[FGO]: 39

Just as Ryou stepped onto the teleportation array, the system suddenly popped up.

[Host's Noble Phantasm has met the requirements for advancement. Do you want to activate the Noble Phantasm Trial Dungeon—Fate/Apocrypha?]

Fate/Apocrypha!?

Its original author, known as Yūichirō Higashide, is quite famous.

Fate/Apocrypha, to put it simply, is an alternate Holy Grail War in the Fate series, essentially a parallel world.

It mainly tells the story of the Yggdmillennia magus family's patriarch who, with the help of the German army during WWII, seized the Holy Grail, setting off a chaotic battle involving fourteen Heroic Spirits, divided into Red and Black factions.

Seeing the name Fate/Apocrypha, Ryou immediately decided to choose it. As for the reason, anyone who has seen this work, whether they are a fan of the Fate series or not, would make the same choice.

You idiotically charming homunculus! Let go of Jeanne d'Arc and let me take over!

Moreover, this is the legendary Noble Phantasm dungeon Trial!

When Ryou had just entered the world of Danmachi, the thing that helped him the most was undoubtedly the Noble Phantasm "Crying Warmonger."

Although he managed to raise this Noble Phantasm to B+ rank during the final battle, it hadn't reached Spartacus's original height, which always left him a bit regretful.

Now, the system thoughtfully arranged a dungeon that could advance this Noble Phantasm. Naturally, Ryou chose "Yes" without hesitation!

...

On the other side, Ais and Scáthach also chose to enter a world corrupted by demonic mutations.

Cold, trembling...

That was Ais's first sensation upon regaining control of her body.

She bolted upright, scanning her surroundings warily, her hand already on her sword's hilt.

Ais quickly noticed Scáthach nearby, who was sitting on the floor in a relaxed, almost casual manner, contrasting sharply with Ais's alert stance.

Seeing Ais's series of movements upon waking, Scáthach's eyes showed a hint of approval.

Ais quietly observed her surroundings. It seemed like they were in a moving iron cell. Besides her and Scáthach, a few others lay scattered on the cold floor.

At that moment, a man with a scarred face suddenly sat up, pulled out a cigar, lit it, and exhaled a smoke ring in one smooth motion.

Facing Ais and Scáthach's indifferent expressions, the scar-faced man spoke.

"Not bad, you two are the most competent among this batch..."

Suddenly, the scar-faced man's cigar fell to the ground as if he had been shocked.

"How did you wake up before me?!"

...

On the other side, as Ryou chose "Yes," the white light of the teleportation array immediately lit up in front of him.

Sorry, Sieg, but your wife is mine now. You can go live happily ever after with Astolfo!

In the instant of teleportation, he silently vowed.

Ryou felt his vision blur, and he suddenly found himself in a chilling underground chamber. Under his feet was a Heroic Spirit summoning magic circle, still faintly glowing red.

In front of him stood a stern-faced middle-aged man in a suit, though his eyes seemed somewhat vacant.

Feeling the inexplicable iron sword in his hand and the faint magical connection with the middle-aged man, Ryou instantly understood that he had been summoned as a Servant.

The middle-aged man raised his right hand, revealing the Command Seals on the back of his hand, just as he was about to speak.

Slash!

A fierce gleam flashed in Ryou's eyes. Without a word, he slashed the sword across the middle-aged man's neck.

A flash of white light, followed by a fountain of blood spurting skyward. The middle-aged man's head fell to the floor with a thud, his expression frozen in the final moment, full of confusion and bewilderment.

"Seems like I should say... rebellion against the oppressor?"

Ryou mocked, looking at the middle-aged man who died with his eyes wide open.

The moment the middle-aged man revealed his Command Seals, his fate was sealed. There was no way Ryou would let anyone control his destiny, especially since that someone was still being controlled by someone else's poison.

'I need to leave immediately. This is probably where Amakusa Shirou and Semiramis are poisoning the magus sent by the Mage's Association to summon Servants through them. Amakusa and Semiramis are probably busy manipulating the other poisoned magus to summon more Servants. If they find out I've broken free, it won't be good...'

Ryou's gaze swept the room and landed on a large mirror hanging on the basement wall.

In the mirror, a giant over two meters tall, built like a small mountain, appeared.

With massive muscles like limestone boulders and his body covered in various iron restraints, the square-faced giant's smile was still incredibly unsettling.

Isn't this Spartacus!? I've turned into Spartacus!

Although he was somewhat prepared, Ryou still couldn't help but feel a shock and quickly checked the system.

After reading the system information, he breathed a sigh of relief.

It turned out this was just an external appearance, like a shell, making him look like Spartacus on the outside, but he remained himself inside.

His situation was very similar to Jeanne d'Arc, who was herself a shell, with a girl named Laetitia inside.

The difference was that Jeanne was in control, while Laetitia could only perceive the outside world through Jeanne but couldn't control the body.

Ryou had completely replaced Spartacus, controlling a body with Spartacus's exterior.

Moreover, he could switch back to his true form at any time.

Though ugly, this effectively gave him an additional layer of identity-concealing, combat-capable Servant skin. In this perilous Holy Grail War, this function was incredibly valuable!

The system is amazing!

"So, this is the true meaning of the Noble Phantasm trial, to let me replace Spartacus and win this Holy Grail War... Anyway, I need to get out of here first."

With that thought, Ryou had an epiphany and suddenly displayed a crazed expression, shouting, "Oppressors! Dictators! I smell the scent of dictators! Punish the dictators with divine retribution!"

Boom!

Ryou blasted out of the basement, charging through like a heavy tank.

His direction was towards Trifas, a city in Romania controlled by the Yggdmillennia family.

Thud, thud, thud!

As the earthquake-like footsteps gradually faded, a few seconds later, a dark-skinned young man in priest robes appeared at the basement door, accompanied by a decadent-looking beauty in a black, luxurious dress.

"Oh my~ Master, it seems your plan isn't going smoothly from the start," the decadent beauty spoke, her voice dripping with venom like a snake.

"The path ahead is full of thorns, and I am mentally prepared. No one can stop me from saving all of humanity."

For anyone else, these words would sound like adolescent delusions, but the dark-skinned, white-haired youth's eyes were filled with a will stronger than steel.

This was Amakusa Shirou Tokisada, a young man dedicated to the salvation of all humanity, a paragon of sainthood.

Standing beside him was, of course, the Empress of ancient Assyria, the world's oldest poisoner, Semiramis.

"Do you need me to pursue him, Master?"

Semiramis's dark eyes gleamed.

"No need, just send your familiars to follow him. Right now, the priority is to summon the other Servants. I can already sense it, the Black faction has summoned their remaining four Servants, and we're already behind." Amakusa Shirou ordered decisively.

"Understood, Master."

Though Semiramis exuded an air of decadence, she rarely disobeyed Amakusa's orders.

Semiramis placed her finger on her temple, and an invisible thought immediately spread out. In the distant fountain square, hundreds of pigeons seemed to receive a command and suddenly took flight in unison, heading in the direction where Ryou had fled.

...

Ryou was running towards the outskirts of the city when he suddenly heard the faint sound of wings flapping behind him, and he immediately understood.

"It must be the Empress who summoned them."

In myth and legend, the Empress was raised by a flock of pigeons. Leveraging this legend, Semiramis could easily command pigeons without using any magical power.

"Hey~ Do you need this goddess to step in?"

A playful, teasing voice sounded in his ear.

The owner of this voice was naturally Ishtar, who had entered this world with him.

After entering this world, she and Medea Lily had completely entered a dimensional isolation state, and almost no one except Ryou, who possessed the system, could see them.

"It's just a bunch of pigeons; there's no need for you to step in personally."

Ryou refused without hesitation.

"Che~ so boring. Then this goddess will first go wander around the world!"

After saying that, Ishtar sitting on the Heavenly Boat waved at him and then directly flew up high, clearly ready to goof off.

"Hey! If you leave me here, what if I encounter danger? Medea-chan doesn't know any offensive spells!"

Ryou shouted urgently.

"Lady Ishtar, I think it would be better to stay by Master's side," Medea weakly advised from the side.

"Hmph~! Who am I? I am the unparalleled goddess Ishtar. Even if I fly to the moon, the entire Earth is still within my attack range. As for communication, don't you know that the Command Seals on your hand come with a telepathic function? So, what difference does it make whether I stay by your side?"

Ishtar said haughtily.

Ryou then remembered that the person before him was a big shot who could use Venus as an arrow. Attack range? Non-existent; as long as she was within the solar system, there was no place she couldn't reach.

As for accuracy, it was entirely up to the divine tool Heavenly Boat Maanna to auto-aim; she only needed to pull the trigger.

"Then have a good trip, goddess."

With her words, Ryou could only agree helplessly.

Ishtar showed a "wise choice" expression and directly manipulated the Heavenly Boat to quickly fly out of sight.

Watching Ishtar fly away, Ryou sighed helplessly.

Whether it was Scathach or Ishtar, they were both super strong, but unfortunately, various problems prevented him from relying on them.

"That goddess is somewhat different from any other goddess I've met; she seems easier to get along with," Medea suddenly said from the side.

"Hehe, just think of her as a tsundere little devil."

Ryou showed a wry smile.

"Eh!"

"Well, I should think about how to deal with these pigeons," Ryou said, his eyes flashing coldly.

During their brief conversation, the pigeons had quickly closed in. Some even boldly flew overhead.

A hint of a cold smile appeared on Ryou's face. He suddenly exerted force and crashed into a nearby house on the road.

Ryou had been summoned at night, and every household was enjoying dinner. This house was no exception.

As a family of five was enjoying a sumptuous dinner, a massive figure suddenly crashed through the wall and barged in.

"Sorry, please continue, don't mind me," Ryou smiled slightly.

However, still in Spartacus's form, his appearance created a horrifying scene for the family of five.

His smile was like that of a 300-kilogram child.

They were scared stiff.

Just as Ryou was about to crash through to the other side, he sniffed and then said,

"The roast meat is overcooked by a minute, there's too much yogurt in the cornmeal, but the cabbage rolls are pretty good."

"Thank you (in Romanian)," the middle-aged woman in an apron instinctively replied.

Thanks to the system, communication was naturally not a problem. See, the Romanian family understood him.

Ryou thought to himself as he crashed through the other wall and rushed out.

The sky above suddenly cleared.

Although temporarily, it didn't matter; after all, pigeons could only be commanded to a limited extent.

Especially with their white feathers, they were too conspicuous in the night.

Ryou zigzagged through the alleys, choosing small paths and even crashing directly into people's homes, leaving a heap of trouble for Amakusa Shirou, the priest of the Holy Church, before disappearing into the night.

In his place appeared a common European tourist in Romania.

Looking at the pigeons flying around in the sky, Ryou smiled slightly and turned to walk into a tavern.

...

"Damn it!"

The Empress, far away in the church, suddenly slammed the table.

"What happened?"

Amakusa Shirou couldn't help but be curious. Ever since he summoned Semiramis, the Empress had always maintained her dignified and elegant demeanor; he had never seen her lose her composure like this.

"I was tricked by him; I can't find him anymore."

Semiramis quickly regained her calm, returning to her dignified beauty with a hint of decadence.

"It's rare to see you lose your composure like this," Amakusa Shirou said with a look of surprise.

"I'll make sure that muscle-bound idiot pays for this," Semiramis said impatiently, waving her hand.

"How are things on your end, Master?"

"Everything is ready," Amakusa Shirou said with a confident smile.

"No one can stop me from achieving the salvation of humanity!"

With his words, intense magical fluctuations suddenly erupted in the church, not just one but four in total!

The brilliance of the magic lit up, making the cold, dark church as bright as day. If not for the pre-set bounded field, the nearby ordinary residents would have noticed the anomaly long ago.

...

At almost the same time, in Trifas, a hundred miles away, in the famous Dracula's castle, four figures stood before four summoning circles.

With the recitation of the classic incantations, the magic circles brightened suddenly, and the violent magical energy flowed like a torrent.

The magic circuits were circulating with several times the usual speed, being drawn into the summoning circles. The terrifying sensation of one's life being drained, combined with the pain of the magical energy flow, was almost maddening.

However, the four figures standing before the circles stood straight despite the cold sweat dripping from their foreheads, proving their resilience as magus.

Suddenly, the magical fluctuations peaked, and four figures with strong presences appeared in the circles.

They were a middle-aged man in ancient Greek attire, a robot girl in a wedding dress with horns on her head, a young man with white hair and silver armor inscribed with cyan runes, and a pink-haired individual in a single ponytail... who was a cross-dressing man!

At this moment, Darnic, the head of the Yggdmillennia clan, stepped forward. Behind him, on the throne, sat a middle-aged man in a black suit, dressed like a medieval noble, exuding a chilling aura.

Darnic, with grand gestures and impassioned words, stirred the emotions of the Black Faction Masters below.

But to summarize, he essentially said, "You Servants are cannon fodder. Quickly eliminate the enemy's cannon fodder, and then we'll fight among ourselves. In the end, it doesn't matter who wins; it's all a victory for Yggdmillennia, hahaha..."

After Darnic's brainwashing, the cross-dressing man protested, wanting to cause trouble.

Given the shared destiny, he suggested they introduce themselves.

Completely disregarding the fact that revealing a Servant's true name would expose their trump cards and weaknesses.

No wonder Astolfo, who had lost his reason to an EX level, had completely transformed into a comedic figure.

Astolfo began to act cute and coquettish, actually managing to extract the true names of Frankenstein and Chiron.

Frankenstein was the robot girl in the wedding dress, a creation of Dr. Victor Frankenstein from the famous science fiction novel "Frankenstein."

Chiron was the middle-aged man in ancient Greek attire, originally a centaur and a renowned teacher of many heroes in Greek mythology, similar to Scáthach in status.

As for the cross-dressing man, Astolfo, his full name is... well, it's just Astolfo.

Ahem, Astolfo's full name is Astolfo, one of the Twelve Paladins of Charlemagne.

The final figure, the white-haired young man in heavy armor with a bare chest, was Siegfried, the hero from the German epic "Nibelungenlied," known for slaying the dragon Fafnir and bathing in its blood to gain near invincibility, earning the nickname "Sumanai-san."

Just as cross-dressing Astolfo was preparing to ask Siegfried for his real name again, his golden curly-haired, corpulent Master stopped him.

The fat man stated, "We are enemies from now on. Why would I reveal my trump card to you guys? You must be out of your mind!"

...

Meanwhile, the atmosphere in the church where Amakusa Shirou and his group were located was somewhat awkward, in contrast to the lively and joyful mood on the Yggdmillennia side due to the presence of the cross-dresser.

"Hey! Fake priest, what did you just say? What do you mean by saying that our Masters have temporarily handed over command to you and that we should all follow your orders?"

A young man with spiky golden hair, somewhat resembling a certain big dog, pointed a cross-shaped spear at Amakusa Shirou and shouted.

This young man was none other than Achilles, the famous hero from the Greek myth of the Trojan War.

"I feel the same way, Father Amakusa. At least let us meet our Masters," a petite girl with cat ears and a bow on her back said coldly.

This girl, affectionately known as Kemonomimi Waifu, was Atalanta, the princess of Arcadia in Greek mythology and a member of Jason's Argonauts.

A white-haired young man in golden armor with a cloak that resembled a burning flame stood behind them, his expression extremely cold and silent, clearly indicating his position.

This was Karna, the son of the sun god from Indian mythology, also known as the "Son of the Sun God."

"Ah~! Just summoned to the present world, what a dramatic scene this is~!" exclaimed a middle-aged man dressed as a bard with a theatrical tone.

This eccentric Englishman was none other than the world-famous playwright and writer—Shakespeare.

Faced with these assertive Servants, Semiramis stood silently behind Amakusa Shirou, watching the scene with an amused smile as he was surrounded.

Amakusa Shirou, who had built his reputation from nothing and persuaded thousands to follow him, managed to talk his way out of the situation.

Feeling mentally exhausted, Amakusa Shirou walked outside the church and looked up at the moonlight.

At that moment, a figure appeared behind him, holding a glass of red wine—it was the Empress.

"Such remarkable eloquence, you left me spellbound," Semiramis said, raising her glass in a mock toast.

"They are all ancient heroes and warriors. I had to use every bit of my skill to calm them down," Amakusa Shirou replied with a wry smile.

"Precisely because of that, they are worth subduing, aren't they, Master?"

"You're right. With such combat power, obtaining the Holy Grail is no longer an unattainable dream. My long-cherished wish will soon be fulfilled."

"I'm looking forward to it."

"Ah~ I won't let you down."

One was a saint with a heart of iron, willing to stay in the world for his sorrowful wish. The other was a legendary empress with a heart like a snake, who poisoned her husband for her ambition.

The two smiled at each other, understanding everything without words.

..

Meanwhile, as both the Red and Black factions were summoning their Servants, in a cemetery on the outskirts of Romania, a scar-faced mercenary mage named Kairi Sisigou, hired by the Clock Tower, began his summoning.

A flash of red light and Mo-chan made her dazzling entrance!

Mordred, clad in full armor and wearing a horned helmet, was one of the Knights of the Round Table and the illegitimate child of King Arthur (female) and her sister.

Upon her arrival, Mordred shattered the summoning catalyst into four pieces and declared that her purpose in participating in the Holy Grail War was to pull the sword from the stone of her father (female).

Internally, Sisigou must have been thinking, "You can't even distinguish between male and female, yet you want to pull the sword from the stone."

Outwardly, however, he praised Mordred lavishly, making her laugh heartily and pat him on the shoulder repeatedly, saying he was perceptive and had good judgment, and that she would surely help him obtain the Holy Grail.

In the town of Sighisoara near Trifas, a thick fog had enveloped the ancient city at some unknown time.