Curse

Being able to fly freely without the need for the Christianity's Shoot-Down Spell is just fantastic!

However, while flying, Mephistopheles also began to ponder some other things.

"This stone tablet, once made into Spirit Dress, could indeed impact the Earth's environment, but there are other ways to achieve the same effect, right? If I remember correctly, Odin's Runes could achieve this effect, um, from A Certain Magical Index, not Type-Moon..."

"The so-called final rune directly affects the weather of the entire planet. If I remember correctly, this world also has Odin. Is the Odin in this world that powerful?"

"Forget it, I don't want to think about it anymore. Anyway, I probably won't be able to meet Odin. Back in the Age of Gods, I was just wandering around Greece. Even Zeus couldn't reach that level. Odin should be about the same as Zeus, right? After all, they are both conceptual gods, so their strength should be about the same."

"As for whether Zeus, who possesses a physical body, could reach that level, I reckon it would be quite difficult..."

Mephistopheles flew extremely fast, but even at that speed, it still took quite a bit of time to fly back to Japan from the Persian Gulf, roughly three and a half hours.

This is only considering he's flying alone; if he were carrying someone, it would definitely be even slower.

When he landed at Shirou Emiya's house, he saw Illya chasing after her toys, which made Mephistopheles smile.

It's clear that with the end of the Holy Grail War, Illya is becoming more and more like a real child.

Heracles sat not far away, a hint of longing in his eyes. Mephistopheles walked over and asked, "Missing the children?"

"Hmm..." Heracles nodded, without saying anything more.

"Ah, uncle, where have you been?!" Illya exclaimed as soon as she saw Mephistopheles appear, rushing over to ask him.

Mephistopheles took out the stone tablet he had put away and handed it to Illya: "Go get this."

Illya, after all, was a proper Magecraft specially trained to Master of the Holy Grail War, so she immediately recognized the extraordinary nature of these stone tablets. She showed a surprised expression. "These things are... somewhat like Noble Phantasm!"

"It's not quite Noble Phantasm yet, but it's Noble Phantasm prototype. The stone slabs on the outside of Gilgamesh's Ea Sword are based on these pieces," Mephistopheles said, a smug smile on his face. "If I ever meet Gilgamesh again in the future, I'll definitely take it out in front of him."

This decision made Illya laugh out loud, "If he saw something like this, he'd be so angry he'd challenge you to a duel, Uncle!"

"Anyway, he can't beat me." Mephistopheles chuckled, taking the stone tablet from Illya's hand. Mephistopheles didn't yet have a definite idea on how to refine the Spirit Dress. If he wanted to fully unleash the power of these stone tablets, Mephistopheles felt he needed to further improve his knowledge.

"You're back." Rin Tohsaka walked out from the other side, saying casually, "Did you get it?"

"I got it, do you want to take a look?"

"No need, just knowing you got it is enough. This way, you have one less thing to do here," Rin Tohsaka said, as if talking to herself, "And now, you'll be leaving soon too."

"Indeed, the only thing I need to do next is revive Irisviel, and that's all I have to do." Mephistopheles said, noticing a slight change in Rin Tohsaka's expression before turning and walking inside, "Oh, really? That's good."

Seeing the other person's reaction, Mephistopheles smiled and shook his head.

"As expected, she's a tsundere. She's unwilling to say some things, yet she throws a tantrum over something like this."

He thought to himself silently, then followed.

Seeing this, Illya's eyes were filled with curiosity, and she wanted to chase after them.

As a result, Heracles stopped him.

"What are you doing, Heracles? Why are you stopping me?"

In response to Illya's question, Heracles simply replied, "Children shouldn't look at this kind of thing."

"I'm not a child! I'm older than Shirou!"

"But you look very young, and your physical development is not complete. If your physical development is incomplete, your psychological development will also be affected, so we still need to wait."

Illya fell silent. She suddenly regretted letting Heracles use the internet these past two days. What kind of things had he been learning?!

"Puff!"

Suddenly, laughter rang out. Illya looked over and saw that it was her adopted younger brother, Shirou Emiya. Apparently, he had seen Heracles's behavior, which caused him to laugh.

Seeing that Illya was looking at him, Shirou Emiya quickly said, "Illya's body has begun to recover, so don't worry, I'll arrange middle school for you in a few days!"

"I don't want to go to junior high school!"

"But wouldn't it be a bit unsuitable for elementary school?"

Illya stared wide-eyed at Shirou Emiya. If looks could kill, Shirou Emiya would have been dead several times over by now.

Shirou Emiya turned and ran away, quickly leaving the scene behind only his elderly father Heracles and Illya.

"Aren't you going?" Heracles asked.

Illya hesitated for a moment, then muttered, "Middle school or something, let's go check it out, just treat it as a trip for fun."

She was somewhat reluctant to admit that she felt a secret joy when she heard she was going to school.

Heracles laughed and said, "That's great. You can go to junior high now, and then experience high school in a few days. In today's terms, this is a life that belongs to the child. Isn't this what you've been hoping for?"

"Well, I guess so. At least it's better than me being thrown out to fight those guys every day..." Illya said, then suddenly laughed, "But before that, I really need to go back to my hometown! Heracles, you're coming with me, okay? I want them to know why Kiritsugu chose to betray us in the past—it all started because of them!"

Chapter 120 Curse

Of all the knowledge the Holy Grail granted Mephistopheles, the most useful to Mephistopheles at this moment is the knowledge about the structure of the human body.

However, Mephistopheles didn't rush to put it into practice. Instead, Mephistopheles calmed down, found a quiet place, and began some operations that no one else could understand.

He was digging in the soil.

This area is located within Einzbern Castle, and with Illya's permission, he can freely enter and exit this place.

"Mr. Mephistopheles, please have some tea." Leysritt, a maid, came up behind Mephistopheles with a tray. On the tray were teacups and a teapot, filled with tea leaves that had already been brewed and were emitting a faint fragrance.

"Thank you, put it over there." Mephistopheles said without turning his head. At this moment, the clay in front of him took on a human shape under his control, and he sculpted this figure very carefully, trying to make it as proportional as possible to a normal human being.

Leysritt examined the clay sculpture carefully. It could be roughly discerned to have the shape of Irisviel, but many parts appeared somewhat rough and had not yet been refined.

"Will this really bring Lord Ellisfield back to life?" Leysritt asked.

"I'm not entirely sure right now. Although I'm sure I can be resurrected later, this body is just an experiment. God created man from clay, and the puppet-type True Magic used by humans is actually based on this. I'm not very familiar with this kind of True Magic, so this is just a last-minute effort."

"A doll..." Leysritt was silent for a moment. She herself was a doll, and even a failed one. She was originally created to sit on the Lesser Holy Grail, but she was a failure. If she hadn't become Illya's maid, she would have been disposed of long ago.

The Einzbern Family never provides resources to those who are considered useless; if someone is considered useless, they are simply discarded and scrapped.

But can dolls really be made from clay?

She had heard of the myth of gods creating humankind from clay, but could it really be true?

"Whether it's true or false isn't important. What's important is the story itself. Besides, many myths feature the tale of people being created from clay, which suggests there's some connection, or even some truth to it." Mephistopheles smiled, and under his control, the clay figure in front of him became increasingly realistic.

The hair, eyes, lips, and so on are all incredibly realistic. Every proportion is so perfect that it's as lifelike as possible. This body was created by Mephistopheles based on the appearance of Irisviel that he had seen!

"Mr. Mephistopheles, why are you so familiar with Lady Irisviel's body, I mean even the parts under her clothes?"

This seemed very strange to Leysritt, because Mephistopheles certainly hadn't actually seen Irisviel. His familiarity with Irisviel's body might Mephistopheles even be as Kiritsugu as Kiritsugu's, Irisviel's husband.

"Thanks to the person who transformed himself into Irisviel, the things he gave me naturally included this data, so I was able to carve out every area of Irisviel so easily," Mephistopheles said, his tone calm and natural, without the slightest hint of embarrassment.

He even seemed a little proud. "I can confidently declare that every detail is handled perfectly. If I were to make an Irisviel pillow, it would be absolutely the most realistic!"

"Miss Illya probably wouldn't agree to something like that, Mr. Mephistopheles," Leysritt couldn't help but remind him.

"I was merely expressing my familiarity with Irisviel," Mephistopheles said, tapping the ground lightly. At that moment, the statue before him underwent a wondrous change.

The statue's fingers twitched slightly, then its entire arm, followed by its limbs, and so on, all moving one by one.

The unpainted statue was now moving like a robot, with rather stiff movements, trying to step out of the True Magic circle.

However, the moment it stepped out of the True Magic circle, the statue stopped moving, as if it had fallen into a deep sleep like a machine whose power had been cut off.

"Did it succeed?"

"It failed." Mephistopheles shook his head and sighed. "If it were that dark-skinned woman from the Anglican Church Necessary Evil Church, she could definitely make this statue move like a human..."

"It's just simple soil, nothing else, not even a Magic Circuits inside. Is this a failure?" Leysritt couldn't help but ask.

"It failed, but it's a learning experience for me. As long as I keep trying, I'll eventually succeed, and it won't take long." Mephistopheles smiled, stretched, took a sip of the tea that Leysritt had brought him, and then asked, "Has Illya been here?"

"Miss hasn't been back recently. She's supposedly busy with school arrangements. Since it's her first real school year, she still has a lot to learn, including how to get along with the other children," Leysritt said, a hint of worry in her eyes. "I hope Miss can control her anger and not kill someone just because they've been bullied. It would be very troublesome to deal with that later."

"She won't do that now, don't worry. I can't guarantee she won't retaliate, but she won't kill anyone. At most, she'll use True Magic to make the other person suffer a little." Mephistopheles said, turning to look at Leysritt, lost in thought.

Upon hearing this, Leysritt couldn't help but exclaim, "You really do trust Miss, Mr. Mephistopheles."

As she spoke, seeing that Mephistopheles didn't react, she looked at him and noticed that he was staring at her. This made Leysritt curious, and she couldn't help but ask, "Is there something on me?"

"I suddenly had a thought: should I go check on the Einzbern Family dolls? Are there any abandoned dolls here? They don't need to be alive, just corpses."

"Your description is quite peculiar. Those discarded items... calling them corpses isn't entirely inaccurate," Leysritt said, nodding. "There are some, but not many. Most of the discarded items are concentrated in the main Einzbern Family estate; this is just a frontline area for the Holy Grail War."

"I don't need many, one or two will be enough. I'm just using this as a reference."

Upon hearing Mephistopheles's words, Leysritt led Mephistopheles to the depths of the Einzbern Family, to a basement-like place where discarded dolls were stored, carelessly tossed there like trash.

Mephistopheles walked over, looked at these creations that resembled dressing dolls, and exclaimed, "What a waste!"

Leysritt didn't speak. She was only there to help Mephistopheles; what he actually did was beyond her control.

As for the other person, Sella, she has already gone to the Emiya Residence to take care of Illya.

So Leysritt watched as Mephistopheles began disassembling the discarded dolls without any hesitation, studying their internal structures.

"Miss Illya, please remember, you must never use lethal violence against ordinary people!" Sella reminded Illya again. Illya's life since childhood has been full of hardships, especially under the deliberate guidance of the Einzbern Family, which has led to her behavior showing obvious violent tendencies.

However, to integrate into the lives of ordinary people, these behaviors must be changed.

"I won't, don't worry. If I get beaten up, I'll just beat them up back!" Illya said, even brandishing her fist. "Yeah, with my fists!"

"You must never use True Magic or Magecraft to enhance your power!" Sella reminded her again.

"No, I'm not stupid. I'll just teach someone a lesson. I wouldn't kill anyone, or even injure anyone. At most, I'll make them feel some pain," Illya said again. "Besides, even if I really had to use True Magic, I have many other ways to solve the problem!"

"Other methods?" Sella frowned slightly, realizing she had underestimated the problem.

"A curse? I don't curse that person to die or anything, but cursing them to have diarrhea is fine, right? Let them have diarrhea for a while, maybe an hour or something."

Sella realized she hadn't thought things through and couldn't help but remind her, "Prolonged diarrhea can lead to exhaustion and even death."

"Really?" Illya looked at Sella with some surprise. Seeing the other's serious expression, she thought for a moment and said with a pout, "Then let him be constipated. Let him be constipated for a while, for example, first his stomach hurts, then he's constipated for half an hour!"

Sella wanted to say something more, but after thinking about it, she realized that the punishment was already quite minor and not life-threatening, so she finally nodded, adding, "It can't exceed half an hour!"

"Yes, I won't let the curse last that long!"

"Actually, I think it would be better to subject people to curses like 'buying instant noodles without the seasoning packet' or something like that," Rin Tohsaka had walked over, chimed in at the opportune moment. "Or forgetting toilet paper when going to the bathroom."

Illya looked at Rin Tohsaka, paused for a moment, and then gave her a thumbs up.

"As expected of Rin, she's definitely much more wicked than me!"

Rin Tohsaka snapped, "What do you mean I'm more evil than you? Aren't these just normal, unlucky things that happen?!"

Sella watched from the sidelines with a sigh. She felt that this was just a Holy Grail War, and not only did the outcome of the war fail to meet the expectations of the Einzbern Family, but even Illya had made a bunch of rather problematic friends.

How could Rin Tohsaka, the heir to the Tohsaka family and a noblewoman, have such thoughts?

"I think curses like mixing up salt and sugar can also be used. They're satisfying and not dangerous." Shirou Emiya had walked over, also decided to offer his opinion, which made Sella facepalm again.

Lord Kiritsugu, your adopted son seems to have some issues too!

Then, most importantly, it was Mephistopheles taught this curse True Magic that she was unaware of!

If this continues, Illya feels like she's turning into a witch from a novel!

Meanwhile, Mephistopheles, who was being secretly criticized by Sella, was diligently analyzing the Einzbern Family's puppet technology.

"So, the reason why puppets can move is actually because they use internal Magic Circuits as wiring, combined with Magecraft to create a human-like effect..."

"I don't actually need Magic Circuits, but some humanization techniques... can indeed be utilized. If we apply these techniques to clay figurines..."

Mephistopheles analyzed the Einzbern Family's technologies, pondering how to integrate them into his current True Magic.

However, after analyzing the situation for a while, Mephistopheles suddenly came up with a solution.

"By the way, Leysritt, these things are completely useless now, aren't they?"

He turned to Leysritt and asked her.

"Yes, it's completely obsolete; it wouldn't be a problem even if you threw it in the trash."

"If it's okay to throw it in the trash, then I can use it however I want without any problem, right?" Mephistopheles's eyes lit up as he said this.

"Didn't you already disassemble these dolls?" Leysritt thought to herself, nodding, "Yes, you can use them as you please, Mr. Mephistopheles."

"That's perfect, I'll take these dolls. With these, the next experiment should be able to successfully revive Irisviel!"