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

Chapter 416 I, Shanks the Red-Haired, Emperor of the Sea!

“Yes, Yaobikuni might be the same kind of person as Reggie Love.”

Nono sighed.

"But do you know what's even more terrifying is that she has lived from ancient times to the present day, for eight hundred years, no, according to the secret history of the White King of the island nation, it may be even longer. Because Reginald herself is actually no different from the first generation and has an infinite lifespan, by the same token, Yaobikuni is also a genuine immortal."

"Moreover, we have no way of knowing exactly when that 'mermaid' who may have carried a part of the White King's body left Takamagahara and came to the fishing village to be eaten by Yaobikuni. According to the Snake-Headed Eight Families, the Takamagahara Divine Burial Site has existed for at least ten thousand years."

Emiya became serious. In Nono's brief description, he seemed to see a mysterious figure who had survived from ancient times to the present day, a figure who came from a backward fishing village but had lived on for a long time—even though he had stirred up a lot of trouble in the modern island nation at that time—he remained unmoved.

Of course, to be optimistic, if Yaobikuni's original identity was that of a bhikkhuni, then her history would not be earlier than the time when Buddhism was introduced to the island nation.

"...So now we can confirm that Reginald sensed Yaobikuni's presence? And it just so happens that she sensed it in a dream recently. Could it be related to the next singularity?"

Nono didn't answer; she was only piecing together fragments of her dream. "Right now, only the background story matches up. Let's keep watching."

The group walked along the muddy, narrow path toward the fishing village. Along the way, they could see that the colors here seemed to be covered with a black and white filter, giving it a monotonous texture. Dilapidated fences and leaky huts were everywhere, revealing the poverty of the village.

Under a gloomy sky and with a light rain, several fishermen carried mermaids bound in tattered nets and small wooden buckets filled with their catch back to the village, singing strange fishing songs in hoarse, ancient local dialect that Emiya and the others couldn't understand at all... no, even if they got close, they couldn't hear them clearly.

If you stare intently for a moment, you'll notice that the faces and clothing of these fishermen are all blurry, like a streak of ink in a landscape painting of China. If you look at them out of the corner of your eye, they're practically just swaying shadows.

The mermaid wrapped in the fishing net was completely murky. Emiya heard Nono say that this thing was a mermaid, but no matter how hard he looked at it, he couldn't tell that this strange and blurry thing was a mermaid. Perhaps it was because the profiler had excellent vision.

“This is the mental defense they’ve set up,” Nono explained. “We can only see the fishermen returning to the village with their catch to cook. One of them ate the mermaid’s flesh, gained immortality, and left the village. This is my conclusion after repeated profiling attempts—a standard version of the Yaobikuni story. But they are preventing us from continuing to spy and obtain information.”

Is there any way to resolve this?

Nono shook her head slightly. "It's difficult. We were originally trying to sense the source of that information by using Regina's dream, not by directly spying on it. With this 'intermediary' in between, plus the other side's deliberate blocking, it's even more difficult."

Emiya followed behind the fishermen, listening to their ancient, chattering language, and suddenly sensed that something was amiss.

"If the other party intends to prevent us from spying, then shouldn't they not have allowed Reggie Love to sense them through dreams?"

"This approach has actually exposed Yaobikuni's existence. What benefit would she gain from letting us... no, letting Reggie Love, who is of the same kind, know about this?"

Upon hearing Emiya's question, Nono casually replied, "Oh, there's absolutely no way there wouldn't be some benefit! Let alone pure-blooded dragonkin like them who are of the same kind, even the older, first-generation species, don't they also have an anti-human mechanism of devouring each other to evolve and become stronger? Hmm..."

The two red-haired men and women instantly had the same thought: "Yaobikuni is doing this on purpose. She is deliberately luring her own kind to her domain so that she can devour and evolve!"

Erii blinked in confusion. She had been so engrossed in gazing at the misty rain and the desolate seascape that she probably wouldn't see such a poor and backward ancient fishing village in her lifetime. Only after hearing their conversation did she slowly come to her senses.

Time flew by as she pondered, and Nuonuo froze for a moment, a surge of annoyance and anger welling up deep within her mind:
"Wow! Now that you mention it, I feel like my profiling approach is flawed. Reggie Love is her target; we shouldn't skip over Reggie Love and go straight to exploring Yaobikuni!"

This is not taking a shortcut at all, but rather going the long way around instead of the right one!

"what?"

Emiya didn't quite understand the logic behind this.

But Nono knows that in the realm of the mind, the distance of physical paths is meaningless to an individual; the mind is the real distance. Sometimes, seemingly roundabout methods are more efficient. If you don't find the right true consciousness, finding a hundred "shortcuts" won't help!
"Go! There's no time to explain, Regina's consciousness should be in this direction!"

Without a word, Nono grabbed the two of them and headed towards the coast, running straight into the dimly lit rain. Amor followed behind without saying a word, as if she wasn't the psychologist treating Reggie Love, but just there to watch the show.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"That voice...is it Grandma!?"

Regina felt trapped at the end of time. A gray sky obscured the light beyond the dome, and the surging sea was cold and dark. She walked on the floating ice and kept hearing whispers from the depths of the ocean, like siren lurking in the water, tempting ignorant and fearless sailors.

Fragments of memory blew against her face in the biting wind, reminding the silver-haired, petite girl of her grandmother Maria, whose face was old and kind, yet whose brows still hinted at her former beauty and grace, just like that of Reggie Love.

The white foam rising from the sea seemed to drift out a familiar white shadow along with her memories, making the recollections even more vivid.

Reggie Love's mind began to conjure up her grandmother's words of advice to stay away from the YAMAL. She clearly remembered the loving warmth and unwavering patience her grandmother showed when she was a child, after she pestered her to tell her stories about the outside world.

She would never forget that her grandmother Maria ultimately sacrificed herself on that great wheel of fate, becoming a victim of a cataclysmic disaster, while she herself was powerless to do anything, and finally decided to rely on Emiya to learn and grow...

At this moment, Regina Reeves had almost reached the end of the ice floes, and was just one step away from stepping into the dark and cold deep-sea whirlpool, but she was clearly not bewitched by the strange mental illusion.

"Your voice is awful... Besides, the real grandmother has passed away, and you're nothing but a pretentious imposter!"

She was furious and aggressive when confronted by the guy who had spied on and desecrated her precious memories.

Although she was in the spiritual world, the girl was still breathing in the enormous energy of the dragon species, and her immortal soul, like that of the Dragon King, continued to pulsate like a perpetual motion machine—she used highly precise mental simulation to transform the scene of the elemental frenzy erupting in reality.

Thus, spiritual elements resembling fire and wind elements howled and danced wildly in the world of consciousness.

This kind of manipulation, which uses spiritual elements to simulate earth, water, fire, and wind, is sophisticated but not impossible. The first Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi, descendants of the White King, once used the ley lines to simulate the ultimate incantation "Shiva's Dance of Karma" and "Return to Nothingness," sinking Takamagahara into the ocean trench. If the White King's bloodline could do it, then Rigilev, a direct descendant of the Black King, could accomplish it even more easily.

"Ash-Scorched Armor!"

Regina Leif didn't hold back, focusing all her strength on the being in the deep sea.

She had once used the terrain of the Spirit Tomb to briefly spar with Meryuchina, the strongest of her kind in her knowledge, and concluded that even a suicidal attack would not be enough to defeat the mother dragon's body. Therefore, she never slacked off during her time in Chaldea.

Therefore, a more refined spell was unleashed within Regiereve's own consciousness in the form of a mental simulation. Gray armor formed by the interplay and reversal of wind and fire draped over her body, and a crimson vortex of electrified magic raged, pushing aside the seawater and creating massive waves, as if the vast ocean had been brutally parted by the giant hand of a god.

The crimson vortex continued to spin and coalesce, elemental particles violently gathered into clusters, and purple lightning crackled excitedly as Reginald mercilessly struck towards the direction of the previous sound source.

The powerful and robust magic cannon shot out, instantly causing a deafening roar in the air! The waves and cold winds along the way were shattered and scattered, and the already turbulent black and cold seawater was further stirred up and scorched, forming a giant hole—then the surrounding thick fog evaporated, and the waves surged!

Just as Regina was about to use this to carefully probe the truth of the other side, she vaguely sensed that from the depths of the whirlpool, a woman's alluring laughter suddenly emanated, along with the chanting of Buddhist mantras such as "Om Mani Padme Hum," and a gigantic white jade hand, in a gesture of holding up a flower, parted the giant waves and flew out from the illusion—

"Womb Realm - Reason Fist Seal!"

"Ah!" Regille exclaimed. Although she hadn't reached her peak when she unleashed this attack, she felt it far surpassed that of a typical ultimate incantation by several times. However, the giant Buddha palm only paused slightly in the face of the pillar of lightning and fire, as if it had swept away a pile of mud and sand, and struck her face directly!

dead!
Time seemed to slow down, and Regina could almost clearly see a large, bright red "death" character appear on the Buddha's palm, approaching and pressing down on her!

Just as she was trembling with fear, a melodious female voice suddenly rang out from the sky: "The eight clouds rise and stand tall, the seas tremble! The white sword resounds, the pillars of the clouds emerge! Holding the power over the four seas and a hundred rivers, ruling over all nations of the vast ocean..."

The chanting of Shintoism dispelled the lingering Buddhist chants. At the same time, a golden light suddenly appeared.

The sword light from a great distance traversed space and struck the giant Buddha's palm. The sea surface exploded with a huge hole hundreds of times larger than when she had caused the commotion. The explosion was deafening and scattered in all directions. Regina's pupils trembled as she seemed to see the clouds in the sky being inexplicably dispersed!
"Is it really necessary... I felt quite embarrassed when I heard it being read aloud just now."

A giant clad in purple lightning-infused samurai armor flew in from a great distance; it was none other than Emiya and the others who had just rescued Regie.

Incidentally, the female voice that dispelled the Buddhist chants came from Nono Erii, who was standing next to Emiya.

In the cockpit, Nono, standing next to Emiya, said matter-of-factly, “This is a purely mental battle, unlike reality! You can’t rely on real-world mechanisms to fight the enemy; that will only put you at a disadvantage. The right way is through willpower!”

"Oh, so willpower relies entirely on these Shinto prayers chanted by shrine maidens?"

Isn't this just relying on shouting for all the output?
"You can think of it that way, anyway, the most important thing is the aura! What we need to cultivate is a confident spirit of 'I am invincible'!"

Nono clenched her fist, her tone reminiscent of someone in a fantasy story shouting, "Who says the human race has no emperors? We cultivators, what is there to fear in a battle!" Then she began to unleash her power, adopting a wildly brave, high-spirited, and exhilarating tone... Wei Gong thought it was barely acceptable, as long as it wasn't An Lan who was always saying "Yu Tuo, save me."

Erii, who had also sung a song beside her, beamed and nodded in agreement, her pupils sparkling. Nono-nee said that Erii's rich imagination made her perfect for the job; she only needed to sing a couple of lines to be of any help.

As it turned out, she and Nono had just relied on the chant to make the Susanoo's divine armor visibly stronger! Even the aftershock of a simple attack just now caused the clouds in the sky to crack and be pushed back!

When Emiya pulled Regiereve out of the water, the ocean of the spiritual world was already silent, with no trace of Buddhist words or hidden enemy figures.

"Did that guy escape?"

“Yes, that cunning old fox.” Unlike the others, Nono didn’t look around, but closed her eyes and sensed something. “She should have had plenty of strength left, but she rushed away. Really.”

“That’s normal,” Emiya said, having extensive experience fighting on the front lines. He quickly understood Yaobikuni’s concerns. “She obviously doesn’t want to fight on an away field, or perhaps she’s not in perfect condition.”

"Yes, otherwise she wouldn't be thinking about Rachel Love."

"Thinking about me?" Regina Leif was surprised.

Then Nono repeated her previous speculation, and the silver-haired girl suddenly realized, "No wonder I mistakenly thought she was my grandmother."

"Your grandmother? Maria of the Stars?"

“Yes, my grandmother was a survivor from the ‘Black King’s Hatchery,’ and like that Yaobikuni, she absorbed that kind of flesh and blood… Vincent once said that I was a more perfect copy than my grandmother, so that Yaobikuni must have eaten something from the hatchery; she would covet an even more perfect form…”

Emiya's brows furrowed almost into a knot. "I think it's more than that. She may have also obtained the Holy Grail. Otherwise, bloodline alone wouldn't be enough to overcome the interference of time and space and affect you."

What he hadn't mentioned was that the faint laughter behind the Buddha's palm reminded him of an "acquaintance."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Upon waking, Regie Love immediately returned to normal. During her sleep, she no longer had strange dreams, ate well, and slept soundly. Chaldea also returned to its quiet daily routine—truly quiet.

Because Shadow Border was once again assigned to conduct an imaginary dive to other normal historical locations to search for supplies and materials, and also took a group of Servants and staff with them, the headquarters naturally became quiet.

Constantine and Xia Mi were among the entourage, as most of the rare materials came from dragons, and they happened to be the ones most familiar with them... Thus, forced by circumstances, they became, in a sense, "dragon traitors" who harmed their own kind in history.

Meanwhile, the new generation of specialized submarines for transporting supplies is still under intensive development, forcing Leonardo da Vinci to abandon his unscrupulous business activities and continue working as a manufacturing engineer.

The temporary shops that replaced her workshop shops were opened by Prellati or other Casters in the entertainment area designated by Director Caesar. Most customers were delighted to hear this and burst into champagne, raising their glasses and shouting, "The dark era of unscrupulous merchants is over! Long live the resistance!"

In this atmosphere, Emiya was summoned to the observation room by Caesar, who said that the next singularity had appeared.

"Emiya, get ready. This singularity is unlike any other. We can't even determine its exact location by comparing it to any terrain on Earth." Caesar's tone was earnest. "We can only confirm that the year is 1573, but the specific details of the transfer will need to be confirmed by you."

"Don't worry, I roughly know it's tricky, no... I might already know something about the monsters hiding in the singularity."

Emiya had made many preparations these past few days. After learning about Yaobikuni's incredible level of mental strength from Nono, he picked up the "Assimilation of Heavenly Voices" data from the Frankish Singularity era again. He forcibly brought BB, who was developing an Alterego clone, to study countermeasures for mental techniques, including adding a dream firewall to Regileaf...

"You know that too?" Caesar was speechless in the face of the amazing Emiya. He said helplessly, "So you also know the map features of this singularity, and that the observation result is an endless ocean?"

"Hmm, and you said the new singularity only has ocean and no continent, but there should be a lot of islands, right?"

"Yes, considering the year 1573, it should be at the end of the 'Age of New Seas' and the beginning of the 'Golden Age of Piracy'."

Caesar provided a detailed and insightful explanation. It is well known that the opening of new sea routes led to the expansion of world markets, the development of maritime trade, an increase in the volume of valuable goods transported to Europe, and the emergence of a large number of experienced sailors. These factors, combined with the problems of colonial governments at the time, further fueled piracy.

At their peak, pirates rivaled even the government navy. One of the most famous pirate captains, Francis Drake, circumnavigated the world, defeated the Spanish Armada, and caused Spain to relinquish its title as the "empire on which the sun never sets."

Emiya's expression was subtle. "I suspect we'll encounter a lot of pirates, Caesar. I suddenly have an idea about how to integrate into the next singularity."

"Oh? I'm all ears."

"First, I need to find Prerati to add some illusion magic to slightly modify his appearance—like changing his hairstyle and giving him three scars on his left eye. Second, Shadow Border needs to be disguised as a ship that fits the local style."

"Hey, you wouldn't be going to..." Director Caesar's eyes quickly swept over Emiya's red hair. He, Caesar, was actually a hidden anime fan. He had played many popular and unpopular game controllers at home when he was a child, and naturally, he was also familiar with popular manga.

"It doesn't matter, anyway... the pirates of the 16th century couldn't have read One Piece, could they?"

Emiya casually conjured a sharp longsword and slung it at his waist.

Then he'll put on a long black cloak, and he'll be the Emperor of the Sea, Red-Haired Shanks!

(End of this chapter)