Arriving in Type-Moon, Now Out of Contact

Li Zihan was telling the truth. Alcaeus was an excessively powerful Servant, and unlike Archer, who relied on saturation bombing with his Noble Phantasm, he could counter effectively no matter how dire the situation.

It was a shame Alcaeus was completely countered by Gleaming's Chains of Heaven. Otherwise, this Holy Grail War could have been brought to a perfect conclusion. However, Li Zihan didn't feel any regret. He had known about Alcaeus being countered by Gleaming's Chains of Heaven before summoning him.

Waver silently retreated behind Rider, feeling as though the two of them might start fighting at any moment. It would be better for him not to get involved in the conflict between this Master and his former teacher.

Looking at the three Masters before him, Kirei Kotomine felt it was a mistake to have entrusted them with the task of dealing with Caster.

It was a pity Saber's group hadn't come here. Archer, on the other hand, detested gods. When he learned that the Fuyuki Church had been attacked by Caster, he had no intention of helping, immediately boarding Vimana to watch the scenery from the sky. Tokiomi Tohsaka's attempts to persuade him were all in vain. As for the Assassins directly subordinate to Kirei Kotomine, well, they had already returned to Allah's embrace.

It was Rider, the muscular brute, who stepped in to smooth things over. He let out a hearty laugh towards the two Masters, "So you're my little Master's teacher and classmate! Looking at it this way, you Masters hold three of the seven Master qualifications for this Holy Grail War. That's truly remarkable."

Rider lifted Waver, who was hiding behind him, with one hand and tossed him into the line of sight of the other two Masters. Waver, under the smiles and cold smiles of his two old acquaintances, forced himself to greet them, "Good morning, Master Kirei, Classmate Li."

"Long time no see, my friend." Li Zihan waved his right hand. The three Command Spells on the back of his hand confirmed his identity. He was the Master of the Berserker who had been in hiding.

"Classmate Waver, it's already two in the afternoon." Kirei sneered repeatedly, "It seems you've lost your basic cognitive abilities."

Then, there was a dead silence. Two of the three people present hadn't expected their reunion to be like this and were momentarily speechless. As for the one who knew the inside story, he didn't like sharing information with others.

Because it was a bad habit. Countless arrogant bosses had been killed after saying the wrong thing during their trash talk.

The atmosphere was still extremely awkward, but it was much better than the previous atmosphere where they would start fighting at the slightest disagreement. Rider's words had inadvertently brought the three Masters closer and also provided Kirei and Li Zihan with an excuse to give up their argument. From this perspective, this big oaf was quite skilled at handling interpersonal relationships.

Seeing that the atmosphere among the three Masters who had arrived had eased, Kirei Kotomine also breathed a sigh of relief. After all, he was counting on the Servants of these three to deal with the monsters in the Church. Unfortunately, he was born with a poker face, so there wasn't much emotional change visible.

"Thank you all for coming. Esteemed Masters who hold justice in your hearts, I, Kirei Kotomine, express my gratitude on behalf of the residents of Fuyuki City." Kirei Kotomine bowed to the three, expressing his thanks.

The legacy of Masters who had lost their Servants before the final battle in previous Holy Grail Wars—the Command Spells recovered in past Holy Grail Wars and entrusted to the supervisor of the Holy Grail War—had always been kept by Kirei Kotomine's father, Rin Tohsaka. However, Rin Tohsaka had died in Caster's attack long ago, and the whereabouts of those Command Spells were also lost. Therefore, Kirei Kotomine naturally had no reward to offer these Masters who had come to drive out Caster, so he could only express his respect in the most conventional manner.

"It's alright, it's what we should do." The young man holding the Grimoire said, "To pursue the Holy Grail, isn't it natural to eliminate Caster?"

The above statement was pure nonsense. He was there to silence Caster.

Caster had already helped him obtain the Command Spells stored by the Church and had also flushed out the lurking Masters. He was no longer useful. He would be completely useless once Li Zihan retrieved the Codex of the Great Holy Grail.

Keeping Caster around would only pose a risk. If anyone discovered anything suspicious about Caster, Li Zihan's tampering might be exposed.

Attacking the Church, assassinating the supervisor, enslaving Caster, leaking magical information...

No one present was an idiot. Treating them as fools and messing around carelessly would genuinely lead to being ganged up on and killed!

Li Zihan's answer was in line with a Mage's way of thinking, focusing on results rather than right or wrong. However, Kirei Kotomine felt something was off somewhere. He had no basis for it, only a hunch. But Li Zihan was a Master willing to contribute to the Church without compensation, and questioning him now would be too disheartening.

The new supervisor decided to shift his gaze to the next Master.

"It's merely a change in order." Kirei, who had shone brightly in the previous night's battle, had his hands behind his back as he coldly glanced at Li Zihan and Waver. "There will only be one winner in the Holy Grail War; all other Masters and Servants are stepping stones."

Kirei's thoughts were still stuck on how he had used up most of his jewels and what to do with his disciple next. The main purpose of these words was to bluff, to give Li Zihan the illusion that he still had a large number of Mystic Codes unused.

Kirei hadn't brought much with him because he wasn't a Mage of the Void attribute and couldn't carry a bunch of Mystic Codes around. If he stored the Mystic Codes in his Magecraft workshop, they would definitely be targeted and destroyed by Li Zihan, that unfilial disciple. Therefore, he had only brought the Mystic Codes for his duel with Li Zihan and the jewels.

Now he regretted it.

Waver remained silent. As a novice Mage, he had no confidence to speak in front of Kirei. Didn't you see how few students dared to argue with their teachers in school unless they were top students? What? You're talking about the school's tough guys? Forget it! Unless it was compulsory education, the only outcome for a slacker who dared to challenge the teacher was a disciplinary warning and a notice of expulsion.

Rider, the burly red-haired man, answered in his stead. He raised his sword and pointed it at the adjudicator, saying, "This King will eliminate the Caster who is breaking the rules. I believe my little Master thinks the same way."

Waver nodded after hearing this. What Rider said truly aligned with his thoughts. As a non-orthodox Mage, Waver could not stand by and watch ordinary people be slaughtered by Caster.