Chapter 72

A chess piece representing a castle was placed on the map, marking the location of the Elves.

Riku looked up at Vanir and said, "Vanir, you and I will handle the Elves. With information about the Goblin's marrow explosion and part of the Void Zero's protection, we'll challenge one of their top leaders, Sink Nirvalen, to a game to persuade the Elves to retreat."

"It would be my honor," Vanir replied with a smile, bowing slightly to Riku.

"Currently, on the battlefield, if the Beastmen, Goblins, and Elves all retreat, the ongoing situation will drastically change, leading the remaining species to halt their war and withdraw from this continent to observe the movements of others," Riku continued, staring intently at the map. "The Goblins, without their trump card due to the Beastmen's interference, will have to reconsider their strategy. Forming an alliance would be their best choice. In the fate archives, they do exactly this. The Goblins' alliance will inevitably alarm the Elves, who will also ally with friendly races in response."

"With this, the remaining humans will be safe, and three major factions will emerge, altering a war that has raged for thousands of years. The three factions, each having access to three manifest gods, will begin a standoff. The Heaven faction, being the strongest, will compel the Earth and Forest factions to join forces against it," Riku stated. "This will conclude the preliminary preparations, and now we can move to the main phase."

Riku turned to Hiroshi, pointing at a marked location on the map. "Hiroshi, your task is to accompany Schwi to the central point where the three factions converge to install control devices. Given your mobility and divine abilities, you're the most suitable for this mission."

Looking at Riku's serious gaze, Hiroshi smiled and nodded. "Alright, rest assured, I'll install all 36 control devices without anyone noticing."

"It's not 36," Schwi, holding Klee in her arms, calmly added. Her eyes sparkled faintly. "After reanalyzing the fate archives, I discovered that I miscalculated. Thirty-six devices would fall short by a 'ten to the power of negative 609 seconds' difference, causing all forces to collide and form a vortex. To impart directionality afterward and contain it would be impossible. Thus, I've recalculated. We need 48 control devices for the energy to be perfectly channeled and pierce the planet."

"Forty-eight, huh? Doesn't matter, same difference. I'll prepare everything without anyone knowing," Hiroshi replied nonchalantly.

Riku, who seemed lost in thought, drew Hiroshi's attention. "Is there anything you haven't mentioned, Riku? According to the fate archives, isn't that all we need to do?"

Clenching his fist, Riku raised his head and spoke in a low voice, "After immersing myself in the fate archives again, I realized something. If we simply channel the energy to pierce the planet and break through the spirit corridor, there's a fifty-two percent chance that the Star Grail will appear directly beside the strongest concept representative, the War God Artosh, rather than manifesting deep within the spirit corridor."

"So, when we pierce the planet and break the spirit corridor, we'll also have to defeat the War God and strip him of his divine essence."

Riku forced a smile, looking at everyone around him. "That will be the hardest part. But there's a silver lining—our power doesn't originate from this world, so we won't be strengthening the War God by adding new energy from this world."

"Hmph, don't give me that defeated look, Riku!"

Megumin stood up, raising her staff. Her crimson eyes shone with magical power, and she smiled eagerly. "My name is Megumin! I am the strongest mage across worlds. If it's a so-called 'War God,' my ultimate spell, Explosion Magic, will definitely teach him what true power is."

"Oh! And if that doesn't work, I'll steal his clothes, weapons, and even his underwear. Then we'll see if this 'War God' still wants to fight," Kazuma added, giving Riku a thumbs-up while smiling wickedly.

"So, in short, what you're saying is we need to defeat the War God in the end, right?" Shirou Emiya asked, smiling. "If that's the case, let's start preparing for a god-slaying mission."

"God-slaying, huh... I never thought those words would feel so heavy," Keqing muttered as she stood up, looking at Riku and Schwi. "What do we need to do now?"

"The personnel for external missions are already decided: Infinite, Kazuma, Aley, and Xiaohei will head for the Beastmen. Vanir and I will go to the Elves. Hiroshi and Schwi will set up the control devices."

Riku produced a stack of documents and addressed the others. "The remaining team members are Aqua, Shirou Emiya, Keqing, Klee, Kuroneko, Megumin, and Lumine."

"These documents contain everything we know about the War God. Keqing, you've lived alongside gods in Liyue, so there may be similarities between gods in the two worlds. Lumine, I've heard from Hiroshi that you've fought a god before."

Riku looked at the seven gathered people, earnestly requesting, "Shirou, you mentioned before that you could project the anti-divine weapon Enkidu. Aqua, you're a goddess yourself. Kuroneko, Megumin, Klee—you three are magic users, which makes you suited for research. The key to securing the Star Grail lies with you—to come up with a plan to defeat the War God."

Infinite and his team prepared to set out. "While they're gone, let's develop our plan for defeating the War God together," Riku said.

Keqing nodded. "Leave it to us."

"Riku! Should we do that thing?" Kazuma suddenly asked, raising his hand.

Riku looked confused. "What thing?"

"The pledge to the Covenant!" Kazuma responded excitedly. "In the fate archives, it made me so pumped up! Let's do it now too."

"Agreed!" Megumin echoed with enthusiasm, her eyes gleaming.

Everyone else nodded in agreement.

Seeing their excitement, Riku smiled, raising his fist. "Though it's not exactly the same as the Covenant in the archives, let's make a pledge now.

"First, we will not intentionally kill anyone.

'Even though I don't want to harm anyone, the reality is that we're at war, and not killing could lead to being killed ourselves.'

"Second, no one among us shall die.

'I do not wish to see any of my comrades fall.'

"Third, before the final battle, our true identity must remain hidden.

'If we are discovered, it will lead to a bitter battle, and the gods won't spare any of us once they learn of our unknown powers.'

"Fourth, we will use any means necessary, as long as we're not caught.

'If we're not discovered, then it's not considered cheating.'

"Fifth, their rules have nothing to do with us.

'Their rules are crap, having already destroyed this world to its brink.'

"Sixth, breaking any of the aforementioned rules shall be considered our loss.

'If we break any of these, then victory itself would be meaningless.'

"With that, let's do what we must!"

"Oh!" everyone shouted in unison.

In Liyue, at the Yuehai Pavilion on Yujing Terrace, Rex Lapis watched the live broadcast of the fifteen people shouting together. He smiled softly and said, "I'm very much looking forward to this. Let me witness your performance firsthand."

In Mondstadt, under the giant oak tree at Windrise, Venti looked at the people in the broadcast, placing a hand on his chest. He sighed and said, "The Gnosis... perhaps I gave it away too soon."

At Marine Headquarters, in the admiral's office, Kizaru put his feet down from the table, looking at the broadcast and grinning. "Oh my, so passionate! It's almost making me feel restless myself."

Meanwhile, in a modern city elsewhere, a spiky-haired boy stepped on a piece of stale bread and shouted at the sky, "Such misfortune!" He then vanished from the room.