The mountain wind of Ryudō Temple swept over the eaves, rustling the thin leaves. The flickering candles in the room gently illuminated the quiet silhouette of Sōichirō Kuzuki and the graceful figure of Medea.
Caster, once reviled by the world as the "Treacherous Witch," now shed all her venomous magic and hardened defenses, like a young creature that had finally found its home, softly leaning on Kuzuki's shoulder.
She closed her eyes, but deep in her consciousness, she repeatedly replayed the words that had pierced her soul when she was unconscious, and the embrace that had made her very spirit tremble.
There was no calculation, no utility, no betrayal, no hypocrisy—all of which she had endured her entire life. Not even half of the selfish desires between men and women. Only a purity so extreme it could bear all the pain in the world.
It was a warmth she had long forgotten amid the pain, like a father's embrace in childhood—stable and warm, so much so that she let down all her defenses.
The words of compassion and resolve echoed again and again in the depths of her soul:
"I want to rewrite her tragic fate and bear all the pain for her, as I wish..."
"Let her meet her destined person, the strife and treachery of the Holy Grail War, without letting her be stained in the slightest. Don't worry about the storms ahead. Enjoy the beautiful life that belongs to you and that you deserve..."
But before she could understand who possessed that voice, or whether the other party truly was as they said—wishing to help her escape the tragic fate of the "Treacherous Witch" and allow her to go to her destined person, Sōichirō, without guilt—the barrier covering the entire Ryūdō Temple suddenly sounded a sharp anomaly alarm.
As she clutched her magical dress and forced her magical circuits to rush into the courtyard, a beautiful but iron-blooded figure was already quietly standing under the moonlight.
It was a blood-red, heavy Seiko power armor, accentuating a majestic, upright physique. The face beneath the helmet was handsome, but bore the iron blood and hardness of a battlefield-tempered warrior.
Medea didn't even think. Several venomous magical light blades instantly shot from her fingers, aimed directly at the opponent's vital points. But in the end, she stopped before striking, gritting her teeth and asking sharply:
"Who the hell are you?! Since you decided to let me go, why are you coming after me now?!"
"Witch Medea, calm down. I have no intention of troubling you." The voice of the Red Armored Warrior sounded smoothly through his power armor, without a trace of hostility. "The one who let you go was the great Emperor of Mankind."
"And now, the Emperor needs your help."
Hearing the word "Emperor," the embrace—so warm it made her soul tremble—instantly flashed through Medea's mind.
She stared at the man before her, confirming that the other party did not intend to attack. The light of her magical arrows dimmed slightly, and she still spoke cautiously and carefully:
"You... what the hell is going on?"
Seeing that she had finally let down most of her defenses, Mephisto's face showed a compassionate expression, and he slowly spoke in a heavy tone:
"This will be a long story, spanning forty thousand years."
---
When the human epic spanning forty thousand years was told, along with the Emperor's great vision of ending all the world's suffering throughout his life, Medea fell silent for a long time.
Bearing the infamous title of the "Treacherous Witch," enduring the pain of displacement and relocation, and suffering the agony of betrayal by loved ones and lovers—all of this was shattered by a bouquet of kindness spanning the Star Sea.
At that moment, she was completely moved by the Emperor's supreme will to bear the suffering of all humanity. She even took the initiative to raise her head and swear an oath with reddened eyes, ready to offer her own efforts for the Emperor against the Masters and Servants who had come to interfere.
No wonder Mephisto had refused her invitation.
He looked at the witch before him and, in a smooth tone, made another request more suited to her abilities: he hoped Medea could use her magical prowess as a goddess of magic to comprehensively transform the overall structure and barrier system of Ryūdō Temple, so that it would fully comply with the duel rules and requirements set by the Emperor.
After all this, Heroic Spirit Locke, incarnated as Mephisto, had already reached the core of the Fuyuki Dragon Vein—the deepest part of the mountain spring reservoir, which was the closest point to the main body of the Greater Holy Grail at Ryūdō Temple.
He integrated the psychic energy fluctuations permeating his entire body. The runes of the analyst on his cobalt-blue power armor glowed with a steady, pale blue flicker. With the spiritual attainments of the Chief Analyst of the Astartes, he began to establish a stable spiritual connection with the body beneath the Greater Holy Grail's void.
The pure psychic fluctuations quickly pierced through the Holy Grail's magical barrier, successfully creating a spiritual channel isolated from all interference.
Their consciousnesses met in an exclusive spiritual space. Without unnecessary greetings or temptations, they immediately got down to business, beginning to discuss the details of all subsequent plans, one by one.
"Chaldea's involvement has raised the risk of our exposure too much. Although I don't understand why the Counter Force hasn't intervened more strongly yet, we must be vigilant. Otherwise, our efforts this time will be in vain."
"This is also expected. The greater the risk, the greater the reward. But now, your Space Marine character card alone is not enough to convince them. So I have another plan."
As a half-body, Heroic Spirit Locke instantly understood. As a person, he knew too well what that smile meant. So he showed the same smile and tacitly said:
"Oh?"
"After adapting to all the evils of this world, Mahoraga has also analyzed Valhalla and the Root to a certain extent. But that is completely insufficient. If we don't reach the Root, if we don't go somewhere, if we don't have time—we won't be able to gain enough knowledge at all."
"So you want to accelerate everything with your reality distortion ability, don't you?"
At that time, to pretend (crossed out) to earn some popularity points and support the family, Heroic Spirit Locke used his distortion ability to help himself achieve his goals. As a result, he hardly suffered any penalty for failed distortions.
At most, he earned 124 popularity points or set off a big wave in front of Chaldea and all the Masters.
How much did he lose? Losing a thousand eighty would be enough to make Hogwarts Locke turn into a mad dog and bite him all over. No wonder this trait had such a twisted ability. If it weren't for the other character cards bringing in popularity points, just this distortion and popularity point loss—only a ghost knew how long it would take him to earn them back.
However, he hadn't wasted the popularity points of many people and had gradually learned to use this ability.
First of all, if you let others imagine the result of the distortion in advance, the probability of distortion would increase significantly. For example, the current Masters considered him a future heroic spirit, and the reality that he had distorted himself onto the Throne of Valhalla was easily accepted.
Another example: if he wanted a cake, he first let the chicken run to him to start with an egg, and step by step prepared the cake. Although it was more troublesome, the success rate was 100%.
And with these two abilities, if he had enough time, enough preparation, and enough patience, Locke would succeed in everything.
Obviously, Locke was now figuring out a way to buy time for them.
"Right. You do this... and this... and finally this... What do you think?"
Knowing the other party's plan, Heroic Spirit Locke showed an extremely excited look.
"You're so bold. Aren't you afraid I won't follow your plan?"
"You mean I don't trust you, or I don't trust myself? Aren't you laughing when you say that? Wouldn't we, Locke, trust ourselves? If something goes wrong, I can only say I'll feel very guilty, because in that case, you'll have to endure loneliness for a long time."
"So what? I used to be your projection. When I think of such an interesting scene, I'm so excited I want to raise a flag right now!!"
With that, Heroic Spirit Locke boldly said to himself:
"I approve of your script."
In the boundless spiritual space, two figures of the same origin looked at each other from afar. The moment the words fell, they simultaneously stepped forward and firmly clasped their palms together.
In the next second, the brilliance of their souls of the same origin exploded. The pure light pierced through the barriers of time and space, even causing the Greater Holy Grail's magical barrier to tremble.
In the midst of the surging sea of black mud, Locke, sitting at the center of the spiritual vein, slowly opened his eyes. His pupils reflected the churning sea of black mud and the stars. His voice was low, with enough power to penetrate the entire multiverse:
"Next, the adaptation will accelerate."
The demonic wheel within his body seemed to receive instructions from its master. The twelve wheels above his head slowly spun, their teeth biting precisely, emitting a cold, clear sound.
"Click~"
At the same time, outside Fuyuki City, many mysterious beings were drawn to this Holy Grail War and came to investigate the situation.