I'm Shenji, what are you doing?

What?

What did he just say?

The Little Holy Grail?

But didn't the Little Holy Grail fall during the transfer? When did he—?

No, that's not right. That "Holy Ark" was prepared before the Holy Grail began. More importantly, he just said that this is the "complete Little Holy Grail", which means that it already contains enough servant souls!

What exactly is going on?

To answer these questions, we must start with the Subspecies Holy Grail War.

After the Third Holy Grail War, Fuyuki's Holy Grail War system was known to magicians around the world. Over the next sixty years, subspecies Holy Grail Wars were widely held around the world.

Although the crucial core Great Holy Grail is missing, the rituals of the sub-species Holy Grail War are not complete, and only five servants can be summoned at most. Even if the ritual is successfully completed, it cannot become a universal wishing machine, let alone open the door to the "root".

However, the number of five knights is exactly the condition for creating the Little Holy Grail. As long as the rituals constructed by the three families are not modified casually, the Subspecies Holy Grail War will end with the achievement of the Little Holy Grail.

Shirou is affiliated with the Eighth Mystery Society and is responsible for the supervision and recovery of holy relics, including supervising the increasingly common subspecies Holy Grail War. Due to various complex reasons, Shirou's activities in the Middle East are particularly frequent, which also provides enough opportunities for Shirou to collect information about the Holy Grail War and witness the birth of the Little Holy Grail.

In a certain subspecies Holy Grail War, five groups of combatants ended up dying together. Naturally, the small Holy Grail was taken into the bag by the supervisor Shirou and sealed with the "Holy Ark" that had been prepared to prevent the magic power in it. and soul loss, to this day.

"Although they are two different rituals, they cannot be used in general. However, the production of this Small Holy Grail strictly followed Fuyuki's rules, so there is almost no difference from the original Small Holy Grail. Then use my Noble Phantasm to combine the two. The connection can perfectly replace the original Little Holy Grail - hahahahaha, I really admire my brain for coming up with such a perfect idea."

"Stop laughing, it's so ugly."

Semiramis poured cold water on the proud Master.

"You just said 'replacement', so the souls of Spartacus and Vlad III contained in the original Small Holy Grail——"

"——Unfortunately, there is only one Small Holy Grail that matches the Great Holy Grail, and their souls can only stay in that Small Holy Grail forever until it naturally dissipates."

"That is to say, there are only five Servant Souls, one less than the omnipotent wishing machine - just follow my instructions and kill that useless writer as a sacrifice."

"woo woo woo woo!!!"

Feeling Semiramis's malicious eyes, Shakespeare was speechless and shook his head desperately.

"There is no need." Shirou waved his hand, "A servant can do anything. Joan of Arc can sense the changes in the Great Holy Grail through the privilege of a ruler, and Chiron and the others will not let me destroy the world. 'No matter what, I can kill anyone I want when the time comes."

"That's why you deliberately used the term 'destroying the world' and deliberately delayed their release."

"So be it."

"But let all nine knights go. Isn't the number too many?"

"Without it, I'm afraid they won't dare to come."

"That's not the case. The so-called heroes will fight for their beliefs even if they are alone, even if they know they will lose."

Karna leaned against the pillar and stared at Shirou with his god-like eyes. That heroic gesture gave people an overwhelming impression. Shirou even had the illusion of being stripped naked by his gaze.

"You can't be unclear about this - so you are lying, at least not completely telling the truth."

"Master? What is going on?" Semiramis's eyes immediately widened, "What are you planning?"

Shirou tried his best to resist the urge to bang his head against the wall: "I @###@￥. If your human lie detector is so sharp and can see through this, can we still have fun together?"

"Sorry." Karna bowed his head and apologized. This was his only character flaw, because he had too sharp eyesight and often mercilessly penetrated the surface and pointed to the essence, which made people feel too cold, sharp and difficult to get along with.

"Forget it, I've said it all, just keep talking."

Karna did not refuse and continued: "You give me a very contradictory feeling. You have made a lot of preparations for your wish, almost controlling everything, but at the critical moment you deliberately slack off, even delaying time, giving the enemy a chance - I really I don’t understand what you want? You don’t want to use the enemy’s hands to stop yourself, right? Then why are you trying so hard?”

"Just take your time and guess." Shirou said no more. It would be wrong to say more in front of Karna.

Karna didn't ask any more questions, leaving behind a sentence of "I'm leaving first, call me if you need anything", and then disappeared in spirit form.

"Master——!"

Semiramis wanted to ask again, but Shirou interrupted him first.

"Hey, Semiramis, is this Holy Grail War still interesting?"

"Well, interesting, very interesting." Semiramis was slightly startled, and then broke out into a smile that had nothing to do with coquettishness.

She understood what Shirou wanted to express. What she pursues is just fun, and her Master and this Holy Grail War gave her unimaginable pleasure. Although her Master made her angry from time to time, Achilles and Atalanta also had some It’s an eyesore, but it’s also part of the fun. At least it’s much more interesting than the unchanging palace life, but——

"I still want to know your true thoughts."

"Well, all I can say now is that I have no intention of losing...just treat the rest as a puzzle. If you really solve it, I will tell you everything. This is also a kind of fun, isn't it?"

Shirou said, turning to look at Shakespeare, who nodded vigorously. Unlike everyone else, he had doubts but never asked the parties involved. He just watched silently, recorded silently, and enjoyed the whole process silently.

"Solving a puzzle? It's a novel experience for me."

Since she ascended the throne as emperor and took control of the Assyrian Empire, only those who served her have tried to figure her out. She has never been asked to figure out others. It is not bad to give it a try occasionally.

"Okay, I agree."

"That's it. I'll start the work of connecting and replacing the Small Holy Grail and the Great Holy Grail immediately. You extract the magic power from the Great Holy Grail to repair the courtyard. Caster, you go back to the study and write a book. Joan of Arc organizes a counterattack. It will probably take more time. Three to five days, this is our last leisure.”

"I understand." Semiramis glanced at the mess and activated the space transfer. Although the Great Holy Grail is stored here, it is not the center of the sky garden. The center of the sky garden is always Wang Jian. Only there can she maximize the power of the entire courtyard.

Shakespeare hurriedly chased the empress away, and the poison on his body had not yet been cured.

After everyone left, Shirou exhaled a long breath, sat imagelessly on the stone steps in front of the Great Holy Grail, and whispered:

"It can be regarded as temporarily fooling them away. Sure enough, these heroic spirits who stand at the top of human history don't have a fuel-efficient lamp. I wonder if the same is true for Black - what do you think?"

Shirou suddenly turned his head and looked at the golden face in the center of the Great Holy Grail with a half-smile.