Fate: Stay Over Night

by TheGoodDoggo

Gallery: ibb. co/album/bVvTWF - There was a mysterious force that pulled the remnants of Yggdrasil toward the New World. But not all of them got to their destination. Some got strayed by the shifting of realities. And then there was exception. It was like you unintentionally touched something so 'Eww' and tossed it to the opposite direction. And so the Thing went there...

7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own Overlord or Fate series.

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Please don't resent me for my tardiness. I tried.

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I used some damage calculations from other games and D&D in a composite way. That means there are spells and skills with a fixed value, and there are ones with modifiers on their base stats. The HP, Defense, and Damage values need to be considered even though the game became real.

Just normal gaming thing you know. Don't worry about it.

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The night sky was cloudy without much moonlight. There was no star to be seen and the wind was howling non-stop at the windows of every house.

It seemed a stormy night would soon befall the place.

At a building that was isolated in the middle of nowhere. The place was dark without any light source as if it was an abandoned mansion.

At this place, in an office-like room with a big desk and comfy chair, a man was sitting while tapping his fingers on the armrest following a rhythm.

He wore a ceremonial outfit of the Church. His attire was more special than the other members. After all, he was a leader of this branch of the faith.

Although young, he was very capable and resourceful. His position was just an inevitable result in time for him.

He was calmly sitting in this room with no light on. His eyes shone in the dark with the faint light from the reflection outside the window.

The position of the only window in the room was on the right wall, at the right of his desk. It was a wide window with reinforced glass but…

*Crack*

*Crash*

The whole thing was blown away as a person jumped inside.

"That is a rude entrance. Who do you think will fix the wall, huh?"

Despite the assault, he still looked very calm and comfortable.

"Shut your mouth, lowlife!"

A harsh response was thrown at him but he let it slide.

The person who just intruded inside his mansion was a girl near her thirty. Her arms were covered in tattoos of wings and texts. A big blue cross was on her left shoulder as well. Her blue dress was a one-piece that passed half her thigh and left both her arms exposed to the shoulders.

Her short dark blue hair was full of blood and the rage on her face told that there would be no negotiation.

The weapon on her hand, the pile bunker that looked like a tank buster tool was dripping with darkening blood here and there.

All the blood on her body wasn't her own. She was in perfect condition. Except for her mood.

"Quite the rude girl as always. But I forgive you. After all, Ms. Ciel, you are the sole member of the Burial Agency now, right?"

*Bang*

The rod of metal stabbed into the chair he was sitting at and completely destroyed the desk that was in the way.

"You bastard dare to talk about them!"

"Hahaha, why not? You are the only one left that we need to deal with."

She turned around and swung with all her might. Three short swords, the Black Keys, flew straight forward and stabbed into the door till the hilt. They made the whole thing along with a part of the wall explode too.

"You are the leader of the Assembly of the Eighth Sacrament, and yet you joined hands with the demons."

"Demons you say? Oh no, Ms. Ciel. You misunderstand me. There is no way I will join hands with the likes of demons."

"Don't lie to my face, you bastard!"

"I won't lie to you, Ms. Ciel."

His fake smile and gesture made her sick but she couldn't approach him. There was a black miasma surrounding the whole room.

The miasma was dangerous, she encountered it a while back when she was ambushed by a horde of demonic beings from out of nowhere. After reaching out to her fellow member of the Burial Agency, she discovered they were all gone. Dead.

She was no longer immortal but her power wasn't diminished at all. It was still easy for her to escape the trap but the fury in her was ablaze when she found out about the one behind the attack.

"Let me be truthful with you Ms. Ciel. Your existence is a nuisance to us."

"Hah! What can you do? I will kill you here for what you have done. Don't even think about escaping me. *Bang*"

Another metal rod flew straight at him. But it just phased through as a hole opened up in the middle of his body.

"What the-? What have you done to yourself?

"Me? Are you worried about me, Ms. Ciel? How touching!"

"Cut the bullshit! Are you still human?"

He just grinned at her. His grin reaching out to his ears exposing countless sharp teeth.

It was clear to her that he was a human no longer. She didn't know what to make of it but one thing she was sure of. Her purpose in coming here was to kill him. The target wasn't human didn't change a thing for her.

"You misunderstand me again."

He was making a hurtful expression with a hand on his chest. But his grin quickly returned on his face.

"I was never a human, to begin with."

Rain of flesh spike stabbed down through the ceiling at Ciel's spot. She reinforced herself and endured the attack as there was no place left to evade. Even the man was skewered by his attack.

"Fascinating! Your magical prowess is truly exceptional. Is that why you could escape esteemed master Zwei?"

She was confused by his question but quickly judging that name was the one behind this all. And that person seemed to be very powerful just based on the tone the monster used.

She was ambushed by hordes of monsters and demons. Her guess was that Zwei person had gone after Merem, the only Dead Apostle Ancestor in the Burial Agency. She didn't know about leader Narbareck's wellbeing but Narbareck being dead was hard to imagine. She had a reputation of capturing three of the Twenty-seven Dead Apostle Ancestors after all.

The man that was skewered in front of her disappeared into the flesh spike. The room was also cleared of them soon after.

"But you know. Although esteemed master Zwei for some reason let you go, I didn't receive any order to stop my task. And as such…"

The air became heavy and hard to breathe. Ciel felt her body turn weaker and weaker. Her weapon, the Seven Holy Scripture, became too heavy to even lift.

She tried to reinforce herself even more but like a dried-out lake, nothing flooded her body anymore.

"This is the ultimate method for us lowly servants to ensure no failure in our order. The majority of this world were humans. And you all rely on magical means for power."

He jumped down from the hole in the ceiling and stood before her.

But his appearance had changed.

Stood there was an identical copy of herself. Even the clothes and equipment were the same.

She glared at her imitation with killing intent.

"Look like this is it for you. With this whole mansion isolated completely, you won't be able to utter a single speck of power. You are just a human now."

Ciel gritted her teeth and snarled at him.

With her appearance, he walked toward her and prepared to swing down the fake holy weapon.

"Don't underestimate human you piece of shit!"

Something detonated beneath the floor and blew them both away.

The mansion was completely demolished with multiple explosions occurring throughout the place.

The explosion also turned off whatever that inhibited her magical energy.

Amidst the burning mansion, a disfigured silhouette of a short hair girl raised up under the flickering fire. She lost an arm and part of her abdomen but there was no blood.

"Master Zwei will not be happy about this. To think I didn't catch her laying explosives beforehand..."

The rain started to fall and the fire began to dim down.

The silhouette sank into the darkness in pursuit of the fast-moving shadow among the wood.

Sound of metal clashing and trees falling echoed consistently throughout the night.

The struggle never ended.

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### Fuyuki city ###

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Walking in a long hallway in a government building was a young woman in her business suit. She was holding a stack of documents and moved quite fast for someone in such an attire.

The badge on her left breast showed her name, Maya. She had a beautiful enough body and face to kick start her own idol carrier. But of course, she didn't walk that path as she was now a working member of the local government.

Her face was adorning a panic kind of expression.

Whatever it was that had caused such distress for her was starting to spread toward everyone in the whole building. Though, they kept their mouth shut as per their profession needed not people who had a loose tongue.

Her steps quickly brought her to the front of a big double door. Above it was a plate that said 'Mayor's Office'.

She knocked hurriedly on the door.

"Come in."

Sitting inside at the big desk for the top people was a dandy middle-aged man. His hair and beard were already white-outs with work. His eyes were still clear although the creases between his eyebrows told another story.

"What is it, Maya? Why are you so distressed?"

"Mayor! The report from the police came in. It looks bad. This is international."

That was one of the headaches of the mayor. Things kept popping up recently and nothing had been done properly.

He had been the mayor of Fuyuki city for quite a while and stressful things just kept lining up in front of his desk. His name tag, Michiyuki Himuro, was buried somewhere under the bundle of papers that seemingly never ended.

She put the new stack of documents in front of him and started to rearrange the other hefty papers around the desk.

"The report of the police said that all the bodies in the park were foreigners without any identification."

He picked up a stack of profiles of the 'victims' to see more detail about them. They were all westerners but he couldn't tell which nationality.

"They also discovered the corpse of a sniper in an apartment two kilometers from the slaughter scene. This man had his head exploded by a high caliber bullet so they couldn't tell anything except he was also a blond foreigner."

He picked up another profile showing the image of the corpse. There was no censoring or anything. He was a mayor and these documents weren't for a TV show.

The corpse was pretty much headless. If not for the scattering skull parts that still had hair, they wouldn't be able to tell he was blond either.

There was no image of the bullet that caused the messy scene. Another mystery that would be left there forever. He was too used to it. Not like the city had the luxury to solve those kinds of mysterious cases.

"These people, these foreigners weren't registered at the airport or the seaport at all."

"With their armaments like that, of course, they came here through an illegal route. Leave that be."

The arsenal the police collected were all over the range. There were things that only exist on the black market too.

"This is too much. How about the abandoned building case?"

She stopped for a moment then continued to sort the documents.

"The investigation only shows that there was an explosion. No trace of blood or bodies except a lot of empty shells everywhere on the perimeter."

She hesitated before continuing.

"Although there is no trace, everyone knows the yakuza was involved. They had combed through the whole city the whole day and that place was where they headed last."

"Well, leave the yakuza matter to me. I want to know if there was any outside interference in their case or not. They made quite a ruckus at the same time as the slaughter after all."

"We don't have information regarding that. They seemed to clean up the scene rather well."

"Hmm."

The mayor quickly looked at all the profiles that had become merely cumbersome paper then. With a supposedly clear grasp on the situation, these documents were practically useless.

Those dead men were probably already 'dead' men before coming to Japan. He bet that whatever identity they discovered would be just a fake one.

The only one left was that fox oyabun.

"Maya, you can leave. Just ignore those documents. I will handle those yakuza."

She threw him a worried look but nevertheless followed his order and left.

"Then excuse me, mayor. Please take care of yourself."

As the door closed and her footsteps became distant, the mayor slumped down into his chair.

Lying there on the chair was not a mayor anymore but a mere troubled man, Michiyuki Himuro.

"Take care of myself huh. Easier said than done."

Taking out a picture of his daughter in the drawer, he placed it in front of him on the table.

The girl was neat looking in her school uniform and wore a pair of big glasses.

"I guess the school matter can't be put off anymore… Is there any meaning in resuming school this late? They will just attend classes for a week and enter summer vacation…"

He was lost in thought as the hassle of academic matter clouded his mind.

"Whatever, I will just make them get back to school next week. They had enough vacation."

Reseating himself and psyching up, he started to enter his work mode again. There was still plenty to do after all.

He moved the picture of his daughter to a corner of the table. He only displayed the picture when there was no one around because of his image. Never want anyone to see his meek face at work.

Taking a deep breath, he picked up the phone and started to dial a number that he would rather not ever need to. But there was no choice.

*Ring~ Ring~*

*Ring~ Ring~*

["…"]

["…"]

…

After a while of waiting, he breathed out and gave up.

["I know you are there, Fujimura-san."]

["… And I thought you did a frank call just then. So? What's up?"]

The old man's tone was light and cheerful. He dissuaded any griming mood the mayor had. But the seriousness didn't fade away that easily.

["I will get straight to the point. I want you to tell me about your clan' ruckus the other day."]

["It's early in the morning and you are already working hard huh Himuro-kun."]

["Stop it with the small talk. This matter is very serious, you know? You don't plan to start a tuft war here, do you?"]

["Haha, please chill out Himuro-kun. You know very well that our clan is a gathering of idiots that don't think a lot. We like the laid-back life here in this city so don't worry about that."]

That lightened up the mayor's worry a bit. But the old man was a fox no matter how relaxed he seemed to be. He couldn't take all of that as truth.

["Back to the topic. What was happening that day?"

The old man, Raiga Fujimura was silent for a moment.

["…"]

Even though speaking through the phone, the mayor felt the change in mood on the other side.

["Honestly speaking Himuro-kun, I am feeling very angry even now. But oh well, telling you is alright I guess."]

He changed his mood to normal. Or at least he tried to.

["There was this son of a bitch that kidnaped my granddaughter. He even hired a high caliber hitman to defend him. The nerve!"]

["Then he is-"]

["He is not with the foreigners if that is what you think. And we will not hand him over either. Family's honor."]

["…"]

["Well, cheer up. It's not that bad. Why don't we meet in person to discuss some more concerning topics?"]

["… I will not intrude on your affair. But the discussion is welcome."]

["Heh, that's more like it!"]

["I will contact you later after I arrange everything. Goodbye, Fujimura-san."]

["Alright. See you later, Himuro-kun."]

The phone call was good on the overall view of shady things. Although the mayor would have to prepare a private place for the meeting after this.

It was lucky that the yakuza in this city was under that old man.

But he felt like enough was enough. It was in the morning but he couldn't just use all his mental strength for mere conversations.

Grabbing the remote and turning on the TV for the morning news.

Relaxing a bit wouldn't hurt.

While half-heartedly listening to the reporter on the TV, a strange thing slipped in.

["… Northwestern Russia had shut down its border and declared martial law within the territory. The detail is unclear and we haven't received any answer from Russia's president yet…"]

…

"Great, just what we need."

Sarcasm was dripping from his voice as he watched the happening in the world with a rolled eye.

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### Ex-leader of a certain mafia group ###

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I am called Lazzaro.

But truthfully, it isn't my name. I forgot about it a long time ago. The time when I was an orphan was very harsh. If anyone says otherwise, I will shoot them.

Since I followed him, everything about me had been reforged completely. Even my identity.

It doesn't matter though. I like the name he gave me. It masked my old life and provided me a chance to make something of my own.

I always wanted to prove to him my worth. Just like any pipsqueak under his care.

And I have succeeded when others have failed.

I have succeeded, yet here I am again having nothing.

He demoted me. Stripping me off my position.

It was my fault though.

In a moment of impulsiveness, I lost it all.

Remembering the old men at home used to say 'get away from harmless-looking people'.

I never take them seriously as I have never encountered such things as 'harmless'. The grampas were just mumbling all day about shits that their 'oh so glorious young' experiences. It would be a miracle if any of the brats like me listen to them at all.

But among their useless bragging, sometimes there were stories that we like to hear. It wasn't about them but the big shots they had encountered that interested us.

One of the recent things that they always talked about was about her.

And didn't they say the Death God was very scary? I should stop calling her by title or she may hit me.

They even said that I would piss my pants if I stood near her.

Damn lies!

Fucking senile old men! They should have told me she had days off from being scary too! I fucking dibbed my whole head in her maw!

Speaking of her, she is unexpectedly laid back when she isn't on job. Because of that I mistakenly did the unthinkable.

When that young man told her to accept our mission, the monster that was hidden beneath that pretty skin of her showed its nature.

The rage in her snarl was like a beast about to tear its prey apart. An unimaginable chill assaulted me at that time, the whole world around me felt as if it didn't exist. The only thing in my eyes was her alone.

I truly know what the old men said about pissing my pants. I really did, literally.

Pride be damned! She was seriously scary! My heart stopped for a second when she glared around at me.

The unknown young man had gone somewhere in the time I was stoned by her presence. She grabbed the bench they had sat on and threw it at my two bodyguards like a kid in a tantrum.

Never in my life had I seen a person throwing a bench like a toy. No need to say that my two unfortunate men died instantly, mangled beyond recognition.

Her brutality really quaked me deeply.

When she turned her eyes on me and approached me with a clenched lamp post in hand, the pole of metal was completely crushed in her grip, my consciousness ran away and left my body behind like a coward it is.

I don't know what happened after that but I woke up on my ship. No wound whatsoever. And alone.

No wound as in my ruined hand had somehow not ruined anymore. It was still hurt but the bone and flesh seemed to be fine.

I don't know what kind of sorcery was that but god damn I won't complain! I will ask the old men later if they knew any of such things.

Currently, we are sailing to the hotspot for criminals in Thailand. The routes around here are easy for me to navigate with my luxurious yacht. Sea patrols won't be able to expect someone like me wandering in this area. I have their schedules memorized just in case but there is no chance for them bumping into me.

This yacht is new so I don't want to damage it in a random shootout on the sea if possible.

My yacht is not very big but all my men could hide inside it and there is still so much space. I bought this luxurious thing for this mission but I intended to use it too. My money after all.

Right now on this yacht, there are only the two of us. Thinking about it, being on the same ship as her is kinda scary. But unexpectedly, I have already gotten used to her. If anything, I would say that working under her is maybe the best for someone who lives like me. She is an incredible force to reckon with.

But unfortunately, she doesn't take subordinates. A true lone wolf.

Talking about subordinates. If it wasn't for her killing all my goons, I wouldn't have to go to that city in Southeast Asia.

The Bongiovanni House has a base over there, I could gather a new batch of grunts.

…

Going there is going to be a pain.

With me being demoted and the failure of losing fifty men, I don't know how the manager in that base will treat me.

This shame is going to haunt me for the rest of my life.

But at least, I could brag that I survived an encounter with Siriel the Death God.

Looking at her, she is so relaxed on the wooden beach lounge chair. Seemingly harmless from the outside but holy shit, she is brutal through and through if you know what you are looking at!

She is currently lying there under the shade of an umbrella with her chest flat up on the lounge chair. It is sexy so I won't complain.

She is playing some game on her handheld device it seems. It is something called PSP, or PlayStation Portable. That thing isn't supposed to be circulated on the market yet it seems. Why does she have a prototype?

Well, it looks like she has invested in that company a lot for quite a long time. What she spent her money on is none of my business but damn, isn't she loving games a little too much?

Ignore the fact that she is the scary Death God then she is a super beauty with a lot of money I guess. Celebrity's life sure is great.

The two pieces of white bikini make her look so sensual that I can't help but steal a glance every once in a while.

Those hidden gaps between her thighs and breasts make my imagination go wild when she moves a little bit.

The silky platinum hair is tied into loose pigtails style with some kind of red fabrics. With her hair parted to the side and the whole gorgeous neck exposed to the wind…

Man~ I am a sicko for being like this with someone like her. She is scary as hell and I still have these thoughts.

But with a body like that can anyone blame me?

Being here in the cabin and steering the yacht is not that tedious with a sight like her I guess. If I die, I die.

"Hey! Can you stop leering at my butt! It has been quite a while already!"

Guee! How can she know? And I haven't been looking that long, have I? It's only an hour at most.

I will just ignore that and continue my job. No idea what she is talking about at all. Yeah, no idea at-

"Hey hey hey, ignore me is no good."

"Gah! When have you got in here?"

She hits my head with a Japanese sword she got from out of nowhere. It is not that painful so she didn't hit me seriously. Thank god for that.

"What? I can't be here or something?"

It isn't like I can make her stay outside if she doesn't like it. But really, she was just lying over there on the deck a moment ago and now she is sitting on the control board. Can you not sit on that, please!

"Lackey-kun, I can't believe you were having such indecent thoughts about me. Even though you have wetted yourself while looking at me before. How intriguing."

"My name is Lazzaro! I was scared alright! But can you blame me? I am a healthy man and you are just slouching around like that with your revealing bikini- Ack!"

She bonks me again with the scabbard. She is a fucking mind reader for real!

"You have grown bold huh. Just so you know, I am still not pleased with your organization. Interrupt my fun time like that with some stupid job. I will spare your group because of him but there won't be forgiveness next time."

'Him' is probably the blond young man that night. He must be some serious hot-shit to be regarded like that by her.

"I also didn't expect you to be this chill after that night. You are in quite a rage, aren't you?"

Am I fearless? Well, now that would be a funny thing to add to my personality. I just know that is an okay question to ask. Catching on situations and dealing with big shots are still among my abilities. I am not a group leader for nothing alright!

"Hmph, rage is not really my element. I won't be consumed by foreign aspects that easily or else there won't be any meaning for my existence at all yeah?"

"Don't ask me those philosophical things!"

The hell? Can't she just say that she is too cool for that or something?

Well, it's good to know that she isn't driven by grudge and hatred-

"If someone becomes an enemy of me then there won't be any lenience. Even if I don't hate them very much, I will still kill them okay?"

What the hell are you winking so seductive for? That is not a pick-up line dammit!

"Anyway, I see that you have really been accustomed to my presence. Good job."

She pats me on my shoulder and pins my cheek before walking out of the cabin.

…

That's kind of nice.

I will really fall for her like this. Should I consider moving to that city? I heard the broker said she had a house somewhere around there.

I am really a sicko huh.

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### Fuyuki city ###

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At the mystical shrine, The Devil's Abode, the serenity that was ever presented was disturbed by streaks of light and small explosions every now and then.

"Hah!"

*Klang*

The sound of metal slamming into something incredibly hard rung out.

*Pang**Pang*

"Gah!"

Another small chain of explosions rang out.

"Try again Shirou-kun. You almost got it?"

An adolescent voice of a boy condescendingly talked toward the downed young.

Shirou who was lying face up was breathing very hard while gripping a magnificent bastard sword in his right hand.

His opponent was a golden hair boy about twelve years old in short pants and topless. He stood straight with his left leg while his right knee rose high up till his shoulder. His upper body slightly leaned back with his hands clenched and held before his face.

There was white smoke slightly faded in the wind from the boy's right shinbone.

His round eyes were sparkling, and cheerful feeling oozed out of it with its gem-like aquamarine glint.

"Haa haa, Levia is too much for me."

"Come on! I didn't hit you with my all? Your sword is able to damage me. Isn't it fun to swing without restraining toward me as an opponent?"

"Uugh, I can't get up… It's good that I don't need to hold anything back with you but… ugh… your kick is too hard."

"Eh, I can't help it you know? I was made with hit-hard and toughness as the core traits, at my strongest I can hit as hard as my master you know?"

"That is terrifying to know!"

He was talking about his strongest attack with a damage modifier above a hundred. That was including all the passive and active enhancements of course. Siriel's abilities weren't in his knowledge so he could only prefer to her stats. His damage output was still below some snipers back in Yggdrasil though. They could reach a multiplier of five hundred in some situations, easily dispatching any player that was unprepared.

The childish question-like speech was Levia's weird trait he developed but thankfully it wasn't something else. Japan had a lot of weird things for a child like him to pick up after all.

At the side, there were Tamako, Tohsaka, and the Servants watching them.

With the exception of Archer who was standing a few steps away from them, everyone was sitting at a low table.

They were at the backyard of the shrine. The space was moderate but the ground was hard. There was a metal platform on the left from where they were looking at the yard, which was even harder than anything they have ever known. They could practice their attack on it and not a scratch would be carved in. Another weird thing about this place for them.

But that was as expected of that item. It was made to resist damage from freakishly high-end players and their weapons. Everything to protect the NPCs of this shrine in the last quest of Yggdrasil.

The cage was folded down into a platform for space when unused. And it wasn't going to be used at any time in the future as long as Siriel kept her policy of no prisoner.

Shirou and Levia didn't do their training on that platform though. No reason really. Anywhere will do for normal training.

"I still can't believe that he is that dog. And he is practicing Muay Thai?"

Tohsaka was having her time with Tamako as promised before. And they were all sitting around to discuss future plans as well. Plus, it wasn't any secret magecraft that they were talking about either so there wasn't any need for private time.

Saber and Archer were watching Levia training Shirou. They still thought it wasn't necessary for Shirou to fight but the person himself insisted so much.

And currently, he was being trained in taking strong blows from Servant-class attacks. Although it looked like he was being hit by a cannonball more than blocking a kick.

Shirou was getting used to his new 'Excalibur' without much effort. But the sword was not doing any damage to Levia as far as they had seen despite the boy saying otherwise.

"His normal form is cute too but I like him in his dog form more. It's easier to cuddle."

Tamako expressed her true feelings without reserve. She had gotten used to everyone here and had become more comfortable over time. She wouldn't admit it though.

"Well sure, he looks charming for a young boy although his martial art is kind of deadly to me."

She had no idea about Levia of course. Although the fact that he was strong was obvious, the scope of it was all an imagination that could never be sure. That was applied to everyone currently in that place too.

Levia was a high-end berserker. Controlling his rage wasn't his strong point. But there were always ups and downs to everything. His personality was an unexpected mental force. Due to the 'innocent' and 'childish' in his profile's background, high quality taunts usually passed right over his head.

Plus the fact that Siriel had been seriously influencing him into an enemy-can-only-die mindset, it would be a miracle for an acknowledged hostile to taunt him enough to become a chaotic hazard before being devoured.

"Come on Tohsaka, even flower arrangement could be deadly if the practitioner wants to. Leave them be and let's get back to our thing."

Levia was the main fighting force of this shrine's defense. No way would Tamako reveal anything about his traits. Even the normally useless [Insanity] aura from his rage could be useful if no one knew about it.

Tohsaka, even though still had some interest in the training of Levia and Shirou, returned eagerly to the topic of magecraft.

There was nothing for Tamako to teach because Tohsaka was already well versed in her own craft. There was a lifetime worth of research from her father to study on so what she sought after was something foreign. And learning another branch of magecraft was inefficient to her future.

A different way to apply her magecraft, a new method to reach the same result. That kind of enlightenment would aid her greatly.

"So Tamako-san, do you have something on the transferring of energy? It could be useful to me."

"Hmm, transferring energy as in sealing? Enchanting?"

"You could say that."

Her jewel magecraft was like an heirloom in her family. The Tohsaka was specialized in Conversion, a technique that had been passed down in her Magic Crest. So the only sensible way for her was to develop it even more.

"You should talk about yourself some more for me to grasp what you want. Are you okay with that?"

She looked at Caster and Saber a bit but decided to tell Tamako anyway. It wasn't like Caster with her Age of God magecraft wouldn't figure out her system of magecraft if they fought. And Saber? She could just ignore whatever Tohsaka would do and cut her in half with that Magic Resistance of hers.

"My magecraft is the Conversion and Transferring of energy. I can use curse too."

She laid out on the table some gemstones. They were transparent and beautiful on their own.

"Our family can move magical energy of ourselves or someone else's, and currently, I am confident to say that I am the best at it."

She took pride in her magecraft. Of course, she didn't include anomalies like Tamako and other Phantasmal beings in her ranking list.

"As you know, magical energy disappears when we take it out of our body. It is very hard to move magical energy around and humans can't really do anything with that raw energy."

"So magecraft was developed to use it right? It is true that you need to reach a certain level of power in order to manipulate energy. And that is just the start of a path."

"Yes, exactly! I haven't seen any magus do it though so it seems energy manipulation is still far away. Hmm, maybe some nutcase has already done it and has been hiding somewhere doing who knows what…"

Most of the known magi were utilizing their own magecraft in an optimized formula. Their execution was fast and on point but no magus had used raw magical energy to do anything before.

The closest thing was supplying their tools, powering magical formations and that was it. But those things had their own equations and circuits to activate the intended magecraft too so it was the same thing.

"So these gems here you see, I can store magical energy in them. My own or others' magical energy is no problem at all. And furthermore, I could store things that aren't magical energy too. It will be difficult though."

"Oh, so that was why you looked interested in the [Sealing Crystal] before."

Tohsaka talked like it was an easy thing but in reality, no one could store magical energy in jewel similar to her family. Except for their fatherly master, Zelretch who imparted them with the jewel magecraft.

She laughed awkwardly when being reminded of her face at that time. She thought Tamako didn't notice!

"W-Well yeah, I want to look at it if possible."

"No problem, but I will give you this."

Tamako smiled back knowingly that Tohsaka was embarrassed and took out a glistering white crystal.

"Huh? It isn't black?"

"The capability of each Crystal is different. This is the normal [Sealing Crystal] that could store 8th tier spells. The black one is of a higher rank and could be acquired at a temple of a certain god. Or so Mistress said. She simply likes the black color more."

Tohsaka held it and carefully inspected it at every angle. She had no idea how much different is an 8th tier spell from a 10th tier one but this was good in a way. She supposed she wouldn't be able to own these crystals.

"That is an empty one. Try to store some magical energy in it. You can cast a spell in it too."

Tohsaka followed what Tamako said.

She put some of her magical energy into it slowly. It made her feel like putting beans into a bottomless hollowed can. What she pumped in was swallowed whole without any feedback. But she knew it was still inside this crystal. What this meant was that this thing could store a lot of mana. A massive amount. She could use this crystal for the rest of her life to store and draw magical energy from.

This is a treasure!

"I can't feel the limit of its storage! This is incredible! Can I have this?"

"Of course my answer is no."

Tamako answered in a heartbeat without hesitation. No take-out from this shrine.

Resource from Yggdrasil was unobtainable in this world. Wasting anything was hurtful for Tamako who managed this place in Siriel's stead. The owner of the place herself was a somewhat reckless spender though.

But consider everything became reality for them. Some self-generated resources were abundant. Like gold for example.

Tamako could make gold coins. Yggdrasil gold coin. Her illusion was capable of materializing low tier things and gold wasn't in any high tier. Even the lowest grade weapon costed more than a few hundred gold coins.

In the game, no such thing was allowed because of balance. And every illusion was categorized as a magic effect in the game. Meaning they won't last forever due to game mechanics. Only dungeons had the option to not remove magic effects on the field.

But that was irrelevant when the extreme illusionist became a real entity. No game restriction, no limited use of illusion. Lore took priority before gameplay. Tamako experimented a lot about her limit and found out things that she didn't know before. Like why she never made money for her Mistress back in Yggdrasil. Or the inhibition of her consciousness back in the days.

But the magical gold coin of Yggdrasil wouldn't do much when there was no use for it here except summoning.

And there weren't any strong summons from this dungeon their shrine was built on. The boss was just level ninety. The minions were numerous but her own summons were way stronger than that riffraff.

In the end, the gold didn't do anything more than becoming summoning material and it wasn't worth it either. It was better to summon her demons even as limited as they were. At least, a massive amount of gold coins could make a summon permanent.

If Tohsaka asked for financial support, she could provide of course. Though the girl herself seems to be very rich.

Tohsaka was disappointed at the rejection but it wasn't strange. Who would give out treasure like this?

She then focused on casting Gandr inside of the crystal this time. But something was wrong. She couldn't complete it.

The Gandr was instantaneous when she fired it off herself but she couldn't form it at all inside the crystal. Fuzzed by it, she looked up at Tamako who also observed her carefully all the while.

"Look like it is no good after all. Not your fault so don't worry."

"What is happening?"

Tamako took the crystal back and infused a fire element spell into it. The crystal lit up and stayed in that state. The amount of brilliant it emitted showed that an 8th tier spell was in it.

"Recently, I have compiled enough information to conclude that our magic system can't be merged with this world. It means that we could imitate each other but never truly use the foreign system."

That surprised Tohsaka. She always thought they were just from a different plane and their root of mystic art was the same as her world.

"So you are saying that I won't learn anything from you? Is that why Shirou couldn't learn any spell in all those years too?"

"It isn't like that. You could use some theories and controlling methods we use. Shirou is a different matter because of Mistress's interference. So I don't really know about him."

"Ah, that a relief. But how did you find out?"

"Well, it took a long time to come to concrete evidence. I offered some magi in the association to give them some tier one and tier two spells.
It wasn't hard to make them keep quiet about it and I disposed of all those who plotted something no good so everything is neat and clean."

"You made contact with the Clock Tower? That was a bold move, they are a bunch of greedy old men to me."

"Don't worry, I chose the eager younglings who wanted to be a big deal in the future.
But the result was always disappointing. They were all becoming good with controlling their power in magecraft but whenever they started to cast Yggdrasil spell…"

Tamako thought for a bit about how to describe it to everyone who listened.

"Some of them were crushed by an invisible mana force. Some others just failed the spell and were hurt internally. I erased their memory and healed them back of course.
I tried different types of magi over the years but all they could achieve was just improvement in energy control.
And recently, a young magus named Waver Velvet, who had seriously done incredible research on the spells I gave him, contacted me about his discovery."

"Waver Velvet? I think I have heard of him. Wait! Isn't he a Lord? You even roped him in this?"

"He is a good man. His talent isn't something so grand but he is very diligent and straightforward. It was by chance that my illusion passed by him outside the Tower.
Anyway, he is the person who discovered the impossibility of using the Yggdrasil system. And the vice versa."

The credit of Tamako declaration got more weight as someone of renown involved.

"This world rejects my world. If you as an individual from this world deliberately use the Yggdrasil magic system, the World will prevent it based on the scale. From stopping the spell or outright killing the caster on the spot."

"Isn't that pretty bad for me?!"

"I think it was all due to the magi trying to power the spells with the mana of the World though. Magi often use some of their life force and the mana from the surrounding to power their magecraft right?"

"Well, because with our magical power alone, the firepower of the magecraft will be too weak. And the mana in the air was everywhere and abundant. Is this even safe anymore?"

"It is. I have already confirmed that if you only imitated the spell using your own power, there should be no problem. Furthermore, our mana and this world's mana have been mixing with each other for ten years. There is no reaction so the problem probably lies in how the system uses mana."

Tamako just let that topic go as there would be no end to it and they were not sitting here all day for that. Caster already knew about all of these as she was working with Tamako a lot. Although it seemed the Yggdrasil system didn't mind their mana being used in magecraft or this world's inhabitants. More research would be needed for those kinds of things. The World was not something that could be understood easily. Anything with 'world' in their name was ridiculous, even to Tamako.

The magecrafts that Tamako used were imitations with mana control. Pure mana was no problem at all even if they were using the leyline to power Tamako's magic formation. So it was believed that as long as there was no type of 'corruption' involved, the World wouldn't do a thing.

The 'corruption' here was a vast term. Things that belong to Earth shouldn't be contaminated by a foreign system because that mana would be returned to the World and that wasn't good it seemed.

As for magecraft, it was a thing made up by humans to imitate the authority of the gods. So it wasn't really a thing that belonged to the World and more like a technique to use energy.

Following that line, they make magecraft that used Yggdrasil theory and powered by their own mana. A complete localized creation.

While the Yggdrasil magic system seemed to be something that was closely attached to that world, it was as if the magic wasn't invented by the inhabitants themselves. Weird place if Caster had to say it.

Tamako was doing some enchanting for Tohsaka to observe and imitate herself.

Caster noticed that wasn't the normal enchanting she did on the idol at the main hall. But obviously that wouldn't be so. The things Caster had seen on the idol were some vicious enchantments. Vicious as in the amount of power and the latency of violence force each layer had. She didn't even know how many there were and Tamako still did it each day. It was a one-way ticket to the afterlife for whoever fell victim to it. Nothing would be left, she betted.

As she didn't want to disturb their discussion, she turned her eyes on Levia.

The boy was fascinating to watch. She also wanted to hug and spoil him as Tamako did. But Caster was still very shy to actually do so.

The head of golden hair fluttered as he moved his body. The bright smile on his face made her heart melt as her face loosen up into a smile.

"First time seeing you smile like that. Not that bad I would say."

Archer just had to ruin her moment and made her return back to the stoic face herself.

She scowled at him as Saber also looked back in surprise.

"What's wrong with it? I had kids back in the day too!"

But I killed them…

Her mood plummeted as she remembered the dark past. But she quickly put it aside as these things resurfaced all the time. No big deal.

"Oh, I had a son too…"

Saber unexpectedly shared but she quickly shut up and stopped talking.

Must be a tragedy too huh.

Caster then turned to Archer and smirked.

"Perhaps still a virgin boy?"

"Tsk!"

He didn't confirm or deny anything so that might be true and that made an awkward mood for him. Caster did not pursue, this small stab was enough to soothe her irritation.

In the corner of her vision, there were some shadows moving around. Her attention didn't get pulled over to that though. There shouldn't be anything capable of infiltrating this place unnoticed.

"What is going on Tamako? Is something happening?"

"Huh, what is it, Caster?"

"I saw some movement around the shrine."

"Oh, I order the Shadow Demons to prepare the forge for Mistress. She will come back soon."

"The forge?"

"I need to prepare for the worst, right? And this is also to return the War to normal if possible. School will start soon too, so everyone will have to go back after all."

They didn't understand. Well, they did but what was anything had to do with that? Was Tamako planning to give out items? No way.

As they said that, a blackish lump rose from Tamako's shadow and then slowly sunk back.

"They are done it seems. I will have to do the final touch."

She turned to Tohsaka as the girl had stopped practicing the enchanting method she just copied.

"School is starting again? Really? It is summer already!"

She was surprised that they really resumed school this late but well, she could just take some days off.

"That aside, your control is very good. With continuous refinement, the wasted magical energy will be eliminated and the proficiency will raise."

Tohsaka was not a top-class magus for nothing. She grasped useful information like a sponge. Running the magical energy in the magic circuits felt weird to her but experience testified new things was always good. Who knows if she could increase the speed and output of her power or not but she was confident she could make use of it.

"I think you could become a demon king in this world if you continue to grow like this."

"Ptff! There are a bunch of guys that are crazier than me out there."

Tamako was laughing with Tohsaka but she wasn't joking though. There was a passive effect of improvement that she had enchanted on everyone's seat. The exp boost wouldn't do much for mid-level players and above but it could help.

There was an institute with extremely strong technology and artifacts but that place could be sabotaged easily. For higher beings that wanted to anyway. Their weaponry had high power and dangerous implements, but in the end, they were all equipment and tools. If the user was brain-dead, it would be the end.

What mattered to Tamako's calculation was personal power. Tohsaka had the potential. With her help, the girl could be a serious threat on her own.

While humans in this world couldn't level up like Yggdrasil's creatures, they grew stronger with age and knowledge. Like the monster back in Yggdrasil if she had to compare.

For that, Tohsaka needed to be groomed like a monster.

Humans had a limited lifespan though.

"Tohsaka, do you want to build up mystery on yourself?"

"What are you talking about so suddenly?"

Everything on this planet seemed to revolve around mystery as far as Tamako knew.

The more mystery they accumulated, the more powerful they were. And this mystery thing increased steadily with age. The most monster-like characteristic she found in them.

Humans weren't magical beasts or immortals so they generally couldn't grow that way.

But magi were different.

They gathered power by the mean of magecraft. And they could easily live for hundreds of years.

What if they could age for thousands of years? Millennium even? That was what Tamako want to find out. But she needed a consent first.

"I want to make you into a powerful entity."

"…"

It sounded really suspicious to Tohsaka. But she knew Tamako wasn't some mad witch with unreasonable motive.

Growing stronger was good but there would be a catch. Always.

Her goal was to reach the root in her father's stead. Becoming rich. Being the magus that no one would want to mess with. Becoming rich. Yes, she hated the curse that stuck to her family. But everything had a limit. Is accepting the offer here worth it for whatever the cost be? She needed more to be… brave.

"Why? What would you want with that?"

"You are an acquaintance, Tohsaka. I want to give you something for when I couldn't reach out to you. And I want to know how powerful humans in this world could grow. This is an experiment."

She didn't lie. Tohsaka was thankful for that. Knowing she had someplace in Tamako's heart for her to care was also good.

But now she was starting to get curious about what could make human strong that Tamako want to find out.

"So how will this go? I want to hear it first if it is alright with you."

Tamako had a bright face as she talked about the research she liked, the way to gain power.

"Oh, you are interested! Yes, this will be good for sure, I assure you."

The slight change in mood also made Tohsaka happy as their bond kind of grew too.

"You see, I find out that if something exists for a certain period of time, it gains magical property as in mystery in your language.
That same rule also applied to living things."

"… Hey, don't tell me…"

"If I put you to sleep and leave you in an area that accelerated time, you will wake up with a powerful body that no human could ever be."

"Wait, wait, wait! I would die! Seriously die! My body won't grow strong, it will disintegrate!"

Tamako still smiled and took out some normal looking rings. She put them on the table and pointed at each one.

"I have thought about it. I will enchant these rings for you. This one will be a Greater Sustenance enchantment. This one will be Death Denial enchantment and this one will be Greater Vitality enchantment. You will be good."

"No no no, this is too much! You need to explain more! My life is on the line here!"

She wanted to grow strong and was excited but also got cold feet by what the plan was. The risk was worthy of what it could bring but it wouldn't matter if she died.

"Hmm, Greater Sustenance will make you immortal without the need to breathe, eat, and drink. Your cell will not die and will regenerate back when you equip it. Of course, being killed is still possible.
Death Denial is insurance. It will protect you until the threat that can kill you stops.
Greater Vitality is also insurance. Your toughness will be boosted by fifty-… hmm… you will not die even if you are stabbed in the heart.
It's good enough right?"

"…"

'Am I not a monster already with the rings!?' was what she wanted to shout but logically thinking about it, it was possible to age her without death.

The problem was her mind. What would happen to it?

She wouldn't be the same with an aged brain. But when there was Mystery in there, could she still think like a human?

"This is an experiment. I won't force you on it. Take more time to think."

Tamako also understood that there were things that humans consider precious and too valuable to risk it. She was an NPC that was made to serve her Mistress. There was only loyalty, nothing else could destroy it. Maybe a World Item could but that wasn't the point. What Tohsaka feared was not what Tamako feared. She could just ask some of Levia's friends if she really wanted to experiment.

If Tamako could gain strength simply by aging herself then she would do just that.

Her Mistress was a World Enemy, a monster in a sense. She could grow by aging like other monsters in Yggdrasil. But at her current power, a millennium would just amount to a level at most.

"I will go now to prepare for Mistress's return. Levia, let's go."

"Yes! I'm coming~! Hey Shirou, don't be so down! Your stats are insufficient? No helping that okay?"

What he thought was consoling words was actually quite a heavy hammer for Shirou. But that wouldn't be enough to put him down of course.

He sat up and looked at Levia who ran after Tamako with a sigh.

When will I be able to achieve something?

The sword he was holding in his hand was something his sister called Legendary rank. Something that could kill beings like her she said.

But he couldn't utilize it. The sword was just another chunk of metal to him. It was frustrating.

"Hey Saber, want to train with me?"

Saber who was sitting at the table with her normal demeanor nodded to him. She wanted to do just that from the beginning but Levia was too energetic and insisted on joining so they let him do it.

There was always the curiosity about Shirou's combat power. What he learned from his sisters wasn't magecraft or any mysterious ability. Just normal swordsmanship that was just outside of the norm.

"Before that, could you use this sword for a bit, please? Levia was right, I can't feel anything from it. At least I want to know what to aim for with this sword."

"Alright, I also want to know."

Everyone wanted to know. It was pure curiosity.

Saber took the sword into her hand and started inspecting it. The straight sword was sleek but robust. It had a nice feeling to hold and great balance. With a familiar shape like her sword, of course, they were different, it was easy to get accustomed to it.

Looking at it she felt weird. She, Artoria Pendragon, was holding the Excalibur but not her Excalibur. A strange experience for sure.

The golden glint on the platinum-like sword made people hesitate to swing it. They were always in fear of scratching it or worse, damaging it.

As soon as she assumed a fighting pose, the sword lit up in holy light. Her body also had a glowing runic halo at her back. The view was so outrageous that everyone was dumbfounded.

"Huh?"

That was the only expression they could muster.

The aesthetic of the players were often the weird fetishes that they were into. No one would be able to force anything on them after all.

And this sword was also the same.

The legendary holy sword must be holy. And Saber being the one holding it was receiving all kinds of cosmetic effects. The halo of light spun slowly on her back, the falling feather of angels glittered from above, radiant glow of god metal on her hair and skin outlined her existence, spirits of light circled around her vicinity elevated a fictional upward wind.

The bafflement of everyone was a long-lasting one as no one knew of the nature of these effects.

Of course, that wasn't all it had. This sword wasn't a joke item. The enhancement it put on the user was astounding. Saber right at that moment was as strong as an lv.100 heteromorphic player without equipment.

Considering the stats of humans was low and this world's strong force was its technique. This could be considered a rule breaker for whoever has a grasp on this sword. Of course, they need to be strong first to use it.

Gripping it firmly in her hand, she felt something else. An inherent ability from the sword.

This is like a noble phantasm. No, this feels more like my own skill than the weapon's.

Weapon skill was something that grained the user the ability to use a specific skill as long as they equipped it. If she mastered the skill, she could use it with any weapon of the same type. But skill could only be learned through class advancement or using a skill book. Which was very hard to come by or cost a lot if you want to buy it from the cash shop.

Saber wanted to test out the skill. She had felt her body become stronger but she had no idea which height she had reached.

And as she aimed at the wall where the strange metal plate was at, she swung the sword downward in a familiar vertical line her Noble Phantasm often did.

There wasn't a beam of powerful mana like her sword did. The thing that shot out as the sword in her hand lit up like a melting sun was a slash of radiant mana that spanned more than ten meters, nearly ten times her height.

It cut into the wall and completely devastated it. Leaving behind a glowing red line of lava from where she stood to beyond the wall and into the wood.

Her eyes widened at the unexpected destruction. That wall was never damaged from their training from before but it was taken down so easily by her tested swing.

The others were speechless too. Saber was becoming a ridiculous existence in front of their eyes. If her casual swing was like that, what would her attack that was enhanced by Mana Burst like the time she fought off Berserker?

"No way will I ever be able to do that!"

She had nothing to say to Shirou. Saber herself was stunned more than everyone. She was completely clueless about her limit at this moment.

What had happened?

She was thinking of different things than them. Her face was shocked but worry also presented.

The Grail War is one thing. But I don't want to imagine that Arch Devil will fight us with weapons like this.

She looked again at the destruction. The range didn't reach the base of the hill luckily. But compensating for the limited range, its cutting power was frightening.

"Ei! What are you all doing!?"

Levia was running back at them from inside the shrine. He felt the attack of course.

"Oh no! The wall fell off?"

He jumped around the split on the wall as he was making a fuss over it.

They felt guilty like a kid accidentally broke a vase and was about to be scolded.

"Ha~ only master can fix this. But don't worry? I will tell master that we played around and broke it! I am a genius?"

'It isn't a matter of careless playing!' was what they wanted to say. But having Levia on their side was good.

Saber returned the sword back to Shirou and moved toward Levia. The holy visual enchantments faded when she let go of the handle. Like a mirage in the mist.

"I sincerely apologize for this mishap. I will compensate anyway I can."

Saber was being a knight again. She couldn't stand being helped like that.

"It was my fault too. I insisted on her using the sword. Sorry, Levia."

Shirou was also guilty so he stepped up with her. She was his Servant, they would be together in thick and thin.

"Apology accepted! The yard is a mess now so let's go! Hey hey! I am taking out something very cool! Wanna see? Wanna see?"

Like a kid he was, Levia was very excited to show his friends anything he found awesome.

He ran with an undisturbed smile on his face toward the side aisle, where the small garden was.

His energetic mood made everyone feel better about the situation.

They could only follow him obediently with the blunder they just committed.

The place was gradually falling back into a serene silence with the molten lava still painted a path across the yard.

.

.

### Thailand, A certain city of crime ###

.

.

There were a lot of places that crime syndicates and other dangerous organizations set their base in. The power struggle of these groups often caused unrest for the whole region.

In a certain city with the same condition as those places, a city where there were giants of the criminal world 'settled' their lives. But this place wasn't innocent either. Most of the citizens were no-good people. From petty thief to hired killers, named one crime and you would find it here.

Walking on these streets alone was dangerous enough to make nearly everyone have a gun.

This place truly was a gathering of the worst of society.

But even the big bosses of this place were not free of worry. One of their problems was such as this day.

There was a building that was heavily secured by several groups of armed men. The area was void of the usual thugs and junkies.

Currently, there was a meeting of the three rulers from the shadow of this city in that building.

"Piero, this is a breach of our treaty, isn't it?"

"There is no such thing Mr. Chang. We never intend to start the tuft war again."

The one asking the question was a black-haired man. His swept-back hair, the black vest with a big cloak hanging on his shoulders talked enough of his status. Plus the sunglasses he wore despite being in a room clearly showed his eccentricity.

People called him with fear and respect. His easy-going attitude often made his victims scared instead of calming them. He had seen plenty in life despite his youthful outlook, nothing could really surprise or phase him.

With his position as the boss of this branch of the Hong Kong Triad, a big mafia group in China, he was the real big-shot that couldn't be messed with.

"We don't believe you. Why don't you tell us the real reason why you hired her?"

"Our House hires her but the contract's location isn't in this city. We don't see the need to reveal our personal matter to outsiders. I hope you will understand Miss Balalaika."

The one asking this time was the other boss. A female Russian with big burnt scars on her face. Her wavy blonde hair tied at the back of her head reaching the middle of her back.

Similar to Mr. Chang, she wore a long coat over her business outfit. Her face completely showed how unamused she was by his answer.

The three leaders observed each other with tense air. Their subordinates stood right at their back without moving and ready for action at any moment.

The chairs they sat on made them even more sinister with the shadow cast by the killing intent of all these criminals.

"Cut that mocking politeness."

Although her tone didn't change, she did slam on the table. Her anger could be felt across the gloomy room.

"There was a private yacht leaving Fuyuki and headed toward the South on the sea route along the coast."

There were pictures throwing down on the table from her side. On them were the images of a beautiful girl with long platinum hair in her skimpy outfit at various places in the city.

And finally some pictures with the same girl on a white yacht facing the camera waving lightly toward the camera. On that ship was an Italian man with a white outfit who clearly did not accidentally board it.

"What is this? You can't seriously take those pictures of some random girl and call it evidence."

Piero strongly denied the validity of those pictures. But he could tell the end of this meeting was coming. And it wasn't good.

"Evidence? Since when did we need that in this city? This is ME, telling YOU, to talk with your mouth before we start talking with our guns."

She didn't back down at all and seemed ready to go for war.

Mr. Chang also didn't interfere. He just looked at the situation like a silent snake. His fangs were ready. Just a slight signal and this place would become a blood bath.

"You'd better do as the lady says Piero. I am also short on time here. We are busy people you know."

Their intention was clear. This wouldn't be a free-for-all but a two-on-one. And his side clearly did not have an ally there.

Piero was in a pinch. He was just a branch manager. Telling them their House matter was not even an option.

But right at the moment, he needed to decide. The existence of this branch depended on those in the room.

He believed the Godfather would understand.

"Haa~ I don't have a choice, do I?"

"Technically, you have. But you know what I mean."

In the eyes of those two, Piero was just an insignificant punk who happened to lead this branch.

The power balance in this city was formed thanks to how big his House was.

All the other small organizations were crushed mercilessly or absorbed completely.

Piero was a strong fighter in his own right. He earned his position with blood. But those two were in a whole different league. No wonder they reigned for so long.

He took a deep breath to psyche himself up.

"I understand. I will explain it shortly. Inferring it however you want but that is the most I can do with my authority."

They just stayed silent and looked at him impassively.

Not expecting any answer from them, Piero started to talk as briefly as possible.

"One of our mining villages in Northwestern Russia has gone dark. Not even one of the elites returned or communicated once they went there. The final solution is her. The guide needs protection so they will be hiring bodyguards here."

Balalaika didn't react and continued to look at him for any sign of deceit. After a while, it seemed to be acceptable enough as there was no gunshot required.

Mr. Chang fixed his sunglasses while looking at Piero in the eyes.

"So why do you need to be here? Why don't you use your men for this kind of task? Relying on outsiders is very suspicious at this point."

Piero scowled at this inquiry. Should he say it or not? It wasn't confidential information but still…

Noticing the two drilling stares on him he decided to just wing it. He doubted they would fare much better than them.

"The thing is… she killed them all. Our contact was a near failure. No one wants to participate in this mission anymore and He also agreed to let the guide hire his own protection. Goons will die anyway so we refrain from forcing them."

They didn't expect that answer.

But when they thought about it, with the reputation she got in ten years that wasn't a farfetched scenario at all. And the report Balalaika got had mentioned a shootout in a park.

In fact, they too didn't want to meet her in any circumstances. There was no information about her habits and the death rate after meeting her was high.

Of course, just like many organizations, they knew what she looked like and had their agents reported back whenever they saw her. There had been a rule in the mercenary network regarding her employment. The Mercenary organization took it in their hand to manage her contract. Everyone just took a guess that it was to prevent the destruction of the organization itself.

"I will believe you for now."

Balalaika said after some time had passed. That also meant she didn't believe him but would let things slide at the moment. Not presenting any sign of hostility but who could say? Those mob bosses would kill in a heartbeat, their outward expression didn't mean all there was to them.

"I will take that as an end to our meeting then? I need to make sure our base won't be erased by her if you don't mind."

Piero quickly added to finish this hellish gathering. Fortunately, the others also wanted to leave this place quickly. There was nothing they could get out of Piero as he would die one way or another if his mouth blabbered anymore than this. And above all, a known enemy was better than some unknown replacement.

Balalaika stood up, ready to end this meeting. Mr. Chang also did the same. Pleasantries were out the window as each of them glared at one another. The delicate peace-talk ended well despite the multiple conflict-inducing situations, mostly from one party. Piero glared at them as a form of defiance, a sliver of pride left inside of him. Somewhere in his heart, that glare was actually a way of lashing out for what they made him do.

"Hmm, see you again Piero. Please be well."

"... Thank you. You too."

The subtle warning from Mr. Chang was received fully. And it didn't make him happy one bit.

Hopefully, they will offend her and die.

The three parties parted ways. every gunner from all around the neighboring area silently retreated as their faction moved away.

The inhabitants all had their own assumption on whatever the top dogs were talking about but no one dared to voice out. If the rumor they spread somehow damages those killers' reputation, death would be a mercy. Their whole family could be sold off to who-know-where. Their organs could be taken and their miserable self could be turned into chunks of meat for the pigs. Indeed their salvation was only in death.

Each of the bosses started making their own preparation. Especially Piero, he had to face her directly and accommodate all her needs.

I feel like my lifespan just shrunk by a chunk there.

.

.

### Siriel D. Eva ###

.

.

There had been a lot of times she felt the melancholy of idleness or just straight-up bored.

Siriel could be many things and couldn't be anything. Her shapeless existence had taken shape to manifest once and she could do it again. But in the end, she was still a mass of chaotic evil from the deep of the abyss. Furthermore, she didn't fancy the thought of changing her avatar. The avatar that she had been using since eons ago had a very deep meaning to her existence.

Along with the avatar, she had gained a 'self' and perfected it through the eons. From pure muscle-head to mildly wacky to decently conversing and finally, a smidgen of patience. Enough to let her stay in a civilization.

And she quite liked it there. The gods didn't though. She had never stayed more than an hour before they expelled her back to the underworld.

Time passed and things happened. Then she went to a virtual world and became a World Enemy, an entity that was designed to die by the hand of lesser species. But that was in itself a charm for her. She could wreck that design just by doing exactly what those lesser beings did.

And her method proved true as she was the last one standing on that battlefield. Using only inferior equipment for that last battle was insane in its own way. She remembered the sword she had used to kill all those players didn't do even one percent of the damage dealt. Everything was done by her status alone.

But…

Personal ability was eternal, and she didn't lack any of that. Furthermore, just like the normal players, she accumulated perks and unique skills along the way to her peak. What they could do she could too.

The design that was meant to die was destroyed the moment she filled in its role. It was hopeless from the start and unfairness was apparent for the developers.

But deletion was impossible. At the time, Siriel had merged into her avatar to feel the violence, no human would be able to do anything to her when the Gods themselves couldn't. Shutting down the game or trying to smear her existence were the only choices.

They picked the latter obviously and led her against hordes of Raid-level monsters in the hope of glitch-kill her account. It all ended in vain. She gained another absurd title and a massive level-up after walking out of the kill zone. None of her attacks was a hacked one. Everything was legit gameplay mechanisms. There were many things the devs did to her but that didn't matter. She didn't mind them.

She did many things in many roles throughout her entire existence, Her joy of violence was always short-lived so she was already used to it. But the game, Yggdrasil, brought her seemingly an endless amount of it. That was the main reason she was so attached to it.

But when she had come to this world, the world which resembled the one she was manifested in, she had been feeling nostalgic continuously. Memory of her Shishou resurfaced every now and then making her feel like doing nothing.

She realized that she missed him dearly. For what reason, she did not know. But the feeling of longing was there.

The abyssal underworld and the many civilizations she came to pass were not that memorable. The old gods were working way too hard to restrict where she went.

Siriel had unconsciously donned her old mercenary persona most of the time and despite the occasional usages of Yggdrasil abilities, she mainly resorted to her own sword skill.

She was thinking about using some of her unused spells and abilities here and there with a distracted mind.

"Stop daydreaming, Mistress! You have work to do!"

Someone nudged her strongly from the side and nearly toppled her over.

"But, but this is so boring~! uwaaa~"

Siriel was super bored by repeatedly hammering at the forge. So bored that her weird brain started to remember something just as old as her to be distracted from the boring work.

"You promised me last time that you would do this today. Are you lying to me?"

"Boo! Boo! You bully!"

"Mistress, stop acting like a child and start working already!"

Although Siriel protested persistently, she still continued the arduous work.

The garden where they were at was full of noise once again as the rhythmic tinkering of hammer smashing against anvil resounded.

Tamako stood right at her side managing the materials and finished products.

As the security of the territory couldn't be left alone with a wild player running free, a proper solution must be taken. And that led to the suffering of Siriel.

Siriel left everything in her subordinates' hands, including tactical thinking or planning for the shrine. The capable Succubus splendidly did everything she had been entrusted with and even more.
So, boring as it was, Siriel couldn't sneak out like always because her cute girl had tried her best to devise a way to prevent the other side from taking over this city.

Although personally she preferred fighting head-on, but the current opponents weren't to be underestimated.

Doting on her girl aside, she still hated repeating work like this.

"Ah~, At least let me MakE. SomE. ThinG. ElsE!"

She smashed on the wriggling piece of metal on the anvil with all her frustration. The black metallic tentacles gradually took shape, becoming a tube-like thing with a skin-crawling sensation to it. There were many more of these tube things in a pile in front of her.

All of those things she made were parts of a grand ritual spell that Tamako used. Nothing was scarier than a ritual spell that was used to do harm. It was beyond any power a level 100 could endure.

But it was completely impractical for boss-fight. The in-game usage was limited to traps, field-play, and some activities outside of combat, or creating an advantage with buffs and debuffs for raids.

Things worked differently now due to various reasons. Tamako could make wonder with enough time even without the specific classes for ritual. Perhaps she could even do more, like crippling Things like Siriel or outright eliminating for good. That is if she was allowed the time for it.

Of course, depending on their knowledge the other Players could do the same. The inhabitants on Earth too. If they could perform grand rituals they could be a threat that required elimination. Tamako had been watching them as a basic security protocol. All kinds of protocols she could think up.

The things Siriel was preparing weren't for destruction though. In Tamako's words, if the enemies ran away in time then the city would take the hit and disappear.

So they were making a safe (perhaps) spell for Yggdrasil elements only.

What it actually did was of no concern to Siriel so she wouldn't ask. This kind of spell was no 'fun' to her after all.

"By the way Tamako, where is Shirou and his group?"

"Hmm? They are serving their punishment in the backyard."

"What? You haven't let them go yet?"

"Mistress, they nearly burnt down the shrine."

Tamako was unmoving in her decision. Completely sulking while standing.

"But isn't it due to Levia's fault? Don't be too hard on them."

"Levia has his own punishment. The others were punished because they blindly followed him without any awareness or doubt."

"Oh come on mama! I too would like to play with my toys!"

"Please don't spoil him, Mistress. And stop calling me mama!"

"Mommy is angry!"

"Mou-! Just finish your work already!"

Siriel smirkingly resumed her smithing. She was almost done anyway. Shirou and friends quickly got forgotten in her better mood.

So easily swayed was the strong trait of her race. Being an Angel was truly like a scatterbrained idiot sometimes. And her emotion was even heightened to boost. Unlike the undead's sudden suppression of emotion, the mood swing of the Angel was hard to notice.

She was in a happy mood and continued to smash the fiery hammer on the lava hot anvil.

Ember lingering in the air as the hot wind of supernatural forces expulsed each other at the end of her hammer. Light shone on her face as her long silky hair flustering in the air amidst the chaotic mana.

[The Forge] was not for mortal forging. This item was meant to forge high-end Divine gears. And the magnificent thing did its job splendidly.

Siriel was not a [Blacksmith] in any possible way. She was too focused on combat to do such a thing as choosing crafting jobs.

It was her eating habit.

Her diet consisted of all sorts of things. Including harmless non-combat guilds and Deities.

A treacherous Angel such as her couldn't pass the chance to terrorize Asgard if presented. The Gods did respawn endlessly and quickly so there weren't any more perfect targets for her thirst for blood. Even the non-combat Gods still hit very hard. Not all Gods were Raid Boss, but all of them had the capability to take on that role if assigned.

Nevertheless, with the abilities she robbed from them, she had more than enough to craft anything she wanted. The quality was lower obviously.

A full [Blacksmith] build could make items at least five times more powerful than what she made with just five dedicated jobs on smithing.

If she could make a steel sword reach the rank of Legacy, they could make it into Relic. A full rank higher. That was not to mention the sword could have an insane ability that could be viable even at level 100.

Everything could be shitty or near game-breaking. The way to greatness was paved by your own hands after all. Just do not let others steal your pain-taking effort. Knowledge was power, no matter where.

Even Siriel couldn't just take what she wanted from a crafter guild. Their secret would go down with them without question. Their treasures would never be discovered.

[The Forge] was an item she commissioned to a crafter guild. Gathering materials on their list and naming it were her duty. Making the item was theirs.

And with her naming sense, the crafter almost coughed blood upon witnessing her lame-ify their creation.

Still, the pair of hammer and anvil was still worth every gold coin it needed. The item was as valuable as an Artifact, thing that people would kill for.

Siriel had been smithing nonstop for the last hour and she was on her final piece. The happiness of almost completing these annoying pieces made her smile while sweeping the sweat. Although she didn't have any.

The clean-up would be done by Tamako, like always, so she could just dash away right then.

The moment the item was finishing packing their energy, Siriel dropped her hammer to the ground and just did what she planned.

"DONE! See ya later!- ei!?"

But unfortunately for her, she slammed her face on an invisible wall with full force. It took all the breath out of her magical lung as her body also slammed onto the wall with equal disgrace and velocity.

"Heh, got you."

Tamako smirked as she was collecting the tube-shaped items.

Fully aware of her Mistress's favorite 'retreat' tactics - Jumping away at full force, she had stealthily erected a barrier before her Mistress planned to run. It was a barrier specialized in inverting physical force. Even Siriel would take serious injury if she just rammed into that barrier head-on. Being as much of a monster as she was, Siriel would not be fine receiving her own damage output.

As cool as it sounded, this kind of reflection wasn't that overpowering in combat. There was always something that could counter something else. And this barrier could only deal with physical force. Not even one player fought with one type of damage. It would be suicide with extra steps.

This time was thanks to the surprise element that Tamako could knock Siriel around.

Falling down from thirty meters above was Siriel with glowing golden blood running down her nose.

"Gah, that's hurt?"

Her regeneration kicked in and took care of all the damage though. If that was an attack of the first stage of her sword style then her head would be split cleanly in two.

"Mistress, there are still many things that need to be done. Like concealing your presence while outside of Japan, resupplying our [Sealing Crystal] stock, making an educational course for Shirou, becoming a catalyst for my summoning,..."

Siriel had stopped listening halfway through. She was too much not in the mood for more work! There could be even more work if she stayed home for any longer.

Remembering how she had created Tamako, Siriel was fully aware that the barrier was not as simple as it looked. There could be layers upon layers of super-enhanced magical domes to keep her there. No, it was not a possibility but a certain.

But…

"I have had enough work for today!"

Throwing a tantrum to mask her fluctuating mana she formed her simple two-steps plan. Tamako was looking at her wailing around with suspicious eyes.

Then suddenly Siriel launched a brightly glowing double axe that was completely made from her angelic radiant mana forward.

Tamako reacted immediately and prevented the energy axe from shattering all her barriers. She upscaled her barrier to full power.

Her eyes started to turn silver from time to time but she was confident she could handle it without transforming. The mana maelstrom from the collision rampaged for a few seconds before being consumed by her barriers' absorption.

She let out a tired breath as she successfully prevented that abrupt attack. But then when she looked back at her Mistress, she saw nothing there.

Actually, there was something but not Siriel. On the empty ground was a picture of a mini Siriel making a wink with her tongue out.

"Ah mou! Everyone just keeps getting away from my barrier nowadays!"

Tamako stomped on the ground irritatingly while making a pout. Her Mistress made so much trouble for her to deal with. If only she could chain Siriel down.

Taking an unnecessary deep breath, she started to clean the garden of the residue mana Siriel's forging left behind. She looked at the hammer and anvil that were tossed aside by her Mistress. They were still emitting intense fire essence.

Tamako could not move it.

To compensate for not having the [Blacksmith] class, Siriel requested the item to have a minimum strength requirement of one hundred and boosted its crafting ability as a result.

"Levia! Come here!"

Although [Message] was convenient, Tamako preferred to not use it unnecessarily when he was nearby. Her reserve personality made her avoid the wasted use of mana. Though if it meant she could avoid interacting directly with strangers then she would use it. The first time she met Shirou was also the same, she made an illusion of herself to talk to him.

Enemies didn't fall into that category of strangers obviously.

Ruckus was heard from the back of the shrine. There were many noises accompanying the running footsteps on the wooden floor.

The punishment she gave them was cutting the grass in the forest outside the wall. Sound like easy work but not really. There were magical plants that emitted toxins causing paralysis and hallucination everywhere. All of them could be used as ingredients for alchemy and magecraft.

Though to serve as a punishment for Levia, the forest needed to be enchanted with [Sublimation]. They must gather one full bag of grass and exited the wood within an hour, or they had to it all over again.

By the look of it, they had completed the punishment.

Levia, Shirou, and Tohsaka had sweats pouring out of their body like they just jumped into a lake. The other three stood behind them looked fine like nothing happened.

"Levia, are you done?"

"Y-Yes, we got it!"

He was breathing heavily while trying to put on a strong smile. He had teary eyes though.

The punishment would really start after this. The toxins they accumulated in the thick wood would torment them slowly with numbness and slowness for twelve hours. Humans had one more additional effect, overuse of energy. They would be in constant fatigue.

"Come over here and bring these tools to the warehouse."

"Tamako-nee, am I allowed to take the ring off?"

"... Alright, take it off."

Of course, the forest couldn't do much to Levia. Tamako had to make him wear the ring to halve his status. She would never do that to him if he was outside of the Devil's Abode. And doubled with his training ring made the effect all the more effective. Resulting in him suffer as hard as Shirou.

Levia approached the hammer and picked it up. There was fire spurted out and swallowed him in an instant. Then a constant phosphorus-looking flame remained covering over his body.

He looked like a Fire Elemental.

Although he had trained for ten years, his strength was still only ninety-five. A mere increment of five strength. Below the requirement of the tools.

Like many other Divine items, a penalty would be applied for the bearer. Different items had different mechanisms depending on the maker. Shirou's sword was just Legendary but it had a penalty too. It was just an ability lock mechanism. Harmless.

[The Forge] on the other hand, would deal Eternal Fire damage to the bearer. [Fire Resistance] was useless. Only possessing [Fire Immunity] could let anyone hold onto it.

"Attention everyone! I want to discuss some matters for future endeavors. This concerns your conflict too."

Tamako left the clean-up to Levia and started to address the group. They stood to attention but still had their eyes on Levia.

After all, he had swung that hammer around to brag with them and nearly burnt the hall. He had been on fire like he was currently and had been standing on the wooden floor no less. He forgot to fly in excitement.

Honestly, they had been enticed by the tools he bragged to them too. Hammer made of the hearts of Phoenixes, the Eternal Flame of Heaven, and God of Fire's essence. Anvil made of the cores of Infernal Dragons, 9th Hell's bedrock, and Asmodeus's essence. Basically no metal involved.

Although it sounded like a child's fantasy but knowing whose the owner was, it was completely possible. Plus they had recently known of a certain Lord of Hell too so their existences were pretty much confirmed.

Tamako looked at their faces one by one as she started to talk again.

"In these few days, things have been out of control and abnormal for this city."

They agreed on that. Too much was going on.

"As you know that creatures like us have suddenly appeared. And they are not the kind that will leave you alone. Not like my Mistress but more like the conquering type."

"Are you sure about that? Last time it looked like he was only interested in you."

Archer represented the group to ask as the two Masters were in no shape to speak quickly. The other two beside him were not that talkative. Hating it as much as he was, he wanted to know the answer. Things were serious after all.

"Hmm, telling you is alright I guess."

The information wasn't that important to her. It wasn't like anyone could use it against her anyway.

"That Arch Devil has been building a base here in this city for the last few days. Furthermore, he has been sending his forces everywhere around the world at the moment. My network has been picking up activities in various locations that could cause a change in the power structure of this world. By now the Counter Force must have been activated by them for sure."

They widened their eyes from the realization. They never imagined that kind of development would happen this quickly.

"You... didn't stop him?"

She looked straight into Archer's eyes with much frowning.

"You think we are omnipotent or something? Sorry for disappointing you all, my summons who are monitoring the world can't win against them. The adversary is too powerful. It isn't a simple face-to-face fight either."

No reply was muttered. They were not arguing with Tamako but it was frustrating nonetheless.

"What should we do, sister?"

Shirou seemed to be very distressed. His sense of justice was strong after all.

"Nothing. Just focus on your own battle."

"But…"

"You can't fight them… yet. Finish this War and maybe you could do something with your wishing device then. For now, I will handle them."

Even though she said so, the truth remained that the Arch Devil player was beyond her power. The secret of his strength wasn't cleared but Tamako could make a guess with just the conversation they had. The problem was the validity of his words.

But it wasn't that important. Although the possibility of raising her level was good news, she could gain strength in another way.

Currently she would just deal with him and his adversary in an indirect way. But first, she needed to reclaim their territory.

Still not very satisfied, Shirou tried to argue back with his sense of righteousness.

"Tamako-sis! I can help. I am not a kid anymore. My power has grown even more powerful than before."

She looked at him but her smile faded. A sigh escaped from her silent silhouette.

"Shirou… you don't understand."

"What is it that I do not understand about this?"

"Everything Shirou. Everything."

She paused and looked at them all, two humans and three Servants.

"Devil by nature likes evil and cruel things. The worlds of Yggdrasil work in simple structure in a sense."

Weaving her hand in the air she drew up a power-meter with various parameters on the side.

"Living things are scaled from level one to level one hundred. With all normal human adults below level five. That is not to say level ten doesn't mean they have double the strength of level five. It grows exponentially in power base on their specialization."

Her eyes were serious as the parabola in the meter raised higher and higher.

"Level one hundred is the epitome of power. the apex of existence. Those who reach this point in their life could effectively hunt gods and dragons with a little planning."

She waved away the graphs and pulled up the images of some powerful battle between six people and a giant deity-like being. The landscape was trampled and changed with every attack each of them made.

"... And finally, that Arch Devil is way stronger than me. He is like the people in these images but has surpassed their existence and become something like the god they fought. Do you get it now? It's a matter of his mood to destroy this city or not. And before you try, I will say this to you. You can't negotiate with the Devil and come out with anything that isn't in his favor. You can't even attack him without risking the life of everyone around either."

"... sis…"

"I won't allow it."

Tamako was unmovable in this matter. If she was to be soft and let him do as he wanted, only death or worse would be waiting. Her Mistress would 'remake' this world if that was to happen.

Only Shirou looked sad in this due to not being able to give a hand. The others were completely aware of the danger. If that Devil was to rampage, they would not be able to do anything but watch the city burnt.

Even if their Noble Phantasm could damage or kill him, there was no way they could land an attack in.

"I will not let the city become rubble under my watch. So you all could just forget about them and carry on your own fight."

Seeing as the matter was settled somewhat, Tamako returned to the topic she wanted to talk about with them.

"So, with that cleared up why don't you all start making strategy for the coming day? School will start soon after all."

Shirou gave up on the matter and just nodded his head with a sad face.

"Yes, sis… by the way, how do you know that?"

"Know what?"

"Eh, about the school thing?"

Tamako thought for a moment before deciding to just tell them. It wasn't a big deal. She had many more ways to get the information she wanted. It didn't mean she had to confess everything.

"I have installed an illusion within the administration of this city. It helps them with all kinds of documents. So you know… business as usual."

That was the most she would tell them. If they could identify it then maybe she would give out some kind of gift for the hassle. Of course, she would prefer it if no one knew of the illusion. It was annoying to set up the job near the mayor after all.

"Anyway, when you all return back home I won't be helping anymore… Caster is free to do as she likes."

"What? Why won't you work with us?"

Archer asked as Shirou looked like a sulking mutt and didn't respond well to the conversation.

Tamako heaved a sigh again.

"Mistress went and lost a bet against Gilgamesh. He demanded us to stay out of the Grail War. But that Arch Devil seems to be quite involved with a lot of things here too so I will do something as the last interference in this."

"..."

There was nothing Archer could say. Saber too was equally confused about the shady bet they had. Why would Siriel do something like betting? Thinking again, it was totally possible. Siriel was just too haphazard to understand.

Tohsaka was silently thinking about the change in their strategy. What Tamako said also meant that she was lending out Caster if they could convince the Servant herself.

"Excuse me but I… I may not be a Servant anymore. I lost all the class skills. So I am not a legitimate participant."

"Wh…"

Tohsaka looked at Caster with a dropped mouth. The plan she had just somewhat created shattered like tofu falling from a skyscraper.

"Your status as a Servant is irrelevant to what you want to do, Caster."

That was in her Mistress's list of lines she wanted to say, and Tamako found it very suitable in this situation.

"Changing vessels makes you a full pledge living being. But it could also mean the Grail retrieved the class without any energy from the 'slain' Servant. There is a very high chance that you will be consumed by the Grail if you die. I see no problem whether you join them or not."

The explanation by Tamako was not concrete information but a likely theory. Everyone fully understood the situation, except Shirou.

He was still in the gutter and just paid half a mind to the problem. Still, he understood that Caster could be an ally and she would still be the same as a Servant if killed. Anything out of context was lost to him.

"Now that I have told you all, what you do is on your own. I won't give out help even if you die so don't act too recklessly. Though if you lost, you could take shelter here."

Taking care of them was Tamako's responsibility when Siriel was away. She wouldn't interfere unless death or serious problems occurred. The experience of growing up was important and Siriel wouldn't like it if they were spoiled.

There was one girl she had to keep watching constantly due to the dangerous family she was with and had to interfere countless times as a result. But all was well in the end, except the girl was kind of dark with her low self-esteem.

"You all should get inside and take a shower. The toxin will last for a long time so endure well."

She flashed them a smile and returned to help Levia with the clean-up. There was still some work left for her to do before she could expulse the enemies out of their territory.

Shirou and the other sluggishly moved inside. The fatigue kept them from being too occupied with the coming battle. The Servants didn't have any change in their visage but the toxin still ravaged their inside. If only the plants in the forest weren't magical in nature they wouldn't even blink in the face of it.

They all retreated to the inside of the shrine and left the clean-up to the two guardians. The unexpected vacation would end soon.

Looking at them from the corner of her mind, Tamako made sure they were all out of view before commencing her business.

"Ajay, report."

["Yes, master. we are currently in Finland and about to cross the border to Russia."]

"Hasten your travel and build a base there quickly. Watch out for when Mistress Siriel arrives."

["Yes, master."]

"And remember! Report to her only in your business mode."

["Will do, master."]

The spell ended with the confirmation of the other side. Tamako was still thinking fast on many other matters in her hand.

With big incidents happening in the world she became busier each day. But not that she couldn't handle it.

The high-level monsters she had summoned gradually over the years had expanded throughout all the continents. The Hanzo, who was good at countering stealth, and the Kashin Koji, who was skilled in illusion, were always paired up in a group with many Shadow Demons.

To support Siriel who liked to do things her own way and to keep an eye on the world, Tamako orders her minions to construct a new mercenary network and destroy the old one.

All for the sake of Siriel. Regulating her contracts and identifying dangerous enemies were the main job for her summons. Information flowed through them naturally so it wasn't a hard job to inhuman creatures like them.

With how her Mistress gathered enmity from big countries and organizations, there was a need for that kind of network to exist.

And now with the new Players messing things up left and right, her power would be needed to reinforce them.

The mass of miasma in the North had told her pretty much how far-gone the new Player's mind had become.

A lot of deaths will happen. Even my summons won't survive.

Tamako laughed silently to herself thinking about the irony. She, an Arch Devil was more humane than him, a human in the skin of an Arch Devil.

.

.

A ripple appeared high in the air in the middle of the sea. There was nothing for a moment before something shot out very fast from the rift in space.

The direction it headed to was the water under it.

*KABOOM*

The impact caused a huge pillar of water and giant waves that would surely be a problem later for fishermen.

"Blergh! *spit* So salty!"

Siriel who had just face-slapped, again, into the sea swam up to the surface with a mouthful of seawater.

"Ugh, that girl really got me. Where am I now?"

Siriel was caught in a [Delay] trap and missed the yacht she wanted to jump to. The delay was quite powerful as when she took out a magical watch and confirmed the time, it showed that an hour had passed since she left the shrine.

Tossing the watch back inside her inventory, Siriel started to find the direction the ship had gone in.

"Wow, I can't see the yacht at all. How far have I drifted off course? Anyway, let's swim!"

She could just fly or teleport again but it was not that appealing right then. All the smithing made her want to stretch her limbs. Furthermore, she was wearing a swimsuit. Everything was set to go.

But first, Siriel cast the [Guiding Light] spell for a general direction. She wasn't a sensor type so locating things was kind of difficult. But convenient things were convenient, sensor spells were very useful in real life. Just like summoning spells.

Bundling up her hair to not get in the way, she began to swim with eagerness.

She wasn't in a hurry so she just swam as fast as a small motorboat. Enough to enjoy the journey without any discomfort from the splashing water.

Siriel mindlessly swam for hours without any deep thought. But her session of water-play had to come to an end.

Bullets were flying in her direction from out of nowhere. They were spayed all over the water around her. Some were able to fly at her head and chest but overall, their aim sucked.

Looking at the source of hostility there was a crappy boat coming at her. There was also a bigger crappy one that looked like an old fishing boat just floating at the back.

"Wow, am I getting mugged?"

Muttering to herself, half laughing, half amazed, she waited for them to come over.

Being mugged while taking a swim in the middle of the sea was a first for her. Who would have thought, eh?

It looked like the bad gunner just emptied his magazine. The hailstorm of leads was pretty much thrown away by him. Such a waste of ammo she may add.

"What are they shooting me for anyway? Do I look like I have anything to rob?"

It was kind of hard to believe those people were pirates. She was puzzled by their action too.

Finally, the small motorboat arrived, and nearly ran her over. She slapped the hull aside with a mildly irritating face.

The boat was rocked real bad and a gun, an AK-47 was dropped into the water. The three boys on board cursed loudly to their parents till god.

Siriel grabbed the side of the boat and climbed up. She checked the bunch of stinky boys with a disgusted look while kicking their balls. It was always an effective move to men. Though she held back more than the time she kicked the big bodyguards of Mr. Lackey.

"So wanna tell me what are you nasty boys up to?"

"Fucking bitch!-"

Her foot which was stepping on his head sank down. The head exploded into a messy pile of gore. The swearing in a different language wasn't the problem for her as both a player and a devil. The amusement in the situation wasn't that high to her and she wasn't in a mood to spare pirates for fun either.

"So wanna tell me what are you nasty boys up to?"

She asked the same question to the next pirate. She was just curious. To be honest, it wasn't that important to her.

"B-Boss wanted to catch you. P-Please don't kill me!-"

"And you shot at me? You all have necrophilia or something?"

"W-We just want t-to shoot.-"

Of course, she wouldn't die but what if it was a normal person? These goons were not that bright already in her eyes.

She kicked his head off cleanly with the same technique as the first stage of her sword art. Her leg was more than qualified in durability to be used as a sword.

Looking at the last 'boy', he was kind of old to her, she kicked him in the chest and blew him to the opened cabin's wall, deforming it in the process. His heart exploded on contact with her foot, killing him instantly.

She still operated in human limits as a habit. Though those limits she was using were in the high-end spectrum of unrealistic biology.

After successfully taking over the boat, she drove it back to the bigger one. The boss must be over there she guessed.

The corpses of the three pirates were left in the open. She didn't intend to hide at all.

She was shot at again. Although this time, it was a machine gun with high precision. It looked like a mounted LMG left from world war two. The boat she was on was full of holes but it could still go on. Approaching the target was an easy feat for her but doing it the 'official' way was entertainment in itself.

She didn't have any super skill in driving so it took a while to get to the big boat.

The pirates were ready with their rifles and waited for her to show herself out of the cabin.

And she showed herself. Not out of the cabin but with the cabin's roof as a shield. She uprooted all the nails and jumped up to them with a malicious laugh.

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It was a peaceful evening for Lazzaro.

He was enjoying his simple meal which he had cooked briefly on the deck. The yacht was locked to go straight for the moment. Of course, he still had a compass nearby to make sure the ship wasn't going in the wrong direction.

He couldn't find Siriel anywhere so he gave up and just stuffed himself in the meantime.

She is playing hide and seek or something? Where could she have crawled into?

Lazzaro just wanted an excuse to see her anyway. He chewed on the half-eaten steak on his plate while looking out at the left side of the yacht. The sun was on the other side so the left of the cabin had some nice shade that could be used as a relaxing spot.

He was in a safe zone of sorts, or more like he was going behind a patrol vessel with a stealthy distance. The tag-along was planned to be until a certain point where 'civilian' vessels could be 'legally' seen.

While leaning on the rail he saw some suspicious dot on the horizon. No, it was a naval vessel. And it was heading toward his yacht quite rapidly.

He swallowed his food quickly and took out a binocular to see more clearly.

His brows cringed inward as the features of the vessel showed up. It was a beaten-up fishing boat. Only that there were corpses, human corpses, hanging everywhere on it. Some were half stuck in the hull, some were strewed around with their entrail splattered everywhere.

"What. The. FUCK!"

Cold sweats rolled down his back as if he had a severe cold for days. The nightmarish sea vessel was closer and closer as he was rooted in place.

Jumping out of his feet by an eerie honking of the horror. He quickly shouted loudly while running back to the cabin to speed up his yacht to the maximum.

Patrol be damn! What kind of shit is that!?

"S-Siriel! Siriel! HELP!"

The panic attack didn't make him disabled. He also had a beautiful horror on his ship! For the moment, he put his all in getting away from that thing.

But the zombie-like boat was still approaching, fast. Siriel still hadn't appeared yet. Cold sweat started to roll down from the top of his head.

*Brrrrrrrrrrrrr* *BrrrScreeeech*

The honking terrified him even more as it was creeping closer and closer. The strange screeching was kind of separating his soul the moment he heard it. At least that was what he felt.

Couldn't take it anymore, Lazzaro locked the wheel and went to the back of the cabin.

To prepare for the mission he had loaded his yacht with quite a bit of weaponry. There were many rifles of all kinds and a few other high-power tools. Opening the crate at the corner where he stored the heavy weapons, he took out an RPG-7. There were only two loads for this.

This rocket-propelled grenade was a black steel tube with red wood wrapped around the middle. The long explosive projectile was already loaded and waited for launching.

With the determination of a cornered rat, he ran out of the cabin and to the back of the yacht. Lazzaro pulled out the metal pin on the head of the RPG and aimed carefully for the cabin of the 'ghost' ship, he dubbed it.

The 'ghost' ship was steadily approaching into his range. He wanted to vomit upon seeing the corpses again but finally, the disgusting ship had entered the five-hundred-meters range of the RPG.

How the hell is that thing so fast?

He didn't have the confidence to hit further than this distance. He couldn't aim for the hull either. The chance to miss or waste a shot under the water was too high.

He pulled the trigger and the RPG flew spinning straight into the deformed cabin on the 'ghost' ship.

"The hell!?"

That thing evaded his shot!

But half of the cabin and the deck were blown into smithereens.

And that wasn't what had surprised Lazzaro.

"Hey! Careful with your explosives!"

Standing over there in the cabin was Siriel with one hand holding on the wheel while the other was shielding her body with a thick steel door, probably from that cabin.

He felt like a fool for freaking out seeing that… 'ghost' ship - no, boat was more accurate. It was still disgusting though.

The question of why or how she was over there was left to the wind at the moment. Lazzaro didn't want to throw up the steak he had just eaten so soon.

He turned around and walked back to the wheel muttering to himself.

I don't care anymore. Whatever. I will just stay here, steering my yacht.

His face was fed up and exhausted. Looked like Siriel wanted to keep the corpses-filled tattered boat for whatever reason and sailed it side-by-side with his precious yacht.

But he didn't care. He left Siriel to her merry self, doing god-know-what.

This day was enough for him.

With a soulless stare, he steered them toward their destination, the city of crime.

Hopefully finding some cute girls to heal his soul. And his little guy.

"Hey, you are thinking something dirty again!"

Shit, forgot about her!

Fuck it, I will keep doing it and even nastier things! Watch it all you want!

Nasty little pussy... pretty little pussy... cute little… yeah, there… that clip was gold…

"You are challenging me, naughty boy? Hehe, bring it, I watch it all!"

Doing whatever he could as a way of ignoring the pile of corpses next to his ship, they were healthily arriving at the port city gradually.

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End of chapter.

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In the New World, mages needed to do a ritual with many people to cast-enchant-store a 6th tier or above spell. It doesn't mean players need to be like that too, obviously.

I am talking about the [Sealing Crystal]. We know about it but the characters don't. Tier magic is completely foreign to Earth. The false attempt of Tohsaka could be due to the lack of a designed ritual, who knows.

No one in the NW would seal a 1st tier spell in a [Sealing Crystal] so maybe they can do it alone too. I just picked a guess.

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Small note: This is a hard time for me. I work at the hospital all the time now. It wasn't all about CODV, the number of patients was kind of increasing too much. Things have been getting better. I have a breathing room now too so I will write again. Still at the hospital though.