"Caster! Hurry and help us defend against her Mystic Eyes!"
Before the words could even land, another spray of blood bloomed in the air. Akatsuki pressed her fingers together into a blade and, with pure physical strength, decapitated the nearby Caster before he even had time to release his magecraft.
"La Mort Espoir (Death is the Hope for Tomorrow)!"
A real execution tool—a guillotine—was manifested. The Assassin, who had the fastest reaction, immediately released his Noble Phantasm. However, even if it was the ultimate armament of a Servant, a materialized miracle, the proof of a hero held by a Servant, and the crystallization of humanity's longing for miracles, it was useless against Akatsuki.
Forcibly breaking free from the shackles of Assassin's Noble Phantasm, Akatsuki's sharp claws directly shredded Assassin's body.
Berserker, Saber, Caster, Assassin.
In an instant, only three Servants remained by Shinji Matou's side.
Lancer, Rider, Archer.
"There's three of us and only one of her! So what if her attack power is high? We have the advantage! Everyone, use your Noble Phantasms together!"
The Rider, Blackbeard, suddenly shouted, and then...
"Gáe Bolg (Spear of Impaling Lethal Flight)!" "Queen Anne's Revenge (Revenge of Queen Anne)!" "Apfel Schiessen (The Arrow of Conviction)!"
Akatsuki didn't even try to dodge; she charged straight at the three Servants through their Noble Phantasms. At this moment, she was like a Grim Reaper from hell, harvesting the lives of these Servants without the slightest mercy.
One against seven!
"How is this possible!"
Shinji Matou looked at the cold-eyed Akatsuki in front of him in disbelief. "Those were Servants! And six of them at that! Even if you are a powerful Vampire, it's impossible to kill them all so easily!"
"Heh. Tell me everything you know, and I'll give you a quick death."
Silver chains bound Shinji Matou's ankles.
"Hahaha, give me a quick death?! Kill me if you can! Anyway, there are already enough souls for the greater grail to descend. If you kill me, they will definitely resurrect me! Hahaha!"
Using Marble Phantasm, Akatsuki replicated the torture devices from her mind.
"I haven't done this kind of interrogation work for a long time, but it's not a big deal. I'll try to peel off all your fingernails at once."
Picking up the familiar tools from her memory, Akatsuki fixed Shinji Matou's fingers in place. Looking at the panicked Shinji Matou, her heart remained unmoved. She clenched her fist and smashed it directly onto the nail-pulling torture device (for a specific image, refer to the device used by Shion Sonozaki in Higurashi).
"Wait, I... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!"
A miserable scream rang out. Akatsuki's gaze remained calm as she raised her hand again.
"Wait! Wait! Wait!! I'll talk!! I'll talk!!!"
She smashed it down.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!! It hurts!! It hurts so much!!!!!"
"You should have said so earlier."
Akatsuki stood up and looked at Shinji Matou, who was curled up on the ground in pain. Although she could have used her Mystic Eyes of Enchantment to make Shinji Matou speak, doing so would have taken the fun out of the interrogation.
"I'll talk, I'll talk!" Shinji Matou said tremblingly. "It's a Magician named Hatress, a Vampire named Roa, and a Servant of the Faker class. They want to use the power of the Holy Grail to achieve some goal. I really don't know anything else!"
"Where is their base?"
"I don't know, they've always been the ones to come to me..."
Before Shinji Matou could finish, Akatsuki crushed his head with one foot.
A flame rose from Shinji Matou's corpse, quickly burning it to ashes. As if sensing something, Akatsuki turned her head and happened to see a red-haired girl sneaking away, trying to distance herself from Akatsuki.
Akatsuki:?
Why is Fujimaru Ritsuka here? Could it be that while I was gone, this place really turned into a Singularity or a Lostbelt? But there are no Light Bands or Fantasy Trees.
A Sub-Singularity?
That shouldn't be right.
Fujimaru Ritsuka: I heard that if you get killed in a dream, you'll automatically wake up. Is this really a dream?
The two stared at each other for a moment.
Akatsuki was the first to break the silence: "Fujimaru Ritsuka?"
"Present!"
"..." Rubbing her temples, Akatsuki looked at Fujimaru Ritsuka, who was wearing a Chaldea uniform, and suddenly understood. "You're dreaming, aren't you?"
"The person in the dream knows I'm dreaming... Does that mean I've been pulled into some strange incident again?"
Akatsuki smiled helplessly. "Which Singularity have you reached? Or have you already finished them all?"
"We just recently completed the Seventh Singularity. In a little while, we'll be heading into the final battle with Solomon. By the way, where is this? Why does it feel so familiar?"
"Fuyuki City after the start of the Fifth Holy Grail War. But since you're here, you might as well watch until the end."
Akatsuki walked over to Fujimaru Ritsuka and grabbed her shoulder.
"Isn't this Singularity F! But it's completely different from Singularity F; it's almost like a normal town..."
However, normal towns don't usually have serial killers.
The next moment, she took Fujimaru Ritsuka and appeared directly at the Tohsaka Family residence.
"They're not at the Tohsaka Family? There are only a few places in Fuyuki City where the Holy Grail can descend. Let's check them one by one."
Regarding how Fujimaru Ritsuka would occasionally dream of strange things, or even have her soul pulled to odd places by Servants to fight while she slept—he hadn't paid much attention to such things when playing FGO, because others were the ones watching the story, while he was responsible for farming Free Quests to earn Saint Quartz.
The Church—nothing.
The New City Civic Center—nothing... Inside the Great Underground Cavern.
"I didn't expect the greater grail to actually descend. It was worth the trip all the way from Europe."
"This thing is the greater grail?"
Hatress and Roa stood before the greater grail, looking at the floating vessel. This legendary omnipotent wish-granting machine was now right in front of them.
They had met in a small town in Europe. At that time, Hatress, along with Faker, had heard of the destruction of the Matou Family in Fuyuki City and the death of the Holy Grail War's supervisor.
At that time, Roa had just completed his reincarnation.
After a brief clash, the two groups hit it off. Rumors that a True Ancestor with the surname 'brunestud' was in Fuyuki City began to spread. Thus, Hatress, who wanted to join the Holy Grail War, and Roa, who wanted to find 'brunestud' in Fuyuki City, came to an agreement and traveled there together.
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