After leaving the Emiya Residence, Irisviel followed Shiki into the great cavern within Mount Enzou.
The moment she stepped inside, Irisviel understood. No wonder Rider had searched the entire city without finding Berserker's trail—he had been hiding where the Greater Grail was located.
"That makes sense. Only this place has a barrier designed for spiritual bodies. It can effectively limit a Heroic Spirit's power while remaining safe and hidden. Magi would never think to look here."
Ordinary people would never set foot here, even though it was one of the nodes of Fuyuki City's spiritual veins.
But with Ryūdō Temple nearby, a famous local temple bustling with visitors, it would be far too easy to expose. By a Magus's secretive standards, this was hardly an ideal place.
"Magi, huh."
Shiki gave a soft snort. He truly could not agree with the way magi conducted themselves.
He simply could not understand what those so-called rules of secrecy were about. Why should having mysterious powers mean they had to stay hidden?
In the world he came from, supernatural powers did not exist at all. And in the other worlds he had experienced, there had never been any notion that power had to remain unseen.
Shiki spoke. "All right, enough about those pathetic magi, Ms. Einzbern..."
"Mr. Shiki, calling me that is far too formal. You can call me Irisviel, just as Saber does," Irisviel interrupted with a smile.
Shiki scratched his head. Since she did not like being addressed by her surname, he would use her given name. Besides, Einzbern was indeed a bit of a mouthful.
"All right, Irisviel. Then let's get started."
"Okay, Mr. Shiki. Where should we begin?"
"Irisviel, just lie down on the altar."
Shiki pointed at the altar in the middle of the pool. What he needed to do was naturally examine Irisviel's body and save her life.
Since he had promised Saber that he would save Irisviel's life, he would certainly give it everything he had.
But first, he needed to understand Irisviel's physical makeup, her connection to the Lesser Grail, and so on. This whole series of issues was quite complicated.
The Black Knight placed the tools in his hands onto the altar one by one.
Looking at those tools, Shiki clicked his tongue inwardly. Irisviel was unquestionably filthy rich—wealthy and capable enough to acquire whatever she wanted in less than an hour. This showed that the Einzbern Family held considerable influence in Fuyuki City.
Otherwise, why would the forest east of Fuyuki City be called the Einzbern Forest?
"Then, excuse me, Irisviel."
Lying on the altar, Irisviel's cheeks instantly flushed red, and she silently nodded.
After all, examining her body would inevitably involve rather intimate physical contact. It was the first time in her life that an outsider had touched her, and she could not suppress her embarrassment.
Shiki did not think too much about it. With the Black Knight's assistance, he connected the instruments, prepared the generator, and attached the sensors to Irisviel one by one.
Then, he slowly removed his eyepatch, revealing the Mystic Eye beneath it.
Though he could still see through the eyepatch, it affected some finer observations. To ensure accuracy, he chose to take it off.
At that moment, Irisviel, lying on the bed, bit her lower lip, her cheeks crimson. The sensors touching her body made her feel extremely uncomfortable.
"Mystic Eyes!"
The instant Shiki removed his eyepatch and revealed his Mystic Eyes, she could not help letting out a quiet cry.
So Berserker's Master was actually a Magus with Mystic Eyes—and a wielder of the highest-grade Rainbow Magic Eyes!
The multicolored light shimmering within those Mystic Eye pupils was proof enough.
Top-tier Mystic Eyes had not appeared in this world for a long time. No wonder Berserker had regained his sanity. Irisviel had originally thought there was something wrong with his eyes, never expecting such tremendous power to be hidden within them.
Shiki activated his Mystic Eyes, and Irisviel, lying on the altar before him, instantly changed in appearance.
In the vision of his Mystic Eyes, dense blue lines covered her entire body, interspersed with faint golden glimmers.
Those were Magic Circuits. Nearly all of Irisviel's body consisted of Magic Circuits, occupying most of her body, with an estimated several hundred in total.
Shiki instinctively compared them to his own mere seven Magic Circuits, and the corner of his mouth twitched. There was simply no comparison!
Still, although there was a gap in quantity, as for quality... well, that was hard to say.
Using modern instruments, combining the data observed through his Mystic Eyes, and adding some Holy Grail secrets Irisviel had provided, Shiki gradually formed a rough treatment plan.
"Irisviel, this might hurt a little. Bear with it."
Shiki gave the Black Knight an uneasy glance. The Black Knight immediately understood and walked to Irisviel's side, ready to stop her at once if she reacted too violently.
"It might hurt a little?"
Irisviel was full of confusion. As she wondered what kind of pain it would be, she saw dense green light radiating from Shiki's right hand as it slowly reached toward her abdomen. Then, a piercing pain instantly spread from her abdomen through her entire body, and she could not help screaming, "Ah!!!!"
Her cry rang through the great cavern like that of a soprano. Fortunately, they had prepared beforehand, and this place was sufficiently secluded. Otherwise, the commotion would surely have drawn outsiders.
Irisviel clenched her teeth, trembling all over. The pain was nearly comparable to the agony of childbirth, showing just how intense it was.
"Ah!!!! Mr. Shiki, isn't there a better way?!!"
The Black Knight hurriedly held Irisviel down, preventing her from moving around and interfering with Shiki's work.
If the process were interrupted and all their efforts went to waste, the consequences would be unthinkable.
Shiki gritted his teeth as well. "There may be other methods, but they would take too long. There's no time. We can only do it this way. Hold on. Don't pass out, and don't give up!"
As he spoke, blood began seeping from his Mystic Eyes. He had pushed their power to the limit, and the eyeballs bearing that power could no longer withstand the strain.
A bright red Command Spell slowly faded from Shiki's right arm.
Command Spells contained magical energy hundreds of times greater than that of an ordinary Magus, yet in barely a minute, they poured away like water.
Since he had promised Saber that he would save Irisviel's life, he would do it no matter how difficult the process became.
Through the spiritual connection of the Human Path, Shiki remained linked to Irisviel throughout the rescue, experiencing her pain alongside her.
This kind of pain was simply worse than death.
But he could endure it. It was far better than some of the experiments he had gone through.
He began with Irisviel's spiritual perception, ensuring her awareness of her body, then used the Hell Path to reinforce her fragile soul—after all, she was only ten years old in actual age. An artificial human's soul was flawed and developed extremely slowly.
At the same time, he had to carefully distinguish the Lesser Grail hidden within her soul and flesh, marking their differences.
Of course, the legendary conceptual armament, Avalon, would also provide crucial assistance. Otherwise, Shiki would not have dared to act so boldly.
Finally, Shiki used the Hungry Ghost Path's ability to cover Irisviel's entire body. Guided by their spiritual link, he attempted to pull the Lesser Grail hidden within her body out.
As an extension of the Greater Grail, the Lesser Grail possessed an extremely high degree of mystery. After all, it was a vessel meant to contain Heroic Spirit souls. Without the Winter Saintess's support, Shiki might not have been able to pull it out.
The process lasted around five minutes, during which he used up six Command Spells.
His cheeks were covered in blood, and a large part of his clothes had been soaked through.
Irisviel screamed for over five minutes, nearly losing her voice. Still, her artificial body granted her resilience far beyond that of an ordinary person. Though the stimulation had left her mind dizzy and muddled, her body suffered no serious damage.
When Shiki could no longer sense any excess parts of the Lesser Grail, the green glow in his right eye suddenly intensified. The unprecedented flow of magical energy brought his Mystic Eyes' power to a new height.
"Ah~~~ Come out!!!"
With a roar, he violently pulled back his hand, dragging a gleaming golden cup from Irisviel's body.
He used too much force. Shiki staggered back several steps, tilted sideways, and fell flat onto the ground, while the large cup in his hand clattered away into the distance.
"Whew, hah, whew, hah~~"
Shiki panted heavily, utterly exhausted. His head was spinning, and his ears were ringing.
His spiritual connection with Irisviel had allowed him to experience the pain of childbirth as well. Irisviel had merely lain there and endured it, while he had also needed to use his Mystic Eyes to extract the Holy Grail. He was exhausted beyond words.
Shiki turned his back to the altar and barely made his way to the edge of the pool. He splashed water on his face, trying to cool his burning head while washing the blood from his cheeks.
"Ugh, I didn't bleed during battle, but I lost so much blood at a time like this. Seriously. If I don't get something worthwhile out of this, this Holy Grail War will have been a huge loss."
He muttered softly, failing to notice a figure approaching from behind.
When he felt a warm body press against his back, snowy white arms wrap around his neck, and a voice with a trace of sickly delight sound beside his ear, he looked at the unhealthy smile reflected in the water and immediately felt a headache coming on.
"Shiki, hurry, hurry! Let's go carry out the Eye of the Moon Plan~~~"
Before you continue