That was the end of the Clairvoyance Magecraft records.
As expected, Shirou thought, it was impossible to confirm anything without seeing it with his own eyes. He returned to his room and went to sleep.
That night, he had a dream for the first time in a long while.
It seemed he had dreamed of something last night.
He could no longer remember what he had done in the dream or whom he had met.
He only remembered that it had been an incredibly warm dream.
In the dream, he had enjoyed a holiday by the seaside with a girl.
Shirou could not help frowning. Who exactly was that lovely, captivating girl...?
Today was a day off.
After making breakfast for Taiga Fujimura, Shirou left the house, abandoning Lady Avalon to her self-imposed isolation.
Once he had completely calmed down, he felt that what he had done the previous night had been far too rash.
He had actually thought about charging straight to Saber. What was I even thinking at the time?
Shirou decided to spend the day wandering outside and clearing his head, properly sorting out his emotions.
...He sensed something.
When Lady Avalon had carried him across Shinto last night, Shirou had noticed an incredibly familiar aura originating from the island of twilight.
At first, he had thought it was an illusion, but now Shirou had once again detected that nostalgic aura.
"That is..."
Shirou sniffed.
It was incredibly familiar, yet he could not remember what it was.
Following his instincts, he passed through one street after another before arriving in front of a building.
This was currently the tallest building in Shinto—the Fuyuki Hyatt Hotel.
Although its position as the tallest building would soon be taken by the Shinto Central Building, which was nearing completion, that did nothing to diminish the hotel's magnificent height.
Standing beneath the Fuyuki Hyatt Hotel, Shirou craned his neck and looked toward the top floor.
He had confirmed it—
That incredibly familiar and nostalgic aura was coming from there.
The person who had rented out the penthouse on the top floor of the Hyatt Hotel was named Kaineth Archbold.
He was the head of the Archibolt Family, a magus lineage that had continued for nine generations.
He was a man whose talent had been evident since his student days, earning him the reputation of a prodigy, and who had become the youngest lecturer in the history of the Spirit Evocation Department.
At a young age, he had already become one of the Twelve Lords of the Clock Tower, the Lord El-Melloi, one of the most powerful figures in the entire Clock Tower.
Kaineth's talent was not limited to the study of magecraft. He was also highly capable politically. With his privileged background, he had many connections, and some even believed that he could eventually grow into a force capable of challenging the Three Great Noble Families.
This man, who had been given everything from birth, had also participated in the Holy Grail War.
He had not come to the Far East to fulfill some grand wish, but to add another medal to his résumé before returning to the Clock Tower with the Holy Grail and receiving acclaim.
However, last night, Kaineth, the absolute winner, had tasted the first setback and humiliation of his life.
...Unforgivable.
Especially Waver Velvet and Rider. He would absolutely make them pay in blood.
Lord El-Melloi had originally intended to bring his fiancée on a honeymoon, obtain the Holy Grail along the way, and return to the Clock Tower to bask in praise. Now, however, his state of mind had undergone a tremendous change.
Tossing and turning, the man arrived at the suite separated from his own room by a single wall.
This suite had neither been occupied nor assigned any other purpose.
In the enormous room, three "stones" were silently displayed—
One "stone" each representing the torso, the heart, and the Wings.
They were the greatest spoils of war obtained by Kaineth's ancestors during a prolonged and brutal war.
They were the Supreme Spiritron Dress that had laid the foundation for the prestigious El-Melloi name and all its glory thereafter.
They were the planet's oldest Phantasmal Beast, innocently dragged into the Dragon of the Crown's journey toward death and ultimately left behind atop the dragon's bones.
"..."
Feeling the aura coming from the top floor of the Hyatt Hotel, Shirou finally remembered last night's dream.
It was a dream in which he had splashed around by the seaside with a girl.
And the name of the lovely girl in Shirou's dream was—
"...Are you there, Melusine?"
Volume One 050 Mana Core
The top floor of the Hyatt Hotel ranked second among the magical workshops Shirou Amamiya had conquered.
Kaineth had not only spent a huge sum of money to rent out the entire floor; he had also thoroughly converted it into a magical workshop.
He had established a full twenty-four layers of bounded fields on the thirty-second floor. Its defenses were so rigorous that it could be described as a magical fortress. The Matou Family's insect warehouse could not compare at all.
That was not all. Kaineth had summoned dozens of Magical Beasts to serve as guard dogs, put considerable effort into magical traps, and even transformed the entire top-floor space into another world.
As Shirou carefully infiltrated the top floor, he reassessed the man he had never met and had only seen in photographs from Tsuruno Matou.
This was the pinnacle of modern magi—the power of a Clock Tower Lord truly was extraordinary.
Of course, no matter how impregnable a magical workshop was, its only fate before Shirou was to be conquered.
Compared with the urban walls of the Fae Kingdom, which had been transformed from the bark of the "World Tree," the temporary alternate space constructed by a magus was nothing special.
Although he had spent quite some effort and nearly exposed himself several times, Shirou still managed to infiltrate the interior without incident.
Following that familiar scent, he arrived at the room at the end of the corridor.
This was it.
He could sense an aura unique to that child—Melusine.
Shirou removed the Hassan Mask covering his face and quietly pushed open the door.
"...What is this?"
Shirou frowned.
An incomprehensible scene entered his view.
All the furniture had been removed from the empty presidential suite, leaving it used solely to store three things.
They were three "stones."
It was easy to tell that they had once been a single, complete whole.
The shapes of the three "stones" represented the heart, the torso, and the Wings.
They had a complete head and torso, along with two hands and two feet. Their details were not entirely human, containing a slight infusion of Phantasmal elements.
A Phantasmal Beast—
Even the division into a heart, torso, and Wings that existed now was probably the result of later generations piecing together their imaginations.
But this was not its true original form.
After being divided and recombined again and again throughout the long years, it had long since lost its initial shape.
Shirou unconsciously stepped forward and reached out to touch the "stone" shaped like a heart.
A pulse of magical energy came from its hard surface.
It had existed for billions upon billions of years since its birth, yet it continued to generate an immense amount of magical energy without end.
"Not Melusine..."
Shirou confirmed it after touching the stone.
Although it was not the girl he knew, it gave off exactly the same aura as her.
Although this was not a dragon's heart, much less comparable to the strongest heart on the planet, Albion, it possessed properties extremely similar to the Mana Core of Dragon Kind.
Shirou narrowed his eyes. A fairy?
And one born from the primordial blood nurtured by the Inner Sea of the Planet, a highest-ranking fairy called the "Great Mother," "A-ring"...
No, he could not so easily conclude that it was a fairy.
But even if it was not a fairy, it was still a Phantasmal Beast of the same kind—
Shirou frowned. Why would something like this be in the hands of a human magus?
Could the magi of Pan-Human History truly understand the value of this thing?
Wait. Perhaps the human magi had realized it long ago.
If it were fused back into a single whole, it could display functions far more powerful than those it possessed now.
However, it was not a tool that humans could use—a Magic Crest.
Countless historical examples had proven that attempting to touch a power beyond one's ability to control would ultimately bring only destruction.
Thus, Lord El-Melloi's ancestors had wisely divided it into three parts and passed it down to the present day in the form of three Mana Core Spiritron Dresses.
Then... should he destroy it?
It was clearly still alive.
Within this heart, this torso, and these Wings was a soul that possessed self-awareness.
Shirou fell into thought. Although he could not avoid destroying it for strategic reasons, the lingering aura of a dragon on the "stones" still made him hesitate.
Why did these stones carry Melusine's aura?
He really wanted to capture Lancer's Master and torture him for answers.
"..."
Just then, Shirou sensed footsteps and voices coming from the corridor.
The boy hurriedly put on his bone mask and slipped behind the curtains, the only place in the room where he could hide.
"My lord, are you sure this is all right?"
Lancer followed behind Kaineth and asked anxiously.
The man had taken a point-blank strike from the strongest holy sword last night, yet now...at least on the outside, he had almost completely recovered—
This was inseparable from Kaineth's top-tier magecraft skills.
Under the Healing Spell of the Clock Tower Lord, Lancer had recovered two-tenths of her original strength after only one night.
However, it was impossible to win the Holy Grail War in this condition, and Kaineth knew that perfectly well.
"What are you referring to?"
"You just ordered me to lock Miss Sola in an empty room. Isn't that somewhat unwise?
Miss Sola has been making a fuss, saying that as soon as we return home, she will immediately go to the Archibolt Family to call off the engagement."
Before you continue