[Iskandar laughed. "But I have a new idea."]
["Since we both call ourselves kings and neither will yield, conflict is naturally inevitable."]
["However, we can change the form of our conflict from a battle of arms to a battle of words."]
["Let us ask over wine who is more qualified to be king of the Holy Grail."]
["This is not a Holy Grail War, but a Holy Grail quiz!"]
[The video ended there.]
King of Conquerors: "A Holy Grail quiz? That's not a bad idea."
Kayneth: "But what are we going to debate?"
Waver: "Exactly. Why did the video just end like that?"
[A debate is best held face-to-face, so all group members, please take your seats...]
"Take our seats?"
Before the group members could react, they felt the scenery before their eyes change.
They had been transported into a pure white world with nothing in it, and all of them had been gathered together.
Even Bluebeard, who had been in the Throne of Heroes, was no exception.
Feng Xi also got to meet the great Qin Shi Huang.
He wore a flat-topped imperial crown with twelve strings of beads and a black robe adorned with coiling dragons and the Dark Bird. His build and appearance were no different from those of the Lostbelt's Qin Shi Huang, but Pan-Human History's Qin Shi Huang looked older and sported a long goatee, possessing more of the First Emperor of Qin's majesty and imposing air.
"Ah! Feng Xi! I'll kill you!"
"Prelati's Spellbook!"
Just as Feng Xi was about to go over and greet Qin Shi Huang, Bluebeard came to his senses and charged at Feng Xi.
As he charged, he also activated his Noble Phantasm against Feng Xi.
"Hmph! You dare attack one of my subjects in my presence?"
Seeing this, Qin Shi Huang let out a cold snort.
Then Bluebeard's Prelati's Spellbook seemed to stall out, showing no further activity.
"Who are you?!"
Bluebeard was somewhat stunned. He sensed that Prelati's Spellbook was actually afraid of this man.
As for why he did not know Qin Shi Huang's identity, it was because Bluebeard never took in anything in the group unless it concerned Jeanne d'Arc.
"Whoa, could this be 'Burning Books and Burying Scholars'?!"
Feng Xi immediately guessed what had happened to Prelati's Spellbook.
Pan-Human History's Qin Shi Huang was the bane of book-type Noble Phantasms.
Unfortunately, he could not see his stats.
[Notice: the use of force is prohibited within this space. As this is Bluebeard's first offense, 1 Saint Quartz will be deducted.]
The system's voice rang out at that moment.
Feng Xi quipped, "He doesn't even have any Saint Quartz. What are you going to deduct?"
"Hahaha, just what I'd expect of Qin Shi Huang."
Iskandar stepped forward and greeted him with easy familiarity.
Meanwhile, seeing Qin Shi Huang disable Bluebeard's Noble Phantasm with a mere snort put Kiritsugu Emiya and the others on high alert.
Although Qin Shi Huang had mentioned that he was impartial, his act of shielding Feng Xi just now gave them doubts.
"Have we been transported into another space?"
El-Melloi II and Zhang Jue examined their surroundings, exchanged a glance, and shook their heads.
They could not sense any boundaries at all. The space here seemed boundless.
[The debate question will now begin. Group members, please first divide into teams led by the King of Heroes, King Arthur, the King of Conquerors, and Qin Shi Huang.]
"Ah, so this question has us competing in teams."
Iskandar laughed. "No problem. My subjects, come stand beside your king."
"Honestly, you're getting far too excited."
It went without saying that Waver and El-Melloi II were already part of the Rider team.
And since the Lancer team had already allied with the Rider team, Kayneth and his three companions naturally joined the King of Conquerors' team as well.
Feng Xi and his two companions were definitely following the great Qin Shi Huang. What they had not expected was for Rin Tohsaka to pull Sakura Tohsaka and Ishtar along to join their team too.
Across from them, Tokiomi Tohsaka's expression darkened at the sight, but there was nothing he could do.
Bluebeard finally regained a little clarity. Upon hearing that they were forming teams, he went straight up to Artoria in high spirits, incessantly calling her "Holy Maiden" and "Jeanne."
Although our king really wanted to slash him across the face, she remembered that force was prohibited here and could only let him be.
She just had to ignore him.
Our king had originally thought that her team would consist of just the four of them plus a madman, but to her surprise, the Knight of the Lake also approached her then and stood motionless beside her like a statue.
His meaning was already quite clear.
Kariya Matou was not surprised by the Knight of the Lake's choice. He nodded to our king and walked over as well.
As long as he was not on the same team as Tokiomi Tohsaka, he did not care.
As for Gilgamesh's team, it went without saying: it consisted of those left over, Tokiomi Tohsaka, Kirei Kotomine, and the Gymnastics Troupe.
Of course, if Gilgamesh felt that his side had too few people, he could have the Gymnastics Troupe summon all their duplicates to fill out the ranks.
[Now that the teams have been formed, the rules for this question will be announced.]
[There are no restrictions on the arguments for this debate. The group members will determine them themselves.]
[However, the arguments must revolve around either the Holy Grail or kings.]
[Members of the winning team can receive between 5 and 10 Saint Quartz according to their contributions.]
[All right, the debate now begins.]
Waver: "Huh? That's it?"
Rin Tohsaka: "We even have to come up with the topic ourselves?"
Feng Xi: "Hey, hey, you're getting lazier and lazier, system."
Faced with their complaints, the system responded with silence, ignoring them completely.
Chapter 47: Epang Palace
"I see. You want us to hold a Holy Grail quiz ourselves."
Iskandar laughed. "Haha, isn't that interesting?"
Waver: "But what are we going to debate?"
"Let's compare the scope of our visions."
Iskandar laughed. "We'll judge which of us is best suited to obtain the Holy Grail based on our wishes. What do you think?"
Qin Shi Huang said mildly, "Although the Holy Grail has nothing to do with me, I would also like to see the scope of the visions of you renowned Western kings."
Artoria nodded. "I have no objections."
Gilgamesh snorted. "A debate? How boring."
"It seems the theme of our debate will be the scope of a king's vision."
Iskandar said with some disappointment, "It's a shame I didn't prepare any wine beforehand. Otherwise, we could have debated over a banquet, just like in the video."
"Mongrel, what nonsense are you spouting now?"
Gilgamesh glanced around and curled his lip. "Hold a banquet in a lifeless place like this, and even the finest wine would lose its flavor."
"That's true, now that you mention it."
Iskandar looked around the empty white world and scratched his head. "It's far too monotonous here. There's nothing at all."
"In that case, I shall grant you the privilege of entering my imperial palace."
Qin Shi Huang smiled faintly as he spoke.
Then, with a wave of his hand, the surrounding scenery underwent a drastic transformation.
The formerly blank world turned directly into a spacious plaza. Then a magnificent ancient Chinese imperial palace rose from the ground, towering before them.
Just how magnificent was this imperial palace? Only one phrase could describe it.
Unprecedented in the past, unsurpassed in the future.
The foundations beneath the front hall, which was all they could currently see, were a full three stories high.
Moreover, the entire palace was exquisitely crafted, giving one the feeling that they could never tire of looking at it.
Looking left and right, they could hardly even see its ends.
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