The infinite sword system has been mastered, and you say this is the dragon clan?

Chapter 380 Mere grains of sand are not even half as good as mine.
"Sword Emperor?"

The Saber Servant wielding the greatsword pondered for a moment, her eyes flashing with wariness. "The newly appeared 'Emperor'? I see, the seventh one to have appeared in the world the latest!"

Boom——

The surging magical power transformed into invisible energy that coiled and swirled around the entire body of the servant, who seemed to have become extremely serious, his face solemn. A dusky sword aura, poised to be unleashed, adorned the magnificent blade.

Clearly, in his view, what needs to be guarded against is not the Sword Emperor's "sword," but the "Emperor," who is the most dangerous being in this world.

The reason for this is that any "Roman emperor" who appeared in this era not only possessed strength far exceeding that of his own lifetime, but also received a significant boost in ability stats due to the increased fame of Rome itself.

More importantly, these emperors generally possessed "imperial privileges" that ordinary followers did not have.

【Emperor's Privilege】is an incredible innate skill, which can be described as a "wish-granting machine specially made for Emperor-type Servants", with the main feature being that you can get whatever you want.

For example, you want to become Saber but don't have the qualifications? No problem, activate the Emperor's Privilege! Gain the [Magic Resistance] and [Riding] skills! See, this way you've gathered all the class skills needed to become Saber.

For example, if you feel your physical abilities aren't strong enough? The Emperor's privileges can also satisfy that; you can choose from [robustness], [natural physique], and even [divinity].

Therefore, once it was confirmed that the visitor might be the "Emperor", the silver-haired follower wielding the greatsword instantly sensed the urgency of the situation. At present, no emperor in the world could be considered weak.

On the other side, the red-haired youth also had a strange expression.

Judging from the tone of the follower who was chasing the little girl, it seems that there were six Roman emperors standing side by side in the current Roman world.

"...That's strange, it's not one of the Four Emperors..."

The red-haired youth muttered to himself.

He is, of course, Emiya.

I initially thought that the singularity announced by Director Caesar was during the reign of Nero in ancient Rome, but it turns out that the information was correct, but not entirely.

The singularity's timeline—that is, the point in time when Chaldea landed—is not exactly during Nero's era, but rather in 69 AD, which is now the second year after Nero's death.

Historically, this year was known as the "Year of the Four Emperors," or the period of internal strife among the four emperors.

After Nero's death, four emperors—Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian—rebelled and declared themselves emperors, plunging Rome into internal strife. The turmoil only ended when Vespasian seized the throne; this year should be considered a transitional period between the reigns of Nero and Vespasian.

But the guy on the other side was spouting nonsense, saying that there were a total of six Roman emperors in this era!

Emiya pondered the original FGO storyline and felt that his memories were a bit too distant... The Roman singularity in the original storyline seemed to involve some kind of alliance with the Roman Empire, and the Roman emperors who appeared included Nero, Caligula, Caesar, and even Romulus, the progenitor of the gods. All in all, there couldn't have been more than six emperors...

Well, it seems there's nothing to figure out; things are definitely going to get chaotic again.

Emiya recalled that the original singularity of the Hundred Years' War between England and France had turned into the "Resurgence of the New Frankish Empire".

Who knows who might have wreaked havoc on the Roman Empire this time?

As for his pseudonym, Sword Emperor Lucius, it served as a disguise for his arrival at Chaldea.

Originally, Lucius was a fictional character similar to King Arthur, based on various Roman emperors. He existed only as King Arthur's enemy in "History of the Kings of Britain," and there is almost no other information about him. Therefore, it was relatively easy for Emiya to disguise himself.

Of course, it's just that the information is missing. According to the actual world view, King Arthur was a real hybrid with a very high purity, so Lucius, the sword emperor who fought against him, was also a real person.

However, Emiya was confident that as long as he didn't run into King Arthur or the Knights of the Round Table in Rome, he wouldn't be exposed—besides, if those people really did appear in this era, they would most likely be unwilling to pledge allegiance to Rome, an enemy of Britain.

Last time during the singularity, they didn't deliberately disguise their identities like this. As a result, after discovering Chaldea, Emperor Karl on the other side chose to destroy them without saying a word, almost advancing to [Human Love] and causing the savior team to fail.

This put immense pressure on Director Caesar and the other support staff, and also made Emiya realize that his version of Chaldea was different from the original FGO, too powerful and too aggressive, to the point that the enemy was always ready to attack them.

Therefore, this time, Emiya and the others decided to take a different approach and change their strategy, learning to hide and disguise themselves, and waiting until they had ascertained the situation before taking action.

For example, this time, it's the "Voldemort-like" sneaky style of crouching in the bushes... no, it's the "integration into the local culture" approach. This requires a proper fit to the local art style. For instance, if Emiya disguises himself as the Roman Sword Emperor, he can confidently and forcefully declare: "You are Rome, and I am Rome too!"

Anyway, during the sixth singularity of the FGO original work, the Divine Round Table Realm, Bedivere also used the pseudonym Lucius and relied on Merlin's illusion to disguise himself, holding the Holy Sword but pretending to be "Silver-Armed Anuda", which stunned his fellow Knights of the Round Table.

Is it possible for Xiao Bei to use the title of Sword Emperor, but I cannot?
Emiya pondered the "Shadow of the Servant" within his "Infinite Sword World," eager to put it to the test.

Perfect timing! This is a newly acquired skill that has never been revealed before. With this, he is confident that he can adapt to his new identity as "Sword Emperor Lucius" without exposing his previous methods.

As for the question of how he acquired this skill? Don't ask, just say it's the Sword Emperor's "Emperor's Privilege".

However, the other party also said "the seventh one to appear in the world at the latest". Does the seventh one have any special meaning? Could it be the Holy Grail War?
Emiya, thinking of this, looked at the little girl lying on the ground in the dark alley, still in a daze. The object she was holding in her hands was the Holy Grail...?
It seems to have almost no magic power, which doesn't seem like it!

"—I'm sorry, but I really want to say that it was unwise for Lord 'Sword Emperor' to obstruct us."

While Emiya was still processing the intelligence, the tall, heavily armored swordsman opposite him had already prepared his attack. The intense magical light emanating from his longsword illuminated the man's brown skin. "But His Majesty's orders cannot be disobeyed!"

Having said that, he slashed with his sword, and a huge sword aura in the twilight surged out. The prelude to its surge was enough to blow away the buildings on both sides of the alley. The scale of the surging magic power was dozens of times stronger than his previous casual attack!
Emiya, seemingly oblivious, turned his back to the Servant and walked towards the girl. "Hello, were you alright just now? Haha, I was so busy introducing myself..."

"Danger!"

The blonde girl looked anxious, wondering if there was anything wrong with this Servant.

No matter what, I'll just fall and be fine, but if you don't turn back now, you'll be the one in trouble!
However, Emiya remained deaf to the warning. This scene was noticed by the Servant behind him. Even though the Servant was indifferent to the situation, he couldn't help but show disbelief at this moment. Turning one's back to the enemy is a major taboo in battle. No matter how much this Sword Emperor relies on his strength, he should know this basic principle, right?

"..."

Emiya simply gazed at the girl's panicked and anxious face, then suddenly uttered a soft "Katina."

"what!"

The Servant on the other side exclaimed in surprise.

A blurry white figure suddenly appeared, blocking Emiya and the twilight-colored sword energy he unleashed. A faint chanting sounded: "Lost Edge Sanctuary!!" An invisible domain opened up, and the sword energy, which originally possessed unparalleled power, transformed into ordinary nighttime gusts of wind the moment it passed through this domain.

The night breeze blew up Emiya's cloak and also lifted the girl's hood slightly.

In the blink of an eye, her youthful face and bright red eyes were revealed. Strands of golden hair hung loosely from her slightly tattered robe. Although her appearance was quite disheveled, a closer look from the front still revealed an indescribable air of nobility and youthful beauty.

"what?"

Emiya looked at the face and it seemed somewhat familiar, but because the little girl was still quite young and hadn't fully grown up, he wasn't sure.

She has a somewhat aloof face. In fact, Nero from Type-Moon is a kind of Artoria with a different cup size, but the one in front of him... is too young, and the color of her pupils doesn't match. He hesitated a bit.

"!" The girl was like a startled little animal. She felt a gust of wind blow, and her head, face, and neck were suddenly exposed to the cold. She instinctively pulled her hood down tightly to cover her body. This small action was a habit she had developed from being constantly chased these past few days.

Emiya gave a harmless smile, indicating that he meant no harm. At the same time, he glanced down and confirmed once again that the item in the little girl's hand, which resembled the Holy Grail, had almost no magical power.

This is interesting. First, why would Servants try to steal something that has no magic? Second, why would they try to capture this girl and call her a beast that threatens the world? But from their perspective, this girl is clearly a living person with weak vitality.

While we cannot rule out the possibility that the girl was deliberately faking it, the former's behavior was absurd enough.

Since the burning of Humanity, the Holy Grail that Goetia threw out has already been retrieved by Chaldea in the previous singularity. According to the analysis results, this Holy Grail has no great merit except for its enormous magical power. In other words, without magical power, this Holy Grail is just a mere decoration... Or is the object in the girl's hand a unique product of this era?

The Holy Grail already existed in this era... wait, it really does.

Emiya pondered; it was now the year 69 AD.

In this era, only a little over thirty years have passed since the Passion of Jesus Christ. Legend has it that before his crucifixion, Jesus gathered his disciples for the Last Supper and established Holy Communion. He took a wine cup and instructed them to drink the red wine inside, symbolizing his blood, thus establishing the Passion commemoration ceremony. And today, some of his twelve disciples are still actively engaged in missionary work.

So these Roman emperors were really fighting the Holy Grail War?
What they wanted to seize, what the girl was holding... could it be the original Holy Grail containing the blood of the Holy Son?
As he pondered this, Emiya realized that his imagination had run wild.

Regardless, we need to get this girl, who seems to be a little Nero, to a safe place. Before that, we need to deal with that sorry guy behind us.

Emiya had observed that the twilight-colored sword aura and the armor exuding a dragon-like aura most likely belonged to Siegfried, the dragon-slaying hero celebrated in the Nibelungenlied.

"Incredible! Is that a skill of yours as the Sword Emperor, summoning your swordsmen to fight for you?"

Swordsman Siegfried's twilight-colored sword energy crisscrossed, yet he could not break through "Katina's" invulnerable domain in the narrow alley.

He was still trying to extract information, but it was clear that Siegfried wasn't very good at talking and his skills at getting information out of people were lacking.

"Hmph, them?"

"Issue casually," Emiya said. To adapt to his new identity, he decided to act a little more professionally, change his specific persona, and make the image of the "Sword Emperor" more "arrogant and domineering."

As he spoke, he reached out and forcefully pulled the girl into his arms. Startled, she struggled a few times but couldn't break free from Emiya's embrace. She could only weakly complain, "Don't touch my head, don't hug me!"

But Emiya completely ignored Nero's weak and powerless struggles, simply turning his head to glance at the Servant opposite him, "Just a swordsman's soul that died by my sword and was driven by me! And you, you are the next one!"

"……Yeah?"

Siegfried raised his dragon-slaying holy sword, its radiance unleashed, and magical power surged forth like a raging tide. He was ruthless and taciturn, shouting, "Galvanism!"

It seemed that some strange power-up skill had been used, and the sword energy wrapped around Sieg's flying sword became endless and inexhaustible!
Then, he swung his arm so fast it was almost a phantom, and the greatsword was driven to split into countless sword blades. The massive amount of twilight-colored sword energy was like a vast ocean, filling all directions. Streets and houses collapsed in large numbers, and the ground tore into countless fragments on the verge of collapse!

"Ah, I'm going to die!" The girl in Emiya's arms despaired. The overwhelming twilight-colored sword energy was like Ragnarok, the end of the world. She felt that her constitution, which had survived so many deaths, was finally coming to an end here—

"Humph!"

Emiya's cold voice suddenly startled her awake.

The surrounding area was still filled with the vast, boundless sword energy of dusk, but... he was still alive.

ding ding ding-

Upon closer inspection, Emiya remained motionless. This so-called "Sword Emperor" hadn't even displayed his sword. The surging tide of twilight-colored sword energy was easily neutralized by the few blurry phantoms around Emiya constantly flashing and wielding his sword!

"How arrogant... cough, Sword Emperor..."

Siegfried had already mastered the [Electric Flow] technique to its fullest extent, yet he couldn't even force his opponent to draw his sword.

He felt that his spirit foundation's performance had been burned to its limit, but the Sword Emperor opposite him still felt as vast and unfathomable as the ocean!

"Then taste this all-out attack—the evil dragon falls, the world is turning to twilight. Smash it, Fantasy Greatsword: Fallen Demon!!"

Siegfried's holy sword was fully unleashed, and a semi-circular twilight sword aura erupted without any gaps, like a super light cannon that swept away an entire army in a single strike—

In his eyes, this holy sword wave, which he had poured all his strength into, completely covered the Sword Emperor from all directions. It seemed that the shadowy followers that the Sword Emperor had created could only make one or two moves at a time. No matter how exquisite his swordsmanship was, he could not defend against it all!
But Siegfried looked on in confusion and saw the Sword Emperor opposite him shake his finger.

Looking around again, he found himself surrounded by a dense net of sword light.

It turned out that several shadows of the servants had already separated. The first strike broke through the twilight sword energy with lightning speed, and the second strike cleaved his entire body in two, even shattering his spirit core!

"What...when...did my Dragon Blood Armor fail to defend me...?"

Emiya shook his head.

“These mere grains of sand are not even half as good as me.”

The Evil Dragon Blood Armor only reduces damage; even without deliberately attacking the back, if the damage overflows instantly, death is still inevitable.

(End of this chapter)