In an instant, Emiya Kiritsugu felt a chill shoot straight through his head. He hurriedly lowered his gun and said gravely to Hisau Maiya, "Maiya, there's someone on top of the overpass. He's probably a Servant. I've been spotted, so we need to relocate immediately. Also, don't look at him. He seems able to sense when someone's watching him. He's extremely dangerous."
As he spoke, Emiya Kiritsugu had already started moving quickly, using cover as he went. He didn't know whether it would help against a Servant, but habit drove him to do it anyway.
When Hisau Maiya heard Emiya Kiritsugu's words, her heart skipped a beat. Still, she didn't act rashly. Instead, she shifted her sniper scope toward Saber and Lancer, who had resumed their battle. She knew that Kiritsugu wanted her to keep watching the fight.
By now, the intensity of Saber and Lancer's battle had risen by more than one level.
Saber no longer concealed the Invisible Blade. There was no need, after all, so every attack now carried Mana Burst.
No longer holding back, the Knight King displayed the full might of a warrior undefeated in a hundred battles. The terrifying Mana Burst made every attack surge like a golden torrent, shattering the concrete beneath her feet and cleaving nearby shipping containers apart as easily as tofu.
Lancer was far weaker than Saber, but Super Enhancement Magic bolstered him until he was nearly her equal. And as a Lancer, he had the advantage in speed, allowing him to keep pace with Saber and hold his own.
A battle on this scale far surpassed the norm for Servant combat. Any ordinary Servant facing either of them would be blasted to smithereens in an instant.
This was no longer the story of the original Fate/Zero. Rather, it was the power Nasu had originally envisioned for Artoria, while Diarmuid's enhancement brought out the ability his Master deserved as a top-tier Master.
Under these circumstances, the spectacle of their battle had reached the level of the Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel films. Blades and spearpoints flashed endlessly, the destruction spread far and wide, and the dazzling effects were so intense they bordered on visual overload.
Combined with the destruction of their surroundings, the impact of the battle was brought to life perfectly. The pulverized battlefield seemed to represent the shattering of the worldview that people in the real world clung to.
At that very moment, people in the real world stared at the outrageous battle, utterly dumbfounded.
The fight at the beginning had been astonishing, enough to inspire yearning for the supernatural. But it had still amounted to little more than great speed and greater destructive power than an ordinary person's—the sort of thing one might see in a traditional martial arts novel.
The battle now had gone far beyond that level. It was like something from a xianxia film.
And yet it was still different from a film. Films were fake. No matter how well they were shot or how realistic the special effects looked, they were still fake.
At most, people would be dazzled by the visual spectacle. They wouldn't think much more of it.
But the images on the Light Screen were different. Deep down, everyone believed they were real.
When power of this magnitude turned from fiction into reality, the shock it produced was nothing like anything an artistic work such as a film could offer.
Nothing shook people more than reality.
Such overwhelming power left everyone on Earth in awe—even the leaders of various nations, who wielded the power to destroy the world.
There was no doubt about it. The power Saber and Lancer were displaying at this very moment was more than enough to wipe out a modern army with ease.
If a modern army faced these two, its greatest hope would be that its weapons worked on them. Otherwise, it would be nothing but a one-sided slaughter.
Powerful, magnificent, terrifying.
The two mighty Servants kept shattering humanity's worldview with their displays of strength, then rebuilding people's minds from the rubble. Their understanding of the supernatural grew ever clearer—and ever more extravagant.
The Fantasy Power generated by this mass reshaping of the world's outlook was terrifying.
Su Yun looked at the number at the very beginning, which had now reached 3, and felt absolutely delighted.
More than 30,000 Fantasy Power had already recouped last night's costs and earned him double his investment.
And that wasn't the limit of his gains. This installment on the Light Screen hadn't even ended yet, and even after it did, its effects would continue to generate Fantasy Power for a long time to come.
Without a doubt, this was a fantastic investment that would bring in huge profits now and steady returns for years to come.
And besides...
"Somebody must have figured out the old man's true identity by now, right? He's a Servant who lived less than a century ago. I wonder if he'll bring me any unexpected surprises."
Su Yun narrowed his eyes and smiled, the picture of the classic "narrow-eyed characters are all monsters" meme.
Just as Su Yun had expected—or, rather, just as he had arranged—many people were already unable to sit still.
Most of them shared a few traits: they were elderly, in their seventies or eighties, with one foot in the grave. Some were even over a hundred years old.
They also shared much the same identity: they were martial arts grandmasters from within the Flame Kingdom.
A century ago, the land was in turmoil as an age of chaos began. The fierce clashes of modern ideas and the class contradictions that had built to a breaking point within the kingdom erupted, plunging this great civilization into decades of upheaval.
They said heroes emerged in troubled times, and that era had indeed produced martial arts experts in droves.
Among them was a man named Li Shuwen, a grandmaster of the Baji Sect. His Baji Quan and Baji Spear had both reached the pinnacle of mastery. In that turbulent age, his fists and spear had earned him the title of "Divine Spear." His martial prowess had shaken the land, winning him renown at home and abroad.
He was known as "Unmatched Rigid Fist, Divine Spear Li Shuwen"!
In his later years, this martial arts grandmaster took on many disciples and warmly instructed any young martial artist who came to him for guidance.
Countless martial artists in the Flame Kingdom had benefited from him or inherited his teachings. Those who survived into the present day were all pillars of the country's martial arts world. They were still alive and well, and even in this chaotic era of Mystery Resurgence, they remained active.
Now, when these older generation martial artists saw the mysterious old man captured by Emiya Kiritsugu's sniper scope on the Light Screen, they could no longer sit still.
The old man was none other than the once-famous grandmaster, Mr. Li Shuwen!
His stalwart bearing was exactly as the pillars of the Flame Kingdom's martial arts world remembered it!
There was no doubt what this meant. It was a startling—and exhilarating—revelation.
Li Shuwen, a grandmaster who had died less than a century ago, had ascended to the Throne of Heroes and become a Heroic Spirit. He had even been summoned on the Light Screen.
It all came down to the fact that Li Shuwen was different from other Heroic Spirits: he had lived far closer to the present age. And these people had actually met him, which gave them an exceptionally strong and pure sense of immersion in the fantasy—and thus generated exceptionally strong, pure Fantasy Power.
This was why Su Yun had altered the Fourth Holy Grail War, bringing Li Shuwen into the conflict in place of a certain Hassan of the Hundred Faces!
He wanted to test whether this situation would generate more Fantasy Power.
The facts proved Su Yun's theory right: the more people could immerse themselves in a scenario, the more Fantasy Power it produced!
Moreover, pure Fantasy Power had revealed a new use.
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