Arrived in Type-Moon, Now Out of Contact

Chapter 12: Caster Extermination Battle (1) - 4k Chapter

The vicinity of the Fuyuki Church had been completely sealed off. The Tohsaka Family, leveraging their influence, had pushed through traffic control regulations. Roadblocks from the Metropolitan Police Department cut off all routes leading to the church, forcibly isolating the area from the world of common sense.

But it was all useless. An unknown power had stained a large swathe of the sky an extremely murky grey-black, resembling dirty water containing lead. Beneath the sky was a grey mist, considerably lighter in color than the sky. This mist shrouded the entire church and its surroundings. If one looked closely, distorted tentacles could be vaguely seen writhing within the fog.

It was like a ghost realm from a horror story.

Gazing at the dark, dense fog not far away, the faces of the Mages present also turned grim.

After sending out the signal to summon Masters, the Masters and their Servants who could make it appeared one after another at the edge of the blockade.

The man clad in black priest attire stared expressionlessly at the place he once lived and worked. The sacred ground where believers once gathered had become a wasteland overrun by demons. An unprecedented sense of absurdity washed over Kirei Kotomine. He stood quietly by the roadblock, reminiscing about the past and offering a prayer for his father.

There were no tears, no wails, only hushed prayers.

What a strong man he must seem to outsiders!

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

The abnormal man questioned himself: the church was destroyed, his father was killed. But why did he feel no pain? Why couldn't he shed tears? Kirei Kotomine dazedly tapped his left chest, wanting to question himself, but received no answer, only a sense of emptiness.

It was as if a piece of his heart was missing.

Kirei Kotomine had recently become the adjudicator for this Holy Grail War. The previous adjudicator, Rin Tohsaka, had gone missing during Caster's attack. Kirei Kotomine had ordered all of Assassin's clones to go to the church to rescue his father, but soon after lost contact with Assassin.

The situation was clear: Caster's Master had violated the rules of the Holy Grail War and the tenets of Magecraft. They had revealed mystery to the normal society and then attacked the neutral Church, killing the adjudicator Rin Tohsaka.

He didn't dwell too much on the matter of "heart"; now was not the time for philosophical or emotional contemplation. He turned his head to look at the Masters who had arrived and slowly began to speak, "As you can see, the Holy Grail War, which can fulfill your wishes, is now facing a major crisis. Originally, the Holy Grail only grants power to those who seek it and to Heroic Spirits. But now, a traitor has appeared among us. He and his Servant, disregarding the rules of the Holy Grail War, have revealed mystery to the world."

"Caster's Master must die," declared the Grand Mage from the Clock Tower. "He shouldn't have revealed mystery to people."

As soon as he finished speaking, the Mage turned to another Master and said coldly, "Li Zihan, do you not greet your teacher when you see him?" Two blobs of mercury floated in the air beside him, and behind him stood the peerless Lancer.

The boy, holding a grimoire with an orange-red cover and a pale gold border, smiled. He scratched his cheek, thought for a moment, and then said, "Hello, Teacher Ken."

Waver felt his classmate was courting death, deliberately mispronouncing his Lord's name, which was an absolute insult to his Lord.

But Kaineth merely snorted, then continued in an extremely arrogant and irritating tone, "Where is your Servant? Could it be that he's too weak to fight on the front lines? If that's the case, I'll allow you to surrender to me. Of course, after the war, you'll have to return to the Clock Tower to accept your punishment."

Kaineth actually couldn't understand why Li Zihan had left the Clock Tower back then. Indeed, he lacked the self-awareness of a Mage and frequently violated the Clock Tower's taboos. By all accounts, he shouldn't have been able to stay at the Clock Tower. But he was the disciple Kaineth considered his successor. The things he did could have been covered up and treated as if they never happened. Even if discovered, the punishment would only be a few decades of solitary confinement. In ancient Mage families, designated seals were nothing. They could be lifted in just a few months.

Kaineth really wanted to have a magical duel with this rebellious disciple right then and there, beat the bastard black and blue, and drag him back to the Clock Tower. He would then use a more "benevolent" educational method to teach him about the responsibilities of being a faction successor.

Of course, it was fine if the disciple remained unrepentant. There were many suitable and excellent female hosts within the faction, and his terrifying magical factors could be passed down through other means within the faction, contributing to the faction.

Everything was perfect; Kaineth had already formulated a perfect plan.

Unfortunately, there was a slight mishap midway, and he attacked the wrong person. Kaineth was still quite frustrated about this; there was actually another Mage here using a Bounded Field! And he was also an heretic who favored modern equipment!

According to intelligence reports, Li Zihan had changed identities and extensively plundered the Qi of ley lines in various regions of the Far East. Then he hit a snag, lost a large number of Noble Phantasms and Familiars, and was severely wounded, greatly reducing his strength.

What did "opportunity knocks but once" mean? If he didn't deal with this rebellious disciple now, should he wait until he replenished his armament, created a large number of Familiars, and established his magecraft workshop before attacking?

At this point, Kiritsugu Emiya foolishly charged in and took a beating on Li Zihan's behalf.

Thanks to Kiritsugu Emiya's efforts, Kaineth had used too many gems prepared for dealing with his disciple while beating the Mage Killer. Now, he was no longer confident he could defeat his disciple.

"Actually, Berserker is quite strong," the boy said seriously. "Teacher Ken, would you consider surrendering to me?"