Millennia Fortress, the headquarters of the Yggdmillennia in Romania.
This enormous stone chamber, built in the Middle Ages and transformed by the Magecraft of the Yggdmillennia Clan over hundreds of years, is now filled with light by four summoning arrays that are simultaneously activated.
All the Magecraft circles on the ground were activated, converging towards the center from four directions, and the blue and white magical light illuminated the faces of everyone present in a flickering manner.
The man sitting in the high-backed chair at the far end of the main hall remained motionless.
Vlad III.
Lancer.
Grand Prince of Wallachia.
His posture was so upright it looked as if he had been cut from an oil painting, his dark red eyes half-closed, his gaze sweeping over the entire hall from above.
Standing to Vlad III's right was Darnic Preston, the Yggdmillennia, with his hands behind his back and a perfectly measured smile on his lips.
He was confident about tonight's situation.
Or rather—he believed he had everything under control.
Vlad III Lancer has already been summoned ahead of schedule.
In Romania, this Grand Duke enjoys an almost cheat-like local advantage, and his Noble Phantasm " Kazikli Bey " can extend its range to the entire area surrounding Trifas.
With this one move alone, the Black Faction faction has already secured its basic position.
Caster Avicebron, whose summoning was also completed ahead of time by Roche, possesses the ability to mass-produce golems, allowing him to continuously generate and deploy minions on the battlefield.
Although the quality of the individual units is not high, the quantity is sufficient. Darnic's expectations for it are only this much; enough is enough.
The real trump card is the Servant 're about to summon.
Darnic's gaze swept over the four prospective Master standing in front of the four summoning circles.
First place: Fiore Fulvigia- Yggdmillennia.
The girl in the wheelchair had stunningly bright, icy blue eyes illuminated by the magical light.
Her hands were equipped with bronze-linked mechanical arms, and her fingertips were outputting a steady stream of magic. The relic before her was an arrow tainted with Hydra's deadly poison.
This artifact is almost identical in its targeted nature to a dedicated summoning device.
Hydra's poisoned arrow.
In the entire Greece mythological system, there is only one Heroic Spirit that can resonate most strongly with this thing.
The great hero Heracles.
Planned class: Archer.
Darnic's original plan was going perfectly: to summon Heracles using the Archer class.
It retains the absolute power of a great hero while also gaining the tactical flexibility brought by the ability to Independent Action, making it a perfect combination.
Of course, what he didn't know was that this arrow was the very one that, according to legend, pierced Chiron.
But that's a story for another time.
Second place: Gordes Musik Yggdmillennia.
The middle-aged man, who was on the heavier side, had beads of sweat on his forehead, his face was flushed, and his hands were trembling slightly.
His sacred relic: a blood-stained Bodhi leaf.
The Nibelungen: When Siegfried, the dragon-slaying hero, was bathing in dragon's blood, a linden leaf fell on his back, leaving his only weakness.
This leaf, stained with the blood of heroes, also points to the level of a special weapon.
Planned Class: Darnic. The reason for choosing this class is simple: the characteristic of the Rider class is that it can carry multiple Noble Phantasm.
If Siegfried were to manifest as a Rider, his minimum setup would be the Demon Balmung plus a top-tier Phantasmal Species Fafnir.
Very reasonable, very powerful.
Darnic mentally gave himself a score of 95 out of 100 for his planning skills.
Third place: Celenike Icecolle Yggdmillennia.
The woman always had a smile on her lips that made people instinctively uncomfortable.
Her wine-red eyes gleamed with a chilling light amidst the magical glow. The relic before her was the Bottle of Reason.
Charlemagne Roland, one of Roland's Twelve Paladins, is said to have gone mad after being heartbroken.
His lost rationality was contained in this bottle, which was then taken to the moon by another knight Astolfo, to retrieve it.
This relic can be linked to Roland himself.
The wielder of the holy sword Durandal.
Top-tier combat power of the Saber class.
Celenike licked her lips. She had already planned what she would do after obtaining the Servant.
Those things weren't really related to the war.
Fourth place: Caules Vervigne, the Yggdmillennia.
Fiore's younger brother, who wears black-rimmed glasses, looks like the type of guy who gets extorted for pocket money by middle schoolers outside convenience stores.
The relic before him was a single hair.
Golden.
It contains an extremely high degree of mystery.
Darnic's assessment of the relic was. "I don't know what it can summon, but it doesn't matter."
In layman's terms: Just summon whatever comes to mind to make up the numbers, and be thankful if it doesn't drag the team down.
Caules himself was well aware of this positioning, his blond fingers, gripping the handle, were slightly sweaty.
He stole a glance at his sister Fiore in the wheelchair beside him. Fiore was completely focused on maintaining the magical output of the summoning circle and didn't turn to look at him.
The light from the four summoning arrays reached its peak simultaneously.
The chants of the four prospective Master entered the final section in unison.
" The Ring of Counter Force descends upon this place—guardian of Libra!"
boom.
The white light engulfed everything.
All the candles in the main hall went out at the same time.
The darkness lasted for about three seconds.
Then, the light faded.
Above the summoning circle, four figures appeared simultaneously.
That feeling is back again.
The last time I experienced this feeling was when I was thrown to Singularity F by the Counter Force.
Mayuri —no, now I should say Mukuro Hoshimiya —opened her eyes.
His amber-gold pupils slowly focused in the dim light.
She looked down at herself.
Her height has noticeably shrunk. From her Mayuri form, she has dropped to 1.48 meters, and her field of vision has also decreased.
Golden curly hair cascaded down from both sides, almost touching the ground.
She was wearing a short, pinkish-purple cheongsam, the star pattern of which shimmered faintly in the shadows.
In his right hand he held a long-handled tin staff shaped like a giant key, the Michael. Mukuro Hoshimiya's personal angel, and also an EX-rank Noble Phantasm.
It was another unfamiliar body.
Mukuro Hoshimiya spent approximately 0.5 seconds completing the self-check of the new Spirit Origin.
Class: Archer. Stats: Strength B, Endurance C, Agility B, Magic EX, Luck C, Noble Phantasm EX.
Independent Action EX. Magic Resistance A.
The inherent Astral Dress, Elohim, is functioning normally; Spacequake can be used; and all four powers of the Michael are online.
Everything is normal.
Besides height.
She decided to stop thinking about her height.
The surrounding scenery began to come into focus.
In the stone hall, the Magic Crest are visible, and the candlelight is being relit.
The air was thick with the lingering scent of magic, mixed with the damp, musty smell of candle wax and old stone walls.
To her left front, a tall man with long gray-silver hair was kneeling on one knee.
Siegfried.
Saber.
Siegfried knelt perfectly, his back straight, head bowed, and he remained silent.
To the right front is another figure kneeling on one knee.
Light pink hair.
Large, Roland eyes.
A gorgeous white short cape, a black bodysuit, and an armored miniskirt.
Rider.
Astolfo.
Then she felt a pressure on her right side.
It was like a mountain suddenly appearing beside me.
She slowly turned her head.
Then I had to tilt my head back almost sixty degrees.
His skin was bronze, and the contours of his muscles were so exaggerated that they seemed inhuman.
He held a giant axe-sword, larger than Mukuro Hoshimiya himself, in one hand.
Berserker.
Heracles.
Like Mukuro Hoshimiya, he remained standing, unlike Siegfried and Astolfo who knelt on one knee.
Vlad III slowly rose from the high-backed chair deep within the main hall.
The Grand Duke of Wallachia was tall and slender, with long, pale gold hair cascading down his back. His dark red eyes swept over the four newly summoned Servant, his gaze steady and dignified.
There was neither a smile nor displeasure on his lips; he simply surveyed the Heroic Spirit before him with the air of a king surveying his territory.
Darnic stood beside Vlad and took a step forward.
"My king."
"They are the Servant summoned by our four Master, that is, the King's subordinates."
Vlad III nodded slightly.
Then he opened his mouth.
His voice was deep and resonant, carrying an undeniable air of authority.
"Heroes who have answered the call in search of the Holy Grail."
pause.
"Let's achieve victory as the Black Faction first."
Concise, no nonsense. He sat back down after speaking.
Then Darnic took two more steps forward, facing all the Master and Servant present.
"Gentlemen."
His voice wasn't loud, but it echoed throughout the stone chamber.
" The Greater Grail is now in our hands."
"The rules of this Great Holy Grail War are different from the past: seven against seven, black against red, an all-out war Servant fourteen Servants. But we possess an advantage that the Red Faction can never match."
He raised one hand, palm up, and made a casual gesture.
" The Holy Grail is at our feet. Victory is already ours. All you need to do is prepare for battle and crush the invaders one by one."
"The declaration of the Yggdmillennia race's separation from the Clock Tower will become a fait accompli after the victory in this war."
The speech has ended.
The results were alright.
At least Gordes straightened his back a little.
Celenike, on the other hand, stared at Astolfo, whom she had summoned, the whole time, with an expression... how to put it, like a cat that had discovered a new toy.
That expression sent a chill down Mukuro Hoshimiya's spine for no apparent reason.
She decided to shift her focus to more important things.
For example, finding your Master.
The contractual connection is like an invisible thread, linking to one of the people on the other side.
Mukuro Hoshimiya's golden eyes swept across the crowd.
Fiore? No, there's a clear contractual fluctuation between the girl in the wheelchair and Heracles.
Gordes? No, the Magic Circuits between him and Siegfried is operating at full speed.
Celenike?... No. Thank goodness it's not.
That thread eventually pointed to --
In the corner.
A chestnut-haired boy wearing black-rimmed glasses.
He is 1.72 meters tall, has blue eyes, a tense expression, and a stiff posture.
Clutching the relic of the golden hair in his left hand, unsure where to put his right, he awkwardly slipped it into his pocket.
Caules Vervigne, the Yggdmillennia.
Mukuro Hoshimiya met his gaze.
How to describe his expression? It was like someone who went to a pet store intending to adopt a kitten, but the staff handed him a miniature golden curly-haired lion instead.
It was completely beyond expectations.
And I'm a little scared.
Master confirmed.
That does seem rather unreliable.
But it's not that it can't be used.
The Romania night wind still howled outside the fortress.
The Great Holy Grail War has officially begun.