Shirou Emiya felt as if he were back in the dungeon maze, and the surroundings suddenly became full of dangers.
"Is this the trial?"
Emiya Shirou slowly stopped.
"Welcome, new Master candidate—"
A familiar voice also came from the surrounding space at this moment.
Emiya Shirou almost instantly determined whose voice it was.
"Kotomine Kirei!?"
And as if hearing Emiya Shirou's call, the voice paused slightly.
"Oh my, I didn't expect that there would be a magician who could remember my voice as an AI. This is really surprising--!"
A joyful voice sounded again from the space. He really didn't expect that he, an advanced AI that almost no one cared about, would be remembered by Shirou Emiya.
The AI named Kotomine Kirei was indeed surprised, but more of it was joy and confusion.
“Although I am surprised that you can remember me as an AI, I will not provide you with any assistance. If you want to successfully summon a Servant, then please reach the end first—”
The sound slowly disappeared into the space.
Monsters gradually emerged from the maze-like scene in front of Shirou Emiya, and the puppets behind him also took up fighting postures at this moment.
However----
"Projection begins--!"
Two guns, one black and one white, appeared in Shirou Emiya's hands.
The sound of gunfire rained down like raindrops on the monsters that kept appearing from the walls or the ground.
Shirou Emiya has plenty of experience in dealing with these monsters that keep appearing from all around.
In less than a minute, Shirou Emiya destroyed all the monsters that appeared, and the puppet returned to its original posture of following Shirou Emiya without any emotion and followed behind him.
And Shirou Emiya gently pushed open the door that looked extremely solemn at the end of this short maze.
"It's really, shocking--!"
Even AI couldn't help but exclaim in amazement at the powerful combat capability of Shirou Emiya. Perhaps in this Holy Grail War, no magician could possess such combat capability.
Chapter 536: Unable to Summon a New Servant
Once again, in the moment of pushing open that solemn door, Shirou Emiya could clearly feel that his position had changed again.
The puppet followed him to a solemn space that made him almost breathless.
This place was like a holy temple, and the ground was covered with countless spell marks that Shirou Emiya could not understand at all.
The air is filled with a holy atmosphere.
In this square-like space, there are countless tall and majestic huge doors standing around.
"Congratulations, Master Candidate. This is where you will summon your Servant. When you obtain a Servant, you will officially enter the battle known as the Holy Grail War."
A low voice slowly came from all around, and although the words were filled with blessings for Shirou Emiya to overcome the numerous obstacles, there was no sense of kindness towards Shirou Emiya from his tone.
"call--!"
Standing in the entire venue, in this extremely depressing atmosphere, Emiya Shirou slowly exhaled.
Holy Grail War
Emiya Shirou is extremely familiar with this word.
Whether it was the Fourth Holy Grail War that caused the fire, or the Holy Grail War that he participated in and almost destroyed the entire city.
The Holy Grail War has never brought any good results.
Even now, Shirou Emiya still resists the Holy Grail, even though it has the legendary power to grant wishes.
"Your body is under my command, and my destiny is attached to your sword."
According to his memory, Emiya Shirou once again chanted the spell that he had not chanted for a long time.
The spell array on the ground also emitted an extremely dazzling light at this moment.
As Shirou Emiya adjusted his magic power, tiny specks of light continued to shine around him.
However------
"Pahji——!"
"Pahji——!"
"Pahji——!"
The tall doors surrounding this space shattered after Emiya Shirou finished chanting the summoning spell.
No new Command Seals appeared on the back of Emiya Shirou's hand, nor did he feel any new contract being created.
As if the Servant summoning had failed, the surrounding space suddenly fell into silence.
"Wait a moment--!"
The voice of the advanced AI named Kotomine Kirei came from the void.
He didn't know what the situation was like. Even a magus with a very bad personality could summon a Servant. It was almost impossible for the summoning to fail here.
However, Shirou Emiya's expression did not change. Instead, he looked at the back of his hand, where only one Command Seal was left, like a sword blade.
It was not that he was unaware of the existence of the Command Seal on the back of his hand.
However, after leaving the Holy Grail War, the traces of the Command Seals on the back of his hands became increasingly faint, and he could no longer sense the existence of any contract.
The traces of the Command Spell also began to disappear as he continued to move towards the next world, to the point where they were almost invisible to the naked eye.
But since some time had passed, although there was still no sense of the existence of any contract, the traces of this Command Spell began to gradually appear again.
Shirou Emiya also did not pay too much attention to it, because whether or not the Command Seal reappeared would not have much impact on him, and he did not know what impact it would have.
He couldn't possibly tell Toosaka Rin that he possessed the Command Seals, and he had no way of explaining to Toosaka Rin why he possessed the Command Seals.
“Found it——!”
After just a brief pause, the low voice came again from the space.
"Mooncell believed that you already had a Servant and refused to provide a second chance to summon a Servant—"
Shirou Emiya nodded in understanding. He had just begun to sense the faint sense of contract coming from the Command Seals when he was about to summon a Servant.
It seemed that the contract between him and Jeanne had not been severed.
But at this moment he did not dare to use the Command Seals to make Jeanne appear here directly. He was not like those magicians who thought that they would no longer be able to control their Servant after losing the last Command Seal.
Simply because the contract was so weak, Shirou Emiya was worried that even with the Command Spell he might not be able to summon Jeanne here.
What's more, Jeanne d'Arc does not belong to this world. Does the Command Spell really have the ability to teleport across the world?
Shirou Emiya could not guarantee this.
In fact, Shirou Emiya was also extremely surprised that he could now feel the faint contract between him and Jeanne d'Arc that still existed.
Logically speaking, after the Holy Grail War, Joan of Arc would return to the Throne of Heroes, and the contract between her and him would be severed.
Not to mention that this place is not the same world as the one where the Holy Grail War took place. From any perspective, the contract between Joan of Arc and herself should not continue.
However, the advanced AI in the void seemed to have guessed what Shirou Emiya was thinking at the moment, and with a joyful tone, it slowly uttered words of reminder from the air.
These words completely put an end to Emiya Shirou's idea of using the Command Seal.
"The Command Seals are your entry ticket to the Holy Grail War. Although for some reason you only have one Command Seal left in your hand, if you lose all of them during the Holy Grail War, you will die as a Master. You need to be careful."
If the Holy Grail will really annihilate itself after using the Command Seal, then the existence of this Command Seal now is just as Kotomine Kirei said.
It was just a ticket to enter the Holy Grail War, and I had no way of using it.
"Kara! Kara! Kara! Kara!"
At this moment, the sound of the shell shaking came from behind Emiya Shirou.
The puppet that had been staying obediently behind Shirou Emiya quickly assumed a fighting stance, and without any hesitation, waved his fists and rushed towards Shirou Emiya's position.
"Although you, as a Master, have not summoned a Servant here, according to the rules, you are now a Master who officially participates in the Holy Grail War."
“I don’t know why Mooncell decided that you had already summoned a Servant, but the puppet itself was a test given to a magician to summon a Servant and adapt to becoming a true Master. But for you, it should be very simple————”
A low voice came from the air. Emiya Shirou turned slightly to the side, and the incoming fist slightly grazed his face.
"Qiang——!"
The sound of steel colliding with steel sounded in front of Emiya Shirou.
A black pistol with a blade that turned into a waning moon appeared out of thin air in Emiya Shirou's left hand, blocking the attack that was heading towards his abdomen.
Although it is just a puppet, its defense level is extremely excellent.
At this moment, a white pistol with a blade appeared in his right hand and chopped down fiercely at the neck of the puppet, which had no time to react.
The violent sparks that burst out instantly illuminated Shirou Emiya's profile.
Although the puppet's strength is extremely weak, it is mainly to test the Master's magus's adaptability to the Servant. In terms of defense, it is only to the extent that it will not be defeated by a single blow from the Servant.
But I can’t hold on for too long————
“Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang—!”
Before the puppet had any chance to stabilize its body, the bullets in Shirou Emiya's hand poured towards it like rain.
Chapter 537: The Upcoming Election
"Congratulations, you have successfully passed the preliminary round and are participating in the main round of this Holy Grail War."
A familiar voice came from in front of Emiya Shirou.
In the corridor where students were walking around, a man with long brown hair, brown pupils, a dark purple long windbreaker with a cross pendant over his cassock, celebrated to Shirou Emiya in a low voice.
Three days have passed since I went to that space.
The preliminaries of the Holy Grail War also ended at this moment. All the magicians who were unaware of their abnormalities had been eliminated by the Holy Grail, or Mooncell.
Originally there were 999 participants in the Holy Grail War, but now there are only 128 left.
In order to fight for the Holy Grail, they will engage in an extremely brutal Holy Grail War on the moon.
"I am the NPC who oversees this Holy Grail War. I am also responsible for guiding most of the magicians to summon Servants."
As if he understood the doubts in Emiya Shirou's mind at this moment, Kotomine Kirei also explained his responsibilities in this Holy Grail War.
Shirou Emiya did not refute. After all, the Holy Church itself was responsible for supervising the Holy Grail War and maintaining its normal operation.
If the Holy Grail War were to happen again on his side, I'm afraid Kotomine Kirei would also be responsible for supervising the Holy Grail War.
But even so, Emiya Shirou still looked at him with a vigilant expression.
Whether in appearance or personality, the Kotomine Kirei in front of him was too similar to the one he knew.
After all, both in appearance and personality, there is not much difference from the Kotomine Kirei he knows. Even Emiya Shirou can feel the bad taste coming from this advanced AI in front of him.
That's right, they are exactly the same. Shirou Emiya really doesn't want to get along with such a person.
"From today on, you magicians are destined to fight in the arena ahead."
"This war is conducted in the form of an elimination tournament. The one who wins from the first to the seventh battle will be awarded the Holy Grail."
"The battle will take place every seven days, and each Master will have a period of hesitation from the first to the sixth day to prepare for the battle with the opponent."
"Then on the seventh day of the final day, you will have a final battle with the opposing Master. The winner survives and the loser is eliminated. That's it."
"That is to say, 128 Masters will continue to fight each other every week, and only the one left at the end will be able to obtain the Holy Grail."
What a simple and easy to understand rule.
It is even simpler and more direct than a regular Holy Grail War, especially in terms of combat.
A normal Holy Grail War usually involves seven Masters and seven Servants, and everyone fights on their own.
Just like a microcosm of a real war, seven different forces are intertwined in various ways, resulting in unimaginable collisions. Plots, strategies, assassinations, or frontal attacks will all appear in this battle.
Even the weakest Assassin has a very high chance of winning in this kind of Holy Grail War.
