The Witch's Three Trials

"This guy who's been bothering Shirou is really annoying, I'll kill him!" Artoria glanced at the black-haired girl's chest and was indeed very annoyed.

'The queen of this European island nation is indeed powerful. I didn't gain the upper hand in the battle just now, and her magic power always seemed to be plentiful.'

"Attacks of that Noble Phantasm, even my unparalleled Noble Phantasm wouldn't be able to defend against them more than a few times. If it weren't for the fact that this is an alternate dimension connected to Japan, and the body I'm inhabiting is from Japan, giving me a regional advantage, I might have been the one killed in the blink of an eye."

Just as things were about to escalate, thousands of buzzing sounds came from all directions in the sky, as if they were surrounded. Then, countless black swarms of bees flew over Shirou and the others in the dense forest.

"Oh no! Komachi and Mashiro are still over there!" Artoria shouted as she ran over.

"Komachi! Mashiro!" Shirou quickly followed.

"Shirou! Wait for me!" The black-haired girl felt herself following.

Before they had run more than a few steps, a dense swarm of black bees appeared in the sky again. This time, the swarm formed the shape of a cage, and inside stood two young girls.

"Brother! Save us!" Komachi was in the cage, saw Shirou and cried out immediately.

Originally, Komachi had used her possession to summon Shuten-doji- Mashiro. However, she is now in human form and is imprisoned in a cage made of bees with Mashiro.

"Wait, I'm coming to save you right now!" Shirou quickly agreed, not daring to dawdle any longer, his eyes emitting a dazzling white light.

"Please don't be nervous, I swear I won't harm a single hair on their heads." At that moment, a witch in a red robe appeared in the air, looked at Artoria, and then descended from the sky.

"You are..." Artoria recognized the witch who had descended from the sky.

"Your Majesty King Arthur! The Dense Forest Witch greets you and congratulates you on regaining your body." The witch bowed to Artoria in greeting.

"Oh, it really is you." Merlin materialized as a phantom, poked his head out, and smiled at the Dense Forest Witch.

"Merlin! Come here!" The Dense Forest Witch stretched out her hand, her palm emitting a suction force that was only effective against spirits.

"What!?" Before Shirou could react, Merlin was sucked out of his body. The witch's hand, with its long, sharp, red-painted nails, gripped Merlin's throat.

"Oh, it's been a long time! You look great. It seems you've been doing quite well these past thousand years," Merlin said with a light laugh.

The witch, her lips painted a thick, vibrant red, curving into a wicked, seductive smile, retorted, "What do you think? Forcing yourself to come to this world, you're not even an independent soul. How can you possibly fight against me?"

"Don't say that. Even if we're not in the same relationship as before, we can still be friends," Merlin said with a smile.

"Shut up! We don't need you here anymore. Go back to the tower and stay put!" A black void opened beside the witch, and she kneaded Merlin's spirit into a ball, then flung it out of this world.

The red-lipped witch raised her index finger and pressed it against Shirou's nose, saying:

"Merlin is beyond saving, but you still have hope for redemption. I came here to correct your thinking, otherwise the entire world will collapse! Even witches will lose their space to live."

She is Dense Forest Witch, not Servant, yet she possesses unimaginable power. From the very beginning, she was plotting to achieve a ritual transformation through the conflict Servant, and then use it to activate her ritual with the Holy Grail.

"Dense Forest Witch, release these two girls first, then we can talk!" Shirou urged the witch.

"Of course... that's fine," the witch replied.

The black cage made of bees instantly opened, and the unconscious Komachi and Mashiro fell out.

Shirou quickly ran over, jumped up, and stretched out his arms to hug his sister. Then, with his free hand, he grabbed Mashiro under her armpit and caught her steadily, finally letting out a sigh of relief.

The next instant, the witch appeared in front of the boy, her long, sharp, dagger-like red fingernails piercing Shirou's abdomen, and blood spurted out.

"Ugh!" Shirou felt a sharp pain extending from his back into his body and cried out in pain. Komachi and Mashiro slipped from his grasp and fell to the ground. At the last moment, Shirou lowered his hand to release the force, at least preventing them from getting hurt. The witch's Magecraft seemed very powerful. The two girls were still unconscious.

The Dense Forest Witch lowered her body, her eyes darting around, and continued to forcefully push her fingers into Shirou's abdomen, as if rummaging through a schoolbag.

"Aaaaaah!" Shirou screamed in agony.

"Found it!" The Dense Forest Witch stopped and said with a sinister smile.

Hands stained red with sticky blood pulled the Holy Grail from the boy's body.

"Oh right, right, and this too..." At the same time, she raised a pair of light blue scissors in her other hand and clamped them onto a long white line that looked like an umbilical cord that had been pulled out of Shirou's body.

With a snap, the connection between the boy and some distant being outside the timeline was severed.

Shirou felt a wave of dizziness, his vision went black, he lost consciousness, and collapsed to his knees.

At this moment, the white deity atop the distant iceberg paused for a moment, then continued... manipulating countless divine avatars across various worlds to complete their tasks.

"Damn it! What did you do to Shirou! What kind of sorcery did you use?!" The black-haired girl raised her spear and charged forward.

"Step back!" the Dense Forest Witch coldly shouted.

"Ugh!" The black-haired girl stopped against her will, as if she had been electrocuted, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't move her feet forward.

"Foolish Lancer, who do you think summoned you here?" the witch said, then looked at Shirou was sitting on the ground, and continued:

"It's not over yet! Shirou Emiya, in this world you and Merlin are birds of a feather. As punishment, I bestow upon you the curse of being fought over by everyone as a woman!" The Dense Forest Witch raised her staff made of stars and pronounced this verdict.

A sphere of lake-blue water enveloped the unconscious Shirou.

"Shirou..." The black-haired girl tried to reach forward, stretching out her hand and struggling, but still couldn't reach him.

"Then let's officially begin this plan!" the witch said with a smile. With a wave of her hands, she drew out two incredibly massive spiritual entities from within her robes—the residual earthly energy of the Servant.

"What do you want to do! What do you want to do! Don't even think about stopping my love for my Master!" Juana screamed hysterically.

"Witch! You lying bitch! You brought us in here for this very reason! I curse you!" roared Zhang Chunhua, the posthumously honored empress of the Jin Dynasty.

Another spirit was released; this time it was Salome.

"My love, my beloved head! It's gone forever."

They were all forcibly extracted from their Master and are now being absorbed into the magic circle.

"In that case, my long-cherished wish can be fulfilled! The Counter Force is gone, the white god is now invincible, and the annihilation of all immortal beings is not far off, hehehe!!!" The Dense Forest Witch laughed in a low, eerie voice.

Chapter 314 The Witch's Three Tests

The Dense Forest Witch has lived for over 1,500 years, a very long time. If it were a modern human with an average lifespan of over 70 years, it could go through nearly 20 reincarnations, experiencing 20 loves, 20 separations of life and death, and 20 different lives.

Witches can live very long lives, and she was among the longest-lived in the story, yet she couldn't die; she simply lived on.

They hide within the world, barely surviving. Beings already eliminated by the world, it would be better for them to disappear; that would make them seem more beautiful. For humans, life is extremely short, passing in the blink of an eye.

Some grudges and resentments will disappear with the death of one of them. But it's different for witches; all grudges and troubles will continue for thousands of years.

Merlin sat inside the tower for nearly 1,500 years, neither apologizing, begging for forgiveness, nor running away, but simply accepting it. Clearly, if he were a man at the pinnacle of Magecraft, even such a curse could be lifted with time.

She never intended to trap Merlin for life. Since he didn't apologize or beg for forgiveness, she couldn't forgive him. Since he didn't run away, she couldn't add any further condemnation.

The Magus of Flowers sat alone atop the tower, isolated from the world, seemingly oblivious to time, perhaps destined to remain there forever. He wasn't atoning for his sins; he was simply staying there.

If that's the case, it would be better to die. But her life is already bound to the dense forest, and as long as there are trees left, she cannot truly die there.

Even if she manages to kill herself, she will still be relegated to Hall of Heroes and will never find true peace.

A witch, weary of life, cursed everything. Then she discovered a white life form, a god with the power to create everything, and therefore also the power to destroy everything.

Thus, the Dense Forest Witch began to plot. These girls who were brought here to possess and summon their Master were actually just necessary mediums for her to summon Servant in this very special world under the influence of the white god's power.

Like a relic, what truly provides the immense magical power that allows Servant to fight against beings of Artoria's caliber is the master of this dense forest himself.

The Dense Forest Witch has already dealt with Salome and banished Merlin. Now she has obtained the magic power of the madwoman Juana and Zhang Chunhua, the wife of Sima Yi of the Jin Dynasty. In addition, she has the magic power left behind after the Servant possessed by Ako and Yuno Gasai who left earlier were dissolved. This is enough for her to use the Holy Grail to start a super-large-scale ritual. The magic power of the array has been replenished.

Therefore, these girls are no longer needed; the witch has already thrown them all out of this little world.

"Damn it! The Forest Witch? Aren't there plenty of British man people saying that the Saintess is a witch too?! Why don't we tie you to a cross and burn you too!" Jeanne d'Arc, who had run back after losing track of the pursuing enemy, charged forward and shouted fiercely, "Anyway, let Shirou out of here!"

Artoria sheathed her holy sword, coldly staring at the eerie witch, and stepped forward to ask, "Although we are old acquaintances, and you even helped us when you were studying under Merlin, judging from the current situation, it seems you intend to be my enemy this time."

"How could that be! I have no intention of being your enemy. After all, you are the Child of the Dragon, the king chosen by Britain. For beings like us who rely on spiritual veins for survival, someone like you must be protected. The holy sword in your hand is the most powerful proof, and even that woman Morgan le Fay cannot change it."

"Then move aside!" Artoria looked at Komachi and Mashiro, who were still unconscious on the ground behind the witch, and walked over.

The Dense Forest Witch bowed slightly, stepped aside to let Artoria pass, then stared straight at the king's back and asked in a low voice.

"I just feel like I've lived too long. Me too, Merlin too... You once pulled the Caliburn, and your body was frozen at the age of a fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl. Afterwards, you held the scabbard of the holy sword, without leaving any scars on your body. You were truly invincible."

However, I am a little curious, that is, you spent your whole life as a girl and never experienced what it is like to be a woman after growing up and developing.

"During those years of conquest, when you were slandered by the enemy, misunderstood by the knights, and betrayed by your own people, did you ever feel a moment of disgust and despair towards yourself?" The Dense Forest Witch asked Artoria.

Artoria picked up the two girls and carried them to safety, replying coldly, "Back then, all I wanted to do was become the ideal king; I had no time to think about these things."

"So now? Do you regret it?" the Dense Forest Witch pressed.

Jeanne d'Arc shouted irritably, "How annoying! If you have a problem with Merlin, go ahead and cause him trouble!"

"No, I didn't do anything special to Merlin. Since he locked his true form in the tower as required, I won't cast any new curses on him."

"The reason I banished his spirit from this world was simply because I found his incorrigible, deceitful smile annoying," the witch explained unhurriedly.

"So what do you intend to do to Shirou now? Release him immediately, or don't blame me for being impolite!" Jeanne d'Arc shouted angrily at the witch.

"Hehe, that won't do." The witch chuckled, then activated her teleportation Magecraft.

Then, where she had been standing, flames burst forth, and Jeanne d'Arc unleashed her flames the instant she saw the witch laugh.

The witch appeared in the void several meters away, dodging all the attacks.

"Yes, I respect you, but I can't agree to this. After all... what I just said is in the past."

"Lancer! Stop them!" The witch raised her hand from under her cloak, revealing Command Spells, and commanded Honda Tadakatsu, who was lying on the ground.

"Truly worthy of being a super general of Wa Province, such remarkable loyalty! Even with Master he doesn't like, he will still obey orders one hundred percent. Is this what they call the samurai code of loyalty and righteousness? It seems that even though I was the Master and all the women he summoned were troublesome, I still drew a good hand."

With her Noble Phantasm fully activated, the black-haired girl Honda Tadakatsu, who was temporarily immune to any harm, Riding a magnificent horse and brandished a three-meter-long spear, charging towards Artoria and Jeanne d'Arc like a hurricane.

For a moment, the two could only fight back with all their might, and had no time to stop the witch.

The Dense Forest Witch turned to look at the boy, smiling eerily, and said, "After all, you were the one I was looking for in the first place, Shirou Emiya! The only weakness of the white god..."

Inside the water sphere, pure blue water rose continuously, covering the boy from his trouser legs to his chest, eventually submerging him completely. Then the water overflowed and gathered on the ground.

The weakened Shirou felt as if something was squeezing his entire body, as if he had been crammed into a piece of clothing two sizes too small, making him feel as if he had been shrunk down.

A small, blue lake formed in the dense forest, surrounded by green vegetation. Then, seven or eight hands reached out from the lake's surface, just like the Lady of the Lake who reached out from the lake to catch the Excalibur before disappearing into the water.

This time, seven or eight fair hands reached out, grabbed the boy's feet, hugged his waist, and pulled him to the bottom of the lake.

"Shirou!" Artoria reached out her hand, trying to grab the boy, but it was too late.

"Don't worry, you'll soon be part of the story too," the Dense Forest Witch smiled at the girls and snapped her fingers.

"Scheherazade! Attack!"

Behind the Dense Forest Witch appeared a voluptuous woman with dark brown skin, dressed like a Persian dancer, her head covered by a silk scarf that concealed half her face, and carrying an ancient staff. She was the world's oldest fairy tale teller, the storyteller in a perilous situation.

"Yes, Master, as you wish." Scheherazade nodded in agreement.

Runes emerged from the woman's mouth, forming a wondrous circular magic circle that enveloped the girls on the ground. The dazzling white light expanded continuously, covering the entire dense forest world, leaving only white light visible...

"For my long-cherished wish, you shall remain here!" The Dense Forest Witch spoke in a deep voice, activating an ancient and powerful Magecraft, and then declared, "And... I hereby bestow upon Shirou Emiya, who is destined to break women's hearts, three trials! He may not emerge until they are completed!"

The Dense Forest Witch excels at this kind of oath-based Magecraft, like the one that trapped Merlin. Although the conditions must be clearly stated, once they are met, it is very difficult to break free. If the boy cannot pass those three trials, then he will truly have no way to return to his original world.

At this moment, Shirou had sunk to the bottom of the lake, was half-conscious and did not feel the lake water entering his mouth. He could still breathe, but the wet feeling around him was like a thick, liquid magical energy.

He felt himself sinking deeper and deeper, until he reached the very bottom of the lake and sank again. It felt as if the world had turned upside down, and then he was pulled up to the surface.

The lake demon lifted Shirou up and tossed him directly to the shore. Then, only her fair hand was visible on the lake surface as she waved it from side to side, bidding him farewell.

"Wait!" Shirou tried to call out to them.

Seven or eight hands on the lake surface stopped waving, then raised a thumb, before diving into the water and disappearing.

Shirou looked helplessly at the lake's surface and asked in confusion, "Where exactly is this?"

When he looked down at the water, he exclaimed in surprise, "What on earth is going on?!"

The boy's voice sounded much higher-pitched at this moment, and the figure reflected in the lake looked several years older than before, like a young boy who had just entered junior high school.

Shirou's connection with the white god has indeed been severed, and he can no longer use the power of his Magic Eye. However, it seems that he can still use possession summoning. But even if he simulates possession to summon the Emiya, his eyes are now at most at the level of Hawk Eyes.

Just then, the sound of horses' hooves came from behind.

"Hey! Shirou! So you're here! I've finally found you! Honestly, why did you come all this way alone? It's dangerous for a boy like you to be out here all by yourself!"

Shirou turned around at the sound and saw a horse-drawn knight approaching with a carriage. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was Astolfo, an acquaintance.

He was now dressed in a rare, stylish and practical men's leather armor. Instead of a long skirt with stockings or a sailor suit, he wore proper trousers, and his hair was neatly combed. Without any hair accessories, he exuded the dashing air of a capable knight.

"Astolfo? Do you recognize me? And where am I?"

"Really! Shirou! How could I not recognize you! No time for words, let's get in the carriage!" Astolfo said irritably, grabbing Shirou's hand and pulling him towards the gold-inlaid, white carriage behind them.

At this moment, Shirou, who was shorter than Astolfo, was no match for the strength of the knight Astolfo and was being pulled along.

He had to call out to him, "Wait, Astolfo, is it really necessary for me to sit in such a luxurious carriage? I'll just ride a horse."