The Inheritance of Twenty Thousand

"See? I wasn't wrong from the beginning. Even a villain like you, now, still wants to kill everyone who opposes you," Antonio said sneer as he led the mechanical soldiers over.

"You've said what you needed to say, now get to work!!!" Moriarty ordered.

"I understand." Antonio still had that bitter and resentful face, and said with disgust. He raised his hands, and his whole body was covered with a kind of costume similar to that of a masked Superman, only much thinner and more slender. The style was very similar to Mozart's, but the colors were strong red and black.

Unlike the unrestrained Mozart, who wore a vibrant purple outfit, he completely covered himself, as if trying to isolate himself from the world.

He drew a thin sword and raised it as if waving a conductor's baton.

At the same time, Shirou looked at the mechanical soldiers surrounding him. Compared to the mercenaries in the Demon Realm, their equipment had been upgraded to a higher level. Each soldier had half of their body, either on the left or right, transformed into a gray-silver mechanical body.

In addition to gaining the hardness of steel and immense strength, it was also equipped with various firearms, and its magazines were filled with Magecraft bullets with various effects.

Seeing that things were going badly, Merlin turned off the holographic projection and ran away, saying as he left, "Shirou, you hold on here, everyone's on their way."

"Step forward! Form ranks!" Antonio commanded, waving his hand.

First, a row of helmeted mechanical soldiers held machine guns. Their expressions were unreadable, but their movements were perfectly synchronized, like twins in perfect harmony.

Then a row of mechanical soldiers stood behind the first row, raised a mechanical arm, and two grenade launchers emerged from it. Through automatic aiming and infrared beams, they locked onto Shirou and the others.

The music blared, and the glowing notes filled the arena. Shirou and Artoria felt the demonic sound enter their ears, their heads throbbing, and they were unable to mount an effective counterattack. Their magical power weakened, especially their ability to protect their bodies, which seemed to have been reduced by 30%.

Meanwhile, the rows of mechanical soldiers seized the opportunity to launch an attack.

Bang bang bang!

Machine guns spewed flames, and howitzers bombarded the area directly.

"Damn it..." Shirou gritted his teeth Projection a shield. Seven cherry blossoms spun in front of him, protecting him and the woman behind him. However, as soon as the music started, the Sakura Shield would weaken by one layer. The actual cherry blossoms would gradually fade in color and then be shattered by the magic bullets.

Such attacks, one after another, will soon be unbearable.

Just then! At the critical moment, the Knights of the Round Table arrived.

"Your Majesty! We've arrived!"

Tristan unleashed a barrage of invisible wind blades, severing the arms of the mechanical soldiers attacking from the front.

Lancelot charged forward, raising the Arondight sword high. The sword flashed, and mechanical soldiers were sliced in half. The sturdy steel could not withstand the blade of the holy sword, and they were all cut in two with a single stroke.

Gawain swung his heavy sword, sweeping away the mechanical soldiers who were crouching on the ground, aiming their weapons.

Meanwhile, Antonio, who was playing the instrument, let out a loud shout and charged straight at them, raising his large blue shield!

Following closely behind was a golden blade of light; Bedivere's Silver Arm slashed down.

Antonio had to stop playing, quickly jump back, and return to Moriarty's side.

"Well, after my plan failed, I knew I couldn't defeat you with these troops," Moriarty shrugged and said slowly, a vortex appearing on his chest from which he pulled out a golden Holy Grail.

The light emitted by the Holy Grail echoed the spire-shaped skyscraper in the center of Shinjuku, and golden light shot into the sky, with small and large pillars of light rising high into the air and converging together.

"Are you planning to destroy Shinjuku again?" Shirou asked Moriarty, frowning.

"No, no! In the end, I didn't bring Gudako here, nor was it for revenge." Moriarty shook his head, a deep, sinister smile on his face. "Hehehe, after all, I've changed my mind. This time, what I want to do isn't to defeat Holmes, but to create a supreme paradise here!"

"Paradise? A criminal's paradise?" Shirou asked, looking at the other person in disbelief.

"No, it's a true paradise! I'll use the technology of artificial humans to create an endless number of adorable daughters who love me and call me 'Daddy'! The first production run will be set at 20,000!" Moriarty declared, raising the Holy Grail high.

"Daughter... daughter?!" Lancelot exclaimed in surprise as he fought the mechanical soldiers.

"Daughter? What are you talking about?" Shirou looked at the professor in surprise, but recalling that during the swimsuit event, this guy did indeed make the innocent-looking Frankenstein call him "Dad"?

"Just press a button, 180,000 yen, and you can create a considerate and adorable daughter! What is this world if not heaven?! Hahahaha!! Spallanzani~!!!" Moriarty said with maniacal laughter.

"With you around, it's just hell," Antonio grumbled from the side. Misguided and disillusioned, he didn't believe in paradise; everything was just hell.

"No! It's a paradise of love! It's paradise to me! Obedient, lovely, and filial daughters—this is the paradise every father would want! I have 20,000 of them at once! Of course, I have to provide a place of laughter and joy for my lovely daughters." Moriarty spread his arms wide, speaking with pride.

Moriarty suddenly had an idea. He opened his arms and said excitedly, "That's it! Once I take over Tokyo, my daughters will need to go to school and make new friends. So let's use the greatest resources to establish a school to cultivate scientific talents. Hmm... how about calling it Academy City? Antonio Salieri, you will be the chairman of the board of directors of the academy."

"Do you want me to teach classical music?" Antonio retorted coldly.

"No, leave the teaching to other professionals. You can hang upside down in a tank filled with nutrient solution, monitoring the city and strategizing from the bottom of your heart," Moriarty said with a smile.

"Stop joking around, I won't let you do whatever you want!" Shirou said.

"So I'll get rid of you all too! Oh, and I'll also send the video of you in Shirou's clothing to Chaldea side. When that happens, Illya and Chloe will definitely be devastated, and then I'll take the opportunity to comfort them. They'll slowly forget about you and start calling me 'Daddy's the best!' and stuff like that. Splatooning!!" Moriarty was shocked by his brilliant plan.

"Kiritsugu, you're not someone a criminal like you can replace... And..." Shirou's face darkened, and he silently Projection the Demon Blade Muramasa, drew its blade, and charged forward, shouting, "Stay away from my sister! Tenchu!"

Chapter 428 The Inheritance of 20,000

"Hahaha! Shirou, you're still too young." Moriarty summoned the platinum coffin, which stood in front of him and blocked Shirou's downward strike.

Two blocks sank into the coffin panel facing Shirou, and then two cannonballs emerged from there, aimed at Shirou.

"Shirou! Retreat!" Artoria shouted.

At that moment, a large shield radiating blue light was thrown over and landed right in front of Shirou, blocking the cannonball fired from Moriarty's coffin.

With a deafening roar, the explosion erupted in front of the shield, sending up billowing black smoke.

However, Moriarty had already taken the opportunity to create distance again, running behind the mechanical soldiers.

"Seriously, don't be so reckless, Shirou!" Guy said irritably from not far away, still in his throwing stance.

"Thank you so much, Kai!" Shirou said, feeling quite relieved.

"Well, I can understand how you feel, after all, she's your sister." Kai patted the dust off his hands, casually glancing at Artoria over there.

However, Artoria sensed his gaze, glanced at him briefly, and then turned her head away. On the battlefield, there was only a solitary king, and no familial ties.

"How could this be..." Kai seemed a little taken aback, but he quickly rallied, muttering, "Well, she might seem cold on the surface, but she's probably a tsundere inside, or maybe just shy. He wasn't always very frank in his life, so I can understand her feelings."

"Shirou, are you alright?" At this moment, Artoria jumped off her horse and walked towards Shirou with concern, checking him for injuries and asking with care.

"I'm fine, thank you, Artoria," Shirou said with a gentle smile to the woman, reassuring her.

"..." Kai silently lowered his head and picked up the shield he had thrown, a strange urge to cry welling up inside him. 'My sister... what kind of differential treatment is this?! And Shirou! I was the one who saved you, okay?'

Looking back, this child, before he became king, was such an innocent and adorable boy. How did he turn out like this? Whose fault is this?

"Damn it!!!" Kai directed his anger towards the enemy, raising his shield and smashing it towards the group of mechanical soldiers.

"Antonio! It's up to you! Send soldiers over! Keep them coming! Don't stop production at the factories either, this is going to be a tough battle! I'm going to use sheer numbers to wear them down! If we win, I'll give up my Academy City and go play with my daughters all the time." Moriarty said with a sly smile.

"Understood, but the headmaster is unnecessary. The performance continues!" Antonio Salieri raised his rapier, which resembled a conductor's baton, once again and activated the Magecraft of music. Various instrumental sounds rang out, and notes spread through the air, drifting towards Shirou and the others.

This time, even the Knights of the Round Table were caught in the sound field and caught off guard. This kind of invisible Magecraft, which affects people as long as they hear the sound and feel the vibration of the air, is Magecraft even the Knights of the Round Table could not resist.

"Here we go again!" Shirou looked at the sonic attack with a sense of formidable danger. This was an opponent he shouldn't confront head-on, but at this moment, the follow-up troops of the mechanical soldiers had arrived, surrounding the Knights of the Round Table who had arrived later. The army, lined up in two rows, held firearms and aimed at each of them.

However, the Knights of the Round Table were no ordinary men; they were intimately familiar with warfare. Although they didn't have these firearms back then, they did have archers and dragons that could Beam Cannon or spew breath attacks, so they naturally had their own methods for dealing with such situations.

Bedivere made the decision and, taking the lead, charged forward, shouting, "Charge in!"

"Oh, oh, oh!!" The others all understood immediately.

The Knights of the Round Table charged headlong into the ranks of the mechanical soldiers, forcing them to hesitate and not dare to indiscriminately harm their comrades.

"Fire! Fire! Don't worry about losses, we can replenish our forces as many as we need, just keep attacking. Execute orders!" Moriarty smiled nonchalantly and gave the order.

The mechanical soldiers chased after the Knights of the Round Table, turning their spears around, but often ended up colliding with the spears of their comrades on the opposite side, the dark muzzles threatening to discharge at any moment.

At this moment, the mechanical soldiers' faces, half of which remained unchanged, showed expressions of terror, but the other side of their faces, implanted with machinery, remained expressionless. Instead, the corner of their mouths on the other side pulled their lips in response:

"Yes, sir!"

"No... stop!" Amid the panicked cries of the soldiers, the modified robotic arm, beyond their control, pulled the trigger, automatically disengaged the safety, launched a missile, and dropped a blasting grenade.

In an instant, mangled bodies and severed limbs flew everywhere; the mechanical soldiers inflicted even greater damage on each other than the Knights of the Round Table.

However, this frantic offensive also had a restraining effect. At this moment, Antonio's musical Magecraft, although the performance had entered its climax and its power was increasing, even affected the Knights of the Round Table, who had high magic resistance.

"What's with this music?" Lancelot swung his sword, changing direction, but the machine gun fire from the distant mechanical soldiers forced him to...

"A miscalculation! This music is giving me a headache. If it were noon, I should have been able to withstand it, clear the field with my Noble Phantasm, and settle the score." Gawain struggled to defend against the sonic attacks, swinging his longsword with difficulty as he slashed at the mechanical soldiers that were being replenished from outside.

Antonio's musical Magecraft strongly interfered with them, containing various irresistible weakening Magecraft that prevented them from exerting their original strength. And just then, new mechanical soldiers arrived to reinforce their ranks.

"Hmph, Muda Muda, this is also part of the plan. As long as the mechanical soldiers act as walls, no matter how strong you are, we have the amplification of the Holy Grail!" Moriarty, as Antonio's summoner, was holding the Holy Grail and continuously pouring massive amounts of magic into him.

The effects of the music Magecraft had become even more powerful. The mechanical soldiers, who were previously easy prey for the Knights of the Round Table, were now finding it increasingly difficult to cut them down.

"Damn it! These soldiers are so annoying! Quick, Merlin, think of something!" Kai shouted.

"No, there's already someone more suitable than me," Merlin transmitted his voice from where he was hiding.

At this moment, a tall and valiant woman rode over on a steed, like a human tank. Her spear powerfully pierced the abdomen of the mechanical soldier blocking her way, sending him flying.

Artoria's cold and authoritative voice rang out. "Lord Tristan! What are you still hesitating for!"

"Yes, Your Majesty, leave it to me! I don't like his musical style either; his voice is full of dissatisfaction, malice, and resentment towards the world." Tristan, who had been keeping his eyes closed, opened his sharp pupils, picked up his demonic bow and harp, and stepped forward to speak.

Antonio transformed into the red-masked Superman, also noticed Tristan, raised his rapier, and pointed it at him.

This is the official start of a clash between different musical styles.

Tristan plucked the strings of his demon bow, producing melodious and ethereal music. Although the volume couldn't compare to the lively and intense music from the Vienna Symphony Orchestra on the other side, Tristan's music gradually became clearer and clearer, resonating in people's hearts.

Nature's blue-green sound waves and the Avengers' red sound waves each traveled towards the other and collided. The music from both sides mixed together, turning into a jarring noise. The sound waves pushed each other back and forth, sometimes pushing one side against the other, sometimes pushing the other side back.

Through mutual influence, they gradually reached equilibrium, eventually canceling each other out and disappearing into nothingness.

The surroundings suddenly fell silent, even though neither Tristan nor the masked knight opposite him had stopped playing.

At that moment, Shirou and the Knights of the Round Table acted decisively, using their respective methods to defeat all the mechanical soldiers.

Artoria swung her Holy Lance at Moriarty, unleashing a black Beam Cannon that forced Moriarty to put away the Holy Grail and dodge.

"It's over!" Tristan seized the opportunity, rapidly and continuously swinging his demon bow. From the moment he opened his eyes, the outcome was already decided.

There is nowhere to hide from the sound.

"Aaaaaah!!!" Antonio screamed in agony.

"Next time, let me hear your music of peace," Tristan said softly. An invisible blade struck Antonio, tearing through his armor and shredding it amidst the endless wind blades.

"Hmm! I still lost after all. Perhaps I was destined to fail when I summoned this king. In order to avoid being defeated by the two girls I summoned last time, I gave up on continuing to summon. It seems that was a mistake. No, if I summon another uncontrollable Servant, it will be a headache, not to mention that if it is a female Servant, she might be turned to Shirou's side." Moriarty said thoughtfully, seemingly making a post-battle summary.

"Don't you feel ashamed at all for making such a mess of the city?" Shirou asked.

"No, absolutely!!!" Moriarty replied confidently, opening his mouth wide.

"Still so stubborn!" Shirou said angrily.

"What's wrong with a middle-aged man wanting a cute daughter! Didn't you also get a little infatuated with this king because he suddenly grew up and has such a great figure, and couldn't help but want to be affectionate with her?" Moriarty said, pointing at Shirou.

"What!? No, Artoria, let me explain." Shirou nervously looked at Artoria beside him and explained.

"Shirou, there's no need to say anything more to him, just kill him." Artoria said angrily to Moriarty.

He shouldn't have said anything, because once he did, she couldn't help but get angry. If it weren't for this guy causing trouble, she would have been happily having a late-night snack with Shirou, and they could have smoothly moved on to the next, more intimate and crucial step. Now everything was ruined.

Moriarty suddenly burst into laughter, pulled out a pocket watch, and said, "Hehehe! Although I said I lost, I didn't say it was all over! Look! Just now, the countdown to the completion of my plan ended. This is the center of the new city I designed, the headquarters of our great criminal organization—'The Serpent,' the Tower of Paradise Lost!"

At this moment, the pillar of light from the Black Tower behind Moriarty, which he had previously echoed with the Holy Grail, had completed the transfer of all its energy.

A massive, tangible building burst from the ground, instantly surpassing the size of a food processing plant and expanding to the size of a football field, and it continues to expand at an astonishing rate.

This monstrous building looks like an upgraded version of the skyscraper Shirou infiltrated before, an upgrade in many ways, including its sturdiness and its size.

By this time, the building had already surpassed the height of the world's tallest building. What was even more peculiar was that this colossal skyscraper had black walls on all four sides, with no windows or doors, and the top floor was also sealed off. Yet, this represented absolute dominance, a command tower that controlled everything.

Under Moriarty's plan, the entire city of Tokyo will gradually transform into the metropolis he envisions, centered around this command tower. This world will begin to become Singularity, and once it is recognized by humanity, the world will undergo earth-shattering changes. It's not impossible that it might even become Lostbelt.

"You think you can succeed? Watch me destroy this tower!" Artoria stepped forward and raised the Holy Lance. Even though she was stained black and became a tyrant, she was still a hero who had fought to the end to protect her country.

"I'll help too!" Shirou reached out and placed his hand on it, joining Artoria in gripping the Holy Lance, pointing it at the phantom of the black spire that appeared behind Moriarty.

At this moment, with Shirou's arrival, Artoria's magic seemed to become gentler. The black magic on the Holy Lance was released, restoring it to its original color, a glorious gold.

"Holy Lance - anchor!" Artoria exclaimed.

"Round Table meeting begins!"

The five members of the Round Table present took an oath, and the Holy Lance broke through seal after seal, revealing a portion of the power of the Pillar of the World.

The radiance of the Holy Lance pierced through the black spire, Moriarty, with his arms outstretched and mouth agape, roared, but was also swallowed up by the golden light.

The impact of the golden light broke through all obstacles, enveloping a quarter of Tokyo's landmass.

Those outside the area looked on in astonishment. In their eyes, they saw a golden pillar of light rising from the ground to the sky, surrounded by a pale golden glow, like the aurora borealis, beautiful and sacred.

It all came to an end. Before this radiance, no matter how powerful Servant was, they could not withstand it.