When Ye Uchiha opened his eyes again, he found that he was back.
Seeing Gin Ichimaru's foxlike smile beside him, and Irisviel and Justeaze standing before him, Ye Uchiha suddenly realized he had been set up.
It turned out that his mission as a transmigrator was to stop Gudako from destroying the world. Worse, nine transmigrators before him had already been torn apart by her bare hands. The thought left Ye Uchiha feeling thoroughly sick.
Although Romani, the former King Solomon, had given him a cheat-the Throne of Heroes-Ye Uchiha still felt his chances were shaky against Gudako, that "Beast of Humanity" who tore Grand Servants apart and restored the Human Order with her bare hands.
After all, the strongest and most dangerous characters in anime weren't those from hot-blooded fantasy series. They were the ones from seemingly unremarkable gag comedies that simply refused to obey any rules. One second, they would be clowning around; the next, the entire tone would change, and they would shatter planets and wipe out nations, with cosmic final bosses appearing one after another.
The most terrifying part was the complete lack of logic. A nuclear missile could hit them without singeing a single hair. They could be sliced to pieces and instantly revive at full health. They could be knocked several kilometers away and crash into the ground without a scratch. It was downright scarier than any hot-blooded action series.
And Gudako happened to come from a gag series. She tore apart the strongest Grand Servants, treated the black mud of All the World's Evil as bathwater, and toyed with Servants for her own twisted amusement, without the slightest shred of decency. Demon God Pillars were nothing but food to her. She completely overturned his understanding of what a Master was.
It was like Doraemon from the world of Doraemon, with causality-altering gadgets such as the What-If Phone Booth, which could change a world or even create one from nothing, the Copying Mirror, which could duplicate any object, and the Timer, which could stop time...
If he ever transmigrated into Doraemon's world, the first thing Ye Uchiha would do was rob that robot cat. Who knew how many gadgets Doraemon kept in his four-dimensional pocket? If Ye Uchiha simply "borrowed" the entire pocket, he figured he could do whatever he pleased with Gudako.
Thinking about Gudako's character premise made Ye Uchiha's teeth ache. Judging by the scenes from Romani's memories, Ritsuka Fujimaru's final appearance after becoming a "Beast of Humanity" bore an uncanny resemblance to Gudako from Learning with Manga! FGO.
After all, death practically didn't exist in gag series. The rule that protagonists never died was perfectly embodied there.
Recalling what Romani had said about the Throne of Heroes, Ye Uchiha asked, "Can you summon Heroic Spirits right now?"
Justeaze immediately replied, "Yes. As the Greater Grail, I can perform Spirit Evocation: Heroic Spirit Summoning, but the summoned Heroic Spirits will be under no restrictions. A contract must be established through Irisviel, the Lesser Grail. If you summon a chaotic Heroic Spirit, Master, they may prove very difficult to control."
This was Justeaze's tactful way of warning Ye Uchiha not to summon recklessly without sufficient strength. She was worried that the Heroic Spirits he summoned might kill him instead. Generally speaking, apart from the chaotic ones, lawful and neutral Heroic Spirits were fairly easy to get along with.
Come to think of it, the Nasuverse had quite a few Masters who had been killed by their own Servants because they were incompatible:
For example, Gilgamesh and the ever-elegant Tokiomi Tohsaka; Medea, whose original Master envied and despised her, and who killed him after maneuvering him into using up his Command Spells; and Hyoma Sagara, who summoned Jack the Ripper only to be killed by her...
Besides, for certain Heroic Spirits, even with Command Spells binding them, killing a mage who was utterly defenseless by their standards was all too easy-even without doing it themselves.
"What restrictions are there on summoning Heroic Spirits through the Throne of Heroes?"
Justeaze answered readily, "Every summoning draws upon the Master's od to sustain it. Based on your current reserves, you can perform approximately five summonings at most."
Ye Uchiha looked surprised. "Od? I have that?"
What I've been cultivating is clearly chakra, yet Justeaze says I have od. Does chakra count as od too?
After considering it, Ye Uchiha shook his head and firmly rejected the idea. As far as he knew, chakra in the Naruto World and od in the Nasuverse were entirely different concepts belonging to different power systems. They had no inherent similarity or interoperability.
Chakra in the Naruto World was the energy produced by perfectly combining the various energies under the body's control. Those energies fell into three categories: first, physical energy extracted from the human body's 130 trillion cells; second, spiritual energy cultivated through continuous training and accumulated experience; and finally, natural energy, which could only be obtained through practicing Senjutsu.
The pinnacle of physical energy was Yang Release, while the pinnacle of spiritual energy was Yin Release. Yin Release used spiritual energy to create material forms from nothing. Yang Release used physical energy to infuse inorganic matter with chakra or will, granting it life.
Senjutsu chakra, which was distinct from those two, could multiply one's strength and speed and greatly enhance the power of ninjutsu, but learning it required instruction from the sages of the Three Great Sage Lands.
At present, aside from senjutsu chakra, which Ye Uchiha had yet to master, he had some understanding of how to use Yin Release and Yang Release. However, he could not create matter and grant it life the way Princess Kaguya could.
Od in the Nasuverse was produced by using the Magic Circuits running through one's body to convert life force into magical energy. Causing something achievable through ordinary means to occur through an extraordinary method was what constituted magecraft. Od had to be expended to carry out that process, making it somewhat similar to equivalent exchange in alchemy.
Irisviel spoke up then. "You needn't worry about that. As the Lesser Grail, I can analyze and transform the structure of energy, allowing me to convert the chakra within your body into od, Master."
Hearing Irisviel's reply, Ye Uchiha nodded slightly and began to consider his options.
Justeaze had said earlier that his current energy could sustain no more than five Heroic Spirits. In other words, after five summonings, his chakra reserves would be practically empty.
Moreover, since the Heroic Spirits would be unrestricted, Irisviel would have to establish Servant contracts between them and him. If any Heroic Spirit resisted during that process, he would have to deal with them, so he needed to keep at least half his chakra in reserve for unexpected trouble.
Then how about... trying two summons first and seeing how my luck holds up?
With Gin Ichimaru at his side, Ye Uchiha was fairly confident in his ability to handle two Heroic Spirits.
Ye Uchiha said to Justeaze, "Then summon two Heroic Spirits first."
"Understood!"
Justeaze slowly closed her eyes. Beneath her black Heaven's Feel, intricate, interwoven Magic Circuits appeared like tattoos across her snow-white skin, and she began chanting:
"I declare:
Your body shall serve beneath my banner; my fate shall rest upon your sword.
Answer the Holy Grail's summons. If you heed this will and this reason, answer me!
I am the one who accomplishes all the good in this world; I am the one who gathers all the evil in this world.
Seven heavens, entwined with the three great words of power.
Come forth through the Wheel of Restraint! Guardian of the Scales!"
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