The Holy Grail's Finale

The moment Li Ke attacked, thunder crashed down. A thick pillar of lightning struck the man wrapped in a white Shroud of Magdalene.

The Noble Phantasm he hurriedly projected in his hand couldn't block the slash of the golden swords in Li Ke's hands. It was cut into three pieces in an instant, and before he could even dodge, Li Ke's strike landed directly on him.

The white Shroud of Magdalene split apart and scattered. The cloth that could take attacks in the man's place had now been rendered completely useless, revealing his sleeveless black armor and muscular body.

"Oh? Shirou Emiya?"

Seeing that familiar figure, Li Ke immediately realized this was the Type-Moon World's protagonist, Shirou Emiya in his form as a Heroic Spirit.

In other words, the Counter Force's enforcer.

Clearly, his appearance here meant that the inexplicable Counter Force wanted to kill him?

"Ha..."

Li Ke found it baffling, but it didn't matter.

If the Counter Force wanted him dead, then when he killed it in the future, it had better not complain that it was innocent!

Without giving the young man time to catch his breath, Li Ke kicked the man who had attacked him twice.

But because Li Ke's height had shrunk so drastically, the kick lacked power. It only broke two of the man's ribs; it didn't smash his heart as Li Ke had intended!

The white-haired young man staggered back two steps, trying to put some distance between them so he could attack again. But the instant Li Ke landed, thunder descended once more!

A lightning bolt as thick as a barrel plunged down from the sky! Li Ke's earlier strike had planted a spark in the man. If the next attack killed him, so much the better. If it didn't—

Then the lightning would have a field day!

The storm still raging overhead churned, and one violent bolt after another hammered the young man, driving him into the ground.

"Damn it..."

The white-haired young man tried to fight back. He reached out, intending to use Projection Magecraft to create a shield Noble Phantasm that could block the lightning.

But the instant he raised his hand, Li Ke was already there.

Ignoring the lightning, Li Ke swung the Sword of Termination and cut off the young man's arm in a single stroke. As the other man stared at him in shock, Li Ke thrust his other sword into the man's forehead, shattering his brain!

The white-haired young man's eyes widened, but he could no longer struggle. Li Ke now wielded Scathach's full strength, and the young man was powerless to resist.

As he looked at Li Ke's eyes, red from using Scathach's power, one thought crossed his mind.

Had Scathach lent Li Ke her power just so he could kill her with his own hands?

Or did she want Li Ke to possess all her power as well?

"Queen of the Land of Shadows, who yearns for battle, do you know what you're doing...?"

You're raising a monster.

With that thought, the white-haired young man disappeared before Li Ke. But some of the magical energy within him, just like that of Gugalanna and Gilgamesh, was absorbed by Li Ke.

Scathach left Li Ke's body as the young man vanished. She watched the place where he had disappeared without saying a word.

The young man had guessed correctly. She wanted Li Ke to acquire all her abilities. She could teach him skills and techniques, but some of her unique powers couldn't be obtained through training alone.

But if she gave those powers to her disciple, his special nature would allow him to acquire them.

And then—

He could use them to kill her!

To let her experience once again a battle that brought her infinitely close to death!

As Scathach left his body, Li Ke felt that emptiness again, though thankfully it wasn't as bad as before.

Looking at the chaos all around him, he couldn't help feeling exasperated.

This was the city he'd lived in for so many years. After one Holy Grail War, if he hadn't slammed on the brakes in time, it probably would've been razed to the ground.

"The Three Founding Families who held the Holy Grail War must be crying by now, right? And the cleanup afterward will probably be enough to make people cry too."

It was bad enough that the summoned Heroic Spirits wouldn't obey. They'd also smashed the Greater Grail they relied on to hold the Holy Grail War.

In other words, there would be no Greater Grail anymore.

Scathach glanced at Li Ke. He had absorbed the Greater Grail's magical energy, which meant that once he grew strong enough, he could create the ridiculous Holy Grail those mages pursued using his own power.

But she intended to let Li Ke figure that out for himself. What would be the point of training a disciple if the master told him everything?

Just then, Enkidu arrived, carrying Rin Tohsaka in her childlike form. Seeing that the aura around Li Ke had settled, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Everything had happened so quickly that even he hadn't been able to react in time.

Looking at Li Ke, he asked helplessly, "So, Master, is the Holy Grail War over?"

Li Ke nodded, confirming it.

"Yes, this Holy Grail War is over. But don't rush off, Enkidu. You've finally gotten out for a while, so why not enjoy the modern world before you leave?"

He looked at Enkidu and extended the invitation.

Li Ke held a grudge against Gilgamesh, but he liked the very polite Enkidu.

Not for any particular reason, of course. Enkidu was undeniably beautiful, a rare beauty indeed. But Li Ke knew perfectly well that Enkidu had no gender.

He was essentially a clay doll, a "perfect being" created by the gods of Sumerian mythology to rein in that oaf Gilgamesh. Gender simply didn't apply to him.

He only looked feminine because he had been modeled after a beautiful person.

"All right. Since you've invited me, Master, I'll impose on you for a little longer. I'm curious about how people live these days, anyway. Besides, I'm not easy to summon."

Enkidu smiled, but the real reason he was staying was to see how much of the Gate of Babylon Li Ke had mastered and whether he could use its treasures correctly.

He also wanted to help Li Ke with the aftermath.

Li Ke, meanwhile, was thinking that now he'd be able to spar with Enkidu.

And he could summon Gilgamesh when he had the time, then beat him up in front of the person he cared about most: Enkidu!

"By the way, what's wrong with her?"

Li Ke pointed at Rin Tohsaka, who was asleep in Enkidu's arms. The girl who had been so arrogant in front of him earlier had now fallen completely unconscious, and Enkidu wore a sorrowful expression.

"Ishtar took over her body because of her beauty. That reckless goddess has altered this child's body until it's nearly divine. She can no longer grow normally in this world... Master, without your magical energy, she'll gradually weaken and die."

Enkidu sounded helpless. Ishtar had meant to use the girl as a new body. She'd fled when things went badly, but by then, the girl's body had already been almost completely transformed.

If Ishtar had remained in control, it wouldn't have been a problem. Her soul contained vast amounts of divine magical energy, enough to sustain the growth of a body that had been altered like this.

But Ishtar's consciousness and soul had left. Although that had saved the girl from death, her body could no longer adapt to the magical energy of this era. She needed divine power to keep growing and survive until her body matured enough to absorb the world's magical energy on its own.

And in this era, the only person who could supply her with divine magical energy was Li Ke, who had absorbed the authority of the sky god.

"Wait, you mean I have to replenish her mana?"

Enkidu nodded solemnly. Li Ke looked at Rin Tohsaka's young face, and a few words surfaced in his mind.

Suitable for prison, not for confinement.

To put it simply: execution, immediately!

Scathach immediately realized what Li Ke was thinking. In this world, replenishing mana required an exchange of bodily fluids, and the most efficient method was contact between mucous membranes.

So she reminded Li Ke that there were other ways, then brought up the other matter she was most concerned about.

"You can feed her your blood. Also, your home's flooded, so you'd better think about where we're sleeping tonight."

Li Ke: "..."

Li Ke breathed a sigh of relief, then looked up and saw that his home really had been flooded!

He couldn't completely dispel the flood Gilgamesh had unleashed. The rest had fallen as rain over Fuyuki City and the surrounding cities.

So, amid Enkidu's awkward smile, Li Ke cursed.

"Gilgamesh, you son of a bitch!"

In the Black Mist Space, Naruto Li Ke shouted after sharing his memories.

"So that's it? It's over already? What about the Matou Family? What about the part where you kill Zouken Matou? What about saving Sakura?! And you're interested in some purple-haired old hag! You even went after a little girl! You disgrace us Li Kes!"

Type-Moon Li Ke looked at Naruto Li Ke and struggled not to laugh.

Naruto Li Ke was definitely jealous! Definitely jealous that he could replenish mana with female Heroic Spirits in the open! And with a voluptuous older woman like Scathach, no less! He could openly pursue a mature older woman like her instead of some little brat who hadn't even grown her body hair yet!

There was no doubt about it! After all, the guy had secretly peeked at Tsunade's breasts!

So he cleared his throat and said solemnly, "We're both as bad as each other. As for Zouken Matou, of course I'll deal with him. But have you forgotten that I haven't had a chance to send Sakura away yet? And with Rin Tohsaka's body in this condition, Tokiomi Tohsaka might not choose her as the Tohsaka House's heir. So I plan to deal with the Matou Family once the city settles down. If another battle breaks out, who knows when the official relief workers will arrive?"

Type-Moon Li Ke had lost all respect for Japan's emergency responders. Smiling Proud Li Ke, who was standing nearby, also thought it was absurd. Even the relief efforts in Fuyuki City were slower and more incompetent than those in the Ming dynasty where he lived!

After Type-Moon Li Ke took Rin Tohsaka home, no one in Japan had come to help with disaster relief. The streets were still gridlocked, and there wasn't a single government official in sight.

There had been earthquakes, landslides, and even a massive typhoon, yet the Japanese government had acted like it was dead. There hadn't been so much as a peep.

In short—

Nobody cared!

"By the way, why are Japan's disaster response speed and efficiency so terrible? The school hasn't even announced that classes are canceled. I might be told to go to school tomorrow! What a joke."

Type-Moon Li Ke couldn't help complaining.

But as soon as he finished speaking, Naruto Li Ke, Smiling Proud Li Ke, and French Li Ke all looked interested, as if they were about to start a little political lecture and discuss all sorts of issues with Japan that he had no interest in. So he quickly decided to leave the three of them to it.

"By the way, the new British prime minister on your side is named Jim Hacker? I heard he knows your grandfather?"

As soon as he said that, French Li Ke immediately brightened.

"Exactly. Like Sir Humphrey, they were friends with my grandfather. Though my grandfather often called them a bunch of idiots and lunatics..."

Hearing this, Type-Moon Li Ke sensibly left, giving the Three Musketeers some space.

Sure enough, the very next second, talk of how Britain had joined the EU to make sure it never united, and how Germany existed to make itself seem less out of place, began pouring out of the Three Musketeers' gathering.

Then he turned to Prehistoric Li Ke and asked about what he'd found most interesting since arriving in the exchange space.

"By the way, did you use simplified characters to get rid of Dragon Script and Phoenix Seal in your world? And you even met Nuwa?"

Prehistoric Li Ke nodded.

"Yes. Guangchengzi said he'd had enough of Dragon Script and Phoenix Seal. Simplified characters conveyed meaning more accurately, so he planned to contact his teacher and replace all their books with simplified characters... But as for Nuwa in my world, she's actually quite different from the Nuwa of mythology. I first saw her a long time ago; her people had just migrated during the years I was growing up."

He sighed wistfully.

"In my world, the great goddess called Nuwa was someone who knew how to help other people give birth safely. She constantly taught this skill to others, researched better midwifery techniques, and took in orphans to teach them how to make a living. That's why her tribe was called the Wa. Nuwa was simply the kind old matriarch who founded the Wa tribe."

He paused, then continued.

"She was even the one who delivered both me and the Yellow Emperor. And the ancestors of the Youxiong tribe also had Wa blood. The reason I got to meet them this time was that so many women in the tribe were pregnant, so the Yellow Emperor asked her to help deliver their babies."

Type-Moon Li Ke: "..."

He wasn't sure how to react. There were too many things to poke fun at, and it was all a little too realistic!

It really didn't fit with his world, where everything was about boasting!

I actually made it onto the Sanjiang recommendation list, so here's an extra thousand words to celebrate.

Also, starting tomorrow, each chapter will be 2,000 words...

I want to use this underhanded, shameless tactic—2,000-word chapters—to push for a hundred chapters.

But it might not work. Looks up at the sky.