Emiya Shirou doesn't want to work overtime

Emiya Shirou is extremely familiar with this word.

Whether it was the Fourth Holy Grail War that caused that fire, or the Holy Grail War in which he participated that almost completely destroyed the entire city.

The Holy Grail War has never brought any good results.

Even now, Shirou Emiya still resists the Holy Grail, despite its legendary power to grant wishes.

"Your body is under my command, and my destiny is attached to your sword."

Based on his memory, Shirou Emiya chanted the incantation he hadn't uttered in a long time.

The spell array on the ground also emitted an extremely dazzling light at this moment.

As Emiya Shirou channeled his magical energy, tiny specks of light continuously swirled around him.

However------

"Smack—!"

"Smack—!"

"Smack—!"

The towering doors surrounding this space shattered completely after Shirou Emiya finished chanting the summoning incantation.

No new Command Seals appeared on Shirou Emiya's hand, nor did he sense any new contracts being formed.

Just as if the summoning of a Servant had failed, the surrounding space fell into complete silence.

"Wait a moment--!"

The voice of a high-level AI named Kirei Kotomine came from the void.

He didn't know what kind of situation he was in. Even a magician with an extremely bad temper could summon a Servant, so it was almost impossible for such a summoning to fail here.

However, Shirou Emiya's expression did not change. Instead, he looked at the Command Seal on the back of his hand, which was now reduced to a single blade.

He was not unaware of the Command Seals on the back of his hand.

However, after leaving the Holy Grail War, the marks of the Command Seals on the back of his hand became increasingly faint, and he could no longer sense the existence of any contract.

The traces of the Command Seals gradually disappeared as he traveled to the next world, to the point that they were almost invisible to the naked eye.

But at some point, although no contract was still sensed, the traces of this Command Seal began to gradually reappear.

Emiya Shirou didn't pay much attention either, because whether the Command Spell reappeared or not didn't have much impact on him, and he didn't know what the impact would be.

He couldn't possibly tell Rin Tohsaka that he possessed Command Seals, so he had no way of explaining to her why he had them.

"Found it—!"

After only a brief pause, the deep voice returned from the space.

"Mooncell believes you already possess a Servant and refuses to provide a second opportunity to summon a Servant—"

Emiya Shirou nodded in understanding. He had only sensed the faint contract emanating from the Command Seal when he was about to summon the Servant.

It seemed that his contract with Joan of Arc had not been severed.

However, he did not dare to directly summon Jeanne d'Arc through a Command Seal at this moment, unlike those magicians who believed that losing the last Command Seal would make them unable to control their Servants.

Simply because this contract was so weak, Shirou Emiya worried that even using Command Spells might not be enough to summon Jeanne d'Arc here.

Moreover, Jeanne d'Arc does not belong to this world. Do Command Seals really have the ability to teleport across worlds?

Even Shirou Emiya couldn't be sure about this.

Shirou Emiya was actually quite surprised to be able to feel the faint bond between himself and Jeanne d'Arc that still existed.

Logically, after the Holy Grail War ended, Joan of Arc would return to the Throne of Heroes, and his contract with her would be broken.

Not to mention that this place is not even in the same world as the Holy Grail War, and from any perspective, Joan of Arc's contract with herself should not continue.

However, the advanced AI in the void seemed to have guessed what Shirou Emiya was thinking at that moment, and with a pleasant tone, slowly sent out a reminder from the air.

These words completely extinguished Shirou Emiya's desire to use a Command Spell.

"Command Seals are the entry tokens for the main Holy Grail War. Although I don't know why you only have one Command Seal left, if you lose all of them during the Holy Grail War, you will die as a Master. You need to be careful."

If the Holy Grail would indeed obliterate him after using a Command Seal, then the existence of this Command Seal is exactly as Kirei Kotomine said.

It's just a participation certificate for the Holy Grail War; I have no way to use it.

"Kara! Kara! Kara! Kara!"

At that very moment, the sound of the chocolate shell trembling came from behind Shirou Emiya.

The doll that had been obediently staying behind Shirou Emiya quickly assumed a fighting stance and, without any hesitation, swung its fists and shot towards Shirou Emiya's position.

"Although you, as the Master, have not summoned a Servant here, according to the rules, you are now officially a Master participating in the Holy Grail War."

"I don't know why Mooncell made the decision for you that you had already summoned a Servant, but that doll itself was a trial given to a magician when summoning a Servant to adapt to becoming a true Master. However, it should be very simple for you—"

A deep voice came from the air, and Shirou Emiya turned slightly to the side, the punch that was being thrown grazed his face.

"Qiang——!"

The sound, like steel clashing against steel, rang out in front of Shirou Emiya.

A black, bladed pistol, shaped like a crescent moon, appeared out of thin air in Shirou Emiya's left hand, blocking an attack aimed at his abdomen.

It's just a puppet, but its defenses are exceptionally strong.

At that very moment, a white pistol with a blade appeared in his right hand and viciously slashed down at the neck of the doll who hadn't even had time to react.

The intense sparks that erupted instantly illuminated Shirou Emiya's profile.

Although the doll's strength is extremely weak, its main purpose is to test the adaptability of the magician and servant as a master. In terms of defense, it is only able to withstand a single blow from the servant.

But it couldn't last long either.

"Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang-!"

Before the puppet could regain its footing, bullets rained down on it like a downpour.

Chapter 537 The Upcoming Selection

"Congratulations! You have successfully passed the preliminary rounds and will now participate in the main selection for this Holy Grail War—"

A familiar voice came from in front of Shirou Emiya.

In the corridor where students were walking around, a man with long brown hair, brown eyes, and a dark purple trench coat with a cross pendant over his robes was celebrating with Shirou Emiya in a deep voice.

Three days have passed since I went to that space.

The preliminary rounds of the Holy Grail War also ended at this moment, and all the magicians who were unaware of their abnormality had been eliminated by the Holy Grail, also known as Mooncell.

The Holy Grail War, which originally involved 999 people, now has only 128 remaining.

They will engage in an incredibly fierce Holy Grail War on the moon in their struggle for the Holy Grail.

"I am an NPC who oversees this Holy Grail War, and I am responsible for guiding most of the magicians to summon Servants."

Seemingly understanding Shirou Emiya's question, Kirei Kotomine explained his role in the Holy Grail War.

Shirou Emiya did not refute it, after all, the Holy Church itself was responsible for supervising the Holy Grail War and maintaining its normal operation.

If the Holy Grail War were to break out on my side again, Kirei Kotomine would probably be the one in charge of overseeing it.

Even so, Shirou Emiya still looked at him with a wary expression.

Both in appearance and personality, the Kirei Kotomine in front of him was far too similar to the one he knew.

After all, in terms of both appearance and personality, there was not much difference between him and the Kirei Kotomine that he knew. Even Shirou Emiya could feel the wicked sense of humor emanating from this advanced AI.

Yes, they are exactly the same. Shirou Emiya really doesn't want to be around someone like that.

"From this day forward, you magicians are destined to fight in the arena ahead."

"This war is conducted in an elimination format, with each player winning from the first battle to the seventh, and the last one remaining will be awarded the Holy Grail."

"Battles take place every seven days, and each Master has a period of hesitation from day 1 to day 6 to prepare for battle against their opponent."

"Then, on the seventh day of the final day, we will have a final battle with the opposing Master. The winner survives and the loser is eliminated. That's how it is."

"In other words, the 128 Masters will continue to fight each week, and only the last one left will be able to obtain the Holy Grail."

Such a simple and easy-to-understand rule.

It is even simpler and more direct than the regular Holy Grail War, especially in terms of combat.

A normal Holy Grail War usually involves seven Masters and seven Servants, with each person fighting their own battle.

Just like a microcosm of a real war, seven different forces are intertwined in various ways, resulting in unimaginable clashes. Schemes, strategies, assassinations, or even direct attacks will all be revealed in this struggle.

Even the weakest Assassin has an extremely high win rate in this Holy Grail War.

However, here it presents a one-on-one duel mode, which is extremely disadvantageous for classes like Assassin who do not engage in direct combat.

It can be said that countless strategies could not be implemented because of this kind of one-on-one head-on combat.

The man named Kirei Kotomine in front of him couldn't help but smile.

Indeed, this non-melee mode is even worse for Emiya Shirou, who doesn't have a Servant.

In the Holy Grail War, a Master who doesn't even have a Servant poses no threat to others. Unless there is a personal grudge, no one would target a magician who doesn't even have a Servant.

Uniting with the weak to fight against the strong is a normal evolutionary process.

But the current situation forces Shirou Emiya to confront those Servants head-on, leaving him with almost no room to maneuver.

"Of course, during these six days of hesitation, you need to go to the arena, which is the maze you arrived at earlier, to collect two key tokens there. You can think of them as the keys to the final battleground."

"Masters need to find all the necessary items themselves during the period of hesitation, and if a Master cannot even do this, the computer will die before entering the arena."

"Although it is called computer death, it is not much different from real death. The physical body on earth will never wake up because it has no soul, until it completely decays."

"This is merely a simple trial to demonstrate that the Masters possess the ability to engage in decisive battles—"

It seems that obtaining the key is not as simple as Kirei Kotomine claims, otherwise he wouldn't have this expression.

"During the period of hesitation, Masters are not allowed to fight each other, whether it is a battle between Masters, a battle between Servants, or a battle between Masters and Servants."

"If a private duel occurs inside the arena, the system will forcibly intervene and stop the fight after three rounds of combat."