Xingyue, is Xiaokai also considered Kai?

"...I apologize for my intrusion."

Kyoko, who had made the suggestion without permission but failed to hear Novia's reply immediately, retreated to the side with a look of self-reproach.

Novia found her timid attitude rather endearing. If he were to take her to meet the Hassans and the old men of the mountains, he could imagine how startled this aloof woman would react.

"It's alright. You can come in with me if you want. After all, Altrouge was your Master."

Kyoko couldn't help but swallow hard.

She was briefly lost in thought.

The girl originally thought she would be rejected.

But to my surprise, they actually agreed.

In that case, no matter what, she couldn't possibly give up under these circumstances.

Novia didn't say anything more and went into the hall to face Emperor Karl.

In a palace that resembles, but is not quite, the Roman palace, there is a vast hall.

The hall is designed like a luxurious opera house or a classical arena, with intricately structured crown-shaped lamps hanging from the ceiling, casting a pale purple light on the tiered seating.

Although there was no one left in the audience, only the old man sitting on the throne.

"Brother, please forgive me for not being able to stand up to greet you."

Charlemagne, who appears in the form of Emperor Charlemagne, seems to have a more composed personality compared to the one Novia met during the Holy Grail War in the snowfield.

There was an undeniable weariness between his brows, like an old man waking up from the abyss of death that comes from time to time.

“How strange, Karl, I never expected you to appear here as a king.”

"Alright, brother, you don't need to tease me. At first, appearing in this form was just for amusement..."

Karl smiled slightly. "We had originally agreed with Richard that whoever took Jerusalem would be the victor. It was quite amusing that Richard, that rascal, came out in the form of a lion. That infernal fire was probably his punishment for his life. However, we never imagined that the reasoning of the people here had already completely collapsed long before we arrived."

Carl coughed twice, then continued.

"The being that turned this era into an exception among singularities, the one that utterly destroyed humanity, has been following us all along. By the time we entered Jerusalem, it was too late. Richard was deeply entangled in it, while I was struggling to make the Spirit Origin shout out the Mobile Sanctuary here..."

"After I retreated here, the land itself supported me with some of my magic, which is these sandstorms that hinder the progress of pollution. This is probably because of you, brother, since I came here before, I have benefited a little from it."

Is the magical support from this land due to Novia's missionary work, or because he once fought here as the King of the Huns?

It should be a combination of both. Ultimately, in both periods of Novia's reign, everything on this land was subservient to him.

"Moray called that creature the 'Eternal and Everlasting Lord of Procreation,' and the Holy City of Jerusalem had become its cradle."

Hearing Karl's explanation, just as Novia had guessed, it was initially the work of the Black Goat Mother, Gauze, but unexpectedly, it led to the appearance of Azathoth as time went by. The former was alright, but the latter was quite heavyweight.

No matter how Novia thought about it, she couldn't find a reason for it to wake up from its dream and come to Earth to find a vessel to descend to. It couldn't be that Nyarlathotep arranged this for it, could it?

To deal with Nyarlathotep, one must use its best vessel, the artificial intelligence located in the Fe universe. After all, it is a vessel that can suppress Nyarlathotep's will while maintaining its own will and using its power. It can only be said that there are different levels among vessels.

Novia also felt a bit emotional. Theoretically speaking, the new primate world that he and Ilya had created should have produced an AI similar to BB, but it never appeared on the day of their final farewell. Perhaps it was due to his own complete bottleneck.

After all, all the information comes from the future.

Novia thinks the AI ​​characters are quite cute. When they were created, their first words to Novia were:

“Father, I am truly grateful for your upbringing.”

Thinking about it carefully, Novia has quite a few children: the Holy Scripture and the False Scripture, Luce, the new primates and the Ai, as well as those souls who successfully reincarnated into other worlds and abandoned their children. Lucius must have been marveling at that time, 'The birth rate has skyrocketed since the beginning of the new world. Now little Erise will have plenty of companions.'

"Speaking of which, brother-in-law, didn't my sister come with you this time?"

After giving a general account of the information he knew, Karl asked another question.

Novia could tell that his expression was much brighter now than when he was giving the information, as if he was eager to see his favorite CP appear.

This made Novia chuckle.

"Um, Attila should be somewhere else right now. I haven't seen her much lately because of some things. And you too, Karl. I can tell. You appeared as Charlemagne at first, right? That was to expand the scope of the Mobile Holy City's domain, so you used the old age element, right?"

"As expected, I couldn't hide it from you, brother-in-law."

Karl sighed and gave a slight smile.

"After all, I thought I might get to see you and my sister and brother-in-law this time, so I didn't plan to come out in this form from the start. As a knight, I was shocked when Richard appeared in his demon form. 'Emperor Karl, how come you have such a handsome side? If so, why don't you just use it all the time?' It was hilarious. He thinks his lion form is enough to show off his power, huh? It's just a bit of a pity..."

"Actually, whenever you come out looking like that, I really want you to meet someone. Now this time, you should have a chance."

Ritsuka must be quite surprised to see Charlemagne's appearance, since the two look almost like siblings, which is quite interesting to think about.

Novie then hugged Karl and made a very forceful sound.

"But let's leave that aside for now. Anyway, don't worry, Karl, I've already made my choice."

He gave a kind smile and then announced it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"If those foreign gods go too far, I will leave them all here."

Novia had this feeling.

Something deadly has stirred within distant Jerusalem.

The impact of the outcome is still unknown, but he understands one thing for sure.

There is no such thing as an endless battle in the world; it's either victory or defeat.

“Brother-in-law, what you say will surely come true, I firmly believe that. But let me deal with the ‘invaders’ of the Mobile City first.”

Karl glanced briefly at the silent Kyoko below, then placed the sword at his waist on his thumb, flicked it into the air, and used magic to spread it out, filling the entire hall with thin lines of light, which then dissipated into the air above the Mobile Sanctuary.

Thus, in certain parts of the Mobile City, the Hassans from the Mountain People subconsciously heard the sound of heartbeats.

Boom!

It was as if they were about to sink into an abyss where they could not receive a single ray of light, and could only let that light bind them.

Although the Hassans who came here knew that this behavior was indeed wrong, it was His Holiness's command, so they had no choice but to act accordingly.

Who knows why His Holiness would suddenly issue an order? But His Holiness's orders are absolute and cannot be resisted or refuted.

Therefore, they showed no sign of wavering, simply staring at the light, and said:

“We have no ill intentions. We have come here on the orders of our Venerable One to seek the 'light of salvation' that will surely come.”

Chapter 453 There shall be no other spirit before God.

Under the light emanating from the mobile holy city of Karna, several figures wearing skull masks were soon found bound at the palace gate.

That is an existence that is difficult for ordinary Servants to detect; that is why assassins are known for it.

"My health wasn't good, which wasted a lot of time; otherwise, I could have finished much faster."

Hearing Karl speak, Kyoko lowered her head and said nothing. Only after Novia patted her on the shoulder did she look up with relief and stare straight at the door.

Even though she was somewhat prepared, she was still taken aback when she saw it.

Her memory, her soul, and her tempered physique all clearly understood what those people wearing skull masks were.

Those were Hassans from several generations, even those of the same generation, whom Kyonobu had learned his special techniques from. But right now, Kyonobu was suppressing his excitement, his face unconsciously filled with sorrow as he remained silent.

"Is your venerable one that 'mountain'?"

Hassan, who lives in the present era, raised his gaze upon hearing this and looked at the silver-haired man who was speaking.

He had never met this man before, but subconsciously he felt a reverence for him comparable to that of a venerable one. The man's gentle voice seemed to penetrate his soul, like a stern rebuke, yet also like tender embrace, and thus tears involuntarily streamed down his face.

It was unbelievable. This was clearly the first time he had ever seen it. There was no special torrent of magic, no radiance or impact. Nothing was beyond the realm of common sense. Moreover, he was not a Servant like the other Hassans, but a person of this era.

However, after quickly regaining his composure, Cursed Wrist respectfully replied:

“Our only venerable one is Hassan-i Sabah, the ‘Mountain’.”

"Mountain?"

Karl muttered something under his breath. He had heard Richard mention before that he had fought alongside a member of the Mountain Order before his death, which was why he had allowed the Mountain People to come to the Mobile Holy City. However, seeing that they were sneaking around, he had deliberately captured them in order to maintain his authority in front of his brother-in-law.

Richard the Lionheart's enemy during his eastern campaign was Saladin. The casualties on both sides even led to the intervention of the Ancestor of the Dead Apostles. Nero Chaos carried out a massacre that turned the desert red, while another, Melion Solomon, used giant familiars to slaughter people. This forced Richard, Saladin, and the third party, Hassan, to join forces to stop the Ancestor of the Dead Apostles' rampage.

However, the final result was that the two founders of the Dead Apostles ran away after the massacre, leaving the Dead Apostles who wanted a share of the spoils to be beaten to death by the three parties.

Although the Church of the Mountain believes that the Old Man of the Mountain lived in the 11th or 12th century, that was only because he manifested according to destiny. After all, destiny did not allow him to manifest in the previous centuries, and only a very few people, whose legends could not even spread, could occasionally hear about the fame of the valley.

This naturally includes Avia and Eltruki from the fifth century, which is the fundamental reason why Kyoko later recognized Kurohime as her Master.

"A secluded mountain valley where the boundary between life and death is blurred, hmm."

Novia nodded to herself, "That's probably what the old man's mountain is called, right?"

Upon hearing Novia address their master in this way, the Hassans present, including the madman, couldn't help but exchange glances, some unsure of what to say.

Although we all instinctively feel awe for the person before us, it seems that speaking of our Venerable One in this way isn't entirely wrong... No, no, no matter what, it still won't work. After all, our Venerable One is an unparalleled being. But, however, then—

“You don’t need to worry about it too much. The so-called light of salvation that your ‘venerable one’ speaks of must be me.”

Novia, seeing their inner turmoil, continued, "However, your venerable one may not necessarily be the person in question."

"What... what does this mean? I don't understand what you mean at all."

"Do not understand?"

"not understand."

"Your venerable one should never have left the temple, right? No, given your personalities, you wouldn't dare to enter that temple without permission."

Novia made a gesture of looking up at the sky and sighing, but the next moment she smiled and looked at Hassan and the others.

"After all, the Himalayas are still mountains."

"But there's absolutely no way we wouldn't recognize it. We've been working so hard all this time, how could it be... that ghostly blue flame..."

"Alright, alright, the Venerable One in the temple was indeed able to be there because of the old man. You haven't done anything wrong, so he wouldn't kill you. If it really comes down to it, I'll go and talk to the old man."

Novia rubbed his temples, trying to comfort Hassan, who thought, "How could I have mistaken the Venerable One and listened to his words? This must be a grave mistake."

As someone who had the connection to the 'mountain' that allowed him to obtain the Smoke Mirror, Novia was naturally very familiar with all sorts of 'mountain' concepts. Admittedly, the Hassans did possess the 'mountain' aura of the Old Man of the Mountain, but Novia still sensed a 'mountain' concept that differed from the Old Man of the Mountain's—

Himalayas.

It's so hard to guess. To have a connection with the Himalayas, and then for the old man in the mountains to let him "stay" in the temple and tell him the name "Light of Salvation" that the old man had once called him, it's really hard to know who he is.

Kyoko, who was wearing a face covering, glanced at Novia out of the corner of her eye. Although she knew it was wrong, she still did it subconsciously.

Novia's expression reminded her somewhat of the way she looked when she met those 'respectable' women in the Holy Grail War in the snowy plains...

Could it be that the princess among the dead disciples has appeared? After all, she also possesses the mountain aura of a Venerable One...

Kyonobu thought of it naturally.

Then she shook her head, saying that there was no point in thinking about these questions now.

All you need to do is do what you're supposed to do.

Therefore, the black-haired girl spoke respectfully to Novia.

"In that case, would you please accompany us to meet the Venerable One? Although I am truly sorry to speak at this time, since it is the Venerable One's suggestion, there must be some compelling reason. Please be sure to go and see for yourself. If there is anything I can do for this, I will certainly do it. Is that alright?"

Although Novia could understand Kyoko's somewhat humble feelings, she couldn't help but laugh.

"Ahahaha, that's troublesome. No, it doesn't seem that troublesome. But it's still a bit troublesome."

Karl smiled and adjusted his posture. He immediately thought that the madwoman who treated his brother-in-law so well was a good prospect, unlike the other Hassans who just stared blankly. He felt that it would be quite interesting to have her as a maid for his sister, but that was just a thought.

"Let me go to Jerusalem first, and I will visit that Venerable One later."

Novia immediately stopped smiling and said with a serious expression.

Although Kyoko had long taken this kind of reaction for granted, she wiped her forehead with a handkerchief and tried her best to put on a flattering smile.

"Whatever you think is fine..."

If it's related to the Himalayas, then it's undoubtedly one of the three goddesses of India. Adding to that the blue flame mentioned by the cursed arm, it's most likely Kama. Speaking of which, Novia is quite sentimental. She originally wanted to bring Kama back to Chaldea with her, but it was put on hold because of Maitreya's affairs.

After returning to Chaldea, I discovered that I had lost contact with that world as well. I tried to summon it several times using Chaldea but failed. I never expected to end up here. But it seems that the spirit origin has been prepared? Otherwise, given the old man's personality, he wouldn't be so easy to talk to the beast.

After all, if someone has both a beast spirit origin and a crown rank, then human reasoning can become quite difficult to manage.

Given Kama's personality, now that she's recovered, she'll probably start referring to herself in that way again—

It was at this very moment that an indescribable fluctuation caused Novia to momentarily lose her composure—a truly unique occurrence.

Because he saw a woman.