Chapter 144: Beacon to the Decisive Fight

Gordes silently recounted everything he heard from Siegfried.

"A mysterious servant… could it be Assassin..?"

His guess was immediately refuted by Siegfried himself.

"I shouldn't be. His actions look similar to a knight's."

"Everything could happen within the grail war. Even a knight could become an assassin depending on the class assigned upon them."

Although Gordes didn't really think that the perpetrator was really a "knight", Siegfried thought otherwise. His instincts were telling him that the man he faced is as such.

Just then, a voice came from Gordes' side. Their communication line fell silent for a while before Gordes' serious voice came out.

"Siegfried. Check for the grail's traces."

"...Understood."

*****

The Greater Grail had been stolen.

It was a piece of news that shook Yggdmillennia. After their initial clash with the enemy faction, they were able to come up with a tie. The Red Faction, with their flying fortress, wreaked havoc on the Yggdmillennia castle in an attempt to steal the Greater Grail, but to no avail. It proved that Darnic's prediction was right—which made his decision a "good" one if not for something else.

Other than that, the only event that happened was the Berserker of Red, Spartacus, activated his Noble Phantasm in the midst of the battle, turning into an abomination that fought allies and enemies alike. The entire Red Faction retreated as if they knew about it, and as such, dealing with him fell to the Black Faction's care.

In the end, he reached his limit before exploding. The blow, which is the equivalent of several intercontinental ballistic missiles, nearly decimated the entire city of Trifas if not for Ruler's help.

As the city housed half a million residents aside from the fortress built not far from it, the Ruler-class servant, Jeanne d'arc, chose to step up and prevent these casualties.

However, this other piece of news that came out of nowhere stumped Yggdmillennia. Naturally, the liability fell upon Saber and his Master.

"You only had a single task. For the grail to be stolen within five minutes…" Darnic looked on the city of Trifas blankly before he continued, "Nevermind. It is beyond your capabilities."

Hearing this, Gordes didn't feel pardoned. Rather, his pride was hurt even more.

"Just like the Caster of Red, the Assassin of Black must have a Noble Phantasm that could act as his base. It is the only reason how they could steal the grail by digging complex tunnels underneath the soil… as well as our bounded fields."

Darnic felt a huge heartache upon his decision to move the grail. While they were surprised by the Red Faction's flying fortress and how it easily shredded the defenses of their castle, the greater grail was still stolen by someone else.

Their only saving grace is the fact that the one who stole it must've been the Assassin of Black and not the Red Faction.

"We still have an edge against the Red Faction. Get ready to move with Saber, Gordes."

"...Alright."

*****

"Damn…"

My preparations paid off. The nanites I planted all over Trifas served their purpose. Not only were they able to dig a complex tunnel system more than several hundred meters below the surface, I was able to form a temporary base filled with hundreds of planted magicka.

In the room with the greatest amount of defense and obfuscation lied my harvest—the greater grail.

"Their magecraft might've dwindled down, but they sure could fully utilize the specialty of this world."

It is not an understatement that the Greater Grail is equivalent to a Sacrament of my world. It might not be able to compare to the one of the three fragments of the Philosopher's Stone, but its full potential is still there.

That was already evident from its ability to "reach The Root" by utilizing an immense amount of magical energy—which was also gained from the Throne of Heroes. It could be said that its ability to do such a thing with low cost is commendable.

Its insides are filled with more than a thousand magic circles, each coming from different magic systems. Nevertheless, it bore many similarities to the magic systems I learned in my world. Hence, I am able to understand it.

"The central part is the homunculi who made this miracle. She should be not much different from a human. If so, she should be able to achieve what we achieved after two thousand years…"

There is a reason why homunculi are treated as "humans" in the [Magician Ethos], a set of rules that magicians should comply with.

Homunculi boasts high potential when it comes to magic. As long as they are properly taught the correct things, they could be easily included to the magicians who fend off the end. Moreover, they also tread on the path closely related with Lapis Philosophorum.

It was later proven by Hydemary, Suimei's homunculus disciple, who became someone akin to a "magister" through her full assimilation with the said portion of the Philosopher's Stone.

The Greater Grail's conception is closely related to the homunculus within it.

"To think it would coincide with a heroic spirit's death…"

The biggest difference of the greater grail from before was its dim golden sheen every now and then. Based on the magic circles and circuits engraved upon it, it is an indicator that the greater grail is "active". It 'absorbs' all the stored magical energy from a heroic spirit upon their death, which would be then used to create a miracle. Its wish-granting method is similar to what my Holy Grail could do, albeit mine could achieve such miracles with greater efficiency and lower cost.

Perhaps, the reason behind choosing the concept of the "holy grail" as a wish=granting device is related to the real grail within me.

"Still low…"

I thought of the possibility that appeared in my mind.

If it is possible to use the nigh-infinite energy stored on the Lapis Judaicus to power up this Greater Grail…

'Consume?'

A thought appeared in my mind as my hand touched it. I chose not to let it do so. It soon dissipated like smoke.

"If it's the same as the singularity's grail… no, it should be far stronger. Archiman-san told me about them being fake…"

A "fake" holy grail gave me two miracles and more than seven chances. I wonder how much could this "true" holy grail give?

Either way, I wouldn't use it to wish to "reach The Root" of this world. In such an extremely important place, I don't believe there aren't any sort of twist or guardians there, more so when the counterforce itself killed every single version of my parallel selves just to prevent mankind from realizing the power of this Holy Grail.

From this line of thinking, there could be a powerful guardian within the "Swirl of The Root". In any case, it is much better to reach my world's "Akashic Records". Lord Nettesheim had already reached it once.

If even that isn't applicable, I could use it to merge all three fragments of the Philosopher's Stone into one. The Lapis Judaicus, Lapis Philosophorum, and Lapis Exillis (Cauculus Albus), are all powerful Sacraments by their own right.

Long story short, there's a lot of uses for this Greater Grail.

"...Recharging it might open a beacon…"

Unfortunately, the only disadvantage is the fact that stuffing in magical energy from the Lapis Judaicus would open a "beacon-like" signal within its certain range. I could use my dreamland to obscure and shorten its range, but I believe the Red and Black Faction might still find out about this. There are still some mechanisms of the Greater Grail which I haven't put to test. That, and the fact that I couldn't fully exert the dreamland's full potential of going against the "end". I am still quite wary about Counterforce and the likes.

'Even three miracles couldn't let me reach the Akashic Records easily… and the apocalypse is in two months.'

I guess I have to take these risks once in a while.

For now…

'Expanding my fortress…'

*****

'That strange feeling is growing bigger…'

The designated Ruler-class of this war, Jeanne, couldn't shake off the signals her instincts gave. She found nothing through [Revelation], yet she is almost certain that something huge is about to happen. Though, it is precisely because her [Revelation] went silent that she was confused.

If it was the 'thing' she came for in this war, she should've felt something bad instead.

Just then, something huge did happen.

"What—?"

It was a huge pillar of light. Its height reached far beyond what the Tower of Babel could ever do so. It is composed of sublime golden light which gives off the feeling of being lost in time.

Despite this huge commotion, nothing else happened except for it.

A few seconds later, the pillar of light stayed still. It was like a beacon that attracted allies and enemies alike.

"That's…"

The Greater Grail.

The Greater Grail's whereabouts were revealed once more. This time, it went in the hands of the Assassin of Black.

Jeanne's expression turned serious for a moment before she decided to go into its location.

It wasn't only her who noticed it. All of the fourteen heroic spirits in Trifas noticed this huge commotion.

"The Greater Grail..!"

Darnic's mind immediately went into overdrive. All the backdoors he had left in the Greater Grail since seventy years ago are not in vain. Most of them are disabled, but the ones that pointed out its position aren't.

He didn't let himself be blinded by this revelation, but rather analyzed things from another perspective.

This is precisely how he managed to steal the Greater Grail from the chaos of the Third Holy Grail War as well as establish Yggdmillennia's existence.

'Putting aside their ability to steal the grail, that was magical energy…'

The blinding pillar of light turned out to be extremely dense magical energy—dense enough to shine brightly across an entire city.

Nevertheless, they are already forced to take action for it as it'd dictate the victorious side in this war.

"It was the Grail's position, Your Highness…"

Meanwhile, the light was even visible to Avicebron's small prison room.

"The Lord's light… He is guiding him for a great purpose…"

His musings were cut short as an unexpected visitor entered the room.

"...You haven't told them about it."

Avicebron could already tell what had happened with one look at Chiron. He didn't report his findings to Vlad III or the rest of his faction. He kept everything to himself.

"I assume you haven't met before… or is it?" Chiron asked.

"...No."

"I see."

The two stopped talking for a while before Chiron broke the silence once more.

"Do we have a chance?"

"Against him? You…"

Avicebron paused for a while as the two command seals faintly activated, reminding him not to overstep his boundaries.

"...You shall know later."

Hearing his negative tone, Chiron fell silent.

The only reason he hadn't told someone about his existence is mainly his concerns. If he could easily appear and disappear within this castle, he might have means beyond their current scope of understanding.

Even former Divine Spirits aren't an exception when it comes to the Holy Grail War. There could be a heroic spirit which has an ability that perfectly counters them.

Most importantly, he doesn't know whether Avicebron was somehow connected to "that man". If someone launches an assassination attempt at him or his master, it would be very troublesome.

This time…

He chose the selfishness of a teacher once more.

"...That person doesn't seek to harm others."

Avicebron left these final words as he continued staring towards the bright pillar of light in the distance.

Seeing him like this, Chiron simply left.

*****

"The Greater Grail… The Black Faction really lost it."

The Red Faction was also caught off guard by the current revelation.

"It was supposed to be buried underneath their fortress, no? How was it stolen?"

"I have some guesses." Shirou replied to Semiramis. "This next clash will turn into a three-sided battle."

"Three? If you are correct, it should only be the Assassin of Black."

Similar to Jeanne, Shirou possessed the ability to see through each heroic spirit's true name as well as the nature of their Noble Phantasm once used by them. Albeit, he had to see the heroic spirit with his own eyes to use that ability. Thus, he relied on Atalante and Achilles' accounts to deduce the identity of the possible third-party who "stole" the Greater Grail.

"I have a strange feeling about this."

All the Ruler-class servants present didn't escape their intuition catching something like this.