Please Play Fate/Grand Order With Me

My hand-forged swords number over a thousand.

I have traversed countless battlefields without defeat. I know not what I have lost. I have never once been defeated. Nor do I know what I have gained. I have never once achieved victory.

"Thus, as I pray, 'Unlimited Blade Works'! This body is destined to be born for the sword!"

The Inherent Domain unfolded, revealing a crimson wasteland dotted with countless swords. Flames danced on the distant horizon, and colossal gears spun in the dim sky. All of it was exactly as the young man had seen in his past life.

But in the next moment, a sacred light flashed behind where the young man stood. A green land, a lake, and a city where people lived appeared there... finally transforming into a giant blue planet. This was the new understanding the young man had gained from his second life, now manifesting in his Inner World.

The entire wasteland, flames, and gears became a protective city wall. The young man stood atop the wall, with the beautiful planet floating in the sky behind him.

Then, his Mystic Eyes opened, locking onto a meteor in the sky with their rainbow hues. He discovered a twisted black shadow hidden within the meteor – the very embodiment of a devil. Observing and analyzing, the devil's weakness was laid bare in his eyes.

Its true form was the devil Samiel, who legend said resided in the Wolf Valley of Germany. He delighted in toying with humans, making various deals in exchange for their souls.

Projection!

In the space around the young man, Noble Phantasms appeared: golden and silver swords, weapons shimmering with strange light. Famous throughout history, as well as powerful artifacts buried in ancient times. Hundreds of Noble Phantasms, all possessing attributes effective against demons.

Hundreds of Noble Phantasms flew out instantly, targeting the weakest points in the meteor's structure and piercing them.

"Uwaaah!!" The devil's shadow let out a pained wail before disappearing.

Finally, — Broken Phantasm!

Hundreds of Noble Phantasms emitted blinding flashes simultaneously, detonating their contained magic and faith like high-energy bombs at the cost of their own destruction.

"Ten seconds until the meteor hits the tower!"

"Leave it to me!" The golden-haired girl was already prepared. Golden radiance emanated from her as she raised her Holy Sword, swinging it towards the meteor fragments the moment they shattered in the sky.

"—The King of Tyrants. Aurora Recoil. Drink the Radiant Light... Excalibur Morgan."

The fragments in the sky were consumed by the Noble Phantasm at that moment, and silence fell upon the surroundings.

In Chaldea's control room.

"The meteor... con... confirmed completely eliminated!" an employee reported excitedly.

"That's wonderful! Shirou-senpai! Artoria!" Mash appeared via a holographic projection and said.

"Well, I was just in charge of the demolition. The one who truly saved this place was Artoria. Thank you," Shirou said with a light smile to the golden-haired girl beside him.

"No need for modesty! Shirou, your performance just now was excellent! You've proven yourself worthy even as my knight. I don't mind praising you," Artoria said with a light smile as she sheathed her Holy Sword.

Chapter 106: Jeanne d'Arc, Let's Dance

"Right! How is Gudako doing over there? If he realizes the plan has failed, will he do something reckless again?" Shirou asked.

"Yes! Gudako-senpai's side has also concluded successfully! Thanks to the arrival of strong reinforcements, Moriarty has been defeated, and this Singular Point incident has been resolved!" Mash replied with a smile.

It turned out that after Shirou and Artoria had left, Gudako and the others who remained there had also faced their final battle with Moriarty.

The Count of Monte Cristo, the true King of the Cavern, burst in with a barrage of attacks. He had been commissioned by a certain entity to act as Andersen's bodyguard and had come to rescue the restrained Shakespeare.

The two writer Heroic Spirits combined their efforts to create the ultimate weapon against Moriarty.

The blue-haired boy in Western attire said, "Ah! Enough is enough! For popularity, I've boarded this fanfiction ship! It's good not to have to worry about character design, but it's also a hassle to write!"

Shakespeare said, "Though my fanfiction may not reach the heights of the original work, I hope it can still bloom with a brilliance no less than the original in these fleeting moments!!"

Andersen opened his manuscript and declared, "Marchen meines Lebens."

Shakespeare also opened his book, waving his gloved hand, and shouted, "It's rare to activate a Noble Phantasm in this form! The time has come, present thunderous applause! First Folio!!"

The two mages unleashed strange radiance, summoning something!

Not Servants, with low Spiritron Dress stats... nor Shadow Servants.

There were many of them... a hundred, no, over two hundred.

Over two hundred Phantom Spirits appeared. Among them, the four figures standing at the front as representatives were a round-faced priest, a disheveled doctor, an old man playing with string, and a serious gentleman.

The round-faced priest: Father Brown, round-faced and stout, a stuttering but wise-foolish great detective. He wore a small round hat, round-rimmed glasses, and often carried a black umbrella. His famous line was, 'Criminals are creative artists, and detectives are merely critics.'

The disheveled doctor: If Holmes was the most famous detective of the 'physical evidence deduction' school, this renowned detective was the representative of the 'mental deduction' school.

He was the aristocratic detective of logic and thinking machines—Van Dusen, whose hairstyle resembled Einstein's.

Van Dusen had never learned to play chess but claimed that by analyzing its rules and logic, he could defeat the world champion. He spent half a day understanding the rules, then played a match against the world chess champion.

By the fifth move, the champion's smile had vanished; by the tenth move, the champion was sweating nervously; by the fifteenth move, Van Dusen declared, "Checkmate!"

The champion thought for ten minutes but still couldn't find a counter-strategy.

He defeated the world champion within fifteen moves, relying solely on logic.

"You're not human, you're a 'thinking machine'!" the pale-faced champion declared.

The Old Man in the Corner: He is the world's first armchair detective. Unlike Holmes, who broke into private residences and took stimulants, he lies in his rocking chair in a cafe corner, reading the news in the paper. Through pure thought, he solves cases without ever leaving his seat.

The Earnest Gentleman: Active in the Red Thumbprint, and like Dr. Satō from the 'anti-narrative detective novel' The Singing Bone, he is both a lawyer and a medical doctor. He is erudite and known as the 'Great Clairvoyant.' Unlike most eccentric detectives, he is a serious, conservative handsome man. He doesn't rely on intuition but solves cases using scientific methods, a renowned detective.

Many other famous detectives did not intend to show themselves, merely hiding within the phantom spirit figures behind them.

"Gudako! For the works created by Andersen and Shakespeare, for your heroic feat of saving a divided world, even though it had nothing to do with you, these detectives have descended upon this realm! Let us lend you our strength!" the phantom spirit detectives declared.

"Hahahaha! To defeat me, detectives from all walks of life have come? Don't insult me! I, James Moriarty, will never lose to anyone other than Charlotte Holmes! Since you detectives have gathered here! Then I shall borrow power from the wicked!" Moriarty pulled out the Holy Grail and borrowed its magic.

With the boost from the phantom spirit detectives' abilities, and with Jeanne d'Arc and the King of the Cavern attacking, along with Shakespeare and Andersen providing support, Moriarty, who possessed the Holy Grail and had merged with Holmes and The Freeshooter, was successfully defeated.

Just as Moriarty was about to use the Holy Grail to start a second round of battle.

Representing them, over 200 phantom spirit detectives transformed their life's sole focus – unraveling the mystery of crime – into a shared Noble Phantasm, which they entrusted to Gudako.

"Come! Master of Chaldea! Speak those words!" the phantom spirit detectives said in unison.

Gudako swung down her raised hand, pointing at the bearded man, and declared loudly, "James Moriarty! You are the criminal!!!"

In life, the 'Napoleon of Crime' had never left any evidence, and thus had never been accused by a detective.

At this moment, as the greatest villain, he was accused by the wisdom and deduction of over 200 assembled phantom spirit detectives.

The record of 'perfect crime' was broken at this moment, and Moriarty's power as the criminal also weakened significantly.

"I never imagined that being identified as the criminal would cause such a decline... But even so, I shouldn't have lost. Neither my calculations nor my analysis indicated this outcome. Why is that?" Moriarty asked, bewildered.

"Don't you understand yet?" Gudako looked at the man, asking sadly.

"Master, tell me what happened. Otherwise, I cannot rest in peace even in death," Moriarty said.

"Because... you actually found doing good deeds quite interesting, didn't you!" Gudako said.

"Ah, I see... It seems the Demon God's dream, and my own dream, have both been shattered... One step short again," Moriarty sighed.

"It's perhaps too late to say this now, but... I'm truly sorry, Master, Gudako. I used your honesty and innocence to set a trap. But please believe at least one thing! The one who fought alongside you, who chatted and laughed with you, was that straightforward, justice-believing good Moriarty. He is a good person, yes... probably."

Moriarty said solemnly to the girl, "And as for me standing here now, please consider me merely a villain who looks similar!"

"No way!" Gudako puffed out her cheeks and refused. "I'll find a way to summon you and make you work hard!"

"You're quite stubborn, aren't you! Very well..." Moriarty said with a helpless smile.

"Master! Do as you please. If I am summoned, I will accompany you for a good time then. So! Hahahaha! Farewell then! Adios -Amigo!" The bearded man waved one last time and shouted loudly.

"Meow meow meow?" Gudako blinked her eyes.

Perhaps seeing Gudako's confused expression, Moriarty, who had been secretly laughing, disappeared in a glow of light.

At this time, in the Chaldea control room, an employee operating the monitoring equipment reported:

"All environmental parameters in Shinjuku have returned to normal!"

"Spiritron Transfer can be conducted at any time."

"Alright! This incident is finally over!" Da Vinci said happily.

"Then I'll spend a few more days in Shinjuku gathering material," Shakespeare said as he walked out!

"What nonsense! You'll accompany me into the writing hell!"

Andersen grabbed Shakespeare and dragged him into space to write his next work.

The King of the Cavern, acting as a bodyguard, would also accompany them. As he departed, he looked at the girl and laughed heartily.

"Never forget, my accomplice. No matter how contrary the world may be, there will always be retribution. If you were to yield now, it wouldn't be like you! At that time, just call my name! I will immediately rush to your location! Hahahahahahahahahaha!"

"Hahahahahaha! I know! See you next time!" Gudako put her hands on her hips and laughed along.

"One after another, all those noisy people are finally gone," Jeanne d'Arc quipped.

Just then, Shirou returned to the rooftop.

"Welcome back, Shirou-senpai. Where's Artoria?" Gudako greeted the returning boy with a smile.

"Oh, she went to find Ca-vall Second Generation," Shirou said.

"What! That guy ran off on his own! Never mind... I guess she knows what's good for her." Jeanne d'Arc looked at the girl, hesitating to speak. "Then Gudako..."

"Ah! Right! Speaking of which, I have something to do too, so I'll head downstairs first." Gudako understood and walked towards the exit, not forgetting to secretly give Jeanne d'Arc a thumbs-up.

Now, only Shirou and Jeanne d'Arc remained on the top floor of the tower.

The silver-haired girl changed her Mystic Code, putting on that purple-black evening gown, and said to the boy, "Shirou! Let's dance!"

"Eh? So that's what you wanted to say. I was wondering why Gudako was acting so strange," Shirou said with sudden realization and a laugh.

"What! You can dance with the King of Britannia, but you can't dance with a French country girl?" Jeanne d'Arc glared impatiently and asked.

"It's not like that..."

"Then dance! Hurry up and lead! Take me dancing! Honestly!" Jeanne d'Arc urged.

"I know," Shirou said, changing his Spiritron Dress to a Western-style suit. He stepped forward, took the girl's hand, placed his other hand on her back, and began to dance, leading her.

"Hey! Why are you suddenly so close? I can feel your breath on my face, and don't touch my back with your hand! Pervert!" Jeanne d'Arc exclaimed, blushing.

"Dancing is like this," the boy said helplessly.

"Eh... Ugh... It feels completely different dancing with Gudako," Jeanne d'Arc said, blushing and lowering her head.

"Relax, stand up straight. This kind of dance is meant to showcase confidence and beauty. It'll look good when you dance it," Shirou said gently.

"Is that so... I understand," Jeanne d'Arc raised her head and looked at the boy's face.

The two gazed into each other's eyes, swaying and twirling gently in the room. Their steps were slow but well-paced, like small birds flying and playing in pairs in the morning. The male bird would fly to the branches with the female bird, then they would spread their wings and fly together. The female bird led, and the male bird followed closely behind.

Each step maintained just the right distance, neither lagging behind due to slowness nor appearing rushed.

A gentle breeze made the outer door sway slightly. The light reflected off the silver doorknob, seeming to shimmer. The wind blowing through the gap made a rhythmic sound, as if accompanying the music for the two.

"How does it feel?" the silver-haired girl asked, gazing into the boy's eyes.

"What?" Shirou asked, confused.

"I'm asking about my dancing, of course! How is it compared to that King?" Jeanne d'Arc asked.

"It's quite good. For this kind of dance, the more you practice and get familiar with the steps, and develop your balance and sense of rhythm, the better you'll dance," Shirou said with a light laugh.

"Mmm... Then I'll practice diligently when I get back. So... let's dance together next time. It's a promise!" Jeanne d'Arc said.

"Of course. If you like dancing so much, I can practice with you," Shirou agreed with a nod.

"Really..." Jeanne d'Arc pursed her lips, her pretty face slightly flushed, wearing a strange expression of wanting to laugh but holding it back.

"Pfft." Seeing her like that, the boy couldn't help but chuckle.

"What are you laughing at? I'll burn you! Lead the dance! We still have time, let's practice a bit longer," Jeanne d'Arc scolded him fiercely.

"Yes, yes," the boy replied with a light laugh, taking the silver-haired girl's hand and leading her in a 180-degree spin. Her dark purple skirt bloomed like a flower, twirling and dancing.

The silver-haired girl gradually began to feel the joy of dancing, showing a rare sweet smile in front of the boy.

At that moment, the BGM suddenly stopped. It turned out someone had reached out and turned off Gudako's phone, who had been peeking from the doorway.