Chapter: 20

The table shook as the force of the fist traveled over it.

Darnic's face was covered in pure anger. His eyes burned with fury yet confusion dominated them the most. He stared at the Grail that hovered high in the sky, just above the newly announced territory by Gin.

It was as if it was mocking him. Laughing at him and the work of his whole life.

Sixty years! The work of sixty years was drowned by a single unknown man! He could hardly believe it, yet the hovering Grail outside was the truth of it.

"How." He asked, his voice barely holding onto his anger. He looked back toward Caster and asked. "I thought you had your golems watching over the Grail all the time. Then how!?"

"A mystery indeed." Caster's deep voice resounded from behind his mask. "The golems were indeed there to watch over the Grail, yet I did not receive any reply from them. Either he used illusions or some other method I am not aware of."

"Then how did he enter that place without alerting anyone? If I remember correctly, then the bounded fields around the Grails were also your duty, no?"

"I have no excuse." Caster's reply was the same as always, without much emotional disturbance within his voice, he continued. "Grail has been stolen, that is all there is to it. Indeed, it makes me curious as to how he was able to bypass all fields and my golems; there is no point in discussing when it already has happened."

"... Any information about him?" After a small pause, Darnic inquired once more. "Do you know any Servant by the name of Ichimaru Gin? Or a Magus?"

"Not that I remember one."

Darnic looked towards them as Flore, Celenike, Gordes, Roche, and Caules; all of them shook their heads collectively.

"Not a Heroic Spirit nor a Magus, then who is he?"

The more Darnic thought about it, the more annoyed he became. He turned back to look at the flying Grail before softly muttering.

"Do we have no choice but to play in his hands?"

"... It's not a fight between two factions any longer, but a war against one." Vlad III opened his eyes before stating. "Call the Masters of Red. Now that we have a common enemy, there is no point in wasting our resources against each other."

His eyes shone crimson as the room seemed to fill with pressure, Vlad's voice boomed. "Daring to enter my grounds, stealing under my watch, and then blatantly changing the rules of Holy War to his liking. I'll make sure to put his body on a stake for the whole world to see!"

"As you wish, my lord." Darnic bowed. "I'll make the preparations for the meeting."

1

"Marvellous! Such a twist to the story! I cannot believe it happened right at the important point too! What a weird play of Fate!"

"Shut up, Caster!" Semiramis snarled at the dancing old man with an angered expression, promoting him to shrug his shoulders.

Massaging her head a little, she looked at the holographic screen above with a crunched expression.

There, the Holy Grail hovered in the sky with no one protecting it whatsoever, yet no one dared to enter that area and snatch it.

The fact that the Merchant declared that place his territory, as someone who had Garden as her territory, Semiramis knew it would bore no one well if they entered it without any preparations.

But the problem was, who was he?

"Master…"

Shirou shook his head. His face clearly showed his dissatisfaction.

"He is not a Servant nor a Magus that I know of. But knowing he called himself one of the Crimson Moon, it would not be wrong to assume that he is a True Ancestor."

"Sweepers of Gaia? What is he doing here then? I thought they slept for the better part of their lives."

"..." Shirou remained silent. His mind raced for many different scenarios and possibilities.

He cannot let his work be wasted, not at this point. He has been working on his plan for Grail for more than sixty years! He would never allow an anomaly to just ruin it.

It was the same with the Ruler. He knew she would be a problematic piece to deal with, that's why he sent Lancer to deal with her.

But he failed. And the reason for his failure, for the better part, was him; the same person who now controlled everything about the Greater Holy Grail War.

Shirou didn't like it. The fact that he, that Vampire, took control over the whole War in less than a minute!

Where everyone was Shirou's pawn and he was the player, now everyone was Gin's pawn and he was the player.

"Any update on his identity whatsoever?"

"None." Semiramis shook her head, equal displeasure as her Master showed over her face.

Nodding his head, Shirou looked toward Lancer and asked.

"Lancer, you have fought him before, is there anything useful you would like to add?"

"Not that I can think of." Lancer shook his head. "We never fought, but he seemed to have a weird ability to distort a person's perception. That, or he can teleport silently without any disturbance in mana whatsoever. Either way, it won't be an easy fight."

He continued.

"I have seen the eyes of people like him, which states that they are already seeing victory. If he is this much certain of his victory, there must be a source for it."

Shirou sighed.

There was nothing of use that Lancer said but that Gin is strong. That much everyone could tell!

'And I am not getting any vision either… Is he somehow blocking the visions from happening?'

If that really was the case, then it was a concerning matter indeed.

"Ruler is entering his territory." Suddenly, Semiramis said. Her voice gained the attention of everyone.

All of them stared at Jeanne silently. But the moment she set foot on the raised platform, dimensions started to wave chaotically before she vanished!

"... A dimensional wrap? So we don't even know what's inside…" Semiramis's fist tightened.

Just as Semiramis finished speaking, worlds suddenly floated into the space, just below the Grail that said—Yes.

"..."

"Semiramis…" Shirou quietly muttered while reading those words. "Did you feel anyone breaching the wards?"

"... None. I don't feel even the slightest disturbance within them."

The words once again changed into—Git gud bro.

The armrest shattered as a vein seemed to pop over Semiramis forehead.

"Shirou… I WILL kill him."

"..."

This Ichimaru Gin seemed to have taken all forms of possibilities into account. And it irked the Queen of Poisons! The fact that he can observe and hear everything they were saying, she wanted to gouge his eyes out!

'Some kind of Clairvoyance?' Shirou thought. 'But it should not allow him to hear what we are saying… unless he has a skill that literally makes him omnipresent. To be honest, the prospect alone is scary enough.'

In the end, he sighed.

"Since you seem to hear whatever we say, why don't we make a deal? You are a Merchant, right?"

[Interesting…] Gin's voice resounded within everyone's mind. They could hear a slight chuckle behind it. [As you have said, I indeed am a Merchant. Hence, everything that I have is sellable.]

"Anything? Does that include your life too then?" Shirou scoffed at Gin's condensing tone, but the answer was definitely not what he expected.

[Exactly. As long as you can pay the price, even my life can be bought. Your ability to buy it on the other hand is quite lacking. So, speak. I shall hear what you have to say.]

An expression of displeasure formed over Shirou's face. He didn't like how arrogant Gin's voice resounded.

"Before I propose a deal, I would like to ask a question, are you a True Ancestor?"

[Everything has a price, did we not settle on that just now, or mayhaps after living for so long, you have become senile?]

Gin's way of talking to him only seemed to fuel his ever-increasing displeasure as he inquired.

"What do you want then?"

[Hmmm. Tough question… How about the ability of your Right-Hand?]

Shirou's eyes widened as a small flair of panic rose within his heart that he hurriedly buried to regain his calmness.

'So he knows…'

It was a secret that only a few were privy to. These few didn't surpass two or three, and yet Gin seemed to see through his very existence. It was as if he seemed to know everything.

'He definitely is an old monster… Could he have been present during the Third Grail War? Watching and observing us, like how he is doing right now?'

The more Shirou thought about it, the more absurd the situation sounded to him to the point where he almost dubbed Gin an existence that was omnipresent and omniscient; the thought alone made him choke on the oxygen he was taking.

"I will have to refuse. Ask something else."

[What? So all bark no bite aye?] Shirou's brow twitched with annoyance as Gin continued. [Oops. Excuse me for my language. I sometimes slip out of my role. Anyways, what else can you give me then? Oh, I know. The challenge was for Servants, but I would like to extend it to you too. If you agree to enter my territory, with or without your Servants—honestly, I don't care—then I can answer your question.]

Shirou's fist tightened.

It was as if Gin read through his very mind!

Indeed. With the presence of an anomaly like Gin, Shirou was rethinking his choice of participating in a fight. He was planning to send his Servants, and wait for the results. If they win, it's good then. But if they lost, he would once again hide himself in the world and wait for the right opportunity to win the Grail.

For someone like him, whose Noble Phantasm gave him eternal youth, it wasn't an impossible endeavor. But the fact that Gin exposed him so easily made Shirou feel like a helpless child in front of an adult. No matter what he thought or planned, everything would be like an open book to them.

After contemplating for some time, thinking as if all Servants lost, Gin might just come out and kill him too if he felt like it; Shirou decided to bite the bullet and agreed.

"Very well. I agree with your proposal."

[I would like to call it a deal.] A chuckle followed after before Gin stated. [To answer your question, yes. I am indeed what you people dub as True Ancestor.]

'At least now we know something concrete about him.' An enemy who you had no knowledge about was the worst enemy you could ask for. They needed to at least know his race to fight him.

"My deal is simple. Even as a True Ancestor, it is highly unlikely that you would be able to defeat all 14 Servants together. If you allow me one use of Grail, then while you are fighting with the Servants of Black Faction, I can deal with Masters. How about it? Not only would it make things easier for you, but you also won't need to waste too much energy on killing them."

Shirou simply bet that Gin was doing all of this for fun and not for the grail. Otherwise, he would have hidden himself and simply waited till only one Servant was left. Simply by killing him, he would have the Grail for himself anyway.

The fact that he came out and placed the Grail as a reward for defeating him, Shirou thought it was highly likely that Gin simply was bored and doing it for fun.

Who knows, True Ancestors were immortals with infinite lifespans. He wouldn't be surprised to know that Gin is over thousands of years old.

A person is bound to get bored over such a long lifespan.

Only silence answered him back. And just as he thought that Gin didn't like the deal, his voice finally resounded within his mind once more.

[Ah, sorry. I was busy playing with Jeanne. She is quite cute if I do say so myself.]

"..."

[Anyways, Shirou, are you stupid? Why would I purpose a fight if I ever thought I would lose? It is simple, I know that I would NOT lose! Hence, your 'deal' sounds REALLY stupid to me. Well, it was nice talking to you. If you want to make another deal, then enter my territory and defeat my avatar first. I am sure you can do it, Ruler-san~]

Feeling the foreign connection he had with Gin cutting off, Shirou laughed wryly.

'What did I expect? Of course he knows it too. I was impatient.'

Normally, Shirou would never make such a mistake. The fact that he made such a deal showed that the suddenness of the current situation made his mind a mess.

Realizing it, Shirou took a deep breath to calm his nerves down. He looked towards Semiramis and other Servants present in the throne room before smiling.

"Everything depends on you people now, it seems."

There was nothing he could do alone. The only thing left was to play according to Gin's plan now.

3

"You won't be able to stop me if this is all you have got, my dear saint." With a smile on his lips and an expression that showed his nonchalance about the current situation, Gin floated in the air as six long wings unfolded behind him.

Jeanne's face was a mess. Her clothes were messy, and her hair was also a mess. It was as if she just had a catfight with Gin. But, of course, that was not the case here.

It was simply because Gin seemed to love the sadistic pleasure he was getting purely by teasing her.

All she could do was swing her flag in hope of hitting the flying Nepahlem, yet it sounded like an impossible endeavor.

"Why such a serious face, Jeanne?"

His breath tickled down her neck as she felt his touch around her waist, causing her to jump away like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

She gritted her teeth as annoyance floated on her face. She hated it. Whatever this skill was, she hated how Gin seemed to teleport wherever he wanted without any disturbance in the surrounding mana.

It was as if he was appearing out of the void every time!

At this point, Jeanne thought she might develop a paranoia that Gin was standing behind her all the time. And it definitely wasn't a pleasing thought to have.

"I told you before, didn't I?" Gin smiled as he stared at Jeanne. "The only reason why I have come to this world is for you. This Grail War just happened to be happening when I came to this world."

He looked at her with a soft smile and continued.

"You are a saint. All you want is to protect the innocent of this country from harm. Be mine Jeanne, and I shall not harm any single innocent Soul unless they attack me first of course."

A silence draped between the two as Jeanne stood silently, staring at Gin.

It seemed that it was going to take him some time to agree to him.

…

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