Abyssal Wanderer.

"what is that?"

Sita murmured, watching the ghost ship disappear into the rain.

"A flying ship."

Jiang Zhou answered from the side.

It's unclear whether the memetic entity summoned by the other party is the ragged captain or the ghost ship itself.

Thinking of this, Jiang Zhou pointed to the landing craft beside him, which was already loaded with weapons and supplies:
"Your Excellency, it's time for us to go ashore as well."

If the previous attack in Damascus could only be considered a prelude to war, then they have now fully entered the battlefield.

It was fortunate that Yun Xiao upheld military ethics—if he had suddenly turned the ship around and opened fire on them to block the gate, they might not have even had a chance to get ashore, and the war would have ended prematurely before they even reached Thebes.

Perhaps having considered this as well, Xita nodded in complete agreement with Jiang Zhou's suggestion:

"Yes...we need to summon our meme entities as soon as possible."

It seems that other factions have already completed the summoning of Servants. In addition, given the huge commotion caused by the ghost ship, those who do not yet have Servants are currently in an extremely dangerous situation!

Jiang Zhou directed the puppets to load the last weapons and supplies onto the shuttle ship, then ordered Tenshindo to act independently based on its own judgment. Only then did he board the ship with Xita, AR, and Kumiko Furuzuki, who served as the summoning catalyst.

Previously, during the Category II crisis in the Nord Resettlement Zone, Icarus left an access address for summoning in Kumiko Furuzuki's brain-computer interface—this allows for more targeted summoning compared to other physical objects.

It's comparable to a selectable Servant redemption code.

However, if Jiang Zhou himself were used as the relic, it would probably be possible to summon the memetic entity Icarus; after all, the other party had previously left its own mark in the City of Sages.

Of course... based on Jiang Zhou's own affinity, he might also summon other strange and unusual things.

In short, he has no intention of giving it a try.

"Don't worry, after the summoning is over, I'll take you to the spectator stands at the back."

Sita said this to Kumiko, whose face was now deathly pale.

In addition to the global live broadcast based on some unknown principle, the Bacchus Order also specially set up VIP viewing seats. Not far above Thebes, these seats were used to accommodate wealthy thrill-seekers, as well as executives and directors of various companies, to watch the match.

Jiang Zhou strongly suspected that the so-called VIP viewing area was just a pretext, and that it was actually a preferential policy given to Theta by the Bacchus Order.

After all, more than a thousand members of the Dionysian Order were also placed there, supposedly to cheer on their leader; but this cyber army, whose members were all hackers, was able to provide a huge boost to the computing power and algorithms of the memetic entities summoned by Theta on the spot under the resonance of the Dionysian virus—just like during the Category II crisis in the Nord settlement area.

This is truly a shady deal... This can be considered cheating.

Jiang Zhou sighed, then opened the Janus program.

He connected with a superhuman zombie who was watching the Dionysian Wars tournament to monitor whether any of the participants were taking any further action.

Almost two days have passed since the five contestants summoned their Servants.

In the past two days, there have only been a few sporadic probing actions between the contestants—most of which were instigated by V.

He first went to the United States Embassy (as Sam called it) located west of Thebes, fought against the first batch of fungal beasts Sam created, and then left quickly before Columbia went to war; then he went to the north for a trip, but before the servant Kali, who had been coaxed to sleep by Anne, woke up, he ran away again.

As for the Hungry Knight, he did throw a few throwing knives from a distance, but after seeing the knives instantly burned to ashes by the black smoke swirling around the Hungry Knight, he wisely left. Incidentally, Jiang Zhou did not see the Hungry Knight's Master, it seems they were carrying out some kind of split operation, which the live stream team did not broadcast.

As for the dummy servant summoned by Zhou Jiang, it was nowhere to be seen.

In fact, the Bacchus Order's live stream team didn't even show them on camera once, as if the master and servant pair didn't exist.

If the other party hadn't connected with him through the Janus program, Jiang Zhou might still be completely unaware of any information about them.

Silently recalling this intelligence, Jiang Zhou turned to look at the live broadcast that the Bacchus Order was currently showing.

Sure enough, the other party was filming the scene between Yunxiao and the ghost ship.

The Flying Dutchman...

Having learned about the Servant from their conversation, Jiang Zhou couldn't help but sigh, "Just as I thought."

The memetic entity summoned by the other party was the ship, not the captain who looked like a zombie.

However, the conversation between the two was like that of two real living corpses, and the content they were talking about was as abstract as if they were dreaming. One of them was seriously telling the other about his seafaring experience that had been lost for thousands of years, while the other was listening to those legends as if they were real events, and occasionally giving some comments that sounded serious, but were actually somewhat manipulative.

Jiang Zhou listened for a while but couldn't extract any useful information, so he turned his attention back to the present.

The shuttle boat had already reached the shore, where a pitch-black square monument awaited them—it was the core of the memetic entity summoning ritual, used to hold the fragments of the Holy Grail structured by Dionysus.

The square monument, its surface gleaming with the blood-red words "BACCHUS 07 SOUND ONLY," opened its mouth towards the west tower, saying:

"It's been a long time, Sita Bisant. The people of this city are grateful for your contributions and for your husband's sacrifice back then."

Sita's expression remained unchanged; she calmly stated:

"If you're really that grateful, why not just give me the Dionysus framework? Why bother with this Holy Grail War?"

The Holy Grail War? Shouldn't it be the Dionysian War?

Jiang Zhou thought to himself.

"Without the forging of blood and fire, those so-called ideals are nothing but illusions... Since it is the path chosen by humanity itself, even we have no way to interfere with your fate. This was true for Eros back then, and it is true for us now."

"After all, that's a kind of overstepping of authority."

It sounded like countless overlapping voices, echoing as the light and shadow of the characters on the square tablet changed.

"Tsk..."

Sita clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction and didn't bother to continue the topic.

"The summoning words are still the same ones you designed back then."

Suddenly, the square tablet said this.

Sita's expression suddenly became a mix of amusement and exasperation.

"To tell you the truth, the final decision is to settle the ownership of the Dionysian framework through the Holy Grail War..."

Before she could finish speaking, the dark stone tablet began to deform.

Before it completely transformed into a "spiritual core," the voice said one last thing:

"There are many forms to choose from, and this choice can be seen as a final tribute to the fact that we were once human beings..."

Upon hearing this, Sita sighed with some melancholy:
"Let's begin then..."

During their conversation, the servo construct and Jiang Zhou's puppet had completed all the preparations for the summoning of the Heroic Spirit—materials and energy were ready, and the summoning could begin at any time.

Xita beckoned Kumiko Furuzuki to come forward, and then she hesitated for two seconds, as if searching for memories sealed deep within the data.

Then, with a solemn expression, she spoke:

Its foundation is thought and data.

"Its ancestor was the subconscious of pan-human intelligence..."

It was at this moment that Jiang Zhou received two important messages at the same time.

Firstly, the Bacchus Order's live broadcast cameras were focused on them, and at that moment, there were probably billions of people around the world watching this summoning ritual.

Secondly, the "continuous spacetime retrospective jump permission (temporary)" generated by connecting to Sibyl suddenly returned to zero for some unknown reason, with the originally reserved 24-hour continuous steady-state time being set to zero!

This is not a permission failure—it's just that the "current steady-state return time" used for recharging is changed back to ten minutes the instant the number returns to zero.

In the brief moment Jiang Zhou was stunned, the number jumped to nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds.

It seems that some unspeakable force has forcibly anchored the starting point of Jiang Zhou's return from death to ten minutes later! What's going on?

No... we should ask who it is?

Is it the Bacchus Cult? Or Xia Qiu himself?

Or perhaps Janus?
Jiang Zhou felt his chest pounding wildly.

In any case, this means that he is unlikely to be able to rewind through death in the next ten minutes!

Can he really guarantee his safety during those ten minutes?

…………

The sky above the port was overcast with gray rain clouds, and the storm summoned by the "Flying Dutchman" had not yet completely dissipated.

"As I have already said, that ghost ship has already sailed into the phase space, and even I cannot find it immediately... That is probably the ability of the enemy's Servant, appearing and disappearing like a ghost."

Raindrops fell along the brim of the top hat, and large raindrops pounded against the porcelain-white metal mask, making a "pitter-patter" sound.

V whispered to the Master, who was on another ship in the distance.

"Moreover, compared to chasing after a ghost of the past, aren't these people who haven't even summoned Servants yet a better target?"

As he spoke, several throwing knives suddenly appeared in his hand.

"Then, wither away in this rain, lucky ones..."

Ignoring the Master's order to leave one person behind, V said softly.

Those throwing knives... or rather, kinetic propulsion weapons shaped like throwing knives, vanished from his hand in an instant.

…………

"careful!"

Ignoring the possibility of revealing that he was watching a live stream, Jiang Zhou immediately activated the deflection shield of his "Ominous" power armor, blocking the opponent's attack and protecting Sita, who was chanting incantations, and Kumiko Furuzuki on the summoning circle from the fatal blow.

The deflection shield, which was strong enough to withstand the bombardment of an electromagnetic cannon, was instantly pierced by those thrown knives.

Jiang Zhou felt the flying knife pierce through the shield and layers of armor with unstoppable force. After being weakened several times, it was barely blocked by the pseudo-Sea God's Gift type active armor.

The puppets around him were not so lucky.

Even with enhanced biological abilities, wearing power armor sufficient to dominate most mercenary battlefields, and equipped with a "zero-consciousness" level military-grade neural implant, all the puppets Jiang Zhou brought this time, except for the Heavenly God Path which had been hidden long ago, were swiftly killed by flying knives.

AR, who was standing to the side, should have met the same fate, but just before the throwing knife was about to pierce her neck, the gun in Tian Shendao's hand fired.

The bullet from the "Sagittarius" Gauss sniper rifle deflected the trajectory of the throwing knife at the last moment.

The blade flew off almost grazing AR's neck.

In the blink of an eye, countless images flashed before AR's eyes like a carousel.

A terrifying woman with a blank expression... Countless skulls clashed together with a crisp sound...

A heart-wrenching scream calling for its mother... filled with furious roars...

A frenzied and magnificent dance... the entire city of Thebes was engulfed in flames...

When she came to her senses, she was already being carried by an embalmer wearing ominous power armor and being sprinted toward the abandoned reception center outside the port.

The person receiving the same treatment as her was Kumiko Furuzuki, who had been in the middle of the summoning circle earlier.

"He's regained consciousness?"

The mortician asked directly.

"What happened earlier? How long was I unconscious?"

AR immediately asked.

"Not even two minutes..."

The mortician gritted his teeth and said.

Rather than answering her question, it sounded more like a complaint.

“Sita, she…”

The mortician moved quickly, and AR felt as if the scenery around her was rushing past her.

“Sita told me to lead you guys and run first, while she stayed behind to hold off the enemy’s Servants… We’ve been ambushed, and they don’t even want to give us a chance to summon our Servants.”

Jiang Zhou replied.

Theta chose the wrong tactic from the start—she should have arrived in Thebes before the corporation's forces, even if it meant her strength wasn't fully restored.

The Dionysian War is essentially a war between Servants. Even if you, an Orpheus Path Coordinator, fully restore your status, how much advantage can you gain?

“Nasita, she…”

AR responded with a solemn expression.

"That combat prosthetic body is probably beyond saving, but I doubt the enemy can destroy all of her Nyx factors... Let's focus on surviving first."

…………

V stands in the rain.

The porcelain-white mask was covered in raindrops, and the curve of his smile looked somewhat strange amidst the water stains. He looked at Xita, who remained alone on the pier, and twirled a new throwing knife between his fingers.

"I thought this would be a hunt, but I didn't expect the prey to stay behind and act as a shield."

V said in a deep voice.

Sita did not respond.

The Nyx factor emanated from her body and slowly spread through the rain.

She was sensing—V's position, speed, and the rhythm of his attacks.

Although it is unknown whether this will be effective, as long as there is even one contact, the Nyx factor will soon be able to invade his body.

More importantly, even if his combat prosthetic body is destroyed, he can survive as long as possible.

V tilted his head and then let out a mocking laugh.

"The Orpheus Path is such a nuisance... just like this untimely rain."

Then his laughter grew louder and louder:

"But fortunately, I am an expert in making fireworks, so even in the rain, I can still put on the most spectacular show."

He snapped his fingers, and the eerie blue flames attached to the throwing knife detached from the blade, blooming like fireworks in the rain.

The Nyx factor in the air seemed to become a catalytic agent in an instant, bursting into fleeting bursts of light in the night.

Sita let out a painful groan.

“You can choose to continue releasing the Nyx Factor, and I will burn it all off.”

V's voice came through the flames.

"Or, you could choose to gather them up and use your only combat cybernetic body to have a respectable fight with me... to lose this match with more dignity." (End of Chapter)