Chapter 360

This would further disrupt their original plans.

"Perhaps we can have Goddess of Fate deal with Caster," said a squinty-eyed priest. "The Einzbern family seems to really need a Command Spell and two Servant, but they can't possibly have six Command Spell to control Servant at the same time. So if we use Command Spell as bait, the Einzbern family will be happy to drive Saber and Goddess of Fate to defeat Caster."

"And I can also use my authority to slightly change the rules of the Holy Grail War."

He paused for a moment and then said, "We can mobilize all the Master to attack Caster, so that the Einzbern family won't discover our true purpose."

"Hmm..." Tokiomi approved of the plan after hearing it. But after thinking for a while, he said, "In that case, could we do this? Use the rules to make the Goddess of Fate reveal her trump card? If Caster isn't powerful enough to make the Goddess of Fate reveal her trump card?"

The sheer power of the Goddess of Fate can be seen solely from the duel between Goddess of Fate and Lancer.

"She easily defeated Lancer simply by relying on Divine Art." Tokiomi said with some concern, "What if Caster can't make the Goddess reveal her trump card? Or what if Caster doesn't have that power and can't make the Goddess of Fate reveal her trump card? In that case, wouldn't it be the same as giving Einzbern a Command Spell for free, and we wouldn't get any information at all?"

Judging from the current situation, it is highly likely that this kind of situation, where one loses both wife and army, will definitely occur.

"Then shall I have the Einzbern reveal the power of the Goddess of Fate?" a squinty-eyed priest said. "If we're talking about the rules, the Einzbern have already violated the rules of the Holy Grail War by having a Master bring two Servant into the Holy Grail War."

"We can only accept this reality," the priest said. "But for the sake of fairness and justice in the Holy Grail War, it's understandable that we let Goddess of Fate reveal her trump card, isn't it?"

Fairness and justice? Those are just words. To paraphrase a certain group that enjoys riddles, "Those who know, know."

Tokiomi immediately understood and said, "Then that will do."

Giving up a Command Spell is not out of the question if it can force out Goddess of Fate's true trump card.

Let's see what the Goddess of Fate has up her sleeve!

Chapter Fifteen: The Problem of Inappropriate Tokiomi

"It seems quite a bit has already happened."

By the time Li Pu returned to Einzbern's castle in Fuyuki City, the Fuyuki City was, to some extent, in a state of chaos Fuyuki City, just as a certain comrade had once described.

Thanks to the efficiency of modern media, the sudden outbreak of events such as the building explosion, the sudden weather change, and the series of child abductions in Fuyuki City within a very short period of time has plunged the entire city into a state of panic.

When Li Pu returned to the castle, Kiritsugu and Yama were also already there, seemingly waiting for her to return for a small meeting.

Upon seeing Li Pu jump out of the mirror, Kiritsugu spoke first, "Foreigner, have you found Lancer? Did you find anything?"

"Not yet." Li Pu wasn't surprised that Kiritsugu knew his plans; Saber might not necessarily keep them a secret. Besides, she didn't need to keep them a secret, and winning her over was one of the strategies he could use.

"Lancer is a good dog in every sense of the word," she said, shrugging. "However, given his Master's personality, the two of them are basically incompatible. His Master, Kayneth Kayneth El- El-Melloi Archibald, is someone who will never understand or appreciate Lancer. There's only one thing he can do."

"That's just repeatedly trampling on Lancer's dignity."

That's how it is in the original work.

"Having Master like that is truly Lancer's misfortune." Saber seemed to feel sorry for Lancer, but then quickly asked with a question, "But Foreigner, how did you know Lancer's Master's identity? He didn't seem to be there, did he?"

"No," Li Pu said, shaking his finger. "He was there, hiding in the shadows of the warehouse's triangular roof. From our angle, he was just completely out of sight in the dark."

"So that means you can see things in the dark?" Saber asked, even more curiously.

"If I just 'see', I basically can't see anything," Li Pu explained. "However, if I use other methods to sense things, then the entire dock is under my surveillance, including Assassin who was blown away by the strong wind and Kiritsugu who was climbing the gantry crane with a gun on his back. I can observe your actions."

"As expected of Goddess," Kiritsugu said, unsurprised. "Nothing escapes your observation."

"Alright, enough about me," Li Pu said. "Since we're all here, I suppose there must be something else going on?"

"The Church has just issued an emergency notice," Kiritsugu said. "The Holy Grail War is suspended, and a subjugation Command Spell against Caster is issued in exchange for a Command Seal. According to the current investigation, Caster is the real culprit in the recent series of kidnappings in Fuyuki City. He has seriously violated the rules of the Holy Grail War and posed a great threat to the secrecy of Magecraft. Therefore, he must be eliminated."

"Furthermore, the Church's Foreigners must reveal their Noble Phantasm." Kiritsugu said with some distress, "If a Foreigner does not reveal their Noble Phantasm, they will be disqualified from participating in the Holy Grail War."

"Cancel?" Li Pu asked, somewhat amused and annoyed. "How do I cancel it?"

"The organization will unite all Master involved in the Holy Grail War to launch a campaign against them," Kiritsugu said.

Ah... this...

This is actually a bit ruthless, Li Pu can't laugh for now. Let alone if Rider and Golden Flash really team up against her, she might really be in trouble. Li Pu might not be afraid of the Army of the King and the King's Treasure separately, but combined, it's something to worry about.

"So you told them?" Li Pu asked.

"I told you," Kiritsugu said. "Noble Phantasm: Wish."

Li Pu mentioned her Noble Phantasm quite early on, which was recognized as Noble Phantasm after entering this world. It's Belldandy's special ability, 'Wish Fulfillment'. The strength of this ability is difficult to assess; it could potentially rewrite reality, or it could be completely ineffective. Ultimately, the strength of this ability depends on Li Pu's will and the wish itself.

"Okay," Li Pu shrugged. "Any feedback from over there?"

"I'm not sure what the other Master think of your Noble Phantasm yet," Kiritsugu said, shaking his head.

"Oh~" Li Pu didn't say anything more. She really didn't care what the other Master thought about this matter. Perhaps in their eyes, since the Einzbern family had already obtained something that could grant wishes and still insisted on participating in the Holy Grail War, it was a double insurance. After all, although she could grant wishes, it was closely related to her master's ideas and wasn't like the Holy Grail, where anything could be achieved simply by winning.

"By the way," Saber suddenly asked, "We were just discussing the matter of defeating Caster."

'Slaying Caster?' Li Pu did remember that in the original work, slaying Caster was Tohsaka's scheme. Since Assassin had theoretically withdrawn, they couldn't directly attack Caster, so they came up with this scheme. Moreover, since Tohsaka had already used a Command Spell, he hoped to use this 'fair and just' slaying to make up for the Command Spell he had used before and increase the chances of victory.

Because...

Li Pu vaguely remembered seeing a statement somewhere that Master appear to have three Command Spell, but in reality, only two are usable. This is because the appearance of the cup requires the power of all the Heroic Spirit involved, so the last Command Spell is simply a Command Spell used by the Master to control the Heroic Spirit's suicide.

Li Pu doesn't remember if this is true or not, because this seems to be a conclusion reached through discussions on some online forums, not a setting in the main story.

But whether it's like that or not doesn't matter. What matters is that, according to the original story, Lancer and Archer used a Command Spell during the Holy Grail War. Therefore, they will both fight for this extra Command Spell.

Tokiomi naturally knew this, so he planned to use this Command Spell to further incite a battle between Lancer and Saber, because Lancer's Master would inevitably need it.

Moreover, that guy is a stubborn individual who believes that as long as he defeats Saber, he will definitely win, so basically the outcome goes as he wishes.

The problem is that Lancer hasn't lost Command Spell, and because of his presence, the Commander might not necessarily attack immediately. So, using Command Spell as bait when no one has lost a single one...

Is this just a continuation of the plot, or does Tohsaka have ulterior motives?

Is it really true, as that discussion at the time suggested, that the last Command Spell can only be used to command Heroic Spirit to commit suicide?

If that's the case, then this Command Spell is indeed very powerful.

"They probably want to ensure that the Foreigner can demonstrate more power," Kiritsugu said. "After all, I'm the only Master who has summoned two Servant, but I only have two Command Spell. So they think I'll do everything in my power to Command Spell one!"

"What are your thoughts on this, Foreigner?" Kiritsugu asked.

"Since they are so insistent," Li Pu said with a sneer, "Then we shall reluctantly comply."

Anyway, it doesn't matter if she has one more or one less Command Spell. She won't easily obey that piece of junk! She is a true Goddess, and she Li Pu, doesn't believe that this thing can really make her commit suicide!

"Alright, since it's decided," Saber said. "What do you know about that Caster, Foreigner? We ran into him on the road before, but he seemed to have mistaken me for someone else."

Misidentification? To paraphrase a saying from my past life, this is the inevitable consequence of "one trick ponytail," a consequence of Takeuchi's face. Of course, this certainly cannot be applied to reality.

"How should I put it?" Li Pu thought for a moment and said, "You could think of it as God using copy and paste to take a shortcut when creating people."

"What do you mean?" Saber asked, not understanding. "Foreigner, you are the Goddess of Fate, do you also believe in God?"

"No, not at all," Li Pu shook his head and said, "It's just a metaphor. Let me put it this way. There's a very famous saying that's used to tease the Gauls: 'The Gauls can only win wars when led by women, dwarfs, and foreigners.' The 'woman' in that saying refers to Joan of Arc. And this Joan of Arc looks exactly like you! Even her voice is the same."

"So Caster is Joan of Arc's subordinate?" Saber said with a sudden realization, "No wonder he always calls me 'Saint'."

"Yes." Li Pu nodded and said, "His real name was Gilles de Rais, the commander of the Gauls during the Hundred Years' War, a general who won every battle. He was also the prototype for Bluebeard, a very famous villain in Western fairy tales."

"How could this be?" Saber said in disbelief. "According to your description, he should be a hero, how could he become a villain?"

"He changed after the saint was captured and sentenced to be burned at the stake by the Church," Li Pu said. "The collapse of his faith led him to seek the power of the devil, abducting children and cruelly killing them, offering them to the devil in exchange for the saint's resurrection."

"Of course, this is utterly useless, because the devil looks down on such a pointless sacrifice, and he himself went to the stake of the Church for his sins."

"This..." The lady didn't know how to comment on the legendary yet sinful life of the Caster they had encountered, but then she suddenly remembered something and said, "If you knew who the Foreigner was right away..."

"Hyōgo~" Li Pu said cheerfully, "He's here in the forest in the northeast corner."

Chapter Sixteen: Caster and the Goddess

"Caster has already entered here?" Kiritsugu exclaimed in surprise. "Impossible. How could he have entered here without being detected at all?"

"Not yet," Li Pu said. "It's just that my reconnaissance area is quite wide. He's moving this way alone with some children he's lured here. If he's moving at his current speed..."

"It is expected to enter the castle's reconnaissance range in 30 minutes."

Although Li Pu doesn't understand Magecraft, she can sense Magecraft power and therefore can also perceive the warning range of Einzbern Castle.

"Did he bring hostages?" Saber said, looking extremely angry. "What a despicable fellow! Can someone who behaves like this be called a general?"

"Of course not," Li Pu said. "This guy is a general who's gone mad, and as for the children he's with, they're more like hostages..."

"It's more accurate to say that the spellcasting materials are more suitable."

"What do you mean?" Saber pressed.

"As I just said, his reason for torturing and killing children was to resurrect the saintess by sacrificing her to the demons," Li Pu explained. "Although the larger Demon Race look down on this disgusting form of sacrifice, it doesn't mean that other demons don't. This guy can summon some disgusting monsters through children."

If I remember correctly, it was shown in the show; the most direct example was the tentacles emerging from the child's body and wrapping around Saber.

"Whether it's a sacrifice or spellcasting materials," Saber declared righteously, "We cannot tolerate that guy's reckless behavior. He has lost the glory and faith of a hero, so let's make him leave the stage!"

"Goddess of Fate, can you save those children's fate?" Saber asked.

"I'll try my best," Li Pu said. "But I'm more worried about something else than Caster."

"What?" Kiritsugu asked.

"The other Master," Li Pu said, walking up to Kiritsugu's map. "You can bomb other people's buildings, but they might not necessarily abide by the Church's order for a temporary ceasefire and joint attack. Besides, this Church itself has problems."

In the original story, Lancer's Master launched a surprise attack on Einzbern Castle at this time. Although Lancer and Saber fought together to defeat Caster, Lancer managed to do so.

However, Li Pu couldn't guarantee that Lancer wouldn't temporarily ally with him against Caster this time. If his Master chose to force Lancer and Caster to fight him together, things would become rather complicated.

'But if that's really the case, then so be it,' Li Pu thought. 'That way, Kayneth wasn't present in the previous scene, will definitely appear in this one, dancing and singing while trampling on Lancer's dignity. The bigger the rift between Lancer and her Master, the better and more advantageous it will be for her.'

"That's settled then," Kiritsugu said. "Foreigner, go deal with Caster. Saber, you protect Irisviel. Yama and I will defend against any other Master might infiltrate the castle."

"What about the children?" Saber asked. "Are we just going to watch them be sacrificed to the demon by that Caster?"

"Cloning!" Li Pu waved his hand, instantly creating seventeen clones. He said, "Saber, you and your wife wait in the forest outside. I will go ahead and rescue the children and bring them to you."

Li Pu did have some thoughts about saving those children. No matter what, Caster's actions were utterly unpopular! Even if he wasn't the kind of person overflowing with compassion, he'd still try to save them if he could.

Moreover, she appeared as Goddess, abandoning those children and letting them be tortured and killed by Caster.

She Li Pu, simply couldn't do it!

"Ah~" Li Pu's clones immediately caught the wife's eye. She moved closer to Li Pu and her seventeen clones and said, "Ah~ So cute! The Goddess actually has such an ability."

Seventeen clones—and these clones are different from those in a certain ninja! This is one of the Goddess's unique skills.

Although it's different from the clones in a certain ninja, it has the same deadly effect.

"Don't look at me like that! Even if I have a lot of clones, it doesn't mean I have to turn into a child!" Li Pu said in a slightly unhappy, childish voice, "I have to take care of every child and fight against Caster, so this is the only way."

"My clones distribute my power evenly, so I can't help it ending up like this."

The biggest drawback of the Goddess's clones is this, the same drawback as the shadow clones: the power is evenly distributed among each clone. But at the same time, an even more fatal drawback than the shadow clones is that the ages seem to be evenly distributed as well. Once seventeen clones are created, the adults become eleven or twelve-year-old children, about a foot tall! If there were more clones, they would probably be the size of figurines.

What's even more fatal is that if a clone is injured, the injury will be reflected back after the clone creation ends. Even worse, the death of a clone, while not a complete wipeout, will severely impact combat effectiveness.

In short, this skill is quite useless. Of course, the Goddess also has another kind of clone.

It's basically creating a clone the size of a figurine. While it doesn't affect the original's strength, the clone is essentially only usable once. Moreover, it's extremely fragile, and Li Pu isn't sure if they'll encounter any unexpected situations on the way to rescue it.

If there's an emergency, those figurine clones really aren't enough.

"If it's distributed equally." Saber grasped the key point of Li Pu's words.

"Yes," Li Pu immediately gave Saber a definite answer, "This is my most vulnerable moment. If I were a whole, I think I could completely suppress Caster, but right now I only have one-seventeenth of my power, and I also need to heal those children..."

If it wasn't a summoning but rather a sudden attack by some monster that had entered the area beforehand, then you'd need to get rid of the monster for your child, which would be a bit of a hassle.

"All I can do is try my best to hold Caster off," Li Pu said. "We'll try to get the children to safety as quickly as possible. Once we can get them to a safe place quickly, we can go all out."

"Understood!" Saber said, "You can leave it to us without worry!"

"I will definitely ensure the children's safety!"

Chapter Seventeen: Magecraft and Gods

"By the way, Foreigner, if that Caster is mentally unstable."

In the forest outside the castle, Saber said to the tiny Goddess beside her, who was only a foot tall, "Could you make him come to his senses? Just like you used your divine power to make Berserker come to his senses at the docks."

"No," Li Pu said in his childish voice, "Because Berserker is affected by external forces, while Caster is affected by its own internal factors."

"His madness wasn't due to the Holy Grail rules, nor was it a brain injury; it was due to the collapse of his faith," Li Pu explained. "He was, in a sense, lucid. Every step, every plan, had his own ideas and clear, well-defined goals. It's just that to outsiders, he seemed to have 'lost his mind.'"