Type-Moon, Does a Small Start Count as Starting?

Why do this—rather than wondering that, why hadn't he exposed the fact that she hadn't actually smiled, that she was lying? It was so obvious—

Though the girl thought so coldly in her mind, her body sensed the warmth so close at hand and endured the heat rising within her, repeatedly chanting in her heart, Could you cool down a little?

"Is that so...? Since it's your wish for me, Novia, I'll fulfill it."

Sajyou Manaka said this, and a natural smile had now appeared on her expressionless face.

"Because I like you, Novia."

Because I like you—perhaps those feelings truly came from her heart.

A slightly cool breeze passed by, and her short golden hair brushed against Novia's cheek.

"All right, even I, the sole audience, think this confession scene has gone on long enough. Isn't it time to move on to the next floor?"

Sion spoke lazily, then quickly stood up. She turned and stopped before the stairs leading to the third floor, directly shutting down the Thought Partitions that had been arguing furiously over the scene just now. Those discussions had nearly made her want to lock Novia up herself.

"...You really know how to pick your moments, genius alchemist of the Atlas Institute."

Having lost Novia's embrace and his body heat, Aika spoke gloomily to Sion.

"Thank you for the compliment."

"Indeed. Let's go. Let's end this Sub-species Holy Grail War quickly."

The three of them then entered the labyrinth's third floor. Only one more floor lay between them and the Sub-species Holy Grail on the fourth floor.

Violence More Violent Than Magecraft

"What? You humans who joined forces with the Holy Church and the Mage's Association to strangle your own leader—creatures who can now only cling miserably to life—have taken an interest in the Holy Grail War as well?"

At the deepest part of the demon den, in a masonry hall, the colorless magical light emitted by the Holy Grail illuminated the surroundings.

Wolfgang Faust, a pale-skinned Vampire Species dressed in black, mocked the blond man before him. His bearing resembled that of an aristocrat possessed of supreme pride, looking down from on high upon pathetic living beings crawling across the ground.

Vampire Species were undead beings born from humans, creatures classified as standard lifeforms and children of physical laws. They could replenish magical energy with a breath, sustain their bodies with silent, un-beating hearts, and drain life with sharp fangs—the fantasy of vampirism.

Moreover, he was a Vampire Species born in Arcadia, the region associated with the huntress Atalanta in Greek mythology, and he had lived there ever since.

Wolfgang was so proud precisely because of his Arcadian origins.

"Indeed, I've developed a slight interest."

The blond man was enveloped by countless wrathful curses—the eighth of the Twenty-seven Dead Apostle Ancestors, the White Knight, Fina Blood Svelding.

"Do creatures without dignity like you possess such qualifications?"

Wolfgang responded with an elegant nod. Colder than freezing, unmoved, devoid of emotion, he resembled a reaper awaiting the fading of an innocent creature's flame of life. Then he circled a finger, and twenty light sources appeared above his head, right shoulder, and left shoulder.

"Oh? This power..."

"I have already held seventeen Sub-species Holy Grail Wars here, White Knight."

With that declaration, those sources of light—ultra-high-density masses of magical energy called Heroic Spirit Cores—began to flicker.

The gemstones refined around Spirit Cores were, in Wolfgang's eyes, the finest experimental materials. They were also the remnants of Servants summoned for Holy Grail Wars held with Lesser Holy Grails, who had carried their wishes yet fallen within the "labyrinth," lost their temporary ether-made bodies, and had their Spirit Cores seized.

In other words, the Alcatraz Seventh Labyrinth had long since become an enormous digestive organ, a stomach modified by Vampire Species to prey upon Servants.

"From this, it appears that I am naturally no match for you now. Perhaps only my self from before the year 300 could barely have stood a chance." Brad spoke without fear. "However, I bear no ill intent. I came only to witness the moment of your success, Wolfgang Faust."

"Hmph. At least you know your place."

Seeing the White Knight's sincere attitude, Wolfgang naturally lost any desire to fight him. After all, once he obtained the final Servant's Spirit Core, he could raise his rank and become a Spirit Species—nature given physical form, the Star Touch.

"If that Crimson Moon were still around, perhaps you wouldn't have fallen quite so low. Oh, though it would only mean going from drinking pig blood to drinking chicken blood. Don't even dream of human blood. Hahahahahaha!"

Though he had no intention of fighting, Wolfgang continued to mock him.

Crimson Moon, the King of the Moon who had answered Earth's summons, was the origin of the True Ancestors and Dead Apostles, the first and strongest ultimate True Ancestor.

Yet in the year 300, he had been jointly strangled by the other True Ancestors, the Holy Church, the Mage's Association, and many other forces. In the end, magi who had been forced to act alone gathered together, and Zelretch—the man known as the Grand Sorcerer—killed him in Millennium Castle.

Though Crimson Moon was their leader, the True Ancestors were all Earthly creatures created by Gaia using herself and Crimson Moon as models. Naturally, their stance lay entirely with Gaia, and in theory, carrying out Gaia's order to "exterminate Crimson Moon" was perfectly normal.

But before that, the Dead Apostles had nearly been wiped out entirely. What the Holy Church and the Roman Empire destroyed was the Dead Apostle race itself: crushing heads, slaughtering every bloodline, burning entire territories to the ground until not a blade of grass remained. It was slaughter on the scale of absolute annihilation.

And afterward, for reasons unknown, the Grand Sorcerer secluded himself. The Clock Tower of the Mage's Association, having been suppressed for three hundred years and already on the verge of collapse, reached a humiliating bargain with the Holy Church and barely managed to endure in London, Britain, with supplies provided by the Church.

The True Ancestors were not so fortunate. The Holy Church had never regarded those inhuman beings as allies. Its extermination campaign dealt the True Ancestors, who had lost Crimson Moon, devastating casualties, leaving them unable to recover. Even Kouhaku was ruthlessly hunted because he was a Dead Apostle.

"By the way, I heard Kishua was ambushed by a True Ancestor after defeating Crimson Moon, turned into a Dead Apostle, and then withdrew from the world? As one of the witnesses at the time, you should know quite clearly, shouldn't you?"

Wolfgang sat upon the throne in the masonry hall. Everything there was scarlet: the carpet, the drapes on the walls, all of it.

This was the popular account in modern magecraft circles. Otherwise, it was difficult to explain why the Grand Sorcerer had turned a blind eye to the Clock Tower's past catastrophe.

"That is not the case, but the Grand Sorcerer was indeed injured."

"By Crimson Moon?"

Wolfgang asked with great interest. Though he had lived for a long time, he had always remained hidden, so naturally he knew nothing of these matters.

"Among Dead Apostles, there is now a claim that Crimson Moon was defeated because he was unfamiliar with True Magic." Brad smiled. "But in truth, Crimson Moon was completely outmatched by the Grand Sorcerer, who had mastered True Magic. In modern terms, Crimson Moon's maximum output in his normal state posed no threat whatsoever to the Grand Sorcerer."

"Oh? Then why was he injured? If even Crimson Moon was no match for him, how could the Holy Church have been so aggressive back then?"

"The answer is simple. The Holy Church possessed a force even more terrifying than True Magic, and it ultimately gravely wounded the Grand Sorcerer who had defeated Crimson Moon." Brad sighed softly. "It was the power humanity has always possessed—the power of so-called faith. In other words, a powerful violence created by humans."

Magecraft was the study of history. The good and evil wrought by mankind, the cycles of the stars—all were fated. But True Magic was the judgment of gods beyond.

Karma that excluded both humanity and the stars—True Magic was something that existed as humanity's enemy.

Yet those who mastered True Magic could rely on its singularity and transcendence to erase the differences in magecraft technique and quality. It was an overbearing violence capable of rewriting the world.

"It was... that powerful?"

Brad's words truly shocked Wolfgang, but that feeling was swiftly washed away by a new joy.

Because he sensed that the dragon he had created with twelve Spirit Cores, guarding the third floor, had been destroyed.

Which meant—

"At last, the final sacrifice that will elevate my rank has arrived! Hahahahaha! My lord Lycaon, bless this descendant of Arcadia!"

The Dragon Heart That Beat Again After a Thousand Years

Though the battles held here had been Sub-species Holy Grail Wars, not all who manifested were nobodies. For example, in one of those seventeen wars, the four Servants had been King Arthur, Britain's savior; the legendary thief Robin Hood; Hassan of the Cursed Arm; and Medea, princess of Colchis.

Without Masters, the Servants could not display their full strength and could only become food for Vampire Species.

The guardian of the labyrinth's third floor was an Artificial Dragon created from twelve Spirit Cores. It could be called a Dragon Golem, or imitation dragon power.

Its head possessed two identically shaped dragon heads—similar to the ancient two-headed serpent, later transformed in medieval Europe into the image of a two-headed dragon.

The magical energy contained in each fang was extremely close to that of a true dragon. Even its skull and skeletal frame were likely mostly made from the bones of actual dragons. Its four limbs were covered in thicker armor than before, and its pair of necks were thick and long.

Twenty meters in length, it emitted a flickering crimson magical light from its chest. At a glance, it possessed incomparable magical power. An enormous magical furnace operated deep within its body, surrounded by crystals containing magical energy, and the entire cave gave off a faint glow.

It was the perfect pet for Vampire Species hunting Servants. As time passed and its Spirit Cores increased, its strength had gradually grown as well. By now, it was an opponent that even Masterless Servants could scarcely contend with.

And now, facing the three enemies who had manifested once again, the Artificial Dragon's two heads began firing magical energy without pause. Like heat rays, like flashing breath, the tremendous magical power produced by seven large magical furnaces operating in parallel became beams of magical light that swept through the surrounding space. Their firing angles covered a full three hundred and sixty degrees, and the freely discharged beams brought the two-headed advantage to its fullest, while turning into violent blasts with no clear target that bombarded all three people before it indiscriminately.

This calamity-like attack was an enormous threat that people of the modern age could scarcely evade. In theory, even Masterless Servants of the top three Classes stood a strong chance of being destroyed by that immense transformed magical energy.

Yet at the end of that calamity, before the magical light that swept across their field of vision, a warm source of light called "salvation" protected the two at his side, like a glimmer shining amid endless flames.

Seeing this, the Artificial Dragon stretched out its necks and roared loudly, gathering all the magical energy within its body into its heads.

Its movements clearly showed experience fighting Servants. Indeed, it had devoured Servants before, and within the field of magecraft, there were cases where counterfeits defeated the genuine article.

A magical formation slowly rose above the dragon's twin heads. Then the magical energy converged, and in the end, the two heads became one as it fired again—this time with a target.

Under the pressure of that tremendous magical light, the person walking forward step by step was not restrained in the slightest. Superheated flames formed from pure magical energy through elemental conversion, great vacuums, diamond masses, high-pressure water cannons, and other physical assaults mixed with Mystery posed no threat at all to his true body.

"A dragon, huh? Come to think of it, I've been bitten by a real dragon before."

Though Novia faced that crushing magical pressure, his body felt no discomfort whatsoever. This was not because his current state resembled that of a Demi-Servant. Rather, his physical strength itself required no magical reinforcement. Protected by some unknown blessing, it had reached an inconceivable level, as though the Remnant Breath of the Dragon Heart that could never beat again lay within him.

For that very reason, how could an Artificial Dragon made from dragon remains that had appeared under the influence of residual dragon factors after the Age of Gods pose even the slightest threat to the true "heart" of a dragon?

Watching the person approach at a leisurely pace, the Artificial Dragon felt those few seconds stretch to an abnormal degree. Every minute, every second, its entire body was tormented by dense, palpable reality, as though it had instantly fallen into a crimson sea of fire and could only beg without cease.

In other words, the dragon felt fear—a suppression born from the very concept of "dragon." Even its mechanized artificial body trembled in fear.

Thus, when Novia was about to reach it unscathed, the dragon that had once devoured Servants fell into the madness of arrogance.

In an instant, twelve Spirit Cores appeared around its body. The wildly roaring Dragon Golem reappeared as a massive phantom, an ancient fantasy that should not exist in the modern age, and charged with monstrous brute force—

Boom!

Novia braced both hands against the dragon's tremendous mass. The power brought by the "Dragon Heart" suddenly erupted, and he forcibly hurled the charging dragon backward, making the entire demon den tremble.

The intense pain coursing through its entire body made the dragon let out a shrill howl. It swiftly rose, swallowed all twelve Spirit Cores into its mouth, and transformed into a crimson storm. The Artificial Dragon slowly floated upward, preparing an attack that consumed the magical energy of its twelve Spirit Cores and seven large magical furnaces—

The next instant, the crimson storm was immediately obscured by a blue aurora that had suddenly emerged. The world enveloped by the bloody storm seemed to become an endless ocean of blue light in an instant.

This was because the brightly glowing Blue-black Armament had manifested of its own accord in Novia's hand.

"So you found me now, Melusine. But don't worry. I'll find you soon as well."

Then he gripped it and hurled it at the Artificial Dragon, which was like a natural disaster. It did not even have time to sense the overwhelming heat—

The false dragon was annihilated.

Blue, black, crimson—it was as if colors that should not exist in the human world had blended together and filled everything around them.

It was the true strongest fantasy unleashed by the Strongest Dragon that had once shone in the skies of the Age of Gods.

"...Is it destroyed?"

"Do you want to rest? I saw a hot spring nearby..."

"No. We need to resolve this Sub-species Holy Grail War quickly."

Novia shook his head, because the Sub-species Holy Grail War in this labyrinth seemed to have undergone a terrible change.

Even this Artificial Dragon possessed the Spirit Cores of twelve Servants. Then Wolfgang Faust, the mastermind behind it all, likely possessed even more Spirit Cores. After successfully elevating his rank, he might use the six-by-six-by-six Solar Magic Circle to do something unimaginable.

After all, Wolfgang Faust, who should originally have possessed only three Spirit Cores, had ultimately accomplished an impossible feat through the Sub-species Holy Grail.

Namely, connecting to the Throne of Heroes and materializing Heroic Spirits without them being in a state of servitude.

A heartbeat that could never beat again began to beat, instantly sweeping away the dim battlefield as though it were broad daylight.

A small figure wearing a mask stood in a certain place. As that faded heart beat for the first time in thousands of years, she lifted her gaze in a daze.

She looked toward the horizon, toward her true homeland in another timeline.

"No, No... Novia..."

A Voice Reaches the Stars

The fourth floor of the labyrinth, the destination of this Sub-species Holy Grail War.

The golden cup suspended in space emitted colorless magical light, illuminating the surroundings and the throne below.

"Two such adorable blood bags have actually come here, and one is even my own kind. What an unexpected delight. I haven't eaten one before."

Wolfgang Faust emerged from behind the throne, the corner of his lips twisting as his slightly exposed teeth gave him the look of a beast.

"However, since we are both intelligent beings, let us begin with introductions—"

The Vampire Species made an exaggerated bow. His manner was strangely gentle, and his expression seemed to pity livestock about to be slaughtered, but Novia interrupted him.

"Wolfgang Faust, a Vampire Species who uses the Sub-species Holy Grail to extract Servants' Spirit Cores for research."

"Oh? You actually said what I was going to say. With that magical energy of yours, you must be the only Servant who survived the battle between four Servants this time. I never expected you to defeat the dragon I created..."

Accompanied by a series of clicking sounds from his tongue, Wolfgang's fingers swayed like a metronome.

"As expected of the final sacrifice that will elevate my rank. You are worthy of becoming the last ration for this body of mine."

"Enough nonsense. I'll kill you."