to some modern magicians, they are quite mild-mannered.

Even when the two factions clashed, they did not involve ordinary people, and even consciously avoided it. From this perspective, although the scale was enormous, this Holy Grail War was the only one that followed the "principle of secrecy".

This is not surprising, since both sides are "professionals" and will not perform any unnecessary operations.

Of course, this mild approach is only for now. Once the Greater Grail is activated, no matter who has it, whether it's Tulifas or Romania... or even the entire world, they will face a major problem!

"The monarch... even if he comes, it will be of no use. Tulifas is a black hole now. No matter how many magicians are poured in, it won't make a ripple."

Lion Robber felt helpless. Although he was an experienced mercenary, he had never seen anything like this before.

The envoy nodded: "Indeed, if the Servants go berserk, the magicians alone cannot handle it; only the Servants themselves can fight them."

After he finished speaking, he stared straight at Lion's Robbery, making the old mercenary feel uneasy.

"how?"